The Grand Duke's Maid Writes a Consultation Log Today - Chapter 18

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Maid of the Grand Ducal House Writes a Counseling Log Today – Chapter 18
“So you’re telling me not to disturb you.”
Yulias took his eyes off the paper and stared back at Sheila.
As their persistent gazes crossed, Yulias ran a hand through his hair.
“Then, shall we talk here?”
“…….”
“It would be best for you to know who I met today. Sheila, I am on my way back from the Imperial Court.”
“……!”
Sheila’s face contorted.
It was similar to the look she had given the maids earlier.
Yulias, failing to notice her expression, merely pressed his temples against a rushing headache.
“Princess Aresina was worried about you. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Just a moment.”
Only one person noticed Sheila’s face first.
It was Elysia who cut off the conversation.
“Lady Sheila.”
Sheila, who had been gradually emitting an aura of bloodlust, turned her head first at her call.
“Please finish your meal with Joshua. I’ll be right back.”
Sheila’s gaze dropped, and she abruptly let go of the hand she was holding.
Before Elysia could even examine her countenance, a piece of paper was thrust close to her eyes.
[Go.]
Elysia could fully feel the emotion loaded into that single word.
Staring at the scribbled handwriting, Elysia unconsciously examined her face.
Her dark, sunken expression, along with a cold sweat, made it difficult to take a step.
Elysia detached the paper from her hand and pressed a handkerchief she had pulled out into it.
“I will be back.”

* * *
Elysia, who followed Yulias out of the Small Banquet Hall, could not let go of the paper she had brought out in a daze.
The stiff parchment was damp with sweat.
Sheila had clearly shown a change in attitude upon hearing about the Imperial Court—specifically, the name of the Princess.
What on earth had happened?
It was just when her worry for her rushed in like a wave, filling her mind.
-Snap!
At the sound of snapping fingers, Elysia snapped her head up.
As her eyes met Yulias’s, who was looking at her silently, she hurriedly bowed her head.
“I apologize, Your Grace.”
“I didn’t call you out to hear an apology. I heard the maids caused a commotion.”
“If you are talking about the situation earlier, I didn’t see it from the beginning, but…….”
“Right, it must have been exactly Sheila throwing a tantrum.”
Yulias’s unhesitating conviction made Elysia feel uncomfortable in a corner of her heart.
It was certainly true that the maids had caused a disturbance.
And she had seen with her own eyes Sheila throwing the plate and Joshua blocking it.
But could that simply be dismissed as throwing a tantrum?
To Elysia, it looked like a means of self-preservation to protect herself.
Yet Yulias was dismissing it as merely Sheila’s whim or stubbornness.
He frowned and let out a sigh.
His expression was somewhat drowned in fatigue.
However, a wrong had to be corrected when it was time.
Yulias muttered in a tired voice, and it was close enough for Elysia to hear clearly.
“It’s not like this is the first or second time it’s happened.”
“Did you receive a full report from Aide Hilmaiten?”
“If so.”
“Then you must also know what kind of absurd remarks the maids made.”
Elysia looked straight at him.
The sunlight streaming through the hallway window made her green eyes sparkle even more.
Staring intently into those eyes, Yulias recalled Hilmaiten’s voice.
‘It seems that several maids, centered around a maid named Branda, have been territorial and ostracized Elysia.’
‘I heard that the Lady noticed it first and ordered that the lunch meal be served directly to that group, including Miss Branda.’
Yulias’s gaze moved slowly. From her eyes, across her face, and finally to the minor scratches remaining on her hands.
‘The Lady wouldn’t speak of it, and Joshua…… has poor hearing, so it seems they badmouthed her in front of him.’
Recalling what he heard after that, the scene was vividly drawn.
Sheila would have overturned the meal, her brother Joshua would have blocked it, and Elysia, facing the situation late, would have dealt with it.
Yulias exhaled slowly and placed his hands on his waist.
Elysia, gauging his mood, led the conversation first.
“Your Grace. If I may be so bold, there is something I would like to ask.”
Yulias jerked his chin as if telling her to speak.
“Are the relations between the Grand Ducal House and the Imperial Family internally bad?”
Yulias asked back instead of answering.
“Why do you ask that?”
“When Your Grace mentioned the Imperial Court and the Princess…… the Lady’s expression beside you was very poor. To the point where I became worried.”
As Sheila’s face came to mind, Elysia unconsciously crumpled the paper she held in her hand.
That paper, which she didn’t know with what feelings it had been written, was crumpled in her hand in an instant.
Yulias let out a short sigh.
“Is the Lady’s expression important right now? Do you think this is the first time Lady Sheila has done something like this?”
“……No.”
“Right. You saw it even before you were hired, so you must know well.”
The more she backed down here, the worse the situation would get.
Elysia hurriedly continued speaking.
“It’s not that I don’t understand Your Grace’s position. However, as the person beside the Lady, I wondered if the two of you could at least try to have a conversation.”
“A conversation?”
Yulias chuckled.
Rather than laughing because he found it amusing, it was closer to a scoff.
“I was just marveling at that written communication earlier, as it was the first time I’ve ever received one.”
An incomprehensible emotion was laden in Yulias’s calm voice.
Beyond frustration and resentment, a weary emotion on the verge of giving up could be felt.
“Those words…… sound like it is difficult for you to involve yourself with the Lady anymore.”
“Is that so.”
At his ambiguous answer, Elysia lowered her head.
Her hand holding the paper was trembling faintly.
“But just as Your Grace has entrusted me with being solely in charge of the Lady……. I want to do this job all the more well.”
Yulias, who had been staring blankly at that sight, turned his head.
“I don’t think I hired you as a nanny.”
Elysia nodded instead of answering.
There was nothing wrong with his words.
She was merely a maid solely in charge of serving the Lady, and there was a limit to the scope of how much she could intervene like a nanny.
Yulias pressed his forehead as if tired.
“Go back now.”
“Um, what you were going to say…….”
“Later. The Lady must be waiting.”
Yulias appeared to want to end the conversation with a somewhat exhausted look.
His complexion certainly looked worse than it did earlier.
Elysia bowed her waist silently in greeting.
Yulias’s gaze, which had watched the Small Banquet Hall door open and close until the very end, directed toward the floor.
It was the paper that Elysia had put into her pocket while greeting him.
[Take her after the meal is finished.]
Staring quietly at the paper, Yulias harbored a doubt.
Come to think of it, when was the last time he had heard Sheila’s voice?
In his memory, it was after the Academy’s first vacation.
And with their timing missing each other, Yulias had to stay up all night due to the workload piled up right after the Monster Subjugation ended.
He was certainly cooped up in his office that day as well.
‘……Yulias. Are you busy?’
What had he replied back then?
Did he say he was busy and to talk next time?
Or…….
It was a memory so distantly far away that it didn’t come to mind immediately.
What was certain was that Sheila’s voice was gradually fading from his memory.
Left alone, Yulias slowly clenched and unclenched his fist before wiping his face.
“Ha.”
Since he couldn’t know where it had gotten tangled from, he couldn’t even know what had gone wrong.
He did not move for a long time and only stared at the paper.
Inadvertently turning the paper over, a scribbled mark caught his eye besides the single word that had been written.
[Go.]
The mark nearby, where something had been written and then furiously crossed out, was difficult to recognize in shape.
As sunlight happened to be streaming in through the window, he held the paper close to the light, thinking it might help.
The faintly visible handwriting was three words.
[Don’t go.]
Yulias stared at those words silently.
He slowly folded the paper neatly.
And only after carefully putting it into his inner pocket did he leave the spot.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————