BOVBD 05

Chapter 5

The maid who had finished dressing me said.

“If you tell me the measurements, I can go buy clothes by myself.”

The maid said this after finishing dressing me, glancing between us as she spoke.

I reflexively offered an awkward smile, and Keris looked away completely. The maid immediately realized we didn’t know the measurements.

“You don’t know, then. In that case, it’d be better if I went with you to the tailor and bought things together, shall we do that?”

Keris replied at once, Do that.

We began to prepare to go to the tailor. While the two of us hurried about, Keris made no sign of preparing to come along. To be exact, he was preparing, only not to go to the nearby clothier. He dressed as if he were going somewhere formal and distant, putting on impeccable garments.

Curiosity won out and I asked.

“Aren’t you coming with us, Keris?”

Calling him ‘my lord’ felt strange now, so I used his name. Perhaps that was too casual at my word the maid gave a small start. Keris, however, answered as if it were nothing.

“I’m due at the palace today; I should go now. Tell the other staff the same.”

“Ah, yes.”

The maid scrambled to reply, flustered.

Come to think of it, Keris should have been at the palace by now. He’d evidently missed it because of the absurd incident of my becoming human.

‘Keris never misses the palace.’

I thought; the imperial court might be in an uproar over his lateness.

Keris left for the palace, and I went to the tailor with the maid.

***

Having been transmigrated into a doll while inside a romance-fantasy, I’d never seen the outside world, until now. Everything outside felt brand new. I’d never even traveled to Europe, so the foreign-style buildings outside the estate fascinated me. I hadn’t realized how grand the estate itself was until that moment.

I kept my eyes wide and gaped around. The maid watched me with an odd expression: first curiosity, then a look as if she’d seen every kind of eccentric person. Realizing my staring was getting weird, I cleared my throat.

“As I felt when I first came, this domain has a very different atmosphere.”

Her look shifted to something even stranger, as if she were viewing an alien life form. I sighed softly and stopped trying so hard not to look odd.

It occurred to me that, despite being a maid, she wasn’t particularly deferential to Keris. I’d heard things from Keris and read bits in the book, but I hadn’t expected such blunt familiarity. What sort of life had Keris lived?

‘Should I ask?’

I needed to learn about the domain if I was going to live here. Hesitantly, I asked the maid.

“May I ask your name?”

I thought names came first when trying to get friendly, but she just looked at me as if thinking, What’s wrong with this woman? and didn’t answer. Predictable. Still, if I kept asking she couldn’t ignore me forever.

“If you don’t tell me your name I can’t call you. My name is Sarina.”

The maid sighed and replied.

“I’m Anne.”

Thank goodness, Keris’s warning must have kept her from outright ignoring me.

“That’s a lovely name.”

“It’s a common one.”

She took my polite comment in stride. I asked a few more questions about her, but every answer twisted whatever I said into something odd. Talking to someone who misinterprets everything is tiring. I sighed and moved on to the real topic.

“When I first came, it seemed the lord isn’t very well received in this domain. Am I right?”

Anne’s face brightened in a way I’d never seen before. Was she pleased at an opportunity to complain about Keris? I felt uneasy as I listened.

“Yes. The people here don’t welcome the lord’s rule.”

“Why is that?”

Anne leaned close, glanced around, and lowered her voice as if sharing a secret.

“It’s because there’s a rumor that the current lord isn’t the previous lord’s biological son.”

It wasn’t surprising, I’d already read that in the novel. I’d even heard Keris himself mention it when I’d been the doll. Still, I tried to look unconcerned and covered my mouth in feigned astonishment.

“Really?”

“I can’t be sure, but rumors don’t spread for no reason. There’s also the matter of the former lady suddenly disappearing. Some say she coveted the lord’s power and made a pact with a demon.”

“A demon?”

“Yes. They say she conceived the current lord by that pact. Ridiculous as it sounds, it’s a way of saying the present lord has a base origin and isn’t the previous lord’s true child.”

Of course it wasn’t true, Keris had been born in the normal way. Even so, I could see why Keris was despised and ostracized in the domain.

“Thanks for telling me.”

“I don’t know exactly what kind of relationship you have with the lord, but it’s best not to get too close. Who knows what that ‘monster lord’ might do to you?”

Anne’s bluntness—speaking so freely about her master—surprised me.

“But I’ve heard he’s well regarded at the palace, Isn’t that so?”

“We lower-born folks don’t know palace matters, But I’ve heard that, outside this domain, his reputation is good, maybe because he works hard. If you say you’re from the Layton estate, people tend to greet you. Still…”

“His origin matters. No matter how good his reputation is elsewhere, as residents of the Layton lands, we can’t accept someone with that birth as our lord.”

I hadn’t expected Keris’s standing to be this poor. Hearing how he confessed to me at night made more sense now, he truly had no one to confide in.

We also learned the estate wasn’t far from the capital where the palace stood, which is why Keris commuted daily. Only a very small number of nobles were allowed entry to the palace. I’d been curious about the male lead’s face, but if only a few nobles could enter the palace, I’d probably never see him.

Before long, we arrived at the clothing shop.

***

Keris, arriving late at the palace, drew every eye. It wasn’t unusual for palace staff to be tardy, but if the latecomer was Keris Layton, it was different. He’d been a machine of work since entering the palace—never late, never slacking. Why was he late now?

People watched him pass, curious what could have kept the man who always worked like clockwork. No one dared ask him outright; they only watched his expression.

Keris strode to his office. The moment he sat, an aide appeared with a thick ledger.

“Minister, His Majesty the Emperor has an urgent request.”

A crease formed between Keris’s brows. He had to finish quickly and return to the estate. It was an imperial order; he couldn’t refuse. But if he handled this immediately, his return would be delayed, and Sarina would be left alone in the house.

After a moment’s thought, Keris said.

“Leave it here. Tell His Majesty that finishing it immediately is impossible and that I will take care of it by tomorrow.”

The aide looked surprised but bowed and withdrew. Alone in the room, Keris stared at the ledger the aide had left.

‘His Majesty…’

As he read, his expression hardened, an expression that did not soften.