“What? Why so suddenly!”

Deborah’s mask-like smile disappeared. Satisfied with this, Zen smiled with a seemingly bad-natured expression and said,

“Isn’t it that maid’s job to comfortably observe you, but you said you disliked it because it made you uncomfortable? So she must be fired.”

“Couldn’t she just return to her original duties from before I came here?”

“That position is already occupied by another maid. Or should we send your personal maid back to her original position and cut the maid currently working?”

‘He’s doing this again? Oh well, can’t be helped.’

Deborah clenched her fist and said, holding back a sigh.

“I understand. I’ll gratefully enjoy the kindness you’ve bestowed.”

“Please do so.”

Zen nodded arrogantly with a haughty smile.

“However.”

Deborah smiled subtly and spoke slowly. Zen’s smile disappeared as he sensed she had something to say.

“What is it now.”

“Could you at least move my room?”

“Fine. I’ll grant you that much.”

Deborah offered her thanks for this truly gracious consideration.

“Thank you.”

Deborah gently bowed her head and then raised it again, smiling faintly as she said,

“Then I’ll be going now-”

“Where do you think you’re going.”

Zen spoke before Deborah could finish. How many times had he cut her off like this now?

“I’m not done talking yet.”

“Ah, I see.”

Deborah waited a moment for him to continue. But this man who had no hesitation in stopping Deborah couldn’t open his tightly closed mouth for a while.

He even frowned and avoided Deborah’s gaze, looking quite uneasy.

If Deborah had been a person of equal standing to him, she might have asked, “Are you perhaps anxious?” Just as he had asked earlier, “Are you uncomfortable?”

“So, earlier this morning…”

Zen finally managed to speak with difficulty. But that was as far as he got. He maintained another brief silence.

‘What on earth is he trying to say.’

By that point, she was starting to get curious.

“…”

Zen glanced at Deborah’s eyes, which were calmly gazing at him. He worried about how foolish he must look to her, hesitating like this.

“Ahem.”

This time, Zen finally gathered his courage, cleared his throat, and spoke solemnly.

“I misspoke earlier this morning.”

“…”

“I apologize.”

Deborah’s expression remained unchanged, but she was actually quite surprised.

That statement from earlier, from Zen’s perspective, would have been a minor slip of the tongue.

‘Honestly, I was a bit upset, but it was something I could have just let go.’

But to apologize? Anyone else might, but Zen Baker?

“Please don’t say that. I’m fine.”

Deborah answered that way, but she still couldn’t believe he had apologized. Was the person in front of her really Zen Baker? He wasn’t acting like the Zen Baker she knew.

But the Zen Baker in front of her was indeed the real Zen Baker.

“Well, since you’re fine with it, please spare some time. You probably don’t have much to do right now anyway, right? It’s late enough that you could even sleep.”

‘He could have just asked me to spare some time, but he had to add that last part.’

Deborah stared at Zen’s furrowed brow as she tightened her loosened smile once again.

“What is this about?”

“To apologize, and also because there’s something I want to teach you.”

Deborah was curious about what he wanted to ‘teach’, but she decided to correct what needed to be corrected first.

“You just apologized, and I said I was fine, didn’t I?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know how to apologize with words alone.”

Zen stood up from his seat. Naturally, Deborah’s head tilted upward.

“Go and get ready to leave.”

Looking down at Deborah, he smiled arrogantly.

“May I ask where we’re going?”

Deborah asked, demurely narrowing her eyes. Zen’s eyebrow twitched with displeasure.

“You’ll see for yourself.”

At that moment, Deborah’s intuition kicked in.

‘This feels uneasy.’

Zen looked at the hesitating Deborah seriously and said,

“Are you really in poor health?”

“No, I’m not.”

Deborah hurriedly made an excuse.

“Then why are you hesitating?”

Deborah couldn’t bring herself to say, ‘Because I feel uneasy for some reason.’ Also, she couldn’t object when an employer said they wanted to teach something to an employee.

“I’ll get ready right away.”

Seemingly satisfied with Deborah’s answer, Zen smiled slightly and said,

“Good. Then I’ll see you at the main entrance in an hour.”

“Understood.”

After leaving Zen’s office like that, Deborah thought the whole way to her room.

‘It’s probably nothing. Don’t worry unnecessarily.’

As Deborah swallowed a sigh, Zen, who remained in the office, opened the hand he had been clenching tightly, afraid he might unconsciously reach out to Deborah.

‘How pathetic.’

His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest. The tips of his ears burned as if on fire. Just from suggesting they leave together while facing each other, he had become like this.

“Ah…”

Zen felt like he had become a fool.

Deborah thought that even though Zen had said they were going out, they wouldn’t cross the fence. She expected him to explain about the garden, telling her to teach Dia later.

“You’re here?”

Zen, waiting for Deborah at the main entrance, was dressed in perfect outdoor attire. From his glossy thick coat to his shiny shoes. He was so radiant it felt presumptuous to stand next to him.

In contrast, Deborah was simply dressed in a plain outdoor dress. Of course, it was black in color.

“Are you planning to go far?”

“Far, huh. The standard of distance differs for everyone.”

“Then may I ask where our destination is?”

“I believe I told you earlier to see for yourself.”

Zen, with one corner of his mouth raised, walked ahead as he had done before.

‘Would it hurt to just answer?’

As Deborah followed him out of the entrance, a cool breeze carrying the scent of winter brushed her nose.

‘It’s a bit cold.’

Zen, who had been walking silently ahead, stopped in front of a car waiting right in front of the mansion. As the driver waiting outside hurriedly tried to open the door, Zen raised his hand to stop him.

“Please get in.”

Zen opened the car door and spoke to Deborah. Such an escort. Deborah felt uncomfortable, but surely there wasn’t any deep meaning behind the escort itself.

‘It would be more tiring to react to every little thing like this.’

Deborah, with a slight smile, said,

“Thank you.”

Deborah remembered that cars were common in her previous life. She recalled information that they were fast, comfortable, and popular means of transportation, but she had no memories of actually riding in one herself.

Even in her current life, this was her first time riding in a car.

“Is it fascinating?”

Zen, who had already sat down next to Deborah, asked her as she was busy examining the car’s ceiling and windows.

“Yes. There weren’t any cars in my neighborhood.”

“They’re not widely distributed in the capital yet either. I was using carriages until relatively recently too.”

The car started moving. It crawled while inside the mansion grounds, but once it left and entered the street lined with metasequoia trees, it picked up speed.

“How does it compare to a carriage?”

Zen asked Deborah, who was watching the trees flow by outside the window.

“It’s excellent.”

“Ha. Such a simple answer.”

Zen continued with a sneer.

“Are there no drawbacks?”

‘Why is he asking such questions?’

Certainly, the car was a collection of superior technology. It was a great invention that was bound to become widespread.

But the car Deborah was riding in now was an early invention. As such, it inevitably had shortcomings compared to carriages, which were still the most widely used means of transportation.

‘I guess the biggest drawback would be the noise.’

But this car belonged to Zen. Even if Zen had asked, it wasn’t easy to list its drawbacks.

Deborah, with an awkward smile, said,

“Right now, I only see advantages. After all, I’ve only been riding for about 10 minutes.”

“There’s no need to be so mindful of me. You must have noticed the noise or that the speed isn’t as fast as expected, right?”

Deborah smiled slightly and replied.

“I was just amazed at how plush the seats are and how much less bumpy it is compared to a carriage.”

It was a lie. Zen must have noticed that she was lying too. That’s why he was staring at Deborah like this.

“Are you not satisfied with the car, Mr. Baker?”

“…How could I be satisfied with something so full of flaws?”

At his words, Deborah suddenly became curious.

‘Then why use a car instead of a carriage?’

She thought about asking, but she didn’t want to give Zen, who had suddenly turned his head towards the window, any more questions to answer.

Deborah, turning her head in the opposite direction from Zen, decided to quietly observe the street that had grown closer to winter as it moved away from autumn.

It would be beautiful if snow fell on the tall, majestic trees that seemed to have been deliberately planted by someone. Of course, the trees would shed all their leaves before the snow fell.

“…”

Zen was also looking at the window. But he wasn’t looking beyond the glass, he was observing Deborah’s profile reflected in the window.

Zen thought as he watched her unable to take her eyes off the scenery outside.

If only she would turn her head inward a little. What is there to see outside?

Zen got out of the car first and came around to the other side to open the door.

“Please get out.”

“Thank you.”

Deborah found this kind of escort from Zen burdensome, thinking ‘Is this really necessary?’, but she felt an even greater burden from the gazes that poured on her as soon as she got out of the car.

Even for people gathered in the capital’s most famous bustling area, a car was a novelty.

‘Mr. Baker did say that cars are rare even in the capital…’

So this level of attention was something she had to endure.

But while she could endure people’s gazes, the building in front of her was hard to endure.

‘This is definitely…’