Volume 3 - CH 12

“See you later.”

Greed-sama said with a smile and left the antechamber.

……In the end, we danced through three songs.

Greed-sama was perfectly fine, unlike me who was completely out of breath and had to be disposed to a wooden chair at the end of the antechamber.

Dancing makes a good amount of exercise. I was somewhat confident in my physical strength given that I usually move around as a maid, but apparently, I use different muscles for my work.

But I reluctantly got up from the chair. The princess would be taking a break soon. I also need to prepare for it.

I picked up the wine and the glasses I placed on the table. There are two glasses, including one for Rufus-sama. After seeing their situation, if they would continue to stay in the hall for some time, I think I should deliver them their drinks.

As I was pouring dark purple wine into a glass, I sensed someone coming into the antechamber.

I thought it was the Princess so I looked back with a smile. Certainly, it was a princess──Princess Tiana.

Needless to say, I was startled.

What was even more surprising was the appearance of Tiana-sama. She wears a gorgeous and very cute dress with plenty of pink and white lace, but her expression was pitiable, which didn’t suit her pretty appearance. The lace handkerchief she is clasping as she glared at me is in a miserable shape.

What a waste…… I thought it would be difficult to iron given her strange habit…… I thought about it because I wanted to escape from reality.

After all, I don’t think she came to cordially converse with me.

But she won’t criticize me in a place like this, will she? In a place where there are a lot of people in the immediate vicinity, there’s no way . . . right?

With that in mind, I said with a friendly smile as much as I could.

“Uhm…… Tiana-sama, what can I help you?”

“Vanish from the Hero’s sight.”

Here comes the straight ball────!!

No way, no way, no way. It seems that she intends to make a scene here.

“He doesn’t need you. The Hero does not need you.”

Tiana-sama said with a stern look. She said the same thing as before, but she looked a little different now than when we had a confrontation in Mariage-sama’s room before.

At that time, Tiana-sama was scolded by Greed-sama so she was screaming as if she was in mid-hysteria, but now it feels like she is more restrained.

But it shows how serious Tiana-sama is so I became more cautious of her at once.

“The one who deserves the Hero is me, a princess. Not you, a maid. When you are a mere shabby person who is not invited to this ball.”

Did you attend as a fiancée of Greed-sama? As if trying to imply that, I put up with it.

I wanted to tell her all I wanted to say but I thought I could end this situation without anyone knowing. And if we happened to argue here, Tiana-sama will become more and more agitated, and as a result, we will catch everyone’s attention.

With so many guests, this should be stopped. For the sake of the princess, Greed-sama and mine. And just a little for Tiana-sama.

“If the Hero chooses you, he will regret it. You are neither a beautiful woman nor a princess. You are not even a Hero’s comrade. You are not suitable to stay by the Hero's side.”

I gently clasped both of my hands. I heard those words before. And I even thought so to myself. I thought that Tiana-sama suits him better than me, a maid.

But . . . it’s different now. I stopped thinking that way anymore.

“Even so, you hanging around him is an eyesore…… What’s more, seducing the Hero to dance with him!”

Apparently, she saw Greed-sama and I dance.

Embarrassed, I averted my eyes away from Tiana-sama.

Because I knew that Greed-sama refused Tiana-sama’s invitation because he said he could not dance. Tiana-sama must have been hurt to see Greed-sama, who should not be able to dance, dancing with me. But . . . Tiana-sama has always exceeded my expectations.

Narrowing her eyes, she said in condemnation.

“You forced the Hero to dance! You coward!”

“Huuuuh?”

Hey, I could not possibly . . . that is very impossible for me, you know!?

You saw us dancing but didn’t you also see Greed-sama invite me to dance?

Even so, I want to tell her that she’s a peeping tom.

No matter how you look at it, Greed-sama was dancing with a big smile. Is that an attitude of someone being forced?

……I wish I could argue with her, but I am patient.

“What’s more, you are commanding the Hero that he can smile!”

She heard that……? No, no, I’m a patient person.

“If it was me, I want him to only smile at me. And yet, you foolishly suggested that he should smile at other people.”

P-Patience……

“What are you doing? Are you trying to change the Hero?”

“Well……”

“Even though you monopolized the smile of the Hero, you don’t even know its value. Why do you need to change him? I don’t think he has to change. He can just be a hero. There’s no need for him to smile at others.”

I can . . . not endure anymore! I sharply gazed at Tiana-sama and then said.

“He can’t stay like that. The old empty Greed-sama! Though he can smile now, it is still wrong for him to express his emotions only in front of me.”

I didn’t know him when we first met. However, the more I got to know Greed-sama, the more I noticed his strangeness as a person.

"I don’t think he is wrong. Until now, he has been able to fulfill his duties as a hero. To think that you are trying to change him . . . Who are you to do that?”

Biting my lips, I answered her question.

“I am . . . his fiancee.”

……To be precise, I haven’t acknowledged the engagement yet, but it has nothing to do with Tiana-sama.

“Because I am his fianceé, I want to know more what makes Greed-sama happy.”

Hmp, Tiana-sama snorted.

“So what? Can you make the Hero happy? Can you change him? But isn’t that for your own convenience?”

……Indeed, it is also for my own convenience.

But above that, I want Greed-sama to feel the joy of connecting and communicating with others.

“As a Hero, he lacks nothing. However, even Greed-sama himself is happy to be ‘just Greed’ than to be a Hero. But as of now . . . I’m not aware of it yet.”

In my eyes, Greed-sama’s world remains small. And should something happen to me . . . that narrow world will be destroyed.

“I’m a princess. If he marries me, the Hero will become a member of the royal family. He won’t need to worry about relationships.”

Well, if he marries a princess, anyone would be happy. Despite being the Hero, the number of people who despise his commoner status will decrease…… But I don’t call that connection a relationship.

I frowned. I felt very uncomfortable with what Tiana-sama said.

I didn’t care about it when we talked about it before, but something made me uneasy.

“What a Hero needs is to marry me and become a royal. Many of the heroes in the past became connected to the royal family. Not to a maid. Do you know what it means?”

“It’s meaning……?”

“A special person like the Hero should be connected with a special human being called a princess.”

Tiana-sama said in a strangely confident tone.

“Everyone must have thought so. Which princess will the Hero of this generation fall in life with and marry?”

Well . . . I was one of those people. I can’t say it out loud, though.

“So when I heard that the Hero saved Princess Louise, I was disheartened but alas, the princess chose Prince Rufus, not the Hero. I finally thought I had a chance. I was . . . supposed to be the only princess for the Hero……!”

Tiana-sama said, wringing the crumpled lace handkerchief in her hands even tighter.

“Even so, you stayed by the Hero’s side. When you’re just a mere maid. What a Hero need is someone with a special position that can match him! He doesn’t need you!”

What Greed-sama needs is someone with a special position…… But what special position? How will Greed-sama need it? I used to also think that way before, but when I heard Tiana-sama’s words, I started wondering why I thought so. After all, being a Hero is already special enough. Why would he need to require the other person to be special?

……Because he is the Hero? Suddenly I was curious about that word.

── “Hero”.

That word came out of Tiana-sama’s mouth many times. It’s not Greed-sama. Because for Tiana-sama, “Hero = Greed-sama”. For her, these two words are the same……

The moment I realized that, I understood the true nature of this uncomfortable feeling.

Tiana-sama’s “Hero” is just “The Hero Greed”, not “Greed of Langrea Village”. And who she is in love with is──the “Hero”. Greed-sama, the strongest hero of all time, who defeated the Demon King. That’s why she is not interested in the non-hero aspect of Greed-sama, or rather, the part that is not eye-catching.

However, before being a Hero, Greed-sama is a human being . . . albeit it is hard to say that he is a normal person. He has a life and feelings as “just Greed”. Just because he became a hero doesn’t mean he can throw them away. Rather, it can be said that his non-hero aspect is the true, original Greed-sama.

I don’t think that Greed-sama will marry someone based on whether she is suitable to the Hero. Because he does not have to require the other person to be special. Greed-sama chose me because he wanted to. His position as a hero is irrelevant.

However, Tiana-sama, who sees Greed-sama on the premise of him being a hero, cannot understand that he needs me and that has nothing to do with his position as a hero. That’s why she kept on insisting that the Hero needs a princess, not a maid.

Had Greed-sama did not become a hero but just a young man named “Greed of Langrea Village”, Tiana-sama would not look at him. Even if she will be fascinated by his good looks, a mere villager is not suited for a princess…… Just as I, a maid, is not suitable to the Hero.

“If you think of him, you should vanish from his sight. Rather, get lost!”

Tiana-sama then started to approach me with a grim look. She is a princess who fell in love with the Hero. Someone who can never understand Greed-sama who is disconnected from this world.

“You don’t have to despise yourself. Be more proud of yourself.”

Suddenly, the words of Mariage-sama came to mind. I couldn’t really understand it at that time, but now I feel like I can.

“Spirits, you don’t have to do anything…… I will tell her.”

After murmuring that, I stared at Tiana-sama and said it clearly.

“I will not leave Greed-sama.”

The person Greed-sama chose with his heart──that is me. He longed for me regardless of the positions of the princess, the maid, let alone his position as a hero. So what do I care about it?

“You!?”

Tiana-sama widened her eyes in surprise. She would not have expected to be rejected like this too clearly.

“Perhaps there will be someone who Greed-sama will like more than me. When that time comes, I will gladly withdraw. But Tiana-sama, it’s not you.”

“Wh-What did you say!?”

“Your position as a princess may be suitable for the Hero. But Greed-sama did not acknowledge that. So I won’t withdraw.”

“How rude! You’re just a maid, you can’t talk back to a princess!”

Tiana-sama shouted, enraged.

Indeed, my attitude is rude. But I didn’t care and continued.

“Greed-sama doesn’t care about my status. That’s why he chose me, a mere maid, didn’t he?”

I’m sure that’s what Mariage-sama meant. That’s why she told me that I should not be afraid of what others would think.

After all, Tiana-sama and I are the only ones who are obsessed with the positions of princesses, maids and heroes.

“Greed-sama doesn’t need a ‘princess’. It’s the same for the heroes of the past. It wasn’t because the other person was a princess that’s why they fell in love. One was a childhood friend. One was a maid whom he fell in love with…… That’s how it was.”

“!”

Tiana-sama took a deep breath. Though I hope she realizes……

Because she is a princess, she should be married to the Hero. Because he is a Hero, a princess is a suitable partner. What I used to think, and now Tiana-sama, is a very wrong assumption.

It wasn’t until I stopped being on the sidelines when I realized it. Before his status as a Hero, I had completely ignored Greed-sama as a human being.

I straightened my back, stared at Tiana-sama’s blue eyes, and said clearly. I am not a maid, but the fiancée of the Hero.

“Look not at the Hero, but at Greed-sama himself. If you can’t do that, and if you can only see him as the Hero, forget about Greed-sama and go back to Albatro. And fulfill your duties as a royal.”

“Y-You don’t have the right to say that to me!”

Tiana-sama’s face was bright red probably because of anger.

Well, she deserved it. I just told her to give up on Greed-sama, go back to her country, and get married. But it was none other than Tiana-sama who first told me to stay away from Greed-sama. I just returned the words to her.

“Tiana-sama . . . there are plenty of other people who deserves a ‘princess’, but Greed-sama is not one of them.”

“You……!”

Tiana-sama reached for the glass on the table. It contained the wine I just poured. It seems that she lost her cool and is going to use force.

But I was watching her with a strange calm feeling.

“Your cheeky maid attitude often makes me……!”

Tiana-sama glared at me while holding the glass.

……There are two expected behaviors. She will either splash some wine on me or hit me with the glass.

Tiana-sama’s hands then moved. I clenched my teeth, strengthening my resolve.

──At that time, someone suddenly wedged in between Tiana-sama and me.

What appeared in front of me was a bright green dress, bright golden hair, and a very familiar back……

“Princess!?”

──Yes. It was my master, Louise-sama.

What happened after that lasted only for a moment, but it felt like a lifetime to me.

The Princess stood between us as if she was shielding me. Tiana-sama, upon noticing, was stunned. However, Tiana-sama could not stop her hand anymore, and the wine flew out of the glass and with an, “Ah!”──

──Splash.

The dark purple liquid spread from the Princess’s chest to her waist, making a sound.

At that moment, there was a blow to my heart.

Gyaaaaa, the Princess’s dress──!!