TDDCS

Chapter 56 - Pale violet color

While Damien was immersed in such thoughts, the subtle scent of tea began to spread around him. As Kahel pushed the teacup in front of Damien, he lifted it without thinking.

“The tea tastes good.”

“Th, thank you.”

The voice of an unfamiliar woman timidly said thank you. Until then, Damien looked at Kahel without feeling any discomfort.

“Yes, what made our Kahel ask his dad to drink tea?”

“Pfft! Uhh eup! I’m, I’m sorry…….”

When he spoke to Kahel as if he was a child, the maid could not hold back her laughter and apologized by hurriedly bowing her head, and then Damien’s gaze turned to her.

“You’re a maid that I haven’t seen before. When did you come to work here?”

“Ah, well, it’s been about half a year since I’ve served the Duke’s residence. Nice to meet you, predecessor Duke Luave.”

“Wait a moment. Did you just say that you are serving Kahel?”

“What? Yes…… Although I am lacking in many ways, I am working as his close maid.

Damien’s eyes widened. And it was then that he remembered the story of the ‘mysterious maid’ that Arder had told him in a letter. He never thought that she would be so close to him as to work directly for Kahel. He always lived with a maid in Terra Luave, so he didn’t find it strange to have a maid in Kahel’s office. He felt indifferent to how Kahel had been and he had forgotten how much he had suffered.

“So you are…… Lena…… I guess.”

“Yes. My name is Lena.”

It was only around that time that Kahel stepped in.

“Lena. I’ll do the rest, so go out for a moment.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Lena carefully placed the teapot on the tea table, and without making a single sound from her footsteps, she quietly walked out of the office. Even then, Damien’s big red eyes didn’t fall from Lena.

“As you can see, she doesn’t react at all to my devilish power. Could it be that she is a distant relative somewhere?”

“Haa, ha, ha! That child, I mean, that is the maid Arder spoke of. Yes, I have heard from Arder several times by letter, but seeing her with my own eyes is really surprising.”

Damian took another sip of the tea that Lena had brewed. The fragrant scent lingered on the tip of his nose and then vanished leaving a faint trace.

“Who knows that child exists?”

“I tried not to divulge as much as possible, but it was difficult to keep her a complete secret since she was the close maid anyway. She’s been seen by merchants and seamstresses who occasionally come in and out. Even the people in the mansion know about her, but they all seem to believe that she is a priestess of the temple. But she’s definitely not from the priesthood. She is said to be the illegitimate daughter of Baron Fidelia, one of the group who conspired to explode the Luave mine, and she said she worked as a maid in the Barony. I wondered if she was the illegitimate child of the Duke of Santella, but it seems very unlikely.”

Damien thought for a moment, tapping the tip of the armrest.

“If you ask about that child’s bloodline, that means you have feelings for that child? You wish she could be your wife…… ?”

“What? Ah, well, rather than that, I’m just asking because she doesn’t respond to the devilish power”

Kahel thought he had responded with great care, but his father’s eyes, who had raised him since he was a baby, could see the shyness that still lingered in his earlobe.