Deva observed the tip of a shard of glass penetrate Perpetua's throat from the side.
Despite that the girl's only attention was only towards her and didn't react in the slightest from the pain or death from such event.
It has been only a few days since she finished in being Perpetua's maid and in that short of period time Perpetua began to miss such a caring and supportive presence.
Deva couldn't know how many rewinds Perpetua experienced and how such thing caused her to overtime crave desperately for genuine relationships with others.
Again and again, the friends Perpetua made would forget about every moment they spent with each other.
Again and again, the most cherished lover would forget every intimate moment they shared.
It was a miracle that a person like Perpetua didn't drown in indulgence with her powers, abusing such powers to do everything she wanted.
A sliver of sanity prevented her to fall into insanity, that little amount of sanity made her believe to try to live as long as possible.
But even after a thosand of rewinds Perpetua never lived more than ten years after a rewind. Even then...there was no gurantee that she wouldn't rewind after dying of natural causes or by age.
Every step and decision would entirely change how her life would progress and cause her death, meaning that attempting to go left instead of right, where a death end would occur, would create another road where she has to choose once again several ways and each with the probability of death.
That sliver of sanity left...Deva saw it glowing in Perpetua's eyes...attempting to not die out.
Seeing such thing Deva couldn't help but want to crush such thing and make Perpetua fall in depravarity.
"You...you can remember...?"
Hearing such soft voice yet filled with desparation and hope...Deva could only refreshingly laugh.
"I obviously remember Miss Perpetua. The days we spent and how I would always have to clean Miss Perpetua's room."
It was enough for Deva to be certain that Perpetua clung unto such words without hesitation, even if such person calmed herself or tried to hide her excited voice.
It was enough for Deva just for Perpetua to gain hope. Hope that there was a companion sharing her pain.
To Perpetua her rewinds are a curse and even if she attempted to find a logic behind it she wouldn't be able to do so, she was just a human with an artifact, an artifact that still Deva couldn't tell whether it can be obtained by ripping off Perpetua's body or join it by making Perpetua fall in love with her.
If, by any chance Deva chose to first literally take the heart from Perpetua and instead of obtaining the artifact cause a rewind then Deva would've more difficulty in making the girl fall in love.
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"M-Miss?"
"Didn't I already told you to call me Perpetua like you do behind doors?"
"A maid still has the duty to-huh?"
A pair of hands overlapped with another pair, and a pair of eyes gazed at the surprised crimson ones.
"Yin, we tried a couple of times and confirmed that you really remember after a rewind and that makes you my companion."
"B-but you said you experienced a thousand or so of rewinds...what if-"
Before the maid could continue, Perpetua stopped her.
"Do you think I didn't learn how to read people after I experienced so much? In the first rewinds there have been several mongrels trying to approach me and I even believed their words... some of them I even..." As she noticed she was trailing off Perpetua returned to the current subject. "...Anyways. I can tell whether a person is genuine in their words and facial expressions, and since the first day you approached me I didn't detect any ulterior motive...even Ben had one despite being that kind of guy..." Lowering and lowering her voice Perpetua muttered the last parts but it was audible enough for Deva to hear even without her aura. "I almost cannot believe that such a person like Yin exists in this world..."
While Perpetua mumbled, Deva only smiled as she gazed at Perpetua.
She couldn't tell how many years Perpetua was older than her but Deva can tell with a hundred percent of certainty that in skills of seeing one's nature, lies, truth from one's mouth just by small movements of their body, acting with genuinity or deceiving...she was of a higher level than her.
"P-Perpetua your class is starting shouldn't we..."
"A-ah?" Waking up from her thoughts Perpetua looked first at Yin's flustered face and then around her. A small smile formed on her face as she understood why Yin was so embarassed. The two were holding hands and in addition were calling each other's name in public without formality despite being clearly a noble and a maid. It was an action that wasn't prohibited to do but it is suggested to do so behind doors, doing it in public was declaring that the two have a close relationship akin to sisters or lovers. Such it was how it worked in worlds where there was a form of hierarchy, especially if both sides seemed to view each other as equals despite being from different positions.
"No."
"No...?"
"Hehe." Dragging Deva away from the crowd's eyes, Perpetua brought Deva outside. "Don't worry being scolded, I'll use my title as a noble." As if a flower just bloomed Perpetua smiled.
Finally.
After years of feeling alone she finally found someone she could call a true companion. For the time being Perpetua wanted to bask in such blissful emotion.
Seeing the expression of fluster from Yin and her small and nervous smile almost felt guilty of suspecting such pure being like her. Could even such person hiding something from her?
Observing Yin for a month, Perpetua could only see her simple desire to simply live by working honestly as a maid similar to her desire to avoid death.
There was no desire to climb the social ladder, gain a huge amount of money, find their soulmate or search for exciting adventures.
The person she was dragging outside the academy was simply a maid.
Oh how wrong she was or how far she was from that statement.
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