# 52
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But I couldn't say that.
Because at the moment I know nothing of Lucio's warmth.
“Oh my soul is good too, what should I say to a little girl?”
The Duchess suddenly came to her senses and patted my shoulder lightly and said.
“Anyway, I requested your presence to tell you to read and study hard in the library from now on.”
". … Yes."
In fact, it was difficult to understand that she should read books and study instead of working as a maid, but I nodded meekly.
* * *
Leah quietly left the Duchess's room and headed to the garden instead of going to her quarters.
Maybe because I wasn't working as hard as I had a few days ago, my body wasn't as tired, and more than anything else, I had something to think about.
“I thought the Duchess was strangely more polite to the head maid.”
Leia thought it was simply because the Duchess wasn't used to speaking informally, or because the head maid came from a family that was subordinate to the Duchy.
but.
“It was because Lucio was involved.”
She took care of Lucio, whom she could not raise by her side, and respected the head maid who looked after the palace in the capital during her absence.
The problem was the facial expressions the Duchess made when she talked about Lucio.
Her face had the most dejected expression I had ever seen in the capital.
Even more so when she complained to the Duke that it was not easy for her to integrate into the social world.
“Ha.”
It was a time when I couldn't help but sigh without realizing it.
Leah stopped, pausing before entering the park entrance.
I was able to find out because I was able to read Lucio's presence more accurately after realizing that he usually hid his presence.
Having someone in the park.
As expected, there was a tall and skinny boy slowly walking out of the garden.
Like that day back in the day when I snuck into Diana's birthday party.
Under the moonlight, the collar flutters in the wind, looking like a masterpiece.
It was a sight I couldn't take my eyes off, but Leah very quietly turned and left the garden.
So as not to hinder that calm person's progress.
And for her own peace.
After a while, when Lucio turned his head, there was no one there.
* * *
“Is it going to rain?”
She looked up at the cloudy sky as if it was going to rain any minute.
Even though it was still morning, the damp, gloomy air made me feel down.
I forced myf to take a hesitant step and headed toward the library.
It's been a few days since I started working in the main library.
A lot has happened in the meantime.
First of all, all the upper-ranking maids and lower-ranking maids that the head maid sent to the library to bother me have been replaced.
Helen's handling of her duties was truly merciless.
The complaints were directed at me.
However, even if they looked at me kindly or completely ignored me like before, they could no longer touch me.
Thanks to Lucio's orders, I stayed in the main library all day without encountering them.
Even if they wanted to harass me, they had no choice because I was eating with Diana and not with the staff.
The main library was the perfect retreat.
Yes.
The second most obvious change was the library.
〈Noona!〉
〈You ugly one!〉
〈Lea.〉
The main library, where the lights had been off until Lucio arrived, was no longer a quiet place.
After every class, Diana ran to the library.
Allen, who usually didn't turn his head towards the library, came to play after practice, and Jack also came regularly, offering to show me to my dorm.
'Even the Duke came. …’
I made the excuse that I was looking for a book, but there were few people who could move on just one word of it.
However, even though he came to see his eldest son, he did not even take a single look at Lucio.
On the contrary, every time I was organizing scattered books or climbing the ladder to take out a book, he kept looking at me with scary eyes, and even smiled happily when he saw me reading a difficult book.
The next day, the intact staircase in the main library was replaced with a stronger, larger staircase.
At this point, I couldn't help but notice that the Duke was paying attention to me.
Since visitors come every day in this way, it is natural for me to notice it.
The main library was officially a public space that only immediate family members could enter, but in reality, it seemed to be Lucio's personal space.
But fortunately, Lucio didn't complain.
Moreover, contrary to what I was worried about, none of the things he asked me to do were difficult.
All I had to do was sometimes find the book he had written in his notebook and put it next to it, or return the book he had asked me to put down.
When Lucio wasn't asking me to work, my daily routine was to read books quietly.
‘This time, I really wanted to show myf as a competent worker.’
I suppressed my remorse inside.
In fact, this was my entire desire.
In my previous life, I showed Lucio many really ugly sides.
I met him for the first time and I looked so dirty that I couldn't even remember when I washed, and without feeling any shame, I accepted bread, medicine, and other things from him.
‘Besides, he was trespassing illegally, and was even seen dead, so I told him everything.’
However, I was happy to think that the past was buried as a dark history that only I knew.
But even when I came back, I was a little annoyed because I was seen as an absent-minded child who was only looking at the faces of sleeping people.
So this time, I wanted to do what I was asked to do subtly and appear as a useful child that Diana could have by her side.
'The task is so easy that there is no time to show one's abilities. …’
If other users heard it, they might scold me, but I felt very comfortable after I started working in the library.
"Yes."
But even though I had been assigned such a good job, I sighed.
There was one reason.
As soon as...
'It's very uncomfortable!'
It was really uncomfortable to be in the same room with Lucio.
Of course, he was a very busy person and couldn't stay in the library, so there were many times when I was alone here, but when we were together every day, even for a few hours, the air was so tense that it was difficult to breathe.
The huge library was so quiet that the only sounds were the sound of pages turning or the tapping of a pen nib.
The same thing happened when I moved to look for a book.
I couldn't even hide my presence for fear that people would realize that I knew how to use mana, so I had to hold my breath and move as much as possible.
Thanks to this, I could only make faint sounds of breathing or clothes rubbing together.
'When are you going to the academy?'
I think he said he would stay for a while because the exams were over and there were no classes.
Lucio, who thought he would be back soon, seemed to have no intention of going for several days already.
'. …Maybe I'll feel like this for a long time.'
I took a deep breath, looked at the large door in front of me, took a deep breath, and knocked.
Knock knock —
“...Sir?”
No matter how long I waited, I did not hear anyone asking me to come.
Since he is someone who is very keen on my presence, I looked again to see if he was asleep like last time, but it seemed that no one was there.
However, she gingerly opened the door and entered.
“Heh.”
As expected, no one was there.
Feeling completely relieved, I sat down on the couch, which had been my designated seat for the past few days.
This seat had a clear view of the large desk in front of the window, so it was nice to be able to respond immediately when Lucio looked for me.
After staring blankly at my desk for a moment, I got up, went around the bookshelf, and pulled out the books.
“What should I read first?”
After voraciously packing the books, I decided to re-read the book I read last time, which introduced the neighboring kingdoms of the empire.
“Because it shows my senses somehow.”
I remembered that the Duke looked very uncomfortable when he saw me reading this book a few days ago.
As expected, the Emperor's Sword must have been something else. When I was reading the history of the empire, he had a happy expression on his face, but when I showed interest in other kingdoms, he showed a very sad face.
'Yes. I frowned weirdly as I looked at the map of the empire, but whatever.'
Something must have happened that made you feel bad at that time.
Anyway, I couldn't read it after that because I was worried about it, but Lucio wasn't there and it seemed to be going well.
I quickly opened the book and went to the part related to the Principality of Pylos.
“I need to read it quickly and write a reply, and ask the Duchess to send it soon.”
I started reading the book with a happy face.
In less than ten years since the Principality of Pylos' independence from the Empire, there has been a lot of useful information.
And the more I read, the more I understand why Bianca brags so much in her letter.
It might be natural for the owner of the principality, Archduke Belos, to be a wizard and master of a magic tower, but the principality was more active than anywhere else in patronizing mages, magical tools that were difficult to find in the empire except because the nobility were commercially available to everyone.
'It's a small country, but it has the only Magic Swordsman Corps on the continent.'
In particular, the Grand Duchy Castle, which was included in the illustration and located on a steep slope next to the blue sea, was extremely beautiful and majestic.
“It's kind of unfortunate.”
I don't regret my choice to follow Diana, but I'm a little disappointed by Bianca's suggestion. …
"What?"
At that time, I was startled by a sound that suddenly reached my ears and I said: Ah! I stood up and screamed.
At the same time, the book I was holding fell and fluttered, stopping at the illustration I had been looking at for a while.