Chapter 21
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Chapter 21
Even I felt my nose sting with emotion, but the gift-giving had only just begun.
The box still held plenty of toner to distribute among the other maids.
So it was just as I was about to ask the maids to call the others.
"By the way, Vivian, it looks like you need to redo your hair?"
"Oh!"
Hearing that, I turned to the mirror and gasped.
The hairstyle Curtis Rohan had arranged for me this morning had become thoroughly disheveled and was now puffed up!
'When did this happen?!'
It must have gotten messed up while I was sleeping in the carriage earlier.
As I struggled to redo my hair, one of the maids who had been watching approached me.
"Would you like me to do it?"
"Oh, if you have the time, sister."
"Then would it be alright for a moment, Miss?"
The maid asked Rachel for permission.
Normally, she wouldn't have dared to even broach such a topic out of consideration for Rachel.
It was a change brought about by the gift.
Rachel, glancing between the maid and my disheveled hair, gave a small nod.
"Go ahead and sit."
With Rachel's approval, the maid and I sat side by side at the vanity.
Another maid asked Rachel if she wanted her hair touched as well, but Rachel declined.
In the end, two of them worked on my hair.
"Vivian, your hair is incredibly silky. Do you brush it every day?"
"Yes. Curtis Rohan does it for me every night."
"My, most men would find that tedious."
"That's true. Your father must love you very much."
"Hehe. My father does love me quite a lot."
"With a father like that, he'd be quite upset if you brought home a boyfriend, wouldn't he?"
I stiffened.
I suddenly felt Rachel, who had been holding my hand, react with surprise.
Before I could even ask what was wrong, the other maid asked with a playful grin.
"Say, Vivian, do you have a secret boyfriend hidden from your father? Or perhaps a boy you like?"
Then I felt Rachel's gaze on me through the vanity mirror.
'Huh? Why does Rachel look like that?'
Puzzled, I recalled an anecdote from when I was with neighborhood friends.
'Come to think of it, girls do obsess over the concept of a best friend, don't they?'
Even if one is friendly with everyone, there's always one special friend who takes your side and does everything with you.
That's what a best friend is.
When a girl gains another close friend, they often become upset with their best friend.
Sometimes they even grew jealous of romantic relationships with boys.
'Of course, I do enjoy getting along well with everyone....'
Suddenly, I recalled what had happened at the General Store today.
The sight of Rachel and Peter calling each other by name and speaking casually, and Rachel telling me to treat him the same way.
'Rachel was jealous of Peter, wasn't he? If that's the case....'
This was my chance to score points as his best friend.
I spoke firmly, making sure Rachel could hear me.
"I'm not going to have a boyfriend or anything like that. That sort of thing isn't fun at all."
"Why? Vivian, you're cute, so there must be plenty of boys who like you."
"Boys just tease and play pranks all the time. I really hate it."
As I spoke with distaste, the older girls sighed as if disappointed to lose such good material for teasing.
"There could be boys who don't tease and are kind, you know?"
"That's right. And if you don't have a boyfriend, you won't get married later?"
"I still don't like it. I'm not going to get married—I'm going to live with Father and the Duke forever."
Surely Rachel would be happy hearing me say this?
I glanced at Rachel's face in the mirror beyond my shoulder, and his blue eyes were trembling.
'Is my answer making him unexpectedly happy?'
I smiled with satisfaction and asked Rachel.
"Isn't that right, Duke?"
Unaware that Rachel's complexion had darkened.
* * *
In the late afternoon, when sunlight began to tint everything golden.
Kaltz, reviewing work documents and checking the calendar, discovered a date that felt painfully familiar.
"...It's already May."
The month that flowed from spring's end into summer's beginning.
Though it was a season beloved by all living things and humans alike, Kaltz did not love May.
[Father! Father, please wear this flower crown I made thinking of you, okay?]
May was the month his one and only daughter, Isela, had left this world.
Even though five years had passed since Isela's death, he could not grow accustomed to his daughter's absence.
Perhaps for the rest of his life, every time May came around, and every time he saw Lahedis, whom that child had left behind, he would live with that ache.
Kaltz pushed away the rising memories of his daughter and turned over a few more documents, but soon set them all down and rose from his seat.
The place he sought was where his thoughts always led him to stand—by the window.
"Ah, I found you, Marina!"
Yet contrary to his somber mood, a bright, cheerful laugh echoed from outside.
The source of that laughter was Vivian.
'The Villa has become quite lively since that child arrived.'
And Rachel, who had always stayed in his room, had begun to venture outside.
Moreover, Rachel was gradually communicating with people other than Margaret and Sally.
It was an unexpected change.
'It's just like when Isela was alive.'
Kaltz, who had unconsciously recalled Isela upon seeing Vivian, soon caught himself and smiled wryly at his own thoughts.
Like Isela.
A foolish thought.
The only daughter he loved was Isela alone, and nothing in this world could ever replace her.
Even as I thought this, my gaze remained fixed on Vivian and Rachel playing tag in the Garden.
Just then, as if sensing my stare, Vivian glanced in my direction.
Did she see me?
I faltered under her gaze, but Vivian soon turned her attention back to the Maids and Rachel.
Once more, her crystalline laughter rang out, carried on the spring breeze.
By the time that sound, which had filled the spring landscape for so long, finally faded away, I found myself wishing it would return.
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.
"Duke, may I come in for a moment?"
It was the source of that laughter from just moments before.
Why had she come to find me?
Surely not merely because our eyes had met.
I was puzzled, but I allowed Vivian to enter nonetheless.
"Come in."
The child who entered the room, as always, began with a respectful bow.
"Hello, Duke. Thank you for making time for me."
"What brings you here? Isn't this when you should be having lessons with Rachel?"
"Oh, the young lady went to attend her successor lessons a while ago."
Vivian answered brightly and revealed her purpose.
"It's nothing major—I just have something to give you."
"For me?"
"May I come closer?"
As I regarded Vivian with puzzled eyes and nodded, she scurried forward eagerly.
What she held out was a small box.
The ribbon and wrapping paper were crude, but traces of her earnest effort to decorate it remained.
"I bought it when I went to the Village a few days ago, but since you seemed busy, I'm only giving it to you now."
I opened the box she offered.
Inside the small box lay a wooden bookmark with a neat, elegant design.
As I gazed back and forth between it and the child, I asked.
"Today isn't my birthday, and as far as I know, I haven't done anything particularly special for you recently. Why the sudden gift?"
Vivian felt caught.
There was indeed a purpose behind this.
To restore the relationship between Rachel and the Duke, I needed to understand why they were so distant with each other.
And more importantly.
Even if they are family, some relationships are better left unrepaired.
If that were the case between them, I had decided not to mend the rift between Rachel and the Duke.
That would be overstepping my bounds.
To make that judgment, I first needed to grow close enough to both of them to share our true feelings.
'But if I ask him directly about his relationship with Rachel, he won't give me an honest answer.'
That's why I had decided to find a gift first—a way to grow closer to Kaltz.
Vivian concealed her true intentions and offered a vague explanation.
"There's no particular reason, really... I bought gifts at the General Store for the Maids. But then I happened to see something I wanted to give to the Duke."
"Hmm... So you didn't really think about it, but bought it anyway because you were worried the old man might sulk?"
Goodness, just accept it!
"That's not it at all! I really gave it careful thought and chose something I believed would please the Duke...."
Vivian, unable to help herself, had snapped at Kaltz's misinterpretation, but her voice gradually trailed off.
Only then did she belatedly realize that her companion was the Duke—a man revered by all, feared by none.
'Does he think I'm being disrespectful?'
The moment Vivian clenched her eyes shut, reproaching herself for her earlier words.
A soft chuckle echoed through the quiet Study.
'What...?'
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