Chapter 9: Young Lady, What Are You Doing?
“But… I really should help you with this. I have nothing else to do right now, and two of us could get this done faster!”
Arthur insisted on assisting Gaia with the paperwork.
“How can you say you have nothing to do? Instead of spending time here with me, wouldn’t it be better to go spend time with your young lady? She could definitely use your company.”
Gaia felt a flicker of anger when he heard Arthur say, “I have nothing else to do.” How could he say that? With that little free time, he should be with his own wife!
“My young lady is quite understanding; she doesn’t really need my company.”
“It’s not about whether she understands or not.”
Gaia seemed genuinely upset now. He placed the documents on the side table and spoke to Arthur with earnestness.
“I used to think that my companions didn’t need me around. But they aren’t as strong as we believe; they need our company. So if you have time to waste here, it’s better to go back and spend some time with your young lady. I really recommend you do that.”
“Uh… okay. I’ll take that advice. But let me first help you deliver those documents to your office.”
Arthur thought Gaia’s words made some sense. So after delivering the documents, he’d check back with his young lady to see if she needed his company.
Once he walked with Gaia to his office and placed the documents on his desk, Arthur returned to his own room. However, he seemed to have come back at the wrong time.
“Young lady… what are you doing?”
Arthur looked at Weirafiya in her room, momentarily at a loss for words.
Because right now, Weirafiya had taken off all her clothes and was lying on the bed, gasping for breath as if she had just engaged in some strenuous activity.
“Ah? Arthur! You’re back so soon? I thought you’d take longer!”
Weirafiya didn’t care at all that Arthur saw her completely exposed. After all, she had done that several times before, hadn’t she?
“Young lady, did you do something foolish again? How did it come to this?”
“It’s not foolishness at all! I was just trying to work out a bit while you were gone, and it seems I overdid it. Not only do I feel drained, but my clothes were burned to bits by some rampaging flames. Ugh, what an embarrassing situation!”
She had lost control of her flames; her clothes ended up incinerated. Luckily, she managed to gain control in time to extinguish the flames. Otherwise, it might not just have been her clothes getting burned, but the entire royal palace could have been engulfed in her fire!
“You really overdid it, young lady. Why must it be when I’m not around? Do you find me bothersome?”
Arthur took out some new clothes for Weirafiya to change into. He couldn’t understand why she had to choose to do this when she knew he was away.
“It’s not that I find you bothersome! It’s just that I feel like I’ve been relying on you too much. If it seems like I can’t do anything without you, then that’s no good. So I wanted to see if I could handle this on my own while you were away. And well, here we are. Ugh, what a mess!”
“Young lady, you really shouldn’t think like that. I’m your servant; why do you see relying on me as a bad thing? If you truly see me as your servant, why not lean on me a bit more?”
Arthur felt a bit annoyed by Weirafiya’s thoughts. After all, he was her servant! Yet she was trying to not depend on him while doing something foolish. Did she want to kick him to the curb?
“No, no, I just think I’m too dependent on you, and that feels wrong. Don’t you feel the same, Arthur? Don’t you find it bothersome being bossed around all the time?”
“I don’t feel that way at all, young lady.”
Arthur gave Weirafiya a stern look. This young lady really liked to overthink. Did she really think being ordered around was so burdensome?
Though it was indeed somewhat tiring, overall, he didn’t serve her because of any contract. He acted on his own will, wanting to serve this young lady.
“Are you kidding me? I’ve given you so many unreasonable requests! You, as a noble, feel comfortable being bossed around by me?”
Weirafiya widened her eyes, not believing Arthur’s words. Sometimes, she felt like slapping herself to remind her of her own limitations.
“Well, ‘comfortable’ might be pushing it. But young lady, I choose to serve you of my own will, without a doubt. Although being ordered around does tire me out, I feel like this life isn’t so bad. That’s how I feel.”
After helping her get dressed, Arthur smiled gently at Weirafiya, leaving her momentarily speechless.
“You really have issues.”
“Unfortunately, I’ve been told that since I was little.”
“Well, that’s true. But it’s people like you with issues that end up being my servant. Normal people would run away at first sight!”
After all, she was a Phoenix; anyone with half a brain would want to flee upon seeing her! Only someone as peculiar as Arthur would want to talk with her.
“Speaking of which, young lady, I still want to know what you were doing while I was gone.”
“You don’t need to know that. And don’t ever ask again.”
Weirafiya mercilessly denied Arthur any right to the truth.
What nonsense! How could she admit to doing something so embarrassing? If she told him, he would definitely say, “You were doing that? Young lady, seriously? You could have just asked for my help with that!”
He would say exactly that!
