The maid he meant, could it be me?
At Richard’s words, countless eyes turned toward me.
“Yes, Your Grace, that is correct,” the butler answered on my behalf.
Despite this, Richard’s gaze remained fixed on me. Beyond the discomfort of his relentless stare, there was something else. What is this sense of deja vu? His sharp yet lazy eyes felt oddly familiar.
“Well,” Duke Richard slowly opened his mouth. “She doesn’t seem like just a maid in my eyes.”
“Pardon? What do you mean, Your Grace…?”
“It means she doesn’t seem to belong to the Everet mansion.”
His cryptic statement left a stunned silence in its wake.
Damn it. Meanwhile, I felt a cold sweat break out. They say a thief feels guilty on their own. His words made me feel ominous for no reason. After all, I wasn’t really a maid but an outsider who had woken up in this body.
“Sepiana is a new maid who joined about a month ago, but she’s officially a part of the Everet mansion,” the butler replied hastily, trying to clarify.
It was a crucial meeting, with the future of the Everet family hanging in the balance. And yet, Duke Richard, who held the final decision, seemed more focused on me than on the matter at hand. No wonder the butler and the other nobles looked so taken aback.
What a troublesome man. I deliberately kept my face expressionless.
I had a vague idea of the cause of this deja vu. It was like a kind of signal. A signal that nothing good would come from getting involved with this man!
“Sepiana…” Richard let out a short laugh, still watching me closely. “Let’s begin the meeting.” He finally shifted his attention, signaling to Viscount Rawls with a nod of his chin.
“Yes, Your Grace. Let us proceed with the meeting regarding the Everet family.” Viscount Rawls jumped to his feet, ready to begin.
“You go serve tea to the young master,” the butler whispered to me.
“I understand.”
“Since Count Everet is still too young to manage the family’s affairs, I believe appointing a guardian is the right course of action.”
“That’s something we’ll have to watch and see. Didn’t His Grace also inherit the title at a young age like Count Everet?”
“Can you really compare the honorable Duke Richard to the young Count Everet?”
“What’s the difference?”
The nobles’ heated debate over young Dave’s future filled the room. But it didn’t concern me.
I approached Dave, holding a teacup. However, since Dave was sitting with his shoulders slumped, I couldn’t read his expression. That’s why I brought hot chocolate instead.
There was a brief scene in the original story, but I remembered it well. Viscount Rawls had controlled Dave’s life so thoroughly that he couldn’t even enjoy something as simple as a cup of hot chocolate.
“Now, let’s ask Count Everet directly,” someone sitting next to Viscount Rawls said.
“This is a family heirloom of the Everet family. Can you tell us about its asset value, Count?”
“T-That’s…” Caught off guard, Dave stammered, his shoulders shrinking even further. His lips moved, but no words followed.
“Hmm, knowing the value and scale of one’s family’s assets is a basic requirement for a head of the household.”
“Yes, it seems managing the family alone would be difficult for young Count Everet.”
Another noble chimed in, and the others nodded in agreement. It made a faint smile spread on Viscount Rawl’s face.
Of course he wouldn’t know.
Watching this, I felt like I was chewing on a dry, tasteless sweet potato.
That heirloom had been donated by Viscount Rawls after the funeral. In other words, it was a foreign object that Dave was seeing for the first time today. There was no way he could immediately grasp its asset value.
No matter how blinded by power they are, how could they be so cruel to their own nephew?
I had planned to help Dave. That’s why I had volunteered to come to the meeting in the first place. But I hadn’t intended to get too deeply involved…
He looks so pitiful now.
In the middle of the long rectangular table, Dave sat alone. In other words, if I pretended to place the teacup in front of Dave, I could turn my back on the nobles.
He should be able to understand the signal I’m giving him.
Pretending to place the cup, I turned slightly toward Dave and used the condensation from the cup to write on the table. 520 Blant.
Dave looked up at me, confused.
I mouthed the words to him. ‘Milord, the butler says to answer like this.’
A cautious boy like Dave wouldn’t trust a stranger he’d just met today. So, I had no choice but to use the butler’s name.
“B-Butler?” For a moment, Dave’s teary eyes widened.
“As you can see, Count Everet is still too young to manage the household on his own—”
“I know it! 5-520 Blant!” Dave suddenly shouted, cutting off Viscount Rawls.
“H-How could he know that?” The nobles murmured, shocked that Dave had answered correctly.
“Y-Your Grace! Something is amiss here!”
The most flustered of all was Viscount Rawls.
“Someone must have leaked the questions to Count Everet! How could such an important matter be tampered with!”
Viscount Rawls’ eyes scanned the room, his voice rising in anger.
“No one could have leaked anything.”
“Wasn’t that heirloom donated after the late count and countess’s funeral?”
“B-But Your Grace! It’s clear someone leaked the question! Otherwise, how could Count Everet possibly know!”
“We’ll delay the decision about the guardianship for now and settle the other matters later.” With that, Duke Richard stood up, signaling the end of the meeting.
“Y-Your Grace!”
Viscount Rawls hurriedly followed the duke, but Duke Richard paid him no mind, dismissing the meeting with a wave of his hand.
“Haa…”
I heard Dave sigh softly.
At least we got through that for now.
Just as I felt a sense of relief, I heard a low voice.
“Interesting. A mere maid of just one month has managed to protect Count Everet.” It was Duke Richard passing by me. “Are you still going to insist that you’re just an ordinary maid?”
Had he figured out that I had given Dave the answer? For a moment, the relief I’d felt was gone, replaced by tension.
“As expected, my eyes are never wrong.” Duke Richard smiled faintly as he walked away.
What the hell is with that guy?
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