I am a maid.
At first, I didn’t plan to go this far. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that I was thinking of much bolder methods.
It is not an easy task to take only Ayla, who has become the Countess. After all, she is a Countess.
I am a professional who has trained hard and diligently, but I didn’t want to become the kingdom’s public enemy. It’s one thing to lose the Marquis’ help, but the reason I made this plan was to make Ayla happy, not to have her run away for the rest of her life.
If Ayla were to become ‘someone else,’ the story would be different.
That was the reason I tried to find a way to break fate.
The plan went awry, and that’s why I ended up making this choice.
I still don’t have any information on those who tried to kill me. I believe the Marquis will take care of this without me needing to worry, so for now, I’ll leave it.
What matters to me now is here.
In the end, I became a maid. And now that it has come to this, I must remain a perfect maid until Ayla can live safely and freely.
Just by being here, Ayla should feel safe. No one should be able to target her recklessly.
“Seila-nim.”
For that to happen, ‘peace in the household’ is also important.
Ayla doesn’t hate or resent Seila. If I think back to Ayla’s personality when she was a child, she might even find her cute.
In any case, Ayla being sold was not the fault of this young lady.
I walked up to Seila, who was sitting on the bed, sticking her lips out.
Seila looked up at me. She didn’t seem scared at all. The eyes of a young child who doesn’t think anyone would harm her.
With blonde hair and a fragile body considering her age, she seemed like someone who wouldn’t show talent even if she were taught to wield a sword. If I had to find something similar to Ayla, it would be that they both have sky-blue eyes, but such common traits are everywhere in this country.
“Have you ever received sex education?”
“Huh? Ah, uh, I…?”
Her reaction was so innocent, considering the words she had just said near Ayla’s room.
I understand.
The sex education of noble young ladies is horribly lacking. In fact, women who have just entered the brothel might know much more about such things.
Even if they don’t know much, their husbands will teach them. A vague knowledge is often enough.
But.
“You didn’t think the stories in those books made it seem like female-female relationships were normal, did you?”
“A-Ah, of course not!”
The young lady shouted.
It was the loudest voice I’ve heard since I arrived.
Then she quickly covered her mouth. “Making loud noises isn’t the behavior of a young lady,” she probably thought. She must have received that kind of education.
If it were Ayla, she would be playing around and shouting without hesitation.
As someone who lived as a commoner in my childhood, I felt a bit sorry for her.
“Ayla-nim thinks the same way.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
It’s much more common that way.
I know from living in the brothel. Sometimes there are people who desire the same sex. Being a female noble doesn’t mean they don’t buy women, and being a male noble doesn’t mean they don’t buy men. Sometimes that fact itself becomes a weapon.
But, if you ask which is more common, of course, it’s the opposite sex.
Ayla would probably think the same way.
“Seila-nim, you’re over-suspicious of Ayla-nim.”
“B-But!”
The young lady shouted.
“She definitely told me to hit her! Wait and see, she’ll probably do the same to Luna once time passes!”
Well, if you insist on calling it that, I guess it was a duel.
If I had to be precise, Ayla preferred hitting over being hit. She was like that when she sparred with me when I was male, and she’s the same now when we spar.
Who in the world likes being hit, though?
“Seila-nim.”
When I spoke quietly again, the young lady immediately closed her mouth.
“Have you ever tried to talk properly with Ayla-nim?”
There was no answer.
That’s expected.
Both Ayla and Seila find each other awkward. Neither of them would have tried to initiate a conversation.
I looked out the window.
It was still midday. It was the height of spring, and the days were slowly getting longer.
“Seila-nim.”
I turned my gaze back to the young lady.
Maybe because I had been looking down at her, she seemed a little subdued now. Maybe she thought I was scolding her.
No, it probably only looked like I was scolding. Taking away her hidden books and speaking in a lowered voice, teaching her this and that. It was no wonder she would feel that way, as a young lady who had never been treated like this before.
I paused in thought before speaking.
“Seila-nim, would you like to go outside for a snack?”
“Outside?”
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like she thought I was angry or punishing her.
“Yes. The weather is nice. Let’s prepare for a picnic, like last time.”
At that time, the young lady hardly spoke to Ayla.
She just happily shouted about how delicious the sandwiches were.
“Sounds good!”
Seila’s eyes sparkled as she jumped up from her seat. Then she quickly realized she had gotten on the bed and hurriedly sat back down.
“I’ll let you know once the preparations are finished. We’ve got more servants now, so I don’t think it’ll take long.”
The young lady nodded vigorously at my words.
“Ayla-nim. I have one thing I’d like to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you not like Seila-nim?”
Ayla’s gaze turned toward me.
“Does it look that way?”
“It doesn’t look that way to me. But I think it might look different to Seila-nim.”
“Now, you’re calling me Seila instead of young lady.”
“Because Seila-nim wished for it.”
Originally, the young lady was not someone I needed to save. In fact, I didn’t plan to care much about what happened. Someone would take her in sooner or later, since she was the Count’s daughter. If it didn’t work out, she could always go to a convent.
I didn’t come here to save anyone. I came here to meet Ayla again and save Ayla. If saving the Count’s daughter jeopardized Ayla’s safety, I would gladly abandon her.
But Ayla cares about the young lady.
That fact complicates my feelings a little. The moment I give up on the young lady, I will no longer be someone Ayla can regard as worth dealing with.
Moreover, while I’m trying to get closer to Ayla, the young lady is doing the opposite, and yet Ayla still cares about her.
Well, it’s just a childish thought in my head, but…
“I don’t plan to harbor any ill feelings toward the young lady.”
Ayla said.
“The young lady hasn’t done anything wrong. She was just unlucky to be born in such a place.”
Unlucky, huh?
“It seems you don’t think it was bad luck.”
Ayla spoke, as if she had read my face.
The young lady was sitting far off on a mat. Near her was the witch Daisy, and between them was a carnivorous plant, which they had brought in a pot. Oddly, there was a flower crown on top of the plant. It didn’t fit at all.
A few feet away from the two of them stood three servants, side by side.
Ayla and I were sitting near a table, a little further away from them. Ayla sat in a chair, and I stood beside her. Looking at us, no one would think that we were “unlucky.”
“Never hungry, new clothes, a comfortable bed to sleep in… You don’t have to worry about getting caught in the rain while you sleep, and you don’t have to worry about someone suddenly kicking you.”
That was what I had said. Shortly after Ayla had followed me into the dojo, after we finished training and I collapsed on the ground, Ayla had asked if I regretted following her.
I answered by counting the reasons why I didn’t regret following her.
To be honest, the main reason I wanted to say was simply that Ayla was with me, but I never said it then, and I still can’t say it now.
After all, my body was the one rejected.
“By that standard, I guess you could say the young lady is happy too. At least she wasn’t born into a life where it was guaranteed she would work in a brothel.”
It wasn’t a sarcastic tone.
“But even then, anyone can be unhappy, for different reasons. Do you think the Count, the owner of this mansion, was a father figure to the young lady?”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s just my rambling, so there’s no need to apologize.”
Was Luna reminiscing as she said that?
“I don’t dislike her.”
Ayla said.
“But at the same time, I don’t know how to approach her. My first impression to the young lady was too bad. She didn’t want to accept me as her mother.”
“I see.”
I understand.
Even if she had a mother who passed away in her childhood, knowing that fact, it wouldn’t be easy for her to accept a new mother.
“So, are you creating this situation to make me reconcile with the young lady?”
I bowed politely, and Ayla laughed as if she found it ridiculous.
“If I reconcile with the young lady, what benefits do you get? It’s strange. You suddenly barged in, took over an empty house, filled the mansion with people from the divine faction, and volunteered to become my slave. And now you want me to reconcile with the young lady. So, are you…?”
“Do you want me to be happy?”
Ayla and I both fell silent for a moment.
“Well, fine.”
The one who broke the silence was Ayla.
“Then this time, I’ll listen to your advice. What do you think I should do?”
“Why don’t you try speaking to her first?”
“If I speak to her, the young lady will get angry first.”
I rummaged through my apron and took out a piece of candy. Seeing that, Ayla smiled.
Every time she smiled in front of me, I felt a pure smile without any sense of disbelief or emptiness.
The dark expression briefly vanished, and I could see a glimpse of Ayla’s face from back then.
She was a new countess, and under normal noble conventions, it wouldn’t be strange if she became a sort of rival to the daughter already there.
But in reality, Ayla didn’t feel the slightest negative emotion toward the young lady.
Again, I thought it wasn’t a feeling I should show to a child.
But as I watched Ayla take the candy from my hand, I felt a little jealous.
Ayla thought as she watched Luna, who casually took a candy from her apron without any change in expression.
Did she perhaps know me?
Could it be that she had known me for a long time and was able to prepare what was needed just like this?
But Ayla had no such memory.
The men who spoke to Ayla at the ball were few, and the women even fewer. If there had been someone who spoke to Ayla often enough to know her well, Ayla would definitely have remembered them.
But there was no memory of it.
So, there was only one possibility. It meant that someone had investigated Ayla somehow.
For reasons unknown, Ayla realized this but felt no chill or discomfort.
Instead, she felt as though an old friend was worried about her, a sensation she couldn’t explain.
It was probably because of those eyes, Ayla thought.