The Young Lady Has Disappeared

As I enter the main building, I feel the students in uniforms looking at me with surprised faces. 

This is because it’s rare for a maid to come to the main building. Usually, they wait in the dormitory or go out to the streets to buy necessary items, but here I am, running quickly to the main building with a lunch basket. It was only natural that attention was drawn to me, with my unusually fast pace for a maid and uncommon appearance.

Perhaps because I came at lunchtime, there were many students crossing the main building’s garden, but I could easily spot the shimmering silver hair among them. Well, it was natural since it’s an eye-catching color, but finding the young lady quickly was at least good news.

I approached Lillian and lightly tapped her shoulder, as she hadn’t noticed me yet. Lillian turned to me, startled.

“Wh-What? Catherine? What are you doing here?”

“I’ve brought your lunch, young lady. You usually don’t eat anything but the food I make, do you?”

“Ah, yes? Ah! Oh. Right!”

“Lillian! Weren’t we going to have lunch together? What are you doing there?”

Behind the flustered Lillian, a face pops out. It was a familiar face.

“Oh? Catherine!”

“Hello, Miss Yulia. Good lunchtime.”

“Yes. Hello! And I told you to speak casually, didn’t I?”

“This is more comfortable for me.”

Yulia puffed her cheeks at my slightly dismissive words and looked back and forth between me and the basket I was holding. 

Ignoring her gaze, I handed the basket to Lillian, who received it with an expressionless face.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“…Isn’t Catherine eating with us?”

At Yulia’s question, Lillian’s head lifted slightly. Looking back and forth between me and the basket with eyes that seemed to say she hadn’t even thought of it, Lillian nodded. Watching this scene quietly, I shook my head while holding back a sigh.

“…A servant cannot share a table with their master.”

I wasn’t particularly hungry anyway, as I had already picked at the food while making it. This is the privilege of the cook.

“But there are no status restrictions at the academy.”

“That may be true at the academy, but I am ultimately the young lady’s servant. It means that someday we’ll return to the mansion. Of course, our Lillian isn’t the type to do this, but what if she were to whip me after returning to the mansion for not maintaining proper etiquette here? I think I would resent Miss Yulia more than Miss Lillian.”

“…Ugh.”

At those words, Yulia closed her mouth as if she had nothing to say. Yulia probably knows that while the past Lillian might have done so, the current Lillian wouldn’t. Of course, Yulia couldn’t be sure as she had only been in contact with Lillian for about two days.

Lillian momentarily looked disappointed at my answer but quickly changed her expression.

“By the way, young lady. Are you enjoying academy life?”

“Huh? Umm. Well, it’s okay. It’s fine except for the somewhat uncomfortable gazes.”

“I see.”

If it were the original young lady, she would have clung to me, leaned on my shoulder, and vented her frustrations, but the current Lillian was not my young lady. Whether she was hiding something or if there really was nothing but the discomfort, I didn’t know, but if she said so, I too had to act without questioning. Even if this woman isn’t my young lady now, she is still my master.

I think young lady and master are… different. Basically, I have almost no memories from before entering this mansion. All I remember is being an orphan and getting beaten up for trying to steal food in back alleys. 

I’ve always been grateful to the young lady who picked me up. Even if the young lady picked me up on a whim that day, she was no less than the savior of my life.

My previous life wasn’t particularly unfortunate, but I didn’t live a happy life either. This isekai reincarnation completely changed my life, but that doesn’t mean the beginning was happy. If I hadn’t been an immature 7-8 year old child at that time, I might have become a street prostitute.

Catherine, my body, is pretty enough to be called decent-looking, so I might have become a somewhat expensive prostitute.

Of course, it’s meaningless to say this now. Everything in the life I’m enjoying has been replaced with something better by the young lady’s whim.

Because of that, I couldn’t forgive the current ‘Lillian’ who had erased the young lady. A shameless usurper who brazenly took the young lady’s place. But I couldn’t get rid of the current ‘Lillian’ until the young lady returned. The human heart begins to decay the moment it stops. In a world without even magic, let alone science, it was impossible to maintain the young lady’s body in its original state.

So, for now, I leave it be. Whenever I feel the disconnect with the young lady, a nauseating feeling rises, and I feel disgust, but for now, that Lillian is my master. I comfort myself by saying that I’m just a maid serving my master, and I serve her to the best of my ability.

“Catherine. Shall we go back?”

“No. I won’t be going back.”

Lillian speaks to me. If it were the young lady, she would just grab my hand and gently place me on her lap. The young lady used to fiddle with my hands when she was bored. When we were young, she often put me on her lap, but the frequency noticeably decreased as we grew older. Of course, she didn’t stop completely.

-I can’t do this anymore now that Catherine has grown bigger than me.

-Shall I shrink my height?

-What? Ahaha. What are you saying?

I still remember my conversation with the young lady. I, who have stored each memory of those times in a drawer under the name of reminiscence, could remember everything about the young lady – her breath, her voice, her laughter, her actions.

The image of the young lady fiddling with my palm and lightly biting my fingers. That image is still vividly present in my memory. I glanced down at my left ring finger, which still bears a scar. The mark where the young lady bit my finger was still there.

I stared at Lillian, who nodded at my answer as I inwardly sighed. Then Lillian covered her face with her hand and spoke.

“Wh-What is it?”

“If you tell me where you’ll be eating, I’ll prepare it directly.”

“Huh? Ah, aah! Yes. We’re going to eat on that bench over there. Is that okay?”

“Yes.”

I nodded and immediately went to the bench to set up. Then I neatly laid out each side dish from the packed lunch. It was a lunchbox filled with Lillian’s favorite salmon steak, along with sandwiches, salad, and fruit. In addition to that, I laid out containers full of side dishes that Lillian used to like and looked at the two young ladies.

The two of them had wide eyes at the lavish lineup, which was too grand to be called just a packed lunch. I slightly bowed to the two women.

“Then, enjoy your meal. I’ll be looking around this area for a while.”

“Huh? You’re coming back?”

“Yes. I need to take the lunchboxes back.”

“Ah, aah. I see.”

Lillian nodded and sat down with Yulia. There was enough food for the two of them to eat and still have leftovers. I glanced at the two of them and started to be on guard around the area. It was to prevent unnecessary approaches to Lillian.

Sure enough, I noticed several men approaching after spotting the two. Most of them were young masters from families with weak power who didn’t even know who Lillian was, so I could easily drive them away, but the one in front of my eyes now was someone I couldn’t do that to.

“Hmm? You. You were Lillian’s maid, right? Catherine or something.”

How on earth does this prince know my name? I momentarily had such a question, but as a servant, I was forbidden from having personal curiosity, so I suppressed my curiosity and opened my mouth.

“That’s correct, Your Highness Belrus.”

“Hmm. But why are you guarding Lillian here?”

“The young lady is having a meal with her friend.”

“Hmm, is that so? Am I okay? Since I’m her fiancé.”

“Yes.”

I don’t know why Lillian dislikes Prince Belrus, but in the end, she and Prince Belrus were engaged. Moreover, it was an engagement decided directly by Marquis Fortus. Therefore, I couldn’t prevent them from meeting. As I nodded, Prince Belrus smiled kindly and bowed his head.

“Thank you. Then shall I pass?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

…Honestly, I want to stop him. Even if he’s wearing such a kind smile, if Lillian dislikes him, I don’t want to let him through. That was my feeling. Even if Lillian isn’t my young lady now, she’s still my master after all.

Phew, I sighed and lightly kicked a stone placed in the garden. It was an action unbefitting of a Fortus family maid.