Red Tape

It is the first snowfall the boy has seen since he was born.

After a perilous flight, the snowflake landed on a boy’s calloused palm. The white petals were about to fly away as he clenched his fists.

When he opened the hand he had brought inside, nothing was left in it.

The boy, who is staring at his empty palm in confusion, stretches his arm out the carriage window again.

“Ugh, it’s cold! Why don’t you close the window?”

The boy startled by the sudden voice that pierced his ears and withdrew his outstretched hand.

The owner of the voice was a middle-aged man who is sitting in front of the boy and dozing off the entire time.

The boy looked at him and closed the sliding window. There was deep regret on his face.

“Ahem”

The man cleared his throat, probably feeling embarrassed that he had gotten angry at a child and scolded him, who must have been fifteen.

He feels sick when he sees a child’s depressed expression. This time, he spoke with a much calmer tone.

“Is this your first time visiting the north?”

It was obvious that he was amazed by the snow as if he was seeing it for the first time, but the man asked that question to alleviate his confusion.

Instead of answering, the boy simply nodded.

As if to support the answer, all the layers of clothes the boy is wearing are all thin. He most likely took them out of their luggage one by one and put them on as he arrived in the cold north.

The man glanced at the scenery outside through the window. The carriage departed from a small inn in Albans and headed towards Wickersfield, a small town in the north.

“Since you woke me up, why don’t you talk to me? “We still have half an hour to go.”

The boy narrowed his eyes at the man’s suggestion.

It appears that he is not mute, as he was talking to the coachman around the time of departure, but he seemed to be quite less talkative.

“Are you going to a relative’s home?” the man asked.

The boy shook his head.

The man pounded his chest with his fist out of frustration.”Oh my! My heart is about to explode.”

Only then did the boy open his mouth.”The house where I will be working”.

“Work? Have you found a job?”

The boy nodded.

“You look young, are you going alone…?”

It’s common for children to start working at the age of four or five, but it’s rare for a young child to go to work alone without an introducer.

The man slowly lowers his eyes and look the luggage bag lying at the boy’s feet.

The brown tin trunk, which didn’t even have a properly secured handle, looks like it had been picked up from somewhere. Shoes with dried mud and pants with tattered bottoms were equally unsightly.

There are generally two cases where a child like that would go out on his own to look for work.

Coming from a workhouse or being sold to pay for their parent’s debt.

In particular, these days, gambling has become widespread even in the lower classes, and the number of children belonging to the latter class has increased.

“Okay, what’s the story?” “Did your parents gamble?”

As soon as the story about finding fault with the family came out, the boy’s eyes narrowed quickly.

The docile expression was nowhere to be seen. The slightly lowered head and defiantly cross eyes are so intimidating that even a man thirty years older than the boy flinches and trembles.

The boy’s silver-gray eyes look like those of an animal. The jet-black hair made those eyes stand out even more.

I am a man who has seen all kinds of hair colors throughout my life as a businessman, but this is the first time I have seen hair that just black without a hint of any shades. It’s so black that it even looked blue.

“Are you trying to scare me? Ah…?Why are you looking at me like that….?

Okay…“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Are you done?” Only then did the boy’s face become gentle again. The man shuddered as if he had encountered an animal on the mountain and ran away.

“Okay, which house are you going to?”

“G-Gla….”

The boy, who was hesitating and stuttering, took out a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out instead of speaking.

The man, who was starting to get presbyopia, narrowed his eyes and looked down at the paper. The name of the place the boy is going to was written on a piece of paper given by the human resources agency.

“Glassdale?”

The boy nodded vigorously. He didn’t seem to be able to read.

This is nothing new, as the majority of lower-class children are illiterate.

It is seen as arrogant for a low-class person to learn, to read, and many noble families preferred illiterate servants. This is to prevent people from secretly reading correspondence or writing down conversations.

“By the way, it will not be easy at the Duke of Caliwell.”

The boy swallowed his dry saliva nervously as he heard the man’s words, which showed signs of pity and concern.

“We’ll be arriving at Wickersfield soon.”

The coachman, covered from head to toe in fur and leather clothes, opens the window leading to the seat and spoke.

The man carefully packed his luggage.

“I guess we’ll meet each other again.”

The boy blinked as if wondering what it meant. The man, who now used to such a response from a boy, offered to shake his hand with a friendly smile.

“I am Brody Jones, and I run a general store under my name on Bartholomew Boulevard. Even though I look like this, I often do business with dukes. It is our fate that we met like this, but we have to say goodbye. “What’s your name?”

The boy gently took Brody Jones’s hand

“Liam Jenners……”

Jenners? What an unusual last name. Nice to meet you, Liam Jenners

“If you ever need help and a day laborer, come to me anytime”

After saying that, Brody looked Liam up and down again.

The boy’s face is pretty and his body is thin, but the thick bone and green tendons protruding from the backs of the large hands already belonged to a man. Furthermore, the wrist bones exposed under the sleeves are very thick, and the feet were so large that they appeared unmatched. You may not realize it, but it will grow to be incredibly strong.

Even If there are skinny guys with thick bones, they will be stronger than guys who are big and have thin hands. If nothing else, Firody Jones is a man who took pride in having a good eye for people.

Soon the carriage stopped at the Wickersfield Inn. It’s Like a station where hired wagons come and go.

“Goodbye, Liam! See you again!”

Liam, who watched Brody’s back shrink as he got off the carriage, switch to another carriage. It’s a carriage heading to its final destination, Glassdale.

From Ferwick in the south to Glassdale in the far north. His long, long journey finally came to an end.

After passing through the city and fields covered in pure white with snow, the gray stone walls of the Duke’s residence finally appeared.

After running along the endless wall for a long time, the carriage finally arrived in front of the duke’s residence.

The elaborately carved wrought iron gate large enough to accommodate several carriages.

“Everyone, we have arrived. This is the residence of the Duke of Caldwell.”The driver announces.

When the driver told him that he could not go inside the gate, Liam got out of the carriage and walked inside the gate, looking around like a country rat arriving in the city for the first time.

“Wow”

The mansion rising high on the hill is grander and more luxurious than any palace Liam had ever imagined.

The mansion built in the form of an additional building connected to the main building. It is so big that the person standing in front of it feels overwhelmed.

Counting from the bottom, it’s five stories in total, and some watchtowers and spires seem to have been built in the distant past.

Liam walked cautiously down the driveway.

A man who weeping snow from the driveway in front of the house with a broom saw Liam and approached him, asking how he got there.

Instead of answering, Liam took out a letter of introduction from his pocket and held it out, and the man who introduced himself as Ralph leaned his broom against the entrance of the stairs and motions lightly as if to follow him.

“Not everyone who brings a letter of introduction will be hired. Jeffrey will be interviewing you

“Jeffrey…?”

“He is a second-generation butler who has been working for the Caliwell family. There is nothing he doesn’t know about the house.” Even how many candlesticks are in each room.

Ralph said as he walked ahead toward the side door at the hack of the mansion where employees entered and exited.

I sensed a kind of pride or awe in his tone. It seemed like he had quite a bit of respect for the man named Jeffrey.

Liam, who was following Kalph’s back while looking at the elaborate carvings that decorated the building’s exterior walls, saw a maid passing by him whining.

A girl who was one head shorter than Liam carrying a bucket as big as her body.

A bucket full of coal seemed very burdensome to a small body.

“Help the weak”

Liam had not forgotten the teachings he received from his mother.

He glances at the back of the head of the man who is guiding him and quietly leaves the path. Then he run towards the maid, thinking that he could help her for a moment and then come back.

At that moment, the maid put the bucket on the floor and was wiping off her sore hands.

Liam came up next to her and lifted the bucket.

“Huh?”

The startled maid looked at Liam with rabbit eyes. Liam asked, turning to face her.

“Where?”

The maid, forgetting that people should not be allowed in through the door through which the owner enters and exits, absentmindedly pointed to the left. This coal was to be placed next to the fireplace in the drawing room, right next to the entrance.

But she couldn’t reach her destination.

Liam, who was about to turn to the left hallway pointed out by the maid, stopped when he heard her take a sharp breath

“Gasp”

When I turned my head, I saw the maid trembling as if she had seen something scary and looking slightly upward from th

e front. Liam’s gaze naturally drifted in the same direction.

On a beautiful staircase with a red carpet and gold-painted railings, someone even more beautiful than anything is coming down.