Chapter 103: Back to the main topic

"Anyway, going back to Stevie..."

"Ah, I’m sorry. I got us quite off track."

"Yeah. I can’t make any grand promises about a lifetime or anything, but right now, I feel like I want to cherish Stevie. Oh, and you too, Lily."

Lily made a slightly exasperated face.

"Lord Robby, you don’t have to force yourself to add me in there."

"No, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry."

"Fufu, I was only teasing a little. When thinking about my future relationship with you, Stevie will likely be with you much longer."

"Uuuu... sorry."

"It’s fine already."

"Yeah, thank you."

This is complicated...

"So, is what you said earlier about Stevie a normal thing?"

"Normal?"

"Yeah. Stopping her means taking responsibility for the rest of her life, right?"

Lily chuckled.

"Ordinary princes—and even young noblemen—wouldn’t pay that much attention to a single maid. I only said it because it’s you, Lord Robby."

"Eh, really?"

"Yes. I wanted to see just how strongly you felt about Stevie, so I asked."

"I see..."

"Most members of the royal family and high-ranking nobles are fickle. They often say they like a maid one day and forget all about it the next."

"Is that how it is?"

"Yes. Someone who thinks as seriously as you do is quite rare. Truly exceptional. So please don’t overthink it too heavily. Let’s go see Stevie."

"Yeah, let’s do that."

"Stevie also understands that you are still only ten years old. She won’t demand anything like ’a lifetime commitment’ just because you stopped her."

"Right. Yeah, that’s true. If I don’t see her tonight, I might never get another chance."

"Come on, let’s go."

Lily opened the window and jumped out first, quickly climbing onto the roof. I followed and jumped up after her.

"Where’s Stevie’s room?"

"This way."

Led by Lily, we headed toward the wing where Michel and his wife lived. It made sense that palace and rear palace workers lived clustered together.

Tonight, both Michel and his wife’s room and Marin-sensei’s room were dark. No voices leaked out either, so they must have already gone to bed. Even if they were awake and "encouraging" each other, I had firmly decided not to ask Lily for that tonight. Though my resolve is as soft and crumbly as tofu.

"This room below us," Lily said, pointing to a room a short distance from Marin-sensei’s. The room was already dark. No light leaked through the gaps in the curtains.

"It’s already dark. She must be asleep."

As soon as I stated the obvious—

"What are you saying?! Even if she’s asleep, we can just wake her up. Knock on the window!"

Lily scolded me. Following her instructions, I dropped down onto the balcony and tapped on the glass: knock knock knock.

Peeking through a gap in the curtains, I saw movement—someone getting up from the bed in the pitch-dark room. They looked this way, and their eyes caught the light for a moment. But then they lay back down.

"What happened? Is Stevie not there?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, someone’s there. I’m not sure if it’s Stevie. She looked over here but went back to sleep."

"That is Stevie! She definitely noticed it’s you, Lord Robby! Let’s go inside!!"

"Eh?! Is that really okay?"

Lily’s eyes widened.

"What are you talking about?! Why are you acting so proper at a time like this?! If you don’t have the nerve, let’s just go home!"

She scolded me in a hushed but intense voice. Ughhh, what does she want me to do?!

I tried to open the window but it wouldn’t budge—the latch was fastened. While I was wondering what to do—

"Please use this."

Lily handed me a thin, flat metal strip (like a ruler without markings).

"Slide it between the window frames and lift the latch from below. The window will open."

She really came prepared... I didn’t say anything about her clearly intending to break in from the start. I nodded, slipped the metal plate into the gap, and lifted upward. With a small clack, the latch came undone.

"Excuse me..."

I greeted softly as I climbed through the window into the room. Lily, apparently worried about me going alone, followed me inside. Even though the two of us had clearly entered, the lumpy mound under the blanket on the bed didn’t move.

When I looked at Lily, she jerked her chin toward the bed, signaling me to go.

"Stevie."

"..."

"Stevie, wake up."

"..."

No reaction. I glanced at Lily again helplessly. She made a shooing motion with her hand. Fine, whatever happens, happens! I approached the bed and touched the blanket-covered Stevie. The whole blanket twitched violently.

For a split second, the thought This isn’t actually Stevie, right? crossed my mind, but at this point there was no turning back!

"Stevie?"

"Go away! I’m sorry, please go away!!"

It was Stevie’s voice rejecting me. Good, it really is her.

—-

Even though she told me to go back... I was disappointed in my own pathetic hesitation, but when I looked at Lily again, she pointed at Stevie with her index finger and urged me with strong gestures: Go! Go!

(Later, when I asked Lily what she was thinking at that moment, she said: "He’s a prince! He should just command her without all the hesitation! Stop mumbling and tell her clearly!")

"Stevie, please continue working here. Stay by my side. Be my guard when I go outside the palace. I want to be with you!"

I poured all my feelings into those words, but—

"I’m sorry! I cannot accept your feelings!!" she cried out.

I was worried the neighboring rooms might hear, but no one banged on the wall, so the soundproofing must be pretty good.

"Stevie, let’s talk face to face! Show me your face!"

I tried to pull the blanket off, but Stevie desperately clung to it to keep herself covered.

Hnn! Hnng! As I tugged on the blanket, Lily watched me with cold eyes.

"Stevie, that’s enough already!!"

Lily flipped up the edge of the blanket and spoke in an extremely cold tone.

"Lily-san!"

From my side I couldn’t see Stevie because of the blanket, but Lily clearly could. Their eyes met, and Lily stared intently into the blanket.

"Stevie, get a grip already! Just because your brother died doesn’t mean you can keep moping forever! No matter how much you cry, he’s not coming back! There are plenty of other people who have lost family members too!!"

Her words weren’t exactly comforting. It felt more like a strict sports club senior giving a tough pep talk to a junior.

"But..." Stevie whimpered.

"If you go live with your sister-in-law, you’ll only be a burden! Every time she looks at you, she’ll be reminded of your brother and won’t be able to move on! Do you understand?! If you stay with her, she won’t be able to be with anyone else for who knows how long! She’s still young! There’s a chance she could meet someone good in the future! But if you’re there, she’ll be trapped by your presence and unable to move forward! If she finds someone she likes, she won’t be able to be with him because of you! You should separate from your sister-in-law and stay here as a maid!"

It was a harsh way of putting it, but Lily could say this because Stevie knew Lily had also lost a loved one in the past. Lily was breathing heavily, panting.

"Stevie, listen. Don’t get full of yourself just because Lord Robby is paying attention to you! You’re a scrawny, stick-like girl who can barely cook, serve food, clean, or tidy up properly—you’re a half-baked maid! And yet Lord Robby still cares for you!! You should be more grateful! And now he’s come all this way for you! A prince of the kingdom went out of his way to visit someone like you. Think about that very carefully!"

Stevie was getting absolutely roasted. Everything Lily said was true, but normally no one would ever say it out loud. Maybe Stevie hears this kind of thing regularly?

"I’m sowwy... hic... uuuuuh..."

Stevie started apologizing. Her tone had changed from cold rejection to tearful sobbing.

"You know exactly how I feel saying this, don’t you?! I took care of you like a mother when you first came to the palace knowing nothing! If your brother died, you should have come to me instead of relying on your sister-in-law! I’ve been watching over you this whole time too!"

Lily’s tone was getting rougher and rougher. Is this her real personality?

"I’m sowwy... Lily-shan... hic... I’m sowwy..."

Lily walked over to the crying Stevie, pulled the blanket completely off, and embraced her. There was Stevie, face all puffy and messy from crying. Lily held her head and pulled her into a hug.

"Lily-shaaaaan—!"

Stevie burst into loud sobs. It was like a dam had broken—she had been holding it in for so long. She clung to Lily’s chest and cried her heart out. I just watched silently.

"Stevie, be a good girl and continue working as a maid with me for a while. Lord Robby will also be watching over you, so stay here and keep working. Nothing good will come from locking yourself away at your sister-in-law’s house. When I lost someone important, I was able to recover because I kept working and received comfort and encouragement from my colleagues.

Right now, many other people have lost family or loved ones too. You’re not the only one feeling sad, okay? So pull yourself together. You can cry tonight, but starting tomorrow, I want the usual Stevie back. Understood?"

Lily peered into Stevie’s face and gently persuaded her. Amazing. I could never do something like this.

"Yeah... yeah, I un-derstand... hic... I’m sorry... Lily-shan..."

Stevie clung to Lily and cried bitterly.

After a while, Stevie’s sobs quieted down and turned into the sound of peaceful breathing.

"She’ll be fine now, I’m sure," Lily said to me.

Yeah, if her mother figure Lily says so, it should be okay.

"Well then, I’ll return to your room now, Lord Robby."

"Yeah, let’s do that."

As I started to move—

"What are you talking about?! You will stay by Stevie’s side tonight!"

"Huh?"

"What do you mean ’huh’?! At a time like this, a man stays with her until she wakes up!"

"I-is that so?"

"Yes, that’s exactly right! I’ll come to pick you up in the morning, so please sleep together with Stevie in this bed tonight. Just stay by her side."

"Got it... I’ll do that."

Following her instructions, I laid Stevie down properly on the bed and slipped in beside her.

"Well then, good night. I will come for you in the morning."

Lily slipped out through the window.