Chapter 85: An Invitation

༺ An Invitation ༻

“Are you done taking a bath?”

“Hiik!”

Lulu emerged from the bathroom after having immersed herself in the warm bathwater mixed with high quality potions. Frey glanced at her as he strolled through the hallway and inquired.

“It looks like your wounds haven’t fully healed yet, you should stay in there longer.”

“I...that...that’s...”

Lulu, who was only wearing a towel, blushed heavily as Frey approached her.

“Come here. I’ll wrap your arm with the bandage again.”

“M-My clothes...”

“Hmm?”

“I-It’s nothing.”

It was impossible to discern whether or not Frey noticed Lulu’s embarrassment as he wore a nonchalant expression. He suddenly took out a bandage and reached out to Lulu’s arm.

“Maybe it’s because you had too many injuries, but not even the high quality potions were sufficient in healing your arm.”

Frey caressed Lulu’s scarred arm gently as he spoke.

It was a stark contrast to Frey’s usual demeanor. He was often found cursing at people on a regular basis and brutally assaulting Kania.

“Ow.”

“What’s wrong, does it hurt?”

Frey gently caressed her arm for some time before she released a pained groan as he touched his arm. He questioned her with worry embedded in his voice.

“I-It’s nothing. This much pain is...”

“Kania, bring some medicine here.”

Lulu’s firm desire was to quickly go change as she was wrapped in only a bath towel. However, Frey persisted in grasping her arm and provided Kania with a command.

“I knew you would ask for it, so I already brought over some medicine in advance...”

Kania, who had been on standby in the hallway, appeared with a bottle of medicine. She froze when she noticed the nearly naked Lulu.

“Kania. The medicine.”

“Y-Yes I understand.”

Kania quickly handed the vial to Frey after overcoming her shock. Her actions hastened due to Frey’s frigid glare and she quickly descended the stairs afterwards.

“Master Frey, your concern is appreciated, but please let me wear some cloth...heut!”

Lulu’s trembling words were cut off when she felt Frey applying ointment to her arm. The cold feeling of the ointment induced a shiver in her body.

“From now on, I’ll be the one to apply medicine to your arm.”

Frey smiled gently and spoke as he applied the ointment to Lulu’s arm.

“.....I understand.”

Lulu decided to agree to all of Frey’s demands upon seeing his benign smile. After all, having her wounds be treated was advantageous for herself as well.

“So, from now on, don’t hurt yourself. Alright?”

Frey spoke with a worried expression on his face as he finished applying the ointment and started wrapping a bandage around Lulu’s slender arm.

“Ugh...”

“Oh, my apologies. It’s cold right? Let me take you to your room.”

As Lulu continued to tremble at the mysterious sensation induced by the medicine and the bandage brought, Frey spoke swiftly and grasped onto her hand. He dragged her towards the hallway and began walking.

“Master Frey, this isn’t the way to my room.”

However, the direction Frey began walking towards, was in the complete opposite direction of where Lulu’s room was.

“Just a while ago, you would’ve been correct, but not anymore.”

“Huh?”

Lulu tilted her head in confusion in response to the eerie reply.

“From now on, this is the room you’ll be staying in.”

“Haa....”

Lulu could only understand the meaning of his words once Frey came to a halt and opened the door to a room.

“How is it? Do you like it?”

The room was several times larger than the dormitory she had been living in, and was decorated luxuriously.

“Then...from now on, will I be living with the other servants?”

Lulu scanned the room in shock and noticed all her belongings had been brought here.

“No, this is a room just for you.”

“What!?”

Lulu’s eyes widened in shock as Frey responded with a calm expression on his face.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

“Wa-Wait...”

Lulu could only watch as Frey left the room before she could even speak. Soon silence descended upon the room.

“W-What’s going on?”

The only words that resonated in the room was Lulu’s dumbfounded murmuring.

.

.

.

.

Time passed and the sun was beginning to set.

“Phew...”

Lulu laid on her new bed and recollected all the events of the past day.

The corner of Frey’s lips lifted into a smile and he added a frigid statement.

“And for ‘that’ role, Kania, Irina, and the people in the cellar are enough.”

In response to his chilling statement, Lulu stared at him with a terrified expression. Frey only glanced at her with curious eyes and spoke in a soft voice.

“Anyway, the attitude you displayed was very good. I’ll compliment you for that.”

“Yes...”

“Lulu, what should you do if you receive a compliment?”

“Uh, say... thank you?”

Lulu looked into Frey’s eyes as she responded unconfidently. Frey glanced back with satisfaction in his eyes and spoke.

“Good girl. Even if I don’t give you a command, you’ll behave well, right?”

“...Yes.”

“That’s right. Good girl.”

Lulu questioned him in a quiet voice as Frey smiled again.

“But... why are you here then?”

“I just came to say good night before going to bed.”

Frey gently laid Lulu on the bed, kissed her on the lips, and whispered alluringly.

“Good night, Lulu.”

Having said so with a smile, Frey turned around and began to leave the room.

‘Wait... Then, what’s the next misfortune?’

Lulu began to panic in confusion.

She expected herself to be sadistically tortured and cruelly harassed, but nothing like that occurred. Now, she was awaiting a misfortune to occur that she could not foresee.

‘What... what... what’s going on...’

Despite experiencing the greatest bliss in her life, Lulu began to panic again.

– Crunch, crunch.

She attempted to draw her knife out of habit, but remembered that Frey had removed any sharp objects on her person. She resorted to biting her nails instead.

“Cough! Cough! Ugh...”

“...Ahh.”

Frey, who had yet to step outside of her room, suddenly stopped walking and coughed. Lulu stopped biting her nails and stared at him blankly.

“...Ughh.”

Frey flinched for a brief moment at the sight of his own hand after his spasm of coughing came to a conclusion. He silently retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket.

– Creaak...

Frey wiped his hands off with his handkerchief and quietly opened the door before walking out. Lulu’s blank expression transformed into one of horror as she fell deep into thought.

“...It can’t be, right?”

Her eyes trembled as she spoke.

.

.

.

.

.

“Whew...”

Frey was exhausted from a day filled with acting.

He teamed up with Kania and Irina to set up a performance. He even gave one of the chefs he hired some money to play along and also showered Lulu with love.

It was quite difficult to keep up the act, but if doing so could save that poor child, it’s definitely something he had to do.

– Creaak..

“Now, I have to contemplate what to do for my birthday...”

I opened the door to my room and laid on my bed exhausted. I tried to fall asleep as I organized my thoughts. However...

“Hooot!!”

“Hiss!!”

“...What is this nonsense...”

When I came to the realization that my room had transformed into a battlefield, I stared blankly for some time.

“Meow...! Meow...!”

The cat doll, who was constantly being pecked by Serena’s white owl, cried out and grasped my leg.

“If you keep doing this it won’t... Huh?”

I attempted to reason with the owl who was assaulting the cat doll but noticed a letter on my desk. I hastened my steps towards my desk with widened eyes.

‘What could be written here? New information? A new plan? Or...’

I finally grabbed the letter and tore open the envelope as my thoughts raced ceaselessly.

“...Eh?”

Disappointment grew on his face when he noticed that there was only a since there was only a single miniscule note in the envelope.

‘Well, Serena is also very busy these days.’

I knew exactly how busy Serena was currently.

She has to determine the location of the runaway Secret Head, work on the foundations to completely acquire the Moonlight Family, and also worry about the contents of the letter from Clana.

Therefore, a note of this size wasn’t out of the ordinary.

“Huh...?”

I immediately froze as I tried to calm myself down and read the contents of the note.

My parents aren’t home.

Clearly, I have to go out tonight.