The morning after returning from Arwen Nursery School to Perdalos Manor.

I got up from bed in the bedroom in my hometown after a long time, facing a slightly later morning than usual, probably because of the exhaustion from the carriage ride for several hours.

“Are you awake, little master?”

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the pink-haired apprentice maid who came into my field of vision.

“I’m sorry you didn’t even have time to organize your luggage last night because of travel, but I organized as much as I could.”

“… … .”

“There is still plenty of time until lunchtime, so if you are tired, you can sleep a little longer.”

“… … ?”

Then, when I saw the maid tidying up my room with a silent comb, it suddenly occurred to me that I might not have woken up yet.

If I’m not awake right now… .

“Are you the new maid?”

“… … Yeah?”

“I thought it was a maid I hadn’t seen before. I don’t think any of the children I brought yesterday were this big… .”

Compared to the prospective employees of Perdalos, who were only about 10 to 12 years old, the girl in front of her had the impression of being at least 16 years old.

Perhaps it was more correct to think of her as a new maid in the family without my knowledge.

“I… Are you still waking up from your dreams?”

“No, I’m completely awake.”

“Well, you see… . Sah, to be honest, it’s only natural that you don’t remember the name of a single maid.”

After hearing my answer, the apprentice maid looked even more bitter.

Throwing out strange rice cakes that seemed to have had some relationship with me in the past.

But, as far as I know, there was only one pink-haired maid working in our mansion.

Thinking of no way, I carefully took out a name that was presumed to be her name.

“Is it you, Line?”

The pink-haired maid quietly nodded at my speculative question.

“… You knew that too.”

“I’m sorry, the impression has changed so much that I didn’t recognize you.”

“My impression… ? I didn’t really change the shape of my hair… .”

“Not that impression, um… .”

In the past life and throughout this life, the factors that remember Linen were not external factors such as her height, age, or hairstyle.

The biggest problem was that he couldn’t recognize the ordinary maid in front of him as Line, whose biggest characteristic had disappeared.

“Normally, when you enter my room, Renee, there’s no way you would come in so calmly.”

“… … Yeah?”

“The person inside doesn’t care and bursts open the door and bursts in, or trips over the threshold as soon as he enters and drops the object he is holding on the floor, or enters stealthily and hides somewhere in the room, avoiding the attention of the maid. It was or was.”

“… … Yes, I did… .”

The maid who came in without waking me up from a deep sleep and quietly carried out her duties until I woke up was not at least the Line I knew.

If I had to think back, it wasn’t until about 7 years ago that I was barely able to fulfill my role as a maid.

Until then, the most suitable words to describe Line were words like ‘apprentice maid’ or ‘mistake-filled maid’, and I also used to remember her with these characteristics.

So, seeing Linee doing what she has to do so calmly, no matter how much she resembles her, there is no choice but to feel a sense of alienation.

“Of course, there were mistakes I made in the past, so it can’t be helped that the little master thinks so… .”

Even more basic courtesy while I couldn’t see it, so it’s all the more so.

If it had been like before, no doubt the moment I said this, he would get angry and protest against me. Without even observing basic courtesy as a user.

I don’t know why, but there must have been an opportunity that changed from my previous life.

“Did you learn a lot from Alice while I was gone?”

Startle.

As soon as she heard the name of the head maid, Line’s delicate shoulders trembled slightly.

“I’m sorry.”

“yes?”

“Boo, please don’t send it to the head maid. Now, little master… .”

“… … .”

What and how did you teach the child to have such a trauma?

Looking at the results of the training, it seemed that he had grown greatly as a worker, but I expected that it would not be very good to find out anyway.

Considering the sin of saying something like ‘I will never forget grudges’ in front of me the other day, it would be a miracle to still work in the mansion itself.

… Well, because I know that Simseong itself is not a bad child.

And since he had a debt in his heart for not being able to protect Rinne, who tried to confront the corrupted Stella in his previous life, he felt sorry for her for being too harsh.

“I won’t send you, so don’t worry. You didn’t do anything wrong in the first place, so there’s no reason to send you to Ellis.”

“Go, thank you.”

In the first place, Alice was going to be busy teaching the new servants from today, so she probably wouldn’t have the time to scold and educate even Line.

“Was Xi’an in the guest room just now?”

“Yeah. Yesterday, Thie-senpai took Miss Xian and showed her to the penultimate room on the 3rd floor.”

“Good job.”

Tie would be much more competent than Line when it came to welcoming guests, so that would be better.

By the way, Thie is Delphina’s competent exclusive maid. But only when Delphina is in Perdalos Mansion.

It’s because I can’t follow my sister to the academy, where I can’t bring servants.

These days, when he doesn’t come back often from the academy, it seems that most of them are being called for customer service.

Since it was Tier who cleaned Delphina’s room and office, which were always a mess, her ability as a maid must be quite competent.

At least she must be a much more veteran maid than Linen. Actually, I’m about 2 years my senior.

‘Looking at what I’m doing, it seems like there’s a difference of about 10 years of annual leave.’

If I had to say it out of my mouth, I would have been disappointed, but I quietly swallowed it inside and told Line.

“I’ll be going down to the dining room in about 30 minutes, so tell Xian in the guest room.”

“all right.”

“… I’m just saying this just in case, but you’re not delivering it yourself, you’re delivering it to Xi’an through Tie. Understand?”

“I know that too.”

“… Okay, that’s it.”

As if she was worrying for nothing, Line gave me an expression as if she had intended to do so.

Finally, I opened the door, bowed my head once, and exited the room.

It was a proper exit etiquette of a servant that had never been shown before.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Surprisingly, considering the addition of Xian and I, Perdalos’ luncheon was quite quiet.

Xian usually doesn’t open his mouth in front of strangers, and I’m not the type to talk a lot at dinner with my family.

At least, most of the conversation was for my mother to say a word or two to Xian and me and then reply.

“… … .”

For reference, as in the case of Lulu, the father, who seemed likely to ask Xian a lot of things, seemed to observe Xian silently for a while, then carefully opened the conversation with the following words.

“… Did you say Miss Sian Rudflicka?”

“yes.”

“They said they were from the forest of the World Tree… ?”

“That’s right. But why?”

“If there is a mixture of humans among the ancestors… .”

“Excuse me, human. Are you arrogantly treating me as a mongrel?”

As soon as his father’s slip of the tongue came out, it was Xian’s eyes narrowing and staring at him.

“… Yeah, that was definitely rude. I’m really sorry, Miss Xian.”

“it’s okay. Since he’s Conrad’s father, I’ll look after him.”

“… … .”

Xian, who had responded brazenly to the head of the Perdalos family without losing his temper at all, turned his head rudely and openly as if he would not talk any further.

My father, who had ended the conversation in such a futile way, just looked back and forth between me and Xian, lost in thought, but did not speak directly to Xian again.

Maybe because it was strange that an elf from the forest of the World Tree was inside the mansion.

He said that he once rescued an elf slave during the war with the kingdom of Elijah, but at that time, the elf also said that he returned to the forest on his own when his condition was stable.

It must be a strange sight for my father to see an elf emerging from the forest of the world tree and walking around the empire on its own.

It was all the more so that he had followed me to the Perdalos mansion, not to the academy with a firm purpose of learning.

Read at noblemtl.com

Just as humans aren’t born and raised in empires, elves aren’t all born in the World Tree’s forest.

The number of elves themselves is very small, and the number of elves living outside the forest of the world tree is of course smaller, but very occasionally there are elves born outside the forest of the world tree.

… Although most of them were the miserable words of the elves who were sold as slaves to the kingdom of Elijah.

In the case of elves born that way, there are only external differences compared to ordinary humans, but in reality, they tend to have characteristics more similar to humans than elves.

Once born, because he did not receive the grace of the World Tree, he would not have the long lifespan that is the symbol of elves.

Since they were not born and raised in elven society, they do not have elf-specific pride or self-esteem.

Of course, compared to ordinary elves, they blended into human society much better, but strictly speaking, they were a slightly different race from the ‘elves’ who were born and raised in the forest of the World Tree.

In the first place, after about 3 generations, her ears and green hair completely disappeared and she was no different from a normal human being, so that was probably what her father asked Xian about.

Unless you’re an elf from the forest of the World Tree, getting along with humans isn’t rare.

Anyway, that was it, and it didn’t change that Xian was rude to his father.

“draft.”

“Why, Conrad?”

“I apologize to my father.”

“… … What?”

“… … Hmmm.”

Upon hearing the words that came out of my mouth, Xi’an and my father’s agitated gaze returned at the same time.

“No matter how much you say you’re a guest, you still have to follow the rules of Perdalos in Perdalos Mansion. Just now Xian, no matter how much I think about your tone, it wasn’t zero.”

“Conrad, what an insult your father just said is an insult to an elf… .”

“I know. But even before that, Xian, it is true that your attitude itself was shameless.”

“… … .”

“My father immediately apologized for misunderstanding your origin, so you should also apologize for your mistakes.”

At my continued questioning, Xian quietly fixed his gaze on me.

“I warned you right from the start of the World Tree that it would be annoying if you followed me. But since it doesn’t matter, it was you who said you would follow me. Now that you’ve made that decision, it makes sense for you to follow the minimum rules, right? … If you don’t like that, go back to the forest or the academy first.”

“… Oh no. I will apologize.”

Xian, who expressed embarrassment at being told to go back first, hurriedly turned his gaze to his father, Dmitry Perdalos, and bowed his head cautiously.

“I’m sorry, Conrad’s father. I acted too petty.”

“Oh, no. I also brought up a sensitive question to Miss Xian. I’m more sorry.”

“Then, will you accept my apology?”

“yes. In addition to that, I told the servants to be as careful as possible so as not to cause inconvenience while staying at Perdalos Mansion, so please stay comfortably as my son’s guest.”

“Thank you, Conrad’s father.”

After Xian had a strange conversation with his father, whether it was an apology or not, he immediately turned his gaze to me and looked at me again.

“I apologized.”

“… Yeah, that’s enough.”

It was still a mediocre apology by human standards, but for her as an elf, it must have been a fairly low profile approach.

So, I also admitted that Xian had apologized properly and continued eating again.

Since my father had accepted her apology in the first place, it would be embarrassing for me to say anything more here.

By the time I was about to finish the conversation thinking that everything worked out so well.

“… Conrad, follow me to the office for a while after dinner.”

My mother, who had been watching the situation silently, called me.