It was dinner time and Lloyd stood in front of Ryan’s door, knocking on it a few times, “Big Brother, it’s me.”
He wasn’t sure how long he waited after knocking, but he finally heard a reply, “…Come in.”
After getting permission, Lloyd carefully opened the door and entered the room. It appeared that Ryan wasn’t the only one inside the room.
“Sister in Law, it has been a while.”
“Oh dear…Sister in Law--I’m so embarrassed.” The woman who Lloyd called ‘Sister in Law’, the woman wearing the graceful dress, responded with a blush.
“It has been a while since I last saw you, Young Master Lloyd. You look so different than you did several years ago--I think that it would now be difficult to joke that you look like a child.”
Annabelle Morgred.
That was the name of the woman who got engaged to Ryan two years ago.
“So, what is she like?” Ryan quickly walked over next to Lloyd and asked, after Lloyd and Annabelle greeted each other.
“Well, she was as we expected.” Lloyd answered with a confident face, shrugging.
As expected, he didn’t have much to report.
“It seems like she is just a girl with nothing extraordinary about her. I went and took a look at how she was doing with her sword training, being taught by, Sera.” Lloyd gritted his teeth when he said Sera’s name, he paused to regain control of his emotions, “It didn’t look like she was particularly skillful either.”
“Hmm,” Ryan looked like he was thinking.
“Big Brother, you worry too much. If I had to point out anything unique about her--there was a disgusting scar covering half her face which almost made me puke, and she is missing two fingers from her right hand…Other than those--Nainiae had a beautiful half-face; she also had an incredible body…even though she was 14, she could outshine any of the other female maids.” Lloyd grinned at his big brother.
“Honestly, even I think that it is strange, and it makes me wonder--why would that lazy Riley bring in a disfigured and useless girl, having her work in the mansion.” Lloyd continued as he shook his head.
“After all, Riley’s taste is women has always been a mystery. If he has a thing for something like that, well…it would explain why he brought in a girl like her, making her settle in the mansion.” Lloyd murmured with a grin.
“Still, it is so strange. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something wrong with all of this.”
“Seriously. Big Brother, you doubt people too much. He isn’t called the Lazy Sword for no reason.” Lloyd shrugged when he heard Ryan’s words.
“In that case, should I take a look for you as well?”
Hearing the question, Lloyd turned his head towards Annabelle, “Sister in Law, would you like to?”
“Yes. It’s been a while since I visited Iphelleta Mansion, so I have to go greet Young Master Riley as well, so…Tomorrow, I will when I can find the time.”
“Will you be alright?” Ryan asked, looking at Annabelle with a gaze of someone worried about his beloved.
In response, she gave a reassuring smile, “Of course.”
***
Nainiae’s schedule for the day was pretty busy during the morning--Ian was staying by Riley’s side.
“Now, is this right?”
“No. The tea isn’t quite completely brewed yet. Try again.”
With Sera supervising her, Nainiae’s tasks and training were completed early--so she also received swordsmanship training.
“L-Like this?”
“You would lose your hand if you did it like that. What do you think you should do?”
“If…I lowered the angle a little?”
“Yes. A little further! You should lower it a little further!”
Maid work.
Maid training.
Swordsmanship lessons.
It was around 4 o’clock by the time those were completed, and she finally got to switch places with Ian--and be by the side of her Young Master.
Of course, she also had to prepare Magic lessons for Riley during all of these.
“You have done good work, Mr. Ian.”
“Ugh--It would be fine if I continue to look after him.” Ian growled at Nainiae’s words.
She went to the garden a little after 4 o’clock--after sighing heavily, she stood next to Riley, staring down into his sleeping face, a refreshed grin on her face…she felt like all the trouble she went through with her training and work, was worth it just for this.
Riley’s eyes were shut, and he was breathing regularly, so she felt safe staring at him like this--she was sure he was asleep and wouldn’t mind.
He looked so relaxed, and it made her feel relaxed as well--happiness bubbled up in her her heart…happiness and a warmth that she hadn’t felt from since before the experimentation.
Nainiae knelt by his side, her hand reaching out like she wanted to touch the peaceful face in front of her, but she paused, holding her palm out.
“...Wind.” She whispered.
‘Will this be good?’
Wind started to gently blow, making her hair wave gently.
‘Good.’
Because summer was almost here, the sunlight was warm--therefore the cool wind that was blowing right now, was something that perfected the situation.
The corners of Riley’s lips curled, as though he felt happiness even while asleep.
Nainiae smiled as well, she reached down and ever so gently brushed the hair off his forehead, her eye never leaving his face--all of her surrounds seemed to fade out…the sleeping man in front of her became her whole world.
***
“...Oh my!”
“...?”
Nainiae was still in her place, kneeling quietly next to Riley when she heard the loud voice of a woman--she was roughly wrenched out of her private world, filled only with her master, and back to reality.
When she looked at the source of the voice and saw a woman wearing a lavish dress, one that had an excess of lace. Even at a glance, it was obvious that she was a noble, someone of a much higher class than Nainiae.
‘This person is…’
Although Nainiae didn’t know her name, but she knew who she was, because Sera had explained it to her before. She was the daughter of a noble family and the fiancee of Ryan.
“Oh my, Oh my…Young Master Riley!”
It was a loud voice.
She seemed to be doing it on purpose, to wake Riley from his nap.
“Oh my, Young Master Riley. It’s been two years since I last saw you, but you are still such a sleepyhead.”
Instead of lowering her voice, the woman was increasing the volume.
Having noticed this, Nainiae’s eyebrows furrowed and she had to suppress the murderous intent surging in her heart. However, she couldn’t let the woman notice--this is what Sera taught her.
Annabelle, the noble daughter, took a step closer towards Riley, who was still laying down.
Following Sera’s education, Nainiae lowered her head when her eye met Annabelle’s.
“He was born from the Iphelleta Family, yet he is so foolish and lazy...”
Nainiae still had her head lowered, but she could hear Annabelle’s voice.
“After disgracing your brothers, you sure are shameless.” She poured out harsh words at Riley, who was still asleep.
Nainiae lifted her head at these words, and saw the expression on Annabelle’s face--which is full of intense hatred.
‘How dare…’
Nainiae looked at Riley’s sleeping face, his peaceful expression allowing her to suppress the murderous intent--but she wasn’t the type who would just stand by and watch her master being badmouthed by someone.
“...Silence.” Nainiae successfully cast a Spell quietly, so Annabelle couldn’t hear her.
Annabelle’s voice suddenly stopped.
The Spell that Nainiae cast silenced the affected person, stopping the person from letting out any sound. But--that wasn’t all, she had modified the Spell in a unique way, so the target of the Spell wouldn’t notice that they had been Silenced.
It was a Magic that she had designed recently, while she taught Magic to Riley--she had been thinking very hard recently about what kind of Magic Spells would be useful for her master.
‘Now, with this…Young Master won’t be woken by this woman’s voice, and she won’t be pestering Young Master about her sudden and ‘unexplainable’ silence.’
Relieved, Nainiae sighed inside.
‘Young Master is…Good, he is still asleep.’
Nainiae gently smiled again after looking down into her master’s still peaceful face.
***
The next day, with a wooden sword in her hand, Nainiae stood in front of a training dummy.
“Uh? Should I just swing it?” She asked Sera, who was standing behind her.
“Yes, you’re starting to have a proper form. So, I was thinking that it’s time you tried swinging the sword, hitting a target, as practice.” Sera answered with a nod.
“Finally…”
All this time, she had been learning the proper form--how to hold the sword correctly, to swing correctly, and how to stand correctly. It was the first time that she was going to swing it at a target, she couldn’t quite she was actually doing it.
“You should start with the first movement, you know that, right?”
Nainiae nodded in answer to Sera’s question.
In her mind, she felt like she was being tested--she murmured that she must do well. She tightened her grip on the handle of the wooden sword.
“At first, you should get a feel for it, so try striking it with all of your strength.”
Nainiae adjusted her stance, aiming the sword in her left hand at the training dummy--she took a deep breath, slid her primary foot forwards and swung with all of her strength.
With a ‘Clack’, the wood impacted the training dummy.
“...Huh?” Sera’s eyes became huge.
The result was far from what they both expected.
“...?”
The look on Nainiae’s face wasn’t different from Sera’s.
With a soft sound, the dummy’s upper-half fell to the ground.
“This is…Why?” Nainiae muttered.
She knew she hit the dummy with all of her strength. However…she didn’t expect the training dummy to be cut clean in half.
“Nainiae…” Sera spoke slowly.
“Yes?”
“By any chance, did you use it?”
Nainiae knew that Sera meant Magic--so she shook her head, answering no.
With a look of disbelief, Sera stared at the half of the training dummy that was on the ground, it had a completely flat surface.
‘This is impossible!’
On the other hand, the person who was hiding in the corner couldn’t hide the shock from witnessing the training dummy being cut in half.
‘W-Where did he get a Monster like her?!’
The one staring at Nainiae with a dumbfounded face, his draw dropping--was, of course, Lloyd.
