Chapter 26

“Young Lady. Yulia.”

“Catherine! How’s it looking outside?”

“The Princess has taken care of everything. You should be able to go outside now.”

As soon as I finished speaking, soldiers opened the door to the room, reassuring the nobles with their voices. Lilian sighed softly, perhaps feeling relieved. I noticed Yulia reassuring Lilian with her bright voice and quietly positioned myself behind Lilian.

If I mentioned that I had fought, it would only worry her, so I had no intention of revealing the truth. Even if Lilian wasn’t the ‘Young Lady’ I once knew, she was still the same. If she were truly the Young Lady, she would worry about me even more. Her obsession with me was oddly strong.

In fact, isn’t that why she sent me to Apatem Academy alongside her? She wouldn’t wear clothing that I hadn’t touched or eat food I hadn’t prepared. Even when dining out, she wouldn’t so much as lift her spoon until I took care of her food first.

Of course, Lilian now seemed to devour her food without a hint of suspicion, but honestly, I was a bit concerned. As the Ministerial family of the Empire, the House of Marquis of Portus had plenty of enemies. Being the only daughter in such a family meant the Young Lady was always under the threat of danger.

Well, that didn’t mean her personality was twisted or anything. The Young Lady always had a rather dirty personality. There were even maids who claimed that picking me up was her only act of kindness. In my eyes, the Young Lady was just a tender-hearted little girl. A spoiled five-year-old who couldn’t even express her desires to her parents. Her heart had stagnated at that age.

As the true Lilian finally emerged, many nobles had already left the banquet hall. Yet, the princess continued to lead the situation, waving happily as she spotted me.

“You’re here. So, Lady Lilian, Young Lady Yulia. Are you both uninjured?”

“Yes, thank you for your concern.”

With Lilian’s sincere words of gratitude, the princess wore a stiff smile that twisted slightly as she opened her mouth.

“…Hmm? What? Lady Lilian. Could you repeat that? I think my ears are mistaken.”

“I said thank you for your concern.”

“…Okay, hold on a second. Come here, Catherine.”

“Yes.”

I knew she would cause trouble someday. Letting out a small sigh internally, I followed the princess. Once we moved behind a pillar out of sight of Lilian and Yulia, the princess pointed at Lilian with a flustered expression.

“Has she gone mad from the shock?”

“I don’t think it’s polite to speak about someone else’s master like that.”

“I-I’m sorry… Wait, let’s not change the topic. Why is she acting like this? Did I do something wrong?”

“Since you put the banquet hall in danger, you definitely did something wrong.”

“….”

Given how my words were twisting around, the princess assumed there was no way to deduce anything and clamped her mouth shut. Though she glared at me with all her might, I ignored her gaze. What could she possibly do? She was only the Empire’s princess, after all.

In reality, she could do plenty. She could order me to speak up or command the soldiers to grab me for torture. But the Chloe I knew wasn’t the kind of person to act that way. As I suspected, the princess let out a long sigh and grabbed my shoulder.

…She’s closer than I expected. Her face came into view. Well-proportioned features. A beauty overflowing with passion that’s rare even in modern times. Her long, mysterious purple hair flowed down, and her piercing red eyes seemed ready to ignite at any moment.

Every time I looked into her naturally ruby-red eyes, I felt like I would be devoured alive with my own dark, blood-red gaze. Her red lips… were slowly drawing closer. With each inch she moved, the scent she emitted grew intoxicatingly stronger. Was this a freesia fragrance? Feeling a bit dizzy, I steadied my legs.

“Well, if you don’t want to speak, I can’t force you. After all, we’re bound by this contract.”

“That can’t be true. If there hadn’t been a difference in our statuses, we might have been quite good friends.”

“I appreciate you saying that. Hmm, yes. Thank you.”

The princess’s face broke into a soft smile. Unlike previous smiles, it seemed genuinely happy. Yes…. This appearance is dangerous. Very dangerous. Compared to Lilian and the family’s maids, who had faces trained to be cute, the princess was a completely different type of beauty, which made me feel a little anxious. There’s no way she would leap at me, but still, who knows? My body might just get heated after such a long time.

Turning my head slightly to avoid the princess’s gaze, she released her grip on my shoulder. Dusting off her dress, the princess casually returned to her previous spot. What had we just talked about? As I recalled the conversation while being distracted by her face, my heart sank.

What on earth did I say to the princess? I was lucky she didn’t make a fuss about it; otherwise, it would have been an outrageous offense against the royal family that might have led to my head on the chopping block. …With how lost in thought I was, didn’t she notice at all? I let out a small sigh.

“Catherine? Nothing strange happened, right?”

“The princess seems oddly pleased…”

As I returned to Lilian and Yulia, both looked at me with concern. But I hadn’t exactly suffered any harm. Shaking my head to indicate no, Lilian grabbed my shoulder.

“This part of your shoulder seems a bit out of place… Did the princess touch your shoulder?”

“Did she loosen the shoulder strap…?”

“Damn… I’m so envious. I want to see Catherine’s bare shoulder too…”

“?”

“….”

Yulia looked at Lilian with a bewildered expression. Yet, Lilian didn’t seem ashamed as she adjusted my shoulder attire. Was the Young Lady perhaps transforming?

“You see my shoulder all the time, don’t you?”

Since I tried to wear clothing with the minimal coverage during her bath time, it was probably just that she had seen it all. When I said that, Yulia’s face turned bright red. While Yulia blushed next to her, Lilian shook her head in disapproval.

“Not like that. I mean, seeing it after I’ve removed the clothing.”

Ah, what a highbrow conversation. I bit my lip and covered Lilian’s mouth. What kind of species is this Young Lady that she’s so honest about her desires? If the ‘Young Lady’ knew, she might even consider taking her own life from the shame.

“For now, let’s head back.”

“Ugh. Ugh!”

“Oh, right. Let’s do that, Catherine.”

#

The next day, the princess spread news throughout the academy that she had captured all the culprits behind the incident at the ball and locked them in the student jail. During that process, my involvement was left out entirely. I had strongly opposed it. Princess Chloe looked a bit disappointed, but my firm will meant that she had no choice but to omit any mention of me.

Returning to the peaceful daily life of Apatem Academy. Though there was still the event of going out, I could surely take a few days off. I had intended to be a maid to Lilian, but how did it end up like this? Cleaning clothes and packing lunchboxes, I let out sighs intermittently.

This daily life is quite comfortable. A bit of housework in the morning, fun in the afternoon, and helping Lilian when she gets back before drifting off to sleep. Helping out isn’t a big deal either; Lilian, being reincarnated as a modern individual, could handle most things herself, so there wasn’t too much to do. Maybe just preparing some meals?

Honestly, it wouldn’t be weird to call it free loading, and yet, a pretty generous salary comes in regularly. This is also why the House of Portus always has servants around. Other households might end up in dangerous situations while catering to the nobles, but the Portus family is fundamentally neglectful.

The Young Lady was the one I dealt with, while the Marquis was hardly ever home. The Marchioness was busy gallivanting around, so the servants primarily maintained the mansion. Even that didn’t entail much work since there were plenty of staff.

The abundance of people was solely the Young Lady’s idea. Just because she dislikes having few people in the mansion, anyone with moderately beautiful looks was taken in as a servant. Occasionally, a criminal would sneak in during this process, but… with the head maid trained in specialized assassination training and me, who had been trained by her, we hardly faced any dangerous situations.

In fact, there were times when a criminal would get rehabilitated and stick around in the mansion.

Having finished preparing today’s lunchbox, I set out to deliver it to Lilian’s room. While crossing the campus, I bumped into someone.

“Ugh, watch where you’re going… Hiiik!?”

“Um… I’m sorry.”

What the heck? Why are they so startled? The man I collided with grumbled in annoyance before his face went pale as soon as he saw mine, stumbling backward on his bottom. Nice reflexes. I thought when I reached my hand out towards him, but he bowed his head in reverence and got up on his own. Is he a child?

“S-sorry.”

“…Ah, you’re from yesterday’s protest group.”

As I scrutinized the man’s face, trying to figure out why he was acting like this, a familiar face popped into my head, and I muttered quietly. But the man right in front of me went completely white at my words.

“Hiiik?!”

“…I heard that you were under investigation.”

“I-I was let go for a bit during break time….”

“I see. Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

Must be something the princess took care of. I thought as I distanced myself from the man. I felt his gaze on me, but delivering this lunchbox was more urgent.