It was the day following Kris’s return from the imperial capital. She’d initially planned to speak to Reid that same day but had passed out from exhaustion, forcing her to have her meeting with him the next day.
It went well until the very end when Reid mentioned something concerning. Kris pressed him about the matter, and his response left her completely stunned. She learned that in a bout of mischief, Reid had sneaked into her room and watched her sleep.
After learning about this incident, Kris was slightly embarrassed that Reid had looked at her sleeping face, but that wasn’t what flustered her the most—the fact that she’d been alone in a room and a male had come in shook her to the point that she’d fled home.
“Welcome back, Lady Kris.”
“Thank you, Emma.”
Upon Kris’s return to the Kristie Trading Company, Emma greeted her. Emma was an adorable servant of hers who sported black hair, black eyes, catlike ears, and a tail. She’d served Kris since Kris was still with the Saffron Trading Company. To Kris, she was more like family rather than a servant.
Emma had traveled to the capital with her, but she’d separated from her partway through their trip back to Valdia so that she could return to the Kristie Trading Company and handle paperwork that had piled up in their absence.
“I received a message from the Valdia home that you collapsed,” Emma said. “I was so shocked when I heard. Are you all right?”
“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Kris replied. “I’m fine now. I’m doing great.”
Emma had been staring at Kris with a look of worry, but seeing her doing well filled her with relief.
“I heard you stayed in the Valdias’ guest room. I hope you were able to recover from the exhaustion of our trip to the capital.”
The mention of the guest room reminded Kris of how Reid had watched her sleep, and she grew bright red and visibly flustered.
“What?! Oh, yes, I did...”
“Lady Kris? Is something wrong? You’re quite red.”
Emma began to worry that Kris was still feeling unwell, and she made her way closer to the elf. She proceeded to stare intently at Kris, inspecting her face.
“What... What is it?” Kris asked.
She didn’t want Emma to catch wind of the fact that she was ruffled and desperately averted her gaze. Unfortunately, the act of moving her eyes in a different direction had signaled to Emma that she was hiding something.
“Did something happen at the Valdia home, Lady Kris? Please tell me!”
“No, there’s nothing, just...”
“I won’t let you go until you tell me!”
“Urgh...”
Kris had spent enough years with Emma to know that she meant what she said. If Emma ever saw even the slightest amount of concern on Kris’s face, she truly would not let the elf free until she revealed what was troubling her.
Kris once asked why Emma was so concerned about her, and Emma had replied, “You tend to bottle your feelings up, Lady Kris. If I don’t ask you about them, you may explode one day.”
Kris appreciated the concern, but she wished that Emma would stop holding her hostage until she spilled what was on her mind. Now that Emma had noticed something was wrong, it was all over. She gave in and told the beastkin what had happened at the Valdia home. About how she’d been sleeping alone in the guest room, and Reid had sneaked in and watched her sleep. She also mentioned that when she’d learned about what he’d done, she’d become so embarrassed and anxious that she’d lost her temper.
Emma seemed amused while she was listening to the story until the part about Kris losing her temper, which she seemed exasperated by. Once Kris finished speaking, they both fell silent for a bit.
Emma finally broke the silence and said, “Why were you so upset by that, Lady Kris?”
“Huh?”
Kris was stunned by Emma’s question. Why had she gotten upset? The elf was confused about the intention behind such a question and proceeded to uncharacteristically say exactly what was on her mind.
“I mean, I, a woman, was sleeping in a room all on my own. For a male to come into that room all alone, without anyone by his side, is, um, improper according to the rules of society, no?”
Kris had carefully chosen her words, but she wasn’t sure if what she was saying was right. Emma just grew more visibly exasperated and let out a sigh.
“In other words, you have a problem with Sir Reid, who is male, having come into the guest room when you, a female, were sleeping alone?”
“Well, I also take issue with the fact that he stared at me while I was sleeping, but I suppose that sums it up...”
Kris herself had no idea why she was so thrown by this incident. Emma sighed again and shook her head as if to say, Good grief.
“Lady Kris, I apologize in advance for speaking so bluntly, but I must say this. We can certainly blame Sir Reid for his mischievous act of staring at you as you slept; however, I do not think this is an issue you need to be so concerned about.”
“What? Why is that?”
Kris was surprised by Emma’s words, but the other woman simply continued speaking. “Think about it, Lady Kris. Sir Reid is a very young child. Even someone experienced wouldn’t get so worked up about a child watching them sleep!”
Kris gasped. Emma had wanted to use stronger words than calling her mistress “inexperienced,” but she’d decided to choose her words carefully. Now that Kris understood Emma’s point, her whole body flushed with embarrassment as she buried her head in her hands.
Emma seemed amused seeing that Kris now realized how silly her behavior was, and she decided to keep pressing further. “I see now. If you think of Sir Reid as not merely a child but a member of the opposite sex, then your response would indeed have been appropriate,” Emma said, flashing Kris a big grin.
Kris felt strangely flustered by Emma’s teasing, and without thinking, she responded, “No, that’s not it! I don’t see Sir Reid as a member of the opposite sex! It’s just that, y-you know! When speaking to him, he seems so mature that I have moments where I nearly forget that he’s a child! That’s why I responded like that!”
“In other words, Sir Reid behaves like an adult, so after interacting with him multiple times, you briefly forgot he was a child and viewed him as you would a man?”
“What?!”
Kris realized that she’d only dug herself deeper into this hole, and she was at a loss for words. It was true that Reid would sometimes say and do things that were unimaginable coming from a child, and he respected her as not only a woman but an elf. No matter where you were, being a woman was tough, and to be a businesswoman of a minority race would normally garner most people’s contempt.
That was what Kris’s peers had feared the most when she’d left the Saffron Trading Company, but Reid paid no mind to such things and believed in her. He’d even given her the opportunity to have an audience with Their Imperial Majesties. It would be no exaggeration to say that her visit to the capital had secured the Kristie Trading Company’s place in the Magnolian Empire. Though her business still had a long way to go, the company had started a new chapter.
When speaking to Reid, who’d made all of this possible for her, how had she been viewing him? Kris asked herself that question, seemed to realize something, and then hung her head in shame.
“You’re right. After having so many business meetings with Sir Reid, I may have forgotten that he was a child. If I look back at the incident with that in mind, I can definitely understand why you would consider me inexperienced.”
“So you admit that you’re naive?”
“Wait, no, I didn’t say that!”
Kris hadn’t meant for Emma to hear her thoughts, but it was too late to take anything back.
Emma smiled as she continued to speak. “There are some adults out there who behave like children. I myself can see that Sir Reid carries himself in a mature way, so I can understand how you may forget that he is a child. However, though I understand why it happened, I do think your reaction was a bit extreme.”
“I agree,” Kris responded with a sigh. “How am I going to apologize to him?” Looking back on the incident with a calm mind, Kris now regretted her reaction. “It’s not good to let your emotions take over...”
She looked down with her hand pressed against her forehead as she began to think about how she would apologize to Reid. It was only then that she recalled something important that had come up during their meeting, which she needed to tell Emma about. She raised her head and looked at her companion.
“I forgot to mention this earlier, but the names of the conditioner and lotion are going to change.”
“The conditioner and lotion? Very well. What are their new names?” Emma immediately grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the desk to take notes.
“The lotion will be called Kristie...”
“Pffft!”
The name was so unexpected that Emma almost burst into laughter. She never would’ve imagined that the lotion would be named after her mistress. Seeing Emma stifle her laughter made Kris visibly tense up.
“It wasn’t my idea, okay? Sir Reid decided it all on his own!”
“U-Understood,” Emma responded, giggles slipping out despite her attempts at keeping her laughter suppressed. “What will the name of the conditioner be?”
How will she react to the name of the conditioner? Kris wondered as she saw how amused Emma was by the name of the lotion. A mischievous smile spread across the elf’s face as she took her revenge.
“The conditioner will be called Kristie Emma.”
“Huh...?” Emma was immediately left dumbfounded.
“Isn’t it great, Emma? Just like mine, your name will now be known throughout the world.”
“I humbly decline the offer.”
Emma understood how Kris’s name being used for a product would serve as an advertisement for the trading company itself, but Emma was a mere servant. She had no idea why her name would be used. The thought of people she’d never met saying her name filled her with embarrassment. She desperately tried to decline, but Kris turned her down with a mean-spirited tone that seemed like payback for earlier.
“This was Sir Reid’s decision, Emma. You should know that you can’t decline.”
“I don’t want this...” Emma mumbled, her cat ears dejectedly drooping downward.