The man in charge exchanged uneasy glances with the two gate guards before finally gathering the courage to speak.
"Young Miss..." he began cautiously. "Are you perhaps waiting for the young man who came here a short while ago?"
Leslie turned toward him, a faint look of confusion appearing on her face.
"The young man?"
The man gave a nervous nod.
"Yes. A young man dressed in ordinary clothes came to the estate just a few moments ago. He claimed that you had invited him here."
Then, as though a realization had suddenly struck her, her eyes widened slightly.
"Arthur?"
Her gaze immediately settled on the man in charge, and the urgency in her voice became impossible to miss.
"Where is he?" Leslie asked, the urgency in her voice unmistakable.
The question caused the man in charge's heart to sink.
"Well..." he answered hesitantly, unable to meet her eyes. "...we sent him away."
"What?!"
The calm composure Leslie had maintained until then vanished instantly.
The sharpness in her voice startled all three men. Panic immediately spread across their faces, and without another word, the man in charge and the two gate guards hurriedly dropped to their knees.
"We're terribly sorry, Young Miss!" the man in charge apologized anxiously. "He appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary commoner, and when he claimed that you had personally invited him here to meet the Lord, we believed he was lying."
The two gate guards immediately lowered their heads.
"Please forgive us, Young Miss. We never intended to offend either you or your guest."
Leslie looked down at the three kneeling men, her brows knitting together as anger flickered across her face.
"You..."
The three men instinctively swallowed, none of them daring to raise their heads. Remaining on their knees in complete silence, they waited anxiously for whatever punishment their young miss decided to impose.
After taking a slow breath to steady herself, Leslie suppressed the anger welling up inside her and asked in a firm voice,
"When did he leave?"
"He... he left just before you arrived, Young Miss," one of the guards answered hurriedly.
The moment she heard those words, Leslie immediately turned toward the street outside the estate.
Without another word, she hurried off in the direction Arthur had gone, her elegant composure giving way to urgency.
"My Lady!"
Her personal guard reacted almost instantly and quickly chased after her, unwilling to let her go alone.
The three men remained where they were, still on their knees, silently watching Leslie's retreating figure until she disappeared into the distance.
An uneasy silence settled over the estate entrance.
For several long moments, none of them spoke.
Finally, one of the gate guards slowly turned toward the man in charge, the shock on his face still evident.
"Sir..."
His voice trembled ever so slightly.
"...Young Miss actually ran after him."
The man in charge continued staring at the now-empty street, unable to find any words.
---
I had just found an empty horse carriage by the roadside and was about to climb aboard when a familiar voice suddenly called out from behind me.
"Arthur!"
The urgency in the voice made me pause. Turning around, I saw Leslie hurrying toward me as quickly as she could, with her personal guard following only a few steps behind.
By the time she finally reached me, she came to an abrupt stop in front of me, breathing heavily from the run. Although she was a Controller, it was obvious that physical endurance wasn't one of her strengths.
A faint smile appeared on my face.
"You're a Controller," I remarked lightly. "But you don't seem to have much physical stamina."
"Y-Yeah..." Leslie admitted between breaths, giving an embarrassed smile as she placed a hand against her chest. She took a few slow breaths to steady herself before finally looking back up at me.
"Where are you going?"
"Well," I replied calmly, "I wasn't allowed into the estate, so I thought I'd just head back."
The moment she heard my answer, a trace of guilt immediately appeared on Leslie's face.
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
Before I could react, she bowed her head toward me.
"I'm truly sorry for the way the guards treated you."
Before I had the chance to respond, her personal guard immediately stepped forward.
"My Lady," he said respectfully, though there was a hint of urgency in his voice, "you mustn't bow to him. He is merely a servant working at an inn."
Leslie didn't even acknowledge his words, remaining in her apologetic posture.
Seeing the awkward scene unfold before me, I let out a quiet sigh and gave a slight shake of my head.
"Your guard is right," I said. "You shouldn't be bowing to me. Regardless of what happened, you're still the daughter of the Hartwell family."
Only then did Leslie slowly straighten herself.
"...Alright."
A gentle smile gradually returned to her face, replacing the guilt from moments before.
"Come with me," she said. "I'll personally take you into the estate this time."
I gave a small nod.
Without another word, the two of us turned around and began making our way back toward the Hartwell estate, while her personal guard quietly followed a few steps behind.
Several minutes later, the familiar entrance of the Hartwell estate came into view once again.
The man in charge and the two gate guards were still standing by the gate, anxiously awaiting Leslie's return. The moment they saw her approaching with Arthur calmly walking beside her, all three of them froze.
Their eyes instinctively widened.
They exchanged uneasy glances, yet none of them spoke.
At that moment, they no longer needed an explanation.
The fact that their young miss had personally gone after Arthur and was now escorting him back to the estate herself was enough to make them realize the gravity of their mistake. The ordinary-looking young man they had dismissed and driven away was clearly someone she regarded with great importance.
A chill ran down each of their spines.
As Leslie arrived before the estate gate, she came to a stop. The gentle smile that had accompanied her moments earlier slowly faded, replaced by a cold, stern expression as her gaze settled upon the three men standing before her.
"You three..."
Leslie's voice was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable authority that instantly silenced the estate entrance.
Her cold gaze swept across the man in charge and the two gate guards before she spoke once more.
"You are relieved of your duties. You may leave."
The words struck the three men like a bolt from the blue.
The color immediately drained from their faces, and panic overwhelmed them. Without wasting another second, they hurriedly dropped to their knees, their foreheads nearly touching the ground.
"We're deeply sorry, Young Miss!" the man in charge pleaded desperately. "Please forgive us! We truly believed he was trying to deceive us. We never intended to disrespect either you or your guest."
The two gate guards quickly joined in, their voices filled with panic.
"Please forgive us, Young Miss! We swear we won't make the same mistake again!"
Having served the Hartwell family for years, all three of them understood exactly what being relieved of their duties meant. It was far more than a simple punishment. Losing their positions at the Hartwell estate would tarnish their reputations, making it exceedingly difficult to find respectable employment elsewhere.
Leslie remained silent throughout their desperate pleas. She simply looked down at the three kneeling men, her expression as cold as ever, allowing the heavy silence to linger over the estate entrance.