In this way, Allen picked up the young lady.
Three days later...
"So, is it over yet...?"
"Wonderful!"
Allen exclaimed with delight at the beautiful living room, which was clean beyond recognition.
The hellish dumpster was now an environment where people could live.
The floor was visible without a speck of dust. Soft sunlight shined through the polished windows to let you know the time of day.
"You've done magnificently well. I wouldn't have thought you were Duke's daughter."
"... I had been helping out with various chores at home."
Charlotte gave a wry smile as she said this.
Her complexion had improved thanks to the three days of recuperation. With her hair shiny and glossy, she would have looked great in a dress.
But the attire she had on now was mediocre village girl clothes.
A dull shade blouse paired with a long skirt.
In addition, she was holding a rag cloth in one hand with the sleeves rolled up. The sight of it was awfully natural on her that he had forgotten she was of noble blood.
"Illegitimate child, huh? Her pretty adept cleaning skills really shows how she must have been treated at home." He thought.
She may have been the daughter of the duke in name, but she could be no different than a servant in her home.
But Allen had no intention of investigating.
Charlotte did not seem to have any intention of sharing further too. She just gave a wry smile to brush the matter aside.
"But all I did was clean the floor. It was Allen who had tidied up all of the packages with his magic."
"Well, it seems so."
All the trash on the floor was incinerated with magic. Burned without leaving any trace of ashes, all that was left to clean up was dust and soot.
"You helped me clean the floor... am I even meant to be here?"
"Of course"
Allen nodded earnestly.
"I have always been like this, my basic skill to survive is close to none. If I was alone, I wouldn't even have the desire to lift a finger to clean up the mess. If you hadn't come along, I'm confident I'd be living in that heap of trash until I die."
"I don't think that's something you should proudly share..."
Charlotte said with a tight smile.
However, he had his fists clenched with enthusiasm.
"For the time being, what should I work on next?"
"Oh, right. Hmm..."
Allen pondered for a moment before lightly informing, "I guess you're done for the day."
"Excuse me?"
"You're free to do as you like until dinner."
While Charlotte was bewildered, Allen all but plopped down on his favorite sofa.
"You can bring me a book from the library, or play around in the garden. Just do whatever pleases you."
"...What if I'm a thief?"
"Well, that's all right. There's no significant amount of money in this mansion right now."
Yesterday, he went shopping all over town to buy Charlotte's clothes and household items.
He was somewhat reluctant to buy women's clothing, but now he didn't mind if he had an additional one or two more bad reputations. He had asked the shopkeeper to pick a few suitable ones and bought them as advised.
The sudden burst of expenses had left little money remaining in this mansion.
Hearing his explanation, Charlotte felt uneasy and shrank back.
"I am sorry... it's my fault..."
"What? It's just an initial investment, so don't worry about it."
Casually waving his hand, he pulled out a thick stack of papers from his breast pocket.
It was a research paper on a magical theory published the other day.
One of Allen's few hobbies was to make corrections with a red pen and send them back to the authors. He was said to be so feared at academic conferences that he had been dubbed the "red-pen devil," which made his corrections all the more powerful.
"Anyway, I need to work for a while. Don't bother me."
"Yes. Got it."
Allen looked down at his papers, seeing that Charlotte nodded.
"Well, it's going to be a short relationship anyways... this degree of familiarity should be sufficient." Allen thought to himself.
Once she had earned a reasonable amount of money, she would disappear from Allen's sight.
He couldn't leave people in trouble, yet he wasn't very good at socializing. Charlotte's attitude toward him was forbearing for now because she still felt gratitude towards him, but it wouldn't be long before she would soon get tired of Allen.
"When the time comes, I'll leave a large sum of money in a place that's easy to steal..." Chuckling to himself as he thought of this, Allen got completely absorbed in his research paper.
Eventually, the sun had completely set when he had noticed the time.
The light shining through the window had unknowingly transformed into dark crimson colour.
"Ohh... it's already this hour."
Allen was frozen to his spot after getting up from the sofa.
That was because, on the tidied living room floor, Charlotte was sitting there.
She had her head down, motionlessly staring at the floor. The sight of her, illuminated by the setting sun, was a little bizarre.
"Oh, hey, Charlotte... what are you doing?"
"Yes, Allen?"
Wondering what happened, Charlotte asked in a flustered voice as she raised her head in surprise.
Her smile was as innocent as before. However, her face was somewhat troubled.
"Well, you said I could do as I please..."
To be able to say that so unrestrained--
She then said with a proud smile, "I was counting the wood grains on the floor!"
"The wood grains... on the floor..."
She had Allen unconsciously repeating after her.