“Come in”
As soon as permission was given, a woman wearing a white hat and apron entered the room. She was a maid, the kind one might see in any mansion.
"From now on, take good care of Miss Selinia. Ah, but it would be troublesome if her ankle recovered too quickly. You understand what I mean, right?"
'You bastard.'
Of course, there was no subject. However, as if he understood that the remark was directed at him, Eon let out a laugh of amusement. That was it. He glanced back at me once and slowly left the room.
"It is an honor to serve Miss Selinia. Please call me Karen. I will do my utmost to ensure your comfort."
As I watched her bow deeply and greet me respectfully, a possibility suddenly occurred to me. Unless a body was found, there was a chance the missing people were being held captive in this magic tower. Perhaps they were forced to work as maids, bound by the same contract as me.
'What did Lady Catherine look like? The butcher's daughter?'
I forgot all manners and stared intently at Karen. Unfortunately, however, I had only heard news about them and had never seen them in person.
"Nice to meet you. I am from the Hyrn family in the district west of the center of Baynan."
I deliberately brought up the location of the Hyrn family. Naturally, it was an introduction I wouldn't have made under normal circumstances. I examined Karen's face.
"I see. We also often go to the center of Baynan to buy necessities or run errands."
Unfortunately, not even the slightest tremor could be felt from her.
'Right, maybe it's not Karen.'
Then again, there was no way Eon, who knew exactly what I was thinking, would have assigned someone I would know.
"I'll check the injury first."
Karen placed bandages, disinfectant, and a familiar potion on the bedside table. I didn't know that the wound healing potion I made was being used in the Magic Tower as well.
It was a blessing in disguise. Even if it wasn't as good as healing magic, with that medicine, I would surely recover soon. And so...
It was a time when I thought about it.
Crack.
Karen opened the potion lid and poured it directly onto a plate.
'Are you telling me to drink it from the plate?'
It didn't look like a plate worth putting your mouth on. I had a feeling she might be trying to soak a bandage in it and wrap it around. There were often people who knew that liquid medicine had to be applied directly to the wound to be effective.
"Karen, if I drink that..."
Seeing my bewildered expression, Karen put on the look of a gentle maid.
"I won't give you the potion. This medicine is too effective."
What on earth does that mean? To say that this medicine cannot be given to a patient because it is too effective? The servants of the Count's household instantly came to mind. Knowing my status, they naturally ignored me. There was no blatant harassment, but it was like this. They always took a few pieces from my share and handed them to me.
"Because the master told me to be careful so that the young lady doesn't recover too quickly."
However, no malice could be found on Karen's face.
"Even if you don't necessarily give it to me, there's no need to go out of your way to throw away the medicine, is there?"
"No. You have to throw away items that are no longer used for their original purpose."
"Still, that medicine must be quite expensive."
"The price doesn't matter. All items must be handled that way."
There was nothing more to say. After all, even a murderer was a noble. And a Marquis at that, holding the Magic Tower in his grasp, so one couldn't even imagine how much money he possessed. In truth, there was no other choice but to overlook it, considering it the extravagance of a wealthy noble.
"Please don't be upset."
Karen spoke surprisingly gently.
"My master must have a reason for everything. After all, he is a kind person."
"Are you affectionate? Who?"
"My master. I mean, the Lord of the Magic Tower."
“He's being kind?”
"Absolutely. It's rare to find someone who treats their employees this well."
Karen said as she wrapped a bandage around my leg.
'It's obvious this maid signed a subordination contract, too.'
Otherwise, there would have been no need to emphasize that Eon was affectionate. She was clearly flattering him by taking advantage of the fact that Eon could read her thoughts.
'If not, then perhaps she is a rare species with an extraordinary bond with her boss.'
Either way, it seemed like I should be careful about telling Karen about Eon.
“This room..."
I brought up the topic of the room to change the subject, and Karen responded unexpectedly enthusiastically.
"Oh my. Don't you like the room?"
"No, on the contrary, I love the room. It looks just like the bedroom of a noble lady or a lady of the house, doesn't it?"
"That's right. That was the concept."
Karen answered as if she was glad to be recognized.
"I dressed up again because the young lady was coming."
"Me? So you're saying this is my room?"
"Yes."
I looked around the room once again. A researcher's room. No matter how financially sound the situation, it was difficult to understand, from a common-sense perspective, why they would allocate accommodation like this.
"Are all the researchers at the Magic Tower assigned accommodations like this?'
"That can't be true. He went out of his way to be special this time for you, young lady."
"...Surely not the Master of the Magic Tower?
"Yes."
The maid gave a meaningful smile. It was the first time I had ever felt so unwelcome about someone paying special attention to me.
"Then, please rest well."
"Wait for a sec."
I still had many things I wanted to ask. Perhaps because I pulled her too hard in my excitement, the maid's hat that was lightly perched on her head fell to the floor with a thud.
"Gasp."
Funnily enough, it wasn't her who was surprised, but me.
'Brunette?'
Her hair, styled upward, was unmistakably brown. I checked her eyes once again. They were grass-green with a yellow tint; not vivid, but certainly a color that fell into the green category.
It was a common eye color, but the moment the brown hair and green eyes combined, it was no longer ordinary. An ominous premonition flashed through my mind.
"By any chance, are all the people working at the Magic Tower women?"
Perhaps the employees in the Magic Tower were not just simple employees.
"Oh my, now that I think about it, you're right."
"Are all those people brown-haired and green-eyed?"
“I’m not sure about that.”
Karen answered clearly and distinctly to the unexpected question without showing any sign of surprise. She straightened her hair, which she had lifted up, and put on the hat that had fallen on the floor. In an instant, her brown hair vanished without a trace.
"Do all the other maids use that sash by any chance?"
"No."
That's right. There was no way Eon would have ordered that nice brown hair to be covered.
"Then why Karen?"
"I just wrote that because I wanted to give the young lady a neat impression."
"I wanted to give a neat impression..." For some reason, I didn't take those words at face value.
"Is there a crutch in the magic tower by any chance?"
“Crutches?”
"If you don't have one, at least take me to the lab. I'll try to make a suitable assistive device."
"Where are you going?"
Eon came to mind at her question.
"Don't worry. I'm not trying to run away. I'm just curious about the people in the Magic Tower. Could you introduce me?"
Although I hadn't met them yet, I had a strong hunch that everyone here would have brown hair and green eyes.
***
I left the room leaning on the crutch Karen had brought. My room was on the third floor. Thanks to that, I could see the people coming and going on the floor below at a glance.
'...Ah.'
I felt dizzy for a moment. It wasn't that I felt fear at such a height. After all, I didn't have a fear of heights to begin with.
'So this is why we couldn't find the missing. They had herded them all into the Magic Tower.'
It was a terrible sight, but there was also a hopeful aspect. One was that the probability of the missing people being alive had increased.
The other possibility was that Eon might have entered into subordination contracts with all of them. I couldn't know exactly how he read the thoughts of his subordinates. In any case, looking into my own mind alone was a completely different matter from managing dozens of people.
His gaze wasn't aimed solely at me. I felt a small sense of stability from this trivial thought.
“Are you okay?”
"Yeah. It's just because I'm a bit tired."
"Would you like to go back in?"
I couldn't do that. I had to check the massive trap Eon had set. Only then would I be able to formulate a plan to escape from here.
"No, introduce the people as you said."
Karen helped me move.
"This is Marilyn, the laundry lady."
“Please take care of me.”
Marilyn, carrying a large laundry basket, had green eyes. A turquoise mixed with blue. And the color of the back of her hair, visible beneath her hat, was also reddish-brown.
'As expected...'
I was staring blankly at Marilyn's retreating figure when another voice was heard from below. My heart pounded.
"That's Roti over there, the cleaning staff."
Her thick curly hair was light brown, and her eyes were a perfect emerald green.
I was introduced to the maids I encountered in this way. They all had brown hair and green eyes. Seeing people in succession wearing the same uniform and having the same hair color, I even had the illusion that clones were walking around.
"This is the kitchen."
Karen opened the large door on the first floor.
"The person sitting over there is Chef Ena."
Ena, who was resting while perched on a chair, was just taking off her headscarf. Her short haircut was light brown, as expected. Pale green irises were nestled in her somewhat fierce-looking eyes.
"It's almost mealtime, so would you mind waiting here for a moment?"
Karen asked, as if the introduction was roughly finished.
"Do all the people in the Tower gather in the dining hall during meal times?"
"All the maids gather. For the researchers or the Master of the Magic Tower, it depends on the situation."
I looked at the restaurant across the way. I could easily imagine what the scenery would be like.
'He must be a minister, too.'
It was the first time my heart had raced like this before dinner.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment