Murderous Emperor’s Inconvenient Behavior

* * *

“Where’s the butler?”

As Lady Stanton walked into the drawing room, she looked around and asked.

“He has left the mansion because of business with the Duke.”

“That can’t be helped. Find a good servant and send them on an errand.”

Lady Stanton gave a big letter.

In beautiful handwriting, “Monastery Head Anapi Hilrich of Valles Monastery” was written on the package.

“Is it a donation?”

“Yes, we do that every year around this time.”

Lady Stanton waved her hand as if to tell her to leave when she was done talking.

“A letter from the palace has arrived.”

But the maid didn’t leave. Instead, she held up the letter she was holding.

“A letter?”

With a raised eyebrow, Lady Stanton took the letter.

The letter was marked with a flashy symbol of the royal family of Grizman.

“His Majesty is going through a lot of trouble. He could have just told Richard what was going on.”

She picked up the knife to open the letter and looked at it with an interested look.

“Right, I’ve picked the girl who will serve Alicia.”

Lady Stanton spoke as she cut the letter open with a knife.

“Did you pick Wendy?”

“No, I told that girl to go away.”

“I thought you liked her because of how skilled she was with her hands.”

“I thought so, too, but it turned out that she wasn’t very useful, so I chose someone else. Alicia seems to like her, too.”

“Whose is she?”

“Cle, roe? No, Clara?”

Lady Stanton tilted her head as if she couldn’t remember well.

“Do you mean Claire?”

“Oh, right, I told her to clean up because she was so dirty. When she comes back, make sure to train her well.”

“I understand.”

When the maid-in-waiting came out of Lady Stanton’s room, she looked down at the donation package.

“Who should I send if the butler isn’t here?”

She started to move as soon as she thought of a good person during the last exchange.

* * *

Claire walked out of the room with a bundle of her new clothes in her hands.

She briefly touched it and noticed that the maid’s outfit was much softer than what she usually wore.

She liked how it felt, so she rubbed it hard against her cheek until she suddenly came to.

“I need to quickly wash up and go see the young lady.”

It was as Claire was taking light steps toward the community bath.

Thud, thud.

Horse feet could be heard from a long way away.

When Claire turned her head to look, she saw Duke Richard Stanton riding his horse toward her.

She wasn’t sure if she should wait and say hello to him or just keep going.

Then, Neigh.

The horse let out a long neigh and then all of a sudden started running very fast.

On the way to Claire.

“Why is the horse doing that? Um, hey…”

Claire couldn’t move because she didn’t know what to do. She was like a rat that had just been startled.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

As the horse quickly closed the gap between them, the loud sound of its hooves filled the air.

“Kyaa!”

“Move away!”

Richard yelled out loud.

Then Claire dropped the bundle she was holding and laid down flat.

And Chandler, the horse that looked like it was going to run her over, stopped right in front of her.

Huff, huff.

She could feel the horse’s deep breaths on the top of her head.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Richard got off his horse and helped Claire get up. He then looked over her to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

“…”

She might have been surprised. She couldn’t open her mouth.

“Did you hurt your head?”

He put his hand lightly on Claire’s head.

Under the sun, Richard looked like he had been dusted with gold dust.

She stared at him for a moment as if she didn’t know what to do.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Then he looked at her in a way that showed he was curious.

“No, I’m not in pain.”

Claire replied quickly by shaking her head.

“Why didn’t you run? Didn’t you see the horse coming?”

In reality, it was the horse that was the first to rush at her.

Given his position, she should have kept quiet, but his words of blame made her want to talk back.

“I couldn’t move at all.”

She tried to look as nice as possible by putting her hands together.

“Even so, you should have paid more attention to what was going on around you.”

“I’m sorry.”

Claire bowed and reached for her stuff.

“Stay put.”

When she was about to turn around, Richard stopped her.

“I don’t recognize your face, so who are you?”

“I’m just a passing maid.”

“Your name?”

In the house of a noble, there were a lot of workers. Even if they told the owners their names, they wouldn’t remember them the way Mrs. Stanton did.

So, she didn’t say what her name was, even though Richard kept asking.

“Claire Mcllroy.”

“Mcllroy… I think one of the children sent from the monastery had that name.”

He remembered her, which was a surprise.

“Yes, I am that.”

“Monastery Head Hailey asked for you in particular, but I haven’t been very careful.”

Richard looked at Claire carefully and thought about what he saw.

His questioning eyes made her feel strangely uncomfortable.

“What do you do here?”

“I help out in the kitchen and clean the mansion…”

Tap, tap.

Someone kept pushing her back.

Who were they? Someone was talking.

Claire turned around with a frown.

Whooo.

A huge horse stood there and snorted.

Claire jumped back in surprise.

“Chandler, stop.”

By pulling on the reins, Richard stopped the horse.

But Chandler didn’t listen to his master. He walked up to where Claire had moved away and nudged her with his nose.

At the end, he showed love by rubbing his face on her arm.

“Do you have something to eat in your pocket, like a carrot or an apple?”

“No way, if I did, I’d have eaten it already.”

When she said what she said, he looked at her with suspicious eyes.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying I stole food and ate it. Look at this: if I turn my pockets inside out, nothing but dust comes out, right?”

Claire showed him how she had tied her apron around her waist, and she shook it hard so that the skirt moved.

“Hiccup, hiccup.”

Ash and dust that had gotten on the clothes started to fly around, making her cough.

“Wait a moment.”

He reached out to her, who was busy waving her hand, all of a sudden.

Claire’s eyes got bigger when he grabbed her wrist.

“Why are you doing that? Why?”

“Stop shaking, because the more you do, the more you’ll sneeze.”

He made a frowning face.

“So, tell me why you grabbed my hand.”

“I didn’t think you were a thief.”

Richard let go of her hand and pointed to Chandler.

“Chandler is especially friendly because he smelled something good on you and thought there might be a carrot.”

Chandler kept getting close to her the whole time.

“Hey, don’t move! The Duke is talking right now.”

Claire pushed Chandler’s head away and watched what Richard did.

Phwoosh.

Chandler settled down after shaking his head once.

Richard, who had been looking at this for a while, mumbled something and looked confused.

“Chandler is hard to deal with. Why does he treat you differently?”

“I don’t know either.”

She just stood there uncomfortably and didn’t say anything.

“Duke!”

A guy came running, his face all red.

“Are you hurt?”

The person took Chandler by the reins and pulled him over to him.

He showed his teeth.

“Behave, shh.”

The man, who was dripping with sweat, tried to calm Chandler down.

“I’m fine. I didn’t expect him to leave so quickly.”

“I don’t know why he did that, since he always does what his master tells him to do.”

“I’m not sure.”

Richard gave Claire a look.

Chandler didn’t want to leave Claire, so the guy had a hard time with him.

Chandler was very busy, showing the guy his teeth while nuzzling Claire’s head.

“Duke, I really should leave now.”

To end this uncomfortable situation, she had to get out of Chandler’s sight.

Richard gave her a small nod, which seemed to say that she could leave.

Claire quickly grabbed her bag and ran away from the scene.

Richard turned to the groom after he had been watching her move away.

“Have you ever seen that girl before?”

“I’ve met her more than once.”

“Have you seen her talking as well?”

“Oh, now that you say it, she can talk! I thought she was mute because she was so quiet.”

“I’ve heard the same.”

Richard muttered something while thinking.

The head of the convent had asked him to take in a child three years ago, and he did.

And he was sure he had heard that she couldn’t talk.

“There must have been a good reason.”

Richard watched as Claire got farther and farther away.

* * *

Claire rushed back to the house after a good wash.

She had forgotten how much time had gone by.

As she walked down the long hall, she ran into the strict maid, as she had expected. She was definitely going to get in trouble for being late.

She was about to say she was sorry when…

“Miss, you’ve woken up.”

The maid bowed to Claire as a sign of respect.

At the Duke’s house, Alicia was the only person who was called “miss.”

Claire turned around to see if Alicia was behind her.

But neither behind her nor next to her, there was no sign of Alicia.

She stood up and stared blankly at the cleaner.

“Miss, it looks like you had a good nap. Your skin looks great.”

“…?”

The cleaner kept calling her “miss,” which she didn’t understand.

She seemed to be mixing up Claire and Alicia.

“It’s been a long time since you last adjusted your glasses, hasn’t it?”

Claire pointed to the housekeeper’s glasses.

“I got new glasses last year,” she said.

“Don’t you know who I still am?”

“Miss Alicia?”

“Look at me very closely.”

“Are you really the miss?”

The confused housewife fixed her glasses once more.

“My name is Claire Mcllroy.”

“Claire, I know the maid you’re talking about. Are you kidding? No, is it true?”

The maid was so confused that she tripped over her words.

“Yes. So what’s wrong?”

“Oh my.”

“What gives you such a shock?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I just thought you were Miss.”

The housekeeper quickly got herself back together.

“But even so, how could you think I was Miss when I was wearing a maid’s uniform?”

Claire’s white skirt, which was tied around her waist, moved in the wind.

“That’s why I said I was wrong,” she replied.

The maid was very mean to her. She kept looking at Claire’s face, though.

Claire touched her own face by accident.

“It isn’t because you have something stuck to your face.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I didn’t notice until now, but you do resemble Miss Alicia quite a bit.”

“Oh, what a joke! If the madam hears this, there will be trouble.”

“Well, when you look closely, you are different.”

The maid reached out to touch Claire’s golden blonde hair and looked into her eyes.

Then, as if she had decided on her own, she whispered something and nodded her head.

“Well, anyway, you’re kind of the same.”

“Should I now go into Miss’s room?”

“You need to do something before that, Philip!”

The maid fiddled with her glasses and called for someone.

At that moment, a nice helper showed up out of nowhere.

The cleaner spoke while pointing to the big figure called Philip.

“You and Philip need to go somewhere.”

“But the Miss?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just lead Philip.”

“Where?”

“The way to Valles Monastery, do you remember?”

When Claire was a child, her family lived at Valles Monastery.

Even though she was kicked out of school three years ago for some reason.

“It’s been so long that I can’t remember much about it…”

Claire’s eyes rolled.

“Yes, it is hazy, but you’ll remember it as you go.”

The maid didn’t even try to listen.

“You’d better ask someone else.”

“No one else knows how to get here except us. If only we had the butler…”

“What happened to the butler?”

“He left the house to do business for the Duke.”

It was hard to deal with. How could she find a road she’d only been on once before?

“All you have to do is lead Philip. It shouldn’t be hard, right?”

“…Yes.”

She gave a reluctant “yes.”

“When you get to the monastery, Philip, tell them you have Mrs. Stanton’s gift.”

I gave the package to Philip, who put it inside his coat with skill.

The word “donation” caught Claire’s attention.

Valles Monastery could only stay open with the help of nobles. Since they are part of the Stanton family, it is possible that their gift will be a big one.

Even though Claire was kicked out of the monastery, she still remembered it as if it were her home.

If she had to, she could even find her way on a road she had never been on before.

Claire followed Philip because she was in a good mood. A carriage was waiting outside the house.

Philip moved his big body around and got in the driver’s seat. As he did this, the wagon tilted and leaned to one side.

Claire opened the door to the carriage.

“What’s going on?”

Philip looked down at her and talked in a rough tone.

“I’m getting on the horse-drawn carriage.”

“Ugh, you’re unbelievable.”

Philip spat in a rude way.

His spit and phlegm, which was yellow, fell on her foot. Claire’s brow creased.

“Are you the carriage driver?”

“…”

“Are you even a lady?”

“If you want to say something, say it right.”

“Am I supposed to carry you and drive the carriage? Maybe if you were my mistress…Why don’t you just get in here already?”

Philip tapped his seat impatiently and muttered something.

Claire took a look at both the hard seat for the coachman and the soft seat inside the carriage.

Philip didn’t like the thought of Claire sitting in the carriage.

He wants to serve the Master, but he doesn’t want to carry the maid. 

Philip had a very bad personality. If someone did what he said, he would look down on them even more.

Claire raised her chin and straightened her shoulders.

“Could you please move out of the way?”

Philip was taken aback, maybe because he thought she would change her mind.

“If I told you to get on, you should have moved the seat.”

Claire showed Philip where the empty place was.

Since Philip’s big body took up most of the coachman’s seat, there wasn’t much room to sit.

“Tsk.”

Philip groaned as he moved his bottom to the side, but it still hurt.

“Move over a little bit more.”

“Just sit down already.”

“This won’t work. I’ll be in pain before we even get to the monastery.”

“There’s no room for discussion. Hurry up and get in.”

Philip’s face creased, and his brows furrowed.

What will happen if I give him a hard look? Claire looked him straight in the eyes.

“I can’t do it. I should ask Mrs. Hailey for a big carriage.”

Claire didn’t get on the coachman’s seat. Instead, she jumped down.

“Hey, I get it, I understand!”

Philip reached out and grabbed Claire.

Philip had wanted to run this errand successfully. The butler had always done things that were important. If he did well with this one, the woman might also trust him.

But he had never planned to take a maid with him. 

But he couldn’t say anything against what the maid said. Before he knew it, he was giving in to what she wanted.

Philip squished himself against one side of the coachman’s seat and grumbled to himself.

“Thank you.”

Claire smiled quietly as she climbed into the seat for the coachman.

“Make sure you point me in the right direction.

“Of course.”

Philip was busy with the carriage, so Claire stuck her tongue out at him.