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“Then shall we start the day on a positive note?”

Hailey said as she opened the window wide, having tidied her hair.

The thoughts that had troubled her that morning seemed to have vanished, and she was back to her usual cheerful self.

If she couldn’t concentrate on work due to personal worries, it wouldn’t be good for her anyway. Still, perhaps her recent early morning sword training had helped in some way. She no longer needed to dwell on those thoughts as long as before.

At any rate, it was work time now.

Whatever it was, it was time to set aside personal matters and focus on work.

Dressed in the new summer uniform provided by the Lord’s Castle, Hailey brushed off the dust from her clothes and left her room. As Elena’s maid, the first place she needed to go was Elena’s room.

Checking the pocket watch she had tucked away, she was relieved to see she wasn’t late for Elena’s wake-up time, and she headed to her room. Since Hailey was close to Elena, her accommodation was not far from Elena’s room, so she arrived quickly.

Knock knock—

She knocked on the door first to check if Elena was awake, but there was no response. Assuming she was still asleep as usual, Hailey adeptly spoke to the door and opened it.

“Miss, it’s me, Hailey. I’m coming in.”

However, contrary to Hailey’s expectations, Elena was already up, sitting on her bed. She seemed to be lost in thought, staring at the ceiling, and perhaps that was why she didn’t hear Hailey’s voice.

“Come on, Miss. If you’re awake, at least respond.”

“…Oh, Hailey, you’re here?”

Hailey’s assumption was correct; Elena didn’t notice Hailey’s approach until she got close enough to speak. With a somewhat gloomy expression on her face, Elena looked at Hailey, who tilted her head to the side and asked.

“Did you have a nightmare, Miss? You don’t look so well…”

“No, it’s not a nightmare or anything. I just woke up not too long ago and feel a bit groggy. You know I’m not a morning person, Hailey.”

“Indeed. Such a sleepyhead!”

“Uwahhhh… don’t tug on my cheeks!”

Receiving such a casual response from Elena, Hailey lightly pulled at Elena’s cheeks. Thanks to that, it seemed like Elena shook off her sleepiness, as her clear violet eyes began to glisten with tears as she glared at Hailey.

“Be gentle… that hurts.”

“Miss, your cheeks need to be nice and soft. Look at your messy hair. Let me fix that for you.”

“…You love to go around in circles, don’t you?”

“Hehe.”

Hailey replied with laughter to Elena’s comment. Elena, too, couldn’t help but chuckle soon after Hailey laughed.

When Elena came out of the bathroom after finishing her morning wash, Hailey’s work officially began.

Tasks like fixing Elena’s hair or tidying her room were things that Elena could do herself or delegate to a maid, but Hailey continued to do them simply because she enjoyed it.

Since Elena boasted such remarkable beauty, even simple tidying up felt like playing with a doll. When Hailey first started attending to Elena, she began with this mindset, but after several years, she naturally grew proud of it.

At least as long as she was by Elena’s side, Hailey had no intention of stopping her current work.

“Tadaa! Everything is done!”

Handing a hand mirror to Elena while showing her the hair she had styled, Hailey revealed not just the stray strands but an overall hairstyle that looked natural and not awkward, proving her high level of skill.

Elena nodded slightly at her reflection in the mirror, seemingly satisfied.

That marked the end of their morning preparations.

Next was breakfast.

Unless the Count called for it, they didn’t have to go to the Banquet Hall for breakfast, so Hailey, having checked the schedule before arriving, knew that they would be having breakfast separately in their own rooms today.

Arthur and Damian were already occupied with business from early morning due to the increasing issues that arose with the changing season, and Alphonse was out of the equation since he had no assigned role yet. Recently, Elena had begun taking on some of the simple financial accounting tasks of the Lord’s Castle, so they all decided to have their meals in their rooms.

Not wanting to travel the distance to the kitchens in the annex and main building, Hailey, before entering the room, had told a maid to bring out breakfast. So, the breakfast issue was settled.

Now, the only thing left for Hailey to do was go to the annex’s office and receive today’s tasks for Elena; that was her last morning work.

“Well then, Miss. I’ll be off now~”

“Hailey.”

“Yes? Miss?”

As Elena suddenly called her name, Hailey halted her steps as she was about to leave and turned back. Was there a hole in her clothes? Or had her hair become messy again? With such thoughts in mind, when Hailey turned around, she was met with the face of Elena, who had looked so troubled earlier.

“Hailey.”

Elena called her name again.

The transparent violet eyes that seemed somewhat sad felt like they were piercing through to see what worries Hailey was holding.

“Are you worried about something lately?”

How could she not be?

However, Hailey decided to keep her mouth shut for the moment. This was, after all, her issue, one that she had to resolve herself. So, just as she had up until now, she remained silent.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t be. I’ll be back shortly, Elena.”

*

“In the end, she didn’t say a word until the very end… that makes me worry even more.”

After bringing the documents back to her room, Elena muttered with a hint of disappointment, staring at the door through which Hailey had just left without saying anything.

She didn’t know exactly what worries Hailey had. She just sensed that something was troubling her. Considering the emotions that had flowed into Elena’s room overnight, it was a lie to claim she had no worries at all.

Just as divinity is greatly influenced by people’s thoughts, the divine entity known as God is also bound to be affected by them.

For now, she might be like a priest with tremendous Divine Power rather than a true deity, yet it is common knowledge that priests who listen to people’s hardships and serve them are sensitive to their emotions. It was just like that.

Elena might not clearly sense people’s emotions, but if they exceed a certain degree, they would inevitably reach her.

Normally, she’d only feel a vague unease, but all of a sudden it had ballooned overnight to the point where she could feel it directly on her skin, so she couldn’t help but be concerned. Moreover, Hailey was far from just one of the many servants to Elena, making it all the more concerning.

Yet, even so, the reason Elena didn’t press Hailey for more answers was that she had already tried to inquire once, and Hailey had chosen not to respond. It indicated she was reluctant to bring it up again.

But Elena was not the type to simply let it be. Even with so few hints, she began to ponder what could have caused Hailey to feel that way.

“What could have possibly caused Hailey’s worries, which she didn’t have before…?”

If that serious matter had never shown itself in her previous life, then it must stem from a change occurring in this life, and thinking that led her to realize there were far too many variables to pinpoint anything specific.

Elena, racking her brain and twirling her pen, could only come up empty-handed when considering Hailey’s worries. No matter how brilliant her mind was, there was nothing to work with in a situation like this—only endless wild hypotheses derived from imagination.

Knock knock—

At that moment, someone knocked on Elena’s door.

With a gentle yet firm sound, Elena realized the visitor was not Hailey. Although she had hoped that Hailey would come back to explain, Hailey was notoriously stubborn. The one knocking on the door was Damian.

“I’m glad I found you here. But you seem a bit glum. Is something wrong, Elena?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just lost in thought for a moment. By the way, what brings you at this hour?”

“I need to tell you something important. Do you have a moment?”

Since she hadn’t made any progress on the tasks she had received while thinking about Hailey, Elena set down her pen, stood up from her desk, and moved to the tea table nearby.

Perhaps it was seeing Damian’s face, but the turmoil in her heart began to ease momentarily, bringing a comforting relief. He bore a gentle musk fragrance that arose from the perfume she had gifted him along with clothes previously.

Just that confirmation was enough to fill Elena’s heart with happiness.

Realizing Elena was aware of the scent he emitted, Damian smiled and said, “This perfume is my favorite among those you gave me. Thank you, Elena.”

“Hehe. The soft and cozy musk scent really suits you, Damian. I’m glad I gave it to you. There’s also one mixed with a slight fruity fragrance among what I gave you…”

Before long, the atmosphere in the room shifted immensely since Damian entered. Not long after, they both seemed to realize it and fell into silence. After a brief cough or two, Damian began discussing the purpose of his visit.

“It’s a bit sudden, but do you happen to know a way to change a person’s constitution? A method not accompanied by pain like the method of rebirth.”

“Changing one’s constitution… You mean the innate traits one is born with? There are indeed ways to improve the given details, both in martial arts and magic. The method you’re looking for would likely involve creating a method to get the desired traits progressively over time, rather than an instant fix. While it takes more time, it would be the least burdensome for the caster.”

“Is that something you can initiate right now?”

“That would depend on which constitution we are improving. The structure of the magic varies greatly depending on the trait you wish to change.”

Which knight is facing a problem due to their constitution?

With Damian’s sudden inquiry about constitution improvement, Elena could only think of that much. Both Damian and Arthur possessed perfect physiques as warriors, and Alphonse didn’t seem likely to have any constitutional issues either.

If she were to narrow it down, it could be Ken or Maria, but soon she became convinced by the topic Damian brought up.

“What if it’s about increasing one’s ‘capacity’, specifically the mana capacity?”

The only ones who might have issues with that would be the knights.

Those who contain magical power in their bodies to manifest as aura and become superhumans were knights, so it seemed one of the knight order members had concerns related to this.

The magic regarding the transformation of mana-related traits is certainly complicated and intricate, far beyond comparison to other spells. After all, mana connects to the essence of a being, so if it were easy to manipulate, that would be quite bizarre. But even though it’s difficult, it’s not impossible, and Elena nodded at Damian’s words.

“Increasing the mana capacity… while it’s not impossible, it’s certainly a challenge. Just keep in mind that the increase won’t be instantaneous; much like a potter gradually widening a clay pot, it’ll be a very incremental process. Are you okay with that?”

“That seems to be a decision I can’t make, but I believe it will be fine.”

“That’s a relief. By the way, it seems like you cherish this knight quite a lot, going through the lengths to find a solution. Oh, about the capacity issue, is this person still an apprentice knight? I’d love to meet them face-to-face someday.”

That Damian was searching for a solution indicated he had likely excelled in areas besides just aura. Perhaps he felt regretful that he couldn’t help them and thus was looking for a way out?

But Damian replied to Elena’s comment with a slightly enigmatic expression.

“Um, you’re already acquainted with the person.”

“Eh? Among the apprentice knights I know… Oh! Sir Robin! Sir Robin is facing that kind of constitutional issue?”

“No, Elena. He’s neither a knight nor an apprentice. Although, you could say he’s about to become one.”

When Elena wore a face that screamed confusion, Damian answered with a slightly bittersweet smile.

“It’s Hailey.”

 

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