Volume 4 Chapter 7 Part 1 (2/2)
「Please excuse me, Filmina-dono, but my butler told me that you were feeling unwell, so…」
「Ah, p-please wait for moment…!」
The doorknob slowly started to move. I forgot to lock the door behind me when we came inside! I let out a small shriek and rushed towards the door, but it was already too late. The door opened before I could do anything to stop it.
「……!?」
Who could that be? I thought while holding my breath. With neither me nor Juri-kun being able to prevent the inevitable, a new person walked right into the room. Worse yet, I was unable to come up with any excuse on the spot.
The one to enter the room was the Governess herself. For a moment she just stood there, looking at me, then at Juri-kun, and then finally at the man who was still soundly asleep in bed. Her eyebrows rose greatly and you could see surprise reflected in her green eyes. She then slowly closed the door behind her, which echoed greatly in the awkward silence.
「T-this, what is the meaning of this!?」
Asked the Governess in such a shocked voice that for a moment there I wondered if it was indeed her who entered the room. But I could understand where she was coming from, since upon initially seeing this I was equally as shocked and confused. While the Governor was looking at the three of us with really confused gaze, I thought to myself that I would like to know as well what exactly was going on in here. She then blinked a few times as if to see if it wasn’t but a hallucination, but the reality was proving itself to be pretty unforgiving. She then held her head in her hands.
「I have a whole lot of questions right now, but let’s start with the most important one…… Filmina-dono, if I understand correctly, this little boy over there, is he……?」
「… It is exactly what you think, Leticiela-sama. Somehow, we found ourselves in a quite difficult predicament.」
「No way… But how…? How could something like that even…!?」
The Governess shouted as I she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Then, after a while she noticed that she seemed to be even more upset about this whole ordeal than me, and bowed to me in apology. She then closed her eyes, letting out a few deep sighs and opened her eyes again, seemingly calmer than before.
「I’m sorry. I don’t know what overcame me. I was very confused for a second.」
「No, please, don’t worry about it. But please, Leticiela-sama, please keep this a secret for now.」
The Governess nodded her head, seemingly understanding what I was getting at. It would be quite a scandal if it got leaked that the Court Wizard was turned into a small child while investigating the forest ruins. It was something we could never let happen.
「–––– Ahh, that’s right, that may indeed be for the best.」
After saying that to herself after a momentary silence, the Governess turns towards Juri-kun, as if noticing him just now.
「By the way, Filmina-dono? This young boy here, is he……?」
「My name is Juri. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Governess.」
I have completely forgotten that Juri-kun was here all this time, but when asked by the Governess he himself stood up and introduced himself, at the same time bowing down deeply to the Governess.
「This child is the guide who’s been showing me around the island since yesterday. He also helped me to carry that man back here.」
To that, the Governess only looked at Juri-kun and answered with a simple: “I see”.
「You have my gratitude for helping Filmina-dono out, boy. But I must warn you, don’t even think about talking around town about what you saw today. Otherwise be prepared to receive the most severe of punishments.」
「R-right. I understand.」
Being told that and realizing that the situation was deadly serious, Juri-kun answered with all honesty. The Governess then looked at him for a moment longer and ultimately turned towards me, opening her mouth.
「Right. Now then, since it is getting rather late, I do believe that you should go home, boy. Where do you live? I’ll send you there via carriage.」
「No way, I mean, there’s no need for you to do that, Governess…」
「No need to be modest right now, my boy. Think of it as a sign of gratitude for helping to carry “that boy” all the way back here. Now, just give it up and accept it.」
「If-if that’s how you put things, Governor…」
Juri-kun got up from the bed and then shook the Governess’s hand in response to her proposition. Then he also turned towards me.
「Great, now that’s been taken care of, can you wait here for a moment? I need to get the preparations ready.」
「Eh…?」
Juri-kun was about to leave, so that would mean that one matter has been taken care off. However, wouldn’t it be better to keep him around for a little while longer so that the Governess would be assured that he wasn’t going to tell anyone about what he saw today? While I was thinking like that, the Governess cast a quick glance at me, seemingly being able to figure out what I was thinking.
「Or you know what, no, scratch that. Sorry, but I may have phrased that wrong. Maybe you would like to move into the mansion here and stay with “that boy” for now, as an exception?」
「Exception?」