A Peculiar Relationship Between Them
"Fine, then. I'll let her touch it."
It wasn't as if there was any real reason to keep her from touching my butt. It wasn't going to wear out from being handled, and compared to other places, the backside wasn't somewhere that particularly bothered me.
Mothers spanked their daughters for discipline, after all, and girls roughhoused with each other the same way. Thinking back on my previous life, I'd seen plenty of schoolboys kick each other in the rear while shouting, "Nice and firm!"
Besides, I was cute, wasn't I? My butt would naturally be just as soft and plump. Wanting to touch it wasn't all that strange.
I'll do you a favor, Viviana.
She was going to be over the moon.
Watching that eternally calm, composed woman lose her composure was a genuine pleasure. If I recalled the way her eyes had burned for me before, she would absolutely light up with joy this time too.
With a little flutter of anticipation, I rang the bell four times. One ring for the bathroom, two for a meal, three for a bath — and four when I wanted to see Viviana.
The maid who answered the bell was Luna. I rang four times again and gave her a bright little smile.
"I have something to discuss with Lady Viviana."
Luna looked flustered for a moment, then bowed briefly and slipped back out the door. She must have gone to report to Viviana.
Before long she returned, bowed once more, and gestured toward the hallway. I rose from the bed with a light smile and followed her. As she guided me through the vast corridors of the estate, the countless paintings lining the walls were a feast for the eyes.
Each one looked as though it could command an outrageous price. There had to be dozens of them. Once I had Viviana thoroughly wrapped around my finger, I might as well ask for a few as gifts.
I was still entertaining those greedy little thoughts when we arrived at Viviana's study. Luna stepped back and pointed toward the door with her fingertips.
"Thank you."
I thanked her for the escort and knocked. A moment later, a familiar voice drifted through the elegant wooden door.
"Come in."
At Viviana's permission, I arranged an awkward smile on my lips and opened the door. The study revealed itself in a wash of refined décor and the faint scent of ink.
Viviana was seated at her desk, working. The strange part was the other familiar woman sitting right beside her.
...Why is Iris with Viviana?
The question nagged at me.
Viviana was a duke's daughter. Iris was, at best, a maid. The gap in status was obvious — so why were they sitting side by side like that? Had Iris come to deliver some work-related report?
And more than anything else, what bothered me was this:
...Aren't they a little too close?
Their chairs were pressed flush against each other for no good reason. If they were simply working, there was no need to sit that tightly together.
Weren't they just master and subordinate?
Why, then?
My heart began to race for no reason at all.
"What is it, Tina?"
Viviana's voice yanked me out of my thoughts. She was still seated at the desk, looking at me with mild curiosity.
"...I came because I had something I wanted to say to you, my lady."
"Something to say?"
Even as she answered, she remained glued to Iris's side. The sight of it made my heart twinge with a displeasure I couldn't name.
"I shall take my leave. Please, speak freely between yourselves."
Iris glanced at me once, then began to rise from her seat. But just as she was about to withdraw, Viviana caught her hand and pulled her back down into the chair.
"Stay and wait. This won't take long."
"My lady..."
...What was this?
A tender current was flowing between the two of them.
The eyes Viviana turned on Iris as she held her in place were gentle. Watching it, I felt a tightness in my chest that made it hard to breathe.
What was this supposed to be?
She wanted to finish talking to me quickly so she could stay with Iris a little longer — was that it?
Why?
Viviana was supposed to be completely smitten with me... so why was she being so affectionate with Iris?
What was there to care about in a woman that cold and blunt?
Sure, her face was pretty enough, but Viviana liked me far more than that.
Thump — thump —
My racing heart was pounding hard enough to ache. I had no idea what expression I was wearing. Every instinct screamed at me to flee the room on the spot, but I forced a smile onto my face and held the slipping mask in place.
"What is it, Tina? If it isn't important, tell me later this evening."
Viviana offered me a smiling glance. At a glance it might have looked kind, but I knew that face of hers.
Those eyes were performing tenderness. It was the expression Viviana wore when she was dealing with someone tiresome in high society — the bare minimum of aristocratic courtesy extended to a nuisance. And those false eyes were looking straight at me.
"...No... now that I think about it, it wasn't anything important... I-I'll tell you later, then."
I managed a carefully composed smile, spoke the words, and slowly left the study, closing the door behind me.
Without waiting for Luna to guide me, without looking back even once, I ran to my room.
"...This is so annoying."
I might as well just sleep.
I didn't want to do anything at all.
The moment the lively girl whose mere presence could coax a smile from anyone had vanished, the study filled once more with nothing but cold air. The two women who had been performing affection only moments before clamped hands over their mouths and gagged.
"Ugh."
The warmth that had seemed to live in their eyes was gone without a trace — frozen solid, without a single grain of fondness left. Viviana gave Iris's chair a light kick with her foot and spoke shortly.
"Move."
"...I thought I was going to throw up, Master."
Iris recoiled in pure disgust and put a swift, generous distance between herself and Viviana. Five paces from the desk — the comfortable, proper distance for a master and her subordinate.
"Master, I would prefer you refrain from requests of this nature..."
"You think I wanted to do that?"
Viviana propped her chin in her hand. Then the ice-cold mask of her face melted in an instant, and a wistful little smile settled on her lips as she began to murmur to herself.
"Still... just now, a bit of her real self slipped out, didn't it... She's ridiculously cute... so lovable I could die... Maybe I should sneak in later and try waking her up..."
"...Ugh."
Iris felt her stomach turn. Who was this woman, cooing in a tender voice while gazing fondly at someone who wasn't even there? It certainly was not the master she knew.
Faced with a side of Viviana so utterly unlike anything she had ever seen, Iris had no choice but to ask.
"Why go to the trouble of putting on this act?"
"Mm... because my little pet keeps trying to play me. I intend to train her thoroughly."
"Then wouldn't it be simpler to break her once and force absolute obedience?"
There were any number of ways to mold a person into a devoted slave. Endless violence could brand terror deep enough to dominate them. Or you could take the one thing they treasured most and hold it hostage for their loyalty.
And the Viviana Iris knew would have done exactly that. She always had. It was the Merdelia way — and Iris herself had been trained by it.
"I made a promise to Mother. That I wouldn't let Tina get hurt."
"Mother?"
Did she mean the Duchess? But that woman had been stationed at the front lines for years and was preparing to retire. As far as Iris knew, the two of them were hardly on terms warm enough for heartfelt promises.
And the form of address was wrong, too. Not "Mother," but "Mother" as one might address someone else's parent.
"...Surely you don't mean Lady Bland's mother?"
"Who else would I mean?"
"Why do you call her Mother?"
Viviana's eyes wavered — faintly, but unmistakably. Then the cold settled over her face again like a sheet of ice, and she looked at Iris.
"Drop it. You're usually so quiet. Why so many questions today?"
A crushing pressure, heavy as a thousand weights, rolled off her — the distinctive aura of House Merdelia. Iris took a step back and bowed her head, respecting the line.
"...Forgive me."
Viviana exhaled a short sigh and tapped her fingers against the desk a few times. She seemed to deliberate for a moment, then looked at Iris and spoke briefly.
"Stay by Tina's side as before. If anything happens, report to me immediately."
"As you command."
"And be careful not to fall for her. The others I can replace, but you're inconveniently competent."
"...I will keep that in mind."
Something about the delayed answer made Viviana narrow her eyes at Iris.
"...I'll ask just once. You haven't already fallen for her, have you?"
"Not yet."
"...Not yet?"
"...You need not worry about a thing, Master."
"..."
A strange current passed between them. Under the weight of Viviana's gaze, Iris broke into a cold sweat and thought to herself.
Honestly, it had been dangerous. Especially when that Pet Young Lady had playfully shown her bare body — for a single instant, something violent had surged up inside her.
If her master hadn't warned her in advance about the cunning side of the Bland family's young lady, she might well have struck that pure white stomach right then and there.
And those words had been exactly right. After nearly two weeks of secretly guarding her, Iris understood perfectly well how she had earned the nickname Pet Young Lady.
On the surface she bloomed like a brilliant flower — but what lay within was not honey. It was poison. A lethal poison that, once tasted, left no path of return.
She was a young lady who had mastered the art of seducing people with words alone. Nestled inside that sunny smile and that tender voice, coiled like a serpent, were whispers designed to entice.
"...She's a dangerous woman, Master. Personally, I would advise caution."
"..."
Only silence answered her. Viviana was lost in some private thought. Iris called to her again, eyes narrowed to slits.
"...Master?"
Viviana's violet eyes turned toward Iris. She let out a short laugh, shrugged one shoulder, and spoke as if it were nothing.
"You too, huh. It's not like that. We're both women — why would I fall for her? I just want her as a pet."
"..."
...I never said anything of the sort.
Self-willed as she was, Viviana had always been a reliable commander. And yet, this time, Iris found she could not bring herself to trust her so easily.