The door to the carriage opened wide and a hand grabbed on its railing before Abigail was about to get out. But she stopped immediately when she saw a figure quickly coming towards her.
A smile appeared slyly at her lips and she took a step back, puzzling her maid.
Olivia was about to ask her mistress what the problem was. But stopped when she saw her mistress deviously telling her to stay quiet which only broadened her interest.
But that interest didn't take long to turn into a scowl when she saw who it was.
Henry stood before the carriage and held his hand out for her mistress to take it. Which her mistress should have shown just enough care to appreciate it. But instead her mistress took the hand in eagerness, like it was hers for granted.
Olivia's grimace only seems to deepen at that.
"How was the journey, Mrs. Veronica?"
"As you know, completely boring." Veronica said without a shred of shyness in her vocabulary. She gave a sneaky smile as she got off the carriage, "It would have been better if you were my company."
Olivia at that didn't even interfere her anymore. She had long learned her lesson… or to be frank, was tired of her mistress to stop her. She'll only do something when it was bad enough.
I smile, reciprocating her feeling, "Yes, I'm familiar with that feeling. It must be more painful for you…" I whispered close to her ear, "to have Olivia with you."
As her dead eyes glanced at me, I quickly spoke up, "As your most hardworking maid."
Veronica laughed as we ignored Olivia's funny expression and walked towards the mansion, my hand still grasping on to hers.
"So how's the wine collection going?" I ask.
In the few days I've known her, she went out a few times to get some wine. But I believe this wine collection may just be a code word for that.
"It went quite well… Actually," Her hands slipped out of mine and she ran back to the carriage before coming back. This time, she had a bottle of wine in her hand as she showed it, "I bought this for you."
"Oh!" I take the bottle and took a good look at it. I couldn't help but be awkward at answering, "It's quite special, I see."
"You know nothing about wine, do you?" Her eyes cuttingly judged me.
"Haha… yeah you're right." I say, missing the soft feeling of her hand. "The only thing I know about wine is, how to drink it. Besides, what else would I need to know it for?"
"Now that isn't something a gentleman should say." Veronica said before smiling curtly, "But since you're far from that, I guess I can forgive you for saying such an atrocious thing."
We were acting as if we were old friends, but in reality we were nothing but strangers trying to know one another better than today.
"With such bad courteous skills of yours, it would be a miracle if you can get a lady to like you."
"Hey, I can totally get a lady to like me."
"I meant a proper lady and definitely not a married one." Her words came out as a whisper at the end which I wasn't able to hear because of Olivia's cough.
"Did you say something?"
"Hmm, I did." She nodded, "I said that I'll help you with wines."
"So you want to drink this right now? I'm all for it." I said as she laughed again.
"That's not what I meant, you big oaf…" She stammered at the sudden break of her character. I went silent too, not knowing that she would mutter something out like that.
Veronica coughed, "I'm sorry, it came out purely vulgar from me."
"No no, it's okay. I like it when you break that tough character of yours."
She smiled and was quiet for a moment before saying, "Even if it means I call you a big oaf?"
"Especially, if you call me a big oaf. At least then it'll sound somewhat close to a cute nickname instead of an insult."
"Hahaha…" Her laughter came out in joy and she only stopped when it seemed as if Olivia was ready to do something crazy.
"Cough Cough… as I was saying, I'll help you know your wine and teach you a bit about how gentlemen should behave." She said and I felt as if I got hit by a bullet in the chest.
Me? Don't know how to behave like a gentleman? The source of thɪs content is N()velFire.net
Seeing Henry tilt his head like that, Abigail thought it was cute.
"In exchange… you help me fill my wine collection."
At those words, the color seemed to drain from my face. Veronica looked curiously at me, "What's with the long face? Don't tell me you're too cheap to even buy some wine. If so, forget about-"
"No no no, I didn't mean that. I just… thought it would mean something different."
Abigail only became more confused but didn't inquire.
"So you accept then? You should know that I'm a very strict teacher."
"Oh… it won't be fun if you weren't~" I say as a picture of her in a tight teacher's outfit came to my mind. In it, she wore white t-shirt and a black mini skirt, while having a small black whip in her hands as she tilted her glasses.
'Haaa… how fun it would be if she actually wears a dress like that. A dream come true.'
On the outside, Abigail's eyes didn't bypass the look on Henry's face.
It's may have been only a few days since she had gotten to known him, but it was more than enough to know about some of his behaviors. For the fact that he had this look right now meant he was probably thinking something dirty about her.
At that, Abigail couldn't help but get both cheerful and heated at that. She didn't know why she felt like that but it may be because of the big oaf that made her feel strange things at times.
'Let's see how you can smile when we actually start the lesson.'
For the first time in Abigail's extremely long life, she met someone like him who seemed both extremely helpless and talented.
Because Henry had zero foundation about what a chivalrous man was?
Him having low knowledge was expected for Abigail as she saw how he acted all barbarically or common mindedly. But in reality, Henry had zero knowledge.
To her, it was like filling knowledge in an empty book. It was akin to a painter painting something on an empty canvass.
It was surprising that Henry, coming from a noble house would have no knowledge at all. At least he should have some basic knowledge.
What the hell did dead man Agrave teach him?
It seemed as if the man only paid attention to his money and kitchen maids while giving zero attention to his son.
Still, what was even more shocking to her was how fast Henry was learning from her. It seemed to her as if her knowledge was water that Henry was soaking inside him.
It was shockingly fast for Abigail.
Henry… a guy with zero knowledge about honor and duty, was now asking questions that would terrify old knowledgeable scholars.
Seriously, Where's the gullible big oaf that failed so hard at flirting with her?
Still to be fair, he was still failing at flirting with her.