How did it end up like this?

The Duke’s daughter, Lydia Von Ernst was indignantly stuffing her cheeks with sweets in the afternoon. Usually she would eat little by little because of manners, but she didn’t seem to mind that just for today.

She couldn’t rein in her anger towards the rude person who she’d met this morning. In the end, she wasn’t able to expel her maid. Her maid is serving us tea right now even while afraid. She changes the tea leaves to match Lydia despite her moodiness and serves it at exactly the right temperature. When it comes to tea she’s the best among all the maids.

Right now, the only one having tea on a terrace overlooking the garden at early afternoon is Lydia.

Her Father the Duke was busy with work, and her Mother was spent having just given birth to her little sister.

Lydia herself had many tutors in the household to teach her things like household as she passed the days. But her schedule had leeway so she had time for herself. The maid didn’t.

She was free this afternoon. Usually she would prepare for her lesson the following day or read something, but it wouldn’t sit well with her to not complain once again to the rude person.

Lydia hadn’t been talked back to by any employee until now so she was hard-pressed from what was said this morning, but she was keen about talking me down this time.

Then she noticed.

Who was that rude person?

It was certain that he was an employee since he greeted her Father, but if she didn’t know what kind of work he did then she wouldn’t be able to find him within the huge mansion.

“Hey, just who the heck was that rude person this morning?”

When she looked at her maid and asked, the maid was stunned for a bit and answered.

“That boy…? He was with Baumgartner-san, so could he perhaps be the gardening apprentice?”

She barely remembered that there was someone next to him from the maid’s words. If she recalled correctly, it was a man bigger than her Father. So he was Baumgartner.

Since they’re gardeners does that mean they were in the garden even now?

She turned her gaze from the terrace to the huge garden. There was indeed a large man cutting shrubs who seemed to be Baumgartner. When she looked around with her eyes, she saw a small squatting silhouette.

Lydia placed her fork aside, finished her tea and stood up.

“I will go for a little walk.”

As if she understood the implication to not come with, she heard her say take care behind her. Since Lydia was still small she couldn’t leave the mansion without her parents. It was common knowledge that the mansion’s garden was included in the scope of a 『walk.』

She arrived at the garden walking slightly hurried and spotted the boy she had been looking for. Instead of noticing her, he was crouching beside some flower and doing something. She went to his side little by little. Come to think of it, she couldn’t see the man named Baumgartner. Maybe he was doing something else.

“Hey you!”

“…What’s the matter, for you to be so out of breath?”

The boy who reacted to her voice and raised his head looked at Lydia who was gasping for breath in curiosity.

The reason she hadn’t called him right after seeing him was because she was still catching her breath. The young lady Lydia couldn’t have used an unpaved route like a fence. There was quite some distance between the terrace and his location. Her walks were usually within a scope that would allow her to come back to the mansion right away, so it was her first time walking this far. She was also in a hurry. That’s why she wasn’t able to raise her voice for a bit after seeing the boy.

“Why are you so far!?”

“Tell that to your huge garden.”

He replied to her complaint and returned his gaze from Lydia to his work. It’s natural for a gardening apprentice to be in the garden. It’s just that the 『garden’s』 scope was very big.

“So. Why did you come here?”

Even while lowering his eyes to his hands it seemed that he wanted to hear what she had to say. He sent only his voice towards her.

“I, I’ve proceeded here in order to give you a chance to apologize.”

“My dad told me to do that so thanks, but for a young lady to go out of her way to come here… is it your free time?”

“There just happened to be no practice on this afternoon.”

Being treated as a loafer, she replied immediately without holding back.

“As I thought, nobles are pickled in their studies from such a young age huh. It must be tough.”

Lydia was perplexed to hear such an impression for the first time even though it’s just a matter of course for nobles. She might have been doing her best since she unconsciously felt that it was tough.

“That’s correct! Therefore…”

“Yeah, sorry. I’m not good at honorific speech. Please excuse me.”

When she asked for an apology in order to hide her confusion, he simply apologized. It stopped her words.

But it’s still rude to apologize with his back turned and the tips of his honey-colored hair showing. So he’s not really apologizing.

“At least look at me when you apologize! And there’s something you have to apologize for even more isn’t there!?”

“Eh, I can’t. I won’t be able to finish the quota my dad told me to.”

He said that he had to finish it before the sun set. Whatever he’s been doing with his hands since a while ago was tilted slightly to his side, and he was repeating his actions.

“…Now that you say, what have you been doing since some time ago?”

“I’m removing the weeds. Then I need to prune the insect repellent herbs.”

Looking closely, there were two baskets beside him that seemed to follow some pattern. They carried the weeds that had been removed from different roots.

“Why must you go so far as to remove the herbs?”

He said that they were insect repellents, but Lydia didn’t understand why they were lessened.

“Herbs are also weeds so they spread quickly.”

Lydia hadn’t known that herbs were also weeds. She was surprised by that unexpected fact and ended up silent.

While she was silent, the boy that was squatting with his back turned to her was pulling out weeds and putting them into their respective baskets. Lydia saw that there were leaves that looked like mint. The herb basket probably had more mints. Though not as much as the weed basket, there was a lot.

“…There are so many herbs. What do you do with them?”

Lydia had never seen herbs except a pinch for decoration, or enough tea leaves for tea. This quantity didn’t seem like it was all going to be used for those things.

“Hn-…, for now I’ll ask if the kitchen needs them, and I’ll give the rest to my mom. She’ll probably burn some for fragrance tonight and dry the rest to use for tea or something?”

Tonight’s dinner would depend on the work he was doing? For Lydia, food was something that would change depending on her desire. She had no concept of processing tea leaves.

The boy before her was too different from herself, he surprised her many times.

“…Anyway, apologize properly!”

The topic changed because she accidentally got curious, but she still wasn’t satisfied with what she wanted him to revoke.

“You mean about me calling your personality ugly?”

“That’s right!!”

Hearing her demand for an apology, he thought for a bit without stopping his hands.

“Hm-, this is just hypothetical, but what if the king suddenly went to war with a neighboring country and ordered your Father to fight on the battlefield? What would you think?”

It was a sudden question, but with her own family in it Lydia answered immediately.

“Such an order is oppressive! Such a king would be a fool! How much would the citizens suffer if a war were to break out… most of all, there’s no way I would allow my Father to go to a battle front of all places!!”

“That’s how it is.”

“Huh?”

“What you said to that maid was about that cruel. Employment for an ordinary person is a matter of life and death. Even if she had noble origins, if her face paled that much then she must’ve had some sort of circumstances.”

Lydia didn’t know anything like how the maid she had tried to fire had been chasing after her. At that time, both when she turned heel and returned to her room, she was single-minded in leaving that place. That’s why she didn’t notice. But the fact that he knew what color her face was meant that it was true.

At that instant, was she considering the maid’s circumstances? He might have just been a third person, but it’s true that at that time, he held a wider field of view than Lydia did.

Having her own childishness thrust before her, Lydia’s cheeks were dyed in shame. In reality it was fitting for her age, but as someone raised as a noblewoman and as a member of the Duke’s household, Lydia could not tolerate it.

Even if she turned around and knew that she wasn’t being watched, Lydia hung her head because she didn’t want to be seen.

“Do you know that maid’s name?”

“No…”

There wasn’t any need to call the maid by her name. Of course she didn’t know it. Only her face.

“Then, do you know her good points?”

“…When it comes to tea, she is the best among all the maids I know.”

It might just be her own preference. But for her it felt like the most delicious.

“If she’s fired, you won’t be able to drink that tea anymore. Doesn’t that trouble you?”

“…It, troubles me.”

Naturally the tea she prepared would no longer be there. When she thought as much, she felt lonely.

Having tried to do something that would have troubled her, Lydia felt regret.

“Mm. You’re properly looking at your subordinates aren’t you. Despite being small, you’re great.”

“Eh?”

She heard the voice closer than she thought she would. She was praised for something she didn’t expect from someone she didn’t expect to hear it from. Lydia, being double shocked, raised her face on reflex.

When she did, she met bronze eyes. He was smiling, never having seen such an expression on nobility before.

“And besides. You didn’t really want to have her fired. You were just feeling lonely so you wanted attention from your dad anyhow, didn’t you?”

“Hey!?”

Look for a better excuse next time, he said as he suddenly patted her head with his hands in his working gloves.

More than that, he hit a bullseye on something she wasn’t aware of herself. The temperature of her face rapidly rose.

No, she hadn’t noticed.

But having it said to her, she noticed that it couldn’t be anything but that.

Her Father had work. Her Mother was busy with her little sister. She herself had practice. Even the times they would all eat together became few and far in between. Her time alone increased. She was only five years old so of course she would feel lonely. But Lydia unconsciously told herself it’s 『because she’s nobility』 and pretended to not be bothered.

The incident this morning was also because she wanted a reason to see her Father. I want you to spend time with me. She thought that she couldn’t meet him only with a reason like that.

There’s no helping her embarassment from her real emotions being noticed by the other party before she herself did. Then there was the question of how he knew. Staring at his copper pupils, she ended up hardening her expression.

“You’re really red.”

“Wh, Whose fault is that!?”

After being replied to in a tone of admiration, she brushed away the hand that was patting her and replied.

“I was just talking normally though.”

“That’s a strange normal! I’m nobility, you’re a commoner you know!?”

“You’ve been calling me 『you.』 You can use my name, I’m Isaac. You’re Dia right?”

“That’s a nickname only for nobility!! I have a splendid name given to me by my Father, Lydia!”

“Lydi…, it’s hard to say…, a nickname would be easier.”

“You can’t.”

“Eh-. Then Ojou.”
(TN: This is probably translated in the manga as milady. Ojou-sama means young lady. What do you guys want?)

“At least say the -sama properly!”

“Ojou. It’s like a teacher.”

“Yo… It’s unthinkable that Isaac is much older than me…”

She somehow got tired.

When she’s with him, her emotions end up stirring more. Perhaps it’s because she didn’t quite act like nobility on their first meeting. When they talk it feels like he treats her like a normal girl, and she ends up forgetting to be polite. So she takes care not to deal with him in a way unbecoming of a noblewoman dealing with a commoner, but being ladylike with him feels idiotic.

“I think Ojou can stand to act more childish.”

What is he saying. Despite her childishness being shown to him in ample measure.

“For the Duke and your family, you could honestly say that you want them to pay attention to you.”

“I can’t say that!”

She unthinkingly raised her voice to his unthinkable proposal.

If I do that, they’ll be troubled and hate me.

For Lydia the passion that she had shown up to now could only be shown under the pretense of nobility.

“Speaking selfishly without a reason is…”

Scary. That’s how she denied it.

“Why? Isn’t wanting to be with your family a good enough reason?”

“Eh…”

Could that be a reason?

Is that something I can say?

Having her feelings affirmed so easily, Lydia widened her eyes.

“The Duke would probably be happier for it.”

I don’t know about other families but it’s probably fine, he guaranteed baselessly.

“Why…”

Can you guarantee that?

After she asked, he immediately replied that it was obvious if she looked at herself.

“After all, Ojou, if you notice, you’ve been taking care not to do bad things to other people. Isn’t it because you were raised in a good family?”

She had only stopped calling her in a way he said was bad.

Perhaps he could already be reflecting on the matter this morning. But he still hasn’t apologized for it.

“Besides, it’s better than insulting others as an excuse right?”

“…I won’t do it again!”

When she replied, he was laughing as if to say he knew. It’s somehow frustrating since it’s as if she’s been seen through.

Her glares had no effect. His copper eyes simply stared back at her.

If he’ll see through her anyway, maybe it’s okay to whine one more time.

“I wonder if it’s too late to apologize to that maid…”

She fearfully said in a small murmur. Yet he picked it up easily.

“If you know the other person’s name, it’s better than not apologizing isn’t it?”

That’s right. She didn’t really even know her name even though she tried to have her fired.

She should distinguish her as a proper human being. Then, if she wishes it, they could discuss her removal from attending to her.

“I’ll make Isaac withdraw his 『ugly personality』 comment right away.”

It’s not that time yet. At earliest, it would come after she finishes apologizing to the maid. So that her determination to apologize wouldn’t waver, she declared war on him.

“Ah, that’s it.”

So he said, suddenly making noises like ahh and uuu. What was that?

“…I, have a bad mouth.”

She knew that. Even now he’s not using honorific speech at all with someone higher than him.

“I didn’t say it well… if I were to say it in a good way, Ojou is especially cute so she would be even cuter if she smiled more.”

Was it because he wasn’t used to speaking? He strained his head and furrowed his eyebrows slightly to spin those words in a positive presentation.

But they were honest words without a hint of flattery.

She felt as if she was hallucinating for the first time because of compliments, which she had grown used to hearing.

“Hey…”

All her blood rushed to her head.

How many times will it take for him to have his fill of making her redden?

“Are you okay, Ojou?”

“I’m okay…”

He extended her hand in worry, and she brushed it away. It touched a spot he had been patting since a while ago. When it did, she felt a sensation that wasn’t just from her hair.

Curious, she took that hand in front of her eyes. Light brown grains were on his fingertips. Dirt.

Why was dirt on my, a young woman’s hair?

“Ah. Sorry. I didn’t take my gloves off.”

The boy flapped the working gloves that were full of dirt from weed extraction and apologized with an oh man.

He properly apologized, but it was also true that he was careless. So the emotions welling up in Lydia weren’t satisfied with just that.

As if to spit out her boiling and simmering emotions, Lydia shouted.

“Isaac!!”

Within the the huge garden of the Duke’s household, a young lady’s wrath fell on a gardening apprentice boy without anyone knowing.

What a hectic day.

Just because of one boy.

But the day hasn’t ended yet.

When she comes back, she would first ask for that maid’s name and apologize.

Cleaning her hair comes after.

TN: I’m trying extra hard to catch up with Toasty’s translations. Please don’t expect me to keep this pace up forever.