78. Good or bad

　Violette have never voluntarily went home so early before. Most of the times, she would try to delay returning to the place of her anxiety as much as possible. It was the first time she went so early, of course not because she wanted to but because she had to.

　Just like any other day, she didn’t wanted to visit the town with Yulan. If she forced herself to stay with him, she knew it wouldn’t end well. Because right now, her thoughts were a tangled mess, and the person she was thinking about was Yulan.

　She was afraid if she forced herself to stay with Yulan, she would say or do something that she would regret. So it’s better for her to return home early and stay away from him, until she figured out her own emotions.

“Violette-sama……”

“I’m want to take a break.”

“Yes, I’ll leave you then.”

　When Marin saw Violette’s complexion upon her returning home, she immediately sensed something was wrong.

　Violette was well aware of Marin’s worry for her, but she didn’t have the energy or will to think about it. She wanted to thank her for giving her a cup of sweet hot milk, but the only thing she could do was send her smile a of appreciation. She just wanted to sleep the day away and reset her thoughts.

But even after lying down on the comfortable bed, sleep didn’t overcome her easily.　


****


　Hot milk with honey is one of Violette’s favorites. It was the head chef who taught Marin how to make it. She begged the head chef to teach her again and again, and only after practicing several times did she learned to make a perfect glass of hot milk with honey. Other maids and servants saw her efforts, so they named the drink as “Marin’s Hot Milk” as teasing.

　Marin wanted to help Violette. She wanted to heal Violette’s wound anyhow, no matter what she have to do for that. She wanted to tell Violette to just let everything go, crouch down and laugh her heart out. But she didn’t know how to comfort her, who was broken from the inside. She couldn’t help but recall the half-hearted smile Violette sent her, Marin knew more than anyone that the smile hid countless pain.

To improve Violette’s mood, Marin would sometimes make a glass of milk with lot of honey. She loved the moment when a smile would bloom on her face seeing the glass of milk in her(Marin) hand. The sight of her(Violette) drinking milk like a kitten was adorable to Marin’s eyes. She could still vividly remember the expression of happiness on her face when she made the glass of milk with honey for the first time. Only the head chef knew how relived Marin was to see her drink the milk, she wanted to crouch down and cry while laugh in happiness at the same time.

　Seeing that Violette loved milk in such way, Marin would make it whenever she saw Violette upset. The fact that Violette would be upset most of the time was one of of the reasons for her to make the milk more than often, which sharpened her skill in making it. Although she made mistakes a lot, making it too many times helped her becoming experiencd in it.

　Still, she wanted to do something else, something more to make her happy. Even if Violette smiled looking at her once, she would die happily. Violette’s smile and ‘thank you’ was something that made her going every day.

(Then why……)

　Marin, who left the room with Violette’s uniform in hand remembered Violette’s expression. It was too dull, even seeing the milk with honey, her enthusiasm didn’t increased much.

(She didn’t even touched it.)

　Violette had never done that before, she was always eager for the milk with honey and would immediately start drinking before it could cool down. Only after taking a sip would she relax and softly thank her…….

　Sound of grinding teeth could be heard as Marin gritted her teeth. The wrinkles between of her eyebrows became more prominent as a frown etched onto her face.

　Marin knew that if anyone saw her expression then, they would be frightened to death.

　In her mind, the person who could possibly be the result of Violette’s downcast mood, a foolish girl who was too ignorant to the point of maddening.

(That bitch. ……)

　Marin wanted to curse out loud, to scream and let everyone know how much she hates that girl. But she was just a maid, she didn’t have the right to insult her masters, even though the only one she thought as her master was Violette. She should really be praised for her patience in the presence of the people she hated to the core.

　If she wasn’t a mere maid of this house, she would have already killed Marijune and her poor excuse of parents.

　Marin didn’t know how upset Violette was right now, but she knew she(Violette) might be fighting a war in her heart, trying her best to get herself together. And it broke her heart knowing that she couldn’t help Violette, someone who she thinks as close as a family.

But it was still easy to guess the reason of Violette’s unusualness.

　She had been acting down from yesterday night, after returning from the dinner. More specifically, from the time that foolish girl mentioned Yulan’s name. Violette looked calm on the outside, but her pale complexion gave away her anxiety. Even at morning, she looked downcasted.

　It was obvious that the cause of Violette’s downcast mood was that foolish girl who spoke without knowing, and that was enough to made Marin saw red in anger.

　Marin knew that Marijune didn’t mean to upset Violette. Her innocent mind and heart wasn’t able to hurt anyone. She always believed goodness in everything, and that was the thing that infuriated Marin the most. Just because she didn’t mean to hurt anyone doesn’t mean she didn’t hurt anyone.

Marijune was too naïve for her own good. She believed in goodness, in happiness and that everything was beautiful in the world. She thought as long as she was good to everyone, everyone would love her.
　
So, what does that actually meant?

　Good people, goodness, don’t necessarily win against evil. Someone who only killed one person is no good than someone have taken a million lives. Both should be held accountable for their sins, no matter how big and small the sin was.

　So even if Marijune meant good, even if she didn’t want to hurt Violette, does it really matter?

　To Marin, Marijune was the object of her hatred, resentment, and contempt and she(Marijune) should be punished like any other sinner. Because it was her who hurt Violette the most, intentionally or unintentionally.

　No matter if she was the hero who defeated the Demon King, or the saint of salvation, no matter how much her deeds were respected and her existence was cherished. Even if they say she(Marin) was we guilty for thinking like that.

　No matter what anyone said, to Marin, Marijune was evil for the existence of Violette.