I Raised an Obsessive Servant - chapter 7

“Ray, how old are you?” Yurina asked as she watched Mrs. Lauren skillfully measure his dimensions.

Yurina knew his age, but she didn’t want to assume and make a mistake.

Are you 11 or 12 right now?

Raynard might get furious, thinking she conducted a background check on him if she were to accidentally whether it be unintentional or not, reveal that she knew his age.

According to her vague recollection, ‘Charrion’ was 2 years older than Lydia when Marquis De Flon took him in that winter.

Since Lydia is the same age as Yurina and considering that it’s still summer at the moment, if Raynard’s birthday has already passed… then he must be 12 years old about now. If not, then she can assume that he’s still 11 years old.

Raynard, who was making a stiff face while being handled by Mrs. Lauren, shrugged his shoulders with a look of mischief as he saw her watching him.

“I’m 12 already. You’re 10 years old, right? At least that’s what I’ve heard,” he asked.

“Mhm.”

“That means you’re 2 years younger than me. Aren’t you just a kid?” He smirked.

Oh yeah?

Contrary to her physical appearance, it was Raynard who looked more like a child to Yurina since mentally, she is already over 20 years old.

Even if you were to observe them from the outside, Ray still looks much younger than Yurina.

Although Ray is two years older, because he hasn’t been eating properly, he is similar or slightly smaller in size compared to Yurina.

No matter how good he thinks he may look to others, in actuality, they still look pretty much the same age.

“You’re only 2 years older,” she stated.

“I’m only 2 years older? Could you grow up in 2 years? No, I can grow up to be an adult 3 years faster than you.”

“In what country does 3 years mean growing up faster when you’re just 2 years older?” Yurina asked defiantly.

“I’ll be 13 soon.”

“Huh?”

“13 years old,” he repeated and as if she couldn’t hear him well, he held up his 10 fingers and then exaggeratedly switched them to 3. Further emphasizing the fact that he is 3 years older than her.

Regardless, Mrs. Lauren struggled to make him stay still and lowered his arm with a firm face.

13 years old, huh.

Then that means that he’s actually 3 years older than Yurina and Lydia. Yurina agonized at the difference between her memory and reality and came to a conclusion.

I remembered it wrong.

If she couldn’t even remember the title of the novel, then it’s entirely possible for her to have misremembered a lot of important details in her small memory.

However, there wasn’t exactly a lot to remember about ‘Charrion’.

Charrion had blonde hair and red eyes. He grew up under the owner of a bar and ran away to an orphanage. He was later taken in by Marquis De Flon in the middle of winter, and afterwards, he returned to Lydia from the Royal Academy of Crohn during the year of her coming-of-age.

The reason why she remembers Charrion’s setting—even though he was just a supporting male lead—than the Prince was because Charrion was more affectionate towards the heroine than the Prince, who barely knew her, was.

I wonder why Lydia chose the Crown Prince and left Charrion behind?

Yurina crossed her arms and scanned Raynard from head to toe.

She wondered just how in the world can this little egotistical boy grow up to be such an affectionate man 8 years from now?

What exactly happened in the Academy?

“Ray, you should eat more rice in the future. What if you’re the same height as me despite being 3 years older? The clothes you’re wearing was used by my brother Rick when he was the same age as you and still, it’s too big.”

“Watch me. I’ll be taller in the future, so tall that your neck will hurt when you look up at me,” he said smugly. He shrugged again and Mrs. Lauren glared at him.

“How can you be so sure?”

“He told me I’ll be as tall like my father.”

“Who did? Mother?”

“No. My father. My father is really tall.”

During this moment, Yurina felt something amiss with the conversation while talking with him.

What?

They weren’t discussing anything bad and yet he looks so hurt…

“Young Lady,” a voice suddenly called out to Yurina.

It was Robert, the butler who was standing in front of the door.

Raynard had an uncomfortable expression on his face, probably because of the atmosphere or maybe because he is still dissatisfied.

She had told her father Marquis Carthia that she wanted to be friends with Raynard so she went to work. Yurina hinted at Raynard to call her ‘Yurina’ and to speak casually to her.

If word spreads that she treats him like a servant, he would never see her as a friend.

At first, he looked surprised, but with a very serious expression, she gave him a few conditions and finally gave him permission.

1. Raynard must learn etiquette.

2. He must be courteous towards others, at least until he gains his title.

3. Continue being courteous and polite towards her three brothers who are in the academy, including her parents and others.

Yurina thought about it as he nodded without any hesitation. And the next day, she hired a tutor of etiquette to teach him the cultural arts and proper etiquette.

Robert did not show any signs of discrimination nor dissatisfaction towards Raynard overlooking his rudeness since the Marquis gave permission to act like that. However, he could not completely disregard him so whenever Raynard acts so openly to Yurina without holding back, Robert would shoot a glare in his direction.

Whether he realized Robert’s displeased look or not, Raynard didn’t seem to care at all.

You seem to be pretending you that you notice.

As Yurina alternately looked between Raynard and Robert, she clicked her tongue. She could not simply accept this cold and tense warfare between the two since it was completely absurd.

“Robert,” she called.

Only then was Robert snapped back to reality and realized what he was doing. He bowed his head towards Yurina without any change of expression.

“Young Lady, the master is looking for you.”

“Now? Is it urgent?”

“Dave is with him.”

Then it must be urgent.

Yurina got up from her seat and fixed her disheveled dress.

Mrs. Lauren went over and helped with arranging all the clothes.

“Is everything over?”

“We’ve recorded all of his dimensions. Now we can pick out the clothing design and materials.”

Raynard walked lightly and sat next to Yurina with a disgruntled face.

“Is it not over yet? Haven’t I been standing all day? What else are we doing here?”

“Making clothes isn’t that simple. Of course, we have to pick out the clothing design and colors that suit you. You shouldn’t be so tired already because once the outfits are decided, you have to pick out shoes that match your clothes. Not only that, we still need to look at handkerchiefs and jewelry.”

With a tired face, Raynard shook his head. He slumped on the sofa like a withered vegetable that was frozen and thawed in midwinter.

Robert glanced at Raynard, making no comment on his lack of manners or grace with his facial expression and behaviour. Raynard’s face was full of shock after seeing Mrs. Lauren bring in the clothing catalogue.

The party that surprised everyone with his untimely behaviour felt uncomfortable without even repenting.

“I think I’m going to die. What’s so complicated about it? I had no idea that I’d be living so uncomfortably. I should’ve known when you showed me those four forks,” said Raynard.

“Thanks for letting me know now. For reference, there’s still a lot for you to learn from so don’t yell at me later for not warning you. You still have a long way to go and you should sit up straight. Now that you’re being sponsored by us, you are considered a member of the Carthia household. If you’re ever caught doing something unsightly, you’d ruin the Carthia name.

Yurina caught Raynard’s arm, he seemed to be protesting with his whole body saying ‘I would rather be caught.’

He looked at the people around him and scratched his head.

“But when I look at it, I can’t tell the difference. That… is it the same color as this one?”

“It’s different.”

“But they’re the same red.”

“The one on the left is red with a mixture of brown while the right is a mixture of yellow. Come to think of it, your skin color doesn’t look good with the one on the right. I’ll have to remind you to never wear that colour from now on.”

Raynard opened his mouth as if to protest, ‘I can’t do it’. Yurina then grabbed his arm and pulled him off the couch.

“Anyway… I need to go speak with my father for a minute, so go pick out designs and fabric.”

“I’ll have to choose them alone? Don’t go. Can’t you stay here with me?

Yurina sighed a little as he looked at Raynard.

He is still anxious.

It has already been a few days since he arrived yet he is still on guard. He doesn’t even glance at people nor does he talk to them. Especially if someone were to ever try to touch his body, he would scream and retreat to the furthest part of the room.

A little while before, he had refused to allow Mrs. Lauren to take his dimension. He finally gave in after hearing Yurina say, ‘It doesn’t look good to be wearing clothes that aren’t fitted properly’.

He lets his guard down a bit only in front of Yurina.

In this mansion full of strangers, she’s not sure whether he will be able to learn to trust them. He’d put on an unsettling expression whenever she leaves him alone.

He’s like a puppy who was abandoned by his owner.

A puppy with a drooping tail. Yurina felt guilty for some reason and turned her head away from his gaze.

You’re always going on like this, huh?

While she was thinking that it was the usual, she wondered whether that poor facial expression was actually some high-level acting.

“Are you uneasy about Mrs. Lauren?”

“I’m very uneasy,” he said as he gazed and squinted at Mrs. Lauren. He had been wary of her since the first time he saw her. He had said he didn’t like the way she looked at him.

“Just wait here for a little. Father and Dave are looking for me so it can’t be helped. I’ll come back shortly and be with you.”

“Still…”

“Okay. Robert will help you. Robert, can you help Ray and Mrs. Lauren while I go visit my father?”

Robert, a faithful butler, immediately bowed his head and said, “Of course.”

Yurina left the room. Raynard returned to looking at Mrs. Lauren’s clothing designs and showed a grim look.