Caring, Older, and Beautiful

After arriving at Elliot's estate, Monica changed out of her traveling clothes and into her Seven Sages' robe in the guest room prepared for her, then headed to the designated sitting room with Lin.

Lin, following behind Monica, was also dressed in her usual maid's uniform.

Lin had cheerfully announced, “I changed into my work clothes since I'll be looking after everyone from now on,” but Lin's enthusiasm was frightening.

Elliot was already sitting on a sofa in the sitting room, reading through some documents. His expression was grim, and a deep furrow creased his brow.

Elliot had been glaring at the papers and muttering, “Those priests...” When he noticed Monica, he gestured for her to sit.

“Have a seat. We're going to visit the temple to pay our respects, but first I'll explain the festival.”

“Y-yes... Um, what about Mr. Moulding?”

“I put him in the piano room. Some people say, ‘When you're in a slump, take a break from music and clear your head,’ but Benjamin gets more and more feeble if you don't keep him near an instrument.”

Elliot insisted that if Benjamin was simply given an instrument, he'd eventually recover to a reasonable extent.

His rough treatment of Benjamin was probably proof of how long they'd been friends...