Senior Maid Belle was rumored to be the best and most reliable among the elite maids of Ophilis Hall.
She had authority over the other maids. She was in charge of educating the newly hired maids. She would even scold them.
Everyone had been speculating who would be next in line to Head Maid Elris, the current head maid and general manager of Ophilis Hall who was currently rumored to retire soon. The most likely candidate was actually Belle Maya.
"Ms. Janica."
Bell was already treated with more respect than the other maids of Ophilis Hall, but that didn't mean her work differed from theirs because of her elevated status.
Lower-ranked maids tended to the dirty and vulgar chores around the dormitory. They must also always be ready at a moment's notice for an order, making them ultimately responsible to take care of most things at Ophilis Hall.
This also applied to dressing the students. Usually, senior maids barely did these types of tasks themselves, but Belle would still roll up her sleeves and do them herself.
Just like this, Belle was combing Janica's hair in front of the mirror when she casually brought up a certain topic.
"I went to young master Ed's camp last time I went to the forest and saw something quite amazing."
"Hm? Oh… You must mean the cabin?"
"…how did you know about it?"
Janica shrugged as she began twisting the ends of her hair.
"I… I saw it while passing by."
"I see. He said he made it himself but I was quite surprised. It was much more impressive than I had thought. I had no idea he had quite the talent when it comes to that kind of thing."
"I… I see."
"I wanted to look inside but I refrained from doing so. I was worried it might seem too inappropriate to ask. I wanted to look around and see how sturdy it was."
"I guess even someone like you wonders about that kind of thing."
"Of course. I'm also human. Being curious is only natural."
Belle was the perfect maid. She was someone who really understood the meaning of serving someone else. She was never satisfied with just cleaning and doing her errands well.
Doing everything for the person they are serving to their utmost ability, all without being too presumptuous—that was the true quality of a maid.
"Wouldn't anyone who walks by and stumbles across that cabin be curious as to who built it, how did they build it, and what was inside? Such curiosity is a totally natural reaction to have."
Strangely, Belle kept on bringing up the words 'natural' and 'obvious', as if she had a hidden agenda. Janica felt like she was being pushed. She had also wanted to visit Ed's camp and see him. She also wanted to talk about things as well.
But of course, such thoughts as doubting others' kindness or trying to guess their true intentions… there was no way Janica would think as such. To answer, Janica just nodded her head.
"I see. You're right. Of course, it was only natural. Seeing such a thing, of course, you couldn't help but be curious."
Janica accepted what Bell said with a serious face.
Behind her, Bell let out a sigh of relief as she braided Janica's hair. It was only natural for a girl Janica's age to have feelings of affection and longing, but things would go well for her if she was this clumsy.
Of course, to meddle any more than this would be too much, so all Belle could do for now was trim Janica's hair as prettily as possible.
For today, Belle used a bit more strength in her hands as she quietly brushed Janica's hair.
The entrance to the northern forest was the same as always. The green vegetation was spread out, as if welcoming everyone to come inside.
The entrance felt rather warm rather than dark despite the sun setting over the horizon. This was because of the fact that for Janica, the northern forest was a place she often visited whenever she needed to take a breather.
She particularly enjoyed sitting down and leaning on the Guardian Tree of Marilda while she read books and enjoyed the breeze, the sound of the leaves swaying around her. It reminded her of sitting on a hill back in her hometown, the wind whistling past her ears.
That was why she always visited this forest whenever she felt even a little bit homesick.
However, she hadn't been able to enter the northern forest recently.
She was ashamed to admit the reason herself, that it was because there was a high chance she would run into someone, that someone being a student who lived in the forest.
It started with simple curiosity.
The wind spirit Marilda, who was guarding the forest, would occasionally transform into a small fox whenever she had the time and come out of the forest to visit Janica and chat with her.
They would sit by the windowsill in the moonlight late at night, chatting. For Janica, ending the day like that had become part of her norm.
The Ed Rothstaylor that Marilda spoke of was much different from the rumors she'd heard. Hearing his struggles just to survive in the forest, he sounded like some wild animal.
He got an upset stomach after eating the bark of a tree, his wooden shelter kept on collapsing on him, and how he tied his hair while chopping up firewood. Janica couldn't stop laughing when she heard these stories.
When he caught and cooked his first fish with the fishing rod he worked so hard to make, when he completed making the durable drying rack, even when he first succeeded in hunting small animals using his handmade bow… Janica couldn't help but proudly smile at hearing these stories.
She enjoyed sitting by the windowsill and listening to all of Marilda's stories such as these. It reminded her of how her parents used to stroke her head while they read her fairy tales when she was young. Growing up, she became too embarrassed to ask them to do it again.
Whenever she felt like going crazy, she knew she could always rely on wrapping up her day with stories of Ed.
"Hmm…"
Janica rolled her feet as she wandered into the entrance of the northern forest. Yes, she was aware of how pathetic she was acting.
Was this because of the Glaskan incident? And yet, there seemed to be some signs even before then.
It wasn't anything special.
Her affection and longing for Ed were like light rain—when she noticed it had been raining, her whole body had already been completely drenched.
In her defense, Marilda's descriptions of him were way too detailed.
The wind spirit described the details of Ed's muscles with his shirt off. Marilda even went into detail about his biceps and his abs that were starting to form. Janica couldn't help her blood rush to her head.
She couldn't even look at him properly when she accidentally ran into him downtown. Her eyes kept on straying and glancing at the tendons near his collarbones and the veins on the back of his hands…
She left as if she was running away, her nose bleeding. Her best friend Anise even worried about her. Clara looked even more worried, a strange cold sweat running down her face.
Janica didn't bleed to the extent of that worry. It was quite an overreaction, something she thought was unusual for Clara.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing…?"
Janica came to her senses. Every time she had a bit of time, she always found herself thinking about him. Was there anyone else as stupid as she was?
She stomped her feet because of how pathetic she was acting.
In the first place, Ed Rothstaylor was someone who had already been disowned by his family. Although he was often called Ed Rothstaylor out of habit, he was now just a commoner with a two-letter name—Ed.
This meant there was no longer a significant difference in their statuses. Truth was, Janica's imagination was already going quite wild.
For example, she had already imagined the two of them working together back at their ranch in her hometown, which was lacking workers. Or they could be doing research together somewhere like the Eastern Magic Society after graduation. Or they could stay in school together and become professors.
Thinking such thoughts made her kick her blanket around when she lay in bed… imagining.
She had no idea she was capable of such delusion, and as time passed by, her sense of shame continued to rise.
"How long am I going to keep acting like this? Ed must think I'm weird…"
Ed's reputation may have improved, but it still wasn't all that great.
Ed was well aware of that fact, so he didn't think it was strange that Janica was avoiding him, but… it was a completely different story for Janica.
Objectively speaking, it would be rude to avoid someone so blatantly.
Regardless of her feelings, it was basic human courtesy. She could no longer keep acting like this.
Janica nodded her head as she began heading towards where Ed was.