A Week Without Her
Late into the night.
In a secluded corner of Athena's grand estate, a clandestine meeting was underway.
"You summoned me, Master."
"…So you've come."
A young girl bowed in greeting before a middle-aged man. Her hair was a deep shade of brown.
The man—Bordin—did not spare her so much as a glance. His gaze remained fixed on the moon beyond the window.
"Starting tomorrow, our lord will leave the estate for a week and take up residence at the Imperial Palace."
"I see."
"One week. Can you produce the result His Lordship desires within that time?"
"…The performance has already begun. I believe it is more than possible."
Bordin turned to face the girl at last. She bowed her head even lower.
"Good. Your role is critical. I've already spoken with the head maid, so there will be no interference from that quarter. See that it is done properly."
"I shall obey."
His business concluded, he turned his eyes back to the window. The girl offered one final bow and vanished in an instant.
Alone in the room, he gazed at the moon softly illuminating the dark night sky and murmured to himself.
"Perhaps… that woman could become the key."
The lord he served. Outwardly serene—yet within, fierce enough to devour everything.
"The sun shall expose every sin hidden beneath that repulsive hypocrisy."
And when that day arrived, mere mortals would be reduced to nothing—not even ashes—within the sun's searing flames.
"You no longer require attendance, my lady?"
Rosaline looked at me with a thoroughly bewildered expression.
"Yes… I'm really fine now. Honestly, it's been a bit much for me all this time…"
"Hmm… Might it be that you find it embarrassing to be seen undressed?"
"Hic?! A… absolutely not?! I… I just find it burdensome, that's all…"
Struck squarely on the mark, I instinctively covered my lower belly with my hands—even though it was already hidden beneath my clothes.
"If that is how you feel, my lady, then there is nothing to be done. I shall inform the other maids accordingly."
"Thank you…"
What a relief.
Now that a mark like that had appeared on my body, I had no desire to show my bare skin to anyone.
Once I'd confirmed exactly where the brand had been etched, I'd tearfully confronted Athena, demanding to know why it had to be there of all places.
She had merely shrugged, utterly unbothered.
"Coincidence. Pure coincidence. You think I wanted it carved there either?"
Put like that, I had nothing left to say.
In the end, resignation was my only option. I decided to keep it hidden from people as best I could.
Which was why I'd turned down the bathing attendance. Convenient as it had been, washing alone was far preferable to letting the maids see that mark.
"Haaah… I'm exhausted…"
Like a caterpillar, I wriggled my way into bed and pulled the covers all the way over my head.
This morning, Athena had announced she had business at the Imperial Palace and would be away from the estate for a week.
She'd left with the parting words that I was free to do anything I liked—so long as I didn't leave the grounds.
A week without her.
The old me might have jumped for joy. But the me of now—
…I'm not doing a single thing.
I was already far too drained, mentally.
The last time I'd gone out just because I was bored—look what had happened. Every time that memory surfaced, any urge to leave my room evaporated on the spot.
Even when I'd had no choice but to seek out Rosaline, I'd been a nervous wreck, terrified of running into a member of the Dawn Knights.
If I did encounter them, the only thing I could do was hang my head like a criminal.
"It's all my fault anyway…"
Until Athena returned, I would not set foot outside this room.
I could even take my meals here. My plan was simply to become one with the bed for an entire week.
Sinking into the cozy embrace of the mattress, I was just about to close my steadily heavying eyes when—
"My lady!!!!!!!!"
"Hyeek?!"
A maid burst through the door with enough force to make it slam. She strode straight up to my bed and yanked the covers clean off, flinging them far away.
"Hic? A… Alina?"
"Do you have any idea what time it is, still lying in bed?! And what about your meal?!"
Hands planted firmly on her hips, she scolded me at full volume.
I mumbled at her in a tiny voice.
"…I'm just going to stay in my room from now on."
"Excuse me?! What happened to the person who came looking for me because she was bored?"
"Ugh… I… I'm fine now…"
At that, Alina leaned in so close her face was uncomfortably near mine.
"…Why do you look so gloomy? Don't tell me this is about what happened at the training grounds?"
"……"
"Haaah… I heard that was an accident caused by the Mistress's mana exploding. It wasn't your fault, my lady. Why are you so drained over it?"
"…If I hadn't gone there in the first place…"
Alina smacked her own forehead, sighed, and tried to comfort me.
"My lady. That is far too results-oriented. Was it something you planned?"
"O… of course not…"
"Then it isn't your fault. So please, cheer up a little."
"…Even so…"
"Ugh, I don't want to hear it. Enough!"
"Hyaat?!"
Alina seized me by the waist with both hands and hauled me bodily out of bed. The ease with which she lifted me suggested she was surprisingly strong.
She set me gently down on the floor.
"This simply won't do. For the week the Mistress is away, I shall devote myself wholeheartedly to looking after you."
"I'm fine, really…"
But she pressed a finger to my lips, silencing me.
"I'm not fine with it, so no. Understood?"
I stood there for a long moment before finally nodding. Only then did she remove her finger.
"Wonderful. Then shall we start with breakfast… wait, it's not morning anymore, is it. Lunch, then?"
"Can't I just eat in my room?"
"If you keep eating in bed, you'll put on weight!"
"I never gain any no matter how much I eat…"
The moment the words left my mouth, Alina glared at me with a look that could kill. The expression on her face as she gritted her teeth was genuinely terrifying.
"We're going to the dining hall… and you will eat… my laaady~?"
"Hic."
In the end, I did as she said and went to the dining hall for my meal.
As always, dishes so delicious they inspired genuine awe were set before me.
No wonder appetite ranked among humanity's three great desires. As the food melted on my tongue, my mood lifted of its own accord.
Chatting idly with Alina over the meal, the clutter of dark thoughts fouling my mind seemed to clear away.
Time passed, and once we'd finished eating, I rose from my seat to head for the library—something Alina had suggested during the meal.
I turned toward the door—
"Um… my lady…"
Alina's voice called from behind me.
"…Wouldn't it be better to eat a little more neatly?"
"Hm?"
Wondering what she meant, I looked back—and found her pointing at the place where I'd been sitting.
"…Huh?"
What met my eyes was a thoroughly messy table. The utensils I'd used were scattered every which way, and the surface was littered with smears and remnants of food.
"We'll clean it up either way, of course. But observing basic table manners is better for everyone involved!"
W… wait.
I'd eaten that messily…?
The spoon and fork lying crooked and overturned were especially grating on the eyes.
Back before the transmigration, when I'd lived alone, cleaning up after myself had been second nature. I could hardly believe I'd left a dining spot in such disarray.
I'd definitely been eating in a bit of a frenzy, but… how exactly had I left the spoon and fork at the end?
I couldn't quite remember, so I asked her again.
"Alina… did I… really do that…?"
"…Pardon? You're the only one who ate here, my lady…?"
She tilted her head at me with a puzzled look.
She was right. I was the only one who'd eaten at this table. Alina had simply kept me company from across the way.
Which meant the culprit could only be me.
I briefly suspected Alina—but she'd pointed it out mere moments after I'd looked away from the table. It was hard to imagine her doing anything to the food and utensils in that tiny window of time. Not unless her hands were impossibly fast.
In that instant, I felt thoroughly pathetic.
Unwilling to own my mistake, I'd tried to pin it on someone else. Had I always been this ugly a person?
The moment I admitted to myself that I'd done it, shame came flooding in.
Looking at a table this messy—what must she have thought of me?
"S… sorry… I'll eat more neatly from now on…"
Alina smiled softly at my words and gave my shoulder a gentle push, as if to say it was fine.
"Don't dwell on it too much. Shall we head to the library as planned, then?"
"Mm… please."
Fanning my rapidly heating face with one hand, I followed her toward the library.
"Whoa…"
The library we arrived at was far larger than I'd imagined. I hadn't expected it to be small, but I never dreamed it would be this enormous.
Books filled the space in such staggering numbers that I felt it would take several centuries just to read them all.
"Is there a particular kind of book you'd like, my lady?"
A particular kind…
There was something I wanted, but did a place like this even have books like that?
Then again, looking at the sheer scale of the room, maybe they did.
"Do you happen to have any novels?"
"Novels? Hmm…"
She pondered for a moment, then brightened as something occurred to her.
"We don't have novels, but we do have something similar! Would you come this way?"
I followed her to a bookshelf that looked to stand at least three times my height. Alina pointed to a spot about midway up and said,
"That book there. It's a historical account of the Great War Era. It's packed with battle stories—you should be able to read it just like a novel!"
The Great War Era.
Long, long ago, accumulated strife between the races had erupted into war. Humans, demons, beastfolk, elves, spirits—every race had taken up arms, and their war had raged without a single day's pause for a full hundred years.
A tragic age. The lives lost then were too numerous to speak of lightly.
It was no exaggeration to say that the peace of the present had been forged from the terror born of that war.
I was intrigued.
In the novel, it had been summed up in a handful of lines. I wondered how it was recorded here.
"Yeah. I'll take that one."
"Very well. I'll fetch a ladder—please wait just a moment."
Hm?
A ladder?
The book's position was within reach if I just stretched my arm a little higher. A ladder hardly seemed necessary…
But she was gone before I could say a word. I hadn't even noticed her leave.
Left in a mildly awkward situation, I decided to simply wait for her return.
But tens of minutes passed, and she still hadn't come back.
"…Why is she taking so long?"
Standing still for so long made my body start to itch with restlessness.
Fine. I'll just get it myself.
It didn't look all that high anyway.
I reached up. My fingertips hovered just shy of the book.
"Nngh…"
Rising onto my tiptoes closed the remaining gap.
"Got it!"
I pulled the book free from the shelf—
Tuk—
The faintest contact.
My hand had brushed the shelf for a moment as I withdrew the book, and if one were to analyze the direction of force, I had given it the slightest of pushes.
Barely enough to topple a reed, really.
And yet.
"Uh-oh…?"
At that tiny touch, the massive bookshelf began to tip backward. Then it toppled in earnest—
Thud—thud—
Like a row of dominoes, it took the shelves behind it down with it, crashing to the floor in spectacular fashion.
KRAAAAAASH
As the shelves hit the ground, the countless books within them spilled out like debris, scattering across the floor.
In an instant, dust filled the library and blotted out my vision.
Standing dazed amid the thick cloud, a limp, airless sound escaped my lips.
"…Eh?"