Chapter 1: Do You Admit Your Guilt? I Admit You’re a Fool!
Hero Leopard.
My body froze at the unexpected appearance of a figure.
That guy, no, that woman seems to be on her way back from shopping, holding a basket and dressed in shabby clothes.
In the midst of it all, her expression had grown fierce, grinding her teeth and glaring at the duke.
“Leopard. It’s nice to see you here. How-”
“What is Julia doing here right now? No, what are you doing with Julia here?”
“Can’t you tell? I’m currently taming the maid you introduced.”
“······.”
Taming her?
My fists clenched tightly in an instant.
Just a moment ago, they said they were busy with scheduling.
A surge of murderous impulse coursed through me.
“Did you not assign her to the butler for training?”
“I prefer to tame her myself. Does that answer your question?”
“······.”
The tips of the hero’s eyes trembled.
It seemed to convey that he could not comprehend at all.
“Why are you still staying in the institution?”
“I came to the warm south after a long time, and I’m really enjoying it. Is there a rule that a duke can’t linger around the institution? I’m not even bringing soldiers with me.”
“Weren’t you uninterested in the human world?”
“Well, I said I came for a vacation, didn’t I?”
“To me, it looks like you’re enjoying outings with human women.”
“That’s wrong. The maid just serves me; I came out alone.”
“······.”
The words exchanged between the two were thorny.
While on the surface they both wore faint smiles, observing their expressions gave the impression that they could start fighting at any moment.
I had heard that Dragania was clearly supporting the hero.
Is it really okay to act like that in front of a benefactor?
“I never heard you say she was for maid service.”
“I also didn’t hear you say not to use her as a maid.”
“Please revert her back to a normal maid. I earnestly request that.”
“It’s already too late. The dissatisfaction among the maidservants has reached a peak with the appointment of a commoner maid, so if you revert Julia back to a normal maid, she’ll be bullied out of my sight-”
“I don’t care, just revert her.”
“That would require hearing Julia’s opinion.”
That was the most welcome sound I had heard.
These two humans were discussing me while completely excluding me.
But the moment I saw the duke’s slimy smile, I realized they were not considering me at all.
They were merely asking for my opinion to strengthen their own claims.
If it seemed like I would oppose, they would do anything to shut me up.
The duke was definitely the kind of person who would do that.
“You don’t need to listen. I found Julia, and I introduced her.”
“Does that mean Julia is your possession?”
“If she’s not my possession, whose possession is she?”
“······.”
I sighed in disbelief at Leopard’s brazen response.
I usually tried to avoid getting into fights.
I was, after all, in the position of serving as the duke’s maid, and I wanted to remain quiet, even if they spoke ill of me right in front of them.
“Hey. Do I look like an easy target? Or do I look like your slave? Who really is the possession of whom?”
“······.”
The moment I realized it, I found myself on tiptoes, wedging myself between them and shouting.
Even while yelling, I felt a sense of crisis that I was doing something wrong, but I couldn’t help it.
Now that I had stepped in, I decided to say everything I needed to.
“That’s just talk. An actual possession would be······.”
“Then what? You think you can make me do what you want just because you hold my weakness? If you’re brave enough, expose it. I don’t care at all.”
“What, what······? What·····!”
Leopard blushed and couldn’t continue his words properly.
If my identity as the Holy Maiden were to be revealed, the one in trouble wouldn’t be me.
I could just drink Tia’s poison and depart this world before those church people come to take me away.
But would the hero Leopard, who loved the Holy Maiden Ariel, truly hand me over to the church?
If he was going to, he would have done so already.
I gained a conviction that my weaknesses could not possibly be weaknesses.
“See? Julia doesn’t need your help anymore. So can we stop interrupting our date, or rather our schedule, and just leave now?”
“Julia! Did you just hear? The duke just said date·····!”
“I heard. So what about it? If you’ve finished what you needed to do, can you leave?”
“······.”
I didn’t particularly want to side with the duke.
But the way the hero was speaking was usually quite frustrating.
As I tried to deflate him, I ended up siding with the duke.
Never did I think I would end up defending the man who assaulted me.
“Yeah. That means······. You’re saying the introducer should step back····.”
“You got it. Now, can you leave-”
“By the way, I haven’t had the chance to see the villa. I wish to visit it now, is that alright?”
“Of course. We’ve finished our meal, so let’s return to the villa now.”
“Uh, huh?”
I couldn’t hide my confusion at the sudden change in their demeanor.
Just a moment ago, they were growling at each other, and now suddenly, they are offering to show me the villa?
In hindsight, I had not held any suspicions about their relationship at all.
I only thought of them as a simple patron and beneficiary.
However, it was strange that a beneficiary would speak so openly to a patron.
It’s odd that their support hadn’t been cut off despite this.
If the two had known each other as friends for a long time, this situation gets clarified perfectly.
Even if old friends bicker over trivial matters, their relationship wouldn’t break from such fights.
“Get in. The carriage is a bit cramped.”
“You said you expanded the villa you originally purchased. How big is it then?”
“Have you never seen it?”
“No. I wasn’t interested.”
“······.”
The carriage was definitely cramped.
I don’t know why it had come to this, but I found myself sandwiched between the two sitting side by side.
Leopard seemed to be gritting his teeth in displeasure as he looked at me, which made me incredibly anxious.
In response, I had to tightly shut my eyes.
‘Oh dear. I chose the wrong side.’
I thought that by sticking close to the duke, I could separate that crazy psycho lesbian from him.
But I never expected that this line would lead to that and that line would lead to this.
I became a foolish fox trying to sow discord between two old friends.
I feared Leopard’s revenge.
At that moment, would the duke even attempt to protect me?
Would he not think ill of me for lashing out at my close friend?
My heart raced with tension.
“······.”
“······.”
“······.”
At some point, the carriage was filled with a heavy silence.
All three of us averted our gazes, staring only intensely at the walls as an awkward silence passed by.
When the carriage finally came to a stop, I felt like I could finally breathe again.
Leopard was the first to get off the carriage, and I instinctively reached out my hand to him but quickly withdrew it.
Leopard turned his back on me, completely ignoring me.
He seemed thoroughly disgruntled with me.
In the end, I had to place my hand on my chest and awkwardly check the lower step to finally get down.
Now that we had arrived at the villa, I had to find an excuse, whether it was an urgent need to relieve myself or something else, to disappear for a while and catch my breath.
Just as I was thinking that.
“Mommy!”
“Hey! Hey! In front of the duke·····!”
“Oh.”
Tia came running towards me, crying.
Behind her, the maidservants chasing her wore pale faces.
The breath that had almost begun to clear up was suddenly blocked again.
I had completely forgotten that I had my biggest weakness in the villa······.
“Mommy! Those sister maids are bothering Tia!”
“Tia.”
“Scold them! Huh? Huh??”
“Please······.”
I clearly told her to stay inside the accommodation, so what is she doing here?
My head started to throb.
.
.
.
“Wow! This room is so big!”
“Tia. Don’t run around like that. Let’s go back to the accommodation.”
“But that uncle said I could be comfortable here.”
“Do you want to listen to me or the duke?”
“I want to listen to the duke since he looks more important.”
“This is······.”
In the reception room of the villa, Duke Dragania watched Tia, who was running around excitedly.
Tia seemed determined to check every single painting hanging on the wall, inspecting the far wall meticulously.
If Julia happened to chase after Tia and coax her, the reaction would surely come from below, so the duke had to pay careful attention.
“A smile is hanging at the corner of your mouth.”
“Me? Oh. It really is.”
“I thought you were uninterested in humans.”
“I thought so too. But that child seems to be half mixed with dragon blood, so watching her brings me joy.”
“The child of a dragon····. You’ve noticed.”
“Of course. I’m a dragon. You think I couldn’t have noticed that?”
The duke chuckled and took a sip of his tea.
It seemed they had added way too much sugar, as it was overly sweet.
It appeared we lacked the skill to brew tea nicely for Julia.
“So, the reason you entrusted Julia to Dragania was not because of Julia herself, but because of your daughter?”
“······.”
Leopard hesitated while pretending to sip his tea.
From the duke’s reaction, it seemed he hadn’t noticed that Julia was the Holy Maiden yet.
Should I tell him that? I was a bit hesitant.
“That could be one way to see it.”
“Aha. I thought you fell for Julia.”
“I won’t deny it.”
“Cough! Cough!”
“Are you okay?”
“Huff, I’m fine. I just choked…..”
The duke was so surprised that he started coughing after choking.
So, the woman the hero coveted was indeed something else.
The thought that he had succumbed to mere lust made me feel guilty to the point of madness.
At the very moment the duke looked down, unable to meet Leopard’s gaze, Leopard made up his mind and waved his hand.
Then, a barrier unfolded, barely encompassing the two.
It was a barrier that couldn’t be visually confirmed.
“A prophecy has come down.”
“Prophecy?”
“Yes. The prophecy stated that the first child of the Holy Maiden would be the seed of disaster.”
“Why are we suddenly talking about the Holy Maiden····. Ah. No way.”
In an instant, the duke’s eyes widened as he grasped the situation.
It seemed that the words to come were that Julia was, in fact, that Holy Maiden.
The revelation of Julia’s identity was far more unexpected for the duke than the content of the prophecy.
Was it alright to inquire further?
Just as the duke hesitated and began to part his lips.
“What’s with the prophecy or whatever?”
“Eh.”
“Ah.”
Thud.
The two turned to find that the sofa behind them had plopped down.
Julia, who should have been with Tia, was leaning on the sofa, frowning.
