Episode 27
“Madam, did anything go wrong?”
“Wrong? What’s going on?”
“Oh, that’s too bad.”
So what does it mean?
“It was such a wonderful chance! The master himself came to your room! And because he was so…”
When I saw Rona use both hands to emphasize a big chest, my face got hot again.
“I want to go take a bath.”
As soon as I was done talking, hot water on a tub started to come into the room. Rona helped me move to the bathroom while my legs were shaking.
When warm water was added to the tub, white steam quickly filled the bathroom.
As I soaked in the warm water, my tight muscles instantly loosened, and I let out a groan.
When I felt the hand lightly rub my body, I closed my eyes and rested my chin on the edge of the tub. I was starting to feel sleepy.
“It must have shocked you.”
“Yeah, a bit.”
I got chills just thinking about what happened earlier.
“The snake was about this thick.”
I opened my eyes wide and showed Rona the part of my arm that was the biggest.
“Are you sure?”
“Really.”
Rona didn’t believe me, so I showed her my arm again.
“Really, was it this thick?”
Rona took her own arm this time and showed it to me. I quickly said, “Yes.”
“That snake was really big.”
“Yeah.”
As my energy ran out, I got back into the tub. As I moved, the white bubbles moved with me and spread out.
“Something bad might have happened if the master hadn’t been there.”
“Yeah.”
The snake suddenly slithered down my shoulder and almost got into my chest. Amoide reached out with his big hand to grab it.
“No, no.”
I moved my head back and forth. Drops of water from my hair moved around.
It was a trick to try to forget what had happened.
It just happened by chance. Just something he did to save me, to get the snake out of my way.
So there was no need to think about it to the point that I’ll even get embarrassed.
Even the guy who put his hand there was so calm about it that I didn’t have to feel bad about talking about it by myself.
“The master risked his own life to save you.”
When Rona said that, I thought for a moment.
‘To save me…?’
In my head, I kept seeing the picture of him hitting the snake on the floor.
I don’t think he did it to save me. It was more like a natural thing for him.
If a snake was digging into someone’s clothes and he did nothing, it wouldn’t matter that he was the best knight in the kingdom or whatever.
“Right, I guess.”
There was no need to give it much thought. That’s what I came to believe.
“…”
But Rona’s face didn’t look like she was thinking that.
Rona was smiling at me. Even when she talked about the snake, she didn’t seem scared at all.
“Madam, did you know what happened on the walk?”
“Yeah?”
I answered in a casual way. That would be the case, of course. Everyone could hear and see the noise.
“From what I heard, it was really something.”
I strongly agreed with what Rona said.
“Right, the snake was… huge. Even though it’s snake season, no one expected to see such a big snake in the yard. Everyone was shocked because of this.”
“…No, that isn’t it.”
“Huh?”
“Well, snakes do sometimes come out during this time of year.”
Rona didn’t seem to care much about the snake that was almost going to bite me. So… what is it?
“It’s a good thing you didn’t get bit, because that would have been a big problem.”
“All right, thanks.”
Rona’s eyes were shining again in a strange way.
This made me suspicious.
“Rona, what’s going on again?”
I pressed my body against the bathroom wall because I had a strange feeling that something bad was going to happen.
“In the garden, where the master and you…”
Uh-uh. The strange sound at the end of the line made it sound strange.
“And what about me and Amoide?”
“The gardeners said that your dress was torn, and the master was completely naked.”
“No, that’s not…,” I said.
“It’s so romantic to meet someone close up in a quiet garden.”
“Well, Rona, that’s it!”
“It’s okay. You’re in your prime. Since the last time you passed out, you’ve been taking such good care of the master. Your relationship is going great!”
“Because the snake was trying to get into my clothes…”
But Rona, who was excitedly babbling, didn’t seem to hear what I said.
“Like I said, it’s your prime. People say that the reason the master has been so mean to you is because you are so timid.”
Again, she’s just making stuff up.
“That’s a story I wouldn’t buy.”
Rona kept her hands busy while she talked.
Suddenly, her face turned red, and she looked at the middle of my chest with a fixed gaze.
“Oh my, well, here…”
“Huh?”
“It looks like… nail marks.”
“Uh?” Where? When I looked down, I saw an oddly red spot on the skin.
It was the exact part that the dress didn’t hide.
What’s going on? Why does this wound look like this?
In my uncertainty, I tried to figure out what had happened earlier by putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
I could see Amoide suddenly sticking his hand into my clothes.
Could it have come from there?
He must have pushed his hand in to make the nail marks.
It happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to feel the small pain.
When a snake as thick as my arm is flicking its tongue in front of me, I wouldn’t have time to feel such things.
“He must really be filled with passion.”
And right in front of me was a maid who was once again lost in her own dreams.
“No, it isn’t.”
Even saying that was getting tiring.
“After all those years of visits from the master, he never gave you a scratch… Your work seems to be paying off right now.”
“Huh? Uh…”
I laughed it off in a strange way.
‘It’s because he never touched me to begin with.’
I couldn’t say this, so I decided it was best to just say that he couldn’t control his energy and pounced on me because he couldn’t help himself.
* * *
After my bath, I dried off and put on a new dress.
Rona was doing a good job of fixing my hair in the mirror.
I kept pulling up the fabric around my chest as I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn’t like how the scar stood out so much.
“Isn’t there a dress that goes up a little bit higher?”
Even though the dress was loose in other places, it was very tight where my chest was.
Because of this, my chest’s shape and size got more attention than they should have.
“You have a big bust, but every dress has a small bust size. I’m curious about how you get these sales.”
Rona moaned.
“Most of the clothes are out of style and don’t fit right. Take a look at these flowers. This type of soft flower design was popular more than three years ago.
Rona pointed to the tiny flowers that were sewn onto my dress.
“I even know that big flowers on dresses are in style right now.”
Rona let out a big sigh, as if she was upset.
“We wouldn’t have these problems if you went to the dressing room and had the clothes fitted yourself.”
“…It’s okay.”
What’s up with that? People thought of the Duchess of Ifrit as a strange woman who wore a veil. (TL: She’s a mysterious figure)
The Duchess, who never talks about herself in public.
Because she was ashamed of her standing and family, the daughter of a poor nobleman who had lost his land.
So, the Duchess of Ifrit was known as a caring mother figure who took care of her sick husband.
All of this was possible because the Duchy was not right in the middle of the city.
Since there was no way to know what was going on inside the house, stories grew.
Camilla had bought her daughter-in-law, so she had to make her seem rich and beautiful. She did this by spreading stories about her.
Instead, she kept a tight grip on the staff so they couldn’t say anything.
The servants who didn’t want to be kicked out of the duchy were smart enough not to say anything.
“That’s not what’s most important.”
The first thing to do was to stop what was about to happen. “Who cares if my clothes are a little out of style or don’t fit me perfectly? I don’t even have to go outside.”
It was supposed to make her feel better, but all Rona did was sigh deeply and look even more upset.
Knock, knock.
Rona and I both turned our heads at the sudden knock.
When the door opened, Camilla’s servant came in.
“The Lady wants to see you.”
* * *
Camilla was sitting in her chair and giving me an evil look.
When I saw her face, it looked like she had eaten the spirit of the snake we had just killed.
“You called out for me?”
I slightly bent my knee to show respect, but Camilla kept giving me a scary look.
How much time had passed?
Camilla spoke up about the time I thought the snake we had met earlier was nothing.
“My son killed a snake with nothing but his bare hands.”
“… Did you hear the news?”
News really gets around quickly.
“Just answer my question.”
“That’s right.”
Amoide did kill a snake, and he did it with his own hands.
It looked like Camilla was mad about that, and I think she was.
“In such a disorganized way.”
The sound of her tongue clicking rang through the room, and I hunched my shoulders a little.
As soon as I was called into the room and told to sit down, I was already guilty.
I was sitting in a soft chair, but it felt like invisible needles kept poking up and stabbing my bottom.
‘Again, why? What is she trying to say?’
A bad feeling started to grow.
“You’re going to get caught doing that?”
A voice that squeaked sharply hit me in the ears.
‘What’s this sound about again?’
