Crash-!
On highways, drowsy driving has a higher mortality rate than drunk driving because those who are drowsy are completely unprepared for danger.
This was one such case.
The unexpected collision between those who did not anticipate a person coming around the corner left a strong impact.
Just as a compact car gets smashed when colliding with a dump truck, the fragile maid was flung away, landing squarely on her backside.
“Ouch, ah, that hurts…”
The hallways of the Grand Duke’s castle were made of solid marble.
A considerable shock must have resonated through her tailbone.
Moreover, since she was airborne before crashing down, if she didn’t fracture anything, it would indeed be a stroke of good luck. Even though this was a mutual accident, it was only natural to feel sympathy for the party more seriously injured.
At least, that should be the case for any reasonable human being.
“My Lord! Are you alright?!”
Rendler, my butler, hurried over, inspecting my entire body.
At the sound of his voice, the maid looked up at me with teary eyes, droplets almost clinging to the edges.
Yet, strangely, her face looked familiar.
I was sure I had never seen her before, but I couldn’t quite place why her face was so recognizable.
Moments later, as if a dissonance struck her, a look of terror etched itself onto her startled face.
“E-Elden, my Lord…!?”
This was my first time seeing such a human face go so pale.
Her cheeks, previously flushed with pain, turned ghostly white, and her eyes lost their sparkle, drying up as if scorched by the sun.
It seemed even this maid from the Grand Duke’s household had heard of the infamous Elden Raphelion.
“Come now, why aren’t you apologizing to My Lord?”
Rendler barked at her, and in a panic, the maid sprang to her knees before me.
And then, she began to earnestly repent.
“My Lord! I’m so sorry! I was hurrying and didn’t pay attention! I’ve committed a sin deserving of death…!”
Both parties were at fault for bumping into each other, yet it was the one injured who was instead begging for forgiveness. A minor collision caused by mutual inattentiveness, but somehow, one side became the sole perpetrator.
A trivial mistake that could happen thousands of times in someone’s life suddenly became worthy of capital punishment.
Simply because one party was of lesser status.
And amidst that fragile demeanor, it was quite a twisted irony that I saw my own childhood.
In a similar scenario, I had been forced to kneel and apologize because my opponent was the son of the director.
It was a cruel memory; those moments when I had to endure the bitter unfairness of being dealt a bad hand from birth.
“What were you looking at while walking?! What if something happened to the Lord’s body…!”
As Rendler continued to scold the maid, I lightly raised my hand to stop him.
“I’m fine, so get up.”
I spoke those words while looking down at the maid.
There was no point in blaming a girl who looked to be ten years younger than me.
In this harsh society, where a simple mistake could lead to death, simply surviving was commendable.
Yet, the maid couldn’t even lift her face, trembling like a leaf in the wind.
“I-I am truly sorry…! I’ll be more careful to ensure this doesn’t happen again! Please, just this once… forgive me!”
…What on earth did this maid think of Elden Raphelion?
From the way she was acting, you’d think she had bumped into the Devil himself.
“As I mentioned, I’m fine, so get up.”
With my past self’s reflection overlapping more and more with her figure, my voice grew slightly sharper.
Confronting my past, weaker self wasn’t exactly a pleasant affair.
Finally, the maid looked up at me with tearful eyes and asked,
“R-Really…?”
Back then, when I had to kneel before the director’s son, what I desperately wanted was clear.
A hand that urged me to stand tall.
A hand that reaffirmed that living without privilege wasn’t a crime.
A hand that saved me from the unfairness of life.
And perhaps that was the reason.
Reaching out to help those who suffered injustices simply for being born with nothing was reaching out to my past self with a warm smile.
But right after that, I realized something:
Situations don’t always unfold as we hope.
“Kyaa! H-Help me—!!”
Hm.
Looks like this won’t be easy at all.
It took a solid five minutes to reassure the panicked maid that this hand wouldn’t strike her, nor was this smile filled with the thrill of violence.
Thankfully, the hallways were deserted.
Had the Idiot Trio or anyone else witnessed this, I might’ve been branded as a ‘scoundrel feigning withdrawal to score points.’
A bad reputation I could handle, but a shameful one was absolutely unacceptable.
“Th-Thank you…”
“Now off you go.”
After sorting out the situation, I intended to head back to my room when—
“Ah!”
The moment I took a step, the maid collapsed again.
Turning my head, I saw her sitting on the ground, gripping her right ankle in pain.
“Ugh, are you hurt?”
“Ah… I think I might have twisted my ankle. I’m fine, so don’t worry about me.”
“……”
It’s said that an unfortunate person could even break their nose falling backward, and true to this, the maid had merely landed on her rear and twisted her ankle.
“It’s quite swollen, isn’t it?”
Her ankle, revealed under her skirt, was visibly swollen.
It appeared to have roughly doubled in size compared to its usual delicate form. Just by looking at it, I felt a phantom throb in my own ankle.
I scanned our surroundings.
I half-expected she could be some undercover judge for the competition, but her swollen ankle seemed all too genuine, and besides, it’d be pointless to inspect a candidate who’d already declared their withdrawal.
So, I asked Rendler.
“Where’s the infirmary?”
“It’s at the end of the hallway on the left. Roughly 100 meters away.”
“Not too far, then. We’ll get there in no time.”
“W-What, my Lord? What do you mean by that…?”
“What the…?”
With a grin, I placed my hand on Rendler’s shoulder.
Despite it being an accident caused by both sides, she got seriously hurt because of me.
The maid’s swollen ankle, after having to run around the Grand Duke’s castle all day, was practically an industrial accident waiting to happen.
I couldn’t escape the responsibility, especially since I had injured a young girl in her mid-teens. Helping her was the least I could do.
At least, that’s how adults were supposed to act in the world I had come from.
If you hurt someone, taking at least some responsibility was only basic human decency and an ethical obligation.
That was the only reason I was helping her.
It wasn’t out of some charitable impulse or a desire to earn my old butler’s approval.
“I’d want to help you myself, but I really dislike attracting unnecessary attention. Plus, there will most likely be eyes watching in the infirmary.”
Though he was elderly, Rendler could easily assist this fragile girl.
Besides, I remembered him being quite active in his youth.
“Excuse me?”
“Honestly, wouldn’t it be faster for you to carry her instead of fetching someone else? You said it’s only 100 meters, right?”
“But my Lord, this maid could have seriously injured you. For someone from the Raphelion household to help her…!”
“Ugh, stop with the pointless chatter.”
I frowned, quickly cutting him off just like the original Elden would have done.
Of course, I couldn’t entirely mimic the brute behavior of the original character, but this much should suffice for now.
And as if to confirm my thoughts, Rendler’s excessive loyalty began to bend against him.
Remind myself to employ this strategy again if needed.
“Ah, understood, my Lord.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Pat, pat.
I patted Rendler’s shoulder a couple of times before approaching the maid.
She looked up at me with a dazed expression, seemingly unable to grasp the situation where a person was actually helping another… which made me want to help her even more.
Kneeling beside her, I gently whispered in her ear.
“……”
“It’s a light fracture. I’ve secured your ankle with a brace and support, so resting for a few days should suffice for healing.”
Rendler, who had helped the maid to the infirmary, listened intently as the healer made his diagnosis.
The order had been simply to drop her off and leave, but my Lord had made an additional request.
To stay by her side until the treatment was complete.
Though he felt uneasy, as the Head Butler, he had no choice but to obey the command.
Meanwhile, the healer handed the maid a crutch.
“Here, take this crutch with you. Just know you have to return it, alright?”
“Yes.”
“It might ache a bit at night, so if it gets unbearable, come back and I’ll give you something for the pain.”
“Thank you so much…”
“Alright.”
Once treatment was complete, the healer left, and Rendler rose from his seat.
“Now that you have a crutch, I suppose you won’t need my help anymore.”
“Ah, I can’t thank you enough, sir… I’m quite embarrassed…”
“You really don’t need to thank me. I’m just following my Lord’s orders.”
“Even so…”
“If you feel guilty, just be more careful moving forward. You could have ended up injuring yourself much worse.”
Rendler’s advice came through in a casual tone, almost indifferent.
After all, outside of the King, no one dared to treat a servant of the Grand Duke’s household improperly.
But it was known that nobles often resorted to twisted schemes for petty revenge.
And no master would willingly be on the receiving end of such schemes just to protect a humble servant.
Ultimately, it was the lower-class servants who absorbed the consequences of their masters’ actions.
The maid lowered her head, thanking Rendler for his genuine care.
“Thank you for your concern… I’ll ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Then, be more cautious from now on.”
“Yes.”
As Rendler prepared to leave the infirmary, he paused and turned back to the maid.
“Is something else on your mind, sir?”
“I do have a question for you.”
“What might it be…?”
Before asking, Rendler scanned the vicinity to check for any eavesdroppers.
He was simply curious.
What exactly had my Lord ‘whispered’ into the maid’s ear?
And for reasons unknown, he felt a rush of anticipation.
After all, human nature is hard to change.
Especially for a young lord hailing from a noble family, who lived an untouchable life of privilege.
That notion was deeply ingrained in Rendler from the years spent serving Elden Raphelion.
Yet suddenly, some change had occurred.
Having served Elden his entire life, Rendler found it unusual that there was something different.
Of course, such a change could very well be fleeting whim or caprice.
But still, what of it?
Curiosity flooded him, leading Rendler to voice his question.
“Earlier, when my Lord whispered something to you, could you share it with me? This old butler is quite intrigued.”
“Ah…”
The maid surveyed her surroundings once more.
After a brief hesitation, she began to speak.
“Uh… If I were to disclose that he had helped me to anyone else, except for you, sir…”
She faltered again, glancing around anxiously.
Her eyes appeared wary, almost fearful.
Rendler took a step closer and prompted her, “And? What would happen if you did?”
When the obscured part of her words finally came to light…
A peculiar shade settled across Rendler’s face.
“…Then, I would really die… is what he said…”
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.