Chapter 23
Hunter answered in a somewhat ambiguous way, his expression impossible to read.
Did that mean she didn’t need to do chores? Or…
What should I do? After hearing those words, Prina suddenly felt a jolt of fear. Her lips trembled slightly as if she wanted to say something.
“Would you really be fine no matter what I asked you to do?”
“…Yes. I’m fine with it.”
Prina answered honestly. Maybe, as he said, she really was naïve or reckless, but there was only one answer she could give.
“I don’t think you would ask me to do anything bad, Mr. Hunter.”
“And why do you think that?”
“Well… because you’re a good person, Mr. Hunter. You saved me, and even though I was frightened and kept acting rude… you just patiently waited.”
“Okay, let’s say I am a good person, as you say.”
He let out a short laugh.
“Then do you always look at good people with such frightened eyes?”
Prina was at a loss for words, because even though she knew he was a good person, it was also true that she still trembled in front of him. As she couldn’t answer right away, he changed the question—considerately, for her sake.
“So, what I mean is, are you still afraid of me?”
She didn’t want to lie to someone who had shown her such endless consideration.
“To be honest, I’m still a little scared… but I think that’s because I misunderstood you, not because of you, Mr. Hunter.”
Just because his first impression had been frightening, she had decided he was a scary person. She’d thought she never wanted to meet him again, and the moment she did, she’d hidden away without a word. She, who more than anyone had suffered because of others’ preconceptions, had done the same. It was shamefully cowardly.
Bowing her head, Prina offered a polite apology.
“I’m truly sorry.”
A heavy silence followed.
What if he didn’t accept her apology? But even so, it couldn’t be helped. He had no obligation to help her, and even if he refused, she was at fault for having received his kindness and yet still being wary of him.
“But what should I even have you do? There’s nothing in particular I need from you.”
After watching her for a moment, he gave a brief laugh.
Prina, startled, quickly added in a flustered voice,
“Really, anything, it doesn’t matter what. If you just give me something to do, I’ll try my best…”
“Ah, well, I’d like us to eat meals together from now on.”
“That’s… all?”
Prina echoed his suggestion, looking dumbfounded.
“Of course, if you want me to, I’ll do that, Mr. Hunter. But you really can ask for something else, too. If I do nothing, I feel so guilty…”
“Hmm…”
After a brief moment of consideration, Hunter made his decision.
“I’ll watch you a little longer before deciding what to have you do.”
For the time being, Prina was allowed to stay at his mansion.
“Tomorrow morning, at eight. Here.”
“…Pardon?”
“For breakfast.”
Prina’s face lit up.
* * *
He said he’d watch her a bit more before deciding what work to give her. But just because Hunter hadn’t given her a job didn’t mean Prina could just sit around idly. Now that her body had recovered and the misunderstanding had been cleared up, she had to do something.
If it was cleaning or laundry, those were things she’d always done at the monastery. From the next day, Prina began to voluntarily clean the mansion. For a house where only a man lived, it was surprisingly large, but there was nothing else she really needed to do here anyway. She planned to divide the areas and clean them step by step.
The mansion had been spotless from the start, but it was to an oddly extreme degree. For example, there wasn’t a speck of dust even in places where you’d expect to find some.
‘Why is it so clean?’
After wiping down the top of a bookshelf with a dry rag and checking for dust, Prina tilted her head to the side.
It made sense to quickly wipe away the dust that appeared in obvious places every day, but high-up furniture, the tops of picture frames, the tops of window sashes and curtains… No matter how clean a place is, it’s almost impossible for there to be no dust at all. And yet, it was strangely immaculate. There wasn’t a single thing to nitpick.
With no dust to clean, she ended up wiping even further into the corners, but those places were just as clean. At the monastery, a dry rag would get dirty in no time, but here, it stayed clean. She even got down on the floor to wipe every nook and cranny, but it was all spotless. It was strange.
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