The Maid, Catherine (2)
“Why aren’t you getting up?”
At my words, the maid shot to her feet.
“Um, you’re the new nanny, right?”
She clasped her hands together, cheeks flushed, and kept stealing glances at me.
“You already know that, so why ask?”
“Th-thank you for helping me!”
“I didn’t help you.”
“What? But……”
“I simply warned those women not to speak carelessly about me.”
I disliked gossip to begin with, and their words had grated on my ears, so I’d scolded them. It had nothing to do with taking out my frustration on the chief maid.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Still, I only survived because of you!”
“Think whatever you like.”
“Wait!”
I tried to leave, but the maid called me back again.
“Is there something else?”
Despite my consistently cold tone, she only brightened, her eyes sparkling.
“My name is Catherine Veil. I work in the annex.”
Why introduce herself when I hadn’t asked? I stared at her in silence.
She continued, still flushed.
“Thank you for helping me. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, please tell me. I’ll help anytime.”
I hadn’t helped her, but she insisted anyway. I turned to go, then paused and looked back.
“You.”
“Yes?”
“Can you cook?”
She blinked, startled by the question.
“C-cook?”
“It’s delicious!”
Edwin and Emilia stared at us in shock.
“What is this? I’ve never had anything this good except at banquets!”
“Me too! It’s so, so tasty!”
The siblings had grown hungrier from the delayed mealtime.
“I-it’s just ordinary fish stew. You flatter me, Your Highnesses.”
Even picky Edwin was eating with such enthusiasm. I turned to the woman standing beside me instead.
“Making ordinary food taste this good is also a talent.”
“But it’s really nothing special. Thank you for the compliment, Nanny.”
The tall woman blushing shyly was the maid, Catherine Veil—the very same one I had unintentionally saved from the other maids’ bullying. She had offered to help whenever I needed it. Since I happened to need assistance, I hadn’t refused.
“Are you sure this is all right?”
“Pardon?”
At my question, Catherine tilted her head.
“Didn’t the chief maid tell you never to help me?”
When I explained, she winked with one eye and smiled lightly.
“I’m not helping you, though.”
“Excuse me?”
“I simply brought food because I worried Their Highnesses, the masters of this palace, might go hungry.”
A rather pleasingly cheeky answer. She shrugged and added,
“Besides, the main palace maids eat separately and don’t care about this side anyway.”
“The maids eat separately?”
“Yes. Most of the main palace maids are from pure noble families.”
Catherine gave a bitter smile.
“But us annex maids come from families that bought their titles with money or from commoner households. We’re not exactly on friendly terms.”
That explained why the count’s daughter had caused such a scene earlier.
“So no one will care where the leftovers go. The chief maid won’t know either.”
“I see.”
Just then, Edwin set down his spoon and stood. He had polished off his bowl in record time—the food must have been truly delicious.
He grabbed the doorknob and shouted at me.
“I’m going for a walk with Emilia!”
“Go ahead.”
I answered without thinking, only to feel a sharp gaze.
“What is it?”
Edwin’s eyes were shining with an almost burdensome intensity.
“I want to go outside.”
He seemed to have taken my earlier words to the chief maid at face value—that he could go out anytime as long as I was with him.
“Lia wants to go too!”
To make matters worse, Emilia joined in, tugging her brother’s hand.
Did we really have to go outside? While I hesitated, Catherine gave me a gentle push on the back.
“Then hurry along. I’ll clear the dishes.”
“No, I’ll handle that.”
“These dishes came from the annex anyway. Let’s go together.”
She quickly stacked the empty dishes on the tray and followed us outside to see us off.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Let’s go!”
The prince gripped his sister’s hand tightly and strode ahead.
In the end, I sighed and followed after them.
“Lia, that’s the imperial library over there.”
Once outside the palace, Edwin pointed out various places while holding his sister’s hand.
“Next to it is the palace where First Prince Brother lives. Remember what I told you last time?”
“Yeah! Lia already knows!”
“Really? Then you can find your way around by yourself?”
“Yeah! Lia’s smart, so she won’t get lost!”
“Is that so? Who does our clever little princess take after?”
“Oppa!”
Edwin beamed at his sister’s perfect answer.
‘They really get along well.’
I’d thought so before, but Edwin was an absolute angel when it came to his sister.
‘Such strong sibling affection. Or should I say brother-sister affection?’
I followed the pair like a shadow as they wandered about like little chicks. Though this was the imperial palace, I was already familiar with every location except the Third Prince’s Palace. I had once come and gone from these places as if they were my own home.
Suddenly, Edwin stopped in his tracks.
“Huh, Daddy?”
At Emilia’s words, I understood why he had frozen.
Before us stretched the central garden. A man walked slowly between the flower beds, accompanied by a line of attendants. It was the Emperor, Cabelius III. Beside him stood a man I had never seen before, despite knowing the personal details of every imperial retainer.
‘Who is that?’
Jet-black hair, jet-black armor. His golden eyes gleamed brightly, as if they absorbed all the light in the world—striking even from a distance.
‘Wearing full armor right beside the Emperor…’
Out of habit, I began observing him. His disciplined gait and polite yet unservile demeanor.
‘A knight? No, that doesn’t seem right…’
The man walked alongside the Emperor with a consistently expressionless face. No mere knight would be permitted to walk beside the Emperor of the empire.
‘He must hold considerable status. A newly risen lord, perhaps?’
Then it happened.
The man suddenly turned his head toward us. Before I could even be surprised, our eyes met.
Normally, I would have looked away without a second thought. But this time, I couldn’t.
‘Did he… just smile?’
It was only for an instant, but I was certain. The moment our eyes met, a faint smile had touched his lips.
I wondered if it had been my imagination, but when he turned back to the Emperor, his face was once again expressionless.
‘Why on earth…?’
I was bewildered. A man I had never seen before had smiled at me.
‘Why did he smile at me?’
He couldn’t possibly know me, and he certainly wasn’t flirting.
‘Ah, maybe he actually knew the real Rachel?’
Of course, the difference in status between that man and Rachel seemed enormous.
‘Well, you never know with people.’
While I was lost in speculation, my skirt suddenly tugged downward. The culprit was Edwin. He was staring at the Emperor’s party while clutching my skirt, his face pale with fear despite his efforts to hide it.
“Anty, where are you going?”
Meanwhile, the spirited Emilia showed little interest in calling out to her father. The young princess had crouched beside her brother, watching an ant crawl across the ground.
If we stayed here, we’d be stuck until the Emperor disappeared into the distance.
“Your Highness, shall we head back?”
Edwin looked up at me in surprise.
“…Don’t I need to greet Father?”
“Why are you asking me? If you want to greet him, then do so. If not, then don’t.”
Edwin stared at me blankly for a moment before lowering his head.
“What will you do?”
After a long hesitation, he spoke up hesitantly.
“…I want to go back.”
“As you wish.”
As I turned without hesitation, Edwin suddenly grabbed me.
“J-just so you know!”
He shouted defensively.
“It’s not because I don’t want to greet Father! It’s because he looks busy! Got it?”
No one had asked.
Children really were hard to understand.
“Yes. I understand.”
When I gave a curt reply with an indifferent expression, Edwin stared at me intently.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
He pressed his lips together and glared for a long moment before abruptly turning away.
“You’re really weird.”
“Pardon?”
“Emma would have told me to greet him no matter what.”
“Then shall we go greet him now……”
“No! Forget it!”
Edwin shook his head vigorously from side to side.
“Then let’s go.”
“…Yeah.”
I hoisted Emilia onto my back as she sat on the ground and turned without hesitation. I didn’t notice that Edwin was still clutching my skirt tightly as he followed behind.