Ā Chapter 4
Mary, tasked with guiding her, hurried her steps while frequently glancing sideways at the stiff, tree-like woman.
Even as she stepped into the grand hall, where others would have had their mouths fall open at its splendor, the woman didn’t betray a single emotion. It was remarkably peculiar.
*’She’s so docile now, like a different person. Who is she?’*
She was intensely curious about the identity of the woman brought by their taciturn master, who wouldn’t even grant an audience to noble ladies who made excuses to visit just to see his face, nor let other nobles into the house.
Her lips kept moving with curiosity, and soon they arrived at the room. As she stopped, the woman slowly raised her downcast eyes.
“We’re here. The adjutant ordered that you stay here for tonight.”
After passing the central staircase and several long hallways, they arrived at a bedroom with an attached bathroom.
In the center of the space, crafted from glossy white tiles, stood a marble bathtub with a surface that looked slippery just by looking at it.
As the maid fiddled with a few shiny stones, the tub quickly began to fill with hot water. It was only natural that Flora’s eyes widened, as the only baths she had ever taken were in the lake near the garrison.
“Umā¦ Excuse me, but I think you need to take off your clothesā¦”
Mary, who had been silently watching the woman unable to take her eyes off the water flowing from the magic stones, carefully opened her mouth. Perhaps because of the memory of being flung aside by the woman’s strength earlier, she hesitated to touch her.
Startled back to her senses by the maid’s words, Flora clutched her collar as if her life depended on it.
Mary was the one rather surprised when the woman, who rarely showed any change in expression, reacted so sensitively.
Then, reading a question in the woman’s eyes that seemed to ask, “Aren’t you going to leave?”, Mary smiled awkwardly.
“You don’t need to be so on guard. Given what Harriot said, let me help you.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Are you shy? We’re both women, so what’s the problem? You probably don’t know how to use this either, so I’ll help you just for today. Ah, but if you’re uncomfortable, I’ll turn my back.”
Without waiting for an answer, Mary turned around briskly. Flora hesitated, looking at the maid’s back, then reluctantly unfastened the lead buttons of her top.
After the sounds of clothes thudding to the floor completely ceased, Mary turned around and her eyes widened at the sight of Flora, now naked.
Crossing her arms to cover her chest and slightly hunching over, the woman’s figure instantly erased Mary’s assumption that she was just skin and bones.
Even as a woman, her body was so beautiful it captured all attention. Apart from her enviably perky breasts and plump hips, there was not an ounce of excess fat on her body.
Her slender arms and legs looked firm, as if she had definitely exercised, and her flat stomach had nicely defined muscles, looking so taut that if you pressed a finger against it, it would spring back.
To be honest, it was an extremely enviable figure, but imagining how she had gotten it was a terrible thought. A sympathetic glance swept over Flora.
“My, you must have had a hard time. Your previous master must have treated you quite poorly, I suppose?”
Seeing her unexpectedly muscular body, Mary’s impression was that her previous owner must have been terribly cruel.
“Previous master?”
As Flora echoed her words, her gaze lingered in the empty space to the right. It wasn’t exactly accurate to call him a master, but recalling the violent temperament of the administrator in charge of the 12th Division, it wasn’t entirely wrong either.
Even though Flora didn’t say anything, Mary continued chattering on her own, saying how pitiful it was.
“Don’t worry. Even though our master seems cold like that, he’s a fair person. He’s different from other nobles who would whip you for a mistake.”
“Come on, get in. Sigh, have you been rolling around on a battlefield dirt floor? These won’t be wearable even after washing.”
Mary clicked her tongue as she looked at the dusty clothes neatly folded in one corner. Deciding they were beyond saving, she picked them up to dispose of them, but in an instant, they were snatched away.
The woman’s harsh glare, as if to say she wouldn’t stay quiet if Mary actually threw them away, made Mary’s knees weak. She smiled awkwardly and reached out.
“Ahā¦ alright. I’ll take these and wash them for you.”
Only after she spoke softly, as if promising, did the woman release the tension in her hand. *Just because she saw a docile face for a moment, she had completely forgotten what happened earlier.*
*’Was she a hunter or something before coming here?’*
Where that scrawny body got such strength was beyond ordinary. Mary gestured for her to get into the tub.
Urged by the maid, Flora stepped into the bath and awkwardly hugged her knees with both hands. Thus, Mary had no choice but to attend to her bath in that state.
Mary gently rubbed Flora’s skin with a heavily soaped towel, observing her carefully.
She hadn’t noticed at first because her appearance had been as filthy as a beggar’s, but the more she looked, the more she realized Flora was a remarkable beauty.
Although slightly tanned by the sun, her skin, which must have been originally fair, was undeniably smooth. And her hair, once vigorously washed clean in the water like laundry, was a beautiful platinum blonde with a bright luster.
Admiring inwardly that with proper care, anyone would mistake her for a noble lady, Mary cautiously broached the subject.
“What’s your name? How old are you? I think we’re about the same ageā¦ Oh, I’m Mary.”
“ā¦Flora. I presume I am twenty years old.”
Earlier, when she had answered Harriot so precisely, her voice had been quite low, but now she spoke with a feminine voice befitting her age.
*Not only her face, but her voice is pretty too. But twenty is twentyāwhat does ‘presume’ mean?*
Tilting her head, Mary’s thoughts turned to the peculiar clothes they had briefly tussled over earlier.
“So where are you from? You don’t seem to be from Pashante.”
Seeing how she would have been caught by the security forces immediately if she had walked around the capital like that, Mary asked. Flora, wet as a mouse, hesitated for a moment before speaking quietly.
“I come from Ploheim, in the west.”
“Ploheim? Oh my, that’s a border region. No wonderā¦”
*No wonder it looked like she had walked through a battlefield.* Unlike the capital, where relatively normal life was possible, the fact that she came from the border region, which was practically a ruin, filled Mary with pity.
Concluding that Flora’s situation was even more pitiable than she had thought, Mary put a little more sincerity into washing her.
—
“You’re much prettier now that you’re all cleaned up.”
Even as the maid looked at her neat appearance after bathing with a satisfied face, Flora silently stared blankly at her own reflection in the dress.
The last time she had worn a skirt was briefly when she was a child doing errands in the barracks. After becoming an adult, she had never worn one once.
Inside the garrison, she usually wore tight-fitting trousers like the other female knights, so the dress she had on now was not only awkward but almost comical.
She honestly didn’t like it, but since the maid had taken her clothes to wash, she had no choice.
“ā¦Is there no other clothing?”
Interpreting her gaze this time, the maid hooked her curly, tightly tied hair with her finger and gave an ambiguous smile.
“I brought my own clothes in a hurry, but they’re a bit small, aren’t they? Bear with it just for today. It’s the first time our master has brought someone here, so your clothes will probably be ready by tomorrow.”
As expected, their builds were similar, but Flora had so much more volume that the clothes looked a bit small.
Feeling strangely embarrassed by this, Mary was about to start chattering again when she met Flora’s eyes, which had turned from the mirror.
Captivated by her blue eyes, like hydrangeas blooming by the water, Mary stood with her mouth agape. Flora asked.
“When can I see him?”
“Him? Ah! You mean our master? He’ll call for you when the time comes, but probably not today. He seemed tired; he went to bed early right after arriving.”
Leaving Flora to her thoughts, Mary re-adjusted Flora’s shabby clothes on her arm and gestured with her eyes toward the inside of the room.
“It’s late today, so just rest here.”
After Mary left the room with a smile, Flora looked around the clean bedroom, a sight she had never seen before.
Even the scent of a noble house was distinctly different.
If the smell of stale dust was the smell of the rooms she knew well, this place was enveloped in a fragrant floral scent. Even the slippery, smooth sheets were on a different level from the rough blankets she used to sleep under at night.
Unlike the knights, the supplies allocated to common soldiers were often shabby. Given the severe shortage of war materials, it was a luxury to have one’s own share of daily necessities.
So, anyone in the 12th Division would have widened their eyes if they saw this place, but Flora rather felt uncomfortable. Without even glancing at the fluffy bedding, she lay down on the floor right in front of the bed.
The beige wool rug tickled her cheek. Flora closed her eyes completely. Her mind was currently reassessing her present situation.
The real reason the Duke brought her. Whatever his intention, the fact that he chose her meant that there was something useful about her.
*Would she become a knight guarding his person?*
Flora shook her head at the assumption that came to mind. There were plenty of robust, capable knights to guard a high and mighty noble.
*Then, would he use her as a spy to infiltrate other noble houses?*
Since he brought her to utilize her abilities, this possibility was high. He might make her do the dirty work of dealing with hostile nobles. Or perhaps she’d be used for even more severe illegal activities.
Whatever it was, she intended to do as she was told.
In fact, whether there was a proper reason for the given orders or not, Flora, who would actually have to carry them out, didn’t really care. Her only interest was protecting her own life and surviving.
Her ongoing thoughts were unable to overcome the wave of drowsiness and faded away.
