#053 Ruby’s Birthday
I crossed the dark mansion and entered the kitchen alone.
‘Even if you don’t have diamonds, you have to do it on your own!’
Until now, she had had some help throughout the cookie-making process, but now she had to do it entirely on her own.
As it is a first birthday present for a young lady, making it alone is meaningful in many ways.
I laid out the various ingredients on the cutting board and slowly started kneading the dough according to Dia’s recipe, which I had memorized in my head.
First, second, and third attempts.
The first problem was that the dough was too hard, and the second time it was too soft.
The third is… It just didn’t taste good.
‘It’s strange. I’m sure you did exactly what you told me…?’
Time passed, and the nervousness inside me grew stronger.
The sound of the second hand ticking echoed in the dark kitchen.
Of course, I stayed up all night and kept baking cookies until I got better results.
‘···.’
When I took the last cookie out of the oven, the kitchen was an unrecognizable mess.
There were no more materials left and no time given to me.
‘···Now it’s really the end.’
Cookies baked with a flawless appearance.
With half anxiety and half anticipation, I put a cookie that had just come out of the oven into my mouth and tasted it.
-Wasak.
***
The next morning dawned, and I prepared for another day.
As I was starting my morning routine with bleary eyes from not being able to sleep, I was suddenly handed an item by a delivery man.
“Is this the Sarka Mansion? “It’s a valuable item so I have to check it properly.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
I briefly signed the document he held out and asked a question.
“But who are you talking about?”
“Ruby Sarka has come to you. “
When I tore off the paper material of the parcel, a card attached to the luxurious wrapping paper greeted me.
When I saw the words written there, I automatically sighed.
‘It must be the beginning again…’
There was one peculiar thing about Ruby.
The point is that we never accept monetary gifts.
The reason is unknown, but it has been like that ever since I first saw it.
This time it was a gift from her parents, who this year sent a sparkling necklace decorated with jewels.
‘You’re being scolded, this is…’
An expensive gift that is bound to be expensive no matter how you look at it. I held it carefully and went to Ruby and said.
“Miss, I got a birthday present from my master…”
When Ruby saw what I was holding, she answered coldly without even thinking.
“Send it back.”
Up to this point, the reaction was expected.
“···Are you not going to read the letter?”
“Yes. Send that back too.”
Look at this. It’s always like this.
She was absorbed in playing the piano without even looking at her.
I had no choice but to pick up the gift again and carry it out of the room.
At that moment, Merilda, who was waiting with bated breath in the hallway, asked quietly.
“How is it…? What do you say this time?”
Hearing her worried question, I sighed and shook my head.
“They say you won’t receive it this year either.”
“Oh my…”
I could understand Merilda crying like this in front of me.
Every year, when Ruby refused her gift, we had to send it back and explain her situation to the mistress.
Merilda sat down at her table with a confused expression. She took a sip of her tea and spoke with a confused expression.
“Still, I think we got through this easily. Last year, the lady threw it in her trash can and I had a hard time finding it again…”
Ah. It was like that last year.
If Milk hadn’t searched the trash can like his habit, he probably would never have found it.
I asked as I was listening to her in silence.
“Merilda. “Why are you refusing the gift so much?”
She was basically the type of person who rejected gifts themselves, but she would react even more sensitively to things she received, especially those that came from her relatives.
“··· Miss, she wasn’t like that from the beginning. “When she was five, she would run to me first and try to open the presents.”
“Are you Lady Ruby? “I can’t really imagine that.”
“That’s right. “She was a much brighter person back then than she is now.”
“Why is the young lady like that now…?”
“···.”
Merilda, who was reminiscing about her childhood as if she missed her, opened her mouth with a heavy expression.
“··· It must have been since her sixth birthday that she stopped checking the gifts. “She wrote to her mistress that this year she would come to see her face.”
She was Ruby, who had never seen her parents’ faces since she was born.
Raised by maids in her villa from the time she was an infant, she is said to have received extravagant birthday gifts from her parents every year on her birthday.
With a letter containing a promise to come and see it next year.
“But, Madam, she never came to visit.”
“Yes…? “Never?”
“Yes. Since this has continued to this day, it is not incomprehensible that the young lady has changed so much…”
When I heard about Ruby’s past, I stood up angrily.
“Oh my god. The owner is also very kind. “How has it been for 17 years…!”
“···.”
I wanted to continue expressing my anger, but when she saw Merylda’s heavy expression, she stopped her words.
“···We are just maids hired by them. “You just have to do your assigned work and not interfere in family affairs.”
Come to think of it, in her truth game she played during her last training camp, Ruby chose her family as the thing she hated the most.
How sad it must have been during that time. Ruby in her childhood.
Her parents, who don’t even know her face, lie to her every year, send her gifts she doesn’t care about, and give her false hopes.
“···It’s already 12 o’clock. “I have to get up soon.”
“Yes, Merilda.”
After being lost in sad thoughts for a while, I woke up when the clock struck 12 o’clock.
***
Taking care of the owner’s tea time was a small but important task for the maid.
Even when I was at the academy, I prepared tea without missing a single occasion.
I carefully plated the cookies on a luxurious plate and served them with freshly brewed black tea.
“Miss, I brought the car.”
I stood in front of the room door and said that.
I am now allowed to enter and leave the room as I please, but I still felt like I had to protect this.
But before I could open the door, it suddenly opened and Ruby came out.
“Oh my.”
She looked me up and down and took a plate from me.
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“Give it to me. “It must be heavy.”
“Yes? “This is what I have to do…”
“It’s okay. “I’m doing it because I want to.”
Today, she was even more devoted to me.
··· The person whose birthday is actually hers.
I shared each plate with the young lady and entered the room.
Ruby sat me down across from her and she set the plates nicely on the table.
“Let’s drink it before it gets cold, Amber.”
“···Yes.”
Originally, it was standard for the owner to bring only tea and a small amount of snacks, but Ruby started to invite me to her tea time.
That’s why I always prepared tea for myself and plenty of snacks, and chatting with her during her tea time became a daily routine.
“It smells good. “This cookie.”
Ruby admired the smell of the cookies and she picked one up.
“···.”
I pretended to drink black tea and observed Ruby’s expression closely.
Ruby put her cookie in her mouth, chewed on it, and looked quite surprised.
“···Hmm?”
He looked a little puzzled, perhaps because he realized that the cookie tasted different from what he had tasted before.
“How is it?”
“It’s delicious. “It’s great quality.”
“···Thank goodness.”
He said, slightly relieved to see her satisfied.
“I bought those cookies from a famous store.”
Ruby looked slightly puzzled at my words and asked.
“Why did you buy it? “Amber didn’t make it herself.”
“It’s your birthday. “I tried to give you something delicious, at least for today.”
“···.”
Her expression hardened slightly, she put down her cookie, looked at my hand below the table, and said,
“···Put your hands up, Amber.”
“Yes? “Why the hands?”
“Quickly.”
“···.”
At her urging, he put both of her hands on the table countless times.
Then my ugly hand was revealed, with the tips of her fingers wrapped in bandages.
I had to do something like this because the ends were swollen from kneading and getting my hands wet all morning.
Ruby looked at my hand without saying anything and then she asked.
“···Why didn’t you put the cookies Amber made on the table?”
“That… No matter how much I try, the taste is different from what DIA made…”
I followed Dia’s recipe, but it didn’t quite taste the same.
To be honest, I wouldn’t say it wasn’t delicious, but it definitely wasn’t a quality cookie suitable for a young lady’s birthday.
“···What happened to all the things you made?”
“I put them all together in a corner of the kitchen to throw away. But that…”
-Squeak.
While I was talking, Ruby pushed off her chair and got up and headed somewhere.
“Lady…? Where are you going?”
Ruby suddenly left her spot.
A few moments later, she appeared carrying a large plate full of my failure cookies.
“Why…”
She sat down nonchalantly and started stuffing them into her mouth.
“!?”
It’s definitely a mixture of stuffy, salty, and inedible things.
Ruby devoured all of her cookies at an astonishing speed and drank all the remaining black tea as if it was choking her.
“No, why did you do that…?”
Ruby, who paid no heed to my words and ate every last crumb, wiped her mouth with her handkerchief and spoke firmly.
“It’s a warning. From now on, don’t throw away anything without my permission.”
She brought her face close to me, grabbed my shoulder and brought her gaze closer.
“You are mine, and everything you make is mine. Do you understand?”
“···.”
As she looked at Ruby saying that, her eyes became slightly wet as she remembered the hardships she had endured last night.
Ruby spoke softly, letting go of her angry expression.
“···And the cookies made by Amber are a million times better than those made by someone else. Got it?”
“···Yes. Miss.”
When she heard my answer, Ruby smiled and nodded her head in satisfaction, then stopped as she was about to drop her body.
“···That’s right, now that I think about it, I guess I was the only one who got it. Wait.”
“Yes?”
She made eye contact with me again and then she slowly pulled my face closer to me.
Ruby, what on earth are you doing…?
“···!?”
With her eyes closed, Ruby’s lips turned towards me, and she lightly touched my cheek.
She stepped away from me slightly and spoke with a red face.
“···This is a gift from Amber for her hard work so far.”
When I heard that, my face turned red.
I was just receiving back what I had done to the young lady last time, and I felt particularly hot.
“Please note that returns are prohibited.”
Ruby was someone who could hardly look in this direction, perhaps because she was embarrassed.
She smiled slightly at her and answered.
“···Yes, thank you.”
Ruby sat back down in her seat, and in an awkward silence, she absentmindedly put a cookie I had bought at the store into her mouth.
“But, it was definitely made well. This.”
“Should I buy it often?”
“···What did you hear me say just now? Amber.”
We continued our tea time by exchanging everyday jokes with each other.
That day was the first time she did not refuse a gift.
***
“Hwaam…”
I woke up early in the morning for the maid’s daily routine, but I felt groggy, probably because I hadn’t slept well in the past few days.
With bulging eyes, I looked at Ruby who was sleeping soundly next to her.
“···!”
I remembered what happened yesterday and my face got hot so I immediately looked away.
‘It was just an ordinary cheek kiss… Let’s not be conscious…’
As I busily changed her clothes and went out to the living room, Merylda called me, waving her hand.
“Amber, you’re awake. “Would you like to come here?”
“Yes?”
You’re calling me in the morning. What’s going on?
As I approached, she took out a letter from her arms and handed it to me.
“A letter arrived this morning, and I think it’s from you.”
“Aren’t you here for the lady?”
“Your name was definitely written on the recipient.”
‘Who is it?’
Remembering that I had never received a letter before, I picked up the letter and checked the sender.
‘Coral Hestia.’
It was a letter from Coral.
