The Count’s Secret Maid - Chapter 12

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Many letters come to Countess Bellunita’s family. The sender was unknown, but they were mainly letters asking about Vincent’s well-being. Even invitations to dinners and parties seemed to be frequent.

 

However, the master never replied to any of the letters. Even if they were delivered to him, he didn’t check them. So most of them were taken care of by the servants before they even reached his hands.

 

There was a name that stood out in the letters that came in so persistently.

 

[Violet]

 

‘It’s a girl’s name…?’

 

Letters arrive every other day, but this letter was not delivered to Vincent either.

 

Isabella ordered Paula to keep this letter separately.

 

‘Is this someone I need to pay special attention to?’

 

‘Then why don’t you tell him?’

 

Since Vincent doesn’t read the letters, then, of course, he doesn’t reply either. Even so, the letters from the person named ‘Violet’ piled up one by one in the drawer of her room.

 

And another thing stood out.

 

[Are you there?]

 

‘…?’

 

Paula discovered it by chance while scooping out ashes from the fireplace. The burnt piece of paper had gold letters written on it. The letters that sparkled in the sun were beautiful and elegant.

 

After that, a letter with the same handwriting was lying beside it.

 

[How are you doing?]

 

It was written on a high-quality envelope with a stiff texture. The strange thing was that nothing was written on the paper inside the envelope.

 

Did the person write it directly on the envelope because they knew Vincent would never open the letters?

 

Nevertheless, letters with golden letters written on them kept coming every day. Of course, there was no reply to them. Vincent didn’t even check.

 

Then one day, under Isabella’s direction, she wrote down a reply letter and sent it. Paula was told to write anything simply, but she picked up a pen after thinking carefully.

 

[I’m doing well]

 

However, since the day she sent a reply, she stopped receiving letters. She was worried that she had written something wrong, but she quickly forgot about it because she was busy serving her master. It was when the unexpected reply came that she remembered the letter again.

 

Still golden, trained letters. This time, the writing was written on the paper inside, not the envelope.

 

[The weather is nice here]

 

So?

 

Paula wondered what the intention was, but more noticeably, it was the last letter with a slight spread of ink. When she looked closely, there were water marks all over the envelope.

 

Like tears.

 

Did the person write back crying because they were so happy to see the response?

 

No way.

 

Paula was curious, but Isabella didn’t reply because she said she didn’t have to send an answer this time. Then the letters came every day without getting tired again. With the same content. It was as if the person was insisting on an answer.

 

Eventually, Paula had to write a reply after receiving Isabella’s order again. She was going to write lightly like last time, but she hesitated for a moment. The water stain that had spread on the paper came to mind. For some reason, she thought she shouldn’t write with the same mind as last time, so she hesitated and looked out the window. She moved the nib just in time to see that the tree had sprouted.

 

[Here, buds have begun to sprout on the bare branches.]

 

After that, she got a reply again, and if she sent another letter again, she got another reply again. At some point, she was exchanging letters with someone she didn’t know. The content was still nothing special. No water stains had been seen since the first reply.

 

[I’m doing well today as well.]

 

It was during one day when such an unusual routine occurred.

 

That day, she stretched and greeted a refreshing morning, and during that day she worried that the day would become tiring due to her master’s d*mn personality. She changed her clothes as always, tied her messy back hair tightly together, and opened the door.

 

“Vincent!”

 

But Paula heard a strange voice.

 

Right at the source of the voice, there was a man she saw for the first time in front of the master’s room. He was a tall man wearing a top hat, knocking on the door and calling Vincent’s name sadly.

 

“Vincent! Open the door!”

 

At the moment she looked at the man knocking on the door repeatedly, even though there was no answer from the room, the man turned his head as though he felt Paula’s gaze. When he found her, Paula’s brown eyes grew round.

 

A moment has come to find out about each other. Both the strange man and Paula openly looked each other up and down, expressing doubts about who the hell they were.

 

Then the man finished his initial impression first.

 

“Oh, the new maid?”

 

As if responding to “the new maid”, Paula bent down right away. It was like a recent instinct.

 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Paula.”

 

Greetings until the other person accepts them.

 

If the person is not someone of the same status, you should not straighten your back before hearing the other person.

 

Recalling those words, Paula waited until the other person greeted her.

 

“Ah.”

 

The man approached Paula with a short sigh. Into her field of vision that was facing the floor, a shiny shoe nose came in. And the man took her hand and held it.

 

When Paula raised her head in surprise, the man slightly bent down with one hand on his back, leaving a light kiss on the back of her hand.

 

“Nice to meet you, Madam.”

 

A nice voice to hear.

 

When Paula met the gaze of the man who had raised his head slightly, he wrinkled the corners of his eyes.

 

“Nice to meet you. My name is Ethan Christopher.”

 

“Uh… Yes…”

 

She answered foolishly, trying to recover from stupefaction.

 

His mannerisms when straightening his back and letting go of her hand were elegant. Even though his hand was gone, her hand was still floating in the air. The back of her hand, where the man’s body temperature had touched, was hot.

 

“Vincent locked the door. Can you open it?”

 

“Ah…”

 

Then she came to her senses and lowered her hand. She scratched the back of her hand and headed for the door.

 

There were times when Vincent’s door was locked, albeit very occasionally. She wondered how it was locked, but when she pulled one of the many strings hanging on the wall next to his bed, the lines connected to the wall were pulled together and the door locked.

Several strings were serpentine across the wall. At first, the room was so dark, and she was too busy serving Vincent, so she didn’t notice it. But, she recently found out by looking at the room properly that the string he pulled to lock the door was long from the wall to the door.

 

When she first witnessed the scene, she couldn’t believe it and doubted her eyes. Vincent told her that he installed it in case something dangerous happened when he was alone. When she first witnessed the scene of him using it, she asked about this and that because it was so amazing, but Vincent didn’t answer her, so she soon lost interest. Maybe the other straps hanging from the wall were meant to do the same thing, except he was using them to close the door rather than open them.

 

Just in case, Isabella gave her a pack of emergency keys. Paula was in charge of the annex, so Isabella asked her to keep it well. So she used to use the key when his door was locked.

 

She rummaged through her apron pocket and took out the emergency key. The moment she unlocked the door and turned the doorknob, she realized that she couldn’t ask the man named Ethan Christopher what his relationship was with Vincent.

 

“Oh, with the master over there…”

 

Then something whizzed past through an open gap.

 

Soon, it was going to explode!

 

The sound of breaking glass rang out. The words that came out in a hurry were scattered without being able to finish.

 

Ethan followed the sound and turned his head, and was shocked. Paula also looked around. It was a glass bottle that hit the wall and broke into pieces. The person who threw this could be guessed from her previous experiences.

 

Sure enough, a bloody voice flowed from the dark room.

 

“Close the door.”

 

‘I’m telling you, it’s dangerous.’

 

Paula frowned and looked at Ethan. He still had his eyes on the broken glass bottle. She could see a thousand thoughts flash across his blank face.

 

‘Is this your first time experiencing that stupid personality?’

 

‘That would be surprising, definitely.’

 

As she shook her head and took a step into the room, something flew again and hit the wall. This time, it was a glass cup. She had told him to drink water, and he was angry with her.

 

She closed the door for now. It was because she was afraid the man would be in danger.

 

“There is a young gentleman at the door.”

 

“Tell him to go.”

 

“Who is he?”

 

Come to think of it, how did this man know Vincent was in a separate building? Usually, the guest who came to see him came to the main mansion. Because of course, they would think that he would be there.

 

Due to circumstances, it was up to the butler to welcome guests to the mansion due to Vincent staying in the annex. In the absence of the butler, Isabella took over his role.

 

But the man outside was standing in front of his door, the door in the annex.

 

“There’s nothing for you to know. Send him back.”

 

“Master.”

 

“You get out, too.”

 

‘Why are you so mean?’

 

Then she heard a knock on the door.

 

“Vincent.”

 

It was the voice of the man named Ethan. It seemed to have calmed down to some extent.

 

Paula looked straight at Vincent. His eyes were closed before she knew it.

 

‘Are you trying to pretend to be asleep?’

 

“Let me see your face, Vincent. It’s been a long time since we saw each other. Don’t you miss me?”

 

“…”

 

“I want to see you.”

 

What was this atmosphere?

 

There’s something strange between these two men…

 

“Don’t think of anything strange.”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

“I can tell what you’re thinking just by the sound of your breath.”

 

“I didn’t.”

 

Paula was trying to turn around and prepare a meal, but she realized that she didn’t bring breakfast. Come to think of it, water to wash and new clothes… she forgot because of the unexpected commotion.

 

“I’ll bring your meal.”

 

“I have no appetite.”

 

“Please wait.”

 

“I’m not hungry!”

 

Paula ignored Vincent’s shouts and opened the door. She faced the opponent who had been knocking on the door eagerly from earlier. The man immediately looked inside the room. She hurriedly shut the door, blocking his view.

 

“I’m sorry. The master said he didn’t want to see you.”

 

“Oh no, I really want to meet him. I have something to tell him!”

 

The backbiting wasn’t meant for her. Still, the answer did not come back from her.

 

Ethan hung his shoulders helplessly. Trying to smile through his disappointed face, he continued talking.

 

“I’ll take care of you for a few days.”

 

A guest came to the Count’s house.

 

“Long time no see, Isabella.”

 

“Long time no see, Ethan.”

 

Ethan entered the living room and greeted Isabella. He was greeted familiarly by Isabella as she was handed his top hat.

 

Seeing the close relationship between the two, it seemed that the man was no mere guest.

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