“Saying that makes my heart ache. I didn’t even like Sage that much usually.”

She smiled bitterly, shaking her head as she spoke.

“Sage has no home to return to if she leaves here. Rather, she’ll have to run far away to escape her father. But I can’t explain Sage’s situation to everyone…”

She swallowed a sigh and continued.

“Anyway, if Deborah, the direct victim, steps up and says it’s okay, everyone won’t be so harsh.”

“I’m really fine.”

At the slightly trembling but sincere voice, she lowered the ends of her eyebrows and smiled softly.

“I’m sorry. I feel like I’ve just burdened Deborah’s heart unnecessarily. Deborah is the only one who’s been wronged by Sage. After all, it’s always the mature and kind people who lose out, isn’t it?”

Afterwards, Sage consulted with the head maid and received disciplinary action of reduced vacation days. Perhaps because she had nowhere to go back to originally, Sage willingly accepted the punishment.

“Reducing vacation days is all?”

As complaints erupted here and there, the senior maid calmed them down.

“If Sage leaves because of this incident, it will be uncomfortable for Deborah too.”

“That’s true.”

“Well, if Debbie is okay with it, we don’t want to worry about it anymore either.”

At that moment, Deborah quickly spoke up.

“Thank you all for worrying. And I’m fine. Really.”

Seeing this, her colleagues laughed in disbelief.

“Seriously, how are you going to survive in this world being so kind?”

“Why is everyone clamoring to take vacation next week?”

The head maid took off her glasses and held her head. In other households, it was common for the master to decide vacations, but the free-spirited mistress of the Heather household wanted everyone to be able to take vacations on the days they wanted as much as possible.

Because of that, only the head maid had a headache. Who would do the work if vacations were concentrated in one week like this?

“Then I’ll go on a different day.”

Deborah was the first to request vacation, but since she had no particular reason to move that week, she readily gave it up.

“Oh, Deborah. Will that be alright? There won’t be many people to work, so you’ll have more to do than usual.”

“Hehe. It’s fine. These things happen sometimes.”

“Ah, you really saved me. Thank you. I’ll speak to the master and ask for your wages to be increased for that week.”

“My, I’d be grateful if you do that.”

Deborah smiled, saying she’d earned some extra money, but she wasn’t really that happy. If she had a goal to earn money for, or at least something she wanted to buy, she would have been glad to be one step closer to her dream.

‘I feel like I’m just living.’

A life that just flows by without any purpose or meaning.

‘Hmm. This isn’t good.’

It seemed Deborah needed to change her surroundings somehow.

After organizing her thoughts for a moment, Deborah carefully opened her lips.

“Head maid. It might not be much of a substitute, but would it be alright if I went out tomorrow?”

“Of course. That would be fine.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Afterwards, Deborah informed her colleagues during mealtime that she would be going out tomorrow.

“Huh? Was tomorrow originally your day to go out?”

“Hehe. It just turned out that way. Do you need anything?”

“Oh my! You’re going to the shopping district for once? Alright, since you asked first, I won’t hold back!”

Deborah was overwhelmed by the flood of requests. The one who saved her was the senior maid.

“Girls. Does Deborah have ten hands? How can she carry all that!”

“Oh, that’s true. Then I’ll just take one small box of candy instead of two.”

“I’ll just take a card instead of a book.”

So the next day, Deborah went out for some light shopping after a long time. Although she had been staying at the Heather household for quite a while, the shopping district still felt unfamiliar.

‘Maybe I’ll open a small shop someday too.’

If so, what kind of shop would be good to open? Deborah imagined such things as she fulfilled her colleagues’ errands one by one. Buying cream, buying cards, buying hat decorations…

‘Just need to buy candy now?’

Standing in front of a shop selling candy and simple confections, Deborah unconsciously gulped. A sweet aroma wafted from outside the door.

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t eat either.’

Entering the shop with her hungry stomach, Deborah’s eyes spun around at the pretty candies and sweets. How could they be so beautiful? Especially the round candies looked like jewels.

“Welcome.”

“Can I have just one of the smallest boxes of those candies?”

“Of course! Which flavor would you like?”

“Ah…”

Could she choose the flavor too? Her colleague had clearly asked for just one small box.

“Is it possible to mix them all?”

“The smallest box doesn’t hold that many candies. Even if we put one of each, we can’t fit all the flavors.”

Then which flavor should she buy so her colleague wouldn’t be disappointed and would like it? Deborah tried to recall the color of candy her colleague usually ate. It seemed to be yellow, but she wasn’t sure.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Seeing Deborah lost in thought, the owner smiled faintly and spoke. Deborah asked, thinking she had nothing to lose.

“Do you perhaps remember a brown-haired woman who comes at the beginning of each month? She’s a bit taller than me and thin. She has short bangs, and her side hair is neatly curled…”

“Are you perhaps talking about Ms. Ford?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Deborah smiled brightly and opened her mouth.

“Actually, I came at Jane’s request, but I don’t know what flavor she’d like.”

“Oh my, you must work with Ms. Ford at the Heather household! Hehe, Ms. Ford likes lemon flavor and this lavender flavor the most.”

“Then could you package it like that?”

“Yes. Please wait a moment.”

The owner opened glass jars filled with soft yellow candies and lavender petal-embedded candies, using a small wooden scoop to package them. The candies being placed in the palm-sized paper box were so pretty.

Watching the candies with sparkling eyes, Deborah thought.

‘Should I buy a box for myself too?’

She felt like buying candy would somehow make her happy.

‘Okay. Let’s just buy one small one.’

Having made up her mind, Deborah looked around at the numerous candies. Should she get red? Or purple? Strangely, even though she was hungry, she found herself choosing based on color rather than taste.

‘Yellow still looks the prettiest.’

But there were several shades of yellow too.

“The packaging is done!”

Smiling brightly as she placed the beautifully wrapped box on her hand, Deborah said to the owner.

“Ah, I’m sorry, but would it be alright if I bought one more box?”

“Oh my! Of course! Which one would you like?”

“I’d like yellow, but there are so many types of yellow.”

The owner smiled very leisurely as she explained the types of candy.

“From the left, there’s plain lemon flavor, lemon and herb mixed flavor, pumpkin flavor, and orange flavor. Personally, I recommend the lemon and herb mix. It’s really refreshing and cool!”

“Ah, then could you mix that one with the orange flavor?”

“Of course.”

So Deborah put her colleague’s candy deep in her bag and left the shop clutching her own candy tightly in both hands. Her heart was pounding so much just from holding something in her hands.

‘It feels like I bought a jewel.’

How could she eat something so pretty? Deborah felt like she wouldn’t be able to eat the candy easily. But if her colleagues asked her to share, she would.

‘No, I think I might feel a bit reluctant.’

Hmm. It seemed better not to let anyone know she bought candy if possible.

‘Is this too greedy?’

Deborah felt a little guilty.

‘But I want to just look at it quietly for a week.’

She’d look at it like a decoration, and when the time came, she’d taste one piece at a time and share with her colleagues. That would be okay, right?

Just as Deborah was about to put the candy box she was clutching tightly into her bag.

“Oh!”

Someone ran up from behind and bumped into Deborah. Startled by the sudden impact, Deborah fumbled and ended up dropping the candy box she was holding.

Then the shimmering candies from the loose paper box bounced up towards the sky, before falling to the ground following gravity.

“Gasp!”

Deborah stared blankly at the candies rolling around on the street, broken or cracked.

“Tsk!”

A young voice caught Deborah’s ear. In front of Deborah stood a thin boy wearing a worn hat pulled low, glaring at her with unique golden eyes.

“Standing there like an idiot blocking the way.”

The boy brushed off his forearm that had touched Deborah. Anyone could see that Deborah’s clothes were much neater.

“…”

Deborah couldn’t say anything. They say people are speechless when they experience something too absurd, and she learned then for the first time that she was such a person.

“Hey.”

Deborah swallowed and called out to the boy after coming to her senses. Just then, there was a commotion from the opposite alley.

“Did that brat grab and run?”

What could this commotion be about? Deborah craned her neck to look towards the sound, but she couldn’t see the situation inside the alley, nor could she hear the voices more clearly.

When Deborah looked forward again, her neck aching for nothing, the boy who had been glaring at her just moments ago was gone.

‘Oh my.’

Deborah urgently focused on the end of the street and could see the boy’s retreating figure gradually getting further away.

“He’s quite quick.”

Deborah blankly watched the boy’s back disappearing moment by moment. Only after the boy’s figure had completely vanished did Deborah look down sadly at the fallen candies.

‘What a waste.’

To have to throw them away like this without even tasting one. Deborah let out a deep sigh and squatted down to clean up the candies. She felt a bit miserable.

If only she had eaten one piece right after receiving it. Then she wouldn’t have felt this sad.