Chapter 25

“…what?”

“I want you to massage my foot. My legs look swollen after sitting for a long time. That’s what you’ve always done for me.”

“Foot… Always…”

[Emma didn’t do that.]

Harry asked in a puzzled voice.

[Of course it is. ]

But the guy in front of me wasn’t Emma.

If I had the audacity to say, ‘That’s what you’ve always done for me, right?’ it meant that he had no choice but to believe so.

What do you say, Luke?

You’re in trouble, aren’t you?

As I expected, Luke looked a little embarrassed.

I’ve never seen Emma, an experienced maid, with that look on her face.

‘He’s so embarrased that his original facade came out, not Emma’s.’

I smiled inwardly at Luke, who had hardened and became absorbed in his own thoughts.

Has he ever touched someone’s foot, when seizing everyone’s weaknesses as the head of the information guild and reigning as the king of the underworld?

‘What are you going to do, Catherine’s fish?’1

I giggled in the sensation of being a real villain.7

‘Are you just going to give up?’

“Emma, come on.”

His face become more troubled when I jerked my foot and urged Luke.

Touching a feet in this world meant a great deal of loyalty to the other person.

In order to massage my foot, he have to kneel on his knees in front of me and bend his head deeply.

‘It’s an expression of great obedience.’

I thought Luke would give up here. A high nose Luke couldn’t have put up with this.

Then I get the result of hitting two birds with one stone, a success in making fun of this guy and kicking him out.6

But Luke responded unexpectedly.

“…I see.”

Luke sat down on his knees and grabbed my feet in front of him.4

“Huh?”

I didn’t know he’d do this.

My legs stiffened, now that I was embarrased.

“Well, you’re going to do this?”

“You ordered me to do it, that’s what I’ve always done.”2

Luke said, and pulled my shoes off.

When the shoes that had been wrapped around my feet came off, my feet has crouched spontaneously.

Although I was wearing silk stockings, I did not feel stable when I was wearing shoes.

‘What? I didn’t know you’d agree.’

Luke’s hand pressed against my foot as I rolled my eyes.

As he pressed his thumb against the concave side of my foot, a great pain came over me.

“Aah!”

At the same time, a fire flashed out from his eyes. I almost felt tears come out of my eyes at that moment.

‘Somehow, it was weird to say he will do it!’

He must have done it on purpose because he knew that I noticed.1

I thought I was making fun of Luke, but it was the opposite.

I looked at Luke in anger.

I tried to get angry as soon as I looked at him but my mouth hardened.

“Are you sick?”

Luke stared at me with an incredibly embarrassed face.1

He looked so embarrassed that it could not compare to when I asked him to rub my feet.

‘Are you really embarrassed? Or are you acting? ‘

I didn’t know what he’s thinking inside, so I sat down blanky and Luke pressed my feet again.

“I’m sorry, I guess I have put too much strength.”1

Unlike the first time he had pressed so much stregth, this time it was light enough that I can’t feel it’s touch.

I felt my feet tickle by a careful touch, like dealing with glass artifacts.

“…Are you doing this on purpose?”

I asked him seriously, and Luke’s face become even more troubled.

“Is this too weak again?”2

Luke stared at his hands and my foot for a long moment, then pressed on my foot with a little more force.

After two trials and error, it was now on a perfect strength.

“Is this enough for you?”

“Yes. The strength is perfect. ……”

‘Are you sure you’re going to continue?’

I asked that with my eyes, but Luke, who was so focused on my feet, had no interest in my eyes.4

‘I’m curious at this point.’

What the hell is he trying to find out about me?

Luke hates Yvesria.

So the information he gets obviously would be Yvesria’s predicament.

I’ve already figured out who you are now, Emma has never massaged my feet, so I’m going to have to yell out to get you out of here.

‘…why is he so good at massaging?’

I felt my feet relaxing from the sore of my uncomfortable shoes.

The shoes of this world were very uncomfortable.

The floor was hard, and the leather that wrapped around the foot was bare, so my foot hurt everytime I walked.

Whenever I walk for a long time, I wanted to throw off my shoes and walk down the streets barefoot.

In fact, <Lady Catherine>’s world was not a perfect medieval.

It was a world with just the image of the moderate medieval.

In some ways, it reminded me of the Victorian era of the Industrial Revolution, and of course the existence of magic and different races was naturally a fantasy worldview.

In this world where various things are mixed, there were reasonable compromises in many respects.

A newspaper that can be read all over the continent, a phone that can be connected by using magic stones, and a simpler outfit than I thought of.2

There were parts of this world that would never exist in real medieval times.

‘If they would compromise that much, how good would it be if they could make  shoes comfortable?’

I didn’t want to go out until sneakers existed.6

I wouldn’t have thought it was painful to walk with just plain flat shoes.

But the nobles of this world all wore pretty shoes.

It was just a pretty pair of shoes, it barely covered their feet on high, thin heels.

It was not a shoe that was convenient in the first place.

They focused on external beauty and never thought about the foot of the person wearing it.

In fact, there was no reason to worry about the feet of the person wearing them.

The nobles did not walk much in the first place. It was natural that they only gestured and don’t work.

In this world, shoes were a display of identity.

Wearing impractical shoes, meant that they was a high-ranking person who did not have to work hard.

This led to a ridiculous situation where the nobility of status was obscured by who was wearing the more useless shoes.

Yvesria Oberon was at the highest rank of status in such a world.

In other words, it meant that my shoes didn’t have a speck of practicality.

My shoes were zero, no, minus 100 for walking on the street.

However, the shoes of the common people were not comfortable either.

‘I will rather have the shoes of the common people.’

The nobles called in people to measure their feet and to make handmade shoes, but the commoners crumpled their feet into shoes that had been already made.

There was even no distinction between the left and right sides in these shoes.

The people here, who have been accustomed to wearing such shoes since birth, had no understanding of the discomfort I felt.

When I complained to Emma that the shoes were uncomfortable, she answered with a very puzzled face, “Isn’t the original shoes uncomfortable?”

By the way.

The feet that was groaning in so much pain become cooler.

I looked at Luke with thrilled eyes.

If this person was really Emma, I would have hired her as my personal masseur, not as the maid of the house.

Unfortunately, it was Luke, not Emma.3

‘There’s no way I can hire the head of the information guild as a personal masseur.’

As I looked down at Luke’s head in sorrow, he looked up and smiled like Emma.

“Isn’t your life in Erell boring these days?”

“Erell’s life?”

“Yes, you’re from a splendid kingdom. You’ve also been active in social activities ……but Erell is very quiet.”

“I can’t help it. Erell is a countryside. “

Tea time, banquets, ball, salons, etc

Yvesria enjoyed constant socializing and flaunting her influence.

But light tea time was not uncommon in Erell, a periphery of the aristocratic culture.

‘If it were the real Yvesria, this would have been a waste of time.’

But for me, it was equally boring to spend time in the countryside and to attend an uninteresting social activities.

“Now I want to live a quiet life. I prefer the quiet Erell than the lively kingdom.”

It’s not fun to hang up a picture, discuss the artist’s intentions, and dance in uncomfortable shoes, right?

It was better to take a nap in the quiet Erell’s mansion than to go out to that place.

In addition, there were many rules that need to be followed in aristocratic culture.

There are many implicitly common etiquette and rules stated in the etiquette book and if you are a little distracted, it often leads to a disgrace.

I would have been humiliated, if it wasn’t for the habit of Yvesria’s body.

I did not know the aristocratic culture at all, but my body moved by it’s own.

Thanks to this, I was able to overcome the situation flexibly without being greatly humiliated at banquets or balls.

‘In fact, no one would point out that a high-ranking aristocrat like Yvesria made a mistake.’

Criticism of being vulgar because of not knowing the manners only works for the middle class.

Who would dare to look down at the young lady of Oberon, a prestigous noble family since the beginning of the kingdom?

They will talk behind you, but they will smile and be kind to you.

“Yes.”

Luke, who had Emma’s face, smiled with an insincere answer.

He must have thought I wasn’t serious.

It was a reaction that anyone who knew the real Yvesria would see, so I didn’t feel particularly unfair.

“But you seem to be adjusting well here. Especially, it was amazing that you were able to tame the Wyverns.”

The talk naturally flowed to the Wyverns.

Only then did I know why Luke was going through such hardships.

‘You want to find out how I tamed the Wyverns. ‘

He must have gathered information that I was close to Emma and disguised as her.

‘Let’s make fun of him.’

I buried myself in the chair while waving my hands.

“Well, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought.”

“Really?”

Luke, who caught my hook,  asked with a twinkling eyes.1

[t/n: caught the hook–a fishing idiom]

“But everyone says taming the Wyverns is a difficult task.”

“It’s all nonsense. It’s for people who don’t know anything. Do you want to know how I tamed the Wyverns?”

“How could I ask you that?”

Luke shook his head and slightly slipped out his hand on my feet.

‘Look at this. It’s a stealthy pause. ‘

I squinted my eyes and folded my arms.

“You’re my maid. You takes care of me more closer than anyone, so it will be nice to share my knowledge.”

“Thank you very much for thinking about me so much.”

He would say so, but inside he must be yelling out to say it quickly.

“You have to thank me.”

I put my feet back on Luke with a big smile.

“Would you massaged my foot first? It’s so relaxing that it’s a little bit disappointing to end it like this.”

“…Yes, lady.”

She looked the same as usual when I thought of Emma, but when I thought of Luke that was inside, I could only see his dirty tricks.

‘Who told you to disguise yourself as my maid?’

I snorted inwardly and lay my foot.

Luke’s hand skillfully pressed on my foot again.

‘Well, should I stop making fun of him? Because I’m afraid of what Luke’s gonna do aftermath.’

In teasing, it was also important to strike and land.

I secretly opened my mouth, looking down at Luke’s head, which is sure to be on the brink of exploding.

“Taming Wyverns is simple. They are sensitive to the sound, so if you sing, you can tame them.”10

“Sing?”

Luke cocked his head as if it was the first time he had heard it.

Of course it’s the first time he had heard of it. I just made it up.

I swallowed a smile as I looked at Luke who is seriously craving information in my head.

“Yes, but it’s no use singing any song. You have to sing this song to get a response.”

“What kind of song is it?”

“The title is  <Fool>.”3

“Yes……?”

He seemed to be wondering if there was such a song.

“You can sing other songs, too .The title is “Dumb.”3

Luke’s face was slightly frowned upon.

“Oh, this song will work, too.  <Do you believe this, Luke? > There’s also a similar song called <Don’t you know yet, you’ve been deceived.>”16

Luke’s expression which had long been doubtful,  solidified at the end of my last words.

He took his hands off my feet and slowly rose from his seat.

The disguise that had been exactly the same as Emma had just came loose.

His face was still Emma, but his body had returned to the original Luke.

‘It’s really amazing. I understand the other thing, but how does he adjust his height?’

No description of this method was given in the novel.

‘The author must have been evasive because she’s lazy to think of a way.’

Luke looked at his hand, which had touched my foot with a frown.

The hand that touched the dirty Yvesria Oberon! I want to wash up right now!

Well, I’m sure you’re thinking about it.

“It’s the first time you’ve noticed who I am.”

In the original story, Luke got information around Yvesria in disguise several times.

The attempted murder of Catherine in question was also information that Luke learned from his disguise around her.

Of course, Yvesria, who was a tactless and a wicked villain, didn’t notice the fact until the end.

‘But I’m no longer the Yvesria of the past.’

“I don’t want to keep getting stabbed in the back either. People make progress, don’t they?”

Luke’s face crumpled as I grinned.