Surprise
"Um, my lord? What exactly is on the schedule today...?"
"I couldn't say."
"Then at the very least, could you tell me where we're going?"
"Hahahaha."
"......"
The moment I heard that awkward laugh, I knew.
Today was going to be a complete shitshow.
Whenever there was a guest coming or some official engagement on the agenda, the Marquis always gave me a heads-up in advance. That way, I could take care not to commit some breach of etiquette.
The only other time he'd dragged me out of nowhere without a word of explanation had happened exactly once before.
When he was trying to seduce me and hauled me off on some bizarre date course...
No matter how burdensome and repulsive it was, there was no way around it this time either. The Marquis was simply going out, and as his maid, I was contractually obligated to tag along.
Which meant my only real strategy was to behave as stiffly and impersonally as possible and strangle any potential misunderstandings at the root.
"Take my hand."
"Yes..."
I took the hand the Marquis offered and climbed into the carriage. I'd thought I was well used to it by now, but apparently it was still just as mortifying as ever.
Being so openly treated as a woman like this always sent a wave of self-loathing washing over me. Of course, if I threw a tantrum every time insisting that I wasn't a woman, I'd just be written off as a lunatic, so I'd resigned myself to it to some degree.
"It seems we're off to meet someone quite important."
"Hm. Well. Perhaps we are, perhaps we aren't."
I was starting to get angry.
He clearly intended to keep today's agenda locked up tighter than a vault, so I had no choice but to deduce it myself.
For one thing, the Marquis was considerably more formally dressed than usual. I hadn't been able to tell at first, but having seen and even helped maintain his wardrobe up close many times, I'd learned that his attire came in distinct tiers of formality.
What he was wearing now was the most formal dress he owned — an outfit I had never once seen him take out, reserved for only the very highest occasions.
On top of that, at the Marquis's request, I was currently dressed not in my maid's uniform but in a modest, plain traveling dress. If we were merely stopping by some nearby restaurant or shop, there would have been no reason to change out of my uniform.
At the very least, we were clearly going to meet someone extremely important.
The problem was, why in the world wouldn't he tell me any of this...
"There, there. It's meant to be a surprise, so just sit still."
"......"
I'd tried to pull back the curtain to look outside and was promptly stopped.
A surprise.
What on earth was he planning to show me...
I was beginning to grow a little afraid.
"We've arrived."
Judging by how smoothly the carriage came to a stop, the road must have been a well-paved one. The Marquis opened the door and stepped out first, and I took his hand and descended from the carriage slowly.
By the time my eyes had adjusted to the dazzling sunlight and I could finally see, I froze with my mouth hanging open.
"Is this your first time at the Imperial Palace?"
"Yes... it is..."
My neck ached from craning upward at the colossal palace that towered toward the heavens as if it had no regard for the sky's limits. It was my first time here, but even before the Marquis said a word, I'd already realized this was the Imperial Palace. When I'd first seen Dragonia Villa, I'd thought it terribly luxurious — but compared to the palace, it was practically adorable.
"Then surely today's business isn't..."
"It is. We are here for the palace."
"Am... am I coming in with you?"
"Of course. That is a maid's duty, after all."
"......"
I was dumbstruck. Bringing me to the Imperial Palace without saying a word in advance — was he in his right mind? I hadn't even fully learned the etiquette for dealing with royalty yet.
"Hnngh..."
I clenched my teeth and forcibly crushed the trembling in my hands and feet. Being nervous was fine; letting it show on the outside was not.
The Marquis stood silently for a moment, pretending to check his watch, and only began to walk once I had finished preparing myself and taken my place close behind him.
Honestly, the man was remarkably good at the most useless kinds of consideration.
"Dragonia."
"Yes. Enter, please. Welcome, Marquis."
'I'm losing my mind. Truly.'
I didn't even have the presence of mind to string together a list of complaints. The moment we passed through the palace gates, my nerves were stretched so taut there wasn't a single breath to spare.
And yet, when I caught a glimpse of my own face in a mirror as we passed by, I was startled by how composed I looked. Perhaps I had a talent for the poker face.
"Marquis Dragonia, is it not? A pleasure."
"Yes. A pleasure indeed."
"Y-yes. It is a true honor to see you again..."
The attitude of the nobles passing us by was strange. Having seen the Marquis, they clearly felt obliged to greet him, yet they showed no desire whatsoever to linger and chat.
It was as if they were avoiding him. No — if anything, their eyes looked afraid.
The kind of eyes that tremble instinctively before the menace of a savage beast. It was a completely different world from the nobles at parties, who practically clawed each other's eyes out for the chance to exchange a single word with him.
'Ah. Wait, no.'
Come to think of it, even at those parties, some of the nobles had only watched the Marquis from a distance. Did Marquis Dragonia have a lot of enemies in the capital?
I was hopelessly, hopelessly ignorant when it came to politics here. A thought struck me that I really ought to study up whenever I had the chance.
"We request an audience with His Majesty."
"An audience with His Majesty the Emperor? One moment, please. I shall return shortly."
"......!"
I'd felt us heading somewhere deep inside, and sure enough, my ominous premonition had become reality. He had actually come to see the Emperor.
Would I be going in for the audience too?
I'd much prefer to wait outside. And if I did have to go in, was I supposed to greet His Majesty myself? Or, as a maid, was I simply supposed to stand there silently?
This was maddening.
My head spun hot with complexity all at once. Then I felt something gently tap my forehead — a handkerchief.
"Ahaha. You're drenched in a cold sweat. Come here, let me wipe that for you."
"Meeting His Majesty — I don't know anything about what I'm supposed to do..."
"You needn't worry so much."
"Why not?"
"Because there will be no audience at all."
"I'm sorry?"
"His Majesty is feeling unwell, so it seems an audience will be difficult today."
"......"
See? Told you so.
That was the smug expression the Marquis wore as he looked at me. A little of the tension drained out of me.
I scrambled up and followed behind him as he hurried off toward somewhere.
"I knew I'd be turned down anyway. That man falls ill every single day I come to visit."
"Then why request an audience at all?"
"Courtesy, of course."
"Ah..."
So there was history there. For now, the only thing I could deduce was that relations between him and Dragonia were bad enough that the Emperor would deliberately refuse him an audience.
Only now did I understand why the Marquis hadn't briefed me in advance. This itinerary consisted of literally nothing but setting foot in the palace and leaving again — there had been no need for me to know royal etiquette or anything else.
Thinking we'd be heading straight home, my heart felt considerably lighter.
That is, until a certain little brat accosted us.
"Schwarz! Halt right there! That is a command!"
"...?"
At the urgent voice, I turned to look behind us and found a young boy jabbing an accusing finger at the Marquis. He must have run here with all his might, for he kept panting, heaving great rough breaths.
One look told me he was a troublemaker through and through. I was just about to click my tongue at the childish creature when a chilling thought flashed through my mind.
A boy who could behave with such appalling rudeness toward the Marquis could only be...
"Your Highness the Imperial Prince. Well then, we'll be on our way."
"I said halt!"
So he really was a prince of the blood. The ground seemed to drop away beneath me for a moment. Fortunately, that ill-mannered little brat didn't seem particularly interested in me.
The Marquis, for his part, ignored the prince so thoroughly it almost seemed excessive, simply continuing on his way. The prince, evidently greatly displeased, huffed and puffed and fell in step beside him.
"What became of the promise you made me!"
"To what might you be referring?"
"You promised to take me to the Northern Border!"
"I have no memory of making any such promise."
"You there! Do you mock me to my face?"
"The borderlands are crawling with monsters — they are dangerous. I could not possibly take Your Highness to such a place."
"That is precisely why I wish to go! No matter how many monsters there may be, I would be safe at your side, would I not? I want to see dangerous monsters up close, I say!"
"......"
The Marquis's expression was darkening in real time. Apparently, that little prince thoroughly admired him. And the Marquis found the prince to be nothing but a nuisance.
You could tell just from his eyes. The way he looked at the prince was completely different from how he looked at Leopard, at me, at other guests. It was the gaze of a man declaring that everything in the world was too much trouble.
"Then let us make a new promise. Place within the top ten on Saint Sophia Academy's term examinations, and I shall grant you whatever you wish."
"Saint Sophia? Is that not that utter dunce of a school? Easy enough, then! Hahaha!"
"You appear to be laboring under a misapprehension. Many outsiders sit Saint Sophia's examinations, and never once has an outsider placed within the top five."
"Oh..."
The prince's face stiffened. I thought that had thoroughly crushed his resolve — but the boy fished something out from a servant, then slunk right back to the Marquis's side.
What the prince unfolded before him was a workbook crammed full of equations.
"Th-then there's no need for an examination at all, is there! I can solve every problem at this level, I'll have you know!"
"Ye-es. How impressive."
"Exactly! Impressive! So hurry and take me to the borderlands—"
"This one is wrong. There should be a minus sign here..."
"......"
The Marquis stopped dead in his tracks.
When I came back to my senses, I found myself pointing at the prince's workbook, correcting his mistake.
I really had gone mad, then. With the tension gone, my brain had simply exploded.
The prince's gaze slowly swung toward me, and all the slackened tension came rushing back at once, locking my body in place.
"Oh ho. There is an error, you say. Can it be that you know mathematics, woman?"
"Er? Yes... I-I can, a little..."
It was embarrassing even to claim I "did" mathematics. My knowledge topped out at a mere high school level. But the smile slowly spreading across the prince's lips looked anything but benign.
"I see. I promised my tutor a holiday if I answered every question correctly. What a coincidence that the grading should turn out to be mistaken."
"Huh?!"
One of the servants standing behind us shuddered visibly.
"There is no place for wicked liars."
"Y-Your Highness...!"
At the prince's curt wave, the guards seized the man by both arms and dragged him away. It felt as if I had been the one who cast him out, and my conscience pricked a little.
"A position for a mathematics tutor has just opened. Well then, woman — care to try tutoring me?"
"You want... me... to tutor His Highness the Prince...?"
The offer was so absurd that I could only gape. And since I was currently housed under Dragonia's roof, accepting was out of the question anyway. I stole a helpless glance at the Marquis.
"Once a week or so, I could lend you out."
"My lord?!"
"Excellent! Come to my schoolroom at once! I must test your tutoring skills immediately!"
"......"
Betrayed. For a moment I was too flabbergasted to speak.
The Marquis, lips twitching as he fought back laughter, leaned close to my ear and murmured quietly.
"The prince's tutoring fees are nothing to sneeze at. It should be a fine opportunity for you as well, Miss Yulia."
"How is any of this acceptable?! Who springs something like this on a person?!"
"The prince has always been a capricious one. I'll head back ahead of you — I'll have a carriage on standby, so take it home when you're finished."
"M-my lord...!"
And with that, the Marquis turned away without a shred of lingering attachment.
I had no options left. Just when I'd thought I might finally escape the palace, I was hauled back inside instead.
.
.
.
"Haaahh..."
"We have been waiting for you. Please, board, Miss Yulia."
By the time I left the palace, the sun was already setting. I hadn't done anything resembling hard labor, but I'd spent the entire face-to-face session with the prince coiled tight as a bowstring, and the moment that tension released, my whole body ached as if it had been wrung out.
Even if my wounds healed quickly, apparently no amount of recovery ability could rapidly dissolve fatigue that had accumulated in the body.
Dragging my exhausted self along, I boarded the carriage alone and slumped into the seat.
"Aaahh..."
If anyone asked me what happened at the palace, I'd be hard-pressed to answer. I'd been so nervous that I'd forgotten nearly all of it. I couldn't even tell whether I had committed some breach of etiquette or not.
One thing was certain, though: the prince's reaction had been reasonably positive. He'd told me to report for work starting next week, after all.
I'd more or less copied the teaching methods of the tutor girl before me, and apparently it had gone over quite well. It was a chance to earn serious money and build valuable connections, which was genuinely nice — but the fact that the connection in question had to be the prince, of all people, weighed on me terribly.
I honestly couldn't tell whether this was really a good thing or not...
"Driver, could you stop for a moment?"
Along the way, I spotted an ice cream shop that was just about to close. Tia had popped into my head, and I simply couldn't pass it by.
By the time I arrived at the villa with arms full of ice cream, the sun had fully set and everything was dark.
"Mommy's home..."
"Welcome back! Wait, what's all that?"
"Ice cream. For Tia."
"Fo weally? Muhehehe! Mommy's the best!"
When I came back to our quarters and set the ice cream down, Tia beamed and threw herself into my arms. A smile stole across my face before I knew it.
It felt like all my fatigue was melting away.
'I think I finally understand how my father felt...'
When I was little, whenever my father came home occasionally carrying a whole fried chicken, I'd think he must have had something good happen to him that day. But that wasn't it at all.
On days that were especially hard and gloomy, my father had wanted to see his children's happy faces.
Only now, at last, did I begin to understand what had been in his heart.