Glen, a native coachman of the coastal city Almar, was casting furtive glances at the robed man.

Though all he could see was a sharp jawline, Glen easily noticed that he was quite irritated. And he knew why he was irritated.

He had watched how many times the man had been refused rides before coming to him. In the process, he naturally figured out his destination.

‘If it’s the Ghost Mansion, everyone would refuse even with extra pay… No wonder he’s annoyed.’

“…Are you certain you’re going to that mansion?”

At this question asked like a formality, the man spoke as if grinding his words.

“I suppose these horses can’t go there either?”

He seemed quite angry indeed.

Looking at him again, the obviously foreign man was wearing rather luxurious traveling clothes. Adding his seemingly imperious way of speaking….

‘A nobleman?’

Though it was a bit strange for a nobleman to be alone without a personal coachman or guards. Once he noticed this about him, the flowing grace was certainly not that of a commoner. Even the jawline he glimpsed again had something noble about it….

A slight tension crossed Glen’s simple face. After clearing his throat with a quick ‘ahem,’ Glen answered in an instantly more polite tone.

“My horses can go anywhere.”

However, he still couldn’t quite suppress his characteristic meddlesomeness.

“…But, are you perhaps the new owner of that mansion?”

The man who was silently about to board the carriage paused and turned to look at Glen’s question. Though his expression was still hidden thanks to the robe… a strong sense of displeasure could be felt.

“…What if I am?”

At this counter-question, Glen scratched his head and answered.

“Ah, well… I happened to give rides to two people employed there. Haha……”

“……”

“A tiny Miss and a handsome young man……”

Like you just now, they couldn’t get other carriages because of their destination. Though it’s not a bad walk, they seemed unfamiliar with the area so I couldn’t just ignore them.

Heavy silence fell at his words that were added with a smile. Though he thought they would be grateful since he had helped their employees, Glen awkwardly rolled his eyes at the atmosphere that had grown rather cold instead.

The man silently handed Glen the fare in advance. And before he could wave off the visibly hefty purse, the man boarded the carriage and closed the door.

Glen scratched his head again, feeling as if he’d been rudely shut out of his own carriage.

‘Just as expected, an ill-tempered owner.’

He had known since sending that tiny Miss alone.

Soon the carriage started moving with the sound of reins being whipped.

As the speed increased and scenery changed rapidly past the window, the cold face of the man who had now removed his robe was reflected there. His blue eyes clearly showed displeasure.

‘Two people employed there….’

And a Miss and young man at that. Not a particularly pleasing combination. Because he was certain the ‘Miss’ was his runaway maid, May.

Ghost Mansion or whatever, it was already annoying enough living in a place with ridiculous superstitions floating around, but now ‘servants’ too….

There might be others the coachman didn’t know about, but having even one man among them was unbearably unpleasant.

It was natural that finding May took time since he had secretly left the family during his house arrest. He couldn’t use manpower freely like usual.

So it wasn’t that he hadn’t thought she might have worthless things clinging to her in the meantime. The insolent maid had always attracted all sorts of idiots with her stupid face, so perhaps it was expected.

Since it was somewhere his gaze couldn’t reach, who knew what kind of blind fool might have appeared before her.

Aiden deeply furrowed his brow while recalling May’s face from their last meeting before he left for his journey.

“Ah, yes… it was a man.”

Over that, the young face that had been spreading baseless rumors while trembling in fear overlapped.

“Hey, you shouldn’t sleep here. If you get caught loitering, the third young master who owns this garden might skin you alive……”

* * *

“They say he peels it off as thinly as possible at first, so no blood comes out……”

‘She thinks human skin is like a snake’s shed skin or something.’

Aiden, who had been lying on the garden bench, wrinkled his eyes at the young maid suddenly crouching before him. It was already ridiculous that her chattering voice had woken him from his nap….

“Then if blood comes out he gets angry and cuts off the neck…. Though he’s still young, he, he seems scary.”

Spreading such baseless rumors. And to the person himself at that.

Aiden, the third young master and protagonist of those rumors, was thinking of cutting out the tongue of this stupid maid who didn’t even recognize his face. Or perhaps skin her thinly as the rumors said.

Though he had no hobby of skinning people, he originally had no qualms about making bad rumors about himself real. Because rather than denying them one by one, it was better to make the rumors true.

The guard knight he had shaken off would be nearby. He should call him and order him to bring his sword. And he should see that girl’s blood himself. His blue eyes were filled with irritation as he made these quite terrifying resolves. Because even then, the chattering voice continued obliviously.

“Oh right, I was assigned here the day before yesterday…. I was an apprentice until then. I’m in charge of laundry, and my name is May Louise. Which department are you from? Actually, I’m lost… could you tell me the way?”

‘…Is she lacking?’

At this point it seemed no different from asking to be killed. Despite being scared of the baseless rumors, she didn’t know that the ‘ill-tempered third young master’ had silver hair and blue eyes. She must have been told information about the ducal household members as top priority during her apprenticeship. Moreover, his clothes were too luxurious to ask about his department.

Could she have mistaken it for servant’s attire because of the white shirt and black pants? Or perhaps….

‘…Was she blind?’

Looking at her brightly shining black eyes, that didn’t seem to be the case. Anyway, he didn’t want to waste any more of his time on this country mouse of a commoner girl.

Aiden thought he should make an example of this maid who dared not recognize her master to suppress the circulating rumors. He didn’t care if the rumors became true because of it. His only goal was to shut the noisy mouths, at least superficially. Originally, scared people had the heaviest lips.

“……”

Perhaps if the girl hadn’t dripped mulberry juice into his mouth… he would have easily put that thought into action. His brow naturally wrinkled at the sudden tart-sweet taste wetting his lips. Seeing him, the maid smiled obliviously again.

“Surprised? It’s mulberry juice. Seeing how you couldn’t get up, I thought you were drunk…. Right?”

I thought I smelled alcohol from the start. You look younger than me, you shouldn’t be doing this already…. They say nothing’s harder to cure than alcohol addiction.

He was dumbfounded again at her muttering. Was she really out of her mind? Though he thought so, Aiden rarely failed to react. He usually lost his will when encountering absurd situations beyond common sense.

His irritation and anger subsided at the ridiculous behavior he couldn’t have imagined. Though Aiden didn’t erase his resolve to punish the maid, he stared at her with a mind to see how far she would go.

“Was finding mulberry berries this morning meant to lead me to you?”

Her words with that broadly smiling face were quite a sight. If not for that naive expression, he might have mistaken it for cheap flirtation. Aiden harshly pushed away the maid’s hand as she tried to squeeze more juice into his mouth, saying mulberries were good for hangovers. Yet her smiling face showed no change. Her round black eyes stared at him.

“It’s hard, right? So drink alcohol after you’re a bit older…. And don’t drink too much even then. You might get into accidents.”

It was a worthless statement. Though the aperitif at lunch had certainly been excessive, prohibiting wine while mentioning age was talk that only applied to commoners.

“Or maybe… did I misunderstand?”

But suddenly, sympathy began to frost over in those stupid eyes. Soon, as if she had thoroughly misunderstood something, the maid rattled on about her own story as if empathizing.

“Actually, I once mistook vin chaud for high-proof wine too…. I had such a hard time then……”

‘…Idiot.’