Read Novel Full Vol 1 Chapter 3 Part 1
Here’s the chapter, enjoy~
Chapter 3 – Escort Mission
Part 1
The next morning.
“I’ve never worn a maid’s uniform before! It’s so easy to move around in!”
Lexia, dressed in a maid’s uniform, spins around in front of the mirror.
“Lexia-san, you look so pretty!”
“Fufu, thank you. You two also look great together. Perfect maids! As expected of my Luna and Tito!”
“I’m supposed to be your guard, not a maid.”
Luna calmly retorts, and Tito blushes happily.
The three of them were dressed as Laila’s personal maids to protect her. They wore matching lace headbands and frilly aprons. Their fluffy skirts and knee-high white socks enhanced the girls’ innocent and dainty atmosphere.
“Fufu, I wonder what Yuuya-sama would say if he saw me? I’m in love with you again, Lexia! Let’s get married right away!──Kyaaa, what am I going to do!”
“This is not a game, Lexia. Act like a maid so that no one will be suspicious of you.”
“I know, I know. At any rate, maids are supposed to serve.”
The section allocated to Laila was also equipped with a separate kitchen and washing area.
Lexia went into the kitchen, humming something along the way.
Luna was about to start preparing, too, when Tito discreetly raised her hand.
“Um, I know it’s a little late for this, but… can’t she just break off the engagement since she was almost assassinated? Or maybe we could consult with the king of the Kingdom of Sahar or the Kingdom of Regal…”
“That would be difficult.”
Luna kept her voice down so that Laila, who was in the next room, could not hear her.
“If the assassination becomes public, it will definitely be a big deal. It will not be enough to just break off diplomatic relations; it will be war if it goes wrong. And the victims will be the people. Laila-sama would not want her beloved people to be involved in a futile conflict. On the other hand, unilaterally breaking off the engagement without giving a reason would inevitably cause a rift in the relationship between the two countries. The conflict would be inevitable.”
Tito’s ears drooped as she said, “I see…”
“That’s right. The only thing we can do now is to protect Laila-sama from the clutches of the assassin and expose and defeat the mastermind behind it. To do that, we need to play the perfect maid.”
When they turned around, they saw Lexia standing there with a tea set.
“So, Laila-sama, I brewed some tea! Let’s have morning tea──”
Just as Lexia was about to go to Laila, Tito suddenly shouted.
“W-wait, Lexia-san! That tea smells like poison!”
“Eeh?”
Lexia cowered in shock.
“There is no such thing as poison! I brewed the tea with the utensils and tea leaves provided in the kitchen. …No, wait. So you’re saying that someone took advantage of us and poisoned the tea? But how is that possible──”
“Let me try tasting the poison then.”
Lexia was surprised to see Luna coolly walking out of the room.
“Luna? No, you can’t do that!”
“Don’t worry. I’ve lived in the dark world since I was a child, and I have a little tolerance for poison.”
“B-but…!”
Luna lifted her cup as Lexia and Tito watched breathlessly.
She touched the tea with the tip of her tongue, just slightly, and──
“Ugh!”
“Luna! Oh no, Luna!”
“Luna-san, please hold on!”
Tito supported Luna as she stumbled, and Lexia clung to her with tears in her eyes.
Luna stopped the pale Lexia and moaned in pain.
“T-the poison is certainly in there… but the reason I almost fainted just now is not because of the poison… but because this tea tastes too bad.”
“Eh? Isn’t it because of the poison?”
“No, poison is usually made tasteless and odorless so that it is unnoticeable in the mouth. It’s your fault if it tastes bad.”
“No way!”
“What kind of brewing process makes it taste like this?”
“I brewed it with love and care. It’s my special original brew!”
“I see. So that’s why.”
“Why?”
Speaking of which, the pot is making a disturbing rumbling noise, and even purple smoke is rising.
“…I thought it was an unusual tea, even if it was poisoned, but I guess it was a product of hell’s Lexia cooking…”
“Don’t talk about people like they’re deleterious! I’m properly trained and practiced by the castle cooks! Everyone is so shaken up by my excellence that they can’t even speak!”
“Where does your positive attitude come from?”
Luna regretted herself, saying that she should have stopped Lexia when she was getting all worked up.
“And anyway, I’m glad it didn’t end up in Laila-sama’s mouth…!”
“Yeah. I’m glad you noticed that, Tito.”
The tea leaves were also examined just to be sure, but there was no sign of poison being mixed in. Luna concluded that the cup must have been poisoned, given the circumstances.
“We can never be too careless about where the assassin might be lurking. We will make all the meals ourselves. We will take care of everything.”
“Yes!”
“I understand!”
“Lexia, sit down.”
“Why?”
“Well, let’s have breakfast first.”
Hearing that, Tito tries to run out to the garden with a serious look on her face.
“Breakfast, yes, I understand! I saw some fish in the pond in the garden; I’ll go catch them!”
“Wait, Tito. You can’t catch that fish. Before that, maids don’t catch fish.”
“!? T-then, I’ll go do laundry in the river!”
“That’s the waterway. There’s a washing place over here, so we’ll wash there. …Or rather, let’s settle down for once.”
Tito, who was about to swing out of the way as fast as she could, was held back and made to sit down.
In front of the unexpected barrier, Luna crossed her arms.
“Well, I belonged to the Dark Guild, so I’m familiar with the customs of the upper class, not to mention Lexia, but Tito is not used to this kind of aristocratic life.”
“I-I’m sorry…”
Tito was drooping her tail and looking dejected.
Lexia cheered her up with a smile that seemed to burst forth.
“Don’t be discouraged, Tito! You just have to learn little by little from now on. I’ve never cleaned a house before, either, but once you try, you’ll see that you can do it. Like this.”
Lexia was in a good mood as she tried to mop the floor, and with a vigorous swipe of the mop handle, she knocked off a vase that looks expensive.
“Oh──!”
“You───!”
“Aaahhhhh…!”
Lexia and Luna’s screams were in unison.
Just before the vase was about to hit the wall, Tito slid in front of it and caught it.
“T-thank goodness, it didn’t break!”
“That’s amazing, Tito! As expected of you!”
Tito blushed at Lexia’s praise, but at that moment, perhaps with too much force in her hand, the vase broke with a terrible clatter.
“Oh…”
“Arara, are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“Y-yes… but the vase was…”
When Tito was looking at the scattered fragments and looking pale, Lexia smiled at her.
“I’m glad you’re not hurt. I’ll have my father send a vase of equal or better quality to replace it later. Tito has nothing to worry about. It was my fault, to begin with.”
“She was absolutely right.”
After cleaning up the debris, they wiped the floor.
Tito nodded and slumped her shoulders.
“I’m really sorry. I’ve always been bad at controlling my strength…”
“…Is there a reason Tito can’t control her power?”
Lexia asked this because she remembered the first time they had met.
Tito looked down for a little while, but then she let out a small, raspy voice.
“…I had a human friend who was kind to me a long time ago. In the northern country where I was born, beastmen were persecuted, but that child was not afraid of me and was a good friend. But one day, when I tried to save that child from being attacked by a monster, I wounded that child… and since then, I’ve been afraid of my own power… and the more impatient I became with the need to control it, the more out of control I became…”
“So that’s what happened to you…”
Lexia looked at Tito, who kept her eyes down, and muttered a little.
Luna recalled yesterday’s sightseeing in the royal capital. The first time they started to walk through the crowds, Tito looked terribly nervous.
“(I thought she was afraid of the people who persecuted her, but… she was more frightened of herself for having once hurt humans, huh?)”
Luna’s heart ached as she looked down at Tito’s claws.
“(Some beastmen are born with strong claws and fangs and have extraordinary physical strength. I suppose that they became fearful of their own power after unintentionally injuring humans──a dear friend of theirs.).”
And such fear and distrust of themselves have made their power unstable and out of control.
“(…Maybe that’s why Gloria-sama entrusted Tito to us, the humans…)”
As Luna pondered Gloria’s feelings, Lexia reached out her hand to Tito.
She gently squeezes Tito’s hand, which shudders and tries to pull away.
“When I was a little girl, I once hurt someone I cared about when my magic went out of control. Then, without realizing it, I turned away from my power.”
Jade green eyes with a soft glow look into Tito’s.
“But with the support of so many people, I was able to look forward. So, Tito will be fine. Tito’s strength is her ability to protect others. You will learn to control it.”
“Lexia-san…”
Tito’s golden eyes moistened, and she bowed her head.
“Thank you very much… I’ll do my best!”
Luna smiled softly as she watched the two of them. ──Lexia once held her hand without hesitation, even though she was an assassin. She still remembers the warmth of that hand as if it had seeped into her frozen heart.
Luna also put her hand on Tito’s back.
“Everyone has things they can’t do. You just have to learn them little by little now. Fortunately, I’m good at housework. If it’s okay with you, I’ll teach you.”
“Eh? Luna, I didn’t know you were that good at housework?”
Despite Lexia’s surprise, Luna smiled at Tito and said, “This will be a good social lesson for you too.”
“Yes, I’m looking forward to working with you!”
“I’ll help you too!”
“Lexia, you mustn’t take a step from there.”
“Whyyyy!”
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