A Maid’s Support

Lucien could not settle down. On the surface, he maintained his usual composure, so no one would have noticed at a glance—but inside, he was constantly restless.

Taking Nicholas’s advice to heart, he had decided to convey his feelings to Marguerite.

He had made that decision, yet the Marguerite herself had suddenly stopped showing up.

‘Could it be she’s avoiding me…? Did she notice my feelings?’

That couldn’t be the case—but Lucien was feeling pressed all the same.

At times, he wandered about the mansion while holding a reluctant Marron in his arms.

There was only one person who noticed the change in him.

However, servants were not supposed to speak to their masters.

After much deliberation, she decided to attempt an intervention that could be considered quite forward for a servant.

She crossed in front of Lucien repeatedly.

At first, Lucien paid no attention to the servant who bowed politely and hurried past each time, but when he realized she was Marguerite’s maid, he called out without thinking.

“Hey.”

“Yes, Lucien-sama.”

Anna stopped short.

Facing Lucien, she bowed and waited for instructions.

“…”

“…”

Yet no instruction came from Lucien, no matter how long she waited.

Raising her head just enough to avoid being rude, she cautiously glanced at him—

Anna’s eyes widened.

“…Is this about Lady Marguerite?”

The words slipped from her lips almost unconsciously.

That was how different Lucien’s expression was from before.

Until now, Lucien had never fully opened his heart to anyone—not to his father, the Duke of de Broy, nor to his mother, Lady Yumila. Of course, that included the servants as well.

He never smiled, nor did he show weakness.

And yet now—

His difficult expression was the same as ever, but his cheeks were faintly tinged red, and he was casting tentative glances at Anna.

‘I knew it… I never stood a chance.’

For a brief moment, a bittersweet feeling passed through Anna’s chest.

“The young lady is in the library. It seems she is looking for embroidery patterns, one of her hobbies.”

As Anna bowed again to report this, Lucien nodded and turned to leave.

Then his steps suddenly stopped.

The fleeting worry that she might have committed some offense vanished at his next words.

“…Thank you, Anna.”

“N-No, I don’t deserve such words!”

Suppressing a voice that nearly flipped in pitch, Anna bowed deeply.

It was the first time anyone had ever said such a thing to her.

‘He remembered my name…’

She could no longer deny it.

Marguerite had changed Lucien in a way no one else in this house could.

Meanwhile, Lucien was heading toward the detached library, carefully making sure not to break into a run.

‘So she wasn’t avoiding me.’

Just that alone made his spirits lift, and he frowned at himself for being so simple. Even so, he had to fight desperately to keep his cheeks from relaxing—seen from the outside, he must have looked rather strange.

Just as Anna had said, there were signs of someone inside the library.

Only then did he recall Marguerite’s love of books. The smile on her face when Noel had gifted her books came back to him.

Anna had known Marguerite’s hobbies and whereabouts. Perhaps that was only natural for a maid—but Lucien had not even known that much.

“…”

Lucien’s expression clouded.

Would Marguerite truly not dislike it if someone like him confessed his love?

‘Far from being conscious of me… might she even come to dislike me?’

Such concerns were only natural for Lucien, who as the future head of the house had always kept an eye on every possible outcome.

It was common for actions taken with good intentions to backfire.

‘No… even so, I have to spend more time with her.’

Encouraging himself as his resolve wavered, he opened the door to the library.

Marguerite was there.

She sat at the table before him, a book spread open, embroidery tools at hand, carefully moving her needle stitch by stitch.

Her eyes sparkled, the corners of her lips lifted slightly—she looked utterly absorbed in enjoyment.

Lately, between her confrontation with Yumila, preparations for moving to the couple’s territory, the tea gathering, the evening party, and the transfer of duties for the change of headship, Marguerite had been extremely busy.

That she had barely had time for her hobbies—at least that much Lucien could understand.

The sound of the door closing made Marguerite notice someone’s arrival, and she looked up.

“Lucien-sama…!”

At once, Marguerite’s expression stiffened, and she hastily hid the embroidery she had been working on.

Rising in a fluster, she hurried over to Lucien.

“Did you need something in the library?”

Once she put it that way, he could hardly say, “I came because I wanted to be in the same room as you.”

“…There was a report of an unfamiliar beast appearing in one of the villages in the territory, so I came to look at the illustrated guides and records.”

Cursing himself for being able to say such a thing smoothly with a straight face, Lucien passed by Marguerite and turned his back to her.