Carving Out a New Place

Nina stared at the red circle she'd drawn on the calendar and giggled to herself.

It was the day she'd promised to help with Joel's research.

I've never drawn a red circle for a reason like this before.

Until now, she had only ever marked important errands for the Countess on the calendar. Marking a date just to remember a meeting with someone was a first.

I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'm really looking forward to it. I hope Joel recovers soon.

Nina sighed as she recalled the pitiful sight of Joel, blood dripping steadily from his nose.

No matter how many times she thought about it, she felt so guilty she didn't know what to do with herself.

I'll have to do my very best to help with Joel's research.

Setting the calendar down, Nina found herself surveying the room with careful eyes.

Her rosy gaze traveled past the wardrobe and under the bed, then on to the desk drawer and her bag. The atmosphere of the room had shifted ever so slightly. No—it wasn't just the atmosphere.

Plenty of people had come and gone from this room yesterday, so it was only natural.

This place becoming my room must still feel strange to the family, too. I am the rolling stone that came out of nowhere, after all.

The family who had always lived in this house were all kind to Nina and treated her well. And yet…

Maybe it's because I can't hide that I used to be an errand girl and a maid?

Nina flung the wardrobe doors wide open.

When she pulled back the black cloth draped behind her meager handful of clothes, a hidden compartment of the wardrobe revealed itself.

Neatly arranged along the wardrobe wall, stacked in tidy rows, were all of a maid's essential tools.

And yet they went so far as to open even this.

With a glum expression, Nina plucked a crumbled dried leaf from the edge of the cloth.

Thanks to leaves that crumble the moment the fabric is rumpled, she could tell someone had secretly opened it.

…I suppose Mother might be displeased to find maid's supplies kept in her old room. I shouldn't let something like this hurt my feelings.

Her heart burned with the desire to grow close to her family as quickly as possible, but it wasn't something that would happen just because Nina wanted it to.

Is it because we grew up in such different worlds? Even as family, they seem so unlike me.

Nina turned her thoughts to each family member's peculiar corner.

Her uncle, Cheisen, was a warm and tender elder of the household, yet he never seemed interested in harmonizing the family or bringing them together. Her aunt, Natalisha, was kind in a distinctly noble, elegant way, but there was no warmth in the eyes with which she regarded her family. Her sister, Katahari, was athletic and bursting with energy, yet somehow displayed a strangely delicate side. And her brother, Exi, kept careful watch over the family, yet at times it felt as though he were gloomily spying on them from the shadows even while in the same room—his awkward way of speaking being the crowning oddity.

Every family has its own character, I suppose, but I've never seen one where everyone feels like strangers to each other.

Since leaving the orphanage, Nina had seen all kinds of people.

She knew very well that even dear friends could turn into enemies once money and property got involved.

And if a problem arose inside a family as unusual as this one…

Absolutely not.

The mere thought was so dreadful that Nina shuddered and shut the wardrobe door.

I just hope the family lives together in peace and harmony.

It was the second wish she'd newly come to hold, right after her wish to have a family at all.

I wonder how long the will's notarization will take?

She wanted nothing more than to quickly settle the difficult matter of the inheritance and look forward only to the day she'd grow close to her family, but there had been no word.

She was worried they might misread her eagerness—might think she couldn't wait to claim the townhouse and the entire estate for herself—so she couldn't even bring herself to ask.

Nina placed a single small pebble from the cactus pot into her palm and recalled the Countess's wise words.

When she had first entered the Count's household, Nina had tried her hardest to dig herself a new place.

In the end, just as the Countess had said, the rolling stone failed to carve out a new place for itself.

But that was because I was an outsider there. The Countess said so herself, so here, it will work.

Nina grabbed one of a maid's essential tools—a shovel—and dashed out into the garden.

Then she began selecting the wildflowers that had sprouted by chance, not ones anyone had deliberately planted, and digging them up along with the soil around their roots.

Just then, Natalisha, who had stepped out onto the terrace, approached with a puzzled look.

"Nina? Planning to plant flowers? Why are you digging up the ground?"

Nina lifted her shovel and smiled a wistful little smile.

"Oh, Auntie. Well, I can hardly dig up my precious family, now can I?"

"…!"

Natalisha flinched backward and snapped open her fan to hide her face.

It was because the edge of the shovel looked unusually sharp, and yesterday's discovery of Nina's wardrobe came flooding back to her.

The armory hidden behind that black cloth had been staggering.

That narrow space had been packed to the brim, from Joel's magic carbine to the bizarrely modified net guns.

She had rummaged through the wardrobe intending to at least smuggle out a carbine, but the moment she saw devices laced with blue circuits mounted on the armory wall, she had pulled her hands away at once.

It was unmistakably a theft alarm.

What kind of maid on this earth knows how to build a hidden armory inside her own wardrobe?

Natalisha's head ached as she racked her brain over how to deal with Nina.

Cheisen lacks levelheadedness. Katahari lacks patience. Exi lacks social grace. And Joel lacks basic human decency.

Five nations were cooperating, and yet not a single one of them was actually useful.

Not one person I can trust. I'll have to handle this myself.

Completely oblivious to the fact that her skillful shoveling—performed with a bright, happy smile—was sending a chill down Natalisha's spine, Nina finished making her flower pots one after another and headed back inside.

Nina wanted to establish herself in this house as its newest family member.

But since she couldn't very well kick her family out, she would have to dig out a new place instead.

Things have been too hectic to think about it until now, but really, this is the best method for settling into a new place.

Pot in hand, Nina made her way to the kitchen.

"I made flower pots for everyone, because I wanted to give you all flowers!"

The servants lingering in the kitchen jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of their mistress.

「What a fresh and lovely gift, I am deeply moved. Sincere. ly. mo. ved. Truly beau. tiful-sa.」

Only Juger Number 4 accepted a pot right away, twirling it round and round in her hands.

Beaming brightly, Nina pressed a pot into the arms of each of the spies who were pretending to be servants.

"Th-thank you."

They cradled the pots awkwardly in their arms.

It couldn't be helped that the servants of the townhouse still felt more comfortable to Nina than her own family.

Perhaps it was that people who worked for a living felt more like her own kind than people who had lived their lives as a duke's family.

Nina recognized the servants, too, as members of the household who had cared for this home even longer than she had, and she genuinely wanted to get along with them.

"Shall I share a few tips I picked up back in my maid days?"

"We'd love to hear them. What are they?"

One of the servants set her pot down on the windowsill and asked.

Nina moved the cookie jar from the shelf to a low cabinet—one you had to crouch down to use comfortably.

"If you keep the cookie jar here, you can sneak one every time you set out a plate on the table?"

Nina mimed stealing a cookie with her fingers and flashed a bashful smile.

It was a rather adorable tip. Before they knew it, the servants found the corners of their mouths curling up along with her.

"And it's a good idea to keep at least one butter knife in the spoon drawer."

Everyone leaned in, eager to hear what charming tip she'd offer next.

"For the sake of the townhouse's cleanliness, you see—there are times you must pull out something sharp the instant you open a drawer within arm's reach."

"Yes, of course. …Yes?"

"For guests' emergency sleeping draughts, instead of keeping a separate bottle, mix them in with the sugar in another jar, and no one will ever discover them."

"…?"

"Keep a small pouch of flour on the windowsill, and whenever the hair on your neck stands up, toss the flour out the window and you can easily spot a sniper's laser pointer. And also—"

"…"

The tips came pouring out of Nina one after another, and every single one of them was genuinely useful to the spies standing by in the kitchen.

The spies exchanged uneasy, awkward glances—then set down the pots tucked under their arms and pulled out their notepads.