ORCA 4

Adrian, who had burst out from the back of the mansion, approached the garden quickly. She was furious since the morning, stomping her feet like an angry water buffalo. She was definitely a water buffalo, not a sheep. Niah, startled by the sharp voice calling his name, stopped sweeping. When he turned around in a hurry, he saw Adrian, whose expression was as sharp as her voice.

Her fuming face got closer with every blink of his eyes. She was advancing straight toward him, leading with her pointed horns. Terrified by the sight, Niah gripped the handle of his broom tightly. It was horrible to think that he had been scolded just yesterday, and now, today as well. He got scolded every day, but Adrian particularly disliked him. Every time they met, he always went through an ordeal.

“Just how long do you intend to keep sweeping the floor?”

Adrian, who had come right up to Niah, shouted loudly. Niah felt like he was going to cry from the sheer injustice of her sudden berating. It was heartbreaking to be scolded when he was just working hard at his job. Besides, it would take much longer to finish sweeping the garden path.

When Niah stood there without a word, fumbling, Adrian eventually snatched the broom away. She then threw it onto the ground and threw a tantrum. Niah, unable to do anything, just twisted his fingers together. If he tried to make excuses, she would only get angrier.

Pepe, who had been watching, sighed and came near the two of them. Pepe was the gardener who managed the garden servants and was effectively Niah’s superior. However, to Niah, who took care of all the odd jobs in the mansion, his superior was a useless presence. He had no intention of protecting Niah in the first place and didn’t really care. Whatever happened, as long as the assigned work was done properly, that was all that mattered.

Furthermore, it was the same with Pepe; he would flare up in anger if Niah forgot his tasks. Sometimes, he was even worse than Adrian. Whenever that happened, Niah would shed tears and hiccup. Since he was usually an indifferent person, it felt even scarier.

“Look, Adrian. How can you only think of yourself? You should think of us, too.”

“We are short-handed, too! I have to make him do the dishwashing at least. What do you expect me to do?”

“If you take him, who is going to sweep the floor?”

“I’ll send him back as soon as the morning prep is done. That’ll work, right?”

Unlike Pepe, who spoke calmly, Adrian’s voice cracked sharply again. Niah, who was suddenly caught in the middle of the two, stood quietly and shriveled his shoulders. He felt sorrowful at his position, forced to be swayed by the words of others regardless of his own will. Of course, he didn’t say it out loud. He just thought it to himself for a moment. It was something that always happened. Pepe sighed.

“Fine. Do as you wish. But send him back when it’s time.”

“I got it.”

“We have a lot of work, too.”

“I said I got it, Pepe. I’ll send him back myself, so don’t worry.”

He waved his arms, gesturing for him to take him away quickly. Adrian put her hands on her hips with a triumphant look. Then, she glared at Niah. It meant for him to move quickly.

Niah, who picked up the broom rolling on the ground, hurriedly ran to the garden tool shed. By the time he finished putting the broom away and returned, Adrian was twisting her lips tightly, as if she were angry again. She badgered him, asking why he was so slow even though he had been gone for just a moment.

“What are you doing? Come here quickly! Honestly, you’re so sluggish!”

Niah followed Adrian, who had turned away sharply first. Niah quietly promised himself that he would do his dishwashing hard. Judging by Adrian’s terrible mood, there was a chance he wouldn’t even be able to eat breakfast if he slipped up. Lunch or dinner might also be at risk. At times like this, the only answer was to just work hard at what he was told to do. The scolding she had shouted still remained in his ears, rebuking him.

The moment he let out a secret sigh, a teacup flew from somewhere and shattered into pieces against the floor with a loud crash. All the servants in the area looked toward where the commotion had occurred. Those who were curious rushed over to check.

“Aack!”

Adrian, who was walking in front, stepped back a few paces and screamed. It was because the teacup had landed exactly in front of her shoes. Niah, startled as well, covered his mouth tightly and stared at the teacup that had shattered into fragments.

Although its form was gone, it had been a luxurious design with a gold pattern on a white base. Even at a glance, it wasn’t the kind the servants used. Everyone just watched, bewildered. Adrian, who was the most shocked, clutched her chest and gasped for air. She had almost been seriously injured.

“Young Master?”

Someone whispered while looking toward the upper floors of the mansion. At that, the servants, who had only been interested in the broken teacup, all turned their heads upward. Niah, who had been covering his mouth, also carefully rolled up his eyelids. His eyes widened, and his already large eyes became even larger.

The young master was at the window on the fourth floor of the mansion. The face he had seen briefly yesterday didn’t actually come to mind, but that person was definitely the young master. The only people who could be sitting leisurely by the window in the mansion at this hour were the master and mistress. Although in his remaining memories they had never done so once, he had, at the very least, not forgotten the faces of the master and mistress whom he saw every day, even if from afar.

So, that person was definitely the young master who returned yesterday. There was no way a strange man with elegant lines wearing a well-pressed white shirt wasn’t the young master. His blue and pitch-black hair scattered in strands in the wind. His soft skin shone under the sunlight. Unlike his beautiful appearance, the young master was looking down at them with an expression that was somehow a bit scary.

Niah, who had been dazed while admiring the scene where Orca was the protagonist, quickly lowered his gaze. It might have been his imagination, but he felt as if they had made eye contact for a moment. Other servants who recognized Orca also hurriedly bowed their heads. Only Adrian, who seemed unable to calm down yet, looked up and tried to catch her breath. She hadn’t even thought about greeting him.

“…”

She, who had always raised her voice with great vigor, felt her tongue dry up from fear. It felt like her lungs were shriveling. It was a disaster. He regretted his own stupidity for acting as usual while clearly knowing the young master had returned. It must have been because he had grown accustomed to the mansion where only the master and mistress had been for three years, but such an excuse was completely useless now.

It had been quite a long time since Adrian was hired by the Wair family; she was a member of the mansion’s servants even when Orca first left for the border guard. So, there was absolutely no way she didn’t know that the young master she served was sensitive to noise. Yet, to make a mistake like this, Adrian felt that she herself was too stupid.

She stepped one more pace back from the teacup fragments at her feet. She couldn’t tell if he had failed to hit her by mistake or if he had deliberately missed. Knowing the young master’s hunting skills, the latter was naturally the case, but since a teacup wasn’t a crossbow or a hunting rifle, there was a possibility he had aimed wrong.

Orca, who was looking down while tapping the window frame with his fingertips, moved his arms slowly. Adrian was the only one staring at him. Adrian grabbed the apron tied around her waist tightly. Her body stiffened, and she couldn’t bow her head. Sweat welled up in her palms. Her apron was shredded with wrinkles.

Watching her, Orca brought his fingers, which were loosely curled, to his lips. He didn’t feel a shred of pity for the pathetic, terrified state of the servant. He just found it ridiculous, recalling how she had been screeching until just a moment ago.

It would be nice if I cut off your tongue.

He raised his index finger slightly and pressed it gently against his lips. The work of moving his body just to cut off a servant’s tongue was quite laborious. It was nothing more than a waste of time. Above all, if the mansion became chaotic, it was obvious that he would just be annoyed for no reason. Therefore, choosing the easiest and most comfortable method he could do right now was reasonable in many ways.

Adrian, without realizing it, took a deep breath and hunched her neck. When she finally bowed her head, following the other servants, the sharp teacup fragments gleamed. She squeezed her eyes shut.

This commotion quickly became a rumor and spread throughout the entire mansion. From the garden to the kitchen, the laundry room, the pantry, the distillery, the hall in the basement quarters, and even to the mountains where the gamekeeper lived, it was passed on in an instant. It would not be a lie to say that everyone except the master and mistress knew.