MPBAGS Chapter 76

"It suits you so well!"

Despite her bright voice, her under-eye circles were so dark she looked like someone who'd stayed up all night for ten days. Artemisia, who had been looking at the clothes I was wearing with a meaningless smile, wiped away tears with her handkerchief.

"I'm so proud right now."

It wasn't the debut dress, but clothes to wear when visiting Lady Toten who had agreed to be my chaperone. There wasn't time to make new ones, so she altered clothes from the boutique to suit me. Artemisia explained enthusiastically, but I listened with one ear and let it flow out the other, so I don't remember well.

"Noble ladies like lively ladies, but they also quite like gentle, modest ladies. Besides, since Lady Toten sees her sickly child in my lady, I removed all the lace, reduced the decorations, and emphasized a pitiful beauty!"

Actually, it doesn't seem much different from clothes I usually wear. But if I said that, she'd probably cry, right?

"I really like it. You worked hard, Artemisia."

"P-please call me Misha..."

As expected, praise was the right answer. It seems the distance between our hearts has shortened a bit. Instead of five syllables, I can now use two syllables - Misha.

"Thanks to Misha, I'll be able to make a good impression on Lady Toten."

"Huff. I have no regrets now. Have a good trip..."

Misha staggered and went back to the fitting room. She seemed to be going to make the debut dress again. She looks like she's about to die - is it okay not to sleep? I'm not even the one making her work, but I felt like an evil employer.

"My lady, it seems you should depart now."

Henna checked the time and got up to pack. Right... There's nothing I can do by staying, so I should focus on my own tasks.

Today's outing was planned with Henna, me, and Melech. Melech, who appeared out of nowhere, was today's coachman.

After we returned from the temple before, the coachman quit, so Melech took the vacant position. According to what I heard from Mary, he's been showing tremendous coachman talent from the stables. Mary was frustrated, saying she felt behind since she could only feed carrots.

"Gamigin, please take care of us."

Melech stroked the horse. He couldn't even name himself but gave the horse a name? Melech said he'd show me an amazingly smooth carriage ride and helped me into the carriage.

But driving with his eyes covered? Since he's a ghost, it doesn't matter? I could ride with peace of mind knowing that, but I worried if it might be scary for others. However, Henna got into the carriage after me without any concern. I guess not. It would only be scary for people watching. We're fine, so it doesn't matter.

Indeed, his coachman talent was worth recognizing. Previous carriages I'd ridden jolted and made my bottom hurt, but with Melech driving, it was so comfortable I couldn't even tell the carriage was moving. Is this the quality of a ghost-driven carriage?

I was just marveling when we'd already arrived at the Toten Marquisate. Whether they properly received Gabriel's message, the gate opened immediately and the carriage passed through, stopping right in front of the mansion.

'Wow. It's incredibly huge.'

It's embarrassing to compare it to the Rohanson County.

"Are you Lady Rohanson? Thank you for visiting the Toten Marquisate."

"Thank you for welcoming me."

A person who appeared to be a butler with graying hair had come out to greet me.

"The Marchioness is waiting."

Henna and I followed the butler into the mansion. 'You didn't use that to drive the horse, did you...?' Behind us, I heard a servant who was showing the carriage where to park being surprised at seeing Melech wearing an eyepatch.

That's none of my business. Let's hurry inside.

The interior of the Toten Marquisate was quite unique.

All the windows were open, perhaps for ventilation, and the furniture was cleaned so spotlessly that not a speck of dust could be seen. Religious decorations were everywhere, showing deep faith. Somehow, with its obsessively clean management, it felt more like a movie set than a human living space.

The sunlight came in well, so the colors looked good too. Am I watching a movie right now? I felt like I was sitting in front of a screen, somehow losing sense of reality, but the sound of the butler speaking brought me back to my senses. Oops. I need to focus on the story.

"It's been quite a while since madam has invited a guest like this."

The butler smiled kindly as he started the conversation.

"Doesn't Lady Toten have excellent connections?"

Huh, why? Gabriel said Lady Toten was well-connected and had good social skills all around. That's why she'd be good as a chaperone for meeting people.

Gabriel wouldn't have lied, so maybe it's just superficial relationships? That seemed aristocratic enough.

"Ha ha. After all, a noisy environment isn't good for calming the mind and body."

Ah. He must be talking about the sick son. Come to think of it, it would be awkward to invite guests for chit-chat with a sick son at home. Wait, then I shouldn't have come either?

So that's why Gabriel said to invite Lady Toten to the Rohanson estate. I didn't know that and said I'd come. Honestly, this is Gabriel's fault for not stopping me to the end.

"It's also the first time madam has agreed to be a chaperone. It's probably due to the influence of the story she heard from the knight commander."

"The story about me being sick?"

"Yes. The reason madam exceptionally allowed this visit is probably because of that too."

The butler gave me a hint. Lady Toten invited me and agreed to be my chaperone because I was in a similar situation to her sick son. But I, not knowing this kindness, barged into her house. His skill at indirect criticism thanks to his experience was excellent. But it was my fault, so I couldn't say anything. I'm sorry for being so inconsiderate.

"And this old man presumes to offer advice out of excessive concern... Please don't give madam false hope."

False hope? What does that mean?

"Madam has only recently composed herself, but hearing about Lady Rohanson's story, she seems to hope that Lord Ryder might also recover."

Then that's good, isn't it? I've become like a symbol of hope.

"But Lord Ryder is so hopeless that even holy water is useless..."

The butler trailed off sadly. I was short-sighted. Sometimes hope can be poison too.

The butler bowed his head. Oh no, he's not crying, is he? The illness seems more serious than I thought. If there's no improvement even with holy water, it must be serious. Is it something like a terminal illness?

To summarize, the butler seemed to be asking me not to give consolation like saying he'd recover like I did. If she gets her hopes up and then disappointed, she might be hurt beyond recovery.

"...Madam might ask about the method by which my lady recovered."

"Don't worry. Even if the lady called me seeking hope, there's nothing I can really do for her."

Then there's nothing to worry about, I think. Evangeline is already dead, and the reason it looks like she recovered is just because I possessed her body. It's not really a precedent of miraculous recovery within this world's order, so I can't give advice or anything.

Hearing my words, the butler was greatly relieved. He really cares a lot about Lady Toten. He's like the epitome of a butler. My house's butler always gets scared and runs away whenever he sees me. But I can't blame him given the sins Evangeline committed.

"You're more reasonable than I heard. I'm relieved."

The butler smiled as if relieved. But hasn't this grandfather been subtly criticizing me indirectly since earlier?

Right now he's saying "Your reputation was terrible but I'm glad you listen well." Thanks to taking speech lessons from Dolly, I can now interpret everything.

After always seeing people tremble at Evangeline's notoriety, seeing someone come at me so boldly was refreshingly new. I heard that butlers from high noble families have high pride - this must be exactly that case.

Does he think Evangeline would know her place and bow her head to the marchioness who's graciously serving as her chaperone?

"You must really respect Lady Toten."

"Pardon?"

The butler looked back at me at the unexpected question.

"You care so much about Lady Toten's wellbeing that you'd tell a complete stranger like me all about the marquisate's circumstances today."

As expected, a capable butler has good intuition too. He understood perfectly. He's completely prostrating himself. I don't have pride or anything like that originally. If I had pride, would I be playing romance games with novel characters?

I decided to use Dolly's "indirect speaking technique" to praise the butler's high loyalty and information network that grasps all the marquisate's circumstances.

"Anyone watching would think you're the master of the marquisate."

You have excellent ownership consciousness too. The ideal talent that employers covet most! Woohoo!

"......"

The butler was speechless, perhaps because my flattery was excessive.

Oops. In romance novels, you shouldn't grovel to subordinates, but I broke the unwritten rule and made an overly flattering comment without realizing it.

Actually, when he was subtly criticizing me earlier, I thought about saying something, but I held back because bad rumors might spread.

And what if I got annoyed and said something, and then the butler badmouthed me to the marchioness? Between me who he met today and a butler who's worked for a long time, who would be more trustworthy? If gossip starts, it would be goodbye to the chaperone right away. So since I held back, let me hold back to the end. Think of the chaperone.

"Your way with words is excellent. I suppose you've given the same treatment to all guests who've visited the marquisate?"

Your lip service is excellent, and your guest treatment is perfect!

If I could leave a guestbook, I would have written "The butler was kind and the marquisate was delicious" and given five stars.

Perhaps the praise barrage was too burdensome, as the butler started sweating profusely.