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Chapter : 20
What Changed
“Sorry!”
Lowell jumped to her feet at once. It had all happened so suddenly that she hadn’t fully grasped the situation yet, but seeing the ring glittering on her finger, she felt that apologizing came first.
“What?”
At that, a baffled exclamation burst from the young noblewoman standing in front, and murmurs spread among the women beside her.
“I was just going to put it on for a moment and then take it off.”
Lowell put on the most apologetic expression she could and touched the ring. Some water dripping from her hair had splashed onto it, but that was all—the ring itself was in perfect condition.
“Shall I give it back to you?”
Those were Lowell’s sincere feelings. She genuinely felt sorry that she was carrying something meant for Leon, a token of someone else’s devotion. To the point where she could even understand suddenly getting splashed with water.
In other words, she absolutely had not meant to insult the noble lady standing in front of her.
“How dare you…!”
However, the cream-haired young lady seemed to take Lowell’s words the opposite way, glaring fiercely and raising her voice.
“It’s already infuriating that someone like you is wearing a ring I personally commissioned… and now you say you’ll give it back? Are you daring to pity me?”
In an instant, the noblewoman’s hand shot up, clenched with anger as if it were about to strike.
“……”
But the hand never reached Lowell’s cheek. It stopped in midair as the woman looked Lowell up and down. Whatever she saw, she soon withdrew her hand.
“That’s enough.”
The woman sneered.
“What would I even say to a mere maid like you?”
She opened her fan and spoke mockingly.
Hm, I quit being a maid already, Lowell thought briefly, but she didn’t bother correcting her. Instead, a simple question crossed her mind—how did she know I used to be a maid?
“It must be that pitch-dark, shadowy hair of yours that offended my eyes.”
As if she had read Lowell’s thoughts, the woman continued.
“You grated on my nerves with that irritating hair color even when you were clinging to the Heinstein young lady, and now that you’ve fallen away from her, you still manage to upset me.”
She kept scrutinizing Lowell as she hurled more accusations.
“No wonder it’s Heinstein. Do they not even manage their servants? Just letting their underlings wander around outside, behaving without any propriety.”
When Lowell showed no reaction, the woman curled her lips into a sneer and kept talking.
“The Heinstein young lady, too—”
And then, just as it seemed the slander would go on, it stopped in an instant. Lowell suddenly reached out one hand.
“W-what is it?!”
Startled by the sudden movement, the noblewoman flinched.
“You have some dust in your hair.”
Lowell simply smiled gently and brushed at her head. After removing the tiny speck of dust from her hair, she gave a smile that could not have been kinder.
“Huh—wh-what…?”
An unpolished gasp slipped from the woman’s mouth.
“That’s enough. Let’s go, everyone!”
After shooting Lowell a sharp glare, the woman left the shop. Those who followed her didn’t forget to glare at Lowell in turn as they went.
Miss Aria has nothing to do with this, Lowell muttered inwardly, lowering her gaze to match the mood.
“Mrs. Ripman.”
A woman stopped in front of Lowell, and a handkerchief was held out to her.
“…?”
Following the handkerchief, Lowell lifted her eyes to the woman standing before her. After studying her for a moment, Lowell realized she had been the one standing at the back of the group earlier.
“Hello. I’m Agnes Ranistan, the eldest daughter of the Marquess of Ranistan.”
“Yes… hello.”
Lowell trailed off.
Is there still more to say? she wondered.
“I’ve been wanting to meet you.”
“…Pardon?”
“I know this isn’t an appropriate thing to say in this situation, but I truly wanted to meet you. Running into you by chance in a place like this makes me glad I came out today.”
Seeing Agnes smile warmly, her eyes curving, Lowell felt that this wasn’t the intention she had been expecting. Moreover, Agnes didn’t seem inclined to follow her group, which was already far away.
“Ah, I should introduce myself properly. Hello, ma’am. I’m Agnes Ranistan, a knight of the Third Order.”
“…A knight?”
“Yes. As a knight, I’m currently investigating the Heinstein family’s villa incident.”
Lowell could read clear interest in the woman’s eyes as she looked at her.
“I heard you needed some time to recover after the villa incident, but seeing you like this, you seem to be doing much better. I’m relieved.”
“Ah, yes…”
Dragging out her words, Lowell accepted the handkerchief and wiped her still-dripping hair.
“I know it’s impolite to bring this up so suddenly, but…”
Agnes leaned forward slightly, meeting Lowell’s eyes directly.
“Would you be able to visit the Knights’ Headquarters tomorrow for the investigation?”
“…The Knights’ Headquarters?”
“According to regulations, I should be the one to visit your residence, but… if I did that, my former superior—the vice-commander—probably wouldn’t be very pleased.”
Agnes added this with a deliberately troubled expression.
“Ah…”
Only then did Lowell notice the emblem embroidered on the handkerchief Agnes had given her—the same crest she had once seen in Leon’s wardrobe. Agnes wasn’t lying.
“Lowell! The pumpkin pie is ready!”
Just then, the shop owner came out to the counter holding a steaming pie.
“Then I’ll take my leave, assuming you’ll come. It was nice meeting you, ma’am.”
While Lowell briefly turned her attention to the pie, Agnes placed a hand over her chest in a polite gesture and quickly left the shop.
“Wait—”
Lowell stared in bewilderment at Agnes’s back as she left, having answered all on her own without waiting for a reply.
“Lowell? Are you okay?”
As Lowell stood there dazed, the shop owner cautiously asked her. Seeing a regular customer standing soaked and spaced out, it was only natural that concern crept into the owner’s eyes.
“I spilled some water… could you wrap the pie for me?”
Lowell knew perfectly well that no amount of spilling water could soak her all the way to her head, but she didn’t want to talk about it right now.
“…All right.”
Thankfully, the perceptive owner didn’t press further.
After the owner went inside to wrap the pie, Lowell looked down at the handkerchief Agnes had left behind and briefly wondered whether knights were normally this high-handed, or if it was just the people of the Third Order—the one Leon had belonged to—who were especially like that.
“Lowell!”
As Lowell sat on a bench, earnestly drying her still-wet hair, a familiar voice called out. Turning her head, she saw Ella—who had once worked with her at the Heinstein estate—running over and waving.
“Ella!”
Lowell sprang up to greet her. Soon the two embraced lightly, hopping in place.
“Did you wait long?”
“No, I just got here too.”
“It’s really been forever!”
Ella chattered excitedly while holding Lowell’s hands. Seeing her unchanged friend, a pleasant smile spread across Lowell’s face.
“But what’s with your clothes?”
“Huh? What about them?”
“I mean, if you married into such a distinguished family, you should dress more extravagantly. What you’re wearing now looks way too common!”
“It’s fine. Getting married didn’t change much, and I hate uncomfortable clothes.”
Lowell laughed at how Ella worried more about her clothes than her wet hair.
Though separately, she did realize anew that the noblewoman earlier must have mocked her because of her clothes.
“Why is your hair so soaked?”
“Well… something happened.”
“Something happened?”
Ella stepped back, looking Lowell up and down. Sensing that Lowell didn’t want to say more, she changed the subject.
“So why did you want to meet today?”
“About Miss Aria…”
“Again! Even after getting married and leaving, you’re still worried about her? That’s for her too, isn’t it?”
“There was that big incident recently. I should’ve been by her side, but I couldn’t, so I can’t help worrying…”
“Honestly, sometimes you’re more like Miss Aria’s guardian.”
Ella scolded lightly as she sat down on the bench.
“Hm… actually, there’s something I thought I should tell you too.”
Staring straight ahead, Ella spoke up.
“You said you wanted to talk in person instead of by letter—so something really did happen, huh? What is it?”
“You know Sir Shion’s people, right? The ones he personally hired.”
“What about them?”
“There are more of them now.”
“More?”
“They fired several villa servants to take responsibility for the villa incident, but strangely, Sir Shion filled those vacancies by adding servants to the main house instead.”
“If there are fewer people at the villa, why increase staff at the main house?”
“How would I know? Anyway, it’s made things really uncomfortable.”
Ella frowned as if just recalling it irritated her.
“I’ve woken up in the middle of the night so many times, startled because they’re constantly going in and out somewhere!”
“They wander around at night…?”
“Yeah. And they don’t even have basic manners—they leave messes everywhere, so we have to follow behind and clean up. Does that make any sense when we’re all hired staff?”
Clenching her fist, Ella looked deeply indignant.
“Anyway, because of that, the atmosphere’s been tense, so the head maid spoke to Miss Aria on our behalf, saying the new people were making things difficult. After all, Miss Aria is the lady of the house now.”
“And then?”
“She told us to just leave it. That since the Grand Duke isn’t there, the young duke—Sir Shion—is the master of the estate, so we have to follow his instructions.”
“What?”
Lowell’s mouth fell open. Aria wasn’t someone who would say that. The Aria Lowell knew was kind, someone who always looked after those beneath her, no matter the situation.
“Isn’t that awful? She wasn’t like this before, but lately it feels like she just goes along with whatever the young master wants. Then what about us, who aren’t his people—who are we supposed to rely on?”
Ella fumed, looking genuinely hurt and angry.
“Maybe I should just get married and leave too, like you.”
Ella finished her words beside Lowell, who had fallen silent with a grave expression.
Something’s wrong. She’s been wronged by that man more than once, yet this time she’s just following his lead? Even if she’s thinking about disappearance…
Far more worries and questions than before began swirling chaotically in Lowell’s mind. This regression was clearly different from the ones before.
“…By the way, what’s that?”
Seeing Lowell frowning and staring at the ground as if she wanted to bore a hole through it, Ella cautiously changed the subject.
“Huh?”
“That bundle next to you.”
She pointed to the bundle of medicinal herbs.
“Oh, this? I’m going to make something when I get home. There’s someone who needs it.”
“Someone who needs it? Your husband? Why?”
“Well…”
For a moment, Lowell almost told the truth about Leon’s corruption. Maybe hearing about Aria had made her guard slip.
“No, it’s just that he seems to be in poor health, so I thought I’d make him some restorative medicine.”
She couldn’t go around talking about Leon without his consent, so she brushed it off.
“…What? His health is poor?”
Ella’s face turned serious, and then a look of sympathy appeared as she gazed at Lowell.
“Your husband’s health isn’t good… I see, Lowell.”
As Ella inspected Lowell’s face, her expression darkened further. Soon, when she patted Lowell’s shoulder, there was clear pity in her touch.
“It’s okay. It’ll be fine. If he takes the medicine, his strength will come back. Someone I know took it, and their relationship improved again too.”
Lowell thought Ella had misunderstood something badly, but she didn’t dwell on it. She had too many other things on her mind.
“What are you talking about? Enough. Just take this.”
“What is it? Pie?”
“Yeah. Take it to Miss Aria. Make sure to tell her it’s from White Lady’s Dessert Shop.”
“Madam, it’s getting late.”
As their conversation wrapped up, Hilda arrived, driving the carriage.
“I’m heading off! Let’s meet again next time!”
Lowell called out to Ella as she climbed into the carriage.
“Okay! You hang in there too! It’ll get better!”
Ella shouted after the carriage as it rolled away.
