Chapter 41: Maid Assigned to Chuck — Part 1
“Ah, so you’re the rumored maid assigned to Lord Chuck.”
The three ladies exclaimed cheerfully as they looked at me.
Their gazes gathered toward the lower part of my apron, where I held a stack of books.
Chuck was there.
He had his head and paws sticking out from the apron pocket.
True to the title “maid assigned to Lord Chuck,” he was quite literally attached to me.
Chuck always tried to follow me whenever I left the room.
Sometimes I had no choice but to carry him, but when I needed to carry things, I left him behind.
At first, he tried to prevent that by leaping onto my skirt.
He got caught on the large frills and dangled for a moment before slipping down.
Even so, he kept jumping at me again and again.
Apparently, he grew fond of that dangling sensation, and now whenever I tried to go outside, he would jump onto my skirt.
His jumping ability was quite impressive—he could leap up to about my knees.
Bell would get angry, and Brian-sama would once again present the Second Prince with a bill for dress repairs.
As a result, I now wore an apron over my dress.
There was a pocket at the lower part, so when Chuck jumped onto my skirt and slid down, he would land right into the pocket.
At the very least, I decorated the apron with frills, lace, and embroidery, so at a glance it looked like part of the dress layering.
Even if Chuck was inside.
“Ah, it’s been a while, Lady Maria.”
The one who approached with a bright smile was the Second Prince, Joel-sama.
After greeting me, his gaze dropped downward.
“I missed you, Chuck. Still risking your body to compete with Brian, I see.”
I quickly stepped aside and bowed in greeting.
Joel-sama had been away leading a delegation to Belsia for a memorial visit for the late former king.
I never expected him to appear here without any notice.
“I had heard that your return from Belsia would still be a few days away.”
“That was the plan, but someone insisted on coming back early.
Honestly, he was like a spoiled child.
I got dragged along and came back completely exhausted.”
That could only be Brian-sama.
He was the only one who could make such unreasonable demands of the prince.
The prince’s clothes looked worn, and his hair was disheveled.
“So I declared it part of combat training and forced a rapid march.
Chuck, I need your healing. Comfort me.”
He reached out toward Chuck, but Chuck did not go to him.
Chuck only glanced at Joel-sama while clinging to my skirt.
In truth, Joel-sama enjoyed watching Chuck cling to my skirt.
And just as much, he enjoyed watching Brian-sama try to compete with Chuck.
Unexpectedly, Brian-sama genuinely got jealous of Chuck.
“You’ve been tossing him around so much that you’ve finally broken him.
Our nation’s proud, composed nobleman—how pitiful.”
When my brother whispered that to me, Brian-sama saw it and came over to pull me away from him.
I still didn’t understand why.
“Here, I’ll carry the books. You hold Chuck.”
Joel-sama casually took the books from me.
After thanking him, I gently pulled Chuck from my skirt and picked him up.
I was relieved he wasn’t a cat.
“Have you gotten used to working at the palace?”
“Yes. Everyone has been very kind to me, so I feel quite comfortable.”
That was the truth.
Even though palace service was said to be difficult, everyone treated me so kindly it was almost surprising.
It was all thanks to Chuck.
Whenever people saw him clinging to my skirt, they couldn’t help but laugh.
Also, the fact that Chuck—who was usually difficult to handle—obediently listened to me made a big difference.
In short, rather than being treated as a suspicious newcomer who had ingratiated herself with the Second Prince, I seemed to have been accepted as something of a special case.
“I want to get back to my room and dive into bed.
Have them prepare a bath.
I’ll nap on the couch until it’s ready.”
After giving instructions to a nearby attendant, he glanced at Chuck.
“Chuck, want to take a bath?”
Chuck began panting happily.
He loved swimming in the bath, so he was always delighted when invited.
“Come here.”
When Joel-sama called him, Chuck looked like he wanted to go, but still glanced at me for permission.
“He doesn’t want to leave Lady Maria, huh?
Well, that can’t be helped.
Then Lady Maria should join us in the bath too.”
The moment he joked like that, a rolled-up document flew toward him.
Joel-sama instantly knocked it away and turned toward where it came from.
“Judging by the weight of this, if it hit me, it wouldn’t be a joke.
And a letter this unnecessarily sturdy—must be from some country or the church.”
“Then don’t make jokes that aren’t funny.”
It was Brian-sama, back again.
Unlike Joel-sama, he was impeccably dressed and composed.
Hadn’t they returned together?
I set Chuck down, picked up the fallen letter, and brushed off the dust.
It was thick and heavy, with cloth edging around it.
I approached Brian-sama and handed it to him.
“When did you return? I thought you would come back with Joel-sama.”
“I returned with him and went to report to His Majesty.”
He smiled gently.
It had been a while since we last met, and I felt shy, unable to meet his eyes.
Before, I had been able to gaze into his beautiful eyes only because the situation had been chaotic.
Under normal circumstances, I simply couldn’t do it.
Brian-sama stood slightly farther away than usual.
It felt a little lonely, but perhaps this was what was normal.
“Brian, you say you reported to the king, but did you really finish that in just a few minutes? What kind of report was that?”
“I properly reported that everyone returned safely.
The details will be given tomorrow.”
“This is what I mean. He twists things to suit himself.”
Brian-sama looked displeased at Chuck, who had slipped back into my apron pocket.
“Can’t you do something about him?”
“Hey, how can you call him ‘that thing’? He bears the nickname of my grandfather, Richard.”
As Joel-sama said, the former King Richard had apparently requested, “If you ever have a dog, give it my nickname.”
So while he was called Chuck, his real name was Richard.
“Chuck, I’ll hold you, so let go.”
When I gently pulled him, he obediently settled into my arms, pressing his head against my chest and clinging affectionately.
By the way, I was allowed to call him Chuck, not Lord Chuck.
Apparently, he disliked being called formally.
“I’ll join you in the bath too. Lend me a change of clothes.”
Brian-sama nudged Joel-sama.
“What? Well, fine. Let’s all go together with Chuck.”
“Lady Maria, I will see you later. I am quite dirty at the moment.
Chuck will join us in the bath, so could you come to fetch him afterward?”
As he said that, Brian-sama reached out toward Chuck.
His fingertips brushed mine through Chuck’s wriggling body.
I flinched.
“I want to touch you soon, but I will endure until I am clean.
I will return after changing as quickly as possible.”
What…? He wants to touch me? What does that mean?
My face instantly flushed.
“Hey, your sense of distance is off. You’re not newlyweds, you know. That’s too much.”
Brian-sama blinked in confusion.
“Ah, right… but at least a hand-kiss greeting should be allowed, shouldn’t it?”
He smiled brightly.
Even a hand kiss was too much for me.
I had only experienced such a greeting once.
The last time Brian-sama kissed my hand, it had jerked upward in surprise.
When I stayed silent, he simply said, “Come, let’s go choose clothes,” and quickly headed off toward Joel-sama’s room.
Joel-sama took Chuck from me and happily rubbed his cheek against him.
“It’s been a while since a bath. I’m looking forward to it, Chuck.”
Then he turned back to me.
“Brian seems to have gone a bit strange from exhaustion, so be careful with him today.
On the way back, he kept running around and even smacking knights who were falling behind.”
“…I see.”
Even hearing that, I didn’t know how to respond.
But it did feel like something about him was a little different.