Chapter 38

Eve recalled Anne’s face. Anne was a lady with a cold impression, though she was kind.

If Eve didn’t carry out her assignment, Anne might take back her fake last and given name. That was the last thing she wanted. She didn’t want to be homeless again.

‘It’s better for me to just climb down and speak honestly. Fortunately, there is only one maid accompanying the new owner. ‘

Eve stretched her legs which were falling asleep and swung her body slightly. The noise of their moving footsteps on the grass was heard more clearly.

At that moment, the tree she was stepping on broke apart. She fell from the tree with a bang.

“Oops!”

Cordelli screamed and stopped in front of Marianne. Books such as the Precious Yearbook of Frei VI, the list of the royal designer Margarita’s works, and the Romance Series: How to Trick the Duke went up in the air and fell down like falling leaves.

Marianne opened her eyes slowly that she closed unconsciously a moment ago.

She found herself hugging Cordelli who stood in front of her and stiffened.

She was so surprised that even the fan she had been holding flew onto the grass in front of her.

And next to it was a girl who fell on the ground.

“Oh my gosh! It looks like she fell from the tree!”

Cordelli cried out in a surprised voice. Literally, there was a girl who looked like a maid who fell down at the base of the tree. There were some broken tree branches around her.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“…”

While Marianne was calming down, Cordelli asked carefully.

Eve did not answer. While gazing at the strangely quiet maid, Corelli hurriedly made Marianne step back.

“But why was she on the tree?” Cordelli asked.

“Hummmm… Did she take a nap there secretly?” Marianne answered peacefully.

While stepping back, Marianne kept looking over her shoulders. The little maid who didn’t move at all as if she were dead began to wriggle.

“Hm, it looks like she was injured…”

“I think so. But she is suspicious. I have to call Iric as soon as possible.”

“Lady!”

There was heard an urgent call from behind even before Cordelli finished talking.

Marianne turned her head to the place where the voice came.

Tall, purple-haired Iric was approaching with Astolf’s black cloak fluttering behind his beautifully flanked shoulders.

“Iric?”

He came running to her and quickly pulled the sword to be on guard.

Although both of them screamed, the garden was so large that even those knights guarding the outside the mansion could hardly notice it. Iric’s sudden arrival meant that he was nearby at the moment.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I told you to take a rest instead of following me. You’re really stubborn. You told me you were on sentry duty at the main building yesterday. Are you not tired?”

“How can I neglect to protect you when this kind of dangerous thing happens?”

“Well, it’s dangerous to that girl, not me,” Marianne casually shrugged.

She was surprised that the girl suddenly fell from a tree, but she didn’t think it was dangerous. Any assassin sent by Ober couldn’t have been lax like her. And the Eluang Knights’ defense of the mansion was far more tighter. Besides, Iric was right beside her.

If that girl was an assassin sent by Ober, Iric would take care of her. If she was tough enough for Iric to handle, he would die anyway. Nothing would be different even if she worried about it. Of course, her judgment was a valid guess, but it was too optimistic.

“You must always be careful even when you’re inside the mansion. Step back. Let me take a look at her.”

Iric approached her, who began to wriggle little by little.

“Who are you? Raise your head and show your face.”

He aimed the tip of the sword at the maid’s nape.

Trembling at Iric’s threat, she slowly raised her head. Marianne looked closely at the maid’s face. She was an ordinary girl, but Marianne had never seen her before.

“Tell the new owner who you are.”

“I’m sorry, My name is Eve, Eve Ryans, and I’m a maid here assigned to the garden care team. Oops…”

Eve stood up to show her manners, but flopped down. Obviously, she had her ankle injured after she had fallen from the tree.

“Hours of garden caring is already over. Don’t you know that you are forbidden to come and go out of the garden when the owner is taking a walk?”

Scolding her more sharply, Iric pushed the tip of the sword even more. He was originally extremely devoted to Marianne, but after hearing about the whole situation upon Kling’s return, he was simply overprotective as if he treated her like a glass doll.

“…Sorry! I did wrong!”

Eve pleaded for his forgiveness.

‘Damn it. They say the unlucky guy breaks his nose even if he falls on his back, and it’s me!

How come the branch that I was sitting on broke down?’

Even though she was lamenting deep inside, she couldn’t just spit out. She felt dizzy. She knew she would be in trouble when caught by the new owner and her maid, but as she screamed, her bodyguard appeared suddenly. If she didn’t make plausible excuses, she might be mistaken as an illegal intruder, and get punished heavily.

“Why did you hide on the top of a tree? Cordelli demanded, sticking out her face from behind Iric’s back. Her face was mixed with some worry and vigilance.

Eve put her brain to work while they were watching her closely.

Although she didn’t attend an academy, she learned to comb her hair and bake bread when she was over 15, but she did learn some other things more quickly.

One of them was how to survive in the real world. It could be stealing someday, flattery another day, and a lie and betrayal other days.

Eve said, “Well, this is what happened. While working, I saw a squirrel, which was so cute. And I was done anyway at that moment. I pulled all the weeds and swept the stepping stones clean! Then I came up here, and the squirrel suddenly disappeared. I was too scared to look at you coming out for a walk, so I became more scared…”

Eve knelt with her uncomfortable legs and bowed to the ground. As if she were ready for this occasion, lies came out of her mouth naturally. It was the most important for her to get out of this place safely.

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again! Please forgive me once. Please. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m serious. Please show mercy.”

Her red cheeks and rubbing hands turned white. Tears fell on her soiled apron and soaked it.

Indeed, she looked so miserable and pitiable. Unfortunately, that was not enough to put her in the clear.

“Lady, this maid may be lying to us.”

“Cordelli is right. Let me bring the knights on guard to take her.”

Iric pulled a small silver whistle out of his pocket.

Knights working in large mansions or castles usually carried whistles for emergency calls. When the whistle rang, the Eluang Knights’ elite members would appear in just a few minutes and lead her away. Even if she was not an assassin or spy, she would be punished because she dared to disturb the owner of the mansion.

While pondering a bit, Marianne walked forward a few steps. And then she grabbed Iric’s wrist with her soft, white hand and stopped him.

“Lady?”

He was bewildered.

“Eve?”

“Pardon? Yes, this is Eve, madame.”

Eve bowed her face down.

Suddenly, Marianne recalled Evelyn at the Lennox mansion. When she called her Eve, she used to smile brightly and take care of her well. This little maid didn’t take after Eve at all, but she felt strange.

Only Evelyn’s nickname and this maid’s name overlapped. Was it because they didn’t meet each other for so long? Marianne felt strange and said, “Don’t you feel pain in your ankle?”

“Pardon? Oh, I’m fine. I just sprained it a bit. This is nothing…”

“Eve, you shouldn’t lie to me. If you lie, it’s a bigger mistake than you falling from the tree and surprising me.”

Eve had a very strange look at that. Her face was flushed with red all the more.

Fortunately, Eve bowed deeply, so Marianne didn’t see her expression.

“That’s why you have to get punished for this.”

“Sorry, I’m so sorry. I was wrong,” she begged for her forgiveness.

Grinning awkwardly, Marianne said, “Eve, I won’t kill you.”

“Well then, please don’t kick me out! You can beat me or starve me. You don’t have to pay me a salary. So please don’t kick me out.”

Eve cried, begging for her forgiveness desperately. Marianne turned her eyes away from Eve and looked at Iric.

“Iric, have you memorized the structure of the mansion?”

“Not perfectly, but I know some of it.”

“Is there a way from this garden to the third annex without passing through the main building?”

“Well…yes. There is one way you can go past the lodgings behind the main building.”

Iric gave her the correct answer, but he was nervous.