Chapter 38
What kind of person was Runoa?
The heartless villainess of the Edelheid ducal house.
A black mage who would trample over other people's lives without a second thought if you angered her.
That was the Runoa I knew.
Though there would surely be many differences between her present self and her future self, I figured the root of her nature wouldn't be all that different.
‘But what's this.’
The Runoa in front of me was far too different from the cruel villainess I knew.
She was curled up like a shrimp, both hands clamped over her ears. With her eyes squeezed shut and her whole body trembling, she looked like a rabbit terrified out of its wits.
-KABOOM!
Another earth-shaking roar exploded.
“Ugh...!”
Runoa clenched her teeth so hard they might crack, swallowing a stifled groan.
As I stared blankly at that pitiful yet somehow cute sight, I recalled what Vivi had said before leaving.
“-Please take good care of the young lady while I'm away. Especially on days like these.”
‘So that's why she said that.’
Vivi, Runoa's personal maid, had known it. She knew that Runoa was weak to thunder and lightning.
Another thing came to mind.
‘Now that I think about it, lightning magic worked pretty well on Runoa.’
When using lightning-element magic against the black mage Runoa, it dealt extra damage.
‘I thought it meant she was a black mage and weak to sparkling attacks like light, but she was just afraid of lightning.’
I can't believe such a trivial truth was hiding there.
The lightning died down.
Runoa slowly opened the eyes she'd kept shut tight. Her low, subdued green eyes swept the area before locking straight onto me.
“...”
“...”
An odd atmosphere hung between us.
Could there be anything more awkward than this silence?
I could see the pale color draining from her cheeks before they flushed red.
“Would you like a hug?”
“Get lost...!”
I was chased away.
***
As night fell, the heavy rain began pouring in earnest. The sound of rain battering the window wouldn't stop.
I lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“I'm bored.”
I ate dinner alone, and with weather like this I couldn't even train.
It's not like I have anything else to do.
“Why don't I have a gallery?”
These days, in possession stories, a gallery seems more common than a status window. If I shouted 'Gallery!', wouldn't one pop out?
But looking at me now, even if I did have a gallery, it'd definitely be something like [Slave Minor Gallery].
And there they'd all be, ranking which slave had it worse.
‘I really do have it rough too.’
Of course, I eat well, rest when I want, get spoiled by the older sisters, and even though my master's personality is a little nasty, she's easy on the eyes!
Still, the future is pitch-black!
I really do live a pitiful life!
There probably isn't a slave more pitiful than me, sob sob.
-RUMBLE!
A sound like the sky itself was splitting rang out. The thunderstorm had been raging since earlier.
“Is she okay...? She didn't faint, did she?”
Maybe because of what I'd seen earlier, Runoa keeps flickering in my mind.
I don't know how she usually got through weather like this, but at the very least, Vivi isn't by her side right now.
And since Runoa isn't on close terms with the other servants, she might be under the blankets by herself, shivering.
‘Hard to imagine, though.’
But well, the image I had of Runoa had already cracked long ago.
‘Go? Don't go? Go? Don't go?’
If I butt in out of nowhere, won't I just get scolded for nothing? It'll end on its own once time passes anyway.
Best not go after all.
Let's sleep.
-RUMBLE, BOOM!
“Ugh, seriously.”
I kicked the blanket away and sprang to my feet.
Let's just go have a quick look.
When else would I get to see something this rare?
***
Runoa liked the dark.
Sunlight was offensively bright. Standing under a bright light made her feel as though everything about her was being stripped bare.
Days overflowing with color were tiring, and she liked the colorless darkness of night.
In the dark, no one came looking for her. There was no need to endure anyone's gaze.
She liked rainy days too.
When the sound of rain came pouring down, it buried the mansion's suffocating silence.
At the same time, the sense of being the only one left in the world actually gave her relief.
-RUMBLE, BOOM!
Runoa, with the blanket pulled over her head on the bed, flinched.
She hated thunder and lightning.
She hated them terribly.
She didn't know why. Ever since she was little and had no memories, she'd hated thunder and lightning. She'd tried many times to overcome it, but it was impossible.
Just as herbivores fear carnivores, she couldn't erase the instincts etched into Runoa's body.
So on days when thunder and lightning struck, Vivi would stay at her side, but of all days, she'd taken leave today.
Which meant she had no choice but to spend the night alone.
Runoa's arm slipped out from under the blanket. Feeling around the bedside table, she searched for the water bottle. Maybe because she was tense, her throat kept growing dry.
But because she'd been drinking without stopping, the water bottle was empty.
Instead, she rang the bell to call a maid, but maybe it was buried under the sound of wind and rain, because no matter how long she waited, no one came.
“Sigh...”
In the end, she had no choice but to go to the kitchen and fetch it herself.
Runoa slowly got up. She put on her slippers and poured mana into the lantern to light it.
She shuffled over and opened the door.
“Hmm... what should I do? Maybe I should just turn back after all.”
A hallway filled with darkness. A strange shadow stretched long across it. It wouldn't stay still for even a moment, shifting left and right.
When Runoa thrust the hand holding the lantern forward, the owner of the shadow slowly took shape.
“...Leon?”
“Young Lady?”
It was Leon.
He was wandering the hallway in an indoor tunic instead of his usual apprentice knight uniform.
For a moment, Runoa was startled by his appearance, then she hardened her face and frowned.
“What are you doing here at this hour?”
Runoa trusted no one. If the other person was a slave, that was only natural.
She had imagined more than once that Leon might stab her with a knife while she slept.
Of course, as long as the subordination contract existed, he couldn't harm his master. Even so.
“Ah, um, well...”
“Speak.”
“I kept thinking about what I saw this afternoon...”
“...”
Runoa bit her lower lip hard.
On rainy days, she didn't meet anyone, but of all times, thunder had struck then, and she'd shown the slave something she never should have.
Runoa narrowed her eyes and glared at him with a fierce look.
“You keep letting me off easy, so it seems you don't know your place. Don't get cocky. Do I look so ridiculous that I need to be worried over by a mere slave—”
-BOOM! KABOOM!
“Eep!”
In an instant, the hallway was flooded white.
Her voice cracked comically at the end.
The imposing aura she'd just been exuding moments ago vanished without a trace.
“...”
“...”
Once again, suffocating silence settled over the hallway.
The moment she realized what she'd just said, Runoa's whole body trembled.
How hard was she gripping the lantern for even the pool of light illuminating the hallway to sway as if an earthquake had hit?
Her pale cheeks and ears turned blazing red, as if they might burst. She was so humiliated tears looked ready to well up on the spot.
‘If he keeps teasing me here, I really might bite my tongue off and die.’
Leon didn't even dare think about teasing her. Barely suppressing the laughter threatening to leak out, he forced himself to keep a straight face.
“Ahem. What are you doing out here at this hour, Young Lady?”
“...”
“Young Lady?”
“...Water.”
Had she already drunk it all?
But there should be a maid on duty in the nearby antechamber. If she rang the bell, someone would come rushing over.
‘I guess the sound got drowned out.’
So it wasn't hard to infer that Runoa had come out herself.
“Understood. Then I'll head back for now, so please have a peaceful night...”
-RUMBLE, BOOM!
The hallway turned white once more, as if a flash grenade had gone off.
“...”
“...Should I go fetch it?”
Runoa answered by giving the tiniest nod.
It was such a shy gesture that you'd miss it if you didn't look closely.
“Understood. Please rest in your room for a moment. I'll hurry back.”
***
I stopped by the kitchen and got the water bottle.
In the kitchen, Mari, the night-duty maid, was on standby, and she didn't think much of my visit.
I often stopped by for late-night snacks, after all, since I was still growing.
Of course, I hid the fact that I'd come to fetch Runoa's water.
A slave carrying out the young lady's private errands in the middle of the night. It was exactly the kind of thing to fuel strange rumors.
“Young Lady, I brought your water.”
“...Come in.”
It was a tiny voice, like an ant creeping in. I opened the door and stepped into Runoa's bedroom.
This was my first time entering Runoa's bedroom.
Naturally, a slave wouldn't have any reason to enter a noble's bedroom except in very special cases.
Runoa was seated on the large canopy bed, the blanket pulled tightly up to her throat as she sat demurely.
I approached the bed and picked up the empty glass on the bedside table.
-Glug, glug.
“Here's your water. I brought warm water.”
“...”
There was no answer.
Instead, the blanket that had been wrapped snugly up to her throat rustled, and a single pale, slender hand popped out through the gap.
Runoa drank the water slowly. I could hear her swallowing it, gulp after gulp.
After emptying the glass in an instant, Runoa held out her hand again and lightly tapped the empty glass.
I wordlessly filled it once more. This time too, she drained it in an instant.
Only after emptying two glasses in a row did her thirst seem to subside; she set the empty glass on the bedside table and let out a small breath.
“...That's enough. You can go.”
“Yes.”
“Forget what happened today. That's an order.”
“Yes.”
Runoa looked at me with her usual fierce eyes, as though nothing had happened.
‘Does this woman not know how to say thank you?’
I did think maybe I shouldn't have come, but if I'd left her alone, she'd only have thrown another fit tomorrow.
If I thought of it as preventing trouble in advance, I got off cheap.
“Sleep well.”
After saying my goodbyes, I was about to head back to my room.
-RUMBLE, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The biggest thunderclap of this downpour so far exploded.
I mean, sure. I was startled at first, but by now I'd gotten used to it, so I just brushed it off.
-Tug.
My clothes were pulled tight. When I looked back, Runoa was tugging on my hem.
While trying her best not to show how uneasy she was.
“I'll make a special exception and let you stay by my side... just for today.”
“No, I don't really want to.”
Why would I?
What was I supposed to hear while sitting beside her?
Then, for a moment, Runoa's face took on the most resentful look imaginable before hardening again.
“It's an order. Stay here.”