That night.

“Hey, Angie. Did Luca properly get along with Miss Erza?”

After taking a bath, Lady Philia asked me with an excited face as I was running a comb through her luxurious blond hair while being entranced by it. 

I was brought back to reality and corrected my expression as I reported.

“Master Luca and Miss Erza played hide and seek inside the mansion.”

“Well, were they getting along well while playing?”

“Well, Master Luca hid in the hidden aisle that only household members know… She didn’t find a single hint until the end, and Miss Erza burst out in tears.”

“I feel responsible for that.”

Lady Philia’s eyes swam around with an indescribable expression.

The memory of when Master Luca was a little younger was still fresh in my mind. At that time, Lady Philia hid in the aisle while playing hide and seek and broke into a smile when she stealthily peered at Master Luca, searching around for her while almost tearing up.

Lady Philia was just as mischievous, but maybe because she took pity on Master Luca, who was clinging to her and crying when she finally showed up, she told him about the aisle. It seemed that it became Master Luca’s hiding place this time.

Today, I observed over the two of them secretly because Master Luca only spoke to Miss Erza as little as possible. He brought up the hide and seek game and immediately treated her like that. It didn’t have the slightest inkling of the love Lady Philia desired. 

Just as I was putting away the comb after I finished combing Lady Philia’s hair, who looked terribly disappointed, not knowing what she was thinking, I heard a small knocking sound. 

“Sister, may I enter?”

“It’s all right. You may come.”

Having changed into his nightwear, Master Luca approached with a light gait and hugged Lady Philia, who was sitting in front of the dressing mirror from behind. 

“Sister, according to what we promised, we can sleep together, right?”

“But you made Miss Erza cry, didn’t you? I don’t think you have fulfilled your promise to be a gentleman.”

When Lady Philia spoke in more annoyance than a reprimand, Master Luca’s shoulders dropped into a shrug.

“I intended to surprise her. But the aisle was dimly lit, so I fell asleep while hiding… maybe it’s because I haven’t slept well recently.”

“I see… I guess it’s a bit unsettling to sleep alone suddenly. I understand. Let’s sleep in my room for a while like before.”

Lady Philia was moved in the blink of an eye seeing Master Luca sad as if reflecting on it and hugging his tiny shoulders. She consoled him.

I was sorry to say this, but Lady Philia was a bit naive.

Of course, Master Luca didn’t mean to do that and was probably dejected from being scolded by his favorite elder sister.

“Let’s sleep now, Luca. Get a good night’s rest and play with Miss Erza properly tomorrow, okay?”

“All right, sister.”

Master Luca replied with a very nice smile, but the next day things didn’t go as Lady Philia had planned at all.

The next day he guided Ezra to the library, but Master Luca sat on the tall ladder for the bookshelf purpose with a difficult foreign book in his hand and reading incessantly. He seemed so immersed in the book that no matter how much Miss Erza called out for him, he didn’t seem to hear it.

The day after that, the two of them went out together, but Miss Erza came back soon after with dirty hair and clothes. Apparently, overripe fruit fell and dirtied her head and clothes. 

I felt a bit lost when I reported that everything was coincidental and Master Luca didn’t pull any pranks. 

In the meantime, I had a chance to peep into the children’s conversation. 

“Master Luca, why are you not looking at me?”

Silence.

“Whether it was Sandro or Donato, all the boys have said that I am cute… but I like you more than the other boys, you know?”

This was what it meant to be a woman, even a small one.

With her pouting lips and sulking face, Miss Erza looked with upturned eyes and said that. But Master Luca turned his face away. Then Miss Erza approached Master Luca, who didn’t reply, probably getting irritated.

“There are many boys who said they like me, but I like you the most… If it’s Master Luca, I am also fine with giving you a kiss…”

“Filthy, don’t touch me…”

With his glaring cold eyes, Master Luca hurled harsh words at Miss Erza, who approached him as if to seduce him at the age of ten. The jewel-like emerald green eyes were still like ice. 

Miss Erza then stopped her dead in her tracks, as if she didn’t understand the words coming out of his mouth. In the meantime, Master Luca quickly turned away and distanced himself from her.

I had been watching this little theater of love with excitement… I meant anxiously. I quickly approached Miss Erza, who was standing there like a rock, stunned.

“Are you all right, Miss Erza? Umm, Master Luca isn’t very familiar with having friends of the same age. He doesn’t know how to choose his words properly…”

“It’s fine, Miss Angela. I know.”

“Huh?”

“Lord d’la Love is embarrassed. An older girl from my neighborhood said that boys at the same age tend to be more childish than girls. You have to be tolerant of them. Besides, Lord d’la Love is an aristocrat, so it’s natural to have a hard time dealing with him since he’s even more of a boy than town’s boy.”

Po-Positive… I was stunned by her positive attitude and somewhat carnivorous words.

Master Luca was Master Luca, but this young girl was also something else. 

However, even if she was right and the boys were more childish than a girl of the same age, I couldn’t accept Master Luca’s attitude. The violent language like this was unbefitting of a gentleman.

I hesitated for a while but then hurried to Lady Philia’s room to advise her. First of all, I intended to have Lady Philia stop sleeping with him. 

However, Master Luca suddenly appeared in front of me.

Just as I was surprised as it was rare for a young master to approach me on his own accord, Master Luca pulled out some kind of envelope from his pocket. 

It was the common envelope, not the crested one used in the Duke family, and as I was thinking, this slightly crumpled envelope looked a bit familiar… Master Luca removed the seal.

“‘To my beloved Tonio. Please forgive me for calling you like this. I’ve been calling you that in my heart for a long time now, and it pains me to keep it to myself…'”

“Hi, Master Luca, why did you…”

I rushed at Master Luca, losing my composure that was unbecoming of an excellent maid. 

There was no doubt this embarrassing article, filled with my narcissism, was the love letter I once wrote to my first love, stable guard Tonio. 

In the end, I couldn’t give it to him, but I must have kept it in the back of my desk as a memory of my first love.

Master Luca avoided me nimbly and fluttered the familiar cute letter.

“This Tonio… is by chance the stable guard Tonio who married the maid Sara two years ago?”

I couldn’t help but groan at Master Luca’s words, who tilted his adorable neck, recalling the pain of my lost love. 

The next day after I wrote this shameful love letter, I witnessed Tonio and my coworker Sara embracing each other from the stable’s shadow, and my first love withered just like that.

“They both still work for us, and… what would they think if they saw this?”

This damn brat… no, Master Luca smiled for the first time in front of me.

The following morning, I couldn’t sleep well due to shame and rage. I went to the bedroom to wake up Lady Philia, who was unusually late in waking up. 

Then, I saw a scene that stopped me in my tracks. 

“Lady Philia, did something happen?”

“Luca didn’t wake up… Perhaps because he couldn’t sleep well before. It would be a pity to wake him up, don’t you think so?”

Master Luca was sleeping beside Lady Philia, hugging her like a koala clinging to a tree.

Yes, I could hear his deep rhythmic breathing, so he must’ve been sleeping.

Master Luca’s sleeping face I saw for the first time was indeed innocent, like an angel, but I couldn’t think that at all as I was still in shock from yesterday.

On the contrary, nasty feelings were building up inside me.

“Lady Philia, aren’t you going to have your portrait painted by Mr. Belluci today?”

“That’s right. That’s why I’m trying to get up quickly, but…”

“Don’t you think Mr. Belluci is fascinating, Lady Philia? If you were alone with a man like him and he stared at you all the time, even if it was just to paint, you might fall in love with him.”

Of course, I knew that a commoner artist like him wasn’t fitting for Lady Philia, but I praised Mr. Belluci more than necessary to snide Master Luca.

When I said this, Lady Philia smiled with a somewhat troubled face.

“My, my, is Angie also interested in Mr. Belluci? Unfortunately, it seems he already has a lover.”

“Huh, is that so?”

“Yes, the maid Marian. Yesterday, they were in a room, and I happened to walk in on them kissing… Angie, don’t be discouraged, okay?”

Lady Philia, who was still foreign to love affairs, looked worried for me, but I wasn’t feeling like that at all.

Marian was a maid one year younger than me, and just the other day, I saw Master Luca talking about something with the maid Marian. 

It was already rare to see Master Luca talking with other women except for his sister. I brushed it off as nothing. Still, for Marian and Marcus to fall in love in such a short term, and to top it off, for Lady Philia to witness them… Was it really a coincidence?

I was suspicious of the little devil with the face of an angel sleeping soundly with a peaceful face. 

Eight years have passed since then.

I had been secretly dreading how the woman-hater, sister-loving little devil Master Luca would grow up. He had been so attached to her, and suddenly he started to avoid her after he turned twelve years old. I felt relieved and also disappointed at the same time.

But even so, I never let my guard down from catching him occasionally looking at Lady Philia with dark passion lurking in his eyes.

But just the other day, during the short time I took leave and went back to my parent’s home, Master Luca somehow took advantage of Lady Philia and settled down as her fiance.

It shouldn’t be hard to imagine my surprise when I saw Master Luca’s hand coiling around Lady Philia’s waist and looking as if he owned the whole place. At that time, I was still young and experienced the rage that almost snapped my blood vessels.

Be that as it might, Lady Philia seemed to be in bliss even though she looked troubled by Master Luca.

If the Lord was happy, there was no way I could say anything as a maid, and so I watched over the both of them, sometimes chiding Master Luca for getting carried away and sometimes ignoring him.

One morning, I called out to Lady Philia from outside her room as she had recently started to wake up late. I couldn’t just barge in Lady Philia’s room indiscreetly.

A few days ago, I suddenly barged into the room when Lady Philia didn’t wake up until after noon, only to find her and Master Luca sleeping stark naked.

Because the scene where both bodies were still connected was too stimulating for a twenty-five-year-old single lady like me, I decided never to enter Lady Philia’s bedroom suddenly.

“Are you awake, Lady Philia?”

“Angie? I’m awake, but… I can’t get up. Can you come in?”

Lady Philia’s voice seemed firm, so I hesitantly opened the door. Lady Philia and Master Luca were resting together on the bed, but I was relieved to see both of them wearing nightclothes. Still, I had a feeling of déjà vu when I saw Master Luka wrapped tightly around Lady Philia’s waist.

Master Luca’s body was now much larger than Lady Philia’s, but he hugged her like a child while burying his face in her ample chest as he slept.

“Luca isn’t letting go of me… And I must get up soon.”

“You had plans for today, right? You’re going to see Marcus Bellucci’s exhibition, aren’t you?”

Unlike in the past, I had discernment. I had an intuitive understanding that Master Luca was awake. Although troubled, Lady Philia was stroking his hair with a gentle but happy face.

“It’s been a long time since I have seen his sleeping face. He’s adorable like before, isn’t he? When he sleeps like this, he’s still the same angel he used to be.”

You were being tricked, Lady Philia. Whether it was before or now, sleeping or waking up, he wasn’t an angel. 

Even now, as his face was skillfully buried into a young lady’s ample chest and his hands suspiciously moving around her waist, she just twisted her waist as if being tickled lightly only and not even slightly suspecting Master Luca’s evil intentions.

I didn’t get why she was still making the blunder about judging his true character when she was being compelled so forcefully that such a splendid bed was creaking, and the marks all over her body forced her to choose dresses that weren’t revealing at all.

She should have been a wise person, but she was dense or someone we call Sweet Lady Philia when it came to her little brother.

This was also an endearing quality of hers, but… Lately, I thought it was about time for Lady Philia to recognize that her little brother, now her fiance, wasn’t as chaste as she thought but an evil brute.

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