From early morning, the Razgrim mansion was far busier than usual. Ever since word arrived that the party heading to the royal capital would return today, Mylene had inspected the guest rooms and dining hall, instructed the kitchen to prepare extra portions for the returning troops, and assigned designated areas in advance for the servants to unload the luggage.
"Please take that luggage to the storehouse! Kitchen staff, please count the ingredients first once they arrive! The soldiers will all be returning at once, so let's prepare plenty of hot water as well!"
Watching the servants scurry off to fulfill her orders, Mylene suddenly remembered her past self. Back then, merely asking someone to do a chore would make her hesitate endlessly, wondering if it was truly her place to say anything. Yet now, she barely batted an eye when directing staff and anticipating what might run short throughout the estate. As the head maid, it was only natural, but she still marveled at times over how much she had changed.
"Mylene! They're in sight!"
Called from the front entrance, Mylene hurried outside. Beyond the road leading up to the estate, a line of carriages came into view, flanked by soldiers whose figures gradually grew clearer. Despite the exhaustion of the long march, every single face was bright. They waved to the domain's residents gathered along the roadside and shared laughs with the comrades walking beside them.
At the head of the column, her crimson hair swaying, Raisa barked orders to the troops in rapid succession.
"Don't bunch up in front of the mansion! Once you've unloaded your gear, head around to the barracks! Anyone assigned to the horses takes care of them first! Finish your duties properly before you even think about resting!"
The soldiers chorused their practiced replies, carrying out their tasks without a hint of confusion. Mylene had seen Raisa leading the army many times before they set off for the royal capital, but now the bond and understanding between her and the troops seemed entirely seamless.
A little further back, Lydia was directing the cargo wagons while seeing to it that the soldiers with injured legs rested first.
"Those who are injured, please do not overexert yourselves! We will handle the equipment inspection here, so leave the heavy lifting to those in good health. Please take those two wagons to the storehouse first!"
"Lady Lydia! Can I send the rest of the troops around to the barracks?"
"Yes, Raisa-dono! I will see to things here!"
Guided by their voices, the long column was organized in no time at all. Mylene had already heard of their victory in the royal capital's Military Tournament, but witnessing the returning army in the flesh felt completely different from reading about it in print.
In the newspapers that had arrived from the capital a few days prior, the Razgrim army's triumph had been featured prominently. Her master's name had been printed in bold, conspicuous lettering; on that day, even the usually quiet servants had huddled around the paper, reading the same article over and over.
And now, the man at the very center of it all had come home.
Before long, the master's carriage drew up before the mansion, and the door swung open. The moment a silver-haired man stepped out, the lingering tension in Mylene's chest finally melted away.
—He is home.
In the past, the mere sight of her master would have sent her into a panic: Did I make a mistake? Did I do something to anger him? But now, relief that he had returned safe and sound eclipsed everything else.
Following on Vain's heels, Clarice emerged with an armful of documents brought back from the capital. Fresh off a grueling journey, she was already scrutinizing several of the pages.
"Mylene, I'm back... I hate to ask the moment we step through the door, but we brought back quite a mountain of paperwork... Could you show me an empty shelf later?"
"Welcome home, Lady Clarice. Of course. I have already cleared a shelf in the office, so please feel free to use it."
"That's a relief... If Vain just stacks them haphazardly, he'll forget they even exist."
Walking slightly ahead, Vain glanced over his shoulder.
"Hey, I can hear you!"
"I said it so you would hear!"
As Mylene let out a soft chuckle at their bickering, Serena stepped down from the carriage. In the capital, she had reportedly remained glued to the master's side as his bodyguard, but the moment she set foot on the estate and saw the servants bustling over the luggage, she blended right in with them.
"Welcome back, Serena!"
Nodding faintly to the young maid who greeted her, Serena pointed to a crate of clothing.
"Mylene... I'm back. That goes to the master's quarters, not the guest room."
"Understood!"
Even clad in her combat gear, once she was back at the estate, Serena was simply a maid of House Razgrim. Without needing direction, she checked where the luggage belonged and fell to work alongside the rest of the staff, as natural as someone who had spent her entire life there.
—Everyone has returned...
The thought brought a gentle warmth to Mylene's chest. Without her realizing it, this place had truly become their home.
Stepping before Vain, Mylene bowed with a touch more reverence than usual.
"Welcome home, Master! And congratulations on your victory! It was featured quite prominently in the capital's newspapers."
"...The papers made it all the way out here already?"
"Yes! Your name and the Razgrim army were front and center... The whole mansion has talked of nothing else since this morning, you know."
"Is that right..."
In the press, Duke Vain Razgrim was depicted as a towering noble commanding the kingdom's undivided attention. The head of the ascendant House Razgrim, conqueror of the Military Tournament—reading the articles alone made him seem so grand and distant that even Mylene had felt a pang of estrangement.
Yet the man standing before her didn't even bother asking for details about the coverage. Instead, he looked up at the mansion and clutched his stomach.
"More importantly, I'm starving... Got anything to eat?"
Mylene couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.
"Of course! I have already instructed the kitchen to have a hot meal ready for your arrival."
"As dependable as always... All right, let's eat first."
"Vain, at least look over the luggage we brought back...!"
Even with Clarice nagging from behind, Vain couldn't care less.
"Nothing good ever comes from working on an empty stomach! Food comes first."
Clarice hoisted the documents in her arms with an exasperated sigh, yet followed him inside as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Serena was still sorting crates with the other maids, while a short distance away, Raisa and Lydia continued directing the troops.
Duke or not, tournament champion or not, the very first thing her master said upon returning was that he was hungry. He bore little resemblance to the legendary figure portrayed in the papers, but to Mylene, this version of her master was infinitely more familiar and dear.
◇
Past noon, once the soldiers' gear and meals were well in hand, Mylene was summoned to the office. Out of old habit, the thought Did something go wrong? flashed through her mind for a fleeting second, but she brushed the anxiety aside, knocked on the door, and stepped inside.
Vain had spread the documents from the capital across the entire desk. While he appeared to be working diligently, the sour grimace on his face as he flipped through the pages betrayed his true desire: to get through the ordeal as quickly as humanly possible. At the edge of the desk, the papers Clarice had carried were neatly organized and stacked.
"Mylene, how were things while I was away? No headaches, I hope?"
"There were no major issues... The staff have grown well accustomed to their duties and are coordinating far better than before. We also replenished our provisions before anything ran short, so there was no trouble accommodating everyone's return today."
As she gave a concise summary of the estate's affairs, Vain listened quietly to the end without interrupting, then sank back into his chair with a relieved sigh.
"So things ran just fine without me?"
"Yes! You entrusted it to me, after all, Master."
"I see... Good. Leaving it to you was definitely the right call."
For a moment, Mylene forgot to reply. When she had first arrived at this estate, she never could have imagined a day when someone would tell her that trusting her was "the right call." Back then, she had desperately scrambled just to finish her tasks without blundering, terrified of making decisions on her own authority. Yet now, she had been trusted to oversee the entire estate while her master was away in the capital.
"...Mylene?"
"Yes! My apologies. I just... felt a little happy."
"What are you apologizing for? If you do your job well, praise is only natural, isn't it?"
There it was again. This man always treated things that were extraordinary to her as if they had been obvious from the very beginning.
Mylene smiled softly and dipped her head.
"Thank you, Master. I will continue to care for the estate with all my heart."
"Please do. If I had to manage the household on top of everything else, it'd be an absolute nightmare..."
"Yes. Leave it in my hands!"
His reasoning was as delightfully selfish as ever. Even so, she no longer had any reason to doubt his total confidence in her.
◇
Night fell, and once the estate's bustle had finally subsided, Mylene made her rounds through the pantry and kitchen. With so many people returning today, the provisions required for the morning had increased significantly. Thinking she could rest easy after just one last check, she closed the pantry door, only for a voice to call out behind her.
"...Are you still working?"
Startled, she turned around to find Vain standing in the hallway.
"Master...! Have you not gone to bed yet?"
"Just grabbing some water... More to the point, you've been on your feet since dawn, haven't you? Did you rest properly while I was in the capital?"
Mylene briefly averted her eyes before answering. It wasn't that she hadn't rested at all. But carrying the weight of the estate on her shoulders made her want to oversee every minor detail herself, and even on her days off, she inevitably found herself doing chores before she realized it.
"...I took as much rest as necessary, but..."
"That is the universal excuse of someone who didn't rest at all."
He saw right through her.
"However, since the estate was entrusted to my care, there are matters best verified in person, and—"
"Enough. Take tomorrow off."
Before Mylene could finish, Vain had already decided for her.
"B-but Master, everyone has only just returned, so there is still plenty of tidying to do in the morning—"
"Make sure the place can run for a single day without you... What was the point of hiring more staff if the head maid ends up doing everything herself anyway?"
Struck by his logic, Mylene fell silent. She had believed herself capable of delegating work, yet she still couldn't feel at peace unless she handled the final checks herself. In a different way from her past self, she was simply hoarding all the work again.
Seeing her continue to hesitate, Vain scratched his head in annoyance.
"Besides, if you collapse, I'm the one who suffers... There is no way in hell I'm going out of my way to find a new head maid and train them on the estate from scratch! So rest when you're told to rest!"
Mylene was left speechless. To her master, that was likely the whole truth. A useful subordinate collapsing was an inconvenience, and recruiting a replacement was a chore—to him, it was purely a matter of practical convenience.
Even so, being told that her absence would cause him trouble filled her with joy.
"...Understood. I will take tomorrow off."
"You should've just agreed from the start. It's late, so go to sleep."
"Please get some rest yourself, Master."
"Yeah, yeah."
Vain turned and headed off to fetch his water, and Mylene watched his retreating back for a long while.
Her master likely did not consider himself a kind man... In truth, he demanded hard work and usefulness, and he certainly wasn't the type to support idle freeloaders. Yet if he worked people, he fed them; if they were injured, he saw them healed; and he rewarded labor fairly. Above all, once he took someone under his wing, he never discarded them lightly. Mylene had witnessed that closer than anyone.
When he had taken her in, he was still a count. Now he was a duke, and people flocked to the domain in numbers unimaginable back then. Looking at those who had returned today: the soldiers moved without hesitation the moment Raisa gave the word, with Lydia supporting the army by her side as if she had always belonged. Clarice had returned buried under a mountain of documents, and the moment Serena's duties as a bodyguard concluded, she slipped right back into her chores as a maid.
Hardly anyone here had been present from the start. Some had been cast out, while others had lost their place in the world entirely. Yet now, every single one of them regarded returning here as the most natural thing in life.
—And at the center of it all stands the master.
Even so, Mylene felt no real surprise. From the very day he had taken her in, she had sensed it deep down... Could this man truly be destined to remain an ordinary noble...?
Back then, she hadn't understood why the thought crossed her mind. But watching him pick up someone nobody else cared for, tell her to heal her wounds, and judge people by their capability rather than their status or past—watching him up close all this time had proven that he was cut from a completely different cloth than any noble she had ever known.
Her master had risen from a count to a duke in the blink of an eye... yet Mylene could not bring herself to believe this was where his journey ended.
Perhaps he would change something far greater. Not merely the fortunes of a domain or the standing of a single house, but something the kingdom had taken for granted for centuries: the very nature of nobility itself...
Following that train of thought, Mylene let out a soft laugh at herself. It might be letting her imagination run wild, but on the day she first set foot in this mansion, she never could have envisioned a future where she served as the head maid of a ducal house.
If so, she was allowed to dream a little bigger. She did not know how far he would go from here. But she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she wanted to see it through to the very end.
—Ever since that day he first reached out his hand to me...
She had long since resolved to follow this man wherever he led.