episode_0009

That evening.

Early morning, when everyone is asleep except for the battle maids, butlers, and knights who guard the mansion. I yawned profusely and got off the bed.

The hot summer night breeze brushed against my ankles. I sat on the bed in a daze, slowly blinking my eyes, and then stretched.

“What time is it? … .”

I slightly opened the curtains, went out to the balcony, and looked up at the night sky. The full moon in the sky was tilted slightly to the west in the midheaven.

Is it a little past 12 o’clock now? After yawning again, I went back into the room, took the poppy and corkscrew that I had secretly hidden, and came out.

‘The guard shift at the mansion is between 12:00 and 12:30.’

It’s not accurate because I don’t have a clock and I just have to measure time based on the moon’s position, but for today, I’ve learned to read the moon clock for 4 years and 10 times.

Although it may not be as accurate as a modern electronic clock, the head butler who manages the security inside the mansion has a perfect sense of time, so if you are a little careful, you will not be caught by the guards.

I walked down the hallway with my eyes closed. Ten big steps forward. Pause for a moment, then take thirty steps forward, then turn left and take five steps. And stairs.

I had already memorized the internal structure of the mansion and the guards’ patrol routes, which I had lived in for over 100 years, if I count the number of times I had done it.

I was able to reach the cellar where the wine was stored without being caught or disturbed by anyone.

“Phew… … . As expected, the cellar is a bit cold.”

I shivered from the chill creeping up my ankles and rubbed my skin-covered arms.

This is not the time to be like this. Approximately 14 minutes until the next patrol arrives in the cellar. There must be at least seven bottles of wine in it.

What kind of wine is good? Since I won’t even bother to try wine that is close to the age, let’s choose five bottles of wine that are about 20 years old and two bottles that are over 50 years old.

“The wine, which is about 20 years old, was clearly the fourth showcase of the B line… … .”

I went inside the cellar, took out a bottle of wine that was about 20 years old, opened the bottle, and mixed it with the latex of poppy fruit. Even if it was too effective, things would get complicated, so I added about two drops.

I’ve gone through regression several times, but I’ve never taken narcotics like raw opium, so I can’t control it well… … .

I thought two drops were too little, but I also thought it would be difficult if the effect appeared too early, so I put a new cork in the wine bottle mixed with latex and put it back in the display case.

“This is my fifth bottle… … .”

“Who is there?”

Has 14 minutes already passed? no. It only took about a minute per bottle. 3 minutes to find the right wine, 5 minutes to mix the emulsion in 5 bottles and add it back. It’s not perfect, but it shouldn’t have been at least 10 minutes. how?

Should I deal with it? no. The opponent is the mansion’s guard. There’s no way I can win with this body that hasn’t been properly trained since it was before I entered the academy.

It might be better to go out shamelessly――

“I know it’s here. Please come out obediently.”

Maybe it was because I had lost all of the sleep from being surprised earlier, but this time I heard the other person’s voice clearly.

The owner of the voice was none other than Mel.

Maybe we can move on quietly. After quietly taking a deep breath, he emerged from behind the display case.

“If you do not want to come out, use force――”

“I thought I hid as carefully as possible. I caught this.”

“――Lady? Why are we here at this time… … .”

“Would you believe me if I said I wanted to drink wine?”

Even though I knew it was nonsense, I tried it out, and rather than just replying to what I said, Mel said, He was just quietly looking at me.

Am I trying to figure out my intentions at least vaguely? Or is he just watching? Maybe you’re calculating your profits and losses.

While I was thinking about what to do with Mel behind my smiling face, Mel spoke up.

“Miss, are you planning to poison the matriarch?”

“It’s lese majeste. That.”

Mel smiled and slowly approached me.

“Lady. Didn’t I tell you before? I have lived in a very rough place.”

“Okay. At the banquet commemorating Arsien’s 10th birthday, I definitely said that.”

“I hate to tell you this, but I have lived a pretty odd life. With a brothel customer and a brothel ace as her parents, she sold her body from a very young age. Because that was the only way I could make a living. It was very painful at first. It’s worth it, because he was a child.”

Mel laughed as she said that and put down the lantern she was holding. A shadow fell on her face, and her pitch-black eyes sparkled, reflecting soft light.

“I learned a lot at the brothel. How to seduce a man. How to please. How to accept the most ugly and disgusting desires in the world through your body. And――alcohol and drugs.”

Mel came closer to me, her shining eyes shining.

“The drugs used in brothels are. If you put a cigarette instead of a cigarette in a pipe and light it, your mind will go blank and the pain in your entire body will disappear, and soon a pleasure and joy that cannot be obtained by simply mixing the body follows. How do you know? After my mother, who was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease, started smoking that drug, she stopped saying she was sick and just muttered that she felt good.”

He smiled heartily, not even realizing that the saliva was flowing.

“… … .”

“As you know, even normal medicines can cause side effects if taken too much or too often, and there is no way that drugs that are not normal medicines will not cause side effects. My biological mother died because she was addicted to drugs. And that drug.”

“You mean it can be collected from the poppies I bought?”

Mel came a little closer to me and looked at me from just three steps away. When a person you meet for the first time makes eye contact, you have such a terrible face that your spine goes numb and your legs feel weak.

I smiled as I looked at Mel.

“What are you talking about? Drugs sound scary… … . Mel, do I look like the kind of person who would do something like that? I told you last time. Since it’s just Mel and I, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything like that. But, driving me like this――is it really unpleasant?”

“Lie.”

Mel took a step closer, her face distorted with a mixture of malice and numerous negative emotions.

“I am proud to say that while visiting brothels and back alleys, I have seen all the malice and evil deeds that humans can have. Jealousy, anger, contempt, murder, arson, rape, loan sharking and even adultery. There are so many more besides. I can feel that I have crawled out of that den of evil. Although it is very faint, you can see the malice wriggling in the young lady’s eyes.”

So please don’t lie. Please look straight at me. Please tell me everything honestly. Please go to the same place as me.

Although Mel didn’t say it in words, she looked at me with eyes that conveyed that meaning, begged, and took another step forward.

The distance between me and Mel was about a step, but the invisible line between me and Mel was blocking Mel.

“I will not betray you, young lady. Because I want to go higher and higher, absolutely. I will not betray you, young lady.”

“It’s like saying that you won’t betray me, so you want me to take the position of head of the family and lift you to a higher place.”

“That’s right. I have absolutely no intention of dying here.”

He smiled at those words and tilted his head.

“If we keep our mouths shut, wouldn’t we be able to move on quietly? Even if I don’t do this anyway, I am the heir to the family and can rise to the position of head of the family.”

“The lady is a thorough person. If you can’t be sure I’ll keep my mouth shut, you’ll do something about me. In that case, I would rather stand on the young lady’s side. Because I would rather live clinging to a man’s dick than die miserably on the floor. No matter what dirty work I do, I will stand by your side. So――”

“So, if I go up to a high enough place, you will betray me?”

Although it was only for a moment, a look of concern flashed in Mel’s eyes. After a while, Mel blinked. After wiping away the hesitation with her eyelids, Mel’s eyes showed nothing but firm determination.

“I swear with my life that I will not betray you.”

At those words, I smiled sincerely for the first time.

.

.

.

I have lived in pain since I was young. I couldn’t even know who my biological father was. Instead of paying attention to me, my mother pushed me into a brothel when I was still young, saying that I needed to make money.

The extreme malice and pain I felt back then still linger in my body and eat away at me. However, as time passed, that pain became the driving force that made me move. It became the hand that pushed me up to a high place.

I gritted my teeth, studied, groomed myself, and worked as a customer at a brothel before becoming a maid for a duke’s family. And there.

“Maid?”

I met a lady.