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CHAPTER16.
“……”
‘Yeah… he can’t hurt me anyway.’
That phrase, something I always said like a habit, got stuck in my throat this time.
The man was standing right in the corner of the wall, hidden by the shadows. I couldn’t see his face, but one thing was clear—
He was huge.
The sharp, polished blade in his hand caught the sunlight from the window and flashed.
In that instant, the two weapons I was holding became useless.
I barely managed to glance down.
White clothes. And splattered, bright red blood.
“What the hell—!”
My legs gave out, and I fell on my backside. My whole body trembled, but I couldn’t even think of running away.
Then, suddenly, the man jumped out of the shadows.
“Uh-uh-uh-oh my, are you okay, Head Maid!?”
He rushed toward me with a panicked face, reaching out his hand.
“…Excuse me?”
I answered weakly.
Nearly two meters tall, with a muscular body visible even through his clothes—yet his green eyes were filled only with worry.
The blade that had scared me so much was now lying on the floor.
What… was going on?
***
It was 4 PM, when all the servants were busy with their duties.
Dinner was still two hours away, so the dining hall was quiet.
I sat in the middle, dropping a stack of documents onto the table.
The man sitting across from me flinched just from that sound. His slightly curly brown hair shook as he did.
He avoided my eyes, rolling his gaze to the side.
For someone so big, his round features didn’t match at all.
“Wait… you’re the head chef?”
“Yes…”
His voice was so quiet, I had to lean closer just to hear him.
It turned out—the strange gaze I had been feeling all this time was from him! He was one of only two humans here, besides Eki.
Because it had been a long time since a human head maid appeared, he wanted to be friends. But his shy nature kept him from speaking up.
It took me thirty minutes just to coax that story out of him.
Still… the way he looked, holding a knife, with that huge body—it was enough to cause misunderstandings.
But the scariest part was something else.
“Um… Head Chef, what’s that on your chest?”
I pointed cautiously at his clothes. They were covered in blood.
“Ah! This? I must have gotten it while cutting the meat for tonight’s dinner. I’m so sorry…”
He panicked and tried wiping his shirt, but the dried stains wouldn’t come off.
His round eyes filled with tears, like morning dew on leaves. Then suddenly, he looked around nervously.
“Oh no, my knife! Where is it?”
“…”
“I still need to cut the rest of the meat!”
He had dropped it when I fell earlier.
Honestly, I hadn’t reminded him because just the sight of the blade flashing in the light had terrified me.
“So… that knife was just for cutting meat.”
This man… he was the one making me nervous for days?
I sighed. If I touched my forehead now, he’d probably burst into tears without even knowing why.
‘Well… what can I do.’
It wasn’t worth scolding him. He hadn’t meant any harm.
He was still anxiously rubbing the bloodstains, looking miserable.
If someone like him had just wanted to be friends… then I couldn’t stay angry.
In truth, it was also my fault—I hadn’t introduced myself to the chef earlier.
So, I reached out my hand to him.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Shasha.”
The chef froze in shock. His green eyes went wide.
“You—you told me your name? That’s so kind of you.”
His reaction was exactly like when I first met Eki.
“So it’s true. People here don’t even exchange names normally.”
The chef grabbed my hand with shaking hands and shook it so hard tears formed at the corners of his eyes.
“My name is Myron! Please take care of me, Sh-shasha.”
“Yes, of course. Nice to meet you, Myron.”
I smiled awkwardly as my hand got shaken nonstop.
1 minute… 2 minutes… 3 minutes… by 5 minutes, my wrist creaked.
“Oh! I’m sorry. I get too excited sometimes…”
“It’s fine, really.”
It wasn’t fine, but I pretended.
With that settled, I picked up the documents again.
Now that the “mystery gaze” problem was solved, I just needed to finish cleaning the fountain and learn about tea.
Wait… tea.
He was the chef, maybe he knew something?
“Myron, do you know much about tea?”
“Tea?”
“Yes. I only know how to clean right now, but I’d like to study tea types and how to serve it. I was hoping you might know.”
“Ah…”
Myron’s eyes widened, then he suddenly dashed out to the kitchen.
“Please wait just a moment!”
And I mean dashed. That giant man.
He returned carrying an old, thick book. Dust flew into the air the moment he placed it on the table.
“What’s this?”
“Ah… one of my hobbies used to be studying tea leaves. I also collected pretty teacups… This book has all of that. I’m not sure if it will help…”
His voice trailed off as if he lost confidence.
I quickly hugged the book to my chest.
“This is perfect! Thank you, Myron.”
He blushed to his ears, scratching his cheek.
“You can borrow it… or even keep it.”
“That’s a relief. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to serve the Duke’s teatime once I finish cleaning the fountain.”
At that word, his face instantly stiffened.
“…The fountain? Did you say the fountain?”
He looked horrified, like I had spoken of a forbidden place.
His whole body shook as he grabbed a plate and fork from the table and held them over his head—like it could protect him.
Even though it only covered the top of his hair, holding something seemed to calm him down.
“Shasha, you can’t go near the fountain! It’s forbidden!”
He kept glancing at me nervously but repeated it firmly.
“Don’t go near the fountain.”
That reaction… it felt familiar.
Oh right—Alex had panicked too when I mentioned it.
Jameson had asked about a strange chill, and Kelpie and Seeker had outright refused to approach.
“So it’s true. Something’s wrong with that fountain.”
I always thought it was just old and filthy. But with this many reactions…
“Myron, is there something inside the fountain? I just cleaned it today.”
“What!? You—you cleaned it? Did you go inside it!?”
Myron shouted as he jumped to his feet.
