CH 73

Alice’s POV

It was after school, the day after I had spoken to Yulena.

I asked Brother Will to escort me out to a corner of the large school grounds.

“…and that’s the situation…”

While pretending to look at the flowers and plants in one of the medicinal herb gardens, I finished talking about the recent developments amongst the aides that Yulena had told me about, and my own reflections on them. I wanted to hear Brother Will’s reaction.

“Hmmm, I see.”

Brother Will crossed his arms and made a difficult face.

“Matilda lacks goals and self-confidence, and then Johann’s problems with his parents’ house and so on by process of elimination…and I have the role…”

He muttered, and did so for a while until he chuckled.

“I mean, I’m embarrassed that Yulena even saw through me. Was it that obvious…?”

Brother Will, who patted his cheeks, asked me with a more complicated look on his face as I smiled bitterly, unable to reply.

“Moreover, Alice is thinking about my mentality by asking me for advice like this, isn’t she?”

“Ueh?!…Hmm, hmm.”

I coughed out a response and turned away. Was it too obvious?

“Well, it was never just for the sake of mentality…I just wanted to share it with Brother Will before calling out to everyone or giving them roles.”

“I see. So, what is Alice thinking about?”

Brother Will asked me gently, and I spoke up while in thought.

“I think the one I’m most worried about is Matilda, who is losing her confidence. I’m quite worried about Johann as well, but for now, it doesn’t seem to be an emergency yet…As for Brother Will’s worries, I’m sure he’s busy to death, so he won’t have time to worry about it.”

“—!?”

I replied with a laugh at the slightly blue-faced Brother Will.

“After all, I would like you to oversee the additional studies of all the aides and my friend I told you about earlier…?”

“Uh.”

“Also, once I’ve successfully passed the test and started the research activities, I’d like to ask you, who can easily go out, to do fieldwork and collect materials, and to do your best to expand the scope of our activities. It’s more like having a connection with the outside world.”

“Oh, I see…Certainly, if I involve my friends and my senior and junior staff, the things we can do will expand considerably…”

Brother Will, who seemed to have reconsidered that he certainly didn’t have time to worry, suddenly looked motivated.

“By the way…I’m also worried about Yulena too, Brother.”

Returning to a slightly more serious face, Brother Will nodded. “Right.”

“That’s Yulena’s problem. The thing is, I mean…”

“Yeah, that’s it…”

What is it? Let’s take it step by step.

I’ve mentioned before that the work of the female aides in this world was more civilian work and personal care rather than that of the bodyguard. In other words, housekeeping, sewing and serving.

However, Yulena’s talent for covert affairs had begun to show itself as such.

What can be inferred from these two facts…In other words…

“It means she’s devastatingly bad at housework, right…?”

“Yup…”

“And because she’s found an area she’s good at, it’ll be even more sparse…”

“Yup……”

Both of us somehow let out a dry chuckle as we thought about the future.

Yulena’s devastating housekeeping skills had been discovered when she was still in the Archelaus Mansion.

In terms of appearance and behavior, Yulena had a soft image like that of the delicate doll who was good at detailed housekeeping, while the strong, leader-type Matilda had the image of being less good at it. However, I didn’t expect the opposite to be true.

She could serve tea, but her sewing, making snacks and cleaning were devastating.

…It was even more avant-garde.

Therefore, Matilda was doing her best to support that.

It’s not that I think for a minute that one needs to be able to do domestic chores just because they’re a woman. Moreover, the aristocratic women of this world, depending on the family they marry into, may never do any housework at all. However, if you are going to serve a high-ranking woman (that is, me) as an aide, it’s bad if you can’t do it to a certain extent.

“Well then, so you have thought of a countermeasure for Yulena as well, haven’t you?”

“Yes, it’s okay. I’ll figure things out, and I have an idea…It will be a little while before I implement it, but it should probably work.”

Brother Will broke out in a bit of a cold sweat and laughed with plotting look.

Then he chuckled and prodded me saying, “You’re a different character,” followed by a soft pat on the head.

Hmm? I looked at Brother Will and saw him smiling calmly while lowering his eyebrows a bit.

“I’m sorry for worrying you. I was passive again. There’s so much more I can do besides being everyone’s tutor, so what was I worried about…? I’m still getting used to it, but I’m sorry I’m an unreliable brother.”

I was so surprised by the sudden remorse that I couldn’t speak, but apparently Brother Will wasn’t depressed.

He smiled and declared.

“Look forward to the future.”

“Yes!”

I wonder…it seems like he suddenly became so reliable and everything felt like it was about to be fixed?

Whatever it was, if he’s willing to work on it voluntarily, then he’s welcome to do so.

When I said that I would be counting on him, he nodded with a dazzling smile.

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T/N: I like how all of Alice’s aides have become more fleshed out!