episode_0031

Late at night.

In one part of Athena’s mansion, a secret meeting was taking place.

“Did you call, Master?”

“…you’re here.”

A girl greeting a middle-aged man.

The girl’s hair was dark brown.

A middle-aged man. Bordin was staring intently at the moon outside the window without even giving the girl a glance.

“Starting tomorrow, for a week, the lord will leave the mansion and stay at the palace.”

“I see.”

“One week. Can you produce the results He wants within that time?”

“…The play has already started. I think it’s possible.”

When Bordin turned around to face the girl, she bowed her head even deeper.

“Yes. Your role is important. I already told the head maid, so there won’t be any gossip. Make sure to do it.”

“I will follow your orders.”

After finishing his business, he turned his gaze back to the window.

The girl gave him another example, then disappeared in an instant.

Left alone in the room, he looked at the moon that was softly illuminating the dark night sky and quietly muttered a few words.

“Maybe…that woman could be the key.”

The lord whom one serves.

It looks calm on the outside, but inside it’s intense enough to swallow everything up.

“The sun will reveal all the sins hidden in disgusting hypocrisy.”

When that time comes.

Mere mortals in the intense fire of the sun.

It will disappear without leaving a trace.

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.

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“You don’t need the market anymore?”

Rosalind looks puzzled by my words.

“Yes..I’m really okay now..Actually, it was burdensome for a while…”

“Hmm.. Are you embarrassed to show your naked body?”

“Huh?! Oh… No?! I… Really, I just feel burdened… That’s right.”

When the point was hit, I unconsciously covered my lower abdomen, which was already covered by my clothes, with my hand.

“If you feel that way, there’s nothing I can do. I’ll tell the maids around you.”

“Thank you..”

thank god.

Since such an imprint was made on my body.

I didn’t want to show my naked body to anyone.

After confirming the location of the engraving, I cried and argued with Athena, asking if it had to be in this location.

She shrugged her shoulders and said calmly.

“It’s a coincidence. Would I have wanted to carve it there?”

When you say that, I’m speechless.

Eventually, I had no choice but to give up, so I decided to go in a way that would avoid being caught by anyone as much as possible.

So I ended up refusing to take a bath. It was convenient, but I would rather wash by myself than show this mark to the maids.

“Ugh…this is hard…”

Like a caterpillar, I wriggled into bed and covered my head with the blanket.

This morning, Athena was away from the mansion for a week due to some business at the palace.

He left, telling me that I could do anything except leave the mansion.

A week without her.

Maybe if it were me before, I would have jumped up and down and enjoyed it. But now, I-

‘..I won’t do anything.’

I was already mentally exhausted.

The last time I went out because I was bored, what happened?

Every time I think about that time, I feel a strong desire to go out of the room.

Even when I had no choice but to go see Rosalind, I was nervous that I might run into a member of the Knights of Dawn.

When I encountered them, all I could do was bow my head like a sinner.

“It’s all my fault..”

I will not leave this room until Athena returns.

You can also eat rice here.

I just thought I’d be one with the bed and the water for a week.

As I was sinking into the comfort of the bed, I slowly tried to close my heavy eyes-

“Miss!!!!!!!!”

“Huh?!!”

A maid comes in, opening the door so loudly that it makes a banging sound.

She strode briskly up to my bed and pulled the blanket far away.

“Huh? Ah…Alina?”

“What time is it and you’re still in bed! What about dinner!”

She was yelling at me with her hands at her sides.

I spoke to her in a small voice, my mouth pursed.

“…I’m going to stay in my room from now on.”

“Huh?! Where did the person who came to me because he was bored go?”

“Ugh..well..it’s okay now..”

Alina, who heard what I said, put her face in front of me in a way that was burdensome.

“..Why are you so depressed? Could it be because of what happened at the training center?”

“……”

“Haa… I heard that the accident happened because the master’s mana exploded. It wasn’t your fault, young lady, so why are you so exhausted?”

“..If I hadn’t gone in the first place..”

Alina hit her forehead and sighed, comforting me.

“Miss. That’s too consequential. Was this something you planned?”

“That…that can’t be…”

“Then it’s not your fault, Miss. So, please calm down.”

“..Still..”

“Ah, I don’t want to hear it. Eight!”

“Huh?!”

Alina grabbed my waist with both hands and forcibly lifted me out of the bed.

He seemed to be quite strong as he was able to lift me up easily.

She then gently places me on the ground.

“I can’t do that. I’ll take good care of you during the week you’re gone.”

“It’s okay..”

But she put her finger to my lips and covered my mouth.

“I can’t do this because I’m not okay. Okay?”

After standing there for a while, I finally nodded and he moved his finger away.

“Okay. Then, first, breakfast… No, lunch first?”

“Can’t I eat in my room?”

“If you keep eating in bed, you’ll gain weight!”

“Even if you eat it, you won’t gain weight..”

When Alina heard what I said, she glared at me as if she was going to kill me.

The expression on her face as she spoke through clenched teeth could be described as terrifying.

“Let’s go to a restaurant and eat… Miss~?”

“Hi.”

Eventually, as she said, I went to a restaurant and had a meal.

Even today, a dish that is still as delicious as ever is presented before my eyes.

There must be a reason why appetite is one of the three major human desires.

As the food melted in my mouth, I found myself feeling better without realizing it.

As I chatted with Alina and Osun Dosun over a meal, the clutter in my head seemed to disappear.

After some time had passed and we finished eating.

I got up from my seat during the meal to go to the study that Alina had suggested.

So let’s turn our heads towards the door. –

“Umm..Miss..”

I heard Alina’s voice calling me from behind.

“….Wouldn’t it be better to eat a little cleaner?”

“Huh?”

I looked at Alina to see what she meant, and she was pointing to the spot where I had been eating.

“…Huh?”

What I see before my eyes is a messy dining table.

The dishes I had used were spread out in a mess, and the table was covered in messy food stains.

“Our maids will clean it up anyway. But it’s better to keep these basic manners in mind!”

Ah..no..

Did I make the meal that dirty?

The spoons and forks were also crooked and overturned, which was quite an eyesore.

For me, who has been living alone since before Ice Age, cleaning up after myself has always been a basic habit.

I couldn’t believe that I was having such a messy meal.

I definitely ate without thinking…

How did you put the spoon and fork in the end..?

Since I couldn’t quite remember, I asked her again.

“Alina..I did..like that..?”

“..Huh? You’re the only one who ate here..?”

She looked at me with a puzzled expression, tilting her head.

As she said, I’m the only one eating here right now.

Alina was just sitting across from me, talking to me.

If that’s the case, then I’m the only culprit.

I had a moment of doubt about Alina.

She pointed at me right away, not long after I took my eyes off the table.

It was difficult to see what had been done to the food and utensils during that short period of time.

Unless you have incredibly fast hands.

For a moment, I felt incredibly ashamed of myself.

You didn’t want to admit your own mistakes so you tried to blame others.

I wondered if I had ever been such an ugly person.

When I admitted to myself that I had done it, the shame that came over me was overwhelming.

What would she have thought when she saw such a messy table?

“Sorry.. I’ll eat cleanly from now on..”

Alina smiled after hearing what I said and gave me a push on the shoulder as if to say that it was okay.

“Don’t worry too much. Then, are you going to the study as planned?”

“Ugh..Please.”

I followed her into the study, fanning my blushing face with my hand.

.

.

.

“Wow..”

The study I arrived at was much larger than I had expected.

I didn’t think it would be small, but I didn’t know it would be this big.

There were so many books here that it seemed like it would take hundreds of years to read them all.

“Is there a specific book you would like?”

This is the type of book I want to read…

There is, but… is there such a book here?

But looking at the size of this place, I felt like it might be possible.

“Do you have any books like novels?”

“A novel? Hmm…”

She hesitated for a moment at my words, then seemed to remember something and smiled brightly as she spoke.

“There is no novel, but there is something similar! Would you like to come this way?”

So I followed her and arrived in front of a shelf that looked at least three times my height.

Alina said, pointing with her hand to the middle of the shelf.

“That book over there. It’s a book that records the history of the Great War. There are so many battle stories in it that you can read it like a novel!”

The era of great war.

A long time ago, there was a war caused by conflicts between races that had been building up for a long time.

All races, including humans, demons, beastmen, elves, and spirits, took up arms and their war did not stop for a single day for a full hundred years.

Tragic times.

The number of lives lost at this time was so great that it was difficult to speak of it carelessly.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the peace we have today was created by the terror caused by the war at that time.

I became interested.

In the novel, it was only expressed in a few lines, but I was curious as to how it would be recorded here.

“Yeah. I’ll do that.”

“Yes. Then I will bring the ladder, so please wait a moment.”

huh?

ladder?

The book was located within arm’s reach if you just stretched out your hand a little.

I don’t think a ladder is necessary…

But she disappeared before I could even say a word. I don’t even know when she disappeared.

In a bit of a quandary, I decided to just wait for her to come back.

But even after several dozen minutes, she did not return.

“…Why aren’t you coming?”

Let’s just stand still. My body starts to tremble.

I’ll just take it out.

It didn’t look that high anyway.

The distance between my hand and the soft book that I could almost reach out and touch.

“Ugh..”

I was able to make up for the missing distance by lifting my heels.

“Got it!”

So let’s take the book off the shelf –

Bam-

A very subtle contact.

My hand briefly touched the shelf to take out a book.

If we look at the direction of the force, we can say that it pushed the shelf just a little bit.

It was a power that could not even overcome the reeds.

but.

“Huh?..”

A large shelf leaning back at my slight touch.

Then the shelf fell backwards with a great force –

Boom-boom-

Like dominoes, it fell spectacularly to the floor, knocking over the shelves behind it.

Kwaaang

As several shelves fell to the floor, the numerous books they contained also spilled onto the floor like byproducts.

In an instant, dust filled the study and obscured my vision.

In my mouth, standing blankly in the thick dust.

“….in?”

As if a deflated doll, a feeble sound came out.