Chapter 162 – Grand Duke Collector (14)

Plum’s central island has a number of rooms prepared to accommodate not only the people living there but also VIPs.
Princess Erzsebet’s room on the top floor is always cleaned with great care.
In the rooms one floor below where the wizards are staying, you must also be careful not to touch their magic tools or books.

At first, it was quite a struggle to clean up the room of the iron knights standing in front of the door or the sensitive wizard, but now I’ve gotten used to it.
This morning, room cleaning began as soon as the guests left to prepare for the meeting.

“Miss Lily… ? “There’s so much to do here, so would you mind taking a room on the 5th floor?”
“Yes. “I will check.”

Among the busy maid and her butlers, a senior approached and spoke warmly.
Lily’s life has changed 180 degrees since the last time it was revealed that she was quite close to Lewis.
None of the employees wanted to offend a man who was clearly in a romantic relationship with one of the archdukes.
Still, the senior asked Lily, who couldn’t help but wonder, as she got up with her rolling pin and broom.

“Ah, you mean that guy from back then…”
“Uncle Lewis?”
“Yes, so whose lover is she? Because it is an issue where quite a lot of money is at stake among users…”

Since no one has the courage to ask directly, you will have to check for yourself.
Lily also didn’t know which of the archdukes he was dating, but she was equally curious.

“Well. “If I get a chance, I’ll ask.”
“Really? “Please, please!”

Leaving behind the cheering shouts of her senior, she followed her up the stairs.
Lily headed to the 5th floor, the same floor as Erzsebet’s room.
It was an empty room there.

No, it would be wrong to say it was an empty room.
To be exact, it was a room where guests had never entered.
It seemed like there was luggage on the first day, but even that was all gone the next day, and there was no check-out request, so it was a room that had to be cleaned out every morning.
Naturally, cleaning untouched rooms was the easiest job of all, so it was usually handled by senior maids who wanted to skip the job.

“Excuse me!”

Lily also opened the door with a light heart without knocking.
At that moment, she noticed someone curled up under the blanket.

“S-sorry!!!”
“…”

I never thought there were people.
She bowed immediately to the rude words and actions, but there was no response.
The moment I was about to quickly close the door and leave, wondering if I might have fallen asleep.
A cracked voice was heard: “Please just bring me a glass of water.”

“Yes yes! I’ll bring it to you soon… Huh? Mister… ?”
“Cold, cold… !”

It was Lewis who stuck his head out from above the blanket.
I didn’t know why he was sharing a room on the same floor as the princess, but it was because requests from VIPs had to be processed as quickly as possible.
Lily immediately poured me a glass of clear, filtered water from her cart in the hallway.
Her complexion was dark and her lips were blue.

“Cough… ! Ah, thank you. “I will live.”
“Are you in any pain? Or even if it’s inconvenient…”
“No, it’s just because my soul was pulled. Originally, the balance was maintained on both sides, but as it became a three-way match, the stability was slightly broken. Cough… ! Don’t worry.”

Lewis mutters something he doesn’t understand.
He looked at the clock on the wall and quickly got dressed.

“Are you going to the meeting?”
“I have to go. “It will probably end today.”
“Really… ?”

Does this mean that the long meeting is finally over?
Lily sighed in relief and draped her coat over his shoulder as it lay on her doorstep.

“If this island is emptied, what happens to you now?”
“There is a user association that manages floating islands in the Baltic Mountains. You will go to work on another floating island. Maybe the princess will look favorably on us and appoint a few people as servants under the royal family. It’s unlikely, but…”
“Hmm… Okay.”

What did you know?
Although Louis still had many secrets, Lily first assisted him and was faithful to her role as a servant.

“I’m going to the conference room. You?”
“Oh, I have to clean my room. Of course, if you say you don’t need it, you don’t have to, right?”
“Clean up.”
“Of course, if you say you don’t need it, you don’t have to.”
“Now that I think about it, it seems clean as is.”

Lily, who was quick to notice, got Lewis’s permission and went outside with him.
She took a half step back as she walked to her conference room.
She suddenly remembered the question her former senior had asked her earlier.
If the meeting ends today, there will never be another chance to ask Louis whose lover he is.

“Hey brother…”

Half out of curiosity, half to get one step closer to Lewis’ identity.
It was just as Lily was about to cautiously call him.

***

“I’m a teacher——!!!”

There is a large corridor on the way to the conference room.
It is quite complicated because it is long and has many bends here and there.
This is the only road leading to the only entrance guarded by knights at every corner.
It was perfect for protecting security, but it was also perfect for encountering the Archduke or other wizards, so in such cases, the users would hide behind the pillar without notice.

“Are you going in now?”
“Cough… ! No, later. Please go to the bathroom. “Isn’t it cold?”
“Yes! But the ice duck must have a cold. “The size has become much smaller.”
“Hmm, that’s strange. “Why did you do that?”

When Adella suddenly appeared and launched herself at Louise, Lily reflexively hid behind her pillar.
And what she saw was truly shocking.

“Huh…”

Aren’t these two people mixing their tongues together?
It was completely unexpected.
Even Rochear’s second daughter looks very happy.
There is no doubt that they are more than just lovers, as their curly hair entangles the ring finger of Lewis’s left hand as if they are lingering on it.

“Then see you later in the conference room!”
“You’re going to fall, take your time.”

Oh, my brother was dating that person.
Lily thought she would let her senior know when today’s meeting was over and she would do the final cleaning.
However, as Adela walked away and she was about to come out of her pillar again, another archduke appeared.

“President.”
“The Baron came early too.”

Fantasy ball, Liv Labre de Greenwood.
Lily is also familiar with the island she lives on, as it is reputed to treat its residents well.
Seeing that she approaches Lewis and calls him boss, does she seem to be quite friendly with him?
However, seeing that she naturally placed her hand on her stomach, it seemed like it was not a simple transactional relationship.

“You said last time that you definitely call me by my name.”
“Tsk… ! That’s only at night…”
“Why?”
“Well, this place… Sigh! You know it all! Well, stop pressing…”

Transaction relationship… Right?

After sending off Liv, whose face was bright red, the next person to appear was Ice Snowball.
Pure white snowflakes landed on the floor of the corridor with a chill.
Lily held her breath involuntarily at that beautiful sight.
The appearance is like an elegant statue without the slightest disturbance.

Again, again.

She thought she would soon pass by this place because Esther was walking in front of her without even giving her the slightest glance.
However, even after waiting for a long time, the overwhelming coldness showed no sign of abating, so Lily slowly turned her head over the pillar.
And–

“… !!”

I saw Esthel stretching out her arms and wrapping her arms around Louise’s neck, hugging her.
She was whispering something in Lewis’s ear in her characteristic emotionless voice.

“Are you hurt?”
“One way or another. It’s okay, I just need to go to Farencia and get treatment.”
“When we return to Beihai, we will send red ginseng of Cheonsam grade to the store. “After the conflict with Viscount Ruhilen last time, I have not been using what I received from the royal castle.”
“That didn’t taste good…” …”

Now her mind was confused.
Is it a good idea to tell others who Louis is dating?
If we were to make a reasonable inference, we could say that he has a deep relationship with the Rocheard family and is on good terms with Adela’s older sister.

‘But pushing their breasts like that is something North Sea women only do with their husbands…’

Lily was also from the North, so she didn’t know what Esther’s actions meant.
An unconscious expression of courtship that says, “I really like you.”
No one else is doing this, but the head of the Roshoir family.

The moment Lily’s confusion grew as she saw her third archduke leaving ——

“Ah, boss~!!”

From afar, Lehel came up waving her hand and grabbed the hem of Lewis’s clothes.
And she said, holding out a piece of parchment from her arms.

“Here is the application for a name change for Merak Mapap. With this, both the magic tower and the store are under the same name!”
“Already?”
“Yes. It’s better to do this quickly… “I’ll take a picture of you for a moment?”
“Huh? Uh… !”

Lehel disappeared in a flash, emphasizing the ‘joint name’ to Lewis.
Behind them, Scarlett in a wheelchair and Katreya, carrying a large glass bottle full of red liquid, passed by.

“Hey, aren’t you pushing this quickly? “If you made me like this, you should be held accountable!”
“I thought you ran away, but you came back! Would you like to follow me later after the meeting? “I’ll let you eat as much of me as you want!”

Lewis naturally exchanged greetings with the girls and told her to meet him in her conference room a little later.
However, the content of the conversation is very suspicious.

As the two men left, he finally realized Lily’s presence as he stood still in the quiet corridor.

“Oh, you were there? “You should have said hello.”
“… You must be very close? With ‘all’ the Grand Dukes.”
“Well, how did it happen? “It wasn’t something I had planned, but as I spent time with each of them, it happened naturally.”
“One by one… Naturally…”

Lily suddenly realized that she still had the gunny sack and broom in her hands.
And there is no one among Plum’s users who can win the bet.

“Right. Has the princess already entered the conference room? I felt like I said something too harsh last time, so I bought you a gift. “At the jewelry store.”
“S-No way, even with the princess… !”
“First of all, you could say that we are close like family.”
“… !”

Jewelry store.
For a moment, Lily thought of her older sister who worked at a jewelry store in Farencia.
After her hometown was attacked by a band of thieves, she lost contact with her for a while, but recently she came to visit the Baltic Mountains where she works.

“Anyway, I’m going to the bathroom, so work hard. “See you later, if you can.”
“…”

Throughout her meal, her older sister, Kate, nonchalantly gossiped about a man who wandered into her jewelry store, even though there were more than one woman walking around her leg.

“This, human, trash… !”

I don’t know who it was, but the words she uttered were perfectly referring to someone like Lewis.