A woman in a hat appeared, wearing a white muslin ap.r.o.n over blue cotton dress. That woman was Agnes.
At first glance, her clothing suggested that she was a servant. However, her elegance and grace suggested otherwise.
Though there were those among the n.o.bles who put up appearances by preparing expensive clothes for their servants, Bernard was not one of them. Basically, he left any concerns about garments and such to the head of the servants, Gigille.
Though the outfit was a complete anachronism, when Agnes wore it, for some reason, it appeared elegant.
–It’s hopeless, she won’t look like a servant this way!!
Bernard had thought that if she just had the appearance of a servant, while he thought about her service, she would somehow continue to be concealed.
There was no servant so refined as this.
“Um, Master, your overcoat……”
Agnes approached without a sound.
Though his heart had flown out of his chest just from being greeted, Agnes immediately drew much closer.
“L-Like I said, you’re too close!!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
He accidentally yelled at her to come back after learning the distance servants should keep from their master.
Though he started heading toward his room dressed in that fashion, a voice from behind came to his attention.
“Master.”
“Yes.”
To catch up with his rapid strides forward, Agnes followed in a trot.
Because he felt a bit of pity at her now uneven breathing, Bernard came to a stop.
“From now– Kyaa!”
“!?”
Agnes had b.u.mped into the now stopped Bernard’s back.
Because it was only a light impact, it didn’t hurt or anything, but at this absolutely careless situation, he became irritated and turned around with an angry look on his face.
“Y-You……”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Agnes apologized earnestly. Bernard looked down at that girl while furrowing his brows.
“–––?”
Even here, a question floated into his mind. Whether this girl was actually that Agnes Le Verges.
Agnes, who was born into a distinguished earl’s family that was said to have a long history, had debuted in the brilliant high society.
Called the resplendent rose, he had thought her to be a very prideful n.o.ble daughter who looked down upon lower cla.s.s n.o.bles.
“Master?”
“!”
Once again, he had fallen deep into thought in front of Agnes.
Shaking his head furiously, he inquired what her business with him was.
“It’s about the plans from now on, but–“
“Ahh.”
After properly straightening her back, Agnes asked her question with a clear voice.
“Would you like to take a bath? Would you like to eat a meal?”
A bath or a meal.
Because the inside of his head was still hazy, he thought it would be good to go take a bath to clear his head up.
“Or–“
“You still have things left to say!”
After hearing that, he came to his senses and remembered. Previously, by chance, he had heard Gigille jokingly telling her husband, Dominic, those words.
–Would you like to take a bath? Would you like to eat a meal? Or, would you rather rather have m~e~?
The moment that came to mind, Bernard’s face flushed a deep red.
Though he felt like yelling at Gigille, who had taught her unnecessary things, before that, he thought he should respond to Agnes’ words first.
“A bath!!”
Saying that, he returned to his room at a quick pace. Agnes, upon hearing the reply to her question, did not continue following him.
Washing his sweaty body, he relaxedly settled into the bathtub.
It wasn’t a gentle, weak rain, but a rain that poured heavily and loudly.
Resigning himself to the fact that he wouldn’t come up with an answer even if he continued to think long and hard about it, he exited the bathtub.
Hanging his towel on his shoulder, Bernard responded.
“What’s up?”
“What are you saying?”
The history of the mansion Bernard owned numbered around a hundred years. While doing the biannual inspection, they used every trick in the book to live there.
Though he had from time to time heard from Gigille’s daughter who lived in the attic that there were leaks in the roof, it was the first time he had heard that it had leaked to the lower floors.
Eric said that because it had hailed during the day, that might be the cause.
For now, Bernard commanded him to take make temporary repairs so the second floor did not get ruined any further by rainwater.
After drying his hair and body off well enough, he put on new clothes.
When he ran up to the third floor, he heard the loud noises of the servants running around.
“Ah, Master!”
“Wah, Master!”
The ones who noticed Bernard were Gigille’s twin daughters, Carol and Celia. They were beauties with black hair and blue eyes.
The twins were placing buckets under the dripping rainwater and swapping them out.
“Master, it’s a disaster!”
“!?”
Speaking of the attic, he had heard it was the room that Agnes was using.
Leaving the third floor to Gigille and the twins, he headed to the place where the roof was leaking intensely.
When he ran up the stairs, he witnessed a person cowering in front of the door made of two sheets of paper.
The thing she was embracing as if to protect it was a dripping wet suitcase. It was the object that contained the only private property she had left.
“You–“
“Ah……”
As soon as she saw Bernard’s form, Agnes hastily stood up and bowed.
She apologized in a trembling voice.
“T-The room h-has f-flood-ded.”
“What are you saying.”
Brushing aside Agnes, who was in the middle of the doorway, he entered the room.
It was the first time he had entered the attic.
Because the eldest daughter of the previous master, Gigille, had stated that the room was “My private castle,” even just looking at the room would have been considered an atrocity.
Currently, in the middle of the room, it was drizzling.
In the middle were Dominic and the second son who was in charge of the kitchen, Aaron. They were in the middle of patching the roof up with planks.
“Hey.”
“Master.”
After he had called out to the two who were working, Eric came around from the back.
His business was asking if he should go to request the aid of a carpenter for the rest of the work.
“In this forest with such rain in the night, there’s no way he’d come.”
“It’s useless even if we put the planks on the roof!”
If they patched it up with boards, they would have to do it for the room as well.
“If a big man like him got on top of the roof, it would break.”
“It’s fine. I’ll go.”
“This is my house!”
He gave the order to put as many buckets, bowls, and such out to catch the water in the attic.
Outside, it was stormy. A strong wind blowing against them, the rain was blowing sideways.
Seeing the state of affairs, he quickly went to stop Bernard.
“Master, I’m telling you, it’s dangerous!”
“Though if we leave it like this, the house will flood completely! It’s fine so you guys just do something about the leaking rain! It’s an order!”
If they were told so by their master, it couldn’t be helped. The manservants went to the first floor to grab bowls.
Bernard hung the hammer on his belt and put the nails in his pocket. Carrying the planks at his side, Bernard, placing his feet on the window frame, climbed up on top of the roof.
“……f.u.c.k!”
Because the rooftop was pitch black, he couldn’t see anything. He needed a lantern. After he hurriedly turned around, he lost his balance after slipping on a wet roof tile. However, somehow, he held on, and instead of heading down from the roof, he calmed down.
If he were in a panic, he would get hurt. It would be natural to instruct someone to be composed in this situation.
Bernard put the boards in the roof’s gutter and, while hanging down from the roof requested that someone to come bring him a lantern since he felt the presence of people.
As a lantern was immediately held out to him, he extended his arm and received it.
“Hey, close the window! The room will get wet.”
After he said that, the window was shut.
He was on top of the roof a second time, with the lantern shining at his feet.
While wondering how big the hail that had fallen down was, he unintentionally creased his brow.
As the three planks were insufficient, Bernard lowered his lower body from the edge of the roof and knocked on the window with his heel.
Thereupon, the window opened.
“Hey, bring more planks!!”
At the instruction, a single plank was held out toward him.
“One plank isn’t going to be enough! Bring more.”
He extended his arm, and upon receiving the plank, he saw three trembling planks being held up.
In total he had seven planks, and he said to close the window.
Happily, the roof tiles were damaged in only ten places.
After hammering the replacement boards, the roof leak problem was solved.
After finishing patrolling the roof, Bernard descended.
Gigille had brought towels.
“–That was awful.”
After murmuring that, he noticed Agnes, who was cleaning.
He tilted his head at the girl who was wetter than anyone else. Though when he saw her earlier, she shouldn’t have been this wet.
“You, why are you so wet. Did you slip somewhere or something?”
“N-No.”
Agnes looked up at Bernard with teary eyes. Her shoulders were trembling, and he thought that she looked like a kitten who had been abandoned in the rain.
During that time, Gigille forced her way through.
“Miss Agnes had been carrying the planks for Master’s sake.”
“Yes.”
He understood why the three planks that were held out were shaking. To the powerless n.o.ble’s daughter, the three thin planks must have been heavy.
“You’ve done enough.”
“Eh?”
Pulling Agnes’ arm, he made her rise.
After that, he turned her body right around and pushed her back toward the doorway.
“Um, I–“
“B-But”
“Gigille, Carol, and Celia too.”
Saying that the men should clean up the room, he ordered the women to change into dry clothes.
Gigille, rising up, bowed.
“Then Master, I’ll take your word for it.”
“Thank you!”
The twins happily said their thanks and started tidying up the cleaning equipment.
Agnes stood there alone, all shaken up.
“Miss Agnes, let’s go. It’s Master’s order.”
“Eh? Ehhh……”
Having her back pushed by Gigille, Agnes left the room.
In the attic that had lost its showiness, Dominic, Eric, and Aaron resumed Bernard’s ordered cleaning activities.