A Gentle Sort of Forgiveness
Ah, I really didn't want to go back to the dorm.
I wanted to run away to assassin headquarters. Or if not there, I would have gladly fled to that imperial prison Rin had told me about before.
Yet reality paid no heed to my desperate wishes. Step by step, I was drawing closer to our dormitory suite. Cecilia hadn't uttered a single word since academy classes let out, simply walking ahead in cold, oppressive silence while I meekly trailed behind her.
"Serena."
"...Yes, Your Highness."
The moment we stepped inside the dorm suite, Cecilia sank onto the living room sofa and called my name. Her voice was icy—far colder than usual—and genuinely terrifying. In my previous life, I had completed my mandatory military service and worked a perfectly normal office job, yet right now, Cecilia was downright frightening. Her hollow, decadently exhausted eyes fixed on me in a piercing glare that made the fine hairs all over my body stand on end. Still, running away was hardly an option.
"Kneel in front of me."
"Yes."
Following her command, I dropped to my knees before her. The hard floor dug into my joints, but this was hardly the time to complain about a little discomfort.
"Haaah... How utterly absurd. I've seen plenty of maids during my time at the detached palace, but I have never once seen one roaming about holding hands with another noble."
"We weren't holding han—"
"And how is what you did any different? You and Jessica were carrying luggage together, walking so close your shoulders were practically glued to each other. How is that any different from holding hands?"
"...Isn't that a bit of a stretch...?"
"What?"
"I'm sowwy..."
You're the one who asked, so why glare at me when I answer? It wasn't as if I'd committed some heinous crime. All I did was help Jessica carry some boxes. It wasn't like I could have turned down a high noble either. By all accounts, I was being treated unfairly here. Of course, from Cecilia's perspective, my excuses fell strictly under the category of "why should I care?"
"Just how should I punish this foolish maid to knock some sense into her? Talking back to me little by little since before... you truly are insolent. An ordinary commoner would be trembling in terror, unable to even meet my gaze whenever I spoke to them. Yet every time you open your mouth, you crawl right over my head..."
"..."
I had often thought Cecilia had a rotten personality. Because, well, she did. But I had rarely ever felt genuinely afraid of her—until this very moment. I had been taking things far too lightly. My master was the third daughter of the Emperor, the supreme authority of this entire empire. Even if she had two elder sisters and an elder brother above her, royalty was still royalty. With a single misdirected word, she possessed enough clout to ruin ordinary commoners or even high nobles with ease. There was no denying that I'd grown far too comfortable around her, bordering on outright impudence. Unable to offer any defense, I could only stay silent, keeping my eyes locked on hers.
"Well, I suppose you aren't an ordinary commoner. Being of vampire descent, and all. And your appearance is far too striking to belong to a commoner..."
"Too striking?"
"...Tsk."
"...?"
Why stop in the middle of commenting on my looks just to click her tongue? I had no idea what displeased her this time, but I decided to wait quietly for her next words. After all, I was in no position to speak out of turn.
"Good grief... Utterly ridiculous. Is this what it feels like to raise a cat or a tiny puppy?"
"...Pardon?"
"Tsk... Stop kneeling there like an idiot and just stand up."
"Uh... yes, Your Highness."
After glaring at me for so long, she had suddenly told me to stand. I couldn't decipher what was going on inside her head at all. Taking the dreadfully difficult philosophy elective back in my college days felt like it would have been easier to understand. Truly, I had no clue.
"Serena."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Come closer. And don't resist with useless chatter."
"...Understood."
Obediently following her command, I stepped right up in front of her. Even though Cecilia was seated on the sofa, because of my tiny stature, our eye levels weren't drastically different. Meeting her gaze straight-on was so unnerving that my eyes flickered away instinctively. Worse, an ominous prickle of danger had been tingling from her direction for a while now.
"Hmm..."
"Is something the matter...?"
"I'm just realizing how truly small you are. I noticed it whenever you trotted behind me, but you really are tiny."
"..."
"And tiny stature aside, seeing you up close, your face certainly doesn't look like a commoner's."
With those words, Cecilia slowly reached her hand out toward me. I couldn't fathom what she intended, but I remained frozen where I stood. Moving now would only invite another reprimand. I watched her pale, slender fingers reach closer, unmoving, waiting... Even before stepping up to the sofa, my instincts had been screaming danger, yet I knew running away would only end worse for me.
"Hyak?!"
"Pfft..."
"Y-Your Highness...?"
Cecilia's hands clamped onto my shoulders and pulled me straight into her embrace. I could have resisted with my assassin reflexes if I'd wanted to, but the move caught me entirely off guard. I had braced myself for a slap to the cheek or a painful pinch accompanied by a stern warning to behave, so falling headfirst into her chest was completely beyond my expectations.
"What are you..."
"You really do fit right into my arms. And your body is so soft. Ah, is it because of the maid uniform? Just like I said before, you really are like a doll."
"Never mind that, please let me go...!"
"Why?"
Why? Why?! Because this is completely bizarre, that's why! Cecilia had abruptly dragged me into her lap, wrapping both arms securely around me. In this absurd predicament, all I could focus on was getting her to stop.
"As your superior, I am merely offering a gentle sort of forgiveness to a maid who misbehaved. Shouldn't you be grateful? Think about what you did. You are supposed to attend directly and constantly to the Third Imperial Princess, yet you went strolling around intimately with Lady Lami. Getting off with just this should feel like a blessing, wouldn't you say?"
"S-Still... this is definitely weird..."
"We are both girls, so what's the issue? Anyone looking would think one of us was a boy."
"Ah..."
Damn it. What was I even supposed to say to that? I couldn't blurt out that I used to be a guy. Not that she'd believe me even if I did. To anyone's eyes, my current body lacked even a shred of masculinity—I was completely, indisputably a petite girl. Far shorter than Cecilia, small enough to tuck completely into her chest, made of soft, squishy flesh rather than rugged muscle, with lustrous silver hair as silky as a handcrafted doll's. I had no counterargument, no words, and no room to resist.
"By the way, do you wear perfume?"
"...Pardon?"
"I thought so last time too, but you smell remarkably sweet..."
"...?"
She buried her face near the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply.
"Y-Your Highness...?"
At this point, I couldn't tell whether she was teasing me or acting on some bizarre whim. Embarrassment flooded my head so violently that my only coherent thought was escaping this situation. Pressed against my back was the unmistakably soft fullness of Cecilia's chest. At my neck, whether it was her nose, lips, or chin, something kept brushing gently against my bare skin. With her arms wrapped firmly around my stomach, pinning me to her thighs, my rational thought processes were completely fried.
"Hyah...?"
It was exactly the kind of treatment she had threatened before. Reduced to her living doll, stranded on her lap and engulfed in her embrace, I could do nothing but sit there, paralyzed with mortification.
"Y-Your Highness, please..."
When I felt like I couldn't endure another second, fighting through the dizzying haze engulfing my mind, I squeezed out a tiny, desperate plea.
"Pfft... Fine. I suppose you've gotten the message by now, haven't you? Learn to read the room from now on. You aren't Lady Lami's maid, nor anyone else's. You are my maid. Understood?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am...!"
"Ah, wait. No. If you truly want to escape my arms right now, why don't you bite my neck while we're at it? I've told you to do it so many times, yet you haven't done it once."
"I-I'll do it...! So please, just hurry and..."
"Heh... Are you really that embarrassed? It's just two girls sharing a light hug. I don't see why you're getting so flustered. How amusing."
I had no real grasp of what kind of offer Cecilia had just put on the table; I merely agreed blindly. Ever since being pulled into her lap, my dizzy brain had fixated on a single objective: escaping her clutches and putting an end to this torment. What she had whispered into my ear, or what kind of deal I had just signed myself into... I hadn't properly processed a single word.