CH 6

Plate? 

The maid moved the food from the dog bowl onto the plate. 

—What is she doing? 

“You can eat it.”

Richard couldn’t respond as gently as usual and just watched her silently. 

The maid put out a plate of bread in front of him and took out what she had prepared behind him.

She covered the ice well with a towel and carefully handed it over to Richard.

“—What’s this?”

“You hurt your leg. Hold on.”

It hadn’t been long since he met the maid, but she was not such a great person to care about him. 

Rather, it felt as if she would perform her duty with all her might if he escaped.

“Ah, but.”

What else is there?

The maid offered dessert with a sweet smile that did not match her. 

“Don’t you want to try?”

“….”

Is it because there were some strange ingredients in it? 

“Oh, I’m not giving you everything.” 

The maid picked up a fork and hung about half of the cake. She looked at what she was doing, and the maid divided the cake into two pieces. 

“I was going to share it.”

When he didn’t respond, the maid simply smiled awkwardly. 

Did Argen order it? 

Otherwise, he couldn’t understand the attitude that had changed significantly from the morning. 

He looked into her pink eyes as if searching for the maid’s intentions, but all it screamed was harmless.

“—Your master won’t allow it.”

“Do you mean dessert? Dessert disappears when you eat it, so he won’t know anyway.”

The maid was surprisingly tall. 

“It wasn’t just that.”

“Do you mean plates and ice?”

There is that, and the kind attitude toward him. 

Richard originally did not trust people easily. Therefore, he doubted the maid’s behavior in front of him. 

But his blue eyes that hid his innermost feelings, still had a gentle glow. 

“I stole the plate while helping with washing the dishes in the kitchen. And when I pretended to be injured, the people around me took care of me.” 

So why did you do that?

The maid responded as if it was nothing, but it was not something light for Richard.

It was not that there was no one who took care of Richard among the servants.

But the reason most of them acted like that was because Richard seduced them, so they were attracted to him and friendly.

However, the maid in front of him was not very interested in him. Rather, she openly expressed her expression that she didn’t want to be involved. 

But why? 

Perhaps it was just a small kindness for him, but Richard had to pay great attention to all the variables.

That way he could prevent any unexpected variables from happening when he escapes.

Richard could not raise doubts about the maid, and took a bite of the bread given to him. 

At that moment, he realized that the feeling spreading in his mouth was quite different. 

He wasn’t talking about taste.

‘There’s no stimulants.’ 

There were always vicious things in his food, but not today.

Is it because of this maid?

“Does it taste weird?”

“No— I think it’s a little different than usual.”

“I understand. Sometimes the food I always eat feels different.”

Whether she was ignorant of his words or pretending not to know, the maid acted like nothing happened. 

In Richard’s view, the latter’s probability was higher. 

He looked at the maid quietly, and said something he would not normally have said. 

“Why did you do this for me?”

The maid couldn’t answer right away.

Her eyes fell on his swollen ankle. 

“I’m kind to patients.”

That’s all it meant.

Richard thought of something when he saw the maid. 

When he gasped in front of her and begged for medicine, she gave it to him obediently.

Was it really because he was a patient?

At that moment, Richard realized one fact.

In order to win this maid’s heart, he needed to be sick for a little longer. 

*****

Originally, I didn’t mean to give him dessert.

However, when I saw his injured leg, my conscience poked at me and made me give the dessert as if it were a reward. 

But Richard’s expression was strange. No way, is he touched?

Richard, who would normally be sly, said little. 

He slowly picked up the bread and chewed it slowly.

Obviously, it was just an act of eating bread, but every gesture of his was elegant.

“Maid, are you always this kind to patients?”

Wouldn’t it be rare for people to be cruel to sick people?

Ah. You’re one of the few, right?

“Even if you weren’t a patient, I’m always kind.” 

I spoke politely to Emily and the chef, who I had just met. I was kind to everyone.

—Except for Richard. 

“I see, kind maid.”

Is he teasing me?

“—Uhm. You asked me what perfume I used before, right?”

I tried to ignore it because I thought it was a Richard-style work comment, but he asked, so I decided to let him know. 

“It turns out that I don’t use perfume.”

“—Did you have to find out if you wear perfume or not?”

Ah. 

I naturally made a slip of the tongue. 

Well, it can happen as long as you live. I was a little too tolerant of myself.

“I don’t have good memory. I don’t even remember if I ate just after eating.”

“Ah.”

Was the lie too insincere?

I think it was good though. Richard will listen to such trivial stories anyway. 

“But you don’t even use perfume. It’s amazing.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know if you know, but your body has a strong scent.”

Is this a work statement?

Richard’s face was not a joke.

“It didn’t smell like artificial scent, it smelled like body odor. I’m sorry if it was unpleasant.” 

“Yes, it’s unpleasant, so hold your breath.”

At the firm response, Richard’s eyes opened wide and he soon burst into a small smile. 

“I told you to hold your breath.”

“If that’s what the maid wants.”

—You’re not really holding back, are you?

Contrary to my worries, Richard was breathing without any disturbance.

Since then, it has been quiet. He finished eating quietly and I waited silently for him. 

When there was no more reason to be here, I skillfully wrapped the plate with a towel and went outside. 

It was a perfect crime.

—Maybe? 

******

The sun had already fallen and it had become a dark night.

The woman in the maid’s uniform looked around.

When she confirmed that there were no people, she raised her eyes to the kitchen maid, who was shaking in front of her.

“You said you couldn’t put the fruit in the monster’s meals?”

“…I’m sorry.”

The expression of the woman in the maid’s uniform’s distorted without hesitation.

The name of the woman in the maid’s uniform was Marie. She belonged to a high rank among the maids.

She was favored by the head maid with her unique snake-like tongue, and her position was solid.

But one day, a ‘suspicious man’ came to her.

He gave her a large sum of money and ordered her to add the suspicious fruit in Richard’s food.

She tried to reject the uncomfortable offer, but when she heard the amount offered by the man, she couldn’t help it.

Thus, Marie mixed Richard’s meal with an unknown fruit.

Of course, she didn’t come forward to save herself and gave some money to the kitchen maid to work.

If things went wrong, she was going to blame the kitchen maid.

“It’s not that you couldn’t put it in just once, it’s that you couldn’t put it in all day. What the hell is going on?”

“Because the maid who was in charge of the meal was watching the food—”

If it’s the maid who is in charge of serving the meals—

Rosie. 

Pink eyes reminiscent of soft pink cherry blossoms and azalea flowers. She was an impressive maid based on appearance.

All Marie knew about her was that she was quiet.

That kind of Rosie interrupted her work? 

“A day will be fine. Don’t skip it tomorrow and put it in no matter what.” 

“T, that’s—”

“What’s the problem this time?”

“She said she would always come first in the future—”

The unexpected words broke her calmness. 

“Why?”

“I don’t know either. She said she want to watch the chef cook because he’s so cool—” 

Could that be true? Only the chef was deceived.