“Merindukan!”
Elaine, yang tengah asyik dengan pikirannya sembari memandang sekeliling ruangan besar yang disinari matahari, segera menoleh saat mendengar suara sambutan di belakangnya.
“Emily, cepatlah!”
“Ya Tuhan, apakah ini benar-benar Nona Elaine?”
“Tentu saja! Apakah kamu sudah lupa wajahku?”
Kedua orang itu berpelukan erat dan mengobrol lama sekali.
Elaine begitu bahagia hingga air mata mengalir di matanya.
“Maafkan aku karena jarang menulis surat kepadamu. Tuanku telah melarangku menulis surat kepadamu.”
“Jika kau berbicara tentang tuanmu, apakah kau berbicara tentang Sergey?”
“Ya. Dia bilang kalau aku terlalu sering mengirim surat, keluarga Count Newt akan mengawasi Nona Elaine. Benarkah itu?”
“Ya…Baiklah, sedikit saja…?”
Elaine tersenyum canggung dan mengacaukan jawabannya, tetapi cukup mengejutkan bahwa Sergey tahu semua tentang keadaan seperti itu.
“Saat pertama kali mendengar bahwa kamu adalah teman majikanku, aku sangat terkejut. Aku berpikir, ‘Betapa sempitnya dunia ini.’”
“Ya. Tapi, aku turut prihatin dengan apa yang terjadi pada ayah Emily, tapi menurutku Emily beruntung bisa datang ke sini dan baik-baik saja karenanya.”
“Kau merasa kasihan pada ayahku? Pemabuk itu, tamatlah riwayatnya. Dia hanya akan membantu kehidupan putrinya setelah dia meninggal, dia benar-benar bodoh.”
Emily mengerang, lalu tiba-tiba tersadar dan menutup mulutnya.
“Maaf, aku mengatakan sesuatu yang kasar di depanmu…”
“Ngomong-ngomong soal Emily yang bilang itu hal yang baik, aku juga berpikiran sama dengan Emily.”
Elaine tersenyum dan memeluk Emily lagi.
“Kamu telah melalui banyak hal.”
“Sebenarnya, ini tidak sulit. Sebaliknya, kau mengalami masa-masa sulit. Kau tahu semua niat Countess Newt, bukan?”
Emily mengusap punggung Elaine yang hanya tersenyum diam, dan memikirkan tentang kedengkian yang harus ditanggung gadis itu.
Tatapan dingin sang bangsawan dan pelayan yang memandangnya dari atas sana tetap tak terlupakan bagi Elaine, dan dia harus menanggung penghinaan dan rasa jijik seperti itu sepanjang hidupnya.
“Itu tidak akan terjadi lagi. Count Lindell, dia tidak punya banyak pembantu, tapi mereka semua orang baik.”
“Benar-benar?”
“Ya. Kadang-kadang memang agak aneh, tapi kurasa itu karena mereka sudah lama tinggal di luar negeri.”
“Mungkin begitu. Lalu bagaimana dengan Sergey? Dia tuan rumah yang baik?”
“Sergei?”
Emily mengerutkan bibirnya ketika ia memikirkan tuan muda rumah ini, yang sulit ia temui.
“Aku tidak sering bertemu dengannya karena dia pulang sendirian atas nama keluarga, tapi dia sangat tampan dan memperlakukan pembantunya dengan sangat baik, tapi dia membuatku merinding setiap kali melihatnya.”
“Oh, kenapa?”
“Bukan karena ada alasan tertentu, tapi menurutku itu hanya karena kepribadiannya. Dia bahkan tidak tersenyum pada pelayan lain yang sudah lama bekerja dengannya.”
“Hmm… begitu.”
Elaine sedikit terkejut tetapi kemudian teringat pertemuan pertamanya dengan Sergey, yang bahkan tidak mau memberitahu namanya.
If it were an ordinary person, they would have thought that Sergey was cold just by looking at him like that.
‘If they talk to him a little more, I think they will find out that he’s a warm-hearted person. If not, he wouldn’t have saved me, and he wouldn’t have bothered to be my friend.’
Some might say that it is rash to guess Sergey’s personality based on such facts alone, but Elaine is strangely confident.
But she had no intention of forcing that kind of thinking on others. Her feelings for Sergey were worth keeping to herself.
Elaine changed the subject.
“But what do you mean when you say that the servants of the Lindell family are a bit strange?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s nothing, but sometimes they look into the air and laugh, or they flinch whenever I pass by. Some people mumble to themselves, and some draw something on the floor and play.…But what’s even stranger is that no one says anything while seeing that.”
‘From the way Emily talks, it sounds like Count Lindell is gathering people from all over the place and putting them to work.’
“Are they good at their jobs?”
“Yes. Even though they may look a little strange, they all work really well. It’s amazing. They look like they’re just having fun, but they clean up all over before you know it, and they look like they have no skills, but they make really great dinners.”
“Are they using magic or something?”
“Hahaha! Sometimes it really does seem that way.”
Emily and Elaine laughed carelessly as they talked about such trivial matters.
Elaine couldn’t remember when she had ever felt that peaceful.
There was no need to worry about food, clothing, or shelter, no need to worry about being harmed when she went outside, and no need to be consumed by sadness or anger, just happy thoughts.
‘It finally felt real that I had left the Newt and Temple.’
“Anyway, since I’m your personal maid, don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of everything!”
“Really? I should at least thank Sergey.”
“No one knows when the master will come home. I don’t know where he’s staying…”
Elaine felt a little bitter at those words.
Sergey was her first friend and she didn’t know much about him, but Sergey was the heir to a great noble family.
Of course, there would be many people he knew, and even if it wasn’t where Elaine was, there would be many places to stay.
‘Even though we were bound together under the name of ‘friend’, I felt that he and I were on completely different levels.’
‘I understood why Sergey had told me not to fall in love with him…’
‘Don’t be greedy. It’s enough to just be someone I can greet by calling their name. I’m grateful just to be able to have a light chat.’
Elaine calmed herself by imagining a relationship like the one she’d had with Debbie’s group, where it was a pleasure to meet and not sad to part ways.
Anyway, she had someone more precious to her called Rabes, so even when she thought about it, she didn’t feel the loneliness that pierced her bones like before.
‘By the way, is Rabes okay?’
Rabes, who had left the temple saying he needed to increase his power, returned to Elaine around the time she left the temple, but he was still rarely seen during the day.
The dragon’s food was mostly the magical cores of monsters, and since monsters usually lived in places with few people, such as forests or caves, they were not places that could be visited quickly.
[Don’t worry too much, I’ll teleport over when you call.]
Although Elaine was grateful and reassured that he would leave such words every time he went out, she knew that even teleportation required a lot of magical power, so she rarely called Rabes.
‘I didn’t want to interrupt Rabes’ power replenishment time either.’
‘But now that I’m out of the temple, I’m sure Rabes will feel a little more at ease, right?’
‘No more prying eyes, no more Lorina, no more Lark coming to visit, and Rabes will be at ease, so everything is better.’
Elaine spent a peaceful afternoon organizing her closet with Emily’s help and drinking some warm tea.
* * *
While Elaine was enjoying peace of mind, Rabes had transformed into Sergey and was taking care of some annoying tasks.
“Haha, Count Lindell has quite a talented son. I didn’t know you could communicate so well.”
“You are too kind. You must be very understanding, Viscount Mornon.”
“Hahaha! How humble. Anyway, I ask for your continued support. I also hope you deliver the letter to Count Lindell.”
“Of course. I have some letters and parcels to send next week anyway, so I’ll send them then.”
“Thank you. Hahah!”
After finishing the boring conversation and leaving the place, Sergey pulled on his cravat and took a deep breath.
“It’s easier to just wipe out all the monsters, what is this?”
“Would you like to stop now? Tsk. You need to learn the art of flattery.”
Sergey ignored Hubert, who was nagging at him and headed toward the carriage.
“But even for a Viscount like Mornon, he is a very conscientious person. Think of Viscount Grain, whom we met a while ago. He didn’t really give anything in return, but he just wanted a lot. And he even said careless things about Sergey because he was young.”
Hubert said, shaking his head.
Although Sergey had been humanized to look like a twenty-year-old so that he would not seem too young to lead the Count of Lindell while being close to Elaine, he was still far too young to be the representative of a noble family.
The sly nobles, judging from Sergey’s outward appearance, assumed that he knew nothing and tried to beat him up by making ridiculous demands.
Of course, Sergey had only been alive for twenty years or so, and his tutor, Hubert, had been doing that for five hundred years, so he was able to outmaneuver them and negotiate with them, but it still made him feel bad.
“Those kinds of people will experience the bitterness of natural disasters.”
Serge said nonchalantly as he got into the carriage.
Hubert was not surprised by his outrageous remark but instead asked with sparkling eyes.
“Oh, apakah kau berniat menghancurkan ladang gandum Count Grain? Dengan banjir? Dengan petir? Dengan hujan es?”
“Saya berencana untuk mengubur tanahnya dengan tanah longsor.”
“Bukankah itu agak berlebihan?”
“Jika kau membuatku marah, kau pantas membayarnya.”
Sergey tersenyum dingin dan menyilangkan kakinya.
Setiap kali hal ini terjadi, Hubert menyadari bahwa pria yang berhadapan dengannya adalah seekor naga.
Betapapun menakutkannya naga itu, ada cara untuk menenangkannya.
“Nona Elaine akan peduli dengan orang-orang di perkebunan Grain. Dia orang yang baik hati.”
“Si bodoh itu, si bodoh itu. Berapa lama lagi dia harus menanggung keburukan manusia sebelum dia bisa berhenti mengkhawatirkan hal-hal bodoh seperti itu?”
Sergey menggerutu saat memikirkan Elaine, yang benci membunuh, apalagi menyakiti siapa pun.
Akan tetapi, seperti yang telah diprediksi Hubert, dendamnya terhadap Viscount Grain telah mereda.
“Rengek-rengek si bodoh di hadapanku membuatku mual, tapi aku akan melakukan apa yang kau katakan dan membakar ladang gandum.”
“Baiklah. Kalau begitu, mari kita pertimbangkan itu dan lanjutkan bisnisnya. Haruskah kita lanjutkan dengan tukar tambah kulit binatang dengan pembuat yang tidak dikenal seperti yang kita negosiasikan sebelumnya?”
“Baiklah. Aku tidak akan mendapat keuntungan dari kenaikan harga satu atau dua sen.”
* * *
