Volume 4 Chapter 2 Part 2 (1/2)
Volume 4 Chapter 2 Part 2
Translator: Kurehashi Aiko Editor: Queenie
I don’t want to be protected all the time, I want to protect as well. Although I may be pretty much powerless, I want to be the one that can ease his worries and mend his ailed heart. In that sense, it was hard for me to call this butler here an enemy, but he wasn’t our friend either. I really think that was the correct answer to be given here. It would be good for that man to actually say something here, but instead of opening his mouth, he assumes his best tool when it comes to defense, a mask of cold and an emotionless smile. It’s hard to blame him, since that tool has produced the best results.
「In-in any case, thank you so much for coming so fast. I am sure that my lord is going to be pleased as well.」
「On that note, let’s all do our best.」
After giving that short answer, that man spoke nothing more, looking through the carriage’s window instead. The butler turned his eyes back to the road, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. You could see that this whole situation was wearing heavily on his mental state.
For him, it must have been the heaviest and most uncomfortable carriage ride in his whole career thus far.
To be perfectly honest, for me this short carriage ride was way heavier than the few hours of sea voyage we just had. The atmosphere here was so heavy that you got the feeling that your lungs might rot from breathing in all the stagnant air. So when I finally get off the carriage, I wasn’t sure if I was feeling severe fatigue, relief, or maybe a strange mixture of both of them.
The mansion that was erected on top of a small hill was a fine building, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was probably due to me living in the capital and seeing buildings like that every day that this one hardly left any impression on me. I guess that when you live surrounded by splendor, it was hard for anything to get a reaction of any sort out of you.
Upon seeing the butler returning home, a bunch of servants and maids came out of the mansion and began to carry our luggage inside. It was treatment on par of that of royal family members. That being said, I only brought a bare minimum of daily necessities with myself. It seems that lots of nobles liked to travel with an overwhelmingly enormous amount of luggage on them, but I was always a fair practitioner of the “If I lack something, I might as well procure it on site” method of travelling. That is why my luggage only consisted of one large trunk.
「Um, are you really sure that is all you need?」
「Yes, thank you. Also, could you bring me a shawl and a parasol from this trunk in a moment?」
One of the maids seemed to be surprised by the small amount of my personal luggage. Her hair also had a pair of braids while the rest was being held in a cup at the back of her head. Once again, I thought this must be some kind of local custom, unique to the Isle.
When I received the items I asked for, the maid returned to the mansion, and in the next moment I heard a gasp-like sound somewhere behind my back, which sounded as if a lot of people had gasped for breath at the same time.
Looking back, I saw that that man took off his coat and handed it to one of the servants. At that moment, the eyes of everyone present were drawn to his hair and eyes, and you could see that their reaction was pretty much the same as the butler’s. As a result, the servant almost dropped his coat on the ground.
「P-please forgive me……!」
「–––– Don’t mind it.」
The servant took the man’s coat in a proper way this time, and after giving him a big bow he also disappeared inside of the mansion, going at a speed that could be considered a small run.
All of the other servants who weren’t needed to carry our luggage lined up at the sides of the path leading to the main entrance of the mansion, creating a sort of a corridor leading from the carriage’s door. Then they just stood there, waiting for me and that man to go inside before eventually going back inside themselves.
All the while none of the servant said anything. However, there was no need for words here. Their attitude was more than enough proof that they were currently attending to guests of the highest rank possible. That being said, not even nobles at the royal court would treat the Court Wizard in such a respectable way. Hmm? That maid who is currently spreading the flowers beneath our feet, she’s trembling so much that I get a feeling she might fall down and faint at any moment. Is she going to be okay?
The butler must have been concerned about that as well, for he gave the maid a signal with his hand and said to us, “Please follow me” and took it upon himself to guide us, all the while wiping the sweat from his brow and forehead with a handkerchief.
I was the only one here who knew that man from the early years of his life, but to others who had never seen him before, he must have seemed like some sort of a foreign entity, one whose mystery and beauty could put even fairies to shame. So uniquely handsome were his features, but at the same time it was a kind of iron wall that separated him from others. After all, with his expressionless mask on his face, it was hard for anyone to guess what he was really thinking. They could only see features that even the most skilled sculptors and doll-makers would never even hope to accomplish. And even if you think you’d be able to understand him, you would soon find out that you were able to grasp only the information about him he was letting you understand. That is why his interpersonal skills may have been lacking quite a bit, but that’s why I was here by his side, to help him compensate for that.
「Edi, let us go, alright?」