CH 10

Rouge POV

I walked down the dark night corridor.

I put on the finest nightgown I have and left the room.

Today is the night of wish fulfillment. It is the night that the master will finally take me.

I put a lot of thought into my makeup, and my hair was done in such a way that it wouldn’t be unsightly even if it was untied.

Originally born into a baronial family, I am a maid because my house had fallen. However, I have the blood of a distinguished nobleman flowing through me. I don’t intend to end up as a mere serving maid.

I will definitely make sure that I win the master’s heart here. No, perhaps I’ve already done so.

When I thought that, I couldn’t help but feel the edges of my lips curl up.

After receiving the master’s invitation, I went to that woman’s room to finish her off with words while serving her tea.

While she was sitting there in a daze, I made her completely forfeit all her confidence as a woman. She won’t ever be able to recover from this.

So, with a chuckle, I walked and reached the front of my Master’s room. There were no other people around.

I knock on the door and call out to him.

“Master, it’s me. It’s Rouge.”

I called out to him in a whisper, and he replied, “I’ve been waiting for you, come in.”

Ahh, it was not a dream. I was undoubtedly called and desired by my master to enter the bedroom.

As I entered the room, I smelled a faint scent of incense.

If I remember correctly, this is probably the scent of elderflower and ashwood. It’s an intimate scent, like a combination of wine and musk, and I’m happy to say it’s perfect for my current mood.

I’ve also heard that elderflower is used for weddings in some areas. I felt the heat in my body rise softly.

“Thank you for coming.”

The master was leaning against the window and looking at me.

His thin, icy hair glowed lightly in the moonlight. His blue eyes are beautiful even in the darkness.

“Yes…I will always be here so long as the master wants me to.”

I chuckled and showed him a curtsy.

“Well…Then, have a seat there.”

A chair placed a short distance away from the bed is pointed out to me. I guess that means he wants to chat for a bit first?

‘It seems he really does want to treasure me,’ I thought, and sat down in the chair.

The master moved to the bed and sat down comfortably, crossed his legs and looked at me.

“Hey Rouge, you said you would give me your everything, right?”

“Yes. If that is what the Master desires.”

You mean that sweet promise. Of course I’m going to show you every inch of this body.

“Is that so? It’s a promise then. Now, you have to promise me one more thing…”

Another promise? I tilt my head back. Then I gasp.

No way, no way. Can it be he is asking for a promise of the future here?!

I looked at the master with a flush of my cheeks and he smiles softly at me.

“You’re going to have to show me everything. Of course. I’m sure it’s what you’ve imagined. Will you swear to me?”

Ah! Marriage!

“O-of course I swear! For now and alwa—“

“—Right! So you swear to me!!”

Before I could say it all, the Master stood up roughly.

Then he interrupted me with a loud voice.

“You are going to divulge everything to me! You will reveal the black magic you cat on my family, break it, and swear to never get involved with the Archelaus family again!”

“?!”

The moment the master declared, a circular flash of light flashed at my feet. Then a stacked magic circle appeared around me.

I was startled and stood up to escape, but at that moment the magic circle was activated.

***

Alice POV

“Wow, utter chaos.”

Alphonse-san and I felt a hint of magic being activated, and went into my father’s bedroom.

That is what the impression was.

After all, the scene was like something from a book.

First of all, my father was laughing maniacally the moment the trap succeeded, but quickly stopped after he saw us.

The picture that immediately came to my mind

｡ﾟ( ﾟ^∀^ﾟ)ﾟ｡

Next, Rouge. She is in agony, trapped in a three-dimensional magic circle that my father has prepared. It seems to be a mechanism that produces an electric current when you try to escape. How horrifying.

By the way, I was carried by Alphonse-san. I was still a frail little girl, so it was impossible to ambush and break into the place without help.

And finally, there is my mother, who had just come in a moment ago and opened the door vigorously. She is now staring dumbfoundedly at the situation in the room. For some reason, she was fully armed, a sword strapped to her hip and holding some sort of staff in her hand. It’s like she’s ready for war. (***T/N: LOL I love Mama Archelaus! You go girl!! You go get your man!!!)

Absolute chaos.

When Alphonse and I stood still, not knowing even a millimeter of what to do, mother mumbled to herself as if she were about to wring someone’s neck.

“So he’s into that kind of play…BDSM…?”

“N-no no no no no?!?!?!”

My father immediately denied it. The exchange between this couple feels kind of like an idiot and straight-man comedy act (***T/N: Boke and Tsukkomi act)

“Dear…then this is…”

“Oh, uh, well. I told you, right? I’m going to end it all tonight. Um…that’s what I was doing…as you can see…”

Why did he become so formal at the end?

My mother looked like she had no idea what he was talking about. That’s right. I don’t really understand either.

“………”

“………”

Alphonse-san and I have matching Tibetan fox faces (***T/N: Basically an unamused look. See picture below). It seems that my father, who is normally cool and suave, is surprisingly terrible at improv.

Tibetan Fox face. -__-

“Ahem~. Anyway,” he said, “What I’m about to do now is an interrogation. It’s not something you should see. Go back to your room.”

Father says so, trying to recover his composure, but mother wasn’t having any of that and become angry.

“Excuse me!? So you’re going to try to get me out of such an important conversation?!”

Tears spilled from my mother’s wisteria-colored eyes.

My father was upset by the tears, but he didn’t change his mind and said back,

“Y-your delicate heart might not be able to take it…so please just be quiet and listen to me!”

“I’m fine! And most of all, I need to teach that maid a lesson! I’m first! Step aside!!”

Beside the lover’s quarrel, Rouge, who was trapped in the magic circle in agony, shouted in pain.

“Master, please help me! Why are you doing this?!”

“Why?”

Glaring, my father turns to Rouge.

In place of the sweet face that had been cracking up from worrying too much about his wife earlier, his eyes have cooled to sub-zero and his expression is cold and blank.

“You know best why, don’t you? Isn’t that what you should be explaining to me from right now?”

As my father gave a wave of his finger, an icy cold wind rolled up in the magic circle.

When it gathered at Rouge’s feet, it made a clunking sound and turned into a block of ice that hardened her legs.

“Agh!”

Rouge groaned at the sudden freezing temperatures and the ice pressing hard on her legs. Then she shouted a single agonizing word.

“Why? Why?! You brought in such a filthy orphan to take the place of a child! You shouldn’t be doing this to me! Why is it that woman?!?!”

The place froze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T/N: Okay, but seriously, who else here loves Mama Archelaus?