“It is all right. Truly.”

“And this too…….”

“My bag is going to burst at this rate, Madam!”

Jane’s bag gaped open with no sign of closing.

Chloe had searched her room for anything valuable and indiscriminately stuffed everything into Jane’s luggage. The bag, once nearly empty because Jane had so few belongings, was now packed so tightly that its zipper would not close.

“I will end up in an interrogation room because of this! What am I supposed to say when they ask who gave me all these things?”

“Tell them I gave them to you. If they do not believe you, summon me. I shall come immediately, no matter when.”

“Honestly, Madam!”

Jane thought it was adorable how seriously Chloe had taken her joke. She burst into laughter, waving her hands around wildly.

In an attempt to put off packing for as long as possible, Jane came up with all sorts of excuses to take the valuables out of her bag. Chloe initially pouted, but eventually joined in.

No matter how hard they tried, they could not delay the scheduled departure of the carriage.

At last, the time came for them to say goodbye.

Chloe fastened a bracelet around Jane’s wrist.

It was the most expensive bracelet she owned, specially commissioned for her coming-of-age birthday.

“……Once you arrive, promise that you will send me a letter. I may not be able to read it immediately, but I promise I will read it someday.”

They embraced tightly by the door, hoping that they would feel this warmth again someday.

Jane’s family lived in a village on the outskirts of the territory, quite a distance away.

The journey by carriage took at least an hour and a half.

During the journey, Jane reflected on many things.

The reason she had come to the Arhen ducal household was simple.

The wages were high, and food and lodging were provided for the maids.

For Jane, who was trying to become independent, the conditions could not have been better. Yet, as though mocking her simple resolve, arduous work awaited her.

The head maid constantly reprimanded her, and initially, her fellow maids disliked her because of her inexperience.

She had travelled far to earn money, yet she repeatedly found herself wanting to give up.

She also missed her family terribly. Each day was so painful that she no longer wanted to open her eyes.

“If it becomes too difficult, you are allowed to rest.”

“……Pardon?”

“Would you like to have a snack with me?”

That day was no different from any other.

After being scolded by the head maid once again, Jane, feeling dejected, washed the bedding.

Concerned by the sight of the young girl working with tears in her eyes, the lady of the mansion approached her.

At first, Jane declined the basket of snacks that Chloe offered her.

But before she knew it, she was resting in the shade of a tree beside her.

Jane was frightened when the head maid came looking for her, looking angry.

Chloe’s presence might protect her for the moment, but Jane was certain that she would be humiliated at the servants’ evening meal once Chloe was no longer there.

“Beniatz, what is this child’s name?”

“Jane. Has she done something wrong?”

“I enjoyed speaking with her, so I have taken a liking to her. If possible, I would like to keep her as my companion. Could you transfer her into my service?”

However, Jane never received the telling-off that she had feared.

At Chloe’s request, Jane was transferred to work under her.

Once word spread that Jane had earned Chloe’s favor, the head maid rarely reprimanded her so severely.

Chloe later confessed that she had noticed Jane struggling alone several times. Seeing the young girl constantly falling behind the others had been on her mind.

Usually, someone as young and slight as Jane would have been given relatively easy chores. However, due to the hasty recruitment of servants, Jane had instead been burdened with strenuous labor.

Unable to ignore Jane’s situation, Chloe personally intervened and took her into her service.

There, Jane met new colleagues and began caring for Chloe with a quiet sense of duty.

‘None of you need to work here any longer. You may leave.’

That arrangement lasted until Jane was returned to her original duties.

After the Duke announced that he would reduce the household staff, every maid and lady’s maid who had served the Duchess was transferred elsewhere.

Then, several days later, “that incident” occurred within the ducal household.

‘……I should not have withdrawn so easily back then. I should have protected Madam from that moment onward.’

Filled with regret, Jane nervously picked at her fingernails.

Her throat felt strangely dry, so she drank some of the water that had been prepared inside the carriage.

‘Suddenly…….’

Before long, exhaustion overwhelmed her.

It should have been difficult to fall asleep inside the jolting carriage, yet her eyes kept closing.

‘I am so sleepy…….’

After struggling desperately against her drowsiness, Jane finally collapsed.

“Ah!”

Jane jolted awake with a scream.

It felt as though an enormous amount of time had passed.

She hurriedly checked the time, only to find something strange. It was barely any later than when she had departed.

‘Could an entire day have passed?’

Despite how exhausting the previous few days had been, it was impossible for her to have slept for a whole day.

It was impossible to sleep deeply inside such an uncomfortable carriage.

The carriage had indeed stopped.

The coachman was nowhere to be seen.

Jane drew back the curtain and looked around, only to find herself surrounded by darkness.

Wondering if she had made a mistake, she checked the time again. However, it was unquestionably an hour when the sun should still have been visible.

Despite her fear, Jane stepped outside.

“A forest?”

The route to the outlying village did not pass through any forest.

Realizing that something was wrong, she anxiously surveyed her surroundings.

“What in the world—Mmph!”

She had taken only a few steps when someone covered her mouth and dragged her away.

Unable to summon any strength, Jane was helplessly pulled along until she found herself standing at the edge of a cliff.

“Oh, poor Jane.”

The sweet voice sounded familiar.

Recognizing the sinister undertone concealed beneath its high pitch, Jane finally realized who the other person was.

It was Helena.

As though finding Jane’s struggles amusing, Helena deliberately took another step forward.

Jane’s feet now dangled helplessly in the air.

“If you had chosen me, none of this would have happened…….”

Helena whispered into Jane’s ear.

A chilling laugh followed.

“Why don’t we make a deal? You can continue working here and act as my spy on the princess. In return, I will guarantee you a position as a lady’s maid. You realize that someone like you could never obtain such a position, even if you died and came back to life, don’t you?”

Before Chloe awakened, Helena had summoned Jane and secretly made her an offer.

If Jane agreed to act as her spy, Helena promised to grant her the coveted position of lady’s maid—a role an ordinary commoner could never even apply for.

However, Jane rejected the offer without a moment’s hesitation.

“You refuse? Are you stupid? Why? What more could you possibly want?”

“I admire the radiant princess whom everyone looks up to. I have no intention of serving anyone but her.”

She had offered such a ridiculous excuse.

Helena would have graciously overlooked the refusal if Jane had given almost any other reason. But for a mere maid to compare Helena with Chloe was crossing the line.

“Your radiant princess is probably crying foolishly in her room. She may claim that she will wait for you, but she will never be able to save you.”

“Farewell.”

After uttering that ominous farewell, Helena released her.

The hand restraining Jane’s body disappeared, and she plummeted before she could even scream.

“Hmph. What a fool.”

Helena scoffed as she stared down the cliff where Jane had vanished.

As expected, fools never lived long.

***

On the night Jane left, Chloe was unable to sleep.

She lay listlessly on the bed, turning her head from side to side. Her hair was scattered across the sheets, and her arms and legs shifted weakly.

Her wandering gaze suddenly came to rest on one spot.

‘Come to think of it, quite a few letters arrived.’

Jane had told her that several letters had arrived while she was asleep, appearing silently in their usual place every evening.

Thinking they might be important, she had carefully gathered them and placed them in the drawer.

Chloe slowly rose from the bed and made her way to the desk.

When she opened the drawer, she found a stack of new letters inside, just as Jane had said.

Every one of them was from her friend.

Chloe had apparently been unconscious for three days, and there were exactly three letters in the drawer.

She picked up the one at the bottom of the stack.

The paper carried the faint, musty scent of wood.

[P.S. I am not angry, so please do not worry. How could I possibly be angry with my one and only friend? I was merely feeling a little spiteful. Truly, that was all.]

Kuhn’s handwriting was straighter than usual.

Although his tone was gentler than in their previous correspondence, it was slightly more curt than usual.

Chloe realized that he had only been teasing her.

As she read the postscript, the corners of her lips began to curl upwards.

Something stirred from the tips of her toes, but she deliberately ignored it.

She hurriedly opened the next letter.

This one carried an exceedingly faint herbal fragrance. It was more recent than the letter beneath it.

[Your lack of a reply must be because you are busy, correct? If my little joke angered you, I sincerely apologize here and now.]

[Even if you do not feel inclined, please show me mercy and send a reply. I would gratefully accept even a letter containing nothing but insults. If even that is too troublesome, simply place a single dot upon the page.]

[……Without you, Chloe, I have no friends.]

The handwriting in this letter was uneven.

Although the writer had clearly tried to write neatly, the result was messy.

Some strokes were straight, while others were crooked.

Several words were misspelled, and many sentences were grammatically incorrect.

The letter looked as though it had been written in a state of desperate haste.

Chloe recognized the emotion behind it at once: anxiety.

She had never imagined that the usually mischievous man could sound so meek.

Perhaps friendship truly was something extraordinary and precious to everyone.

Her nose was so congested that she could not even sniffle properly. Even the tip of her nose had begun to sting.

The final letter trembled between her fingertips.

She fumbled with the envelope repeatedly, finally managing to pull out the letter on her tenth attempt.

The moment she unfolded it, Kuhn’s familiar scent drifted towards her.

It had been nearly a month since she last saw him, yet his letters had kept the memory of his scent alive.

This was the shortest letter she had ever received from him.

In fewer than two lines, he laid his unguarded emotions bare.

[Chloe. Is something wrong?]