The Akashi family, a branch house in Kyoto.
With the sound of tea being poured into the bone china cup slowly, the faint aroma of black tea gradually became stronger.
"The seasonal summer harvest tea from Darjeeling, and the chiffon cake just baked in the kitchen, please use it slowly, master." In the living room of the mansion, the blond girl stood aside respectfully after presenting refreshments to the host, "Originally Dinner started two and a half hours after the reservation, but the housekeeper just received a call saying that the master will come over for dinner today, so it will be delayed by half an hour."
The girl who was still wearing a uniform at school before had changed into a blue and white maid dress. The blonde hair on the shawl was tied up neatly without any strands of hair curling up. Under the skirt were black round-toed leather shoes. It was the meticulously folded cuffs, the ruffled white apron and maid hat that set off her already delicate face as sweet as a doll. At this time, with a smile on his face, he reported the situation to the young master who also changed into home clothes and was sitting on the sofa.
"Is father coming over?" Akashi was taken aback after hearing the news, then nodded, "I see."
"Today's dinner is salmon airlifted from Norway..." After confirming that the young master had no objection to the meal time, the maid began to report the kitchen menu to the master, "...do you need to adjust anything?"
"It's ok, there's nothing to change." Holding the bone china cup, Akashi showed helplessness to the girl who had always been respectful, "Melu, although you do serve as a maid in this house, you really don't have to do it all the time." conservative."
After getting along for nearly two years, she has always been by his side from school to home, and with the similar age, it is difficult for Akashi to treat her as the servants hired at home.
Most importantly, with her talents, being a maid is too wasteful.
"Please don't say that, young master." Mei Lu frowned and smiled, with an elegant but docile posture, "I am a hired maid who has a clear contract with the Akashi family, so I can't abandon my own just because I have a good relationship with the young master and I am loved by you." Own job."
It's this sentence again. After failing to persuade again, Akashi could only compromise and shake his head.
Seeing this, the maid smiled slightly, bowed her head to him, and walked away in small steps. She was going to inform the kitchen of today's dinner arrangements. When I returned to the living room, I had an additional information bag in my hand: "Master, the final of the National Chess Championship in Tokyo next Wednesday is about to start. Here is your opponent's information, as well as the chess hall he recently visited and the finals." The chess records of human games have been sorted out for you."
There is still some time before dinner, and it is really suitable to learn about the opponent's plan after the break.
However, as the master, Akashi didn't quite agree with the maid's behavior: "Melu, didn't you say that you should rest well after being busy with the basketball game? It doesn't matter if the chess game is left to others." He was tired for a while, It was even more difficult for Meilu, who was always busy behind him. She has obviously said it many times, but she has never heard it.
"I'm very sorry, Master." Hearing the master's dissatisfaction, the girl immediately bowed her head and apologized, "However, it concerns the honor of the young master. If I don't watch it personally, I really can't feel at ease. I can rest at any time, the young master's business is important " At the end, she raised her head and handed over the file bag with both hands, her beautiful blue eyes were full of uncompromising, fully expressing her inner position.
"You are really..." The boy couldn't hold back the kindness at all, and at the same time his heart was filled with frustration, "I've really worked hard on you these days, Mei Lu."
"Please don't say that, it's my honor to run for you." Seeing him take over the file, Mei Lu also smiled, "Mei Lu feels very happy to be of use to you to realize your wish. As long as I see your It doesn't hurt to smile at all."
It was obviously a little nasty, but the girl said it naturally. She always smiled sincerely in her eyes, which made it clear that she thought so from the bottom of her heart.
But precisely because of such sincerity, the heir of the chaebol, who had already become well-rounded and perfect for all kinds of occasions due to the cultivation of the family, blushed unconsciously, and had to turn his head slightly so that no one could see his expression at this time.
Looking at the fragrant black tea on the table, Akashi couldn't help thinking of the time when he first met Meilu.
At that time, he was still a sophomore in high school, and the basketball team he led was not as good as it is now. On the way to the championship, he was defeated by one point.
Although he admitted defeat openly at the time and admitted his own shortcomings, he also sincerely blessed his opponent. But the all-time winning record was broken after all. The honor of runner-up may not be bad for others, but for the heirs of the Akashi family, it is a disgrace.
After the failure, the pressure from the school, from the family, or from the father is inevitable. Even though he didn't lose his pride, the fact of his defeat was beyond doubt.
It was at this time that Mei Lu met him.
It was a twilight street, and she was alone in a thin brown windbreaker, carrying a small old-fashioned suitcase in her hand, like an English girl in the old century, standing alone in the sunset with a desolate posture lonely.
"I'm Mel, a maid who just lost her master. Now I have nowhere to go, and I'm trying to find a job."
The girl said that with a smile at that time, she explained a few words casually like chatting, then nodded politely to him, and was about to leave with the suitcase.
In Akashi's eyes, the slender and lonely back overlapped with himself who had lost the game and left the crowd to wander the streets, and stretched out his hand in a strange way.
"If you don't mind, please come to my house. My family is hiring servants recently."
Thus, Meru became a maid of the Akashi family. Whether it's cleaning, cooking or mending, she does everything perfectly, and she can deal with urgent and difficult orders calmly, so good that even her demanding father can't find the slightest fault.
In this way, two years have passed in a flash, but Akashi will never forget the expression on the girl's face when he said the invitation, and the girl turned her head to look at him—after the accident, it slowly turned into extreme joy. She looked at him with a smile on her face. His expression was astonishingly bright, and his eyes were full of reflections only on him.
With such focused and loving eyes, it was as if he was her god.
With Melun's detailed information that can be called statistics, Akashi was not surprised, and won the national chess championship next week.
Looking at the addition of a golden trophy to the display cabinet in the study room, the boy no longer had any emotional fluctuations that could be called joy for this common victory. Compared with these, he has more urgent things to do.
"Melu, what Father means is that he wants me to study at the University of Tokyo. With your grades, it's okay to be with me when the time comes, right?"
"Of course, as long as it is what the young master wishes, Mei Lu will achieve it for you."
Before the college entrance examination, Akashi said so, and the maid answered in the affirmative.
But at that time, there was one thing he didn't explain to Mei Lu...
The boy turned his head and looked at the calendar on the desk. It was not long before the admission notice from Dongda University was sent.
By the time they go to Tokyo University, they will already be eighteen years old, and the government revised the law last year, and the adult age in Japan has been lowered from the original 20 years old to 18 years old.
He will be an adult next year, which also means that he has the official right to speak in this family and has the ability to control his own future.
Until then, until then...
"Fulfilling the young master's wish is my goal. I hope you will be happy."
He also hopes to bring her happiness.
The red-haired young man wished sincerely, and for the first time in his life, he had such clamorous emotions. However, on the day he made up his mind, the world made a huge joke on him.
Merlu was gone and couldn't be found anywhere.
Her room was empty, and there was only a farewell letter left in the cleaned room.
Boom!
The door of Patriarch Akashi's study was pushed open vigorously. Patriarch Akashi, who was reviewing documents, looked up when he heard the sound, and saw his son standing at the door with a gloomy face.
The boy walked in with a sullen face, and for the first time dropped his politeness and respect for his father, and threw the letter and acceptance letter on his father's desk.
"She said in the letter that she would never come back again." Without losing his composure and yelling out of rage, the teenager looked coldly at his father sitting across the desk, "Did you do it? Because she has no background." Still unknown?"
"No background? Unknown origin?" The helm of the Akashi Zaibatsu and also Seijuro's father, Akashi Seishomi suddenly smiled. He picked up the farewell letter and looked at it before putting it down. Juro. And who would be willing to let this kind of talent be wasted on getting close to you?" Even the blindest person can see that Meilu's excellence is only used to win over his son. It is really overkill and waste of cost.
Opening the admission letter from the University of Tokyo, Akashi Masomi waved to his son.
"In the two years since she came to Akashi's house, I have watched you walk slowly step by step. Whether it is studying, basketball, chess, piano, horse racing... With her by your side, you have never lost a single time. .Now that you are about to become an adult, you will soon be able to take over part of the company's duties. I believe that with her, you can also do everything perfectly."
"Such a woman who can constantly bring you victories, ten young ladies with similar backgrounds to you are worthless. Seijuro, do you think I will prevent her from entering the door because of the superficial concept of family opinion?"
Every time the father said a word, the boy's face became more and more ugly.
"I didn't do anything. She left on her own. As stated in this letter, the two-year employment period has expired, and she has no intention of renewing her contract, so she left directly."
The boy's fists were clenched tightly, and his whole body was trembling slightly. However, the blow from the father did not end.
"Whether you want to admit it or not, people only regard you as the master from the beginning to the end. Seijuro, the person who has been misunderstanding you is yourself."
Patriarch Akashi said, dropped the notice in his hand, got up from the chair, bypassed the desk and left the room.
"It's really ugly. My son, who has been together day and night for two years, can't even catch a woman."
I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but the admission notice he dropped happened to be in the corner of the desk, where there was a score sheet of the national college entrance examination in Japan, and at the beginning of the list, the name of Meru Versilia was listed in the first column.
Since then, Akashi has never seen Meilu again, and has never found her. The blond maid seemed to have evaporated from the world and was never found again, as if the two years after the second year of high school were like a dream.
Only the incomprehension and unwillingness have been truly lingering in my heart.
...
Dark night, heavy rain.
This is the streets of London in the 19th century. Rain showers that came as soon as they said it, accompanied by lightning and thunder, shrouded the British capital, and the heavy rain washed every corner of the city fiercely.
And even in such bad weather, the empty streets are still running fast.
The water-filled road was splashed by horseshoes, and there was the sound of the whip whip, mixed with the noise of the wheels creaking from outside the carriage. Charles Phantomhine, who was only 10 years old, listened with his chin propped up. The sound of the rapid rain outside made his face expressionless.
He obviously has a very young and cute appearance, but whether it is the blue eyes covered by black eyepatch or the corners of the lips that do not smile at all, there is no innocence and tenderness that children should have at all. This young and thin body exudes a cold aura that does not match his age.
crunch!
The sharp screeching sound of the wheels suddenly sounded, and the ten-year-old boy hastily stretched his hands forward, and then stabilized his body that fell forward due to inertia, but the top hat on top of his head was still crooked due to this.
"Sebastian, what's going on!?" Because he was thinking about how to deal with the task given by the Queen, Charles, who was in a panic because of his inattention for a while, did not hide his anger, and opened the car door against the heavy rain to accuse the deacon who was driving in front.
"I'm very sorry, master." The tall deacon sitting in the driver's seat and driving the horse remained unchanged. Explain the reason, "Just now when we came to the corner, this young lady suddenly appeared and startled the horse, so it stopped abruptly."
Following his line of sight, Charles noticed a petite figure sitting on the ground in front of the carriage. She was wearing a thin brown windbreaker and was carrying a small old-fashioned suitcase. The whole person just sat there in the rainstorm without moving.
"Master, what should I do?" The deacon's dark red pupils glanced at the master, seemingly waiting for instructions, but in fact he was a bit playful.
The ten-year-old young count stood at the door of the carriage and narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard the words, condescendingly examining the rain-drenched girl in front of him.
This hesitant look is like a homeless stray dog.
The other party seemed to be aware of his scrutiny, and subconsciously raised his head to meet his gaze.
Gradually, the girl's eyes lit up.