After dinner, I gently woke her up.
"Slept well?"
"Aah! I am very sorry, my Lady. I don't know what got into me. How can I sleep on my Lady's bed? Please forgive me"
She bowed deeply.
"Oh gosh, calm down. It's alright. Remember what I told you earlier, no need to worry about useless things when it's just the two of us"
"Th…thank you, Aria"
"The maids were having dinner now, so I woke you up. Go, eat a lot, okay?"
"un.."
She nodded and left in a hurry.
The next morning,
"Aria, wake up"
She was trying to wake me up gently. The thought of teasing her flashed through my mind.
"Aria, please wake up. You will be late for breakfast"
I continued to fake sleep.
"Aria"
She kept calling for a while.
Just as her voice stopped. I knew she must be heading towards the door, so I got off quietly and dashed towards her from behind.
"Hehe… Got you"
"Aarh"
Oof, I think I scared the life out of the poor child. She jerked really hard and fell on her face.
'Oh no! I didn't expect this big of a reaction. She even hurt her wrist.'
"Oh god! I am so sorry. Believe me, I was just trying to give you a little scare. I'd never try to harm you. I am so sorry"
"It's alright, my Lady. You must get prepared for the breakfast quickly"
"Stupid, you hurt your wrist."
I summoned another maid to bring bandages and quickly dressed her.
"I'm okay, my Lady. Don't worry about me. You need to hurry and get prepared"
I glared at her and left.
After a nice bath, I walked towards the dining hall.
During breakfast, the news of me injuring my maid reached my dad's ears. After finishing breakfast, he asked,
"Dear, I heard you injured your maid, is that true?"
"uhm…yes dad, it was an accident"
"Is that so? Then it's alright, you are not hurt anywhere, are you, dear?"
Damn, he didn't even bother to ask twice, huh. I gotta make sure to not betray his trust.
"No dad. I had intended to surprise her from behind, but I accidently bumped her too hard. It was my fault"
"It's good that you are getting along with her well. I was worried by your lack of friends.
If you didn't find her suitable, I would have had to ask Count Rose's daughter to be your friend. And Count Rose is a scheming person, he jumps on every opportunity he gets to bring us down"
Wait, is this the behind-the-scenes story of setting up the original character? Maybe, the whole fiasco was orchestrated by Count Rose. Well, who cares? He is out of the picture anyway.
"Don't worry, dad, Letica is my very first friend. I like her a lot"
"That's good to hear, keep getting along with her well"
I made my way to the room and found Letica waiting beside the door. Upon entering,
"Does your wrist still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt too much, Aria. I'll be fine"
"If you say so"
"Do you know how to read and write?"
"I know how to read, but I never tried writing"
"I understand, paper isn't the cheapest commodity for commoners. But I don't have any shortage of papers, let me teach you how to write"
She was a surprisingly good learner. She struggled a little, as she has never lifted a pen in her life. But she is handling it well.
"Tell you what? If you manage to write all the alphabets neatly before lunch, I'll pat your head however much you want"
"Stop teasing me, I don't need such a reward"
She said this while pouting. Ironically, she managed to perform even better. Hehe, Tsundere
She finished well before lunch time, and as promised, I started patting her head.
"For your information. I am not enjoying this. I am only letting you, because you want it so much"
Her pouty face is so cute. It's irresistible not to tease her.
"Sure, have it your way. But you know as well as I do that you enjoy it the most"
She kept silent, her face flushed red. Just adorable.
After lunch, Letica approached me.
"Aria, I want to tell you something"
"Speak your mind"
"Actually, I lied to the Baron about my status"
"Keep going"
"My class is not servant, but something similar. It wants me to choose a master and serve him to progress in levels. I can choose to serve a master or mistress in your case, either temporarily or permanently"
I didn't think she would reveal such details to me so easily. Especially on the second day since we met.
"Will you please be my mistress?"
"Wow, that's a lot of detail. You do realize that we only met two days ago, right? How can you be so naïve and tell anyone about such personal details?"
"But you are so kind, I don't mind telling you. You care for me so much. Why would you do anything bad to me?"
"You lived almost your entire life on the street. You should know it better than I do, how deceiving and ugly people can get?"
She silently nodded her head.
"Tell me something honestly, Letica. How do you feel about the other maids in the mansion?"
"They are all very nice and caring people. They taught me about work and mannerism patiently, even though I didn't know the most basic things. I think I can trust them"
I bonked her head.
"Did you know before the day you were to be assigned as my personal maid, these so-called 'nice and caring people' were slandering you and encouraging me to put you down? Always remember this lesson Letica, humans are very cruel by nature. Don't put your trust in someone so easily. Let this be a wake-up call and don't repeat these mistakes again."
She nodded while slightly trembling.
"Is what you said about the maids really true? They were like sisters to me for these past few months. How can they be so hideous on the inside? I thought I finally had a place to belong, was it all my delusion?"
She started bawling her eyes out.
I hugged her and said,
"It's okay, everything is fine. Shh."
I let her wail for a moment, she wiped her face.
"Thank you Aria. Can I ask you something else?"
"Ask away"
"Are you really 8 years old?"
She had a dead serious look in her eyes.
"Well, if it's come to this, I think I can trust you in return and tell you the truth. The truth is…"
I then went on to tell her about my whole story, from Raechel Blue to the novel.
It was a bit hard to make her believe, but she believed me after I talked about her class, 'Pleasure Slave'.
"So that's the whole truth. Do you trust me?"
"Yes Aria, it's just a lot to take in"
After giving her a while to sort out her thoughts, I asked her,
"So Letica, now that you know the complete truth, how do you feel about choosing me as your mistress? I swear upon my names 'Aria Ernius' and 'Raechel Blue', I will treat you right and never abuse you"
"Yes, I've made my decision. Please be my mistress."
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Do you want 'Letica' as your Pleasure Slave?
Accept / Reject
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