A Maid's Wise Intervention
“Young Master, you’ve returned?”
“Yeah. Could you pass a message to the head chef for me?”
“Of course. Just tell me what you’d like, and I’ll deliver it right away.”
I turned to Serina, who was still looking around the mansion with wide-eyed wonder even though this was her second visit.
“Serina, is there anything in particular you’d like to eat?”
“Oh, I’m fine with anything.”
“Really, don’t hold back. Order whatever you want.”
“I’ve never been picky about food since I was little. I really can eat just about anything!”
“I see.”
Unlike the Sword Master who threw tantrums at the mere sight of vegetables, Serina seemed to have grown up kind and well-adjusted. As she glanced around, she suddenly leaned in close and whispered in my ear.
“By the way, where’s Lady Marine?”
As expected from Marine’s number one fan, she immediately asked about her whereabouts.
“Marine’s not here today. She went to prepare a celebration banquet for becoming a Sword Master.”
“I-I see…”
“What? Do you miss her?”
“That’s part of it, but… if I’m going to eat with Hendel, I need Lady Marine’s permission first.”
“Why would you need Marine’s permission just to eat with me?”
“Because she gets jealous…”
I tried to picture the scene of Marine catching me and Serina having dinner together.
“Hmm. Yeah, she probably would get jealous.”
Ever since Marine had become a Sword Master, I’d been feeling the full weight of her possessiveness. It seemed Serina had already noticed it before I did.
“Today’s a day when Marine is definitely gone, so don’t worry. I’ll talk to her properly about us eating dinner together every evening.”
“Okay!”
Last time I’d rushed to hide the tea party members because we’d been playing without Marine’s permission. If I’d gotten her approval in advance, there would’ve been no need to hide. Maybe eating dinner with Serina would be fine as long as I got Marine’s permission first.
Cani, who had been quietly pondering something beside us, spoke up.
“Since we’re at it, why not invite Miss Leni to join us? She didn’t look like she was doing very well either.”
“Oh, that’s not a bad idea.”
“Ah…”
Serina’s expression turned awkward the moment Carden’s name came up. As I wondered why she was reacting that way, I suddenly remembered something I’d overlooked.
Oh right. She found out that Carden is a demon.
Serina hadn’t said much about it all day, so I’d completely forgotten. Come to think of it, I hadn’t even asked how things had been resolved after leaving her with the Archmage ghost instructor.
I leaned in and whispered in Serina’s ear.
“What happened with Leni?”
Serina flinched in surprise. She tapped my shoulder a couple times, giving me a look that clearly said she wanted to talk privately. It seemed she didn’t want Cani to know either.
I thought about it for a moment. Was there really any need to hide this from Cani at this point? After all, we’d been together for decades and our trust was rock solid. Plus, Cani and Carden would likely be working together a lot in the future. Maybe it was better to just reveal everything now.
“Let’s just tell Cani too.”
“Is that okay?”
“If it’s Cani, it’ll be fine.”
From what I’d seen over the decades, Cani might be a bit clumsy, but she was a maid with unshakable loyalty. I didn’t think she’d leak the information or report us behind our backs.
“Yes?”
Cani looked puzzled when she heard her name.
“For now, let’s go to my room.”
While I trusted Cani, it wouldn’t be good if the other servants overheard. I led the two of them to a room equipped with anti-eavesdropping magic tools.
A grown man inviting two beautiful women into his room. It looked incredibly inappropriate, but what could I do? The conversation required that level of security. Besides, Cani used to barge into my room every morning without hesitation. Though she’d stopped coming after Marine started living here.
“Then let’s go!”
“U-um… okay.”
Serina also seemed uncomfortable about entering a grown man’s room, giving a hesitant response. But with Cani taking the lead and setting the mood, she followed along without refusing.
Bang.
The moment the door closed, Cani naturally plopped down on my bed while Serina stood there awkwardly, reading the room.
“Sit on the bed. I’ll take the chair at my desk.”
“Okay…”
Serina carefully sat down on the bed. I could have sworn I saw her sneakily sniffing the blanket… I pretended not to notice.
I leaned back in the chair made exclusively for me. Chairs in this world were terrible for your back—the kind that raised your herniated disc level with every sit. My personal chair was a premium model I’d hounded the Magic Tower for, loaded with ergonomic design and every magic enchantment imaginable. It even had a shield spell that activated in emergencies to protect against assassination attempts. It was a shame it was single-use, so I couldn’t show it off.
“Cani.”
I got straight to the point.
“Yes, Young Master?”
“You already know that Leni is suspiciously strong, right?”
Cani nodded as she tidied Serina’s hair.
“She was evenly matched with Lady Marine right before she became a Sword Master.”
“First, I need you to promise me. You must never, under any circumstances, tell anyone about the information I’m about to share.”
“Yes, I promise. Young Master, who do you think I am? I’m the maid who’s served you for decades.”
“Right. If I can’t trust you, who can I trust?”
I went straight to the conclusion without dragging it out.
“To cut to the chase, the brown-haired girl you know as Leni is actually a demon named Carden.”
“Huuuuh?!”
Cani gasped in horror at the word “demon.” Children’s storybooks filled with terrifying tales about demons were widely circulated among the common folk, so it seemed Cani had her own fears about them.
“Calm down first.”
“Hoo… hoo…”
Serina timely stepped in, holding Cani steady and helping her calm down. Even while supporting her, Serina’s stance didn’t waver at all. The Knight Academy really was the Knight Academy.
Once she’d settled her excitement, Cani spoke carefully.
“If we knew she was a demon and still associated with her, wouldn’t we all be executed if we got caught?”
“Execution would be lucky. We’d probably be tortured too.”
“Hiiiiiek.”
She was already making a fuss, and I hadn’t even told her everything yet.
“And…”
“Wait, there’s more?!”
“Carden is the daughter of the Demon King—the strongest among all demons.”
“…”
“C-Cani!”
Serina caught Cani as she foamed at the mouth and started to collapse.
“Demon King’s daughter… treason… execution of three generations…”
Well, this was the normal reaction. I’d already crossed the point of no return by learning the magic of a fallen ducal house, but for Cani, this information must have been incredibly heavy to bear.
“If you want to pretend you never heard any of this, I’ll go along with it.”
If that’s what Cani wanted, I was willing to act like none of this had happened. Cani’s eyes welled up with tears as she thought for a moment, then she shook her head.
“No. I’ve already gotten on the same boat as you, Young Master. If we die, we die together. If we live, we live together!”
It was touching. They say that if you have even one person in your life who will support you unconditionally, you’ve lived a successful life. This lifetime didn’t seem so bad after all.
“Cani!”
“Young Master!”
A beautiful embrace between master and servant. The warm, soft lump of flesh I felt against my chest seemed even bigger than before. She was still growing. I was almost afraid to see where her development would end.
“So, are we done?”
Serina, who had witnessed the beautiful scene between master and servant firsthand, didn’t look too pleased. Well, from her perspective, watching two close friends hug right in front of her must have felt strange.
“One more time—mmph…”
I pushed away Cani’s cute face as she tried to rush in again and offered an apology.
“Sorry. That was probably pretty unseemly, huh? We’ve spent so many years together that we’re just really close.”
“Ah… yeah.”
This was bad. Serina’s mood seemed to have taken a serious hit. I’d invited her to the mansion to try to raise the favorability of a romance fantasy heroine, but if it backfired and made things worse, I’d feel terrible.
“Hey, Cani. Any idea why Serina’s acting like that?”
I whispered in Cani’s ear, asking for help. Since she’d grown quite close to Serina lately, I thought she might have a good solution.
“Hmmm… In my opinion, it’s simple.”
“What is it?”
Cani grabbed Serina’s wrist with her left hand and mine with her right. Both Serina and I were startled by the sudden contact.
“C-Cani, what are you—?”
“Serina, you’re upset because only I got to hug the Young Master, right?”
“N-no, that’s not it!”
“Aww, I get it. It’s totally understandable.”
Cani flashed a bright smile and looked up at me.
“Young Master, please give Serina a hug too!”
“What are you saying? Serina doesn’t want that.”
“Hmm… Serina? Do you really hate the idea?”
Serina’s face had turned bright red.
“I-it’s not that I hate it…”
“See? She doesn’t hate it.”
Was she really jealous that we’d hugged without including her? As I stared at Serina in a daze, Cani nudged my shoulder.
“Hurry up! Be a man and hug her first!”
Cani seemed more excited about this than the person involved. She’d been like this at the academy too—she really seemed to love hugs.
I asked Serina one last time to confirm.
“Serina, do you really want a hug?”
“I-it’s not that I…”
Serina swallowed whatever she was about to say, thought for a moment, then opened her mouth again.
“Yeah… it felt a bit lonely being the only one left out…”
To think Cani’s judgment had been spot on. The experience of being Maid Chief clearly hadn’t gone to waste. If she felt left out, then I had to give her a hug.
I shared a fair embrace with the embarrassed Serina, all while Cani grinned mischievously behind us.