Soon she lifted her heels high. As she pulled her upper body out of her window and poked her head out, a cool breeze brushed past her cheeks. For some reason, at night, the temperature of the breeze in contact with her skin became particularly clear. The cool breeze seemed to soothe the hot tears in her eyes.

She was giving herself to the wind just like that, but in an instant, her body lost balance and stumbled forward. It didn’t take long for her to notice that someone grabbed her arm and turned her around.

Blue eyes were staring at Evely clearly. He opened his mouth arrogantly, still not letting go of her hand.

“What is this?”

Without any surprise, Evely answered with a bewildered voice.

“I was looking at the stars.”

“Star?”

“Yes. Ah, I’m really sorry I fell asleep earlier……”

“It looks like there’s not much to see.”

He twisted his head and laughed with a sneer. Evely’s answer was a sarcastic response.

“Because I like to look at the stars.”

She smiled brightly and told him what she had wanted to say for a long time.

“….Thank you for this room.”

“I just didn’t want it to be noisy.”

He replied gently as if it were nothing. It’s not that he was unfamiliar and embarrassed by the thanks, but he really just felt like it was because he didn’t want it to be noisy. Well, even so, he was very grateful as well.

“I’m glad we’re getting closer to the stars. Now that we’re this close, I think we can grab it with a few more jumps.”

Hearing those words, he looked at Evely with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He had seen this expression ten years ago.  When she stumbled on her foot in his bathroom and gave him weird excuses, she was exactly like this back then. Those cynical eyes that seemed to say stupid things.

“Going to the top of the tower after all.”

There were words that sounded teasing or sarcastic, but she replaced it with a silent laughter and moved her gaze out the window again. Then she opened her mouth as softly as if she were talking to herself.

“….My mom always said this. The noble ones become the sun, and little ones like us become a handful of stars, scattering in the night sky. So in every dark and distant moment like the night, she becomes a star and always watches over me……”

The eyes that had been looking out the window, somewhere in the dark sky, turned back to him and their eyes met.

The dark blue eyes still couldn’t read the inside like the day they first saw it. In addition to that, with his large physique and cool impression, he used to give her a sense of intimidation even without saying anything. Evely rolled up the hem of her skirt and opened her mouth as if in excuses.

“The day I let my mother go is in a few days. So I’m saying all these useless things… I’m sorry, Master. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I guess I still remember it like this. It’s been a while.”

For nothing, she was drenched in emotions and showed a troublesome appearance.

In fact, they often talked about this and that when they had the princess here. The princess, whom she had no one to interact with, was always willing to bring up various things to Evely, who was always by her side, and Evely also chatted with her, and she used to tell her inner stories. But this was the first time she told him her own story.

“Just because you go up one more floor doesn’t make you any closer. No matter how high a human builds a castle, the sky is always farther away.”

No matter how much I stretch out my hand, I can’t catch or touch anything like a star.

His tone was as clear as if he was pointing out the facts. It was so clear that it sounded very lively. Who didn’t know this? That’s how special it was.

“… So it’s okay to visit your mother sooner or later.”

Evely’s eyes, which had been appearing dull previously, turned round, wondering if she had heard something wrong.

“What I meant was, I’m giving you a vacation.”

It was unbelievable. Vacations were uncommon for slaves. In a few days, there was a big cleanup. It was a day when all the maids and servants polished the entire castle to make it shiny and even the smallest things could not go wrong.

“But that day is a cleaning day, and if the maids know, they won’t leave me alone…”

Alec cut off Evely’s words and opened his mouth one-sidedly.

“Your Master… is a maid?”

His eyes frowned slightly. He was not asking out of curiosity, but to awaken awareness.  Evely answered quickly without wasting any more time.

“No!”

It was then that his words began to make sense. Her eyes gleamed like a child who was given a pleasant surprise. The first time that his sarcastic tone has been so welcoming.

“Master is Master.”

She was smiling so brightly, whispering something to herself, it was like seeing a puppy making footprints everywhere on a snowy day.

“Thank you so much. Really… I’ll be right back, will be right back.”

Her heart was so full that she felt like she didn’t know what to do.

“I’ll be back in the blink of an eye. Thank you so much, really.”

“If I had to hear your thank you one more time, I would be very tired.”

What was the meaning of “thank you” coming from a maid?

He spat out his words as if he was throwing it. It wasn’t that he was criticizing Evely for saying thank you, and it wasn’t just a silly word to say thank you. It’s just that it was the truth. What did a maid’s “thank you” mean?

From a desperate thank you for saving someone’s life to an emperor’s gratitudes for his service and achievements. It was a life where all sorts of gratitudes were received. He had heard so many thanks from the nobles that it was familiar and dull, no more than he heard a maid’s thanks.

But Evely, whether he heard him or not, still couldn’t hide her joy, and spoke in a soft clear voice like the night wind blowing in.

“Master may not want to hear this maid say thank you, but…”

After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke again.

“I want to say thank you. I’m saying thank you from the bottom of my heart because I want to show my gratitude to you.”

His eyes met with hers again, with a sharper gaze than usual. Evely quickly lowered her head and smiled.

In fact, she found out that she might have sounded a bit arrogant.

But at that moment, she thought that somehow, it would be okay to act however she wanted.

Evely felt his gaze still on her and was relieved. Because that thought was not wrong.