Chapter 13. Silver-Haired Maid (3)
Clatter.
For a while, the sound of Lien cleaning the dishes echoed monotonously in the room.
Enoch took a moment to carefully observe the maid who was finishing up the cleaning in front of him.
Silver hair that slightly covered her cyan eyes.
An attitude as transparent as ice and infinitely emotionless.
A girl about the same age as Enoch now.
Nevertheless, she was quite mature and a beauty with a chilling atmosphere.
Enoch's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her for a while.
'As expected, she's the person I need to be most careful of.'
After spending a few days together, he could now roughly guess Enoch's usual lifestyle.
Enoch's meals were quietly taken in his room, befitting the family's miserable treatment.
And all the work related to Enoch's life was done by the maid named Lien alone.
Except for her, no other servants came in and out of this room at all.
But that only exception was that maid.
'Probably the person who has seen Enoch the most recently is Lien, who has been attending to him.'
Therefore, if there is anyone who is most suspicious of this side's condition, it is that girl. She would have been the one who had been watching Enoch the closest all day long, exceptionally, until now.
Moreover, that was not the only reason that made her a person of interest.
'First of all, Lien is not a character in the original work.'
That meant that no matter how much of a hardcore gamer he was, he didn't know how to deal with her.
However, even in this situation, there was no way to break through.
First of all, he can observe Lien as he does now and gradually collect information.
“…Young Master?”
At that time. Enoch, who was blankly lost in thought, turned his head in surprise at Lien's voice calling him.
Lien, who had already finished putting away and organizing the dishes, was approaching him.
"You've been sweating a lot. I'll prepare clothes to change into immediately."
Come to think of it, sweat was flowing like rain after he came out of the inner world earlier.
Strangely, every time he went in and out of the inner world, the feeling of fatigue clearly remained in his body.
Well, swordsmanship is also inherited from the inner world and used in reality. Then it's natural that the feeling of fatigue from battle there is also accumulated in the body to some extent in reality.
"Here you are."
Lien took out a new shirt from the closet and brought it. Enoch slowly accepted it.
"Thank you."
"It's……. Nothing."
Lien quietly trailed off.
Silence settled in the room throughout teatime. But in that silence, Lien was almost certain.
'…It's not Young Master.'
To be exact, from the morning of the day when Enoch's disownment was officially decided at the meeting.
Enoch had been acting strange since that morning.
Besides, this was the second time already.
─He told her thank you.
He couldn't possibly imagine that it was the Enoch she had known until now.
She, who had been serving him consistently by his side, could not have not known this fact.
Lien glanced at Enoch for a moment.
"You don't look very well. Is the wound you received last time okay?"
"Thanks to you."
Enoch replied briefly to Lien's question.
There weren't many injuries except for the wounds on his arms and legs in the first place, but he had still treated all the parts that were bothersome himself appropriately.
There would be several resident healers in a large Main House like Elsyde, but he didn't want to create unnecessary contact with others yet.
"That's a relief. I'll step back now and prepare after-meal teatime."
Lien bowed politely.
The faintly shining silver-white hair flowed down her transparent white cheeks.
Enoch, who was watching her leave the door, changed into the shirt Lien had given him.
Swish.
He took off the wet clothes and hung them on the chair and put on a new shirt. The feeling of the fluffy clothes made him feel a little better from the exhausted feeling.
After waiting a little, Lien came in with a white cart with teacups and simple refreshments.
Enoch glanced at her as she naturally set the tea set on the table.
“…I’ve prepared it with simple snacks as usual.”
A strange silence flowed in the room while she was pouring tea.
Enoch inwardly hoped that this awkward silence was no different from usual between the original him and Lien.
When the tea was finally prepared, Enoch held up the teacup, trying not to look too awkward.
And the moment he put the tea in his mouth,
Lien's cyan eyes narrowed slightly.
'As expected, it's not Young Master.'
Memories of him in the past flashed through Lien's mind for a moment.
'Since that incident, Young Master has not had teatime itself.'
Enoch vomiting blackish-red blood on the floor with shattered teacups and retching.
His appearance, who didn't even give her a glance as she hurriedly ran over, was chewing on the pain and smiling crookedly.
Enoch's back, who was staggering and desperately trying to stand up alone, even refusing support.
'I tested it just in case, but I'm sure.'
Since that incident, Enoch has never tasted tea at all. In other words, there is no way to have teatime 'as usual'.
I still remember it clearly.
That day. For Enoch, who couldn't even be at ease in the family, it was the first time he knew what kind of existence he should be.
What about him, who was the person involved?
Lien watched him from behind.
He was certainly not the Enoch she knew.
She herself, who had been watching by his side, knew best how much Enoch was being ostracized in the family and what kind of gazes he had to endure from those around him.
No matter how close he was to being disowned, there was no way that Enoch, who was like that, could suddenly change like this.
Swish
Lien quietly took her hand to her thigh. A long and white finger passed over the cold object felt under the maid outfit skirt once.
But she soon shook her head slightly.
She was certainly convinced that he was not Enoch.
However, she could never harm him for some reason.
Swish
Lien quietly picked up the shirt that Enoch had taken off while changing his clothes from behind him and brought it to her face.
She gently closed her eyes and smelled the area where the collar of the shirt touched.
As expected, she could smell a familiar scent at the tip of her nose.
'…Young Master's scent.'
There was no way she wouldn't know.
She knew everything about Young Master.
She could tell everything even if it was a very small part that was different. That's why she concluded.
'At least the body is definitely his.'
Lien was so convinced and carefully folded the shirt she had in her hand.
'Then the problem with Young Master is not the body….'
She watched the back of the man who was drinking tea.
She didn't know exactly what had happened to Young Master now, but she knew for sure that the body was his from the scent.
Then she couldn't move rashly either.
As long as that body is Young Master Enoch's.
***
Meanwhile, Enoch was also finishing analyzing Lien.
'As expected, she's suspecting me.'
It was certain that Lien was suspecting him.
But he wasn't very embarrassed.
Because he had already expected it enough.
The current him couldn't perfectly act as Enoch.
Although he can share memories with his trait, he only vaguely feels Enoch's senses, and he doesn't perfectly know the previous Enoch.
Then he had to think about how he should respond to her from this side.
'First of all, killing or chasing her out rashly is too noticeable.'
It was true that Lien was definitely a person with potential threats, but it was even more ambiguous to touch her easily because she was the closest to the protagonist.
'Lien. What is your relationship with the original Enoch?'
The only existence attached to Enoch in the family was Lien. Of course, people from other families couldn't not know that fact.
What if she is suddenly killed or chased out?
'Of course, attention will be focused.'
Such a situation is something that this side, which should not reveal its identity, never wants.
Besides, there were too many questionable aspects to rashly touch Lien.
The formal meeting he was dragged to on the first day he became Enoch.
There, the chief of staff called her 'Lien-nim'.
The chief of staff said 'nim' to a mere maid?
He still doesn't know how that's possible.
In many ways, there was too little information to do anything about her.
'…Well, whoever Lien is, it doesn't solve the headache if I kill her right now.'
If he killed Lien, Enoch, who was barely out of the interest of the family members, would be talked about again.
Being noticed means that there are more eyes watching.
Rather, the unexpected action of suddenly killing Lien had a high possibility of spreading suspicion about Enoch to the entire family.
He had to avoid that situation.
'And secondly. Lien's actions are not convincing somewhere.'
Enoch thought about it backwards.
'She's suspecting me to this extent, but she hasn't reported it to the family yet?'
Then there must be a reason for that as well. Things were going quite interestingly somewhere.
Around the time when his thoughts were going on and on.
Lien's voice cut off his thoughts.
"Young Master. Come to think of it…."
Lien slightly tilted her head and opened her mouth in a polite tone, as if she had just remembered.
"Executive Officer Skyll said that he will prepare a small farewell banquet in the family as usual in preparation for Young Master's disownment ceremony."
Enoch frowned at Lien's words.
The Skyll family was a Follower Family that served Count Elsyde.
Grantel Skyll, the current acting head of the family and Executive Officer, was the representative figure of that side.
'Come to think of it, it was Grantel who said at the regular conference that he would disown Enoch.'
He had faced him while taking on the mission this time, but he was an old man who didn't know what he was thinking at all.
Lien continued.
"However, Young Master has never learned the dining etiquette at the official banquet, even though he has turned seventeen. Therefore, he said that he was worried that you would make a mistake."
Enoch quietly put down the teacup.
'That's a lie.'
He accurately remembered the phrases of the script that appeared in the game.
「Even though Enoch had fully equipped himself with the manners and etiquette as an aristocrat at the young age of thirteen, there were few who truly treated him as an aristocrat because he was a non-magician.」
It was not yet clear what Lien's intentions were.
But as long as he knew that the story she had just told was a lie, this side was holding the key to action.
"So, what do you want to say?"
"The Executive Officer asked me to have you tour the banquet hall in advance when no one was there, and to teach you the dining etiquette at official events in advance."
Enoch snorted inwardly.
'She's skilled.'
But apart from having figured out the lie, he couldn't reject her proposal without any reason.
He didn't know how that side would come out if he did that.
Besides, Enoch had something he was curious about her on the contrary.
'I know nothing about Lien, who is the closest person to Enoch.'
Anyway, it's a bad move to leave the person who is suspecting him like this.
In the end, both sides had to see the end.
“…Okay. I heard that it was empty today because they were preparing for other banquets that will be held tomorrow, with only the tableware prepared. The timing is good too.”
"Then, shall we go now?"
Enoch nodded at Lien's question and got up from his seat.
Anyway, he had answered, so there was nothing that would change by taking more time here.
And he was also guessing the intention behind why she was saying these words now.
Right now, when no banquet schedule is set, that place will definitely be just an empty space.
A place where he would only know what happened hours later.
Why would the maid, who was blatantly suspecting Enoch, want to face him alone in that empty place where no one was watching?
"I will guide you."
If she was trying to reveal Enoch's identity to the people of other families, there would be better times and places.
At least he wouldn't have chosen an empty place like a banquet hall where no banquet was held.
There is also the possibility that she is trying to kill him, but then it is an even more absurd place selection.
Conversely, the banquet hall, where people would come and go in a little while, is the worst place to kill.
In other words, she has no intention of harming Enoch.
She has no plans to reveal his identity.
At least for now.
He slowly got up from his seat.
He was not the original Enoch. He didn't know how he would have acted if he was him.
But as a hardcore gamer of <Magic Empire Atlas>, he clearly understood what play he had to do now.
- ? Next stage of experience absorption conditions: Create a collaborator to overcome the current Enoch's situation
Recalling the last message of the inner world, Enoch got up from his seat.
A small smile formed on his lips as he grabbed the black cloth bag.
'It's about time to make a helper.'