The Peaceful Life of a Maid Who Hides Her Power and Enjoys It

<Episode 184>

 

The sword I was holding gave out.

 

Staring into his strangely calm eyes, I couldn’t help but ask again.

 

“You… how can you say it so casually like that?”

A curse, and four days of respite.

 

Did those eyes really belong to a man who would die in four days? This was too terrible to be a joke. Worse still, Rue wasn’t the type of person to enjoy this kind of joke.

 

“Don’t you have any regrets in your life?”

 

In the silence that remained, I saw one answer.

Yes, Rue had no regrets.

 

The reason was quite simple. He’d already finished everything so that there were no regrets left. Perhaps death might even be part of the plan for him. No, death might be the best possible ending he can face.

 

Just as I was in the past.

‘Is this how Raphael and Natasha felt when they looked at me?’

 

Did I make them feel this despondency?

“…Who are you to make a face like you understand?”

 

Rue’s criticism was fierce. I just stared at him with my mouth shut, and he looked at me as if trying to gouge out my feelings, and then blurted out some words. 

 

“I have regrets.”

 

“…”

 

“Are you ignoring me? I said I have regrets. I wanted to figure out why the hell talk about you having my baby came out of your mouth. I never imagined that I would have such useless regrets after I’ve achieved everything.”

 

“…There’s no great reason. It’s simply because you’re a pervert.”

 

“So I want to know how the hell you ended up hearing such perverted nonsense.”

 

“Do you believe everything I say?”

 

“Oh, yeah. You can’t lie.”

 

The confident affirmation left me speechless.

Was I wearing a dissatisfied expression without realizing it? Rue, who pulled his head back to check my reaction, raised an eyebrow and threatened.

 

“Just a warning, don’t think about deceiving anyone anywhere. It’s obvious that you’ll get caught when dealing with someone as sharp-witted as me. You’re a lot more flimsy than you think.”

 

“What’s the point of saying that now? I’ve already been caught by the person who could’ve catched me.”

 

“Really.”

 

Rue looked at me with a pitiful gaze and drew a wickedly beautiful smile.

That smile, which exuded an atmosphere completely opposite to his gloomy impression, created a heavenly harmony… It was exactly the same as the smile that future Rue would show me 150 years later, without a hint of difference. The suppressed anger suddenly surged up within me.

 

“And what is this talk about a slave plantation! Why do you have to keep suffering and struggling? Are there no other capable people who can lead or take responsibility in this army besides you?”

 

“Do you think there are? Even if I generously concede that there might be, they wouldn’t be better than me. I am a genius of the century, after all.”

 

Letting out a sigh, Rue sat down on the bed and looked down at me for a while, then used his right foot to nudge and gather the scattered heads under the bed.

 

“A slave plantation… It’s literally a plantation. To extract refined stones buried in underground mines, you have to inhale toxic gas emitted by the raw material, hundreds of grams every day. It’s something that can only be done if you’re a slave.”

 

As he opened the door and rolled out one head after another, he let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

 

“For a slave who lived as a livestock to raise their head against the royal family, who was practically no different from their owner, and trample them in the end. When it comes to human affairs, you never know, do you?”

 

As the Great would-be Lord Calepa continued to talk about the slaves, I felt a sense of unease.

 

“It’s not something that can go unnoticed; it’s called karma. They paid the price for keeping such a ferocious slave like you confined.”

 

“Do you feel sorry for me?”

“Then do you not feel sorry for yourself?”

“Yes. I feel more sorry for you.”

 

With one foot on the head of Rovski Serenier, stained with blood and dirt, he turned his face towards me.

 

“I just became convinced. You shouldn’t have caught my eye.”

 

Just as I thought and was about to say, ‘What kind of absurd threat is this?’ And then I remembered the signs I had overlooked.

 

‘That expression.’

 

Wasn’t that the same unfortunate expression that future Rue would make whenever he bullied me? It was clear. If I showed any reaction here, he would become even more persistent in picking on me, thinking, ‘That’s right.’

 

“Why don’t you ask why?”

 

“……”

 

“Hmm. Then answer my question. I have a rough idea of when yours and mine connection might’ve began. The problem is what comes next, it’s confusing.”

 

To think he had a hunch of it. I deemed it to be a ridiculous level of confidence when,

“Are we married?”

 

The tip of my nose twitched, and I asked, raising my chin.

 

“Are you curious?”

“Quite.”

 

I also responded clearly to the serious response.

 

“If you’re still alive after four days, I’ll let you know.”

 

His serious expression suddenly distorted.

 

“Are you playing with me right now?”

“No… I just mean that I hope Rue is still alive after four days.”

 

Feeling depressed, I approached Rue and tightly grasped his hand, as if wringing out a cloth, and asked again.

 

“You will, right?”

“The other guys are already asking about everywhere. Whether it’s Rogue or whatever, all the so-called great wizards from the northern continent are being brought, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

 

How could I not worry?

I’d already witnessed the power that future Rue possessed with my own eyes. I have experienced firsthand how unnatural and alien the strength of a demi-god can be. Just because a few old and clever magicians gather together doesn’t mean their magic can stand a chance.

 

“…By the way, whenever I felt this gloomy, you always lifted me up and patted my back.”

 

“Ha.”

 

Rue awkwardly hugged my shoulder, even though he scoffed as if it was ridiculous. Then, he patted me back clumsily, as if he’d never done such a thing before.

 

“You fool, you didn’t just hug me, you lifted me up. Or do you not know what it means to lift someone up?”

 

After a brief silence.

Rue grabbed my waist and effortlessly lifted me up with one arm, supporting my buttocks. It was not at all ridiculous for him to hug me when he was naked, but now look at him pretending to be coy. It was impossible not to find it funny.

 

…No.

 

It wasn’t funny, actually.

Actually, I felt a little happy, and very, very sad.

 

* * *

 

How could I prevent Rue’s heart from stopping?

To neutralize a demi-god’s magic, you must need at least an equivalent amount of power. Of course, since the caster of the magic, Calepa, has already passed away, it might be possible to destroy it within a reasonable range.

 

But if there was something that concerned me, it was that there were only three days left.

Will I be able to find a solution within three days?

 

“Eek!”

 

At that moment, a young hawk approached and locked eyes with me. Following its lead, White, who had entered the room, handed me a small leather pad that seemed new.

 

“Here, take this.”

“…What is this?”

 

“It’s a Naz. Oh, now that I think about it, Ash doesn’t have a Naz, right? You need this to raise a hawk in the northern continent.”

 

“Naz?”

 

“It’s a name tag that you attach to a hawk’s leg. If you don’t leave a mark indicating ownership, it can be stolen. Hawks are valuable, you know.”

 

I had been wondering what she was doing while I was sitting at the table the whole time, but she was making this. It seemed she knew a lot about hawks, and told me about this and that.

 

“You can engrave Ash’s name on this.”

 

“I’m not Ash’s owner. That would be Dian, not me, when he wakes up…”

 

“Dian asked you to do it.”

 

“To me?”

 

“Yeah. He asked if you could write Ash’s name in the Imperial language. I don’t know why specifically the Imperial language either? Ash has a beautiful meaning in the northern continent as well. …But do you know the Imperial language too?”

 

I do know. Because I am from the Empire.

The reason why I had no difficulty reading and writing Astrozan right now was probably because Dian and mine’s souls were intertwined.

 

But I don’t think there was any effect on the language aspect when I was in my body. Does it really vary so greatly depending on who was in control of the body?

 

White, who had been wandering around, coughed loudly and spoke.

 

“Ahem. Do you know what my name, White, means? It means ‘white hunter.’ In the northern continent, only the best hawks are given names like White and Ash…!”

 

White, who had been speaking loudly, suddenly widened her eyes. For a brief moment, she shook her body as if she’d discovered something inside the room, then lowered her voice.

 

“…are given.”

 

“Oh, really? My name is Ash too.”

 

“What? Seriously? Your name is…!”

 

White, who stiffened her body once again, now asked back in a whisper.

“Does it mean Ashes?”

 

“Yeah. It means ‘ash.’ Does it mean something else in Astrosa?”

“No, it’s the same. In the northern continent, it refers to the pure white hawk and the ash-gray hawk as the finest species. But seriously, your name is Ash, the gray hawk? Ugh, it gives me the chills. Gray hawks usually have a dirty temperament…”

 

Her black eyes glanced towards the bed every three seconds. I looked at White while jutting my chin at the figure asleep on the bed and raised an eyebrow.

 

“Why do you keep looking at Rue? Just speak freely.”

 

She stiffened her shoulders for a moment and rolled her eyes, avoiding my gaze.

 

“I-I did speak freely, didn’t I?”

 

“No, you didn’t.”

 

“Oh, I didn’t?”

 

With a long sigh at the end of her words, White left the room. Of course, I knew why she was overly cautious about Rue.

 

Rue was currently asleep in my room.

 

Why was he asleep in my room?

 

Well, one thing was certain, even though Rue was busy enough that if he divided himself into three bodies, the work would still be enormous, he seemed to find amusement in keeping an eye on me lately.