Episode 32

* * *

Looking at the piled-up dishes in the kitchen, I sighed inwardly. It seems like my back won’t be spared today either.

I stood up with a stack of dishes in my hands.

“Hey! Let me do that, Chase!”

Dorothy, who was arguing with Emma, rushed over in a stride and took the dishes I was holding.

“Chase, you can wipe the dishes. I’ll do the hard stuff.”

“It’s okay, I can do it.”

“No, I’ll do it.”

With that, Emma took the dishes and promptly left.

“Emma!”

I called out to her, but Emma didn’t even seem to hear me.

It seemed like she heard rumors that I injured my leg because of them. But my leg had already healed. It wasn’t even broken in the first place…

“Leave her be, Chase. Come here and wipe the dishes with me.”

Watching Emma’s back, Dorothy sighed with resignation. I sat down beside Dorothy and started wiping the dishes with a towel.

Amidst the clattering of dishes and the sound of them hitting each other, Dorothy’s voice came through.

“But does Abel… not do things like dating?”

“Dating?”

Dorothy nodded softly.

I felt this before, but it seemed like both Dorothy and Emma were interested in Abel. After rolling my eyes for a moment, I cautiously spoke up.

“Well… Abel has someone he loves.”

“Romantic.”

Dorothy murmured with an ecstatic expression.

Romantic? Well, if it’s romantic, then I guess it’s romantic.

“Who’s the lucky one?”

“That’s… I don’t really know.”

Unable to answer with “Isis,” I evaded the question. Upon hearing that, Dorothy nodded as if it could be expected.

“That makes sense. It’s normal not to know much about family relationships.”

Dorothy squeezed the towel she was using to wipe the plates. Water droplets fell from the towel.

“Hey, everyone!”

At that moment, Emma, who had just placed the dishes in the sink, rushed towards us in a hurry.

“I just met the young master!”

“The young master who’s currently at the mansion?”

Dorothy muttered with a cold face. However, Emma, seemingly unfazed, turned to me and opened her mouth cheerfully.

“Yeah! It’s Rubenstein! The mischievous Theodore, the young master!”

“Is he handsome?”

Dorothy, who quickly changed her attitude, asked. Emma nodded urgently in response.

“Yeah.”

Dorothy’s eyes changed at Emma’s words.

“…I should sneak a peek.”

“But he doesn’t seem to have a good personality.”

“Isn’t it harder to find a young master with a good personality?”

“That’s not it…! He’s really different!”

Emma, seemingly frustrated, pounded her chest with her fist and glanced around cautiously. Then she approached us more closely and whispered.

“Unlike others, he came in a carriage. That’s fine, but… he kicked the coachman when he got off, and didn’t even lower himself to the coachman.”

She shuddered as she spoke.

“With his huge frame, imagine how painful it would be to be kicked. He was rolling on the ground.”

It was shocking. Is he similar to Reid?

“If you get on his bad side, it’s over for you, it’s over!”

Dorothy shook her head vigorously at Emma’s words.

“I think he’ll be like our duke, at least.”

“…That’s true.”

I had heard of Theodore Rubenstein before. However, because I had encountered more negative news about him, I didn’t have a very positive image of him.

Drugs, gambling…

If such a person became the Rubenstein Viscount, it would be a big problem, according to what the reporters were saying.

“Chase, especially you! You need to be careful.”

Emma turned to me and said. Dorothy nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, you should be careful.”

…Do I really look like I’m prone to accidents?

I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

“We probably won’t even meet anyway?”

“That’s true, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”

It was a reasonable thing to say. I thanked Emma and continued wiping the dishes.

Still, I thought I had adapted well to Akarut’s, so I wondered if it would be okay.

* * *

However, within a few hours of thinking that, I immediately corrected my thoughts.

“You’re a woman, aren’t you?”

I blinked at Theodore’s dark eyes, glaring at me as if he wanted to kill me.

“Can’t you speak? Aren’t these your lips right here?”

He asked fiercely, pointing at my lips.

Um, so, how did this happen?…

“Chase, are you going to Elizabeth’s place now? You seem to be less aggressive, so it’s better if you go.”

“I’ll go right away.”

I took the bowls and water jug offered by Mr. Henry to Elizabeth.

Taking care of Elizabeth’s meal felt more like going to visit than doing a job. So my steps to meet her felt light.

Elizabeth appears everywhere in the mansion. Whenever we tried to find her, we couldn’t. But as soon as it was mealtime, she’d magically appear in front of the annex.

If the servants were carrying bowls, she’d follow them, sniffing around for food.

But oddly enough, Elizabeth wasn’t seen today.

“Did she go out to play far away?”

Even after setting down the bowls and water jug in front of the annex, there was no sign of her. I found it strange that Elizabeth wasn’t visible, but soon I realized why.

Come to think of it, there were guests staying in the annex of the mansion. I sighed inwardly.

Should I even leave the bowls and water jug here? Elizabeth is particularly wary…

“Hey!”

Should I leave them near the main building?

“Hey! Are you deaf?”

With someone yelling so loudly like that, it was clear that Elizabeth wouldn’t come anywhere near the annex. Even I felt like my eardrums were going to burst.

“Hey!!!”

I couldn’t help but lift my head at the scream coming from the second floor. And then, I met eyes with a man on the terrace of the second floor, with a fierce expression.

Blue hair, eyes resembling the night. I could recognize him immediately. It was because it was a characteristic of the Rubenstein family.

Theodore Rubenstein, known as the troublemaker of the Viscount family.

“Young master!”

Behind him, I could hear the urgent voices of the servants calling him.

“X…!”

Theodore glanced back for a moment, then looked at me again.

“Hey! Catch well!”

…Catch what?

I blinked stupidly, unable to hide my confusion.

He seemed to be moving away from the terrace for a moment, but then he quickly jumped down from a high place. Probably, I was supposed to catch him.

…Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be my fault if he got hurt?

In an instant, that thought flashed through my mind. Before I could even grasp the situation, my body was already running towards him.

However, the moment I saw Theodore’s massive shadow falling towards me, I regretted it a little.

Bang!

With a loud noise, I was perfectly laid out by him. There was a loud sound as if a watermelon had cracked at the back of my head.

I wondered if the back of my head was broken, and what if I became a fool who couldn’t remember Abel’s face anymore? Various thoughts crossed my mind.

I cried because it hurt so much.

But unlike me, who was afraid of becoming a fool, Theodore seemed relatively unharmed.

He looked at me disdainfully and stood up from his seat. Then, he brushed off the dust on his body with his hands and mumbled.

“If I can’t get this one right, what the hell am I supposed to do?”

Regaining my composure at his words, I quickly got up and asked cautiously, “A-are you hurt anywhere?”

Theodore, who had been focused on brushing off his body, briefly glanced at me as if I was pathetic. Then, he approached me.

“Wait, you…”

What’s the problem? As his giant shadow approached, my whole body tensed.

However, for a moment, Theodore visibly flinched at the voices of the servants coming from beyond the terrace.

He looked around, then abruptly grabbed me forcefully and led me to the thicket where Elizabeth was eating.

Due to the force with which he pushed me, I landed on the ground with my buttocks. My back of the head hurt, and my buttocks felt like they were about to shatter. I groaned in pain.

It seemed Theodore was afraid I might say something, so he took off the gloves he was wearing and forcefully stuffed them into my mouth.

“Ugh…!”

“Shut up. Before I kill you.”

I swallowed my words at his fierce voice. Of course, due to the gloves stuck in my mouth, I was in a state with my mouth wide open.

It hurt to have my jaw open, but there was a bigger problem.

The gloves tasted muddy. And there seemed to be a strange smell. Given that I had refined language, it was about this level, but five fingers entered my mouth among the trash that got in.

Even if I spat out the damn gloves, what if the horrible smell remained? I thought.

“Young master! Where are you?”

Theodore waited until the servants looking for him in the thicket withdrew. Meanwhile, I had to struggle with this disgusting glove.

I tried not to retch. I actually tried my best.

I also fervently wished for them to disappear as much as Theodore did.

“You dirty brat…”

When the commotion subsided a bit, Theodore licked his lips and turned his gaze alternately between my face and the servant clothes I was wearing. He narrowed his eyes.

“You’re a man?”

I remained silent.

“You look like a woman, but…”

Looking at me, Theodore chuckled and then approached me even more. As his enormous shadow approached, my whole body cringed.

However, it was only for a moment. Theodore, who had been approaching me, stopped and asked as he tilted his head.

“Answer me.”

I desperately nodded at his question. In a hurry to answer, I sounded desperate. My answer seemed to displease him, as he forcefully pulled out the gloves he had stuck in my mouth.

Before I could take in a breath of fresh air, his angry voice rushed in.

“You, are you a woman?”

His eyes were glaring even more intensely.