Peaceful Days

By the time the sun had fully risen, I was sitting at the desk in my study, working through some paperwork.

I had thought my life might change dramatically after Shia and I officially married, but that hadn’t been the case at all.

As always, I trained with the sword in the morning, and afterward, if I had a little time, I simply took care of work related to my territory.

Since Gill-san was there to assist me as well, the amount of time I actually spent working was only a tiny fraction of the day.

Shia, on the other hand, had come to live at my manor, but she spent most of the daytime at House Ark Gate.

Unlike me, she was the head of a great noble house, and the amount of work she had couldn’t even be compared to mine.

At first, I’d thought traveling back and forth between House Fols’s territory in the south and House Ark Gate’s territory in the north would be difficult, but apparently it didn’t bother her because gate magic made the travel time practically nonexistent.

“It’s like going to the room next door,” Shia had told me, and that was enough to make me understand.

She came back to my manor at night, so we ate dinner together, and even aside from that, whenever we both had a day off, we spent it relaxing together.

And… of course, we spent the nights together too.

It wasn’t as though either of us had suggested it. We had simply started sharing the same bedroom naturally.

Well, in other words, Shia and I were getting along as well as ever.

“Master, this is the last document.”

“…That was quick.”

I accepted the final document from my personal maid.

Even after Shia and I officially married, Tanya had continued serving as my personal attendant.

She was effectively in a position where she oversaw the entire manor. Since she and Shia had already known each other beforehand, they were on good terms as well.

I was a little frustrated that she’d met Shia before I had, though.

So, in that sense, nothing had really changed dramatically.

My surroundings, my work, and the people around me all remained the same, and Shia had simply slipped naturally into my life without disrupting any of it.

I looked over the document Tanya had handed me, found nothing wrong with its contents, stamped it, and returned it to her.

That brought today’s work to an end. As usual, it hadn’t taken long.

On a whim, I stretched my arms above my head, but I hadn’t exactly been working hard for hours, so I barely even felt my back loosen up.

“Good work today, Master.”

“You too, Tanya.”

“I merely handed you the documents.”

Smiling, she pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket and looked it over.

“Madam will be returning tonight as well. You have no particular plans after this, so perhaps you could have lunch first and then practice your swordsmanship again? …Ah, that’s right.”

Tanya, who had been telling me the schedule for my uneventful day, suddenly spoke up and left the room.

I tilted my head and stared at the door she’d gone through, and after a short while, it opened again and she returned.

There was a letter in Tanya’s hand.

“It’s from Rowen-san at the Master’s manor. It’s a letter from Sonia-chan.”

“…From Sonia-chan?”

I pictured the small, gray-haired maid in my mind.

I’d only spoken to her once at my family home, but perhaps something had happened.

I took the letter from Tanya and opened it.

The writing was small and rounded, and somehow it seemed to reflect Sonia-chan’s personality.

When I read through it, however, there was nothing like what I’d feared. She simply seemed genuinely grateful that I’d spoken to Rowen-san on her behalf.

Apparently, she’d had so much work before that things had been difficult, but now she had enough breathing room to enjoy her job.

Her happiness showed through in every part of the letter, and I couldn’t help smiling.

“Does she seem to be doing well?”

“Yeah… She only wrote about how much fun she’s having.”

“That’s good to hear. It was worth speaking to Rowen-san.”

“I think it was only a small thing, but if it made her this happy, then I’m glad too.”

I smiled at Tanya, who stood diagonally behind my chair with a gentle smile of her own.

When I lowered my gaze to the letter again and read it through to the end, I could practically picture Sonia-chan’s smiling face from the words alone.

And at the very end, the letter was signed simply, “Sonia.”

Seeing those three characters made something occur to me.

I turned my gaze toward Tanya behind me and spoke.

“Do you know what kind of girl Sonia-chan is?”

Since Tanya was also a maid, I’d thought she might know, but Tanya shook her head.

“No. At the very least, I don’t believe she was there while I was still at the Master’s manor. If a girl as small as her had been working there, I think she would have stood out even in a manor that large.”

“I thought so…”

When I’d first learned about Sonia-chan at Father’s manor, Tanya hadn’t seemed particularly familiar with her either, so I’d wondered about it. Apparently, she’d been hired after I left home.

The only thing written at the end of the letter was Sonia, too. Did the lack of a family name mean she didn’t want to write it? No, I was probably overthinking it.

It wouldn’t be unusual for a girl Sonia-chan’s age simply not to write her family name.

“…Still, I wonder why they hired her. I haven’t heard anything about getting a younger brother or sister.”

“…That is certainly strange. If one of the Master’s children were still young, they might hire her as a personal maid, but she appears to be an ordinary maid.”

Even Tanya, who had once been in that exact position herself, looked puzzled.

I stared intently at her face, but she genuinely did seem confused.

At the very least, unlike when we’d talked about Shia before, she didn’t look like she knew something she wasn’t telling me.

After I’d been staring at her for a while, Tanya sighed and gave me a wry smile.

“Um… Master, I truly don’t know. This manor is one thing, but that detestable manor is outside my jurisdiction.”

“…I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Apparently, I’d stared for too long and she’d figured out what I was doing.

I decided I really shouldn’t try things I wasn’t used to.

Tanya, meanwhile, didn’t seem bothered at all and placed a finger against her chin as she thought.

“Ah, but Madam might know something. Even if she doesn’t, I’m sure she could find out immediately if you asked her.”

Tanya said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I’d come to understand just how incredible Shia was lately, and someone as capable as her probably could find out about Sonia’s past.

“No, there’s no need to go that far. I was just a little curious.”

But I’d only been mildly curious about Sonia-chan. I had no intention of going out of my way to ask Shia to investigate her.

Besides, even if we did investigate, the answer probably wouldn’t amount to anything important, and I didn’t want to use Shia’s abilities for something like that.

Sonia-chan probably wouldn’t feel good about having someone pry into her past either.

Though… if there was one thing I was still curious about…

“I wonder what her family name is. Well, it’s not like it matters since I’m going to call her Sonia-chan anyway.”

“Oh, apparently it’s Gardi. It was written in small letters beside Rowen-san’s name on the envelope the letter came in.”

“…Oh, I see.”

So apparently her name was Sonia Gardi.

I’d never heard the family name Gardi before, though.

And just like that, Tanya had easily resolved my little curiosity.

“…I might as well write her a reply.”

I kept it brief, but wrote that I was glad to hear how she was doing and that she could tell me if she ever needed anything, then slipped the letter into a small envelope.

After writing the recipient’s name and handing it to Tanya, she smiled brightly.

“I’ll make sure Rowen-san receives it.”

I watched Tanya slip the letter into her pocket, then stood up.

With my work finished, I was starting to get hungry too. It seemed like a good time for lunch.

Feeling the strong sunlight pouring in through the window, I left my study and followed after Tanya.