WYDM 27

“Come on, Romina, what are you doing? Didn’t you say you had to go prepare food?”

At Sehera’s bright voice as she entered through the suddenly opened reception room door, Romina and Sana inside turned around in surprise.

They’d been pondering wrapping the gifts they’d moved to the reception room in place of her, who’d gone upstairs after checking them.

The party was the very next day, and if the lady went into that room today too, she wouldn’t sleep properly until tomorrow morning and wouldn’t have time to wrap things—that had been their judgment.

The two of them had been examining the gift wrapping first, saying they’d try it out, when Sehera suddenly appeared with a bright voice, making their eyes go wide as they turned toward the entrance.

Even knowing what their reaction was about, Sehera deliberately came striding in with an even brighter smiling face.

No one seemed to know yet, but…

Sehera deliberately smiled brightly when she had many complicated thoughts.

Three months after coming here, she’d cried every night when she got too gloomy and depressed, and it had been so exhausting she could barely endure it.

So she’d started smiling brightly when meeting people for work. She’d speak in a cheerful voice and smile more.

Then her eyes, swollen from crying all night, were somewhat hidden, and her poor complexion seemed hidden too. From then on, she’d cried less.

“My lady! Just go rest! We figured out how to wrap these! Like this! Didn’t we do better than expected?”

Sana held up her own gift that she’d wrapped, smiling brightly at her. She approached with quick steps and settled onto the sofa, examining what Sana held out from various angles.

“Ah… you really did well?”

“Right? I told you I’m pretty crafty. So trust me, my lady!”

Quite pleased with the one she’d done, Sana enthusiastically grabbed the next gift and started examining it from all sides. Some were in boxes, but if they weren’t that type, it was tricky figuring out how to wrap them.

“Then Sana and I will do it, so Romina can go. Don’t you have more to do in the kitchen?”

Romina had been wrestling with her gift and wrapping paper for a while, then was looking between the two with a troubled face. Noticing this, Sehera smiled brightly at her too.

“Haah… I’m so lucky to be in charge of the kitchen. My lady, I’ll start preparing the food.”

“Okay.”

She put down the wrapping paper without regret, gathered her gift, and disappeared forlornly toward the kitchen.

She looked cute being dejected about not being helpful despite having her own work to do.

“Um, my lady. Are you okay not being there today?”

They each started wrestling with wrapping paper, holding one gift apiece. And while the rustling sound of wrapping paper continued for a while, Sana carefully spoke up.

She knew with her head that it would be better not to bring it up, but she couldn’t help being curious.

Since Sehera had been guarding that room alone for days, not even giving others a chance to nurse, it hadn’t been strange that she’d just checked the gifts earlier and gone straight back up.

But when Sehera came right back down after going up like that, that became even stranger.

Sehera’s hands slowed slightly at Sana’s words while she was rustling around, having finished pondering how to wrap and starting the wrapping.

“Yeah, he woke up. So I came down.”

The explanation was simple. Sana, who’d been hoping some other story would follow, looked at her closed lips for a moment, then puffed out her own lips.

Then silence continued for a while. Only the rustling sound of paper kept going.

But if the sounds in their heads could be heard outside, this reception room would probably be clamoring with noise from two people’s worth.

They rationalized the silence with gift wrapping while their heads were full of their own thoughts.

So they seemed able to focus even more on their respective thoughts.

Sana had been racking her brain and pondering hard since that brief answer. She hadn’t been told not to ask, but… she’d thought maybe it was a secret starting from not being allowed to nurse.

But since they weren’t prevented from entering the room, maybe it wasn’t a secret.

Just seeing a face wouldn’t mean knowing who that person was, but still, letting them see like that… didn’t that mean it was okay to ask?

If she asked, they’d answer whether it was okay to ask or not, but even that felt delicate to Sana, so she continued wrapping quietly while reading the mood.

She didn’t want to become a tactless maid stirring up something the master was trying to hide.

“Sana.”

“Yes… yes?”

While she was using her dexterity to do decent wrapping in that suffocating quiet, Sehera suddenly called her. Having been watching her mood, Sana jumped in surprise and answered twice.

Sehera had already finished wrapping one and carefully moved it to place against one wall of the reception room. She seemed to be planning to gather the gifts there.

Following the voice that had called her, Sana’s gaze tracked Sehera’s movements as she put down the gift and returned to the sofa, meeting Sana’s eyes as she sat down.

Sehera, who smiled gently with her eyes, sat down with refined movements.

Really, looking at her head-on like this made their lady even more beautiful.

How could someone have such calm yet atmospheric beauty?

Sana hadn’t seen many beautiful noble ladies since this wasn’t the center of the capital, but she was certain. There definitely wouldn’t be such a beautiful woman in the empire.

“That person there… just don’t worry about him.”

“…Huh?”

Finally, words about the patient in the Count’s room on the second floor came from Sehera’s mouth.

But the direction was somehow strange, so Sana couldn’t bring out any of the reactions she’d been thinking of and just stupidly asked “Huh?”

At least ask intelligently—what kind of response was “huh”!

Sana asked back in a dazed state, then came to her senses again and looked at her.

She who’d been smiling brightly just when appearing in the reception room… had a face that looked tired somehow.

She was definitely smiling beautifully even now… it was beautiful… but somehow it kept feeling like one corner of her heart ached.

“I’m… curious though, is that not okay…?”

When she spoke honestly, Sana also emptied her complicated head and asked honestly.

It wasn’t just her. Everyone who knew there was a patient in this house was curious about that man’s identity.

If only Sehera hadn’t been particularly insistent on nursing alone, they could have just thought that the guerrilla warfare they’d only heard rumors about was actually happening, and a knight fighting there got injured and fled, sneaking into the village’s largest estate, the county estate.

But everyone’s thoughts had reached the point that even though she couldn’t not know that, she had no choice but to do it that way.

If she wanted to hide something, not digging into it was the unspoken rule.

But the party would be held at this estate tomorrow.

In that sense… they might need to be grateful that the knight’s wound was very deep. It hadn’t been long since he regained consciousness, and moreover, the party was tomorrow.

Enough that he’d need some resolve to deliberately come out?

Though she hadn’t seen directly, Sana knew roughly because she couldn’t contain her curiosity and had sneakily gone to Himoph to ask about his progress.

“I’m sorry. Even though hiding it doesn’t hide it… I don’t think my heart has settled yet.”

She said that while smiling gently.

Actually, as a noble, as the current master of this estate, she didn’t need to read anyone’s mood. She just needed to say one thing.

Whoever that person is, don’t worry about it. Close your eyes and ears, don’t even come near the second floor, Himoph should focus only on treating him, Romina should only make and deliver food.

But she hadn’t done that, and moreover, she was being considerate of causing worry to those concerned about her by doing this without saying anything.

If not for the deep worry pooled in those blue eyes… she would have immediately told them who that person was and why she was so concerned.

“No, my lady! You don’t need to be sorry! Just… you were looking forward to and preparing for tomorrow’s party so much, so I was just worried about that. Since you prepared so hard, you should enjoy it with many people.”

Sana just… wanted her to always be happy.

She hadn’t asked about how she’d lived before either, but she seemed to know without the adults telling her that it probably hadn’t been very pleasant or smooth.

It might even have been much harder than she could imagine.

“Yeah. That’s why I came down to prepare like this. Fortunately, that person has some conscience since he woke up.”

Only after confirming Sehera’s gentle smile became a real smile did Sana also put down her heavy heart a bit and start wrapping.

“Now that I think about it… is he coming too?”

“Hm? Who?”

At Sana’s question, the mood of reading the atmosphere was completely cleared and it became a time of comfortable conversation.

“The lawyer! I feel like I haven’t seen him lately…”

Seeing Sana ask about Fredil while blushing slightly, Sehera smiled brightly. She always smiled that brightly when Sana seemed very girlish.

* * *

“We’ve arrived, Lady Sehera!”

“Ah, hello, my lady.”

“Traver! Ranshu! Welcome!”

The next day, as lunchtime approached, the county estate that had always been quiet began to bustle.

Today was the ‘First Anniversary Party’ that Sehera had been preparing for a whole month.

The day marking one year since returning from Croft Ducal Estate to Planer County Estate where nothing remained. In that time, she’d accomplished tremendous things in her life.

Of course, there was still a long way to go, but she’d been able to accomplish much more in one year than she’d thought.

“Thank you for coming. Traver is the number one contributor to me holding this party. Coming first means so much, really.”

Sehera greeted the two with an endless bright smile. Naturally, Sana, who’d been excited since morning, also ran out and hugged her parents intensely.

“Mom, Dad!”

“Yes, yes. Sana’s worked hard. You’ve been serving the lady well, right?”