“Miss, I will go in now.”
Bennett, having successfully delivered the water that would be used for breakfast after leaving the well, which had been a cauldron of chaos and excitement due to Dariann’s arrival, immediately went to knock on the door of the eldest daughter of the Evergarden family to wake her from her sleep.
Creeeak—
“Miss?”
“Umm…”
Carefully opening the door and calling for the young lady, Bennett approached the bed where Rosaria was lying, with her face buried in the blankets, still drowsy.
“Miss Rosaria? It’s morning. Miss?”
Without any physical contact, Bennett whispered softly by her bedside.
In the early days, after accidentally burning her hand while trying to wake her, Rosaria had hit Bennett on the thigh with such force that it left a bruise.
Remembering that pain, Bennett called her name very cautiously.
How many times did she call her?
“Huh!? Private! Kim! Hyun! Soo! I didn’t hear you well!!”
“Pardon?”
Rosaria, who had been in a deep sleep, suddenly opened her eyes wide and sat up straight, shouting incomprehensible words.
“…Oh? Where is this… oh crap, another military dream.”
“Miss Rosaria? Are you alright?”
“Ah… no, no, I had a nightmare…”
“You’ve been having that dream often lately. You said the same last time.”
“…I think it’ll continue for about ten years?”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Um… I brought water for washing your face.”
“Thank you.”
Bennett had seen Rosaria shout incomprehensible words while sleep-talking at least three times since she woke up.
Just like Dariann, whom she saw by the well, Rosaria had changed a lot.
The nervous, quick-tempered Rosaria who used to wield a whip at the slightest mistake now often displayed a languid atmosphere and a more relaxed demeanor.
She would let mistakes slide and seemed to have become somewhat indifferent.
“Can’t I just cut this hair off? It’s so annoyingly troublesome.”
“Miss, to cut off such beautiful hair like that…?”
“It’s so frustrating. Uncomfortable.”
“Well, would it be alright to just tie it up a little as usual?”
“That’s what’s most comfortable.”
After finishing her wash, Rosaria sat on the vanity, and Bennett immediately began to tidy up her hair, which had become disheveled while she was asleep.
Originally, Rosaria always insisted on having her hair styled elaborately and decorated with a plethora of accessories, getting furious if even a single strand was accidentally pulled out.
However, recently, she had insisted on lightly tying her long hair up instead.
Bennett had to hold back her urge to just cut it all off.
“Is it alright to prepare the outfit in the same manner as usual today?”
“Um, please do.”
However, the most significant change was this.
As Bennett tidied up the combs, she asked, and Rosaria replied, immediately rushing to the wardrobe to pull out a piece of clothing.
It was a pair of riding pants.
Rosaria, who had always insisted on wearing extravagant dresses adorned with jewels and lovely lace, declared just a few days ago that she would wear pants instead of skirts.
In aristocratic society, it is extremely rare for women to wear pants except for horseback riding, so Bennett was taken aback, but Rosaria had insisted strongly on her will.
“I will assist you in getting dressed.”
“No, no! I’ll do it myself!”
“But Miss…”
Thus, while Bennett respectfully prepared the riding pants, she approached Rosaria, but Rosaria screamed in shock.
Assisting with noble clothing was a perfectly natural act, and Rosaria, who had been fine with it until now, had recently been shouting in shock that she would change on her own each time she changed clothes.
However.
“But, Miss, you can’t put on your clothes by yourself.”
“That’s…! I was about to get used to it!”
Although she shouted, noble clothing was designed very complicatedly, so whenever she insisted on dressing alone, Bennett ended up helping her anyway.
“Still…”
“Ugh… fine. Please hurry as much as possible.”
“Yes, Miss!”
Finally, as Bennett bowed her head, Rosaria, who had been pouting, reluctantly handed the pants she held to her.
“Miss? Why are your eyes…”
“…I’m still not used to it.”
“Oh, do you mean you’re not used to the pants? But why are your eyes—”
“Ha… seriously.”
‘Is she at that age too?’
As Bennett skillfully removed Rosaria’s nightgown and prepared for the change, Rosaria’s face began to turn increasingly red.
‘Even my younger siblings were embarrassed to change clothes alone as they grew older… But isn’t Miss an aristocrat? Shouldn’t she be used to it?’
‘It’s my body anyway, so why should I care? How long will I act like Ada? Wow. But, wow, my breasts, wow… this is insane… it’s my body seeing another woman naked for the first time, it’s so unfair… oh, so that’s how it is down there?’
While Bennett remembered her younger siblings, Rosaria, gazing at her reflection in the mirror with awe and horror, was in a different dream from Bennett, even though they were in the same place.
“Huh? Oh… no, my sibling? Are you going to eat?”
“Are you having fun right now?”
“Yeah. It’s really fun.”
“Don’t just…!”
As Rosaria changed her clothes and was walking down the corridor for breakfast with Bennett, they ran into Felix, who smiled and approached them.
“Ah! How dare you get angry at your older brother, who is like the heavens!”
“Ha… stop it. Big brother, it’s tough.”
“Hehe, sorry. Are we going to eat now?”
“You’re the same, aren’t you?”
‘How interesting…’
Felix and Rosaria.
These two siblings had previously treated each other with disdain, as if there were walls between them, constantly mocking or ignoring each other.
However, now, even as they threw insults, it felt like mere playful banter.
It was as if they were connected by an invisible thread, like how she and her siblings always behaved.
While Bennett thought that this was a natural behavior for families, seeing these two exhibit that connection intrigued her, and she watched the scene unfold.
“By the way, what are you doing holed up in your room every day?”
“Oh—don’t you do the same, little sibling?”
“As for me, well… I have nothing to do.”
“I’ve been super busy lately! Look at this!”
Whoosh—
“Wow, insane! A human lighter!”
“Oh my!”
As they continued their small talk heading to the dining room, Felix suddenly raised a finger and created a small flame on it.
Magic.
“Only those chosen can wield it in reality, creating miracles that are different from divine powers.”
Bennett, who has grown up in this territory, was astonished and fascinated as she suddenly witnessed mysterious magic unfold right before her eyes.
She was quite familiar with magical tools like those used to start a fire or the pump that poured out water this morning, but seeing Felix use magic solely with his own mana in an empty space made him seem truly like a wizard.
“How is it? Cool, right? I can do this too!”
Whoosh—whoosh—
“Wow, amazing! What does it say? Let’s see… ‘Brother wears women’s panties, what the… hey, you brat!’”
“Hah! Writing in mid-air! Isn’t that hilarious?”
“The sentence isn’t funny, you idiot!”
As Rosaria made an expression of admiration, the flames that blossomed from Felix’s fingertip suddenly swirled in the air, and soon words in an unrecognizable language were beautifully inscribed.
Bennett guessed that the writing was likely the ‘rune language’ often used by wizards.
Given that Rosaria seemed to have noticed the phrase, it appeared that most nobles could use rune language.
“CHetotct…”
“Huh?”
“Oh! I’m so sorry! I… I didn’t know the fountain was there…!”
As Bennett muttered, just blankly watching, Felix, who had been performing magic, suddenly leaned in with his face, causing her to gasp in surprise and bow her head, begging for forgiveness.
‘What was I thinking…! No matter how amazing it is, how could I act so rudely in front of nobles!’
Even as Felix scolded her for her lack of manners, she had no words to respond, anxiously gripping the edge of her apron and trembling as she worried about the punishment that would follow.
“Right? Isn’t it amazing?”
“…Yes?”
“This is a basic form of magic, converting a mass of formless mana into another elemental form. Among them, fire magic is particularly unstable, so it requires control! So, I gather mana at my fingertips, and at that stage, while converting it to fire, I have to suppress the mana while constantly supplying a steady amount! But… who am I! A future great wizard! By temporarily limiting the channel that supplies mana to conform with the mana’s characteristics, I can expel as much mana as I want without the flames rising higher, maintaining a steady heat! This method is often used in magical tools rather than magic itself because wizards control mana as their talent. But if I use a scroll with the mana structure recorded in a small form attached to my body, it’s that simple! And—”
“Yes…? Yes… Yes…”
“Hey, are you going to keep talking about things only you understand? It’s obvious I don’t get it!”
Bennett was confused about how to respond to Felix, who seemed excited and began listing his magical knowledge instead of scolding her for her mistake.
The words he had been saying felt almost foreign, and her head was spinning trying to comprehend them.
“Oh, you’re both here?”
“A-Ah, Mother? Are you coming down now?”
“Wow… that dress looks great on you, Mom?”
“….Yes, thank you.”
As Freya, who was walking toward the dining room for breakfast, noticed the scene, the two siblings exchanged sly smiles as if they had planned this moment.
While Rosaria had been allowed to roam the mansion in pants, Freya, as the countess, had to wear a vintage dress, conscious of her position and the gazes around her.
Every morning, as she needed the help of her attendants to put on her dress, Freya felt a little more of her inner masculinity chipped away.
Knowing about Freya’s situation, the two siblings didn’t comfort her; instead, they thought it was a rare opportunity to tease their father, grinning widely.
Although Freya’s usually gentle smile seemed to tremble for a moment at their playful remarks, Bennett didn’t notice that.
“G-Good morning, my lady!”
“Yes, you’ve had a lot of trouble this morning.”
“Not at all! I’m just doing my duties as a maid of this mansion!”
“Oh, how admirable! I wish our kids could learn from you. Especially the daughter.”
“What about me? I’ve been working hard for a year and a half!”
“In my time, it was three years, you know?”
“How petty! Back in my day…”
“Anyway, let’s hurry and eat so this child can do something else.”
“What was for breakfast today?”
“Tomato soup, I believe?”
“Ah… with tomatoes, I want to eat stir-fried soy sauce!”
“You sound like a soldier saying that.”
“Hehe, back in my day, just eating barley rice and pickled radish was a blessing—”
“I got it! So let’s hurry and eat! See you later, Bennett!”
“Ah, yes.”
With the three of them chatting loudly, they strode forward, and as Bennett watched their backs, she lowered her head.
“You remember my name…?”
Bennett couldn’t imagine that her name would come from Rosaria, who turned to glance at her, and she felt a warmth rising in her chest.
Indeed, the nobles of the Evergarden family had changed significantly from what she knew.
Still, Bennett didn’t find it bad. In fact, it was rather good.
“…Alright! Let’s work hard today too!”
And so, Bennett’s day flowed brightly and vibrantly once more.