episode_0316

Early morning. Edan’s room.

Waking up and looking at the ceiling of this room that has become completely familiar to me, I got up from bed as usual to prepare for work today.

“…I don’t even think of it as Blackwood Manor anymore.”

In the Academy dormitory, even if it’s unavoidable to share the same bed, in Blackwood Manor, it was an implicit rule that each room is used separately, as I have my own personal room and Isabelle has her dorm room.

…Actually, there’s no need to talk about rules. Maids who sleep in the owner’s bed and wake up are either the owner’s hidden lover or used for more intimate purposes, like a sexual service maid.

“…Both of them are out of the question?”

Fortunately, in my case, I’m not a formal lover but a temporary partner, and the sexual service maid treatment is only allowed when rewards are given, so both relationships were half-hearted.

So, why am I sleeping and waking up in Edan’s room these days? Simply because I’ve become completely accustomed to it.

After coming back from the Academy and attempting to sleep alone a few times, I often found myself waking up in the early hours, so as I got used to dorm life at the Academy, I ended up developing a bad habit.

“…I’ll have to fix it when I leave the manor later.”

But well, there’s no need to fix it right now.

In the first place, Edan’s room has been my shared room for about a month now, with Edan welcoming the idea with a pair of scissors in hand, so it’s been a while.

Of course, all my maid duties are in my personal room, so I had to go to the next room to prepare for work.

-Drroong, Puff….

“Is he completely used to it too? He sleeps so well even with me next to him.”

Deciding to wake Edan up after officially going to work, I left Edan’s room in my pajamas and headed back to the next room.

I should hurry back before Harold sees me sleeping and waking up in Edan’s room…

-Kkiiik.

“…Is he not here.”

Harold’s door, visible through the crack, was firmly closed.

After making sure it was safe, as I was about to quickly return to my room, my plan fell apart as soon as I took the first step.

“I see it’s a good morning, Relis.”

“…?!!”

Feeling a shiver down my spine at Harold’s sudden voice from behind, I tried to maintain composure and casually greeted him in the morning.

“Did you… cough, sir?”

“You came out of Edan’s room. Did you happen to sleep together last night?”

Being asked directly by Harold from the start, I tried to nonchalantly answer as if it was nothing. Revealing my relationship with Edan at this point would be risky in many ways.

If this cheeky guy, who would even pretend to be dead if asked, found out that Edan is infatuated with me… it wouldn’t end well in many ways.

“…We did share the same bed, but nothing to worry about happened last night, sir.”

It’s not a lie. We just slept together last night, nothing more. Yeah.

“Worry? What would I have to worry about between you and Edan?”

“If a noble with precious blood like Edan mixes with a lowly creature like me, any noble with a decent son would have concerns, wouldn’t they?”

“…You seem to have a very low opinion of yourself. I’ve never thought about you and Edan’s relationship in that way.”

“…Is that so?”

Well, maybe even this dialogue could be a trap.

By deliberately leading me to say various things to put me at ease, there was a possibility that after hearing everything, he would change his attitude, saying, “So you were having an inappropriate relationship with my son,” causing a drastic change.

The man in question was Harold, whose true intentions were always hard to discern, so one should not let their guard down until the very end.

“So, are you saying that it doesn’t matter to you if the master is seen with a woman from the back alleys of the red-light district?”

“Well, that wasn’t my intention. Are you implying that you see yourself on the same level as a woman from the red-light district?”

“…Not exactly, but in terms of being an unknown commoner girl, it’s not that different. You must also be aware, sir, that my fake title of Viscount was only created to enter the academy.”

“Right, I know.”

Harold, having heard my words, casually nodded his head and responded as if to refute my previous statement.

“In other words, now as the head of the Blackwood family, I am verifying your identity, so it shouldn’t matter anymore, right?”

“…But that alone doesn’t mean you know everything about me. You wouldn’t know how I lived before being sold to the Blackwood family.”

“How could I possibly know the past of every servant? Are you trying to claim that you worked in the red-light district even before shedding the guise of a girl?”

“…No, that’s not it.”

“Alright then. Even if you did have such a past, I wouldn’t particularly care. What’s important is not my opinion, but the opinion of that child, Edan.”

“…”

“Even if it were just a relationship confined to the bedroom, it might not be a bad experience for that child… But if Edan desires more from you, I have no intention of opposing it.”

“No, sir. As I mentioned earlier, I did not engage in any inappropriate activities with the young master last night…”

Although I was trying to deny the conversation that could lead to trouble if overheard, Harold interrupted me and began to reminisce about his own past unexpectedly.

“I first met Tanashia at the Luminaire Academy. As a swordswoman, I should not have been involved with a witch like her, but for some reason, Tanashia and I always had various connections within the academy.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Just listen quietly. It’s just a story.”

Although it seemed like a long story to tell in front of a maid like me, Harold did not seem to care and continued to reminisce by the corridor window as if recalling his memories.

“I first met her in my second year, in the alley between the dormitories of the swordsmanship and archery departments. There, Tanashia was standing with a staff, facing off against senior members of the swordsmanship department.”

“…”

“I later learned that there had been some conflict between a girl from the swordsmanship department and a girl from the archery department. Tanashia, with her strong sense of justice, must have witnessed the scene and couldn’t just pass by.”

“…”

“Of course, Tanashia was an exceptional witch, but even so, magic was at a disadvantage against a sword in close combat. The ones attempting to harass her were far more numerous. Some managed to knock a few down, but the one leading the harassment just looked at Tanashia and smirked.”

“…”

“What do you think I did when I saw that smirk?”

Though Harold and Tanashia’s story was rarely touched upon in the main part of the Luminaire Academy, just from their current conversation, I could easily infer what decision Harold had made.

The fact that Tanashia became Harold’s wife practically gave away half of the answer.

“Wouldn’t you have appeared in front of Tanashia and not wield your sword against the seniors of the swordsmanship department?”

“Why do you think that way? I’m not someone who is that indifferent.”

“If you hadn’t done that, Tanashia wouldn’t be your master’s wife, would she?”

“Well, noble marriages aren’t necessarily determined for that reason. Is that the only reason?”

“And… if the master had run away in that situation, he wouldn’t have told me this story.”

“Hmm?”

“Men are creatures who feel ashamed to confess in front of women, so there’s no reason for the master to embarrassingly talk about the past in front of me…”

Feeling the atmosphere, I hastily shut my mouth after blurting out a momentary arrogant remark and quickly lowered my head.

“I-I’m sorry…! How dare a mere maid like me speak arrogantly to the master…”

“It’s fine. You spoke the truth. If it was a story that was embarrassing to tell someone else, I wouldn’t have shouted at you like this.”

“….”

“As you said, I chose to save Tanashia instead of worrying about that troublesome day. At that time, I didn’t know why I had to do that. I just acted on instinct without thinking.”

“Yes…”

It was only after a long time had passed since that day that I could finally understand why I had done such a thing back then. I just wanted to look good in her eyes.”

“I see…?”

“Yes. I wanted to look good in the eyes of a mere commoner like Tanashia, who wasn’t from a prestigious family or a well-developed noble family.”

“….”

“I don’t necessarily think that just because I’m from a duke’s family, I have to marry a woman of a similar class, Lillis. I still think that way.”

“Ah, I see…”

Suddenly, Harold started recounting his past in front of me and naturally went downstairs.

Alone in the hallway of Edan’s room, I just watched his retreating figure blankly.

“So what, what am I supposed to do…”

It was a vague feeling as I watched Harold suddenly appear, say what he needed to, and then disappear.

…Thanks to that, it seemed like my exit from Edan’s room had passed by in a blur.