Warmth In The Middle Of The Night

In the middle of the night, Seira woke up because she heard a noise coming from the kitchen. Given that the maid's room was close to the kitchen.

"What is that noise? Why does it sound like someone is moving things around in the kitchen?" she muttered at that moment.

She then opened her eyes and got off the same bed. She walked out of her room to the kitchen while carrying a candle to see who was making the noise.

Arriving at the kitchen, she saw the figure of a man who was looking for something in the food storage cabinet. He was opening a few others and then picked up the jar of cookies in the cupboard.

"What are you doing, Lord Albert?" she asked which made the man immediately turn around with cookies in his hand.

Albert tried to hide the cookies behind his body but Seira had already seen them. She walked over to him and extinguished the candle in her hand as the kitchen was already well-lit.

"It's nothing. I'm just looking for something I can eat because I'm feeling a little hungry," he said trying to look stay cool.

"By eating sweets in the middle of the night? Making a scene in the Mansion just to find cookies?"

"What's wrong with that? You think a man can't eat cookies?!" he asked back in a tone of voice that would try to keep him from looking like a child who secretly took cookies from the cupboard when his mother was asleep.

But Seira just silently stared at him, which made him immediately put the jar back into the cupboard and close it.

"If you're really hungry, you can wake me up. I'm the maid here, so I have to fulfill what you need," Seira said and picked up the ingredients she could cook for Albert.

"You always refuse what I want. Even when Leonard and I wanted to touch you. You think I can just come to your room and ask you to make me something. I'm sure you'll think bad things about me," said the man who was confirmed by Seira.

He then sat at the dining table, waiting for the servant to finish making the food for him. Seira only wanted to cook a simple meal, so that she didn't have to dirty the kitchen just to make one serving of food.

After almost 15 minutes, the meal was finally finished, a soup for Albert. She also included potatoes and corn so that the knight could feel full.

"Then I'll go back to my room. Enjoy your soup," said Seira who intended to leave the kitchen but Albert immediately caught her wrist.

"Accompany me to eat here. Don't leave me alone. I hate eating alone," he said in a low tone.

Seira was silent when he asked that, then her eyes looked at Albert's hand grasping her wrist.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you," he said.

Without saying anything, Seira sat on the chair in front of him and watched him eat.

She didn't understand why Albert had suddenly turned into someone so calm. She had always seen him as a man who always wanted to win and never stopped talking.

But the look in his eyes, when he asked her to stay there, made Seira feel like she saw someone else in him.

Just like when she saw Harvey who was silent when talking about Dominic a few days ago.

"You must think that I'm childish for asking you to accompany me to eat here." Albert seemed to be staring at her, while slurping soup from his spoon.

"Not really," Seira replied. "I actually see you as quite a annoying man, since you once almost killed me just because I refused when you asked me to sleep with you."

He paused for a moment as he looked at her, then asked in confusion. "Why do you always seem so calm, when you are the servant of three knights who are known to be cruel and dangerous by everyone. Yet you act like a woman taking care of three children."

'Because you are not much different from three children with a lot of desires,' Seira thought at that moment.

But she replied that there was no specific reason for it. She just acted as usual, and did not show her fear because she thought there was nothing to be afraid of.

"I just wanted to do my job as a servant sent by the palace for three of you. If you had intended to kill me, you would have done so from the start," she replied.

She knew they wouldn't because they needed her right then. They were wounded and they needed to be treated immediately before infection set in.

Plus they were also hungry, so they really needed Seira and felt she was fit to be their servant after enjoying her cooking.

Albert was still looking at her with a puzzled look, as he was also still thinking about Harvey's words about Seira.

'Harvey said there was something she might be hiding. But what is it?' he thought.

However, he was still in awe of Seira's beauty, her dexterity at work, and the dishes she made that suited their tastes.

"I wonder what your life was like before coming here. Is working as a servant in the palace more tiring than being our servant?"

She shook her head. "Working in the palace is actually much more easier than working for you three. When in the palace there are many servants who can be relied upon to do one or two other things. But for you three, I do everything by myself."

Albert laughed when he heard it. "Ahahaha... Harvey doesn't like having too many people hanging around the mansion. He has a hard time trusting people. So he thought one servant would be enough for the three of us."

'So all of this is because he asked for it?' Seira sighed when she realized that.

She and Albert had a brief conversation before the man finally finished his meal.

"I feel better now. I should have woken you up earlier," he said.

"Next time you can knock on my bedroom door, I'll make you something if you're hungry," Seira replied then took the bowl Albert had eaten from and washed it.

He watched her washing it with relief. His gaze on Seira seemed to change slightly because of what she did. Although it was a normal thing that a maid had to do because it was part of her job.

'I think Harvey is right, there is something different about that woman. And I'm also curious, what's behind that pretty face.'