“My lady, don’t expect me to be kind to you either. You will regret that you agreed to work with me.”
Looking at Renan, she realized that Killian’s eyes were at least emotional. He was looking at her as if to judge her, but she didn’t see contempt or even suspicion in his eyes. She thought that the Duchess was considerate of her and introduced her to the most ‘difficult to move’ human being.
“I want two things from you. Competent and fair. If you compromise to that, I won’t mind if you call me stupid.”
“Then I’m glad.”
“Then, it seems that the greetings are all done, shall we begin?”
Renan gave her a light nod and went back to his desk. She spread the receipts one by one on her wide desk and began sorting them by year. Although there were windows, the sun did not shine directly, and Renan’s cool office was quiet, as if time had stopped there. There was no distracting sound except the rustle of my receipt opening and the sound of Renan scribbling something with his pen or flipping through the papers.
‘It’s calm.’
She felt more comfortable than ever in the quiet time that was dotted with simple labor as she was constantly suffering from various things. While she was concentrating like that, Renan called from behind.
“Miss.”
“Yes! What’s going on?”
“Today’s business hours are over. You may go back.”
“Uh? Has it already happened?”
It was a place where the sun did not shine well, so she did not feel the passage of time.
“I’ll just wrap this up and go back. Wait.”
To be honest, she wanted to work a little more, but when she was here, Renan, who also served as her supervisor, couldn’t move. She hurriedly put the receipts into the box, double-checked that nothing had been dropped, and handed the box to Renan. He looked down at the box for a moment, then accepted.
“Thank you for your effort.”
“Renan did a great job. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After saying goodbye to Renan, the hallway was bright. Anna was waiting near Renan’s office to take her to her room. She felt as if she had been pulled into reality.
‘I don’t remember reading about an extra named Renan Filch in the original work. So I won’t get caught up in a strange episode.’
She went back to her room feeling more comfortable than before. But the door was half open. Anna ran ahead of her, identified the ‘intruder’, and nodded her head at Edith with a reassuring look.
“You are here.”
“Killian?”
It was the first time she saw Killian in three days.
“In my room… For some reason…”
“Can’t I come?”
“No, well, I’m not saying that… uh?”
As she entered the room, looking sideways at Killian, she saw him fiddling with the two dolls and, without realizing it, she smacked them away with her hand. Two wooden dolls, dressed in newly made clothes, fell to the floor with a crackling sound.
Killian’s expression subtly hardened.
“Ah, ha ha! No, this is, how to say, just a hobby! It’s a hobby, but it’s a bit embarrassing to show others my skills… No, why are you entering someone else’s room without permission in the first place? Anna! Put that away, hurry.”
A male doll dressed like Killian and a female doll dressed like her were facing each other and even kissing their other. While Anna quietly put away the dolls, she had nowhere to look, so she looked around and changed her mind.
“That… how have you been doing?”
It was kind of awkward. If it was like before, she thought she would have been quicker, but now, for some reason, she felt embarrassed to even look at his face, and it was difficult to talk to him.
“You seem to be doing well.”
“Thanks to Mother. I started helping my mother’s aide. Sir Renan Filch, do you know him?”
“Of course. Because we grew up together since we were little.”
“Is that so?”
“His father is Theo Filch, the butler who manages the ducal estate. He originally managed this mansion, but his father left the manor altogether. Renan stayed here and became the tax paperworker.”
Oh, that was it. As she nodded, Killian’s gaze was sharp as if he were about to dissect her.
“What’s wrong, Killian?”
“No. Are you ready to eat yet?”
“Yes.”
“Then…”
He was about to ask her to dine with him, and she was looking forward to it when suddenly someone knocked on the door. When Anna opened the door, Lise was standing outside.
“Ah! Killian, you’re here too.”
Lise’s bright smile was still beautiful, but she felt uncomfortable looking at her. It was sad that she thought of her as the culprit, and she was stabbed for nothing when she took away the ‘virgin’ keyword from her sub-male, Killian.
“Lise? Why do you…”
“Cliff called Killian and asked if it would be nice to have a meal together. I guess he has something to say. Ah, Edith! Would you like to go with us?”
Lise, who found her belatedly, hurriedly suggested, but it was too obvious that she was polite.
“Can I just go and eat with you?”
“Cliff will probably say it’s okay. Probably…”
‘If you’re going to use the word ‘probably’ twice, don’t say it at all, Lise.’
Well, Lise, who had a good heart, would have had no choice but to recommend it to her, no matter what Cliff’s intentions were. She wanted to follow them at least, but she didn’t want to see Killian caring for Lise more than her.
“I think Cliff will be embarrassed. It sounds like he has something to say to the two of you. If you call me next time, I will join you then.”
“Would you like to? Let’s eat together next time, Edith… So, Killian.”
Lise called Killian in a way saying that they should go now. Killian sighed heavily, nodded, and followed Lise. Then, before closing the door, he looked back at her for a moment. When she met his eyes, she couldn’t move from the spot for some reason. She wondered why he had come to her room and what he wanted to say to her.
“Miss. I will prepare a meal soon.”
“Ah, yes. Ok, thanks.”
If it wasn’t for Anna, she would have stood there for a long time. She checked the wooden doll Anna had set aside and was very relieved to find that nothing was broken. She was a bit embarrassed when she realized later that she had checked the male doll first without her knowledge.
* * *
For the past three days, Killian couldn’t stop thinking about Edith. His desire to break into Edith’s room and covet her at any moment soared, and her quiet self seemed to drive him crazy wondering what she was doing right now. But the reason he couldn’t find her was because he also needed time to sort out his feelings. At this rate, she would be no different from being swayed by Edith’s temptation.
‘I thought physical relationships were too easy. I never thought I would lose my mind like this.’
The long time he spent without contact with anyone, thinking that Lise was the only woman to him, completely collapsed in just one night. And with the woman he despised the most…! Even so, let alone regretting it, he wanted to do it again, so it was absurd.
Today, he couldn’t stand it anymore, so he went to Edith’s room. When he knocked, there was no response from inside, so he opened the door and went in. While he was slightly intoxicated by her unique scent of roses, he found a strange object on the table.
‘What? Dolls?’
Two well-trimmed wooden dolls were standing there wearing fancy outfits. At first, he didn’t think much of it, but when he looked closely, the male doll had black hair, a white shirt, and black pants, and the female doll had brown hair and was wearing an indoor dress. Judging from the fact that she even hung a red jewel necklace, the female doll seemed to be modeled after Edith herself.
‘Then, the male doll…?’
Assuming that the female doll was Edith, it was very easy to guess the identity of the male doll.
‘…me?’
And the two wooden dolls were facing each other and kissing. Involuntarily, a fever rose at the tip of his ear, but at the same time, a smile came out for no reason.
‘She knows how to do cute things.’
His chest tickled. If Edit hadn’t pushed the dolls away violently after returning to the room with Anna, he might have kissed Edith impulsively.
‘What did you hate so much? That I saw the dolls? Or that I enter your room without permission? Or do you just hate me?’
The night Edith flirted with him, she seemed to like it too, but thinking that maybe it wasn’t so made him more nervous. Edith was his first woman, and he did not know the psychology of each woman’s reaction.
‘Have I been clumsy? Or did it hurt you? What if you just endured the night with me? No, what the hell! What am I thinking now…!’
As he couldn’t organize his complicated mind and was suffering from his anguish, he remembered the story of women who possessed their men with their bodies and ruled over them. If so, could his current symptoms be what Edith intended?
“… lian. Killian!”
“Ah! Did you call?”
“Yes… I called several times… Is something going on?”
Lise was looking this way with a worried face. Cliff had a puzzled expression.
“Nothing. What were you talking about?”
“Have you been completely out of your mind? We were talking about the woman.”
“The woman?”
“Is there anyone other than Edith Rigelhoff that we will call ‘the woman’?”
How do you feel?
