ILSK Chapter 5

“……You resemble Noah, don’t you?”

Finally, when Cecilia opened her mouth, Anna scoffed.

“Oh dear, now it seems like everyone is your fiance, huh?”

But when Anna turned her head toward Shannon, she opened her mouth wide in surprise and then closed it again. It was clear that Shannon really did resemble the person named ‘Noah.’ However, Shannon just smiled faintly and waited for Cecilia to choose a car.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. You look so much like someone I know… I’ll have strawberry tea.”

Coming to her senses a moment too late, Cecilia awkwardly smiled and turned her gaze away from Shannon. No matter how much of a maid she was, staring so intently at someone’s face was unbecoming of a noble lady.

“Please don’t worry. Then, I will prepare today’s tea and strawberry tea.”

Shannon, as if nothing had happened, politely greeted the embarrassed Cecilia and turned away. As soon as Shannon turned around, Anna began to whisper to Cecilia.

“Wow, they really look alike! Could she maybe his relative?”

“Noah said he doesn’t have any female cousins…”

“Or maybe a hidden younger sister?”

“You’ve read too many novels, Anna?”

Cecilia burst into a hearty laugh.

“I was really surprised. For a moment, I thought he was really your fiance.”

Leaving their chatter behind, Shannon was walking towards the kitchen to deliver the order slip when she gasped, holding her breath and freezing in place. No, she was completely frozen. Right in front of her, the serial killer, Killian Gray, was walking towards her. Despite her desperate wish never to see him again, she found herself facing him just a day later.

“It’s okay, he might not recognize me.”

Yesterday, she had fallen into the river and was in tattered clothes, but now she was wearing a neat maid outfit and had her hair neatly tied up. Shannon tried to calm herself down and bowed her head deeply, pretending to be a polite maid greeting the guests.

Step by step. He drew closer with each step. Killian Gray stood out clearly even without his uniform. It wasn’t just his silver hair that shone like the stars on a winter night, his green eyes with an inscrutable charm, or his towering height that made him feel enormous. Even without doing anything, just standing still, he exuded the aura of a predator.

‘Please, just go!’

Extremely tense, Shannon desperately wished that he would just pass by without even glancing at her. But the predator, Killian, stopped right next to the prey, Shannon. Then, as if finding her desperate attempt to turn her face away amusing, he bent down and whispered directly into her ear.

“Seeing you again.”

Shannon squeezed her eyes shut at the breath of the beast felt barely a few inches away.

“……Miss Sherwood, who lives on Saint Dominic Street.”

“Sir, Mrs. Lauren will guide you to your seat.”

Shannon pretended to be busy and hurriedly tried to leave when Killian called her “that suspicious Miss Sherwood who lies to the chief of police without a second thought.”

“The group has already arrived. I’ll take today’s car.”

But a response full of laughter came back. He had ordered it faster than Shannon could avoid him. He even added that since his party was already seated, there was no need to guide “someone else” to their seats, all while putting Shannon in his grasp and toying with her.

Killian smiled at me as if putting on a mask to hide the beast-like atmosphere emanating from me. But he couldn’t hide his fierce gaze with a smile. That intense look almost made Shannon collapse to the floor.

“Killian!”

At that moment, the door to the special balcony burst open, and the voice of an angel rescuing Shannon from the lion’s den was heard. The angel was quite angry, but the fact that the angel diverted Killian Gray’s gaze elsewhere was enough to make them an angel.

“Are you not only late for the appointment but also chatting with the maid?”

With her hand on her hip and her delicate brow furrowed, Shannon’s angel glared at Killian. Taking advantage of the moment, Shannon tried to escape from Killian quickly.

“Today’s tea.”

But Shannon’s escape failed. Killian, as if his furious companions were invisible, kindly repeated his words. Ignoring his spell, he clearly ordered Shannon once again, who was trying to run away. Shannon clenched the hand holding the spellbook tightly, trying to hide her trembling fingers.

 

***

 

“You, how could you do this?”

“What?”

Pushing the trolley and arriving in front of the balcony seats, Shannon let out a deep sigh inwardly. If only she could pass Killian’s order to another maid. However, it was the rule of not only tea houses but all fine dining restaurants that the one who took the order was responsible for serving, pouring tea, and even handling the bill.

Of course, according to this rule, Shannon should have brought tea to Cecilia and Anna’s table, who ordered before Killian, more quickly. But as they say, rules are like earrings if hung on ears, and nose rings if hung on noses? Mrs. Lauren arbitrarily twisted the rule to suit her own needs.

Cecilia and Anna urged her to hurry up and serve tea to the ‘Chief’ and ‘Miss Elena’, saying they would handle their table themself. Shannon was speechless, but since this was her tea room, she couldn’t argue.

“Excuse me.”

Believing it’s best to get unpleasant things over with quickly, Shannon firmly decided she would quickly serve tea to Killian and then escape the situation. When she gently parted the curtains and entered, Elena was still visibly angry.

“You do realize this is utterly rude, don’t you?”

Elena was busy confronting Killian and appeared not to notice Shannon, the maid, entering. Grateful to be treated as if invisible, Shannon quickly set napkins, saucers, cups, a sugar bowl, and silver tongs on their table. Then, holding the hot teapot, she first filled Elena’s cup as etiquette required.

“I’d understand better if you explained what’s rude exactly.”

Unlike Elena, who immediately raised her cup as Shannon poured tea, Killian took a leisurely sip, lightly closing his eyes to savor the aroma. Despite his words suggesting he wanted details, his demeanor clearly indicated he wasn’t interested in listening at all.

“You keep a lady waiting by arriving late for an appointment, where exactly did you leave your gentlemanly manners?”

Ignoring her question with a dismissive attitude while calmly savoring his tea? Elena’s anger grew naturally at the sight.

‘He values tea more than the lover right in front of him, definitely a psychopathic serial killer.’

Inwardly cursing Killian, Shannon turned to the trolley to pick up a basket of hot scones.

“Appointment?”

Despite Elena’s sharp words, Killian remained relaxed, placing his teacup down on the saucer with slow movements and smirking.

“I came as quickly as I could as soon as I heard about the ‘promise’ that I didn’t even know about.”

What is mutually agreed upon is a ‘promise,’ and what is unilateral is a ‘notification.’ Just not mentioning where the manners of a gentleman have gone to someone who doesn’t even know this basic thing is enough for me to have upheld the manners of a gentleman… With this very elegant and aristocratic indirect way of speaking, Elena’s face turned bright red.

“Why didn’t you come to the dinner the day before yesterday? Father waited for a long time!”

Elena couldn’t argue with Killian’s correct words, but it seemed she still had many questions to ask.

In the meantime, Shannon placed the scone basket in the middle of the tea table, positioned the clotted cream and strawberry jam just right, completing the perfect tea table. Finally, they could leave this suffocating space! As Shannon hurriedly placed her hand on the trolley handle, Killian picked up the silver tongs.

“I never confirmed that I would go to that place either.”

Killian’s answer to Elena’s pointed question was simple and straightforward. And as Shannon tried to escape, her ankle was caught. The guest signaled that he wanted sugar in his tea, so Shannon, serving the tea, had to open the sugar bowl lid and wait until he put down the sugar cube before closing the lid again. Shannon bit her lip secretly and turned back to open the sugar bowl lid again.

“What were you doing that evening that you couldn’t even be contacted? I already know you didn’t have any schedule!”

The “schedule” Elena was referring to meant meeting with socialites. It was clear that she had already inquired and found out whether anyone had met him that day. Despite Elena’s insistence on revealing that she had done some background research, Killian still wore an inscrutable smile and slowly dropped a sugar cube into his tea.

“Why can’t you answer? What were you doing with someone the night before yesterday?”

As Killian’s silence lingered with only a meaningful smile, Elena’s voice grew increasingly louder.

“Could it be that you were with another woman?”

His ambiguous attitude finally led Elena’s assumption to the worst. It was only at this point that Killian finally spoke up.

The inscrutable green eyes turned back to Shannon. When Killian smiled with his eyes, his green eyes folded beautifully in half.

“That’s right. I kissed a brunette lady I met for the first time. She boldly kissed me first and even begged me not to leave, probably?”

No, this crazy guy?