A Suspicious Guest (1)
Mornings at the villa began before the sun even rose.
And Tia's mornings tended to begin even earlier than that.
"Uuugh······."
It had been a refreshing wake-up. That said, Yulia still had to contend with a fierce ache in her shoulders.
It was only natural. Even standing still made her shoulders creak these days, and she'd spent the entire day darting here and there doing odd jobs. The weight kept pressing down even in her sleep, so no amount of enhanced recovery could spare her the soreness.
The one small mercy was that her workload was lighter than an ordinary maid's.
Though on the mental side of things, it might actually be heavier.
"Hnnngh······."
Stretching luxuriously, Yulia turned her head and studied her daughter sleeping in the neighboring bed.
Exactly as she'd been when she went to sleep—tucked neatly under the covers, hugging her penguin plushie, breathing soft and even. Such a pretty little thing.
If only it weren't for those black horns, she'd be even prettier—and with such thoughts drifting through her mind, Yulia slipped over into the neighboring bed and burrowed under the covers beside her.
"Mm······. You adorable little creature. Why do you have to grow so fast? It's honestly freakish."
Scooping Tia into her arms, Yulia whispered quietly.
The words were a bit gruff, but her voice was thick with affection.
It was a voice she never let Tia hear while she was awake.
Richer with Yulia's true feelings than even a love that came laced with lies.
"Uheheh. So squishy. Like a rice cake······."
Holding Tia close, Yulia spent a long while stroking her head, pulling gently at her cheeks, running her fingers through the wavy hair, and prodding at her horns.
She was always doing this whenever she got the chance—petting her hair, fiddling with her horns—but what was different now was that her hands were a touch bolder than usual.
Press down hard on the horns like this while Tia was awake, and her head would throb and she'd throw a fit about it. But right now, Yulia could let her hands roam freely.
It was possible because Tia, a heavy sleeper in the mornings, didn't stir no matter what was done to her.
"Hff······."
"······?"
The moment Yulia's hand slid down along her back and touched her tail, a faint moan slipped out between Tia's small lips.
Startled, Yulia froze and peered down at her daughter······
"No way."
She dismissed it as sleep-talking and resumed her daughter's growth inspection right away.
A deep sigh escaped Yulia's lips the moment she took stock of the tail.
It had already grown to a size that simply couldn't be hidden anymore.
Tia's rough, scaled tail was already longer than Yulia's hand.
The horns, at least, could be managed—buy a beastfolk hat sized generously, like the desert fox ones, and problem solved. But the tail truly had her stumped.
Ordinarily it could just be left to drag along, but whenever Tia got tense or excited, it would shoot straight up and flip her skirt right over.
Anyone who saw it would think she had a horn growing out of her backside.
"Ah, whatever."
After a long while of worrying over Tia's tail as she stroked it, Yulia finally let her go and sat up with a spring.
It was just about time to head to work.
She tidied the bedding in a hurry, slipped into the bathroom for a quick shower, and carefully toweled her hair dry with a warmed cloth.
She fastened a garter belt over her underwear, pulled on her stockings, and put on the maid's uniform she'd pressed so carefully the night before. With hands now well practiced, she braided her hair up neatly, groomed her brows, and applied a touch of simple eye makeup—and her work preparations were complete.
No flashy makeup, no jewelry; she was meant to be a modest, unadorned maid. And yet the Yulia reflected in the mirror looked less like a maid and more like a grand lady who'd stolen a maid's clothes for herself.
"God. I'm so damn pretty."
At least, that was how Yulia saw it.
After spending an eternity twirling in front of the mirror, admiring herself from every angle, the embarrassment caught up with her at last and she sank to the floor, hiding her face in her hands.
This was simply a thorough check to make sure nothing about the outfit was off. Nothing more.
Yulia repeated it to herself like a mantra.
As she hurried toward the door, her gaze drifted back to Tia, still sleeping so sweetly in her bed.
After gazing at her for a moment, Yulia walked over slowly and brushed back her daughter's bangs.
"I love you."
Mwah.
Her lips pressed against Tia's forehead.
With a grin that was, somehow, just a little bit fraudulent, Yulia left the room.
The moment silence flooded in, the room came alive.
"Hwaaah······!"
Tia's eyes snapped open and she flung her plushie clear across the bed.
Stretching out her stiff, bed-ridden body with a long, full-body workout, Tia leapt out of bed.
Waking long before her mother again today had been well worth the effort of faking sleep.
She'd gotten to hear that voice full of a mother's affection—the one she could never hear while she was awake.
If only there were a way to record it, she'd secretly tape it and listen to it every chance she got.
"Mmm······."
Scratching her belly as she toddled out, Tia made a beeline for the dining table.
Sure enough, today as well, a bottle sat there brimming with milk warmed to the perfect drinking temperature.
Tia unhurriedly poured herself a mug and settled into the chair by the window.
"Ahhh!"
Always, without fail, astonishingly delicious milk.
Even when she drained it dry, it was always full again by the next morning, so it must have been delivered daily.
It tasted so much like the mother's milk she'd suckled down as an infant that she loved it all the more for it.
Savoring her morning milk, Tia poured the rest into a bowl, drowned it in cereal, and began her breakfast.
There was stew her mother had made and left warming, along with bread, but the thought of having to reheat and re-toast everything was too much bother, so she usually just made do with cereal.
"Mmmm······."
As she crunched away at her cereal, Tia's eyes wandered to the window.
A clean street gleaming in the sunlight. Carriages passing one by one. And people in ostentatious outfits heading out with attendants in tow.
It was quite different from the scenery she used to see back when they lived in a back alley.
It made her feel strange, somehow.
Tia swallowed the rest of her cereal in a hurry, downed her milk in one gulp, and stood up.
After only roughly splashing water on her face, yanking on her dress, and plopping her hat on her head, Tia went clattering out of the room.
"Hm hm heeeng······."
It was a beautiful day.
Back in the old days, simply leaving the lodging would have been forbidden, but lately a permit had come down allowing her to roam freely, so long as she avoided certain restricted areas of the villa.
And that permit had come from the Marquis himself.
Originally, Yulia had planned to allow herself only a ten-meter radius from her quarters—barely enough to catch a breath of fresh air. But the Marquis had dug in his heels, declaring that within his villa, his orders were absolute, and that was how they'd won their freedom.
The Marquis was surely a good man.
That was the only conclusion Tia could come to.
"Good morning!"
"Tia, good morning!"
Zooming all around the villa, Tia greeted absolutely everyone she crossed paths with.
It could have grown tiresome, but everyone welcomed her greetings warmly.
Even the maids who looked at Yulia with less-than-friendly eyes were no exception.
"Miss! Miss!"
"Hm?"
"That thing you're carrying! Want Tia to help?"
"Oh—no, no. Don't worry about it, but thank you for offering."
"Heheh! What's your name, Miss?"
She might have been the daughter of the woman they resented, but it was never easy to hate this harmless, clingy little ball of cuteness too.
In the end, it took Tia exactly three days to dismantle the mental defenses of every single person in the villa.
After darting around everywhere for ages, finishing greetings with every last maid, Tia poked her head out into the hallway and sniffed around the door of the office.
When she focused her senses on her ears, her mother's voice and the Marquis's drifted through the gap under the door.
She couldn't make out what they were saying, but it seemed to be a calm conversation—even if their voices occasionally rose.
Not that she could go in, anyway.
The office was one of the few forbidden zones in the villa.
When the door showed no sign of opening even after a long wait, Tia gave up, rubbed her rumbling stomach, and ran off to the kitchen.
The kitchen was in full swing, it seemed—they must have been preparing lunch.
"Ah-ah, no, Tia. We're busy right now, so run along and play, all right? The stove is dangerous."
"But Tia's hungry······."
"You can't wait until mealtime?"
"Mmm!"
"Haah. Fine. You eat just this, and then you go?"
"Tia! Want some of this too?"
All Tia had to do was stand there with her mouth open.
So long as she did, the maids would come flocking and pop this and that in for her.
Before long, one of the maids brought over a small piece cut from an enormous wheel of cheese.
"Hey, that's a bit······."
"Stay right there. Heheh."
Amid the alarmed reactions, Tia popped the piece of cheese into her mouth without a moment's hesitation and rolled it around on her tongue.
It was a southern traditional cheese with a distinctive smell—the kind that could make the uninitiated gag from the aroma alone—so all the maids went on high alert, watching tensely.
"Mmm! It's so yummy! More, please!"
"...What?"
But Tia's reaction was entirely unexpected.
They'd assumed she simply had a good appetite since she ate whatever was offered, but they hadn't imagined she'd polish that off without a hitch.
Wildly excited, the maids lost all track of time, hacking off chunk after chunk of ingredients to feed her.
"Everyone! This ham is nearly half gone? What on earth happened here?"
"Half? Huh? That can't be right. We only cut off little pieces to give her."
"Give? Gave to who?"
"Well, to Tia······. Huh? Where'd she go?"
Startled by the Butler's sudden bellow, the maids glanced around in a panic—but Tia was already long gone.
The only person in the villa Tia had failed to conquer was that very Butler.
Just running into him earned her an earful—don't run around so recklessly, don't shout so loudly, mind your manners—so he was someone she dreaded meeting.
Still chewing on the ham in her cheeks, Tia fled all the way to the back garden.
"Wooow······."
When she pushed open the door with a creak and stepped inside, a secret staircase was revealed at the center of the flower garden.
It was the only place in the villa that looked old—everything else gleamed brand-new.
One of the few areas in the villa where access was forbidden.
Staring at the ancient wooden door of the basement at the bottom of the stairs, Tia found her feet moving before she knew it.
Somehow, she felt she simply had to go down and see what was below.
She knew she'd be scolded if she was caught, but she was drawn there all the same, helpless against the pull.
She was just about to set her foot on the ivy-covered first step—
"Hmm?"
Tia sensed something strange and turned her head.
It wasn't something she'd heard with her ears.
She'd caught it through a faint tremor in her horns.
Hurrying out of the flower garden, Tia focused every nerve on her ears and horns.
Soon she picked up a regular rhythmic patter—tak, tap, tak, tap.
Someone running across the rooftops!
Tia knew instantly what it was.
She'd scampered across rooftops herself before, and she'd once chased a strangely dressed person who navigated them with practiced ease—so there was no mistaking it.
But the sound was a little odd.
It kept growing louder and louder—as if it were coming straight toward her.
Suspicion quickly hardened into certainty.
This is bad······!
A threat was closing in.
Having reached that conclusion, Tia's eyes went wide.