blueteamnovel Chapter 79
Chapter 79
“M-maid! Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”
“Young master?”
Ethan suddenly popped out from the eastern training ground of the Blackwood mansion and rushed towards Dittmeyer and me.
Seeing him appear drenched in sweat, I could roughly guess why he showed up so late.
He must have been late because he was receiving swordsmanship training from Harold until just now. Considering Harold’s personality, he would always try to be serious when it comes to the sword.
“S-sorry! I wanted to check on you as soon as I saw you earlier, but I couldn’t leave in the middle of my father’s training....”
“...What are you suddenly talking about, young master?”
“My father is strict when it comes to swordsmanship. I couldn’t interrupt the training for personal reasons. I-I was worried, though....”
“Ah, no, young master. The part I was curious about wasn’t that you couldn’t end the sword lesson with the master midway.”
“Huh?”
“I asked the question because I couldn’t understand why you were apologizing for not being able to check on my well-being right away, young master....”
“......”
“......”
I asked because I was genuinely clueless, but the atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
For some reason, Ethan suddenly avoided my gaze and made an expression as if he was seriously pondering something.
In the awkward atmosphere, Dittmeyer quietly alternated his expressionless gaze between Ethan and me a couple of times. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]
What the heck? When you suddenly act like this, it feels like I said something I shouldn’t have.
Should I think of it as a slip of the tongue and try to rectify it...?
“C-come to think of it, it also means that you cared about my safety that much, young master. It wouldn’t be strange for you to have said something similar to an apology in a flustered manner.”@@@@
“Th-that’s right. I-I only said it because I was really worried about you, Maid. It wasn’t with any strange intention....”
“...I think it’s something you can sufficiently say, Young Master, since you cherish Miss Lilith a lot.”
“I expressed doubt even though I couldn’t even express gratitude for your deep concern for me, so it was more of my fault than yours.”
“Ah, no, Maid! It’s not like you did anything wrong....”
The atmosphere is still awkward, but it’s somehow easing up.
I still had some questions about the suddenly awkward atmosphere, but I didn’t dare to pry further.
Since this was a moment when Ethan and Dittmeyer openly showed strange reactions, I had a momentary feeling that I shouldn’t be suspicious.
In the first place, it wasn’t only Ethan but also Dittmeyer who were in higher positions than me in terms of status.
It would be much better than awkwardly hearing some ‘truth I can’t handle’ and making things uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the two of them seemed to have had similar thoughts, and they quickly started to change the subject of the conversation without any prompting.
Among the three of us, the one who opened his mouth first with another topic was the young master of the Blackwood family.
“Ra-rather than that, Maid! Are you really not hurt anywhere? It seemed like you were riding quite fast earlier....”
“Yes, I’m fine. I was able to stop safely somehow after going around the Blackwood mansion’s yard once. Thank you again for your concern, Young Master Ethan.”
“Y-you managed to stop safely. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt, Maid.”
“It’s thanks to Head Butler Dittmeyer here throwing himself on the horse to stop me. I owe a great debt to the head butler.”
“...Good work, Dittmeyer. This time, our maid is indebted to you.”
“No, I was just doing what I had to do.”
As if to say that he wasn’t lying about wanting to check on me out of concern, Ethan sighed in relief as soon as he heard the explanation of the circumstances that nothing had happened to me.
This time, he started asking about the horseback riding that had just happened.
“By the way, Maid, why were you suddenly riding a horse earlier?”
“I was learning horseback riding from Head Butler Dittmeyer.”
“Horseback riding? So suddenly?”
“It’s not that I suddenly thought I should learn it. I had been thinking I should learn it for about a year now. It’s just that there hadn’t been an opportunity to learn due to the timing and circumstances between the head butler and me, and starting today, I had some free time for a while, so I started learning from Head Butler Dittmeyer.”
“Hmm....”
Around the time I was contemplating whether I should supplement more additional remarks here and explain the situation at that time...
Suddenly, Dittmeyer’s mouth opened hastily, and he started to utter something in a tone that sounded like an excuse.
“As Miss Lilith said, it wasn’t unnecessary contact but a necessary measure. If I had made a mistake, Miss Lilith could have been seriously injured along with the horse....”
“I know. I know, but....”
“I-I have something to discuss with the cooks regarding dinner preparations, so I will take my leave first, young master. Please continue the conversation between the two of you.”
“...Alright, go ahead.”
Ethan, who answered in a somewhat unpleasant voice, gave off an unusual atmosphere, and Dittmeyer hurriedly drove Zeraon and quickly left the place.
In the unusually awkward atmosphere today, I couldn’t quite grasp the situation and only observed Ethan’s reaction.
“...Young master?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Is there anything bothering you? For some reason, you seem to be in a very bad mood today.”
“...No, it’s nothing.”
“......”
This reaction itself doesn’t seem like the reaction of someone who has nothing bothering them.
But if a mere maid tries to guess her master’s emotions, she’ll be treated as an impudent servant.
Unable to do this or that, while observing Ethan’s reaction, a clue that could be used to infer why he was in a bad mood finally popped out of his mouth.
“M-maid.”
“Yes, young master.”
“About horseback riding, are you going to keep learning it in the future?”
“For now, yes.” [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]
“...Do you have to learn it?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, no, that... I thought it might be a little dangerous for a woman to learn. Horses are animals that can become violent at times, and you could be in danger if you can’t control them like earlier.”
...Aha.
I was wondering why he seemed to be in a bad mood since earlier, but it was because of this.
It seems that Ethan is not very happy about me learning horseback riding.
The reason the atmosphere has been awkward all this time is probably because he was in a bad mood because of that.
Indeed, as Ethan said, learning horseback riding sometimes involves risks.
In fact, even earlier, there was a moment when it could have been dangerous if Dittmeyer hadn’t intervened.
If his exclusive maid gets injured and can’t work, it would be very inconvenient for Ethan, so it’s not like I can’t understand him worrying like that, but...
‘Still, I don’t particularly want to stop learning.’
As I said earlier, horseback riding is a skill that is useful in many situations if you learn it.
If I end up living as an adventurer, it’s undoubtedly a necessary skill, and even if I have a different job other than being an adventurer, there’s plenty of room for it to be helpful in transportation, travel, and such.
The problem is that even if I, a mere debt maid, insist on continuing to learn horseback riding, it’s impossible if Ethan doesn’t allow it.
Since I wanted to continue the horseback riding lessons as much as possible, I carefully tried to refute the part Ethan was worried about.
“You don’t have to worry about my injuries, Young Master Ethan.”
“Huh?”
“There was no risk of getting hurt at all thanks to Head Butler Dittmeyer teaching me kindly and in an easy-to-understand manner. In fact, even that incident earlier occurred due to my mistake, and there was generally no danger except for that moment.”
“S-still, you can’t say it’s completely safe....” [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]
“Even if something dangerous happens, I believe that Head Butler Dittmeyer will control it well like earlier. You don’t have to worry, young master, since he has the skills to be able to get on a running horse and control it.”
“I-I see... So you thought of Dittmeyer like that, Maid...? That he’s kind to you, Lilith, and is a trustworthy person....”
...What?
Why does it seem like his mood has gotten worse...?