episode_0083

May was already winding down.

The school festival, a major event I had been somewhat looking forward to, was entirely postponed to the second semester, which deflated me a little.

Of course, it only deflated me a bit; with a girlfriend now, my life felt quite full.

It would look a bit strange to go around the entire academy shouting, “Everyone! We’re dating! A professor and student couple!”, so we’re just meeting quietly.

To be precise, Rosalie-nim has become extremely busy with the aftermath of the demon invasion, so we ‘can’t’ meet.

Although I was the only one who suffered severe injuries from the demon invasion due to overexerting my power, Rosalie-nim is not just a simple healer.

My incredibly capable girlfriend is quite skilled at detecting the demonic energy of demons, which feels similar to the magic of dark mages. Therefore, she has left on a business trip to search for potential routes the demons might have taken to cross into Delphi, starting from Maugen Dorf Forest.

It’s difficult for a high-ranking demon, especially a conspicuous one like Haimon, to penetrate the border defenses and cross into Delphi without any disturbance.

Well… if they put in a lot of time and effort, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to infiltrate through some remote area of the empire by taking a circuitous route.

But logically, in such cases, isn’t it a smarter deduction to assume there’s an internal collaborator?

Naturally, a monarch with a certain level of power will send spies, acting as liaisons or agents, to every country, be it this one, that one, or the other.

Alternatively, they might entice or tempt local residents to become their subordinates from the start.

In particular, demons are a species with very high inherent racial strength compared to humans, and there are often cases where humans try to gain power by becoming subordinates to demons.

Most demons consider humans lowly and are reluctant to employ them as subordinates, but Kardmos might not be one of them.

In any case, when building power, numbers cannot be ignored, and aside from the demons’ characteristic arrogant perspective, it’s naturally advantageous to have human subordinates.

For these reasons, whether in Azulda, Kashmir, or Sephiroth… spies have always existed wherever I lived.

The conclusion is… I probably won’t even see Rosalie-nim’s shadow for a while… I hope I can at least see her again before vacation?

[Ugh..! Ras… I miss you so much. We haven’t even been dating for long, and now this sudden misfortune? Plus, communication is terrible here… it’s the absolute worst. Sob…]

Naturally, my girlfriend-nim was also very sad.

Oh… and another person started contacting me this way.

[Little Ras, today I surveyed around Maugen Dorf Forest Sector 28-1341. I saw violets blooming by the roadside and suddenly thought of you, so I’m leaving this message. Oh, you haven’t forgotten our promise to go out together, have you?]

Professor Isera, who accompanied Rosalie-nim on the business trip, sends long messages like this three or four times a day, every day now.

The content is mostly about how she thought of me when she saw something and decided to contact me.

The problem is that these situations are often completely out of the blue, like just now, when she saw violets and thought of me, even though I have no purple about me at all.

Yesterday, she even said she thought of me when she saw a mole cricket crawling around while investigating the soil’s magic. I have no idea what connection a mole cricket and I could possibly have.

But considering she always reminds me of our promise to go out at the end, I suspect all those strange earlier messages are just rambling.

Perhaps Professor Isera was so satisfied with the gloves I gave her that she now wants even more luxurious gloves?

If I look around Delphi or Bern and can’t find gloves that satisfy Professor Isera, I’ll just have to order them from Sephiroth.

If I come up empty-handed that day, well, I can just eat something delicious and take a leisurely stroll.

“Sigh….”

Anyway, I just kept sighing deeply, suddenly missing Rosalie-nim.

Then I heard the familiar voice of someone who relentlessly nagged at me.

Her presence was so faint that even with my developed sense of aura and five senses, I couldn’t easily detect her.

“Hmm, Ras-gun, why are you sighing so deeply that the ground seems to give way, so early in the morning? Someone’s sigh makes those around them feel awkward. Would you prefer it if I made a gesture of feeling awkward?”

This elegant voice, almost devoid of highs and lows and calm, belonged to Marisa, a voice I had grown accustomed to.

“What’s a gesture of feeling awkward?” I asked. “Can a princess like you even do something like that?”

As I casually asked, she gave a slight smile, as if I had pricked a sensitive spot.

It was only for a fleeting moment, but I felt a strong sense of pain, and I instantly felt sorry.

“Well… being a princess doesn’t mean I don’t have to be mindful of others. Surprisingly, there are many suffocating moments. There’s a lot I have to uphold, I have to be elegant, and if I read common street novels, I get scolded…”

“That sounds like a terribly tiring life. If it were me, I’d just run away from home.”

The atmosphere felt a bit heavy, so I quickly blurted out some random words, and Marisa chuckled elegantly.

“Doesn’t Ras-gun’s father look for you if you run away? My father’s love for his daughter is quite extraordinary, so that wouldn’t be possible for me.”

“My father just lets his children roam freely, like goats grazing. Once you leave, he’d probably lock the main gate, but if you come back having earned a lot of money, he’d probably forgive you. Anyway, if things ever go wrong for you, just quit and run away. You only live once, after all.”

Her family, rather than having an ‘extraordinary’ love for their daughter, seems to view Marisa merely as a useful pawn to be used in various ways.

Her biological older brother, whom she considers her father, her older sister and younger older brother, whom she considers her aunt and uncle… and even her ‘true’ father, whom she considers her grandfather… perhaps because they’re Leon’s maternal relatives, they truly seemed like a dysfunctional family.

“Hehe… if I were to run away after hearing that, would Ras-gun take responsibility for me and look after me?”

To her playful question, I answered with sincerity.

“Yeah. I’ll feed you and let you stay without charging for lodging. If you ever feel suffocated, just ask for help.”

“…I believe you are undeniably a bad man. You have many sins. To so carelessly say you’ll feed and house someone of the opposite sex… I am clearly a woman, you know.”

She grumbled somewhat, yet seemed quite pleased.

She was inscrutable, as always, but that was fine because even that was cute.

As I watched Marisa with satisfaction, she suddenly began to grumble.

“But somehow… I feel a bit empty today… My hands feel empty, and my mouth feels a bit bored… It’s like something that should be here isn’t.”

“Irha isn’t here, is she? Poor Irha… her miserable gull life, getting her head ravaged by the honorifics villain and even her bread snatched away…”

Lately, Marisa seems to be monopolizing Irha’s head, constantly taking it, so I’ve accumulated a bit of dissatisfaction myself.

To think we’re rivals over Irha’s head. I shouldn’t have taught her that satisfying feeling of patting!

No matter how I thought about it, both before my regression and now, there was always something a little peculiar about the relationship between Marisa and me.

But why is this minion so late?

I’ve been negligent in supervising and left it up to her autonomy, which is why this mishap is occurring.

However, as soon as we spoke, Irha came panting and running.

Just as expected from our minion, she can’t be a dignified person!

“Pant, pant! …!!! Ras! Marisa!! Oh, the bread at the cafeteria came in a bit late, so I was waiting for that, and I’m a little late, hehehe…”

But there was no way I could scold her, running towards us like that, clutching an armful of bread with such a pitiful and exhausted expression and posture.

Panting, Irha pulled out various breads, and we began to quietly and solemnly munch on them.

I tried to sneakily pat Irha’s head, taking advantage of Marisa eating her bread, but Marisa, sensing it like a ghost, slapped my hand away like lightning, leaving me helpless.

To be a leader who can’t even pat his minion’s tempting head… I felt a little sorrowful for the first time in a while.

*

“Hmm… unauthorized absence… If you act like this, I can’t help you.”

“Ah… well… there was the festival preparation, and I had a lot of work… Eek!!!”

After school, I visited my office for the first time in a while to supervise my slave.

Our clever Heidi, without being asked, had prepared everything neatly regarding Emma’s work attendance, from the attendance register to the work attendance report.

This audacious slave dared to have two unauthorized absences in May.

I grabbed the shoulder of the slave who was making excuses and pressed down delicately, just enough not to break it.

As I pressed, I also injected the icy chill of snowflower, so it would be incredibly cold and painful, to an exquisitely subtle degree.

“What ‘personal circumstances’ could a slave possibly have? You must continue to do my slave work no matter what unreasonable situation arises. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’ll be merciful and make allowances.”

“Please… please stop!”

Splat! Whack! Whack!

Since the rude slave kept speaking disrespectfully, I slapped her a few times on the cheek to instill some manners.

Splatter! The sight of the slave’s tears spraying everywhere like a fountain was refreshing to behold.

“Ugh… sob….!”

“Speaking disrespectfully? I told you to always attach ‘Master-nim’ to your words. You know you need to be careful right now, don’t you? Because of the demons entering, dark mages are also being investigated on a large scale, as if they’re being uprooted.”

As I said before, sometimes there are humans who willingly become the demons’ foot-wipers, and nine out of ten of these individuals are dark mages.

In this city of Leona, now that it has been attacked by demons, dark magic and dark mages have quietly gone into hiding.

Undoubtedly, fearing they might get involved and suffer collateral damage, they must have hidden themselves in secret lairs, like pre-dug rabbit holes.

Given that the crackdown on the back alleys seems to be intensifying, my subordinates in Delphi are also quietly hiding these days.

As soon as Emma heard about demons and dark mages, her pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck.

The ‘Decay’ that she had commissioned from Lergo was a Jusal [a type of curse], the highest-ranking and most malicious of all curses.

Anyone who commissions a Jusal is, in principle, sentenced to the death penalty.

Especially someone like Emma, who has no power or backing, if the accusation is proven, she wouldn’t even be able to properly defend herself and would simply die.

Perhaps due to the fear of death, Emma trembled like an aspen leaf, then suddenly collapsed to her knees and began to beg me frantically.

“Ras… I was wrong. I’ve committed a sin worthy of death… Please, forgiveness…”

“Then die. I told you, didn’t I? If you’ve truly repented, just die on your own. Then I’ll forgive you.”

She was pretending to repent, churning out melodrama, but I knew she hadn’t changed at all.

Heidi’s report to me detailed everything: how Emma subtly looked down on her, spoke disrespectfully, acted defiantly, and refused to do tasks she was capable of.

Some might think Heidi is a good tattletale, but that’s not it.

Rather, it’s more accurate to say she’s a capable maid who excellently grasped her master’s intentions and delivered an even more advanced form of torment.

“Did she perhaps try to harm Young Master-nim? How dare she…?”

The only thing Heidi had quietly asked me regarding Emma was precisely that one question, and when I answered yes, she then began tormenting Emma as if possessed.

Anyway, after giving Heidi a look of approval, I approached Emma and warned her.

“And when I’m not here, Heidi is me. Speak to her using honorifics, as if she were your master. No, just call Heidi ‘Master-nim’ too and do everything she tells you without complaint. Let me reiterate, you have no human rights.”

“Young Master-nim, you don’t have to go that far….”

A slightly flustered Heidi tried to dissuade me, but I shook my head.

“Anyway, I’m a bit busy and don’t have the luxury of constantly worrying about this. Use her well for stress relief. She’s less than human right now, after all.”

“Ah… if you command it. Hmm….”

Heidi hesitated for a moment, then called the slave with a slightly sharp expression.

“Listen, slave. You heard what he just said, didn’t you? From now on, speak to me respectfully and revere me. Unless you want to see a nasty side.”

Normally she was just a sweet, cute, tiny girl, but now, surprisingly, she had quite a temper about her.

I was slightly surprised because I had never seen Heidi exude such a cold and vicious aura in my life.

Well… there’s no need to treat Emma well, so she’s excellent, my maid!

Gnashing.

Emma disrespectfully gnashed her teeth, but upon seeing me clench my fist, she nodded with a pale face and replied.

“I…I heard you, Mas…ter-nim…. (Gnashing).”

She acted quickly and cleverly for the first time in a long while, so I’ll overlook her teeth-gnashing.

“Anyway, be quiet. Your sin is heavy, so you’ll have to atone for a long time. I’ll free you if you work unpaid for about fifty years. Anyway, I’m leaving, so please continue to work hard, Heidi.”

“Have a safe journey…”

With that, I left the office and walked towards the meeting place.

Today was the day I had promised to meet with the Emperor of the Empire.

The son of a merchant guild meeting privately with the Emperor… It felt good, as if I had become a young businessman who had achieved great success at an early age.

*

Choke….

Emma was whimpering and shedding tears, her face smeared with humiliation.

Her cheeks were red and swollen from the slaps, and the piercing verbal abuse, so merciless to Emma, a noble lady… meanwhile, her entire body trembled as if ice had entered her.

Tremble, tremble…!

Whether it was from the cold, or humiliation, or both…

Emma shivered all over, cursing internally.

What felt more brutal to her than anything else right now was Ras’s iron-clad, resolute disdain, from which not a single trace of leniency could be felt.

Emma had inwardly thought of Ras as a pushover, a fool, and had naively believed that even if he made her his slave, he might still show her some warmth.

After all, Ras, whom she had observed for quite a long time, was far from cruel or malicious.

So, she had harbored the vain hope that perhaps she could also become like Irha, who, despite being made to run errands and work hard, still seemed happy and showed a somewhat sweet and loving side.

Of course, being involved with Ras in such a sweet and loving way would have been terrible for Emma, but at least it was much better than being battered with verbal abuse and physical assault like this.

But from Ras now, not even a trace of sympathy could be felt.

Although Emma had no talent for discerning people’s psychology, she could at least feel Ras’s resolute disdain.

‘Somehow… I must escape this miserable plight…’

However, she was now a kite with a broken string.

Having been cut off by both Lizley and Leon, who had been her strong connections, Emma was now nothing more than a slave with a leash around her neck, held by Ras.

“Why are you making such a cunning expression again? If you’re a slave, act submissively, like a slave should.”

Heidi, who wore a gentle expression when Ras was present, was in fact a master of cruelty, pouring out verbal abuse and torment when Ras was not around.

She didn’t use physical violence, but she was no less skilled than Ras at tearing down self-esteem and humiliating others.

“Lift your head… From now on, say what I tell you to.”

“What…? No… huh?? What…”

Heidi, who was usually unhesitant, hesitated for a long time, seeming to pick her words, then finally commanded Emma.

“When we’re alone… call me ‘Madam-nim.’”

“Ma… Madam-nim…?”

As people who gain vicarious satisfaction from ordering around a puppet doll often do, Heidi’s eyes, having given the command, grew slightly sad.

Her beloved Young Master-nim still didn’t notice her, even after breaking up with Lizley… but since she had received a ‘gift’ she could do as she pleased with, wouldn’t this much deviation be acceptable?

“Quickly.”

“Ah… I understand, Madam-nim…”

Emma replied hesitantly, but at the same time, her poor mind began to churn furiously, wondering if she could somehow use this seemingly naive maid.

*

“So Emma went over to Ras’s side?”

“Well… I don’t know the exact inside story, but circumstantially, it seems so. I had someone secretly follow her, and she was seen with Ras a few times. She goes to Ras’s office every day.”

Lizley answered Leon’s question, subtly concealing her rising irritation.

Emma, her foolish but loyal subordinate, had taken out a private loan, and it seemed she had actually borrowed money from Ras to repay it.

“Anyway… well, could you call it creative economics? It’s a laughable situation. To borrow money from the very person you tried to curse with dark magic, and end up having your body mortgaged.”

Leon, as if he found this farce highly amusing, laughed heartily for the first time in a while and said to Lizley.

“Ras surprisingly has a bit of a lecherous streak… so he might not leave Emma alone, now that she’s in his hands. Emma might be a bit foolish, but her appearance is decent.”

For a moment, an image of Ras gently caressing or embracing Emma, then tenderly kissing her, flashed through Lizley’s mind, making her extremely displeased.

Because Lizley had always looked down on Emma, the current imagined scenario was more unpleasant than the thought of Rosalie embracing Ras.

Lizley still didn’t have a shred of love for Ras, but her strange possessiveness and obsession had only grown stronger.

She had intended to gently seduce Ras again once the situation calmed down a bit and his immediate aggression towards her softened.

However, she couldn’t possibly show her displeasure to Leon, so she had no choice but to quickly compose herself.

“Hoo… Anyway… it seems the private loan issue has been resolved, so it’s about time to contact Emma again. Something along the lines of ‘I’ll give you another chance…’”

“Are you confident that someone who was discarded like an old shoe will take your outstretched hand again?”

Lizley sighed, “Hoo,” and caressed Leon’s face with her hand.

“Trust me. I’m certain about Emma. Her siding with Ras is a good thing. Not that someone like Ras would try anything against us, but it would be good if we could find some pretexts, just in case.”

Both of them were confident that Emma would not divulge information about them to Ras.

Their conclusion was that since Emma was merely a subordinate and had no concrete evidence, a cunning Ras wouldn’t come to interrogate them based solely on her words.

Seeing Ras, who despite clearly knowing about Lizley’s infidelity circumstantially, never showed it, Leon thought Ras was quite a useful fellow.

Along with the thought that he’d be perfect to use as a hunting dog if they seized the opportunity.

“Excellent. Ah, yes… how’s dark magic? Is your aptitude for it good?”

Lizley smiled sweetly at Leon’s question.

“If I had met you a little sooner, my achievements would have been quite good, wouldn’t they? It might be a bit early to say this, but it suits me very well. Even more than when I first started learning magic.”

Lizley’s blue eyes, the dark magic prodigy and wunderkind of Leona Academy, instantly glinted black like dark pearls.

Just like before her regression, she was becoming Leon’s hidden black staff, known to no one.