Chapter 31: The Lost Child (1)

Yudith looked at Chloe, seemingly a little flustered. She usually didn’t receive bathing assistance. She could do it herself, and she also disliked Chloe treating her like a child, which had been going on for years.

‘Being so thin… please eat properly. That’s how you can become a voluptuous beauty like me.’

‘….I see.’

‘…I’m sorry. Please don’t look at me with those eyes.’

She hated Chloe looking at her with pitiful eyes whenever she assisted her in the bath.

She would have gladly accepted genuine pity, but she couldn’t bear the way Chloe always treated her like a child, seeing her only as a younger sister back then.

But unlike then, the look in Chloe’s eyes as she looked at her now was…

Yudith smiled faintly and slowly dipped her toes into the bathtub. Slowly. She simply watched as Yudith slowly entered the water.

“Haa…”

Yudith, who had gently sunk into the water, let out a pleasant groan as she relaxed her body in the warm water and felt her muscles loosen.

Golden silk cascaded down the edge of the tub. Fluttering as if in seduction. Her golden hair, though she hadn’t applied anything, fluttered like silk.

“…What kind of scented oil should I use? Would jasmine or freesia, which you usually use, be alright?”

“Let’s see… shall we go with jasmine today?”

Chloe, who hadn’t even assisted her with bathing before, knew what kind of scented oils she usually used.

That feeling tickled her heart and made her unbearably happy.

Chloe knelt before the gracefully flowing golden hair, picked up a comb, and slowly began to comb it.

Soft strands of gold tangled and intertwined in her hands, filling Chloe’s heart with the urge to smell them.

Slowly, gently, she combed through it without a single tangle, and then, as Yudith ordered, she took out a container filled with jasmine scented oil, poured it into her hand, and slowly applied the fragrance to the golden silk.

The unique, sweet, sour, and lightly intoxicating scent of jasmine filled the bathroom along with the humidity.

-Drip. Drip.

-Swish

Only the sound of water droplets falling from the tub to the floor and the sound of rubbing as she applied the scented oil echoed in the bathroom.

Chloe slightly raised her head and looked at Yudith’s face, who had her eyes closed, gazing at the ceiling.

“…You don’t have to worry too much about going to the capital. I’m really just going to say hello and come back…”

Her densely shadowed eyelashes.

“I’ll really be back within a month… I promised Damian that much…”

The complexion on her marble-like skin was so breathtakingly beautiful.

“…Chloe?”

The fact that only I can touch this beautiful body…

“Ah… yes. I’ll be waiting.”

She felt like she was going crazy these days.

Because Yudith had never allowed her to assist with bathing before.

She had come in to tease her just a little, feeling slightly sulky that she hadn’t taken her along this time…

But the sight unfolding before her eyes was so dazzling that the thought of teasing her disappeared, and she could only think of engraving that image into her mind.

“If you don’t come back within a month… I’ll come find you.”

“Pfft… That won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

A soft laugh spread through the bathroom.

Intoxicated by the sweet jasmine scent, she felt as if the happiness before her eyes was blooming like a flower.

‘I just wish we could be this happy… When she comes back in a month, I’ll have to keep her in the Grand Ducal Castle for another month so she can’t go anywhere.’

Chloe smiled brightly, applied the remaining scented oil, and slowly stood up.

Ignoring my insistence that I would definitely see her off at the main gate, Yudith simply received her farewell in her room.

Saying strange things like she was busy and didn’t need to be seen off,

I had to let Yudith go after a brief kiss in the room.

Watching Yudith get into the carriage and depart from the window, Chloe was finally able to move.

Even though she had only left a short while ago, the loneliness that surged in her heart was so profound that she blankly stared at the empty room.

Come to think of it, this was the first time in eight years that she had been separated from Yudith.

These eight years with Yudith, during which they had never been apart, now filled Chloe’s heart and the room with emptiness, as if her life could no longer exist without her presence.

“…I should work.”

Hoping that moving her body would help her forget this lonely feeling to some extent, Chloe tied up her hair and headed out of the room.

After being assigned a task by the Head Maid, she headed to the entrance hall with cleaning tools to clean it.

“Chloe! I heard you’re working with us for a while starting today?”

“Yeah, until Milady comes back.”

When Yudith didn’t need her assistance, she often did odd jobs in the main building. Anna, one of the colleagues she met at those times, waved her hand, happy to see her.

“How have you been, Anna? I haven’t seen you at the warehouse lately.”

“Sorry… I wanted to go, but I’ve been assigned to the laundry room since last month… I thought I was going to die.”

“Ah… then there’s nothing you can do…”

Chloe couldn’t close her mouth at the mention of the infamous laundry room.

The hellish laundry room, where once you entered, you couldn’t leave until the next shift, managed the laundry of the entire Grand Ducal Family, and even though there were washing machines using Mana Stones, as befitting a fantasy world, the work was not easy.

Skipping out was absolutely impossible, and the crazy schedule of alternating day and night shifts every month was enough to drive the maids in the laundry room crazy.

“But I heard Erina went to the capital this time? I wanted to go too…”

“I know… I wanted to go too. But Milady said no.”

“…Hang in there. What will our Chloe do without her beloved Milady?”

“Wh-what… It’s just a month.”

Chloe’s face turned as red as a tomato at Anna’s sudden words. Anna gave her a knowing, lewd smile at the reaction and whispered to Chloe.

“Speaking as a friend with the same preferences…”

“Huh…? What are you talking about…?”

Ignoring Chloe’s feigned ignorance, Anna continued. Anna had felt a strange vibe between herself and another colleague, Cecile, but could it be… was it real…?

“Why don’t we go out together this weekend? I need to buy something to show my lover too.”

“Wh-what is it…?”

Chloe let out a very faint scream at the very quiet whisper. Her face was flushed red, and her ears were burning hot, as if they were emitting smoke.

“Why are you so surprised about something like this? Haven’t you done it before?”

“Huh…? Have you done it?”

“Ohoho… Curious? Curious?”

Chloe looked around to make sure no one was there and leaned her head towards Anna.

“So… th-the… clothes… Jeri… corner…”

“Kyaa! Are you crazy, really!?”

“How effective is it… You haven’t done something like this before?”

“Of course not, you pervert!”

Chloe, covering her mouth and slapping Anna’s shoulder with a loud smack, was at a loss. The stimulating story from a senior in life was more shocking than she had imagined.

How could such lewd things be unfolding in the Grand Ducal Castle?

“So, let’s go out together this weekend. I want to go out for the first time in a while, and you can buy something too, how about it?”

“Sh-should we…?”

“Let’s go just the two of us, excluding the other girls. It would be troublesome if we got caught, right?”

“Y-yes… let’s do that…”

Chloe, as if possessed by Anna’s experience, just kept nodding her head, eventually agreeing to the lewd proposal.

‘I… I definitely have to take the lead next time. I can’t just keep being dominated by Yudith…’

Anna gave a lewd smile at Chloe’s innocent reaction, her face flushed and at a loss.

Imagining that she had been like that too, she hummed a song while thinking of her lover and continued cleaning.

At the edge of a cliff at the end of the world, a young child stood precariously.

The green hair looked like grass blades under the sunlight, and although it was covered by long hair, the long ears that could be seen because of the wind easily revealed that the child was an elf.

“Little one!! It’s dangerous there, come over here quickly!!”

Was it because of curiosity that he approached? A man who was passing by was surprised by the sight of the young child standing there alone without parents and approached the child.

“Hmm? Is he talking to Jim?”

“? What?”

The little one spoke strangely. He felt a little strange at the sight of him calling himself Jim, but it was more important that the child was in danger.

“Come over here quickly!”

“Hmm! I’m going now!”

Fortunately, the child followed him well, so he was able to avoid the danger of the child falling off the cliff.

Why was he alone in such a dangerous place without his parents? With that thought, he met the child’s gaze and asked him step by step.

“Where are your parents?”

“I don’t have any!”

“Huh? Th-then, who takes care of you…?”

“I don’t have anyone!”

The man made a troubled expression. He just thought he was an orphan, but looking at the child’s appearance, he didn’t look like an orphan at all. His fair skin and silky hair made him look like a nobleman.

“…Should we go to the guard and look for your parents first?”

“Hmm?! Didn’t Jim say he doesn’t have any!”

“Yes… yes… Let’s go look for them first? It’s dangerous here.”

“Humans don’t even listen to elves! Hey, let go!”

The child shook his arm strongly, broke free from the man’s hand, and ran away quickly with his short legs. He was so fast that he disappeared from sight in an instant with those short legs, and the man blankly stared at where the child had disappeared.

“First… I should at least tell the guard…”