Exclusive Maid Arije
"Mmm··········."
Where am I, who am I.
··········But too much time has passed to say such a line.
I woke up from my sleep.
As I opened my eyes and looked straight ahead—
"Oh my, you're finally awake, Lunia-yang."
"···············"
I had been held in Master-nim's arms, and her embrace was so comfortable that I must have dozed off.
But why, after dozing off and waking up, am I getting my head stroked while lying on the lap of such a beautiful girl?
It was an intuitive feeling, as if this were a pure romance novel, I would be incredibly happy with just this much, even if I weren't the male lead.
But feelings were just feelings, and the reality was that I had turned into a woman, a female to be thoroughly used and devoured by the men of this world—
··········Let's stop thinking about that.
I forcefully shook off the wicked thoughts swirling in my head and returned to reality.
"··········Where is Master-nim?"
"··········Mineba-nim, well··········,"
Even though I merely asked Lady Ehiton about Master-nim, who wasn't visible, she seemed incredibly flustered and reluctant to speak.
-Ziiiii··········.
"·····Ugh. I, I'll tell you. That kind of look··········."
As expected, in times like these, pushing forward with 'Lunia's' appearance was the answer.
What kind of look was it, you ask?
After wronging me, are you planning to betray me again? Didn't you beg for my apology and forgiveness?
This was the reaction I got when I met Lady Ehiton's gaze with a blank expression, after implicitly packing all those feelings into it.
"Actually, while Lunia-yang was asleep, she went to punish Young Master Reinhardt··········."
"··········Ah."
Then a short sigh escaped my lips.
However, Lady Ehiton seemed to misunderstand, thinking my sigh was due to unpleasant memories of Jerad,
She suddenly stopped stroking my head, bent at the waist, and embraced my upper body.
'··········Wow. Such flexibility.'
Honestly, I felt nothing in particular.
The only thought I had was, 'She's giving me a lap pillow, and yet she can bend her waist this much?'
If there was anything to worry about, it was the Book of Oaths that I was forced to write when Jerad first started blackmailing me.
Only its existence weighed on my mind·····.
-Hwarureuk.
'··········Huh?'
Something, something··········.
Just now, I felt as if that Book of Oaths was burning up.
At the same time, the suppressive feeling the Book of Oaths had given me suddenly vanished.
'Perhaps··········,'
Master-nim did it·····?
##
Just as Lunia fell asleep.
Her Master-nim, Mineba, carefully moved Lunia onto Yuriana's lap so she wouldn't wake up.
"Uh, where are you going?"
Yuriana, who seemed as if she would never hand Lunia over, looked flustered and bewildered when she actually received her.
Watching Yuriana, Mineba hid a knife in her sleeve and spoke.
"I'm going to crush a 'bug' that tormented my disciple."
"B-bug·····?"
Leaving Yuriana, whose eyes widened at the rather violent expression, Mineba left Lunia's room using teleportation magic, just in case Lunia woke up.
Thus, Yuriana, left alone in the room, could only pray that it wouldn't turn into a huge commotion.
*
"Huhu, I really am something."
For Mineba, who had never been good at outwardly expressing her emotions or feelings, it was quite astonishing to realize just how angry she was.
What could have made her so?
Was it because a mere insignificant creature raped her disciple and made her suffer such a fate?
Or was it because her disciple might fall in love with someone other than her?
Of course, she wasn't angry because her disciple might have gotten pregnant after being tormented for several months.
When she first met Lunia and saw her with her magic sight, Lunia's Uterus was already in a contraceptive state.
She didn't know if it was intentional or not, but perhaps Lunia had drunk some cheap contraceptive potion, as the Uterus's movements had completely stopped.
Therefore, Lunia's chance of pregnancy was close to zero.
As much as she wanted to, she wished to eliminate all the men who had paid money to spend a night with Lunia and bought her,
but if she killed all those noble offspring, even she would find it difficult to handle the consequences.
That didn't mean one of humanity's strongest was scared.
Even if all the mages of the Empire attacked her, she wasn't confident she would lose.
What she had to contend with was not the resentment of insignificant creatures bearing the name of nobles, but her contract with the Emperor.
The second of humanity's three strongest, recognized by the Empire.
Its true identity was none other than the Emperor.
There was a reason she was called a Tyrant.
The Emperor, known as a Tyrant, had used the absurd threat of erasing the existence of Witches as leverage for a temporary alliance, a compromise that now held Mineba back.
No one knew who would win if she and the Emperor clashed, but Mineba wasn't confident she could fight the Emperor while also protecting the other Witches.
"Tsk."
If she were to purge a large number of noble offspring here, wouldn't that mad Emperor capture other Witches and force them to bear children to replace the nobles?
Of course, Witches wouldn't get pregnant by receiving a man's seed, but that crazy bitch would probably be delighted to cut off their limbs and present them as Living Onaholes to noble patriarchs.
-Teobuk, teobuk.
While she was lost in such thoughts, she arrived at her destination.
The place she arrived at was Jerad Reinhardt's residence.
If purging everyone wasn't an option, then removing only the cause of the incident probably wouldn't provoke significant displeasure from the Emperor either.
And there was one more crucial reason why the Emperor couldn't harbor ill will towards her.
"Is anyone there?"
"··········Who?"
The tightly closed door opened, and a petite Maid bowed her head.
"Is your name perhaps Arije?"
"Yes? Yes. My name is indeed Arije, but·····."
Mineba spoke quietly.
-Don't you have a deal you made with Lunia?
##
Arije's eyes widened.
Lunia.
That name was one she could never forget.
Even to her, Lunia was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
Ah, that's not to say she was prettier than the woman before her now.
It was more like both women represented the pinnacle of beauty, each with a different aura.
Anyway.
Arije had, just once,
wiped Lunia's body when she was raped in Jerad's dormitory.
They hadn't become close, much less formed a special bond.
It was just a fleeting deal made when everything was almost over.
Honestly, it was just a verbal promise with no guarantee, no assurance that either party would keep it.
-Shall we make a deal, Arije?
-··········A d-deal?
At that time, Lunia neither inflicted violence upon her nor hurled insults, unlike the other women who had suffered at the hands of the Young Master.
She merely looked at her with pity and extended a hand to her.
Instinctively, Arije knew that even if she took that hand, she would soon have to let go.
Nevertheless, that single hand brought her immense comfort.
Arije took her hand as if possessed.
-Someday, when I cause some trouble. Please tell me the location of the most controversial things Jerad has done.
-··········Huh?
-In return, I will guarantee that Arije will no longer be subjected to violence.
At that moment, Lunia quietly added.
What did she say again?
Ah.
-If possible, evidence that would prevent the Reinhardt family from ever recovering would be good.
-···············Understood.
Her dream was grand, but Lunia was ultimately a commoner.
That dream was merely a 'wish' that would crash against the grand ceiling of the high nobility and be buried in the ground, a meaningless plan that would never be realized.
No, it *should* have been impossible.
"···············Please come this way."
Arije instinctively felt it.
That the world,
one of the pillars that built the world, was about to be broken and replaced.
That the world, which she thought would never change until she became crippled or died, was changing.
##
"Hmm, indeed. This should be enough."
What Lunia had asked Arije for was not to gather controversial things Jerad had done.
That was also Lunia's consideration for Arije, a powerless Maid.
She merely needed to inform Lunia herself, or someone Lunia asked, of their 'location'.
That way, as little suspicion as possible would fall on Arije.
And the 'location' Arije told Mineba about was where the evidence of Jerad embezzling the Academy's operating funds with the Academy's Vice-Principal was kept.