The One Flaw He Couldn't Bring Himself to Mention

“Young Master, sometimes I envy you like crazy.”

As always, the Grand Duchy's knights began their day with a morning run.

Unless something special came up, even their lord's son—the man the knights admired and took pride in most—joined them in training, just like now.

As they ran side by side, one of the knights suddenly spoke to Derek.

“Envy me? What do you mean?”

“Just look over there.”

The knight who'd spoken to Derek with a frivolous, almost overexcited air pointed to a corner of the training grounds.

A woman of indescribable beauty stood there with perfect poise, watching the knights on their run.

Even in the depths of winter, the knights ran around with most of their shirts stripped off, showing off their bulging muscles as if they couldn't feel the cold.

It was common to spot female staff members who'd come out to admire their wild physiques while they ran.

They were busy squealing among themselves and chattering about who was handsome or cute.

But the maid standing among them had a different air about her.

Holding something, she stood quietly with perfect posture, as if she had no interest in the conversations around her,

and whenever her cascading silver hair got tousled by the wind, she would quietly reach up to smooth it back into place.

Standing as primly as a saintly noblewoman, the maid's gaze followed only the movements of the knights—including Derek.

Derek saw her and let out a small sigh.

He'd told her she didn't need to come out in the cold and should rest inside. Derek grumbled inwardly.

Yuria had been frail since childhood.

When he was nine and Yuria was seven, her health had been so poor that she'd been sent away for several years to recuperate.

During that time, she'd nearly died several times.

She was much healthier now, apart from a few lingering disabilities, including her right arm, but Derek was still afraid that if she overexerted herself, she'd end up separated from him for a long time again, like before.

Derek wanted her to stay by his side for the rest of her life, just as she was now.

“Young Master, you must've saved the world in your previous life. How else could you have a childhood friend like that—and how did she end up as your personal maid, with eyes for no one but you?”

The knight who'd spoken first sounded half lamenting and half envious, and the other knights around him all chimed in.

“……Yeah. I can't believe it either.”

Derek was genuinely curious about that himself.

Though Yuria did have one ‘minor’ problem that was hard to overlook, she was someone he could call the greatest stroke of luck in his life.

“Um, Young Master.”

Another knight spoke to Derek with a lecherous look.

“Be honest with us. Have you made any progress yet?”

“……I'm trying, but honestly, it's not easy.”

“Good grief, I guess you forgot everything our special unit taught you during that force-reconnaissance mission east of the mountain range. The great Young Master himself is struggling with his target? This won't do—we'll have to give you some extra lessons.”

The knights chattered excitedly in voices too low for the onlookers to hear, each taking turns lecturing him on how to win a woman's heart.

Derek let out another small sigh.

With Yuria's ‘minor’ problem, none of those tactics would be any use.

“Young Master, you're twenty now, and it's time to secure an heir for your family. You should hurry up and claim her so you can keep her by your side.”

“Exactly. Honestly, her attitude as a maid is absolutely perfect, but everyone knows she has ‘a little’ trouble doing the job, right? If you made her the next Grand Duchess soon, at least she wouldn't be called ‘Klutz’ anymore.”

“Make sure no one says that nickname where Yuria can hear. She seems to be a little sensitive about it.”

“You don't deny that she'll be the next Grand Duchess, though. Does that mean we'll have a little lady of the house soon?”

Whenever the knights talked about Yuria, the conversation tended to follow this sort of pattern.

A personal maid was usually of a similar social standing to her master, and always by his side, making her an easy target for rumors of an affair.

In fact, they say personal maids often become mistresses in the central political world, giving many noblewomen headaches.

All the more so if the maid had been her master's longtime friend, practically like a sister to him.

Yuria wasn't a commoner, but came from an old and distinguished noble family, and her father and brothers were loyal retainers of the house.

Even setting aside the feelings Derek was trying so hard to suppress, they had all the makings of a good match.

If Yuria ‘weren't sick,’ that is.

“Enough. That's it for this morning's run. Let's eat breakfast, then discuss the plan for this winter's monster hunt with the mercenary company we just contracted.”

“Yes, sir. Understood, Young Master.”

Though the knights had been talking freely, their final response was perfectly synchronized, not a single voice out of place.

They were easygoing with one another, but in their actual work, they were more elite than any other order of knights on the continent.

Derek left them behind and jogged slowly toward his childhood friend, who'd been waiting for him all this time.

Toward his maid, flawless in every way, but a little mentally unwell because of the aftereffects of her illness.

When Yuria noticed Derek approaching, her face gradually brightened.

Seeing her faint smile, Derek tried to suppress his quickening heartbeat as he thought:

What creative way would that pretty, beautiful girl come up with today to insist she was a man?

************************

“Do you understand now, Alice? The work you're responsible for is something you should take pride in as a maid. Can you make sure this doesn't happen again?”

“Yes, of course, Lady Yuria!”

I gave the chamber maid on night duty a thorough scolding for failing to properly manage the heating in Derek's bedroom last night.

A thorough scolding, but with elegance and grace.

Because that's the role I have to play.

I've been imitating an elegant noble lady for so long now that I feel like I'm becoming more and more steeped in a woman's mannerisms and mindset.

Well, I have been doing it for four years.

Maybe that's why I act even more like a man around Derek in reaction to it. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, or whatever.

Besides Alice, I gave instructions for the day's work to the other chamber maids, the kitchen maids who handled Derek's meals, and the laundry maids—in short, all the maids under my command.

That guy Derek would get married and have a lady of the house before long, but until then, as his personal maid, I was effectively the first lady of the house.

Sigh, marriage.

Derek would be getting married soon, too. Who would he marry?

Would I ever be able to get married like this? I couldn't see myself marrying a woman. What was I supposed to do……?

I shook my head vigorously, putting those pointless worries away.

Next on the schedule…… breakfast after the morning run.

Since Derek's schedule was my schedule, I kept thinking in terms of him.

Then, to perform my role as Derek's maid perfectly according to that schedule……

I headed to the bathroom and picked up a large towel.

I folded it neatly, carried it with me, and headed for the training grounds, where Derek would be running with the knights.

Quite a few maids had already gathered around the training grounds.

Most were women with nothing urgent to do, hanging around to see if they could snag a decent, single knight.

Or just to admire the knights' insanely muscular arms as they jogged around.

I passed them and headed over to where the knights had left their clothes.

Among the clothes strewn carelessly about, Derek's shirt was tossed just as haphazardly.

He could at least fold it properly. It'd wrinkle if he left it like that.

I folded it neatly, just like the towel, and held it in my hands.

My job was to wipe the sweat from Derek when he finished his run, help him get dressed properly, and make sure he could present himself again as the heir to the Grand Duchy.

And after all the hard work I put in, they called me a ‘Klutz’ just because I dropped or broke things.

It's not like I did it on purpose.

I found a suitable spot and waited for Derek to finish his run.

Like the other knights, Derek was running shirtless despite the cold weather.

For some reason, I felt like I'd seen him shirtless a lot today.

As I stood there staring blankly at him, Derek finished his run and came over to me before I knew it.

When our eyes met, Derek's eyebrows curved into a smile.

I sent him a look that said, ‘What, you punk?’

Of course, I only did it with my eyes. My body hurried over and covered his steaming, Vegeta-like upper body with the towel.

“Good work, you pu—…… Good work, Young Master. You must be cold, so let me dry you off before you get chilled.”

I'd been about to speak casually, like we did when we were alone, but I noticed the maids and knights around us and hurriedly corrected myself.

But Derek snatched the towel from me and, without even wiping his sweat, draped it roughly over his own shoulder.

Then he took the shirt from my arms…… and simply draped it over my shoulders.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

I scolded him in a very quiet voice so no one else could hear, but Derek pretended not to notice.

“Sigh, Yuria. How could I just stand by and watch you shiver in the cold when you're already so frail?”

“……Could you tell?”

I'd been trying to endure the cold, but was it that obvious?

Derek already knew I was sensitive to cold, but still……

“Seriously, hey, when you inherit the Grand Duke's title, please change the maid uniforms to ones with longer skirts. I know I'm wearing stockings, but it's so damn cold I'm about to freeze to death.”

“Then why'd you come out when you knew it was cold? You should've just stayed inside.”

Derek made sure the shirt draped over my shoulders wouldn't fall, then strode past me toward the mansion.

I hurried after him so I wouldn't lose track of him.

……The walk back to the mansion felt strangely less cold.