Red Tape

Liam opened his eyes when he heard a knock on the door.

“Are you there?”

He  jumped up when he heard a young woman’s voice outside the door.

Liam quickly took his feet off the bed and looked around. Although the cabin is now his home, he is still unfamiliar with it, and everything feels foreign.

The firewood in the fireplace that had kept Liam warm had burned out overnight, leaving only ashes.

Liam walked across the room with long strides and opened the door.

In front of the door stood a maid holding a basket covered with cloth. She is the same small maid he had tried to help yesterday but ended up adding the trouble of cleaning up the broken vase, but now that he looked at her again, she seemed to be around his age.

“Hello? Can I come in?”

As Liam nodded absentmindedly, she came into the cabin as if it was her own home and placed the basket on the small table.

“I’m Mary. Mary Townsend. And you?

“Liam Jenners.”

Mary spread the cloth over the basket on the table and took out the food she had brought one by one.

“Why didn’t you come to eat? I walked all the way here because of you.”

“Sorry… I was sleeping.”

Liam scratched the back of his head before looking at the food on the table. A soft-looking loaf of bread, a few strips of crispy bacon, a bottle of milk, and some dried fruit.

It’s a luxurious meal for Liam, who had always eaten water-soaked hard rye bread.

Mary took a seat at the table and looked up at Liam, who stood there staring blankly.

“What are you doing standing there? Not going to eat.”

“Ah…Yeah.”

Mary spoke as she watched Liam quickly sit down, tear off the bread, and put it in his mouth.

“You were surprised yesterday too, weren’t you?”

“I’m sorry. Because of me….”

“When the master passes by, you must turn around and bow your head. Didn’t you know that?”

“This is my first time doing something like this…and it’s also my first time meeting a noble in person… .

“It’s okay. Well, that can happen .”

Mary, who quickly figured out Liam’s gentle nature, started chatting in front of him while he was eating.

Mary, who lost her parents at a young age and moved from cousin to cousin, said that she came to the Duke of Calliwell at the age of thirteen.

She said that her specialty was meticulous cleaning and that she wanted to become a maid like Mrs. Friedman someday.

She said that Glassdale is a place with strong discipline and a lot of work, but that it’s also a place where the rewards are generous when done properly.

For example, Arthur Jeffrey, the butler who oversees the entire dukedom, is currently serving the second generation of Calliwell, and his old father is still receiving a pension and living comfortably in the villa provided by the Calliwell.

Liam listened to Mary’s story while eating bread, drinking milk, and biting into bacon.

“The best reward for working here, without a doubt, is a master.”

Liam’s busy meal stopped.

Mary continued, clasping her hands together with a dreamy expression.

“Just looking at it is a feast for the eyes.”

“Master…?”

“Yes, Master Erwin, whom you saw yesterday. He is the Duke’s sole successor.”

“Erwin… Master.”

Erwin.

It is the most exotic name I have ever heard. Mary spoke as if she could read his thoughts.

“Isn’t that a unique name? Master’s late mother was from Senain. Do you know Senain?It’s an Island country.”

“Yes. I’ve been there.”

“Really?”

Senain is an island nation famous for its tourism industry.

It is a place where nobles from cold regions go for vacation because of its mild weather all year round, and it is also called the land of fairies because there are many people with blond hair and blue eyes.

Liam lived there with his mother for a couple of months. Liam worked as a guard to keep boats tied up at the dock and prevent them from being stolen, and his mother worked at a nearby restaurant.

“Anyway, they say ‘Erwin’ means ‘white snow’ there. It said that it snowed outside the window on the day the young master was born. The madam named it.”

“White snow…”

“Isn’t it so romantic?”

Liam, entranced, nodded with a blank expression.

Erwin.

It was a noble name that fit the young master perfectly, and the more he thought about it, the more beautiful it became.

Looking at Liam, who is filled with awe, Mary continued talking with a slightly proud face.

“Do you want to be a butler someday? There are few rules you must follow if you want to survive in this mansion.”

Liam had never dreamed of becoming a butler, but he listened to her silently.

There are more than a few things to remember and rules to follow.

You could not enter the mansion’s front door without your uniform, and there was a hierarchy among the servants, so you could not assist them unless someone told you to.

As he listened to the story, he realized how inappropriate his behavior was yesterday. Liam’s cheeks flushed with belated shame.

How insignificant I must have looked in the eyes of the master.

Liam bit his lower lip in frustration at making a poor first impression on his master. With his appetite gone, he set down the piece of bread he was holding.

“Oh, Liam, do you know how to hunt?”

“Hunt? Why?”

“The duke is going hunting next week.”

“Ah….”

“The gunshots are a bit noisy, but it’s nice to see the master in his hunting clothes.”

“Master?”

“Yeah. Master, he always comes with him.”

The upper class enjoys hunting for fun, but for lower-class people like Liam, hunting is a way to get something to eat.

Liam had also gone hunting with the town’s older men. He usually filled the gunpowder in the gun and acted as an assistant to carry the animals they had caught, and on a few occasions he even caught rabbits and foxes with a gun someone gave him.

People said he was quite quick and good at it. He even caught several pheasants after the hunt.

Maybe he would get a chance to make up for yesterday’s bad first impression.

Suddenly, his lost appetite came back. Liam grabbed the milk in front of him and drank it all down.

***

It had been a week since he arrived in Glassdale.

Today, after chopping firewood for the fireplace, Liam wandered around the mansion aimlessly.

When would a mansion more appropriately called a palace or a castle, be built? It is amazing to see. As a symbol of power, it was incredibly large, and its majestic appearance itself is like a work of art.

When Liam has free time, he would walk around the mansion, pretending to go for a walk. However, he couldn’t even see the tip of his hair.

He is walking slowly, admiring the gold leaf decorations on the windows, which sparkled in the sunlight.

“Liam, what are you doing here?”

Suddenly, a cold rebuke fell and Liam stopped walking. When he turned around, he saw the butler, Jeffrey, standing there with a displeased expression.

“Didn’t I tell you to use the back door when coming and going? What are you doing, strutting around the front yard?”

Liam lowers his head at the words that treat him as if he are a wild animal that has come down to a private house.

“…I’m sorry.”

He became depressed and walked to the back of the mansion.

In the servants’ hall in the basement, preparations are in full swing for a meal . Liam also eats lunch with the crowd gathered around the large table.

After lunch, he met with the caretaker who worked under the butler and received his first weekly pay.

When he counted the money he received, it’s nearly double the amount he had earned when he was working hard. On top of that, since they provided him with food and lodging, it is not an exaggeration to say it is three times or more than double.

Is it okay to make money this easily?

Someone grabs Liam, who is walking back to the servants’ hall with a bewildered look.

“Liam! Do you want to go downtown too?”

It is Mary, who has taken off her usual apron and hat.

“Downtown?”

“I am going downtown to buy some clothes and look for hairpins. Jeffrey said I can take the carriage. There’s an empty seat, so what do you say?”

Liam absentmindedly glanced down at the clothes he is wearing.

It’s hard to describe his appearance as being okay, even in vain. That must be why Jeffrey didn’t like him loitering around in front of the mansion. My shabby appearance must have spoiled the beautiful scenery of the mansion.

When he didn’t answer, Mary immediately turned around. She seemed ready to go find another passenger.

“Huh?”

Mary felt her sleeve being pulled and turned around. Liam, who is carefully holding the end of her sleeve, nodded vigorously.

“I’ll go. I’ll go too.”

“Okay, fine.”

Liam followed Mary, fully aware of the coins in his pocket.

There are several carriages at the duke’s residence. Most of them are luxurious ones with the duke’s gold emblem engraved on them, and some are ordinary carriages for the convenience of servants who ran errands.

In the carriage heading to Wickersfield, Mary asked with an interested face.

“So, why did you say you were going downtown?

“…I’m going to buy clothes too.”

Mary quickly looked over Liam. The clothes he had obviously gotten from someone are clean, but the sleeves have  frayed slightly .

“Good idea.”

As Mary smiles, Liam scratches the back of his head and laughs awkwardly.

The carriage soon arrived at the Wickersfield Inn.

Bartholomew Street, the area’s busiest street, is filled with noise.

The sound of the carriage wheels, the sound of horses’ hooves hitting the pavement, the sound of street vendors selling their wares, the laughter and chatter of pedestrians.

The streets were filled with puddles of water here and there because of the melting snow. The laughter of girls jumping over the puddle tickled my ears.

“There are a lot of good shops over here. There’s even a men’s clothing store.”

“Yeah.”

Liam made plans to meet again at the same place an hour later and parted ways with Mary.

I continued walking in the direction Mary had pointed and came across the lumber shop she had mentioned. It is a place that sells simple clothes for the common people.

Buying clothes had always been considered a waste for Liam. He had always gotten used clothes from the church his mother attended, so he had never bought clothes with his own money.

As Liam pondered, he noticed his reflection in the glass door in front of the store. If he didn’t buy clothes, the young master who would come hunting tomorrow would see this.

“phew… .”

After loitering in front of the door for a while, Liam took a deep breath as if he had gathered up his courage. Then he pulled the doorknob with force.