Since I Don’t Know Anything About It, Shall We Break Up, Your Majesty?

* * *

Cindy thought it was a rare peaceful day as she put down the ledger she had been organizing and stretched.

“Ahhh! All done!”

Organizing the ledger always gave her a headache, but it was equally satisfying.

The thrill when the numbers add up perfectly!

She sat in the chair, dangling her feet slightly off the floor, when she spotted the twins coming in with some items through the window.

She quickly got up and leaned out the window, shouting,

“Arwin, Darwin! How’s the sewer repair I asked about earlier?”

“Oh, it’s all done! Look, water should come out now!”

“Ah, right. If you say it’ll come out, it will. Good job! Have you had lunch?”

“No, not yet. We’re hungry, Cindy. Won’t you feed us while making us work?”

“That’s right! If we lose weight like this, we won’t be able to use our strength. What if we lose to Cindy in arm wrestling? We already feel like we might lose to Cindy these days.”

“Look at that expression. I’ve already lost in spirit, Darwin.”

“Wow, I admit it! I feel like I’ve lost too. There’s no way we can win, right?”

……No, these guys are really.

“Want to starve? Huh?”

“For a person to threaten with food, there must be a problem with their personality……”

“Sob sob, this mean and dirty tyrant!”

“Who are you calling dirty! Shut up and get out to the kitchen!”

When Cindy, unable to bear it anymore, shouted loudly, the twins burst into laughter and answered while kneeling on one knee as if to a king.

“Yes, Your Majesty the Tyrant!”

“We shall obey, Your Majesty the Tyrant!”

Cindy took off the slipper she was wearing and threw it straight at the twins.

“Ouch~!”

“Don’t exaggerate when you weren’t even hit!”

“I was hit, I was hit~! In my heart! Right, Darwin? Can you see the wound in my heart?”

“I can see it very clearly! Wow, look at the blood gushing out here!”

“Aaargh! So annoying! Get out!”

“Hahahahaha! Don’t get too angry, Cindy! They say you’ll get wrinkles. We can’t have wrinkles on that pretty forehead, can we?”

“You guys really know how to push buttons and then soothe, don’t you?”

Those sly little troublemakers.

Cindy was shaking her head and about to return to her seat when,

“Cindy!”

Thinking they were calling her name to play another prank, she turned around, and something flew into her arms.

“We bought it as a souvenir from our rare visit to Rowell Street.”

“We bought it roughly in the size we know, so tell us if it doesn’t fit.”

Cindy’s eyes widened as she checked the item she had received unexpectedly.

“W-What is this?”

“Even if you’re the responsible head maid, don’t you know your shoes for going out are all worn out?”

“Don’t fall and scrape your knees wearing shoes with broken laces.”

Cindy’s face turned red with embarrassment at the unexpected gift.

Those troublemakers would sometimes lift and drop people like this.

“Thank you? Oh, yeah, yeah.”

“Our Cindy is expressing her inner voice with her face, isn’t she?”

Confirming her red face, the twins giggled and winked at Cindy.

Those, those foxy guys….. How can they be so cunning?

Cindy, hugging the gifted shoes tightly, hurriedly called out to the twins walking towards the dining room,

“There’s roast chicken in the kitchen cupboard!”

……Eat well, you pretty and annoying twins.

* * *

“Did you see Cindy’s face? How it turned bright red?”

“Yeah, I saw. She’s so cute, as always.”

Arwin and Darwin whispered with satisfied looks on their faces as they walked to the dining room.

They just gave one gift, and she’s so happy.

In reality, she’s the one who sacrifices herself day and night, taking on all sorts of tough jobs to keep this mansion running, yet she blushes at a single gift.

“She’s so capable in everything else, but so innocent in these aspects.”

“I know, right? I hope she doesn’t get taken advantage of by some bad guy.”

Cindy was a good person, and a good woman.

Perhaps because she had been so busy serving the master that she hadn’t had time to look elsewhere, she said she had never been in a relationship.

They remembered being surprised when they heard that she hadn’t even been on a casual date, let alone a serious relationship.

No, how could that be possible?

Even Jeffrey, with his balding head, dates more enthusiastically than his daughter?

“Anyway, we can’t help it. Let’s make sure to check if there are any good men for her. If we think someone’s trash, we’ll take care of them right away. Heh, is this what it feels like to be a big brother?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I wonder when Cindy will understand our feelings? If she knew even a little, she might work us less.”

“For now, we’ll endure since she’s giving us chicken today.”

“Agreed.”

Just as the twins were entering the dining room with excited steps…

Someone who seemed not to be looking ahead bumped hard into Arwin, who was walking in front.

“Aaack!”

Thump!

Arwin, who had fallen backwards with a yelp, quickly got up and looked at the person who had bumped into him.

“Jeffrey!”

“Jeffrey? Are you okay, Jeffrey?”

Darwin asked as he helped Jeffrey up, who had landed on his bottom unlike Arwin who had quickly risen.

“Jeffrey, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Your face is so pale!”

“Huh, is it because you bumped into me? Did you hit something?”

“Ah, no! I’m fine. I’m sorry, I was distracted.”

“Jeffrey? Why do you look like that? Are you sick?”

Jeffrey’s flustered appearance was concerning.

Whether he was hot or flustered, beads of sweat were forming from the top of his shiny head down to his forehead.

Jeffrey quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said restlessly while looking behind the twins,

“No, it’s nothing. More importantly, have you seen Laurel by any chance?”

“Laurel? Well… Come to think of it, we haven’t seen her all day today, right?”

“Yeah, and she’s not in the dining room? Didn’t she take a day off yesterday too? Right?”

Jeffrey’s eyes darted anxiously at the twins’ words.

“I see. Thanks, kids. If you happen to see Laurel, could you please let me know? Okay?”

He then pushed away the twins who were supporting him and rushed outside hurriedly.

“What’s up with him?”

“……Did they have a fight?”

They didn’t particularly want to know about other people’s love lives, especially those of adults older than them.

The twins shrugged and entered the dining room.

As they were taking out the roast chicken Cindy had mentioned, both of them stopped simultaneously and looked at each other.

“But… isn’t Laurel that…?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Hey, do you think something might have happened?”

“……Ah, this is bad.”

Arwin and Darwin sighed deeply, quickly bit into a chicken leg each, and ran outside.

Times were tough these days.

* * *

Lumiere’s studio was slightly dark even during the day.

It was designed so that sunlight couldn’t enter directly.

Sunlight easily damaged paints and paintings.

Especially during the drying process, temperature, humidity, and even light intensity had to be carefully controlled, so Lumiere put particular thought into designing the studio.

Scratch, scratch.

Lumiere stared blankly at a corner of the painting she was working on while mixing newly prepared paint.

‘……What was that dream about?’

The afterimage of the dream that woke her at dawn wouldn’t leave her mind.

It wasn’t any of the memories she had lost.

Because it wasn’t the place she lived, nor the time she knew.

A dream where a ‘me’ who wasn’t me appeared.

She had dreams like that occasionally.

In dreams, she had become a queen of a foreign country, a talking dog, or a strong man.

Some days, she would exist only as a viewpoint in the void, watching the exciting events unfolding in the dream.

But in the end, they were all forgotten.

Isn’t that how dreams usually are?

No matter how intense the dream, after an hour or two, it fades and eventually most of it can’t be remembered.

What remains are just the impressions of the dream and a few object-like remnants.

But the dream from last dawn kept coming back without a single piece missing.

Swish, swish– swish–

Lumiere unconsciously moved her hand, recalling what she had seen in the dream.

The pure white curtains with lace embroidery, the Persian blue wallpaper decorated with white flowers, the large oak bed with four posts standing tall.

And slightly off from the small wardrobe next to the fireplace.

It was hard to see mixed in with the wallpaper pattern, but there was a small secret door just big enough for a child to barely fit through.

— Shh. This is my secret space. I’m telling you specially because the prince is a guest today.

A small girl speaking to someone while giggling.

And next to her, crouching together……

— Don’t call me prince, my name is……

— I know! I know, okay? Laedro Karlei Stings Winger Swimpton! I can’t possibly call out this incredibly long name!

A boy with black, fine hair and mysterious golden eyes.

The boy who chuckled and leaned back onto a soft triangular cushion said,

— People just call me Laedro Stings.

— Really? Hmm, then I’ll call you differently from others.

The boy opened one eye he had closed, looking at the girl as if asking what she was going to call him.