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Sir Kiel—or rather, Marquis Kierhan—remorsefully said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hide it on purpose.”
Upon hearing this, Marie suddenly regained her composure and fell to her knees. “This maid Marie greets His Lordship, the shield of the Empire, Marquis Kierhan. Please pardon my previous impertinence.”
“Miss Marie, there’s no need for apologies,” Kiel shook his head at Marie’s sudden change in attitude.
“It’s my fault for not being forthcoming. And aren’t we friends? Please treat me as you did before.”
Marie was stunned at those remarks. He wanted her to treat him casually even though she’s a mere maid?
“I can’t do that,” Marie spoke in a firm voice.
Of course, she’d felt a comfortable friendship with Kiel up until now. She’d sincerely wished for a friend like him. But still, she couldn’t. How would it make sense for a maid like her to be friends with Marquis Kierhan, a noble from one of the most powerful families in the Empire?
Meanwhile, Kiel looked wounded at Marie’s firm refusal. “I thought we were friends, Miss Marie…”
Marie felt confused at his disappointed tone. ‘No, does he really think we can be friends?’
Undoubtedly, as she had thought so before, he truly was an unusual noble.
Marie shook her head, suppressing her weakening resolve. “I’m sorry, Your Lordship.”
Kiel’s smiled bitterly in response at her resolute attitude. “I see. If I were to insist further, it would put Miss Marie in a difficult position.”
Marie did not deny it.
Kiel remained silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating on what to do. “Then how about this,”
“.…..?”
“Honestly, I don’t want to end the friendship I have with you, Miss Marie.”
“Why?”
Kiel replied, “Because you’re kind, lovely… and most of all, I feel comfortable with you.”
“……!”
Kiel smiled slightly. “It’s amazing how well I connect with you, Miss Marie. We haven’t met that long, but it feels like we’ve known each other for a long time.”
It was the same for Marie. She, too, found herself fond of Kiel and at ease in his presence. It was strange how they shared the same sentiment.
“But I don’t want to make things difficult for you because of how I feel. So I’ll do this instead.”
“What is it?”
“I will consider Miss Marie as my dear friend ‘in my heart.’”
“……!”
Marie’s eyes flickered slightly.
Kiel extended his hand to Marie. “So, even though it would be difficult to treat me as before, would you at least consider me as your friend deep in your heart, Miss Marie?”
She bit her lip and felt an inexplicable emotion overwhelm her. Since entering the Cloyan Kingdom, who had ever thought of her in that way? She stared at Kiel’s outstretched hand for a long time with a conflicted expression.
Then eventually, she said, “……Yes, Your Lordship,” and held his hand hesitantly.
Kiel felt the feeling of her hand. It was soft and dainty, but at the same time, it was rough from undergoing many hardships.
Kiel suddenly felt sorry for Marie as he imagined the years of hardship etched into her rough palm.
“Miss Marie.”
“Yes?”
While holding her hand, he said, “When we’re alone together, can you still call me Kiel?”
Unbeknownst to Marie and Kiel, they were not the sole occupants of the quaint garden they’re in.
“What on earth are they talking about?” said the voice filled with displeasure. Surprisingly, the owner of it was none other than the iron masked Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince frowned. ‘Why do I feel so irritated?’
He sighed.
It wasn’t that he’s intentionally spying on them. For some reason, he felt restless throughout the banquet celebration. Consequently, he went for a walk and coincidentally stumbled upon Marie, the maid, performing magic tricks.
‘Is that maid doing magic tricks?’ He was taken aback by the unexpected sight before him. More so by the fact that it didn’t look like amateur tricks.
‘Impressive. She’s almost like a professional circus magician. But how does that maid know how to do magic?’
The Crown Prince tilted his head. Of course, with practice, one can do magic, but the level of skill she displayed seemed to surpass expectations.
‘Her cooking skills are amazing too,’ he recalled when she was cooking in the Lily Palace’s kitchen not too long ago. That too, surpassed the skill of a professional chef.
“She’s so talented. It’s a waste to just have her as a maid,” he muttered to himself.
But then, suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. ‘What if she’s also the sculptor and musician from the past incidents?’
He recalled the two mysterious incidents that transpired. Even with the involvement of the Royal Guards, he couldn’t find a trace of them.
‘That maid was present during both incidents.’
The same suspicion kept resurfacing in Rael’s mind. However, as usual, he shook his head. It seemed too absurd. Unless he saw it with his own eyes, he couldn’t fathom an ordinary maid like her producing such divine sculpture and music.
But suddenly, when he was lost in thought—
‘Hold on,’ the Crown Prince frowned as he noticed Marquis Kierhan approaching Marie, ‘Why is that guy with Marie?’
He wondered if they crossed paths by chance, but it didn’t seem that way. Their conversation seemed incredibly friendly.
The Crown Prince unknowingly clenched his fist.
Why?
The frustration he’d been feeling since earlier intensified. It only grew worse every time Marie smiled at Kierhan.
“…How irritating.” The Crown Prince was startled when he realized he’d said that out loud.
What?
What’s irritating him?
He shouldn’t feel displeased just because Marie was talking and laughing with someone, right?
The Crown Prince shook his head. ‘What are you doing, Rael? Spying on her like that. Let’s go back.’ As he thought of this and was about to turn back, Rael’s eyes flickered. He’d seen Kierhan reach out his hand and Marie taking it.
“……”
Rael forcefully bit his lip, his red lips turning ashen. ‘Snap out of it, Rael. Why are you so upset?’
They’d simply shaken hands, just a common gesture, nothing special at all. There’s no reason to feel upset.
No, even if they were really special to each other, what did that have to do with him? But still…
The same inexplicable emotion that he’d felt when he saw Marie with Emperor Johannes overwhelmed him.
“…I must’ve had too much to drink tonight. I should go back and rest,” he said, but the Crown Prince couldn’t bring himself to leave. He just kept staring at her face, unable to move his feet.
After she finally parted ways with Kierhan and disappeared towards the banquet hall, the Crown Prince sighed. “Haah.”
The frustration in his chest grew even stronger.
That night, Marie fell asleep peacefully.
“Hehe.”
As Marie chuckled in delight, Jane, her fellow maid and roommate, asked, “Marie, did something good happen?”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing!”
“……?”
“It’s really nothing. Good night!”
Jane tilted her head. Marie seemed unusually animated compared to her usual self.
Indeed, Marie was feeling overjoyed at the moment. Fortunately, the dream related incident ended without any problems. She’d been quite worried about what would happen after dreaming of a magician, but thankfully, everything went smoothly. She only showed simple magic tricks to the little prince without attracting anyone’s attention.
‘If it’s always like this, I wouldn’t mind doing it ten times.’ And the second good thing is, ‘When we’re alone, can you still call me Kiel?’
She’d made a friend!
Marie smiled and thought, ‘Of course, it’s difficult to call it a typical friendship.’ There was an astronomical difference in status between him and herself—like heaven and earth. Therefore, they couldn’t act as friendly as ordinary friends. But just because they couldn’t be close due to those barriers didn’t mean they couldn’t be true friends.
Even if they couldn’t be that close, she was happy to become friends with someone as kind and pleasant as Kiel.
‘If only everyday’s like this,’ she thought, closing her eyes. Feeling good, she thought she would be able to have a pleasant dream that night.
Was it because she wished for a good dream? Marie had another dream that night. However, it was far from the sweet and pleasant dream she’d hoped for.
“Watson, take a look at this.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a scarf found at the victim’s house.”
She’d dreamed of becoming a detective in a crime scene!
‘…Why am I dreaming of this?’
As Marie looked into the dream, she felt helpless. She’d only been happy for a day, and now she’s dreaming about investigating a crime? Worse, it wasn’t just any criminal case, it was a violent one.
‘Why does this always happen to me?’
Despite her distress, the dream proceeded calmly.
“What can you infer from this scarf, Watson?”
“Well… it’s just an ordinary scarf, isn’t it? You could probably see a hundred similar ones if you went out on the street.”
The man in the dream shook his head in response to his assistant named Watson.
“No, this scarf gives us valuable information. It tells us that the crime was not premeditated, that the perpetrator lives alone, is left-handed, has a meaty build, and has a job that involves working outside.”
Upon hearing his ‘profiling’, Watson, the assistant in the dream, was stunned and asked, “Wait, how can you know all that?”
“Well, it’s simple.” The man in the dream took a drag of his cigarette and said, “If it were a premeditated crime, they would never have left the scarf behind. He committed the crime impulsively, causing them to leave an evidence behind in a panic. Furthermore, this scarf is old and worn, yet there are no signs of it being cleaned or laundered. If they had someone living with them, like a spouse or parent, it’s unlikely they would leave such an old and dirty scarf lying around. They would have at least roughly washed it.”
One by one, the man in the dream shared his conjectures.
“Every clue can be found through observation. Anyone can do it.”
Upon hearing that, Watson looked at the man and shook his head. “It’s not something anyone can do. It’s only possible because it’s you,” he said. Then Watson called out the name of the man, “Sherlock Holmes.”
t/n: not sherlock holmes and dr. watson making a cameo  i find this a little bit silly but marie badly needs it. i really love kiel, he’s so respectful (the bare minimum yes but this is a webnovel it’s pretty rare sfsgshsksls)