“…Delicious.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“When I’m with you, teacher, it feels like I have many new experiences.”
“Well…”
I was about to say that I just brought back the comfort of daily life, but the duke was faster.
“If I hadn’t been cursed, I would never have tasted such sweetness.”
“…It’s commoner’s food.”
“Thank you.”
It was just the sweetness of the potato he was talking about, but strangely enough, my stomach started to churn again like before. I should have laughed it off as just doing my job for the money I received, but I couldn’t. The lie got stuck in my throat, and I couldn’t say anything.
Did I eat the potato too quickly? Carol licked her dry lips with her tongue, then gulped down the completely cooled tea she had left earlier.
****
Carol arrived at the Duke’s Mansion using the back door after most of the servants had gone to the annex. Although all the servants were dismissed at night, she did this out of caution.
The carriage sent by the Duke did not have a seal, so there was no worry about rumors in the village. However, it was different inside the Duke’s Mansion.
It was obvious that if a strange woman was seen wandering alone in the mansion, it would lead to unfavorable rumors.
After the snow had fallen to the point of being tiresome, she arrived right in front of the Duke’s Mansion by carriage, but her shoes got wet in the snow.
“Welcome.”
Mrs. Wells, who had been waiting next to the back door, greeted her.
“Am I late? I left early…”
“It seems that the snow removal work was not finished until late afternoon. It’s very difficult to walk on the snow that hasn’t been cleared, isn’t it?”
Only after Mrs. Wells smiled did Carol realize that she was not as late as she thought and let out a sigh of relief.
“It really is.”
Carol nodded and laughed. Even though she had come inside, her feet were cold from the wet snow, and her body was shivering. Seeing Carol like this, Mrs. Wells clicked her tongue as if she felt sorry for her.
“Oh dear, your shoes are very wet.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. It’s a good thing.”
Although Mrs. Wells seemed stern and meticulous at first impression, she turned out to be quite different once Carol got to know her. She seemed to be a person with a lot of compassion and was forgiving even when mistakes were made.
“Huh?”
Instead of answering, Mrs. Wells turned her body and opened a drawer next to the back door and took out a box. Carol watched quietly, wondering what it was, and then Mrs. Wells handed the box into Carol’s arms.
“The indoor shoes you ordered have just arrived.”
“Huh?”
When Carol looked at Mrs. Wells with a puzzled face, she laughed. Only after Mrs. Wells explained, ‘These are your indoor shoes,’ did Carol open her eyes wide and look down at the box.
She was about to say that she couldn’t accept such a thing, but Mrs. Wells said something that was hard to resist.
“The inside is made of wool, so it’s an indispensable item in the Duke’s Mansion.”
Because it’s located high up, no matter how much maintenance work is done, it’s much colder than other places, isn’t it?
At Mrs. Wells’ additional explanation, Carol had no choice but to nod.
This place was really, unbearably cold for humans.
She didn’t plan to stay here for long, so it was not easy to say that it was burdensome to receive it. It couldn’t have been a gift given purely out of generosity, considering she had a lot of recognition.
Mrs. Wells had seen five servants leave before her. Carol knew there was a meaning to the gift, and Mrs. Wells also knew that Carol would notice it, but it was still a gift she gave.
“I’ll accept it gratefully. Thank you.”
“Thanks to you, I was able to talk with the Duke as before after a long time.”
Mrs. Wells expressed her gratitude in a voice soaked with emotion. She hadn’t done anything. It was excessive, but it wasn’t polite to overly react to the praise sent by the other party. Carol changed the subject with a slightly awkward voice.
“…Can I try them on?”
“Of course.”
It felt like wearing clouds. As soon as she put on the fluffy shoes, her frozen feet became warm.
It felt like walking on clouds. It was cozy, like the cloth nest that the Duke had made for her.
She didn’t think she would notice, but unexpectedly, the Duke noticed as soon as Carol entered the room.
“The sound of your shoes is different?”
Carol naturally sat opposite him. Unlike when she first sat at the door, it now felt natural to sit right in front of him.
“Mrs. Wells gave them to me as a gift.”
“Ah.”
The Duke nodded as if he understood.
“Thank you.”
“…I didn’t choose them.”
Mrs. Wells wouldn’t have mentioned the Duke for no reason. Mrs. Wells might have chosen the shoes, but it was easy to guess that the Duke would have bought them.
“But didn’t you choose them together?”
“I said something unnecessary.”
“Mrs. Wells didn’t say that you were worried.”
“…A guess.”
At Carol’s natural words, the Duke scratched his cheek as if he was embarrassed.
“It would be better to start the lesson.”
The Duke changed the subject. Feeling ticklish, Carol grimaced and sat opposite the Duke as if nothing had happened.
“My mouth is smaller than you think.”
Carol spoke in a calm voice and chewed the remaining food.
****
The Duke followed the lessons more diligently than before after he came out.
As he said, he was a very diligent student, so it was rewarding to teach him.
“I was relying only on my sense of smell and hearing more than I thought.”
He read the braille that caught his fingertips in a newfound voice.
He was reading by feeling the braille with his soft fingertip pulp, but now the speed of feeling has decreased a lot.
But he was still not that fast. It wasn’t because he was slow to understand braille, but because his fingertip sensation was a bit dull.
“You’re getting used to braille.”
“But my fingertips are still dull.”
“Then it would be better to touch other objects and sharpen your senses.”
“I see. Can I touch anything?”
“Well, it doesn’t matter what, but there’s a way to touch things.”
To cultivate the sense of an animal’s forefoot, not a human hand, it took effort.
In order to feel the sensation transmitted to the skin sensation through external stimuli precisely, it was necessary to slowly touch, stroke, press a little harder, crush or tear, and expand the area of touch.
Although it is often done at a young age for emotional development, in the case of the Duke, his hands have completely changed, so it was judged that it would be better to start from the beginning.
“There’s a way to touch things.”
“It may be a boring lesson, but please follow well.”
The Duke was quiet, lost in thought. He was considering touching something like a cup or a flower outside. Or he thought about borrowing something like a sponge from the kitchen.
“There’s something else I want to touch.”
“I see.”
“Teacher.”
“Yes?”
She thought he was just calling her and responded. But it wasn’t a call. Carol turned her gaze towards the Duke belatedly, as if she couldn’t believe it.
It was clear that he couldn’t see this side, but it felt like he was looking this way.
“I’m curious about the teacher.”
It was strange. From some time ago, to be exact, since the first outing with the Duke.
Sometimes something seemed to boil inside her, and then her stomach was blocked as if it had solidified.
“I’ve never seen you before. So sometimes I feel like I’m talking to an illusion.”
Just like now.
When Carol lost her words, the Duke smiled slightly. It was a smile not of leisure, but of desperate search for leisure.
He was a little nervous.
“I…”
Carol opened her mouth with a stiff voice. Inside the Duke’s Mansion, she was not Carol, but just a teacher. She tried to consciously do so.
She didn’t dislike the Duke, but she didn’t intend to stay by his side either.
She was an extra, so she intended to quietly give a little help and disappear.
Her only goal was to prevent him from reaching the worst ending and facing death.
“Just because you touch it…doesn’t mean you can know what it looks like.”
It wasn’t firm, but it was a clear refusal. A thick sweat came out in her hand.
Her heart was pounding.
She felt suffocated at the fact that he was curious about Carol herself, not the teacher, and she felt like she was going to faint.
“I just want to confirm that there is a substance.”
Suddenly, the Duke spoke in a deflated voice. Not only his voice, but his ears and tail were so deflated that they looked pitiful. Is he so disappointed?
“That…”
“You can see me, but I can’t see you. There’s absolutely no other meaning, teacher.”
It was a kind voice that made her feel pity without knowing it. The Duke had always followed her teaching method and had never asked for anything.
Gulp.
Carol swallowed her dry saliva and was conflicted. The Duke waited for her long silence very leisurely and patiently, without rushing at all.
“…I understand.”
It was the Duke’s victory.
lol
😏