No matter how she looked at it, the room was far too cold.
She couldn’t clean the fireplace right now since it would fill the room with dust.
Instead, she needed to find some way to warm the space.
Grace decided to see if there was anything useful among the discarded junk piled up outside.
Rivanu had only just fallen asleep.
It would probably be several hours before he woke again.
Stepping out into the courtyard, she found mountains of trash and broken furniture.
She couldn’t light a fire indoors until the chimney was cleaned.
If she could find a small heater or stove, that would be perfect.
Rolling up her sleeves, Grace got to work.
Most of it looked like nothing but garbage.
Still, there might be something useful buried underneath.
“Hah… No matter what, he’s still the son of a duke. The fact that I have to dig through trash for him is unbelievable.”
How awful had his life been?
Grace couldn’t even imagine how Rivanu had survived all these years.
After searching through the piles for several hours, she finally found something.
“I found it!”
It was a small oil lamp.
Once filled with oil, it could provide light—and a little warmth.
Of course, there wasn’t a single drop of oil left.
The lamp itself was old and covered in rust.
On top of that, it smelled absolutely terrible.
Still, if she cleaned it thoroughly, it looked usable.
Grace broke into a huge smile.
Getting oil wouldn’t be easy when she couldn’t leave the estate freely.
Fortunately…
Grace already had a plan.
“Hehe.”
First things first.
She needed to wash the smelly lamp until it was spotless and let it dry.
****
“Hello!”
“…Huh?”
Grace had come to visit the maid who had paid her to take over Rivanu’s assignment.
Although Grace had only officially been a maid for one month, she had the experience of someone who had lived many lifetimes.
She was naturally good at getting along with people.
Even though most of the maids had asked her to move out of the shared dormitory after learning she would be serving Rivanu, they had all looked genuinely apologetic.
She figured they would at least be willing to do her a small favor.
More importantly…
The maid who had pushed the assignment onto Grace probably felt more guilty than anyone else.
“You remember me, right?”
“Yeah… um…”
The maid looked awkwardly away.
She had gone back to handling miscellaneous duties—the work Grace used to do—and looked far more relaxed than when she had been serving Rivanu.
“I have a small favor to ask.”
“A favor?”
“Could you get me a little lamp oil? If I go myself, I’ll probably get turned away. If you tell them it’s needed for work and pour a little into this bottle…”
The moment Grace mentioned being turned away, the maid visibly flinched.
“Sure. I’ll do it.”
“I can pay you if necessary.”
If Grace had asked for a large container, it might have been difficult.
But it was only a tiny bottle.
The maid smiled and shook her head.
“No, that’s alright. But… how’s the job?”
“It’s going well!”
“Really? Young Master… hasn’t been mistreating you or anything?”
“Nothing like that.”
Seeing that Grace seemed to be doing better than expected, the maid looked a little less burdened.
“Though… it does get a little lonely.”
“Ah…”
Grace said it was lonely, but the maid knew perfectly well the other servants were quietly ostracizing her.
Grace told her everything that had happened in the kitchen.
The maid’s expression darkened all over again.
Of course…
That had been Grace’s intention.
She had no idea when she might need this maid’s help again.
If the maid stopped feeling guilty, she might refuse next time.
The innocent maid looked close to tears.
Finally, she said,
“If you ever need help again… please come to me.”
“Is that really alright…? Everyone else avoids me…”
“Of course! I’ll definitely help you!”
“Thank you so much!”
“No… I’m the one who should be thanking you.”
The maid hurried off to fetch the oil.
A short while later, she returned with a small bottle.
It wasn’t much.
But it would be enough to keep the lamp burning for several days.
****
Rivanu’s cold was worse than Grace had expected.
He spent several days bedridden.
Throughout it all, Grace cared for him with complete devotion.
“…Huh?”
About three days later, Rivanu finally climbed out of bed.
Grace blinked in surprise.
Instead of eating in bed like before, he calmly accepted the meal she brought and sat down at the table.
It was the first time he had willingly left the bed.
“Has your fever gone down? May I check?”
“It’s gone…”
Rather than avoiding her touch, Rivanu leaned forward himself.
Grace rested her hand against his forehead.
The fever really was gone.
She smiled brightly.
“That’s a relief.”
“I baked some bread too. Would you like me to bring it? Do you think you can eat it?”
She had only brought soup today, worried that he might still be sick.
Rivanu shook his head.
“This… is enough.”
“Alright. But you should still take your medicine today, just in case.”
“…Okay.”
After being sick, his attitude had become noticeably gentler.
Grace guessed it was because no one had ever shown him this much kindness before.
He simply didn’t know how to respond.
People who disliked him eventually left on their own.
Grace didn’t.
That left him completely at a loss.
Rivanu quietly finished the entire bowl of soup.
Even as Grace bustled around the room, he didn’t complain.
He simply watched her.
At first, everything she did had made him uncomfortable.
Now it didn’t.
Since he was eating properly and taking his medicine every day, his pain also seemed to have lessened.
The itching, however…
That was still there.
“I think we should air out the room. It smells a little like lamp oil.”
Grace said as she walked over to the window.
“Okay.”
Rivanu nodded.
Creeeak—
The window, which looked as though it hadn’t been opened in years, groaned loudly before swinging open.
Dust rained down everywhere.
“Cough, cough!”
Grace started coughing immediately.
Rivanu shot to his feet.
“Did you catch my cold?”
“No, no. It’s just the dust.”
“…Oh. The dust.”
“Young Master.”
“…Yeah?”
“…May I clean your room?”
“Clean it?”
“Yes. There’s so much dust, and it’s cold in here. If we’re going to use the fireplace, it needs to be cleaned first.”
“Sure.”
He answered without even a second’s hesitation.
Grace smiled.
She had worried that winning Rivanu over would be difficult.
But after taking care of him through his illness, something had clearly changed.
At this rate…
Making Rivanu her ally would be easier than she’d expected.
“That’s a relief. I already cleaned the room next door so you’ll have somewhere to stay while I work.”
“…The room next door?”
Even though the detached residence had mostly become a dumping ground, it had once belonged to the ducal family.
Naturally, it contained many rooms.
The problem was that they were filthy and unusable.
Even Rivanu’s room had only been chosen because it was the least terrible.
The rest were complete disasters.
Since Rivanu had lived here for years, he knew that better than anyone.
Naturally, he was shocked to hear she’d cleaned another room.
“Yes! Would you like to see it?”
How clean could it possibly be?
Thinking little of it, Rivanu slowly stood up.
The moment he opened the door…
His eyes flew open.
“What… is this?”
The hallway shone so brightly that, for a moment, he wondered if he’d somehow walked into a completely different building.
“You cleaned… all of this?”
“It was just way too dirty.”
Grace answered as though restoring the filthy hallway until it looked brand new had been nothing special.
Rivanu was speechless.
“…Let’s go see the room first.”
“Though I think we’ll have to move the bed.”
“Who’s moving it?”
“I am.”
Grace blinked, as though he’d asked the most obvious question imaginable.
Rivanu stared at her thin wrists.
She was tiny.
Her hands were tiny too.
It looked like moving the bed alone would be impossible.
Where did all that confidence come from?
“Don’t worry! I’m strong!”
“…How old are you?”
“Me? I’m fifteen. How old are you, Young Master?”
“I’m… also.”
Even though he was fifteen, years of poor nutrition had left him much smaller than other boys his age.
The same was true for Grace.
“So we’re the same age?!”
Unable to see how small she herself was, Grace looked genuinely shocked.
Rivanu stared at her.
“…Why are you reacting like that?”
“Huh…? Did I do something wrong again…?”
It was like two equally scruffy dogs staring at each other, each wondering why the other looked so strange.
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