Chapter 19

Today’s work ended with a warm bath. After changing into pajamas, I approached the drawer at the corner of the bedroom.

It looks like an ordinary drawer at first glance, but the truth is, this was my secret safe I asked Ains to give me.

When I opened the vault door with a key, I could see a row of shiny gold bars.

But my goal wasn’t the gold bars. I took my diary and writing equipment one by one and went to bed.

[Kyaa! It’s really cool!]

“…..”

I was about to open my diary, but I when I heard Ruri, I burst out laughing. I looked up at her who had been flying around the room and admiring everything, even though we have been here for a while.

I looked down again and flipped through my notebook diary.

When reached a fresh new page, I poked the pen chute into the ink bottle, took it out, and began write on my diary.

“Rohin year 26, month xx, day xx…Today…”

[Sister, what are you doing?]

I looked up and saw Ruri landed on the bed.

“I’m writing a diary.”

[Diary? What’s that?]

“It’s a record of the special things that happened in a day that you want to remember.”

[It’s too difficult! What’s a record and the sea? ]

(t/n: remembrance and the sea sounds the same in Korean)

“Well, to put it simply, it’s just writing special things on paper. Do you know what paper is?”

[Yes, I know it. Then what are you going to write today?]

Of course, it’s…

“Meeting Ruri. “

[Wow, really? I’m so happy!]

After doing the tap dance that she also did earlier in the afternoon, she came closer to me and sat down.

[Today is a really happy day. I met sister, and I met Mr. Leopard.]

She said happily. I smiled as well and reached out my hand at her.

Ruri climbs up my palm as if she’s been waiting and sat comfortably on it like she’s sitting in a nest.

“You weren’t scared?”

[What ?]

“To that leopard earlier… I mean, Glick”

[I wasn’t scared! As soon as I saw him, I thought he was cool. Oh, and I’m curious about something, sister.]

“What is it? “

[What’s a snack?]

Hyuk.

[I remember Mr. Leopard called me a snack earlier.]

(t/n: this is so funny considering snack has another meaning.lololol)

I unconsciously got speechless.

…I see. I thought it was very brave of her that she didn’t got scared even when Glick called her a snack, but turns out she just didn’t know what a snack was.

It was said that ignorance is bliss. I smiled awkwardly and wrapped it in words that were pleasant to listen to, as it might get a little too messy if I told her the truth.

“Um, that’s… It means pretty.”

[Kiiyaaa-! Really?]

Ruri twirls around on my palm ecstatically.

[Then Mr. Leopard thought Ruri was pretty, but he was just embarrassed to be friends with me, right?]

“Uhm, yeah. “

···· I’m sorry, Glick.

[Then I’ll have to approach him first! Ruri is so excited! Go ahead and write your diary. I’ll just wait by your side.]

She flaps her wings and sits gently near my knee. Thanks to that, I started writing my diary with a pen again.

◇◆◇◆◇

Today is just another normal day. I got up early in the morning, had a meal, and then went over to the main palace to prepare for Glick’s meal.

Of course, Ruri was also on my shoulder, accompanying me. The situation was not much different from usual. Ruri greeted Glick warmly as soon as he saw him, and he just snorted and emptied the meat plate at a rapid pace.

But he also did not completely ignored her.

Even though he pretended not to listen most of the time, he still gave wry answers once in a while, but I thought it was very glum, so I laughed out loud.

Thanks to them, I had a good time before I came back to the palace. I climbed the stairs leading to the second floor and walked along the corridor, the I suddenly heard a some voices from somewhere.

‘What was that? ‘

From the point of view of the location, it seems that it’s in my room. I walked closer, and as expected, the door to my room was slightly open, and a voice of a person came from it.

“Eek! “

The maid standing by the door was startled to see me.

Shhh-

I hurriedly put my right index finger to my mouth and made a gesture to keep her quite.

As I crept up and looked inside, I saw two maids facing each other.

“The one who broke this vase is you, do you understand?”

Hmm…

I’m having a bad feeling with this. I watched the two maids with my arms folded.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…..”

“Answer me!”

Then the other maid suddenly raised her hand and was about to hit the other. I couldn’t stand it so I showed myself.

“What are you doing?”

“…….!”

The two maids turned to me at the same time. The maid who had her arm raised bowed to me with her knees slightly bent.

“Welcome back, Miss Maria.”

“What are you doing just now?”

“That’s… Chloe accidentally broke the vase in the drawing room. It’s my fault. I didn’t thought her properly. I’m so sorry.”

I glanced slightly at the other maid. The girl was visibly shaking. I moved my eyes back to the maid standing before me.

Her name… it was Linda, right?

She pretended not to be, but she seemed to be avoiding my gaze nervously as if she had been caught lying.

Why do you look like I just caught you selling drugs or something?

I was going to say that, but I changed my mind and smiled instead.

“Alright, it’s dangerous, so can you clean it up?”

“Yes, Miss Maria.”

Linda answered, but the one who moved was the girl standing next to her named Chloe. This made the relationship between the two clearer to me.

“Linda.”

The maid that I called looked back at me.

“…..yes? “

“I need to talk to Chloe for a moment. It’ll be dangerous if there’s a piece of shard left, so please clean it up.”

Then I looked at Chloe and smiled at her.

“Can I talk to you for a moment? “

“Yes, Miss Maria.”

I soon made my way to the table by the window with Chloe following after me. Her face in front of me was full of fear.

She must’ve been thinking that she’s going to get in trouble.

A glanced back at Linda and the other maids who were busy cleaning up the remains of the vase.

Once I made sure that no one was paying attention to us, I looked at Chloe and said in a low voice.

“The flower vase, I know Linda broke it.”

“…..!”

“So you don’t have to be scared. If Linda asks you what I told you, tell her that you’ve been told to be careful in the future.”

Chloe looked confused at first so I smiled one more time at her and Chloe finally smiled as well in relief.

“Thank you, Miss Maria.”

“Can you go get me a cup of tea? I’d like to have some of Ruri’s snacks, as well.”

“Yes, I’ll get it ready right away.”

Chloe stepped out of the drawing room.

Ruri, who was sitting on my shoulder, went down to the table and my eyes naturally followed her.

[Ruri is pretty?]

“Huh? “

[Sister just said Ruri’s snack! So Ruri is pretty, right?]

(t/n: oh nooo! Maria what have you done? )

When I understood what she was talking about, I burst into laughter.

“Yes, that’s right.”

[Is Ruri really pretty?]

“Of course. “

I pleasant smile naturally appeared on my face as I gently patted Ruri’s back.

I definitely should tell her the real meaning of the snack someday.

I turned my eyes to where the maids were gathered. Sure enough, Linda is just standing there and only the other maids are busy sweeping and wiping the carpet.

I watched her with my hand on my chin.

It’s been a month since I entered the palace. It was enough time not only to get used to life here but also to recognize the situation around me.

That includes the rank of the maids. I don’t know how many servants there are in the Crown Prince’s palace, but there were five people who are currently serving me.

Among them, Marilyn has a high position in the palace that’s why it was difficult to see her face these days.

As a result, the other four maids were naturally on my watch, and anyone could tell that Linda was the senior among them.

Linda was very diligent whenever Marilyn was with her. She was the first of the four to recommend me a dress, or brushed my hair without sparing praise for how fine my hair was.

But when there were only four of them, her attitude is very different.

‘Clean up. Get the water. Brush her hair.’

She never lifts her hand and just always gave orders to other maids. Everyone who didn’t know the situation or how proud she was would probably think that Linda is the master.

She’s doing this even in front of me. It was obvious how the four of us would act.

Of course, there may be reasons that I didn’t know why she’s like that, such as coming from a good family, having a strong backer, or having worked the longest among the four. I could understand how dirty her temper is by yielding a hundred times.

However, it’s hard for me to tolerate her act of passing the blame on to others without any consideration.

It may be even more so because it is an identity-based society, but I felt bitter to see the scene of her, overusing her power in front of me like that.

“Here’s your tea, Miss Maria.”

Chloe, who came back, carefully laid down a tea set on the table.

The antique tray contained not only nuts for Ruri but also appetizing cookies.

“Thank you. I’ll go out in a minute, so please call a carriage for me.”

“Yes, Miss Maria. “

I lifted the cup and took a sip of the tea.

Even now, I didn’t laze around in self-studying. If I have nothing to do during the afternoon, I would often leave the palace to keep learning the surrounding geography.

I also looked at the big and small stores to find out what is famous, what prices are like, and what customs or issues there are in the area.

Thanks to this, I made quite a few acquaintances now. Especially, the owner of the grocery store near the square who always greeted me first. It was because I stopped by their store for several times already to buy a snack for Ruri.

‘Shall we go out now? ‘

I looked at my watch, it was almost three o’clock.

After drinking half a cup of tea, I stood up and took my satchel and wore it sideways. Then asked Ruri.

[I’m going to the square. Will you come with me?]

Then came the answer, which never missed an inch from my expectation.

[I’m coming! I’m coming!]

◇◆◇◆◇◆

Not far from the Imperial Palace, was the Granlottea Square that shaped like a revolving intersection.

On the left, there was a place like a small park filled with trees and benches, and on the opposite side are rows of buildings. The atmosphere may be quite different, but if you look at the street, it would be as if you were looking at a busy underground shopping mall.

There were various kinds of shops like boutiques, a hardware stores, and general merchandise stores.

There’s also Ruri’s favorite grocery store.

[Kiyaaa! We’re almost there. We’re here! We’re here!]

I could hear Ruri’s excited voice on my shoulder and i smiled at her.

Ruri’s “We’re here!” means we’re almost at the grocery store, a block away from where we are.