I woke up a few hours later than usual. My lady was already awake and staring at me with her fervent gaze and a smile. I hadn’t realized how much exhaustion this mortal body had accumulated over the past few sleepless nights. There was no light from the sun even in the morning, and light drizzle struck the windows periodically. I watched the mana lamp over us for a while before turning to my lady.

My lady rolled over and sat over my abdomen, her legs pinning me to the bed. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, my lady,” I smiled. “Can you please get off my stomach?”

“Who was begging me to hug last night?” she raised her brows and cupped my cheeks. “My lady, please hug me before I start losing myself.” She tried to mimic my voice and failed.

“I didn’t say that,” I sighed. “How did you come up with that corny line, anyway?” 

“The point is,” a smile bloomed on her face. “You didn’t refuse me last night. And even slept with me. So, take responsibility for touching me in my sleep.”

“You touched me in my sleep and asked me to sleep beside you. How come I should take responsibility for your actions?”

Letitia paused and thoughtfully gazed into my eyes. “Then I will take responsibility for you.”

With that, she assuaged my lips with hers, and I deftly avoided them by turning my head to one side. She didn’t give up and moved over to my neck, her soft bite tickling me, and I rolled around, pinning her under me. My arms supported my entire weight, and she just stared at me, her breaths hoarse, blood creeping up her face.

My lady didn’t let me get up and held my neck before I could roll down and wrapped her legs around my waist. 

“Morning kiss,” she giggled and rested her head in the crook of my neck as I stood forcefully, pulling her up with me.

“Your mouth stinks for that,” I said and tried to get rid of her. She stuck on me stubbornly, and I was reminded of the Koals that stuck to a single tree for the entire lifetime. I had only heard stories about them in the realm. I didn’t need to see one after my lady’s barbaric episode. 

“I knew you would say that,” I felt her smile against my neck. “So I have already brushed my teeth.”

She leaned her face away from my neck and kissed me hard, nibbling on my lower lip for too long. I hesitantly wrapped my hands around her waist and pulled back. She was taken aback by my gesture, so she let me watch her face for a while. 

“It’s not about me feeling good, my lady,” I finally said, not letting her go. “My mortal body might crave two days of pleasure, but can you imagine the eternal solitude forced on me? Craving for bread like crazy yet not being able to take a single bite. I can’t imagine a world without bread, my lady. And I have to live in a world without you. For eternity. So, don’t become my bread if you care about me as much as you say you do.”

She nuzzled her forehead against mine. “Didn’t I tell you last night?” 

“What?” I sighed. I wasn’t getting through to her, I knew. 

Mortals were selfish, and my lady all the more because I had groomed her to become one. We undead were at the epitome of selfishness, but I wasn’t talking about us here. This weird relationship had to be nipped out before it blossomed into something I couldn’t handle. As far as I was concerned, my lady was my villainess, and I, her sincere aide.

“I will become undead for you,” she said.

I laughed at that. “You can try, and then we can talk,” I said, removed my hand from her waist, and ruffled her hair.

She pouted. “All I need to do is learn how to extract life force, right? How hard can it be? I have sixty or more years left and, with your [Garken] spell, eternal youth. I can work hard, scribble more notes, and become undead just like you.”

“Don’t you remember why I read you the story in the first place, my lady?” I sighed. “It’s despair, my lady. Un-life of undead. It’s not all colors you think it is. You have to suppress your urge to gobble up mortals for the few hundred years, undergo torturous loneliness for the next few, until indifference to life and death weighs you down–“

“That was because you were all alone,” she ran her hands through my hair. “I don’t want you to be alone anymore.”

I chuckled again. “You don’t understand a word I am saying, my lady. Don’t let your wasteful feelings toward me cloud your judgment.”

“Why are you so stubborn, Rudolf?!” she retorted, tightening her grip around my neck.

“Why are you so stubborn, Letitia?!” I followed her retort, though softly and respectfully, unlike her.

We stared at each other for a while until she sighed. “I don’t want to quibble with you. At least let me touch you and feel you occasionally. If I cannot become undead, then fine. But I won’t have regrets that I never tried. If I do become one, you will be beside me for eternity, so I have nothing to worry about.”

“What about becoming a villainess?” I asked.

“I will make it a side quest,” she smiled and paused for a while. “No. I will make it the main quest until we overthrow the kingdom. Then I can focus on mastering external casting without any worries. You came to this world to watch me do it, after all. How can I let you leave unsatisfied, should I fail in attaining immortality?”

“Thank you, my lady,” I grinned. I won in the end, despite some detours and some quibbling.

“Then I will continue biting your neck,” her grin countered my own.

Or maybe not.

Garlan returned to the inn after we had settled down in the tavern below for bread-fast. That was all we ordered, and that was all we ate. Even after my bread lad joined us on the table, it was still bread-fast because he hadn’t ordered anything new. He appeared exhausted and ragged, and his clothes had gotten dingy, adding to his backpack. He must have moved some crumbled edifices before joining us at the inn.

Garlan eyed my neck suspiciously and burst out laughing. “That must have been a harsh night, Rudolf.” 

He even blatantly teased my lady. “How did he perform, Letitia?” 

My lady rolled her eyes and did not turn away in embarrassment. She felt it, though, from the way her ears turned red. I just shrugged and didn’t reply to Garlan. He laughed for a while, teasing us until my lady froze his tongue for good. He cast her an apologetic glance, and only when the woman from yesterday walked closer to our table did she clear the frost on his tongue. With much hesitance.

The woman was alone and sad. But there was a sense of relief on her face, which the worry had whacked away yesterday. Being responsible for one less life was always one less burden on the mortals.

She glanced at our table and then at the scrawny men before deciding to join us. My lady didn’t have any qualms about it, but Garlan’s mannerism had changed to a reputable commoner and mercenary, who many things about the lands far and beyond. He even talked about his exploits with the demon Carcass, narrating his own tiny role with ardent valor and bravado that the woman’s expression improved considerably.

“She wasn’t my daughter, yet was my baby,” the woman finally talked, leaving a confused Garlan. “My sister and her husband died in the fire. Begged me to save her child when the raging fire drained the life out of her. I wanted to become a mother who could provide for her. But I didn’t know she would die within a night.”

“What are your plans, commoner?” my lady asked, and she offered her bead to me.

“I don’t know, lady Valorat,” the woman said. “Careless of me not to introduce myself. I am Igal, originally from Coln, but settled in Port Achlon recently after communal unrest.”

“Have you killed before?” that question wasn’t something my lady was supposed to ask a stranger. But I exchanged amused glances with horrified Garlan.

There was hesitance in her voice before she nodded. “When I was eighteen, lady Valorat. Become a soldier at a tender age. Dressed as a man. Killed a fellow soldier who tried to lay his hands on me. Got demoted and almost beheaded. The bas... assaulter’s friend saved me. Said the man attempted to kill me. Later my sister got married and pulled me out of that mess. We moved soon, mother already dead in the fire ten years ago. And now, sister too.”

There was as much anger as misery in her voice. She wiped the tears that had flowed out again. “Life made me softer again,” she said, eyes downcast. “I never cried when I was in the army. Thought these blissful days would last forever.”

“How old are you?” my lady continued with her questions, not bothered to address her emotional instability. I realized she was trying to recruit a maid for the manor.

“Twenty-three today,” Igal said. 

“You will work become a maid from this day on,” my lady ordered.

“Maid?” there was hope on Igal’s face, something that she had become used to being crushed. 

“Don’t you hear well, commoner?” my lady asked. “If so, then forget about it.”

“I do, I do, lady Valorat. But you already have one butler…”

“I said ‘maid of the manor’. Don’t you know the difference?!” my lady clicked her tongue. “And enough with your questions. One more, and I am through with you. This is not your barracks. I expect you to learn etiquette befitting maids of noble houses in less than two fortnights. I will kick you out of the manor. if you don't.”

She quickly bowed her head in gratitude. “This servant is grateful.”

And just like that, Garlan had a new companion on his horse. Igan knew to ride a horse, but my lady didn’t want to waste money after having used up most, if not all, of it. So, we traveled out of the port early morning the next day, planning to reach Carthan city by nightfall. There were no storms to breach our journey, so we arrived long before dusk, and I removed my gloves before revisiting Sigmouth Inn. 

Another night’s rest and we were back on the road, stopping for a couple of hunts and some quibbles. Igan was well-versed with the sword, and she fought on par with Garlan, if not better. They had developed a close kinship after having ridden the horse together for a couple of days.

So the realization must not have hurt my bread lad as much as I thought it did.

She was his sister, and so was her sister, his sister. Adding to Milan, he had found three of his long-lost sisters. One dead, and that made two alive. 

My lady and I had laughed our hearts out most of our return journey. 

I wonder if Garlan would be able to reunite with his family in this lifetime.