The Fireworks Festival organized by Will ended on a high note.
The next day.
Will was in great spirits as Zen and Selphy would be staying for a while longer after the event but as opposed to him…..
This was bad.
Chiffon’s tail curled up in a ball as her ears fidgeted restlessly. Will-Sama was only 8. It was normal for a boy his age to spend more time with his friends than to fall in love.
But still, this was bad if it continued.
What if, during this time when he was still disinterested in love, his feelings for his friend grew strong and something would blossomed between them instead? Chiffon was worried that she did not entered his eye at all.
Being his personal maid was, one part, repaying a debt of gratitude towards him but it was more of the feeling of wanting to be by his side. And, if there would be a chance that something would happened when they were together…..
The novels she read for research had plenty of of stories about how Nobles would lay their hands on their maid. In the end, the maids would get pregnant and they would then be wedded as their wife.
Oh, how wonderful!
In the cold winter, Chiffon was trying her best in wiping clean the windows when all of a sudden, a hand, filled with warm, touched her and when she turned from the surprise, she saw Will, smiling at her…. Chiffon quickly cut off her day dream in a haste. She can’t have a nose bleed in the middle of work.
She could be considered a pervert by society considering Will’s age.
But that’s alright if that meant that she could stay by Will’s side forever. That’s how much she loved him, she felt happiness just by being with him.
But then.
” There is a strong rival… ”
Chiffon sighed. She had expected Will to make friends in school and she even anticipated that he would be admired by a large number. So much so that it would not be strange for him to even had a fan club.
Even though Chiffon’s expectations were totally on point.
That was why, Chiffon had prepared to face her rival when she learned that Will would be bringing friends along when he returned.
But.
It was proved that Chiffon had it all wrong. The biggest enemy was right next to her! Of course, Will’s friend, Selphy, was frankly showing off her attraction to him and Chiffon was quite surprised at how thick-headed Will was to that. But!
Yes, him! Her biggest enemy!
John! Will’s home tutor and his best friend, the one and only JOHN!
Although Chiffon was conscious about how they do not see it that way. However, they were so close that there was no gaps for her to even slipped in. She wanted to avoid the situation where only John can held Will’s attention and she was always out of bounds.
She let out a long breath and gripped the cloth in her hands tightly. She had the afternoon free today. As Will was out playing with Zen and Selphy, this was the only chance.
” Time to attack! ”
[TN: ATTACK OF THE CHIFFON]
Thanks to Will and his friends, the residence was filled with lively energy. Ah, although most of them still hadn’t recovered from giddiness of the ‘Fireworks Festival’ Will planned.
It was a dream-like experience for Chiffon too.
When Will’s eyes met with hers right before the fireworks and he smiled, Chiffon thought her heart would burst from the amount of feelings she had inside. If that incident didn’t happened, Chiffon might still be basked in happiness. Vexed, Chiffon bit on her handkerchief.
All the bustling area were where all the work was going on, like the kitchen or the linen room. But right now, the corridor Chiffon was walking along did not entered i
nto any of one of the examples as she activated her presence-erasing skill from when she was still a [Shadow].
The reason why, was because this was the area where all the servants, like maids, gardeners and even cooks, slept at. This area, which was housed in the northen part of the mansion, was still slightly dark, despite it being an afternoon. By the way, the door of the mansion faced south so this part of the house was set at the very back.
It seemed to be the first-generation servants themselves who insisted on placing the quarters at this location. The first generation head and wanted intentionally to built a dormitory on a hill where the sun shined brightly and was near to both the street and the mansion. However, he was met with objections about how wasteful it was, as well as that there was no meaning if it was not closer to the mansion.
As with Gion and Will, every head of the Beryl’s could managed themselves and there was no chance for the servants to do anything. They were most probably scared that they would ended up not doing anything if their living quarters were further away.
For some reason, every head of the Beryl’s had very high specs, so much so that the servants around them looked like bumbling idiots. Who wouldn’t want to be the right hand or leg of their master?
And so, most of them ended up working behind the scenes. And bear the pride of supporting the magnificent head in whatever he does. And thanks to that, the servants quarters ended up being built at the north wing.
Was what was written on on the thick [The Heart Of The Servant] book Mary-San passed to her.
Chiffon recalled the thick bounded book wearily. That was because, although she was loyal to the Beryl’s family, it was slightly different to the book. This book had the knowledge and feeling of the servants for the past 200 years and although she liked the Beryl’s as well, she felt slightly fed up with being forced to bear and continued the love of the previous.
Chiffon regrouped herself as her ears and tail stood up.
Although it was basic knowledge to not make a racket along living quarters, most of the people staying here were working at this hour of the day. Besides, they would rather go to the matsuri if they had the time.
Different from the other parts of the mansion, it was quiet here. However, if Chiffon focused her ears…
” I can hear the scratching noise of a pen. ”
Chiffon mumbled to herself and she smiled. It seemed like her target was in the room. This was John she was talking about. He was always in his room until he was called. He did stayed at the research lab at the castle recently but he was more often than not doing something inside his room. John was popular with newcomers girls but was avoided by those who had been here for some time.
His appearance was good, but as a lover….
Said one of Chiffon’s colleague. Despite being teenagers, they were all very grounded in reality. But it had nothing to do with ‘Will-only’ Chiffon.
Taking a deep breath, Chiffon knocked on the door.
” I have questions! ”
Chiffon said the moment she entered the room. Due to the threatening tone, John can’t helped but to take a step back and be on guard.
To the John who stood frozen, Chiffon entered his room without restraint or embarrassment. Although this was unbecoming of a girl, it was not that Chiffon cared at the moment. She jabbed her finger at the surprised John as the hair on her tail stood on ends as she roared.
” Firstly, firstly, you slept with Will-Sama again, didn’t you?! Why did you do that?! It is an atrocity! ”
John blinked in surprise at the sudden accusation.
” No, I…. ”
John was stunned. Will was only a boy and not to mention that they were all male. To Chiffon who burst in suddenly, he could only saw her as a strange strange woman as he averted his eyes. This made Chiffon misunderstanding grew.
John did something wrong, that’s why he averted his eyes. Her anger grew.
” As I though! You shota-con! ”
Chiffon was basically snarling at this point and John was very taken-aback at this. Add to the fact that he was being scolded as a ‘Shota-con’, a word that he, as a scholar, had never ever heard of before. Swallowing the words of ‘if he should find a doctor to have a look at her’ back down as he tried asking.
” What…is ‘shota-con’? ”
The question that he squeezed out was met with an unbelievable answer.
” I don’t know! Will-Sama said that when he saw a uncle pulled a boy’s hand as he grinned! You’re like that uncle! ”
” Uncle….!? ”
Even John had taken some damaged from that. Will had just expressed his worries over his love life yesterday. Was it really that bad? John can’t helped but started to worry about himself.
” In, in any case, I was just doing an experiment with Will….. ”
” And what experiment was that? Unbecoming! ”
” No, it… ”
John tried to explained as his voice shook but Chiffon was not listening to his words.
” Plus! Why is it ‘Will’? This is just rude to the one you serve! You should show your respect! How sly! ”
” You said all of that but you’re just jealous aren’t you… ”
” Plus! To even follow Will-Sama to the capital! Are you a stalker?! How disgusting! How sly! ”
” Disgustin… ”
John was stumped at the insults thrown at him. He had to recover his bearings. It was never good to fight emotionally. He had to take a practical stand.
” …..I say, I was ordered by Master to return to the castle to continue my research. ”
By the way, that order was given because the King (Kesamu) had cling onto Master (Gion) in tears because the research was not progressing at all.
In reality, John was one of the few who could follow Will’s ‘crazy’ other-worldly knowledge and was considered to be a genius within the court scholar world. John quitting left a huge blow to their research.
John knew that he had given the perfect explanation and just when he was feeling smug about it…
” Hic…sob….wahhhhhh. ”
With her emotions so highly strung, Chiffon started crying. In her heart, she understood where John was coming from but her feelings just couldn’t kept up. To a girl worried about her love life, theory just couldn’t beat it. To put things bluntly, she was very envious about John and Will’s relationship.
And that in itself was suspicious.
Seeing Chiffon who burst out crying, John’s poker face collapsed as he began to really panicked. If Will was to see this situation, he had no idea what Will would say.
” But, but… it just stinks of something..hic.. ”
This was actually the consensus of the entire mansion.
Fujoshi, with their rotten hearts, just took this bait with glee but even those pure hearted women blushed at how close the both of them were.
They were so close that they could joke and quarrel with each other, showed a different smiling face from the one they showed to others and sometimes, there were eyewitness accounts from who peeked into their rooms, and saw them gripping onto each other’s hand and staring into each other’s eyes.
It was also normal for Will to spend the night over at John’s room and when a servant went in to changed the sheets, they saw them sleeping together on the same bed…
Actually, the relationship between the John and Will was the strange connection (never had a girlfriend before) they felt as well as how they could followed each other thinking and knowledge. In other words, they treated each other like rotten best buds.
As for why they were holding hands and staring into each other eyes, Will was showing John the technique of precise mana control as well as manipulation. And as a researcher, both of them often did experiments till the dead of night and they think nothing about sleeping together, treating it like a camp.
But, no matter which period and location, 2 good looking males together will always be a bait. Firstly, those Onee-sans with rotten hearts would bit onto it and that’s the start and the end of things. These Onee-san would then started sprouting their delusions to everyone and it would started spreading to others who misunderstood and even those who thought nothing about it would started to get suspicious.
Once you started thinking about it, it would always nagged on the back of your mind. It was a trick to misdirected the mind and the rotten Onee-sans had unwittingly used it.
No.. Everyone knew deep in their hearts that it was all a delusion. But humans were beings that would still go and thought about it. And so, the one who got caught in this trap was this pure little girl in love.
In other words, Chiffon.
She had been abused by the orphanage since young and was saved by Will when she was working as a [Shadow]. Of course she had no experience in love and Will was her very first love. And different from the admiration the rest of her peers felt, she truly liked Will.
Having no immunity to love, she can’t helped but thought about John whenever she thought about Will and their hand holding…..
Chiffon, who always stopped her imagination hurriedly when that happened, finally exploded yesterday. She somehow managed to controlled it in front of the guests but she had lay in bed at night, worrying endlessly about it.
It happened near the evening.
In the dimly lit room, the 2 of them were looking into each other’s eyes and moreover! Moreover, John had a blissful smile as he said to a bewildered Will.
” It’s okay. Because I have found a better lover than research… and that is you, Will. ”
That sealed it. That was it. Wasn’t that a love confession? Chiffon turned bright red as she thought back to it as she cried. Will had denied it but what about John??
” To.. to say such mushy words..how, how horrible! How unsightly! ”
” Eh? Wait, what are you talking about now? ”
” John-Sama, I, Chiffon, won’t lose to youuuuuuu!!! ”
John’s room was in chaos.