Chapter 2. The returned maid
***
Lalit sat quietly, hands clasped, gazing at the man before her.
'You've grown well.'
His sparkling blond hair, as if filled with sunlight, was exactly as brilliant as she remembered. His vivid blue eyes, like the clear blue sky, were the same too.
Even as a timid fourteen-year-old boy, he had been beautiful. She had always imagined him growing up like this, and it wasn't much different from her expectations.
'…You've grown well. I knew it would be like this.'
His uniform, likely made from the finest fabrics in the empire, suited his sturdy build perfectly. She had worked for many noble houses, but this young man was the only one who radiated such impeccable nobility from head to toe.
Adrian Stephen Pertiano.
Ever since Lalit began working as a noble household's personal physician, it was a name she inevitably heard mentioned here and there.
At her first workplace, the House of Orten, the Marquis of Orten often spoke of him to her.
"Adrian Pertiano... He truly grew up well. Eleonor raised him splendidly in the end. If I had a daughter, I'd have gladly paid a hefty dowry to have him as my son-in-law."
The Marquis of Orten laughed, adding, "I wouldn't have minded giving half my fortune as her dowry."
"Even as a high noble, he has a sharp business sense. Yet he's charming to everyone... It's not easy to grow up like that. Sure, he has quite a few women around him, but honestly, it's only natural for a young man of his caliber to be popular."
The marquis praised Adrian so highly that his only son would shudder at the mere mention of his name. Lalit understood him, deep down.
At the second workplace, the House of Count Letina, the eldest lady often said:
"Lord Adrian is truly delightful and entertaining. Those sly jokes and his endlessly easygoing laughter... He seems so lighthearted, but isn't it really impressive how he never gives his heart to anyone?"
In every way, this was the complete opposite of the Adrian Lalit remembered.
"Who will be his fiancée? Ah, me? I'd love it if it were me... but... a duke of his standing would surely arrange a marriage of convenience, wouldn't he? We're not prestigious nobles from the capital, nothing like the Pertianos. Lady of Pertiano is surely working behind the scenes for some other young lady."
"But... you said some lady received a flower last time."
"Huh? Receiving a single flower, a single smile—that doesn't mean I can harbor vain hopes. There are countless young ladies who've received flowers or smiles from him. He's kind to all the young ladies, but I don't think there's actually any woman he's close to."
Countess Letina's eldest daughter, her voice dreamlike as she spoke his name, grew sullen and took a step back.
At the Bernst family, Lalit’s third workplace, the young Count—the heir and eldest son—spoke of Adrian daily. He had been Adrian's senior at the military academy.
"Adrian ended up graduating at the top of his class. If I'd lived near the capital, I would have found a way to stay close to him. He's a nobleman with such a flexible way of thinking."
The Bernst estate lay at the eastern edge, making it difficult to maintain even a casual senior-junior friendship due to the distance. Nevertheless, the young Count spoke of Adrian repeatedly.
"Only men like that will survive now. You know, this is an era where titles are bought and sold. The days of clinging to outdated notions of noble honor are fading fast. The atmosphere in the capital is completely different from this backwater. Things change in the blink of an eye."
Lalit listened to all those conversations and drew her own conclusion. Adrian had grown into a nobleman who was, quite literally, 'utterly' perfect.
'He's so handsome, everyone would envy him. Like a prince straight out of a fairy tale.'
The small, cute, skinny boy from her memories was now a head taller than Lalit. His well-defined muscles, perfect posture, and sharply defined features resembled the portrait of the late duke.
Standing before him, Lalit desperately straightened her back.
Eight years ago, this office had belonged not to him, but to Lady Eleonor.
That day, Lalit swore to Lady Eleanor on her father's honor that she would never set foot in the duke's residence again. But in truth, Lalit's father had no honor to speak of. He was the man who sold his daughter to pay off gambling debts.
So, even now, returning here brought her no pangs of conscience.
And now, as the Duke, a perfect nobleman welcomed everywhere, Adrian would no longer cling to her as he once did. His cold expression alone made that clear.
Of course, what Adrian thought of her now didn't matter. What he might have felt eight years ago when he received her letter was meaningless now.
It was all long ago, and circumstances had changed.
Now adults, it was simply a matter of exchanging ability for money. It was clear neither of them wanted to give and receive affection without any compensation, as they had back then.
And Lalit needed money.
Really, a lot.
If there was a place that could give her that money, she could go anywhere, even somewhere worse than Pertiano.
Also, she was a little curious.
What would happen next if she truly saved Eleonor?
If she were to awaken Eleonor and become her savior, facing that haughty face, there was something she truly wanted to say then.
She desperately needed that money, but imagining that moment made it feel as though all that money would be utterly useless.
Of course, Adrian was beyond all those messy, sordid circumstances.
Her eternally noble young master had to be that way.
***
Adrian's first love, the once-affectionate maid Lalit, now spoke only of money.
"I'm sorry, but it took eleven hours just by train from the Count of Bernst's estate to get here. It's not a sum you can dismiss as mere transportation costs."
"It's not that... I've changed my mind. And certainly not that I'm dismissing the train, a product of modern science and technology."
Finally, Adrian crossed his arms and spoke.
"Double your current salary plus performance bonuses. The terms remain unchanged."
"My apologies. If I recall correctly, Sir Evan mentioned that if I showed any hesitation, you might even offer triple that amount."
Evan was his aide. Come to think of it, he did say something like, 'If she shows signs of hesitation, you can offer triple.'
But it seemed she had blown right past that offer too.
As Adrian gaped in disbelief, Lalit cleared her throat and said seriously.
"I am hesitating."
That didn't seem like something you’d say after riding a train for eleven hours. Plus, she had a bag packed with all her belongings and a doctor's bag right beside her.
Seeing his skeptical look, Lalit added one more thing.
"I mean it."
Those clear green eyes, which he had thought resembled fresh spring shoots, still held him silently.
For the first time in ages, Adrian felt the urge to bite his nails. It was a habit long gone.
Barely suppressing that absurd impulse, he fidgeted with the papers pointlessly, then tossed out a remark, trying his best to make it sound like he was just passing by.
"Didn't you swear yourself that you'd never return to the duke's residence?"
"Yes, Your Grace. I remember."
"I remember."
"...."
"It seems you remember too."
Lalit sat composedly, her hands resting on her knees. Only then did she avert his piercing gaze and murmur.
"Yes……………. But."
"But?"
“To keep that childish vow made in my ignorant youth……”
Adrian swallowed hard.
He wondered if she might say something now, like, 'There was some misunderstanding back then,' or 'I was just scared of everything back then.'
Or perhaps, since the Adrian of now was so different from the one back then, she might harbor different feelings and say, 'I didn't know any better back then.'
The boy Adrian, who had floundered, unable to control even his own feelings, was gone. Only the Duke Pertiano, the dashing gentleman coveted by all in society, remained.
The longer Lalit hesitated, the drier Adrian's mouth became.
After a moment of choosing her words, Lalit slumped her shoulders and continued with a sigh.
"It was simply too much money to refuse."
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