Do I Have to Care About My Possession's Feelings...?
Serena surveyed the room the way a surgeon might assess a patient before a major operation.
In the corners, clothes Lumina had once worn and discarded lay strewn about in heaps.
Those are nowhere near the size of the Lumina standing here now.
Most of them looked as though they had been sitting there for years — things the current Lumina could never fit into.
Around the bed, plates and bowls that had presumably once held food sat abandoned, along with fruit peels so thoroughly desiccated they had mummified into something unrecognizable.
I've always wondered… what is that creepy ball-jointed doll supposed to be…?
And then there was whatever that was — a doll, or a curse fetish, or something — watching Lumina with an unnerving gaze of its own.
The window frames were caked with dust, as if no one had opened them in years.
Ugh… looking at it properly is making my throat feel scratchy.
In short, it was a complete disaster.
Let her revise that. This was not a spring cleaning. This was a full-scale renovation. Doing it herself would be exhausting.
And of course, Serena had no intention of doing any of it herself.
She tromped off toward her own room on the third floor.
"Serasia!"
Having grown conspicuously lazy the moment she arrived in someone else's house, Serasia had been loafing on Serena's bed all day. Serena grabbed her by the twin tails and hauled her back to Lumina's room.
"Young miss?"
Serena gave the bewildered maid's shoulder a consoling pat.
"Have fun cleaning!"
"Pardon?"
"It won't take that long."
Serasia looked from Serena to the interior of Lumina's room and back again…
"Pardon!!?!"
Her eyes went round as saucers.
This? Me? Why?
Reading every one of those questions in her maid's stare, Serena held out her pinky and made a promise.
"I'll pat your head later."
At that, Serasia's eyes lit up, and she set to work on Lumina's room at once.
"I'll do it! I'll do it!"
Serena folded her arms and watched her go.
What is so great about having a girl much younger than you pat your head, anyway.
An inscrutable creature, that one. Convenient to handle, though, which was nice. Serena shrugged.
"Young misses, I'll just air the place out a bit!"
Mid-cleaning, Serasia flung the window open without waiting for either girl's reply.
The still-bitter March air of the north poured through the frame, and both girls felt a cold they could not endure.
Shiver, shiver, shiver…
Standing some distance apart, the two of them looked at each other in search of warmth.
One of them could not actually see anything she looked at, but still.
They regarded each other for a moment, then — as if by prior arrangement — moved toward one another at the same time and shared their body heat.
In the cold, dry air, the warmth of each other's skin felt unusually snug.
…Serena is warm.
Even a gloomy little brat like this is warm and soft to the touch, huh.
The air between the two girls went oddly soft and pliant.
Finding the atmosphere awkward, Lumina spoke up to shake the feeling off.
"You don't have to clean."
"But it bothers me terribly. Cough, cough. There's so much dust. It all settles in your lungs, you know."
"Whether dust settles in my lungs or not, I'm going to die soon anyway…"
Serena pinched Lumina's cheek and tugged.
"Ow…"
"I plan to live a very long time, thank you. I won't be getting married, so no grandchildren for me… but I intend to live long enough to see my older sister's daughter's daughter!"
Lumina tilted her head.
"Marriash… wife…?"
The words came out mangled, her cheek still caught in Serena's grip. Knowing full well Lumina could not see her, Serena grinned mischievously all the same.
"My dream is to become a free old spinster."
"? Why?"
"Heh heh. That's a secret. If you want to hear it, unlock Serena Affinity Level 10."
Lumina tilted her head blankly, then murmured in a voice thick with wistfulness.
"…I don't need to think about things like that. I'll be dead before I'm old enough to marry anyway."
Well, you're not terminally ill, you know.
Looking at Lumina's faraway expression, Serena felt a flicker of the urge to say as much — but she held it back. To deceive the B-layer completely, she had to.
At least until Lumina was mature enough to play along with the act.
…She was aware she was doing something rather awful to a child.
So when Lumina called her name, Serena answered a beat late.
"Serena."
"…Yes."
"That one. She's not a maid of our house."
"She's my personal maid. She came with me from the main house."
Lumina fidgeted with her fingers, then asked,
"Is it all right to just make her clean my room?"
"Is there any reason it wouldn't be?"
"She's a woman who exists for you."
Serena looked down at Lumina's fidgeting fingers.
The nails were uneven — a habit of biting them, perhaps.
Serena covered that hand with her own, hiding it from view, and said,
"Lady Lumina is my master, isn't she?"
"I didn't want it, but that's how it turned out."
Lumina nodded with a look of reluctant acceptance.
"And I am Serasia's master. So…"
Serena set Lumina's right hand on her own knee, laid her left hand on top of it, and finally placed Lumina's other hand over that.
"Lady Lumina, then Serena, then Serasia. If you take Serena out of the middle…"
Having said so, she slipped her own hand free from between Lumina's. The result was Lumina holding her own hands together.
"Serasia is yours as well, Lady Lumina."
"Is that how it works?"
"That's how it works."
"Mm…"
Watching her nod along, Serena let the corner of her mouth curl up. Coaxing a child really was easy.
That said… ugh. Having Lumina here helps a little, but the parts that aren't touching are still freezing…
Serena gave an exaggerated shiver and called out,
"Serasia~ Can we close the window now?"
"Just a little longer, please~"
"Hiiing."
Whining, Serena pressed herself even closer to Lumina.
At least Serena was wearing ordinary day clothes, so she had it relatively easy.
Lumina, being in her own room, had been in her nightclothes the entire time — and so she was feeling the cold far more keenly than Serena.
In the end, unable to bear it, Lumina wrapped her arms around Serena's arm.
"…It's because I'm cold. Because I'm cold."
At the excuse-laden voice, Serena smiled wickedly.
Perhaps enduring the cold for the sake of ventilation had been worth it after all.
The stale indoor air, thick with dust and stench, was swept away, and fresh winter air took its place.
And through that cleared air… Lumina's body odor, which had been masked until now by the reek of a room full of garbage, began to assert itself with considerable force.
I noticed it when we first met, too… how does a ten-year-old kid's body smell this musty.
"…Lady Lumina."
"Mm."
"When was the last time you took a bath?"
"…"
Lumina turned her head away.
That reaction. She doesn't even remember when she last washed, does she.
Serena took Lumina's hand and stood up in one motion.
"You're washing right now!"
"Wh-what, it'll just get dirty again…!"
"What kind of thing is that for a girl to say! It's disgusting, honestly!"
"It's not like anyone can see me properly anyway…!"
"You don't take baths to look good for people! Is it makeup? We're going to wash, right now!"
"No, no…!"
Lumina shook her head desperately from side to side.
Faced with that stubborn and rather adorable resistance, Serena decided to change tactics.
"Lady Lumina. It's terribly cold out. On a day like this, soaking in warm water feels wonderful, you know?"
She might hate baths, but warm water apparently appealed. Lumina followed Serena's guiding hand as meekly as a kite on the wind.
Being the frigid north, the manor's grand bath was always kept full of warm water.
Having commandeered the ducal estate's grand bath by the authority of a duke's daughter, Serena stepped into the tub with Lumina and stretched luxuriously.
"This is my first time using this place alone! Next time I want it to myself, I'll have to call for Lady Lumina."
"…"
"But why are you keeping your eyes closed?"
Open or shut, it made no practical difference — and yet back in her own room, Lumina had at least kept her eyes open, letting her silver irises face the world.
Now, for some reason, she had them squeezed tightly shut.
"…In case I meet someone's eyes."
"Whose?"
"People's… Everyone hates looking at my eyes."
Lumina's reasoning was half wrong and half right.
First, the half that was wrong.
The Duchess Dowager of the house herself was a woman of golden hair and silver eyes.
She had married properly and borne Duke Sirius, which was to say that silver irises, while uncommon, were not considered an ominous trait.
People did not shun Lumina simply because she had silver eyes.
What people shunned was someone who was, like a witch, white-haired and silver-eyed at the same time.
White hair and silver eyes. If both conditions had to be met before someone was shunned, then the only option was to hide one of them.
That was the half that was right.
"You show your eyes to Madam and to me, though."
"Stepmother would have hated me no matter what I looked like."
"And me?"
"You… you said you were mine."
"I did say that, didn't I?"
At Serena's reply, Lumina spoke carefully, gauging her reaction.
"Then… do I have to care about my possession's feelings…?"
Well, look at this bold little thing. Serena laughed brightly at Lumina's answer.
She had just been treated like an object by someone younger than herself, and somehow she did not mind at all. She rather liked it.
Better this than a kid who acts like she's already lived a whole life.
Boldness suited her better.
It was more entertaining that way, too.
"It's just me here right now, so you can open your eyes comfortably."
"Mm…"
At Serena's words, Lumina revealed her silver eyes to the world.
White hair. Silver eyes.
The hallmarks of a witch.
It was still an appearance Serena found unsettling — and yet the kindness of keeping her eyes shut so as not to upset others, and the way she obediently opened them at a single word…
Looking at this little girl who resembled a witch, Serena found herself in a thoroughly pleasant mood.
So, on a whim.
She might as well give her a bath.
"We've been in the tub long enough. Shall we get out and wash properly? I'll wash you."
"I can do it myself…"
Serena waved a hand in front of Lumina's face. No reaction. Well — Lumina was blind.
This idiot. What exactly does she think she can do for herself with those eyes?
"Lady Lumina."
"Mm."
"Do you know where the bath things are?"
"…"
"When you rinse, can you see where the soap is still left on your body?"
"…"
"You can't rinse the soap off properly, can you? Lady Lumina, who can't even bathe by herself?"
Under Serena's ruthless factual assault, Lumina squeezed her eyes shut.
"…You're surprisingly merciless."
"Heh heh."
Serena stuck out a tiny tip of pink tongue.
A wicked little schemer of a child, taking delight in bullying a blind girl younger than herself.
"So I'll help you."
"Hmph. Do whatever you want…"
And so Serena's bath service began.