Haunted Duke’s Daughter

Each of us was given a room. My room was particularly spacious, and yet it was cleaned to the nth degree. There wasnt a speck of dust, even in the corners. I was in awe of how far they went.

SBy the way, the last time you came, you went all the way to the corner of the room, picked up the dust with your fingers, and scattered it with a puff of air.

LOh.I remember doing that..

SAnd then you said. How did you clean it? Its cleaner when I do it. Now do it again.

LOh.I said that.

SWhat do you think?

LIt sucks.

I sat down on the chair and sighed deeply. I felt the maid who had come into the room with me shiver.

LSakura. Could it be?

SShe reacted to your sigh, didnt she? Perhaps she thought youd be angry with her?

LI cant believe Id get angry for no reason.

Lilia sighed again. The maid was shaking so badly that she felt sorry for her, but there was no use worrying about it now.

LI remember being unreasonably angry.I dont know what I was doing.

SIts important to be reminded. But its not good to drag it out. Lets do our best from now on.

Lilia nodded gravely at Sakuras words.

After sorting out her luggage, Lilia left the room. The maid came out with her and waited a little distance away from Lilia. Thinking for a moment, she also remembered the reason for this.

LYou called me, and you would have been angry if I had waited even a moment.

SThat sucks!

LIm aware of that.

The more I remember, the more I get fed up with my past behavior. How could I have behaved like that back then? It may be impossible for me to regain the trust of the servants working in this villa. I cant help but think that.

SLilia.

LWhat?

SYou shouldnt be too uptight. Just do what you always do and youll be fine!

Sakuras words have no basis and yet perhaps because of their relationship, she had a strange sense of security. Lilia took a small deep breath and relaxed her cheeks.

LYes. Lets go as usual.

When Lilia said that, she saw that Sakura smiled in satisfaction.

Lilia turned back to the maid who was waiting some distance away. The maid shivered, but her expression did not change at all as she stared at Lilia. Lilia asked the maid,

Where is the study?

The study? Um, we are gathering the documents in that room on Cross-samas orders, and entry is restricted to.

Dont worry, Im not going to do anything. Im just going to borrow some books.

The maid seemed to hesitate, but then bowed her head.

SIs there a book you want to read?

LI dont think so.

Following the maids lead, Lilia went to the study.

The room was the same size as the one Lilia had been assigned, except that it seemed smaller than a normal room, probably because of the bookshelves lining the walls. At the back of the room, there was a large desk with piles of books and papers.

Lilia approached the desk and took out a sheet of paper from the pile. There were some numbers and formulas written on it, but they were not categorized or even calculated, so it was very difficult to read. She picked up the other sheets and found them to be in the same condition.

SWhen I look at this, I can see how hard your father and brother worked.

LI remember that they had to extract the necessary numbers from this document, put them together, and make it into a proper document. Its no wonder they made some calculation mistakes.

If the people who make these documents were at least a little better, it would be less of a burden on my father and brother. I feel a little sorry for them.

SI wonder how long it will take if we leave it to your brother.

LI dont know. I heard hes aiming for a week.

A week feels a little long. What I cant stop thinking about is Tina. She doesnt say anything, but Im sure she wants to spend as much time as possible with her family. Its just my expectation, but when I think about it, I think its okay to help out a little.

I glanced over at the maid, who was looking at me anxiously. I put the papers back in the paper pile and headed for the bookshelf. I took out a book at random and looked inside to find it was a collection of fairy tales.

LWhy do we have all this stuff in our study?

SI think its to read to young Lilia.

LOh, really? Perhaps reading it will help me remember.

SIm sorry, I just said that.

LI knew youd say that.

Sakura probably came to Lilia when they first talked a little over two years ago. It was unlikely that she knew anything about Lilias childhood. But even so, she couldnt deny that she had a feeling that it might be possible.

I decided to take this book with me, since I had picked it up.

Ill borrow this. Ill return it before my brother gets here.

Yes.

The maid looked relieved to hear that, and Lilia sighed inwardly, wondering if she didnt trust her that much.