Chapter 9

Thump. Creak. Creak.

By the time she had finished washing her face, there were a lot of loud noises outside.

When she opened the bathroom door and went out, there was a girl of her age, with her hair braided beautifully in pigtails, sitting by the bedside and working hard on something.

“Who…?”

“Huh?!? Hello. I’m Lily, I just came here.”

Lily’s appearance when greeting Ayla was ridiculous.

From the dust and sweat on her face to the bangs on her forehead, everything was perfect.

“Ah… Yes. I am Ayla Serdian. Then, you should finish what you were doing. Haha…”

Ayla gave Lily a formal smile and sat at the end of the bed.

Looking at Lily, who had a broad smile, Ayla brushed off her wet hair with a towel.

“Right, I almost forgot!”

Lily suddenly stopped what she was doing, got up from her seat, and rummaged through her bag.

As the room was small, even if she tried to look somewhere else, Lily’s behavior repeatedly bothered her.

Lily, who had been searching for a while, pulled out a small note from her bag.

“Here, take it.”

“What is this?”

“Hmm… News from outside? Open it, quickly! I brought it with me because I was begged to. Hehe.”

Lily smiled nicely and walked back to her bed.

Ayla, fiddling with the note, carefully opened it and saw a clean handwriting.

[How is life at the Royal Palace? My Lady must be doing well, so what is the point in asking?

I will find out where Mister is, so do not worry.

Then, do not get sick and make sure you get along well. I miss you, Ayla Serdian.]

She was just reading a letter, but it seemed as if she could hear Louis’ warm voice in her ears.

When the appearance of Louis, who would have written down letter by letter, uninterruptedly, came to her mind, Ayla’s eyes turned red.

“If you have anything you want to say, simply write it down! I still have free access to the outside. But you should not write too often, Young Lady.”

“…”

“Eh??? Are you crying? It’s embarrassing if you do this.”

“No, who’s crying? No one is crying. Thank you, I mean it.”

“Come on, it’s not like that. I am not the one you should be thankful to, but the Prince! I just delivered it on behalf of the Prince. Hehe.”

“Still… Thank you very much.”

“Yes, yes. I will accept it! I look forward to working with you. Young Lady Ayla!”

Lily smiled lightly and held out her right hand, asking for a handshake.

Lily’s hand, which she was holding, was rough and full of small scars, unlike her cute appearance.

As if she could feel Ayla’s gaze, Lily carefully pulled out her hand and spoke.

“Ah, this is because I went through a lot when I was a kid. There is a big tavern in the plaza in front of my house.”

“Ah…”

“But you are a noble lady, so your hands are soft and beautiful. Now that I look at it, I think I know why the Prince is restless. Heh.”

When she finished talking, Lily, embarrassed, clapped her hands a couple of times and went back to her seat.

The truth is, that was meaningless because the room was small.

***

She got along with Lily better than she thought.

She was a very cheerful and funny friend.

Most of all, Ayla and Lily were the same age, so they had a lot to talk about.

Before she realized it, the two girls settled at the bottom of the bed and were chatting.

“So, did the Young Lady meet Grand Duke Arrot?”

“Yes… It happened somehow.”

‘Scary person.’

As she talked with Lily about Owen, she was naturally reminded of Theon, whom she met during the day.

Closing her lips, Ayla quickly shook her head to get rid of her useless thoughts.

“I was told to start working from tomorrow, but I don’t know what to do. My hands used to carry liquor bottles day after day. Still, I am glad to meet a nice person like the Young Lady, hehe.”

Ayla was annoyed that Lily kept calling her Young Lady.

Most of all, it was obvious that Rose would nag her all day after hearing this.

There is no way that a person who has said that she is not a noble and to get to her senses will let her have such a title quietly.