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“Your Grace!”
As Dietrich was entering his room, Lancel came rushing in a hurry.
He clung to Dietrich’s arm like a child with a pale face and gritted his teeth.
“Why have you come only now?! I was so scared I might get caught!”
“I had something to do.”
“You said you’d stay by my side no matter what!”
At Lancel’s resentful words like he was an abandoned lover, Dietrich frowned and pushed him aside.
He answered as he dusted off his pants where Lancel had touched.
“I think I said if something happens.”
“I’m not good at lying so I can’t relax.”
From Lancel’s hair, who was rudely being a menace to Dietrich, black water was dripping as if he had just washed.
That was because all the hair dye that they could urgently buy in this rural town was cheap.
Dietrich took a step back and swept his chin as if Lancel, who was dripping with water, was dirty.
“I understand, so be careful not to get caught.”
“You’re not even inspecting their territory so why on earth are you hiding your identity?”
Under the pretext of his master’s sudden departure to a rural village, the butler, who had intended to enjoy a vacation, was extremely dissatisfied with his unplanned role.
Dietrich shrugged his shoulders and approached the window, pretending not to hear Lancel’s voice.
Since the Viscount yielded his wife’s bedroom to the Grand Duke of Lagrange, his room had been overlooking the garden.
Just in time, he caught sight of Anissa bringing a broom and sweeping the garden.
“My goodness.”
Looking at her, Lancel saw Dietrich smiling beautifully that he wondered if his eyes have gone weird so he rubbed his eyes and coughed.
“Do you like that miss, Your Grace?”
Lancel was from a family of butlers who had been serving the Lagrange for a long time. The butler, who had dyed his graying blonde hair to black, not fitting his age, stiffened his jaw and spoke.
“But since she’s a maid, even if you make her your concubine, people are bound to talk.”
“Concubine?”
At Lancel’s words, Dietrich, who was listening against the sunny window, distorted his face.
The butler who was frightened by the instantly subdued air could only avoid his gaze.
“Come to think of it, the Viscount’s son had said that.”
Dietrich tilted his head, recalling an unpleasant memory that felt uncomfortable just thinking about it again.
“What’s that bastard’s name?”
“Are you talking about the Viscount’s son, Donovan?”
“Without a mouse nor a bird knowing…….”
Dietrich had trailed his words, but Lancel who had long served by his side understood what he meant.
However, instead of being bewildered, the butler twitched his fingers and followed his master.
“Do you not like him? Shall I take care of him?”
“No, let’s wait for now.”
Dietrich remembered the insult Donovan inflicted on Anissa.
Although she didn’t seem to care much about him, she still couldn’t let him die so easily.
‘What did he do to make him so angry?’ Lancel could only be curious.
His master was an indifferent and cold man to a surprising degree, but he wasn’t a cruel demon as people think.
“Understood. Is there anything else you need?”
“Get more servant’s clothes.”
“......Please be more careful if you plan to continue acting as a servant.”
“What?”
“I’m telling you to clean a little less. It is said that there are already three people who slipped and gotten hurt on the front porch which you had cleaned.”
It was so clean that it seemed to be unexpected to match the work of a servant.
However, Dietrich was quite satisfied. At any rate, he was able to meet Anissa again and became a little closer to her.
‘Although she doesn’t seem to remember me at all.’
Dietrich recalled his bet with Vassago. Along with the price that would be paid if she never remembered him.
‘If you and Anissa are really destined, then she’ll be able to remember.’
Vassago was a clever demon and a man harboring a great hatred against Lagrange.
He knew love and understood how blind people in love were.
‘So even if you’re just being used, there’s nothing you can do about it.’
Dietrich had not been given a choice. Because death was better than a life without her.
He knew that she had given up everything to save him, but they wanted something so different from each other.
────── 〔✿〕──────
“About the Grand Duke of Lagrange’s servant, isn’t he totally handsome?”
I blinked to hide my flustered face at Lindsay’s subtle question.
“Who?”
“What was his name? I think it was Dylan?”
“Oh, well. He is handsome.”
“Sarah’s face is glowing. She’s aiming for him hard.”
“Sarah is?”
Sarah was the second most popular maid after me among the maids because of her remarkable beauty and skillful hands.
‘I heard she’s a great man-eater……’
Sarah boasted of such an impressive love life to the point where there was no one she hadn’t met in this small town and was famous for throwing away her partners when her interest waned, regardless of whether they were clinging to her or not.
‘I’m a little worried.’
But Dylan had someone he loved so he might not fall for it.
‘No. Dylan looked like a womanizer.’
He said he came to find the woman he loved but he told me that I was prettier than her.
I’d be lying if I said those words didn’t make my heart flutter, but I was also disappointed.
‘Well, even if I’m not close to him, I’m still disappointed in him.’
“But that man named Dylan seemed like a womanizer.”
“Annie, how do you know that?”
“Huh?”
I was upset and wanted to talk about Dylan behind his back to Lindsay, but she unexpectedly responded positively.
“You know what they say about face value.”
I turned to look at Lindsay while holding a duster in my hand.
“Why? Did someone say he’s a womanizer too?”
“There’s a rumor that Jessie went to visit him the night before and he opened the door for her. I guess he’ll accept any woman if you just push him.”
“......Really?”
I was so surprised that I could no longer hide my disappointment at Lindsay’s words. I felt uncomfortable with the feeling of my heart sinking.
“Yeah. Dorothea said she saw it.”
“Bastard.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“N-nothing.”
Lindsay widened her eyes in bewilderment at the curse I mumbled. I waved my hand hastily saying I misspoke.
“I’ll wash the blankets!”
I hurried out of my place with the summer quilt of the madam in my arms. The muslin rustled in my arms.
Perhaps it was because of the rough cloth that touched my skin, my heart had been strangely tingling since a while ago.
‘Why am I upset? It’s not something upsetting, Annie!’
I comforted myself but the woman that Dylan was looking for wasn’t even me yet my heart was aching at the sense of betrayal I felt.
‘He looked very desperate but I must have seen it wrong.’
When I first saw Dylan, I thought he looked sad as if he were crying even though he was smiling.
His eyes were full of longing for the one he loved and looked ardent.
“Hmph. He’s a pure liar and a womanizer.”
Donovan had always coaxed me to be his lover saying that all men were from there to there, but he may not be completely wrong.
Step, step.
I started stepping on the wet blanket full of rage.
Thanks to that, the splashing of water droplets reached even my face, but if I didn’t do it this way I didn’t think I’d be able to relieve my anger.
‘No wonder he keeps giving me strange looks!’
Stepping on the blanket with full anger makes me feel like doing the laundry was easier than usual.
I felt a little better after throwing all the dirty water and so I sat in the quiet laundry area enjoying the sunshine.
Summer was already coming.
If you're not reading this at blogspot, you're probably reading from an aggregator site. Read this translation at https://notmysisteryoufool.blogspot.com/.
The Grand Duke of Lagrange had been staying in the Viscounty for longer than I thought.
‘Shouldn’t they be returning to Lagrange soon?’
Although the rose war was over, since he was a great noble, there should be a lot of territories for him to manage.
‘I guess he’s as bad as he looks.’
As I recalled the substandard looks of the Grand Duke, my ears perked up at the sound of words coming from the back door.
“Until when are you going to hide?”
I could hear two people squabbling as if they were arguing.
“If you’re in love just say you’re in love. Why aren’t you saying anything!”
There was an indignant man with a beautiful voice like that of a young boy.
‘Is it a lover’s quarrel?’
The most interesting thing in the world was to remain a mere spectator of a lover’s quarrel across the wall.
I flicked off my wet hands and crept up to them. The sound was coming from the other side of the building so I couldn’t clearly see their faces.
“I told you to just confess but what are you still doing?”
“.......I love you.”
The previous words were mumbled that I couldn’t hear clearly, but the voice was so sweet that it was romantic enough.
I covered my mouth with both my hands and began to listen in on the lover’s secret meeting.
“I love you so much that it would be all right to die as long as I can meet you again.”
It was a desperate confession that made my heart flutter just by hearing it.
However, when the lovers started walking and revealed themselves, I couldn’t help the frown on my forehead.
‘Dylan?’
Because one of the men who showed up was someone I knew.
Next to him, a man as handsome and tall as him but on the leaner side with a gorgeous pretty face stood blankly.
‘Jessie, Sarah, and now even a man?’
“.......Degenerate.”
“What?”
“You degenerate! Womanizer!”