Chapter 9
The next day, Julius-san had work to do, so the head butler showed me around the estate.
Since he’d kissed my hands and ears just yesterday, I had no idea what expression to greet him with. Honestly, I was grateful Julius-san wasn’t around.
(He’s so effortlessly sweet... It’s scary...! Is this what nobles are like...!?)
I struggled to manage the hem of a dress with even more frills than yesterday as I followed the head butler.
The Ashford estate has so many rooms that just seeing them all would take half a day.
Whenever I passed, the servants stopped and bowed to me, but I was just some random mob, not a Saint or anything, so I felt terribly awkward.
When we reached a gallery lined with paintings, the head butler stopped before a portrait of a married couple and explained, "These are the master and mistress."
The man, painted with delicate brushwork and golden-brown hair, looked stern and dignified, while the black-haired woman was beautiful, with a gentle air about her.
(Julius-san got his hair color from his father, but his features from his mother...
Ah, his eyes are the same color as his mother's... Ugh!)
Remembering those sweet, honey-colored eyes, I felt my face gradually grow warm.
This is bad...! You shouldn't do something like that to a mob who's never even had a boyfriend, Julius-san...!!
"The master and mistress are currently staying at their main residence in the domain. They will come here once the social season begins.
We have already informed them about you, Riko-sama, and they are both greatly looking forward to the day they can meet you."
"I-I see..."
(I wonder how his parents feel about having a mob foisted on them by the kingdom. I am a woman, after all, so could this affect Julius-san's marriage prospects...?
...Wait, speaking of which, does Julius-san have a fiancée? If he does, then I'm not just a mob—I'm completely in the way, aren't I???)
"And this is a portrait of the young master."
"Ugh!!!"
I let my guard down. I never expected him to show me a portrait of Julius-san at this point...!
I thought about covering my eyes with my hands, but that would have made me look like a suspicious person, so I stopped myself. Instead, I took a deep breath and cautiously peeked at it.
"...Huh?"
"Is something the matter?"
"No... This painting is really beautiful, but... somehow, it doesn't feel like Julius-san."
It was odd for me to say so when I’d only met him yesterday, but having seen his gentle smile, I felt a deep sense of wrongness looking at Julius-san in the portrait, wearing such a perfect smile...
(How do I put it... He's smiling, but he looks so... blank!)
As I pondered this, the head butler nodded solemnly.
"The young master... has grown jaded..."
"Jaded...? Huh...?"
"...Great power can sometimes wound the one who wields it. Disappointed by the difference between people's hollow words and their true feelings, Lord Julius began to build a wall between himself and those around him..."
I had no idea whether he meant the political maneuvering of the nobility or Julius-san's Skill. I knew nothing about either, but if that was why Julius-san had become so good at putting on a smile, it was a sad thought.
"...Even though he has such a lovely smile..."
Remembering the smile he’d given me as he comforted me, my chest tightened.
"...But yesterday, I saw him smile with genuine happiness for the first time in ages."
"Yesterday...? Oh, because the Saint summoning went off without a hitch?"
"Oh. ...Heh heh, perhaps so."
The prince in charge of the Saint summoning was Julius-san's cousin. Surely Julius-san himself had been under some kind of pressure, too. Now that it was over, he must have been able to relax.
As I came to that conclusion, the head butler led me over to another painting.
"By the way, this is the young master before he grew jaded."
"S-so cute...!!"
It was a painting of a boy around five or six, playing with a black cat.
The boy wore an innocent smile. His golden-brown hair was fluffy, his cheeks looked soft, and his honey-colored eyes sparkled. He was an angel...!
(I can't believe Julius-san, who even gives a mob the full force of his charm, was once this cute...!
...But this cat...)
There was something about this cat that caught my attention. When I thought of a noble's cat, I pictured an elegant, long-haired pedigree, but this was a black-and-white cat with a split-color face, the kind you might see in an ordinary salaryman's home. And, well... it had a rather... fierce look in its eyes...
"This cat was found by the young master many years ago. They grew up together until the cat turned ten."
For some reason, the head butler looked between the cat and me and nodded as he dabbed at the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief. I’d seen him make that gesture somewhere yesterday, too...!
"Um... What's this cat's name...?"
"Yes, the cat's name is Tina-sama."
"Tina..."
―――Somehow, this cat looks a bit like Tina-sama...
(Cat!!!!!!)
It turned out the head butler had been comparing me to the cat.
Maybe Julius-san had been so kind to me because I resembled his old pet...!
Since I was a cat, maybe petting me, putting me on his lap, and kissing me were all just natural forms of affection...!
(So... I'm in the pet category...!!!)
I wasn't even a human—just a mob—but after exhausting myself with the tour, I found myself thinking that perhaps this was easier in its own way.