MMFHRK-Chapter 10

Chapter 10: It’s Wonderful That We Weren’t Discovered~

“Khh, cough…”

From beneath the desk came a girl’s delicate choking sound.

Had Aoleila walked around the wooden desk, she would have discovered that throughout the entire time she was reporting on the correspondence, this purple-haired girl had been hiding underneath it.

“You did very well, my adorable Lilinai~”

“Mm…”

Airiya said in satisfaction, stroking the girl’s head.

The kneeling girl nodded.

It was none other than Lilinai.

She wore a purple gothic dress and a deep black headpiece, dressed up as strikingly as a doll.

“It’s wonderful that we weren’t discovered, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Master…”

Airiya stood up and walked to the mirror in the corner of the room.

She smoothed her hair. Lilinai emerged from under the desk, rose obediently and stepped forward, retrieved the sash Airiya had tossed to the floor, and helped the white-haired girl tie it from behind.

“I have to say, you have quite a talent for being a slave and a plaything, Miss Lilinai.”

Once Lilinai had finished helping her dress, Airiya turned around and reached out to stroke the girl’s cheek.

“I wasn’t lying to you, you know? You really were worth far more than your price. From now on you must keep serving me well just like this, understand?”

“Mm, I understand.”

Lilinai lowered her head and answered softly.

Those amber eyes of hers were dim and lusterless, like a fossil sealed away.

It was as though the girl had sealed away all of her emotions, and what remained was nothing but obedience toward her master.

“Hmph~”

Airiya gave a soft laugh.

It seemed that what had happened in the study that day had thoroughly destroyed the girl’s will to resist.

She appeared to have accepted her new identity, and had turned to submitting beneath the Witch’s domination.

Airiya patted the girl’s soft, springy cheek.

“All right,” she said, tossing back her snow-white long hair, “I have matters to attend to and need to go out. Until I return, Miss Lilinai may do as she pleases—of course, I hope that when I come back, I’ll still find Miss Lilinai there to welcome me. No objections?”

“I will respectfully abide by your wishes.”

“Then that’s settled~”

Airiya threw on her coat and left with brisk steps.

Lilinai found a rag, and after cleaning the room, came out onto the study’s balcony. Seeing Airiya depart from the courtyard, the girl immediately returned to her own room and changed into a light blouse and a waist-cinched skirt—her clothes had arrived two days earlier, all in an extremely cute girlish style and made of top-grade material. It was plain to see that Airiya’s taste was quite good.

She left the room, went downstairs, and headed straight for the storeroom on the first floor.

Along the way she encountered quite a few maids, who nodded to her in acknowledgment, and the girl returned the gesture in the same manner, her face expressionless throughout.

This storeroom was located on the mansion’s ground floor and could be found by crossing the corridor from the rear courtyard. Compared to the front courtyard, the mansion’s rear courtyard backed onto a mountain wall, so both its lighting and its scenery left something to be desired, and thus it wasn’t often tended to. Add to that the fact that most of the maids were preparing dinner, and there was even less reason for anyone to come at this hour. Apart from Lilinai’s footsteps, the only sound around was the chirping of sparrows.

The girl walked into the storeroom with practiced familiarity and closed the door.

Then she let out a long breath and sat down against the door.

“That Airiya, really…”

She wiped her mouth forcefully and coughed twice.

“What was she pressing so hard for? I hadn’t stopped even once…”

After grumbling a few more words under her breath, Lilinai sighed, stood up, and came to the open space in the middle of the storeroom.

Against one wall stood a row of weapon racks covered in dust. She casually drew one of the longswords from them and began swinging it.

“All right—let’s push the practice hard today too.”

…

That’s right.

Her obedient demeanor earlier had all been an act.

She had to admit that with that humiliation in the study, Airiya had indeed dealt her heart a vicious blow.

But never giving up was the very character of the Kaoenxier family!

The more Airiya wanted to humiliate her, the stronger her spirit of resistance grew.

Lilinai decided to turn the plan against its author, feigning a shattered will while secretly searching for an opportunity.

“Still, that woman has an awful lot of tricks…”

Of course, this approach came at a cost.

What happened during the day was only the tip of the iceberg. Over these past few days, they had holed up in the study and been in every last nook and cranny of it—once, even out on the balcony.

Lilinai was sincerely grateful for the so-called spatial prohibition: thanks to it, she hadn’t lost face in front of anyone else.

Fortunately, this “honey trap of the flesh” was proving quite effective.

It had been nearly half a month since Airiya bought her and brought her to the mansion.

And over these past few days, Airiya’s control over her had visibly loosened a great deal.

She was allowed to move about freely, could use the various facilities within the mansion, and could even occasionally sleep in—if Airiya had come into her room the night before.

This kind of life was decadent and corrupting, and would wear away a person’s will.

But within Lilinai’s heart, the fire of revenge still burned.

When one is under another’s roof, one has no choice but to bow one’s head.

She had to endure, in order to escape with her life… in order to complete her family’s revenge.

“—Whew.”

Lilinai settled her mind and took up a sword dance stance.

When Aoleila had shown her around the mansion, she had noticed this place.

There were many weapons and instruments of torture stored here, probably because the mansion’s former owner had left his belongings behind. According to Aoleila, after Airiya bought this mansion, many areas went unused, and this was one of the forgotten spots.

This deserted storeroom had become the place where she secretly rebuilt her skills.

For several days running, during her free time before sunset, she would sneak here to review the techniques she had once mastered.

“Good, I haven’t gotten too rusty.”

Having once again successfully performed a full sword dance, Lilinai felt somewhat pleased.

In those days right after her family was destroyed and she herself had turned into a girl, driven by the desire for revenge, she had learned numerous assassination techniques from the drifting masses in an extremely short span of time. Relying on these assassination techniques, she had scraped through three years in the gray areas without serious mishap, and had even been given a stage name by her peers in that trade.

And during her two years at the slave trading house, she’d had no opportunity to practice these techniques. She had originally thought a good deal of it would have fallen into disuse, but fortunately, after these few days of practice, she was gradually recovering her feel for it.

If she kept this up, assassinating a Witch wasn’t out of the question.

“Mm… that’s enough for today.”

After secretly practicing for nearly an hour more, Lilinai figured the time was about right, so she hurriedly tidied up the room and left the storeroom.

Before Airiya returned, she still had to change back into her other clothes so as not to arouse the other’s suspicion.

Before long, she caught sight of the white-haired girl returning from her outing in the courtyard.

She waited at the entrance and greeted her the moment she arrived.

“Welcome back, Master.”

“Did you miss me while I was away from home?”

Airiya asked with a smile as she took off her coat.

Something must have happened, because she seemed to be in quite a good mood.

“Mm, I’ve been waiting for you the whole time.”

Lilinai took the coat Airiya handed over, looking every bit the good child waiting obediently for a parent’s return.

Please—she had read 《An Actor’s Self-Cultivation》. Acting had to be natural!

“Good child~”

Airiya smiled and crooked a finger at Lilinai.

Lilinai knew what the other intended, but she hesitated only an instant before leaning her face forward and closing her eyes.

Smooch.

The girls’ faces pressed together.

After a moment, Airiya released her, smiled in satisfaction, and waved a hand.

“All right, go rest a while. Once we’ve finished dinner later, come take a stroll with me by the lake.”

“…Yes.”

Lilinai gave a bow.

This woman really did take advantage of her every waking moment!

With her back to Airiya, the corner of her eye couldn’t help twitching. Fortunately she held it together in the end and immediately left with her lips pressed tight.

At that moment, she suddenly felt a prickling, numbing sensation across the surface of her skin—strangely enough, over these past few days, whenever Airiya was near her, she would get this odd feeling from time to time.

Perhaps it was simply discomfort with Airiya as a person. Lilinai didn’t take it to heart.

“…”

Watching the purple-haired girl’s retreating figure, the Witch narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.

Then, slowly, the corners of her lips curled upward.