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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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For the past few days, Nias had been extremely busy.
She unpacked the luggage from Deinhart Castle, arranged furniture, prepared meals for Young Master even though he wouldn’t eat them for some reason, and did Young Master’s laundry.
Nias was so busy that she wished she could borrow Young Master’s magic.
In fact, when Young Master had some free time, he would quickly help Nias when she was struggling.
“Pig, are you so stupid that you can’t even do these simple things?”
He could have just helped without saying anything.
He’s always so mean.
When Nias heard such words, her lips naturally pouted.
Still, when he hugged her tightly, Nias couldn’t help but smile brightly at Young Master.
In fact, just as Nias was busy, Young Master was also incredibly busy.
The time the Young Master spent in the room was very short.
During the day, he attended classes at the academy, and at night, he went out for unknown reasons.
The time they spent together was too little.
The time they could be together was gradually decreasing.
It seemed as if nothing had changed from Deinhart Castle, yet something was slowly changing.
Young Master, who had returned late last night and gone to bed quickly, also looked very busy this morning.
“Young Master, your necktie!”
Nias hurriedly spoke when she saw Leonhart’s necktie crooked as he was about to leave.
Nias quickly approached Young Master and fixed his necktie.
At a distance of less than a hand span, if she lifted her head slightly, Young Master’s breath tickled her forehead.
Everywhere Young Master’s gaze touched, it felt hot.
“It’s done.”
Nias looked up at Leonhart and spoke after fixing his necktie correctly.
And she was surprised.
Has it always been like this?
The golden eyes were looking at Nias with emotions submerged in them.
A few days ago.
Since entering the academy, Young Master’s eyes had been gradually changing like this.
Nias found the change in Young Master unfamiliar and also regrettable.
Because she couldn’t understand what was happening to Young Master.
“Young Master, do you want to go see the puppy after school today?”
Hoping seeing something cute might improve Young Master’s mood, Nias gathered the courage to speak.
But what she received in return was Young Master’s hand caressing her cheek.
Gently but simultaneously, as if touching something precious, Young Master would occasionally touch Nias in this way.
That touch made her feel like she had become something precious, and her face flushed with heat.
“Yo-Young Master.”
When Nias tried to pull her cheek away, Leonhart applied force to the hand, touching Nias’s cheek and stopping that slight movement.
And he stared, with those gloomy eyes, as if looking at something familiar yet unfamiliar.
“You never change.”
Young Master’s touch slowly traced over Nias’s parted lips.
At that slow and soft sensation, Nias exhaled a heated breath.
Why did this touch feel so sweet?
And why did the eyes of the owner of this warm hand look so pained?
“Have you made friends again? Other than that puppy.”
Young Master’s question settled in her ear.
Because his voice was so low, Nias didn’t know what to say.
Friends…
Made.
A few other maids, and also the dorm supervisor…
They were like the people at Deinhart Castle, so it was lovely.
But somehow, Nias felt she shouldn’t say such things.
“…A little. But they’re all just okay! I’m trying… not to meet them much!”
“Is that so?”
Young Master gave a subtle smile as if relieved.
His hand, the other one, touched my waist.
Soon, I’ll be embraced.
In that comfortable embrace full of Young Master’s warm scent.
Thinking that, I slightly relaxed my body.
However, as if that was a vain hope, Leonhart’s hand hesitantly caressed my waist and slowly withdrew.
After an expression of anguish passed, the Young Master opened his mouth casually.
“I’m going now.”
Nias, as if waking from a dream, quickly nodded her head.
Leonhart left his room.
‘It feels like silence.’
Nias thought as she turned towards the quiet room without Young Master.
All the time Nias spent was no different from waiting for Young Master.
Because all the time, without Young Master, I felt bored.
‘…I’d be happy if he just stayed by my side.’
Nias thought of the regrettable touch of the hand about to wrap around her waist.
I wanted to be embraced.
I wanted to be entirely enveloped by the Young Master.
Somehow, loneliness permeated her body after such a long time.
A terrible loneliness to the point of feeling chilly.
Nias found herself blankly sitting in a chair, staring out the window.
It seemed she had been thinking about the past.
‘The loneliness when I was the Demon King was different from this.’
Back then, I was lonely, but if I got used to it, it became indifferent and didn’t hurt if I didn’t think about it.
It was a quiet loneliness, like a winter forest where snow falls.
But the current loneliness was somehow different.
It was a noisy loneliness, like a forest where flocks of migratory birds fly around, making fluttering sounds.
My chest ached, constricted.
‘It hurts…’
Nias rubbed around her tight chest and exhaled a long breath.
Let’s do some laundry.
She got up lightly from her seat.
As Nias was organizing Young Master’s clothes that he had taken off yesterday into the basket, she unknowingly brought the shirt to her face.
The familiar scent of Young Master tickled Nias’s heart.
And the scent of an unfamiliar person.
“Hic.”
The clothes crumpled.
Nias’ eyes welled up with tears from an unknown sorrow.
Don’t cry.
You knew this.
You weren’t busy because you were busy but because you were trying to pretend not to know.
Nias hugged Leonhart’s clothes.
Where was this loneliness coming from?
While she was still here, only the Young Master was changing.
He was running away alone, leaving her behind.
She missed that familiar room in Deinhart Castle where the two of them were.
The room was worried about Young Master reading in the dark room without even drawing the curtains; when she opened the curtains wide, the dust sparkled like crystals in the sunlight flowing through the window.
That place was indeed a space for just the two of them.
This academy was gradually taking Nias’s Young Master away.
That’s why she was lonely.
Nias wiped away the tears gathered in her eyes with her white fingers.
Even though more tears welled up again, she continued.
It was then.
A lousy premonition suddenly came.
In the corner of the room, dark feathers were fluttering.
And there, a tall man with black hair appeared.
The man, wearing a bird mask decorated with raven feathers tilted to the side, flickered like an illusion.
One of the 7 Calamity-class magical beasts of the Demon King’s army.
It was an illusion created by the Raven King Subrak using illusion magic.
Nias wiped her tears.
The hot emotions slowly dried up.
“…Subrak, what are you doing? I told you not to contact me until the First Incident.”
Nias asked coldly.
“Ah, Ruler of All Magical Beasts. Please calm your anger.”
Subrak said, bowing deeply.
Although he spoke politely like a nobleman, his voice only conveyed cunning intentions.
“Is there some urgent situation?”
“No. Don’t worry. Everything is happening exactly as the Demon King said 100 years ago. Including the First Incident that will happen today.”
The First Incident would be the occasion for Leonhart’s name to spread worldwide.
The plan where Leonhart brilliantly resolves the incident that will occur during the new student evaluation starts his heroic tale.
Creating such an artificial story was the maximum assistance Nias could provide as the Demon King.
“Then why did you come?”
Just as Nias was about to get angry, Subrak twisted only the corners of his mouth into an unpleasant smile.
“But it seems I’ve come to know something interesting. My ravens have been constantly watching you, Demon King.”
To think he had been doing such a thing.
The ravens Subrak controlled weren’t subjugated by magic but merely helped him because he was the king of ravens.
If he had used ravens that could have been found anywhere, no one would have been able to notice.
That’s why Subrak’s unit within the Demon King’s army primarily focused on information warfare.
Kekeke.
Subrak let out an unpleasant laugh.
Nias felt uneasy again and lightly bit the soft flesh inside her mouth with her front teeth.
“To think you’d truly have your heart stolen by that hero candidate… my, my… it warms my heart. The love between young men and women is always touching.”
He unpleasantly wiggled his long, black nails as if playing a lyre.
“But you, Demon King, shouldn’t be doing this, should you? As the being who leads all magical beasts, you shouldn’t be swayed by personal emotions. You must maintain your dignity as the Demon King.”
“Subrak…!”
Nias shouted angrily with an urgent voice.
Seeing this, Subrak chuckled darkly as if finding it amusing.
“It seems I’ve grasped the Demon King’s weakness. Well then… it’s time to make a deal.”
Subrak immediately got to the point.
“A… deal?”
“Yes. A deal. Help me keep my mouth shut so that the situation you fear most, the boy you love finding out your true identity, doesn’t happen.”
“…Do you think you’ll be safe after this, Subrak?”
Nias clenched her fists and glared intensely at Subrak.
Subrak, wanting to monopolize information, probably hadn’t told any other Calamity-class beasts.
If so, she could still order one of the loyal ones to kill Subrak.
This was really nothing.
However,
“…Love clouds one’s judgment.”
Subrak was confident despite Nias’s threat.
He was even triumphant.
“Let’s make a deal, Demon King. Kekeke. In exchange for me not telling the hero, you just… hand over part of the power you’ll recover in the future to me. Yes. About half should do.”
It was an outrageous proposal.
If such a thing were done, even if Nias recovered all her power as the Demon King, Subrak would become an even stronger magical beast.
It essentially asked to hand over the real power in the Demon King’s army.
Then, all situations would be out of Nias’s control.
That would instead put both herself and Young Master in danger simultaneously.
“How can that make any sen…”
Just as she was about to immediately answer that it wasn’t possible.
“It makes sense. Because the Demon King loves the hero. I’m not asking for an immediate answer. Think about it carefully. Whether you can really reveal that you’re the Demon King. Whether that hero won’t abandon you if you do.”
Subrak looked at the speechless Nias as if enjoying it and laughed unpleasantly again.
“I’ll cut off contact with the Demon King and come back in two weeks.”
With those words, Subrak’s illusion slowly disappeared.
A single feather fell in the place where he had been.
Subrak hadn’t even given Nias time to answer.
If he had made her answer immediately, it was apparent she would have refused right away.
That was actually the correct answer.
Nias brought her hand to her chest in anguish.
It hurts again, constricting.
Her breathing started to become rough, as if she was gasping.
“..Young Master.”
She didn’t want to lose the Young Master.
She wanted to remain his maid forever.
She didn’t want to lose his touch, which sometimes caressed her cheek hesitantly, as if she was more precious than anything, even while speaking harshly.
“What should I do-”
Nias muttered, holding her breath.
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I was looking at the hand that had touched Nias.
‘It’s getting worse.’
It was strange.
I could feel the stifling emotion I first felt growing inside me.
Primarily, that emotion was considerably swelling towards Nias.
At first, I thought I had immersed myself too much in making Livia a good child.
But lately, I’ve thought that maybe I was like this from the beginning.
Maybe I just hadn’t noticed because Nias had been entirely within my space until now.
Is this what they call possessiveness?
Of course, it might be okay to give in to that emotion.
Nias was my maid; nothing would happen even if I genuinely claimed her as my own.
Who would blame me if I confined her in a place no one could see and didn’t let her leave the room?
‘But…’
I thought of the coal-black eyes that looked at me innocently.
Somehow, it felt like I shouldn’t possess Nias in that way.
There was an emotional resistance, but also a practical reason.
‘Because there’s a possibility the story might get distorted.’
Some stories had to be reenacted exactly for achievement completion.
Like the First Incident that would happen today, for example.
‘Right. Even with that face, Nias is the Demon King after all.’
Feeling somewhat tight in my chest, I loosened the necktie Nias had fixed for me and walked out of the dormitory.
Glancing up, I saw ravens gathered on the branches of a tall tree visible from my dormitory room window.
‘Looks like that guy has come too.’
The Raven King Subrak.
One of the 7 Calamity-class beasts.
I sensed that the events from the novel had indeed started to unfold.
There have been many eventful things until now. Still, this First Incident was the first event in the original novel.
“…Sen~ior!”
As I entered the classroom, lost in these thoughts, someone suddenly hugged my waist with both arms.
Without hesitation, she pressed her body against mine, and the girl gazed at me with azure eyes sparkling.
“You’re here now?”
The girl, gently curving her eyes, looked only at me as if she had no interest in anything else.
She wasn’t even glancing anywhere else.
This is good evidence that she’s become a good child, but…
It seems like it will draw unnecessary attention.
“My goodness, they said she was absent for a week, but when did she become so close with the Deinhart young lord…?”
“Something must have happened, right? … something bad. That girl is extremely pretty.”
“That’s right. And the Deinhart young lord’s reputation is not ordinary…”
I sighed as I watched people murmuring.
‘There’s no way… such stories won’t reach Nias’ ears, right?’
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It’s official, our MC is the GOAT. Imagine taming Yanderes while becoming one yourself?
