I stood up and asked Jennifer about the location of the safe.
“I heard there’s something I need to take from the safe here.”
“Ah, yes! This way, Lady Rain.”
Jennifer straightened her posture and walked towards one side of the office.
She stood in front of an ordinary-looking bookshelf that seemed no different from others.
She began pulling out and rearranging several books.
After a few such movements, Jennifer took a step back.
Swish, click.
Part of the bookshelf opened like a window, revealing the safe hidden inside.
“Here it is, Lady Rain. The password is as the maid set it earlier.”
“It’s not maid, but servant,” Betty grumbled softly.
But as if it didn’t matter much, Jennifer smiled gently.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
And with that, she stepped aside.
Seeing her leave without asking or prying into the matter, I understood why Mother had appointed her as the branch manager.
“She seems like a good person.”
“Branch Manager Jennifer? Oh, of course. She was personally selected by the late Madam.”
Betty approached the safe as soon as Jennifer left and nodded while entering the password.
“I’m not sure if you remember, Lady Rain, but that was the last thing Madam did before she passed away. Replacing the branch managers with trustworthy people.”
“Were the previous ones not trustworthy?”
“No. They were all just too old to lead the company until Lady Rain came of age.”
After a few clicks, the safe opened.
Betty carefully took out an object wrapped in cloth from the safe and handed it to me.
“I heard there was a lot of talk about it being a radical personnel decision at the time.”
“Really?”
“But well, they were all so skilled that no one could argue about their abilities, so everyone just kept quiet and waited for the young lady to grow up.”
I carefully tucked the package Betty gave me into my bosom.
Meanwhile, Betty reset the password and returned the safe to its original state.
It seems there’s a specific order and position for placing the books, which is quite fascinating.
“Who designed this mechanism? I don’t think we have anything like this in our mansion.”
“The safe in the Marquis’ residence is much more secure than this, Lady Rain. I heard that all the security devices for the safes in the Marquis’ residence and the company were jointly created by Madam and Lady Hayley.”
They were both truly extraordinary.
Betty shook her head.
I remember that the security devices for the safes in the Marquis’ residence and the company were quite complicated even when I saw them before my regression.
There wasn’t a safe using a bookshelf like this in the Marquis’ residence.
But as Betty said, I recalled Father once telling me that it had much more secure double and triple safety measures.
I still vividly remember his proud face saying that even the Imperial Palace wouldn’t have such mechanisms, and to think it was all the work of Mother and Hayley.
“Mother was truly amazing.”
“Of course! I’d say there’s no one as intelligent and wise as Madam in the entire empire, no, the entire continent!”
Betty spoke with a voice full of pride.
Why did that pride in her voice make me so jealous?
It hit me painfully that I should have been the one saying those words, not Betty.
I should be the one who knows Mother best and who should be most proud of her.
Betty, who was older than me, clearly remembered the Mother she had seen in my childhood.
I, who was just a baby then, only knew the lovely Mother that Father occasionally talked about.
To Father, Mother must have been more lovely and missed than a source of pride, so it’s natural that I couldn’t hear the same stories as Betty.
Feeling suddenly gloomy, I turned around.
“Let’s hurry. His Majesty will arrive soon.”
“Yes, yes, Lady Rain. If we hurry, we might arrive before His Majesty does.”
Betty, who had restored the safe to its original state, followed behind me.
As we left the office, we waved lightly to Jennifer, who was bowing politely at the foot of the stairs.
“I’ll make an official visit next time.”
“It’s an honor just to have you visit like this today, Lady Rain.”
I nodded slightly at those words and was about to hurry away when.
“Oh,” Jennifer spoke up a bit late.
“Lady Rain. If it’s alright with you, may our employees see you off as you leave?”
“See me off?”
“Yes. They’re all people who served the previous company head, and they were very excited to hear that you had come. If it’s not inconvenient for you…”
Jennifer spoke carefully while watching my reaction.
People who had been with the company since Mother’s time.
I looked at Betty to see if the time was okay, and she looked at her watch and let out a small sigh.
“It should be fine if we just briefly receive greetings on the way out. But we really must keep it to just greetings.”
“Alright, I understand.”
I nodded once towards Betty and once towards Jennifer, and Jennifer bowed deeply with a bright face.
“Thank you, Lady Rain! It will be an unforgettable honor for everyone.”
“Honor, you say.”
As I was thinking that she was exaggerating a bit, suddenly I heard something rushing towards us from behind.
There’s no way such a sound could be heard when no one had been called yet.
Could it be that someone followed me?
Or did Leoprick notice something?
Just as I turned my head with a tense face.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Company Head!”
With a loud voice, people who seemed to appear out of nowhere bowed towards me.
It was quite a sight to see them lined up at the bottom of the stairs, but…
“Were you all waiting?”
“Ah, haha. Everyone has been eagerly anticipating this meeting. They had promised me to come out if Lady Rain permitted…”
Jennifer laughed awkwardly as she came down the stairs.
So, everyone was waiting nearby for my permission to come out?
“It’s quite late, everyone must have worked hard.”
“Not at all! It’s a great honor just to be able to see the Company Head!”
“It’s an honor for our families, Company Head! We will never forget this day for the rest of our lives!”
Most of those gathered as company employees were larger than knights.
Though their loud voices hurt my ears, I decided to understand since they had been here since Mother’s time.
The company must have been equally shocked by Mother’s sudden death.
The position of Company Head would have become vacant overnight.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the devastation they felt then, and how they must have felt when I, who became the Company Head, never came down here even once.
In my previous life, I never had a reason to visit Waynes, so I knew even less.
I slowly descended the stairs, a faint smile on my lips.
“Raise your heads. This is too much courtesy for people who came to greet me.”
“Company Head…”
At my words, everyone raised their heads in unison.
Seeing the emotion and gratitude on their faces, feelings too overwhelming for me to comprehend, I had to struggle not to show my bewilderment.
To show such expressions to the mere daughter of the previous Company Head, a young Company Head they were seeing for the first time today.
It seems their loyalty to Mother must have been immense.
Feeling even more awkward than before, I slowly passed through their midst.
Only after completely escaping their overwhelming gazes could I turn around to face them again.
“I don’t have time to greet each of you individually, but I’m grateful for such a warm welcome today. I’ll make sure to visit more often from now on.”
“It’s an honor, Company Head!”
Once again, their resounding voices filled the building.
Before I could be startled by it, I had to take steps towards the underground path, pulled by Betty tugging at my collar.
“Travel safely, Company Head!”
“Please make sure to visit again!”
“It was an honor to meet you!”
While hearing those voices behind me that somehow tugged at my heart.
* * *
Carrying complex problems that made his head spin, Leoprick arrived at the lodgings on horseback.
Though he had hurried as much as possible, it was late, so he tried to muffle his footsteps as much as possible as he entered the lodgings.
“You’ve arrived, Your Highness.”
“Yes. Was there any trouble?”
“Nothing at all. Lady Rain didn’t leave her room either.”
As soon as he arrived, he sought out the knight guarding the lodgings to receive a report.
Whether there had been any incidents, if Amelia was safe, if she had eaten, things like that.
“Her maid said she wouldn’t have dinner. She’s been quiet the whole time, probably resting early.”
“I see. Good work.”
Leoprick patted the reporting knight’s shoulder a couple of times and entered the lodgings.
The fact that Amelia had been well-behaved until now might mean that things were progressing in a different direction than he had hypothesized.
In other words, it also meant that one hypothesis mixed with hope that he might not need to suspect her had peeked its head out again.
Leoprick slowly climbed the stairs, inserting that hope among his numerous hypotheses.
The knight guarding the front of Amelia’s room recognized him and bowed his head.
He nodded lightly to the knight in return and asked in a low voice.
“Rain? Is she inside?”
“It seems she fell asleep for a while and woke up. She’s been with her maid the whole time.”
“Is that so?”
Fell asleep and woke up, he said.
Does that mean there was suddenly movement inside after being quiet all this time?
He bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if he should push down the hope that had just raised its head again.
Then, he carefully knocked on the door.
“Amelia. Are you awake?”
“Ah, yes! Please come in, Your Highness.”
Her voice was heard from inside.
Her voice sounded a bit subdued, as if she had just woken up.
…Was she really sleeping?
As he pondered for a moment, the door opened.
“Lady Rain says you may enter.”
Her maid, was her name Beatrice?
Amelia seemed to call her ‘Betty’.
Leoprick entered through the door Betty had opened, and she went out, closing the door.
“Did you have a good trip?”
“Yes, I did.”
Amelia, who had been sitting on the bed, stood up.
She looked cute in her slightly hurriedly tidied appearance, as if she had really just woken up.
If he had come a little earlier, would he have been able to see her sleeping?
Thinking this as he was about to approach Amelia.
Leoprick realized that the window behind her was open.
“Did you sleep with the window open?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. The room was a bit hot, so…”
The wind was still cool, yet the room was hot?
His gaze fell on Amelia once, then on the wide-open window once.
He tilted his head slightly for a moment, then slowly approached the window.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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