No matter how much time is left until the baron arrives, or whether the count really died at the hands of the baron,
I still have no change in my decision to become a maid.
In fact, it doesn’t even matter if I become a maid or not. Anyway, I’ll choose to stay close to Ayla in any form.
No matter what, I can’t directly say it to others, but if I can be with the woman I’ve admired all my life since my childhood, what does it matter in what form it takes?
While watching Ayla for so many years, I often thought about when I started having such thoughts.
Was it from the very beginning? No, probably not. I wasn’t the kind of person who could figure everything out just by looking at someone’s appearance. I’ve never been like that since my childhood.
I must have learned this after surviving death several times. At first, people would pretend to be nice and then try to sell me somewhere, drag me forcibly, or take me to a secluded place and beat me up, taking the bread or the coins I had earned.
Perhaps, it’s because I was gradually colored by Ayla, like how a silk thread is subtly dyed at its tip. My memories intertwined with Ayla’s, and from there, it slowly blended into her color, eventually staining everything, even the highest part, with Ayla’s hue.
I don’t know if Ayla realized that. She probably didn’t. Ayla just lived the way she lived. I simply ended up being dyed on my own.
And that color, I believe, will never fade, even if it lasts a lifetime. It’s too deep to be removed, even if I try.
“Luna.”
Morning.
Now, I am gradually becoming part of Ayla’s daily life.
Ayla seems to have noticed that I often change the location of things, but she never tells me not to do it.
Ayla is adjusting to my stubbornness in her own way.
When she can’t find something, she calls me. When there’s something she needs, she calls me too. At least since she realized that the thing around my neck is real, she has continued.
“Luna.”
“Yes, Ayla.”
I responded a little late to Ayla calling me again. It seems that Ayla isn’t planning to scold me.
Ayla knows how careful I am when she’s not wearing anything.
“What would you do if I wanted to marry another noble?”
“You haven’t answered.”
“Whatever Ayla decides…”
“Hmm, is that so? Whoever the person is?”
“If it’s you, Ayla, I believe you’ll make a wise choice.”
“Really, you trust me that much and just barged into the mansion, filling it with acquaintances and occupying it, huh?”
If you put it like that, I have no words.
Whether you believe or not.
I have feelings for Ayla, but do I truly trust Ayla completely right now? Can I unconditionally agree with her judgment?
The answer was clear.
No.
Emotionally, it’s absolutely not possible.
I won’t be able to see Ayla live with another man. When I realized that the count was more interested in politics and power than Ayla, I didn’t feel relieved for no reason. It was because Ayla… was safe. That’s probably why I felt relieved.
In a situation where I don’t even know if Ayla will accept me, if I were to analyze the possibility, this situation seems even more hopeless.
I’m no longer the handsome man I used to be. My trained muscles are gone, and my swordsmanship has regressed much more than before.
Now, if I were told to face a dragon, even with a few potions from a witch, I wouldn’t win. I’d be eaten alive from the head.
Let alone, another woman.
There are stories of men seeking other men or women seeking women. It actually exists. But most of the time, it’s not something that’s recommended. Especially for nobles who consider themselves ‘reasonable.’
“So, if I sleep with another man, you won’t mind?”
“Do you perhaps have someone in mind?”
“Well…”
When I removed my hand from Ayla’s waist, she quickly turned and sat down on the sofa with a thud.
Then, she sat in a slightly relaxed posture, one that Seila would likely call “as expected, a stepmother!” resting her elbows on the armrests and her chin in her hands.
Looking at me as if measuring me, Ayla continued speaking.
“You never know. Perhaps there will be a noble willing to buy me at a high price. Someone might appear drawn to the name of the count behind me. And among them, there might be someone I could fall in love with.”
I hated it.
Just imagining it made me hate it.
But now, I have no way to resist this matter. Unless Ayla herself takes off this item from my neck.
Yes.
This is at least a safety device. To prevent me from overstepping my boundaries and restraining Ayla. The fate has changed.
Perhaps, we will never be together.
Maybe it’s better to die. Better than seeing that. It would be like losing the purpose of life.
“You can’t answer?”
“Sorry, Ayla.”
Ayla silently stared at me as if pondering something.
“You promised to be loyal to me.”
“Yes.”
“You said you could even take off your clothes and dance if it’s a command. Even though at that time, the choker around your neck wasn’t there.”
“I definitely said that.”
“Then, shall we test it now?”
I raised my head and looked at Ayla.
Ayla’s eyes were narrow.
“At a truly crucial moment, when I make such a decision, you might mess things up, you know. There’s no need to add that it’s an order, right?”
Ayla tilted her head slightly.
“I’ve undressed in front of you several times.”
“Understood, Ayla.”
I replied.
At least, there was no hesitation in my answer.
Perhaps it was just Ayla’s whim.
Ayla had lived for quite a long time, bearing something in silence.
That “something” changes depending on the time and place. Sometimes it was the baron’s voice passionately speaking about power, sometimes an uninteresting ball, and sometimes it was the unbearable interference of the servants.
Yes, the servants.
Luna was also one of those servants. Even though Ayla asked her not to, Luna somehow approached and inserted herself into her life as a servant.
But something was different.
Ayla wasn’t foolish enough to look for ’emotion’ or ‘sincerity’ when she looked at servants. She was a daughter of a secondary wife, and though she had lived like a commoner for a long time, the baron hadn’t completely abandoned her.
But still, every action of Luna seemed to Ayla to be nothing but sincere.
If we follow the thinking of nobles, Luna’s approach to Ayla must be because she’s interested in the power by Ayla’s side.
The count’s death was an opportunity.
Bringing people in and strengthening the mansion’s guards were probably all meant to seize the count’s territory.
Luna’s white fingers touched the top button of her maid uniform.
Click. One button came undone. The maid uniform, which was almost always buttoned all the way to the top, opened slightly, revealing her collarbones.
Is this really sincere? Ayla thought, looking at the choker above the button.
Click. Another button came undone. Only two buttons were undone, but Luna’s appearance changed. From a tightly bound maid to a slightly more alluring presence.
As if she were tempting the person in front of her.
Click. One more button came undone, and now a small gap was visible where the two lumps below came together.
“Stop.”
Ayla said, blinking her eyes.
Why?
What was the reason for stopping? To truly know whether or not she would do it, Ayla would have to observe if Luna would carry out the command completely.
“That’s enough.”
I suddenly realized there was a slight burning sensation in the finger I had resting on my chin.
My face turned red. I didn’t know why.
“Understood, Ayla.”
Luna casually started buttoning her uniform again as if nothing had happened. The indifference of her movement was slightly irritating.
An unknown maid. But for some reason, she felt like a support, strangely like she was on Ayla’s side.
A somewhat playful, but in her work, a maid who was sincere like no other.
Ayla and Luna’s eyes met.
A pair of blue eyes and a pair of purple eyes both looked down at the ground simultaneously—it was no coincidence.
Yes. Those eyes.
Ayla thought. It was because of those eyes.
They were so similar to the eyes of someone Ayla remembered.
“Luna.”
As Ayla reached that thought, she suddenly called Luna.
“Yes, Ayla.”
“By any chance…”
Do you have siblings?
……………The rest of the thought was barely restrained.
She didn’t have a sister. If she had one, and if she were in the same situation, she would have endured even more terrible things while growing up.
So, it would be better if she wasn’t a sister.
She wasn’t a sister anyway.
Having sorted out her thoughts, Ayla stood up.
“By any chance, has Seila woken up yet?”
“Surprisingly, she’s quite sincere about her work, so I think by now, Seila would have had no choice but to wake up too.”
“I see. Then let’s go. After all, the only thing I can do right now is wait.”
“Understood, Ayla.”
Ayla walked.
Luna followed behind like a shadow.
Somehow, the overlapping meaning of that name seemed significant, and Ayla thought she didn’t really care about it.