What just happened?

 

I was still contemplating all the events that transpired since waking up while following Aria. As we had to keep our relationship hidden, we acted like a proper noble and her maid to fool the guards and bystanders.

 

Upon reaching Aria’s room, I closed the door and pulled Aria into a hug.

 

My whole body started trembling as I crushed her harder.

“I’m so confused… and frightened right now, I- I woke up, and-”

 

“Shh shh. It’s alright, Letty. I am here. Let’s both calm down first”, she said while patting my back.

 

Ouch…

 

I know that I hugged her first, but I forgot about the light bruise on my back, right where she is patting me.

 

“Ouch, wait, Aria, It’s painful. My back was bruised when I woke up”

 

“What? You are hurt? Should I call a doctor? Wait right here”, she said, starting to walk towards the door.

 

I caught her arms and stopped her, “Stop, it’s no big deal. It’s just a light bruise. I’ll be good after a little first aid. Besides, you can’t just call a doctor to treat a maid. Maids need to visit the commoner’s clinic in the city”

 

“Are you sure you’re okay? Your cry sounded painful. Then let me do it. And tell me about how you got hurt in the first place”, she said.

 

“Yes, I’ll tell you everything that happened. By the way, what’s up with your eyes? Are you okay?”

 

“Nevermind my eyes. You’re hurt, that takes the priority”

She sat me down on her bed and searched for a first aid box in the room. I took this moment to calm my heart and catch a breath.

 

Aria pulled up my dress. Thankfully, I slept in the same dresses that I wore on the outing last night. I was feeling lazy and decided to skip the nightwear. Contrary to what Teacher taught me, laziness saved me from a great deal of shame today.

 

“Oh no, the bruise looks painful. How did this happen? There is no way you sleep-walked and fell, right?”, she asked.

 

“No, but some very strange things happened. Don’t freak out, but apparently… I was kidnapped”

 

“YOU WERE WHAT?!”, she accidentally brushed her hand on my bruise as she yelled.

 

“Ouch! And keep your voice down. Hear the full story first, it gets very complicated”

 

“I’m so sorry. I’ll let you speak”, she started to tenderly apply the medicinal salve on my bruise and waited for me to speak.

 

“A very sharp pain on my back woke me up. At first, I thought that I had fallen off the bed. But as I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see anything. I was about to move around when I heard, 

‘Finally, we got away from the city. We scored big this time, the heir of House Ernius! We’re going to be swimming in gold after getting the ransom’, and the other one replied, ‘Yeah, serves her right for capturing our youngest’.

This made me realize that I had been kidnapped. And an even bigger shock was that they mistook me for you”, She finished applying the salve and sat beside me. I continued,

 

“Hearing them, I was very infuriated. How dare they even think about harming you!”, I saw Aria wanting to voice out her opinion, but I stopped her and continued,

 

“I wanted to teach them a lesson. But my position was disadvantageous, they must be very strong if they managed to kidnap me right under the noses of so many guards. And not to mention that I was wrapped up in a bag. If I had moved around, they would be alarmed. So I formulated a plan to strike right when they opened the bag. But then, after a little while, I heard a sharp voice say,

‘Don’t move, if you know what’s good for you’. I didn’t recognize that voice, but it wasn’t yours, so I continued my act. The girl was an ice mage, and she dealt with the thugs pretty easily. She felt like an even stronger opponent.

I heard her tie-up the thugs. This gave me hope that she came here to save me. But just as I was about to announce my presence, I heard the girl say,

‘Well, at least this way, we can cover up this incident’, and some other girl replied,

‘Yes my Lady, it’s almost dawn. People are going to start waking up soon. We’ve got to hurry’.

I recognized the second voice though, she was Lady Beatrice’s personal maid. And that must mean that the person who saved me was none other than Lady Beatrice”

 

“What? You were kidnapped by some strong people, and then Beatrice saved you? But then, what did she mean by cover up? It doesn’t make any sense”, Aria was shocked as well.

 

“I know right. That’s why I continued my act. I thought that I might pick up on some other clues this way. But alas, I didn’t find anything. The maid left me in the garden, and that’s when the guards found me”, I said.

 

“First of all”, she hugged me again, carefully avoiding my bruise. “I’m so glad that you’re safe. I still can’t believe you were kidnapped. No wonder you were trembling, you must have been so scared. I’m sorry for not being able to protect you”, she said while ruffling my hair.

I also recieved a couple of alerts about SP, but I chose to ignore them for now.

“The kidnappers must be skilled in stealth magic if they managed to pull this off. But how were you still asleep when they picked you up and fled? As far as I know, you’re not that heavy of a sleeper”

 

“Yeah, that’s what confused me the most. Normally, I would wake up when the head maid knocked on my door. But today, someone picked me up and fled, and I didn’t even wake up. There are so many things that don’t make any sense. Why did Lady Beatrice want to cover for the kidnappers? And what did she do with them after catching them?”, I said.

 

“Yeah, it is confusing indeed. Maybe… They didn’t want this incident to be made public so that they could hide their guard’s incompetence…”, she pondered.

 

“No, that can’t be. Kidnapping is a serious crime, they can’t cover it up like they just did. And why did only Lady Beatrice and her maid reach out to rescue me? Why weren’t you or your family informed? Something’s fishy”, I said.

 

“You don’t mean that… That can’t be, it must be a coincidence. You just said that she saved you”, Aria refused to believe that Beatrice might have been in on this.

 

“Yes, it’s exactly as it seems. And on the way back, Lady Beatrice asked her maid to deal with the three of them. But as far as I knew, there were only two guards in the carriage. So that must mean that they had an accomplice on the outside. For Lady Beatrice to have so much intel about the incident that had just transpired and even trying to cover it up… I can only imagine one reason”

Aria was in denial. She didn’t want to believe that Beatrice might have been one of the instigators.

 

“No! We can’t blame anyone without evidence. I’m sure she must have accidentally seen you getting kidnapped and followed you to rescue you. She saved you, didn’t she? And I can’t believe that the same girl who tried so hard to befriend me during my time at the academy would do such a thing. We must hear her part of the story. Let’s go and talk to her”, she said.

 

“We can’t. It’s dangerous. Let’s say that what you said was true. Then why follow the kidnappers alone instead of informing the guards? And all of that for a mere maid. And if she went to such lengths to cover up the incident, it’s not a great idea to confront them now. Besides, I’m safe, aren’t I?”

 

“I c-can’t believe she would do such a thing”, her voice was getting a little shaky. "I'm already so pissed at the guards for letting this happen, and now this... I just don’t know what to do"

 

“And if she was indeed involved, the original target was you, Aria. We can’t confront her now. We are in her house. And I don’t want to risk your safety. Let’s get out of here first, and then discuss this with Teacher and Sir Richard”

 

As we were about to leave anyway, it would be safer to deal with it later. And secondly, she is looking way too tired. She needs to rest.

 

Understanding the situation, Aria nodded in agreement.

 

***

[Slight R-18/ ecchi ahead]

 

We left the city after a quick breakfast.

 

After getting out of the city, we entered Teacher and Sir Richard’s carriage to tell them about the incident.

 

As expected, their reactions were very sour. Teacher caressed my hair and gently said, “I’m so glad you’re alright”. Both of them consoled me, and then Sir Richard said,

 

“But you must have misheard. There is no way any sensible person would target Aria, especially in their own mansion. And if the target was indeed my baby, then Lady Beatrice can’t possibly have played a role in the kidnapping. Leaving aside the fact that she is protected by our trusted shadow knights, the situation would be worse for House Rose if their guest was kidnapped”

 

That also makes sense. According to the law of the kingdom, if Aria were to be harmed in any way during their stay at Rose County, they would be held accountable and may face very harsh consequences. But I know that I heard it right… Hah, it’s all so confusing. Let’s leave this matter to Sir Richard. He won’t take this matter lightly.

 

“My baby and Miss Letica, you both look very exhausted. Go and rest, I’ll investigate the situation. At any rate, it’s a good thing that Letica stopped you from confronting Lady Beatrice right then and there. We can’t accuse anyone without proof. Go back to your carriage and have some rest”, he said to Aria.

 

“Yeah, we’ll go now”

 

We returned to our carriage and finally took a breath of relief.

 

I wanted to make small talk to break the tense atmosphere, but Aria looked like she’d fall asleep any moment now. She was clearly exhausted.

 

She was really worried about me. Poor Aria. It’s all my fault for getting kidnapped in my sleep. Like, come on, if I hadn’t been asleep, I could have screamed, and the situation wouldn’t have escalated in the first place.

 

Shaking my head, I decided not to think too much about it, and focused on Aria instead.

 

“Here, you should get some rest” I said, as I pulled her head over to my lap and gave her a lap pillow.

 

Hehe, it reminds me of the time we first met. She gave me a lap pillow when she saw that I was too tired to work. I hope it’s just as comfortable for her as it was for me.

 

She didn’t reply and quietly settled her head on my lap. Now this is exactly what I needed to relieve all the accumulated stress from last night and this morning.

 

I gently caressed her hair for a few minutes until I heard her ever-so-quiet snores. She is looking very adorable on my lap, with her chest swelling and contracting in a rhythm.

 

She slept like a log on my lap. And her complexion was filled with radiance again. Even though my legs felt a little numb, I let her rest as much as she wanted. We were nearing a village where we planned to have lunch, so I was told to wake her up.

 

I noticed them before, but the milk really did wonders for her breasts. They’re nowhere near as big as mine or Teacher’s, but her proportions were perfect in my eyes, they added to her cuteness. It’s an integral part of her charm. Speaking of breasts, a while ago she felt my breasts when I was asleep. Should I repay her?

 

I moved my fingers towards her chest, inches away from her breasts. Gulp, here goes nothing,

 

Soft..

 

“Eep! Letty. What are you doing? This is way too fast!”. Oops, looks like she woke up.

 

“Hehe, it was payback for that time. They are really soft, I kind of wish you didn’t wake up…”, I said.

 

“I said, I didn’t mean to. It just sort of happened”, she was visibly blushing.

 

This is the perfect opportunity to get back at her. Let’s tease her further,

 

“Ooh, but I know you wanted to. You already confessed, so there is no point denying now…”, I saw her stay silent and look away, still on my lap.

 

“You know, I said it before, but you just brushed it off. Here, you can do whatever you want” I said coquettishly, as I pushed my breast forward. I knew that she wouldn’t do it. I just wanted to tease her.

 

But a small part of me wanted her to touch them. Am I the perverted one? I’m sorry for this, Aria, but it’s so fun seeing you blush.

 

But then something unexpected happened.

 

“Aah!”, I moaned.

She actually did it. Her hands gently held my breasts, brushing my nipples through my uniform.

 

Oh God! It wasn’t supposed to go this way!

 

“Now what, huh? You think you can keep attacking without any consequences? Hehe, now why are you going red? Weren’t you the one who asked to be groped?”, she said. I could see that she was blushing as well, but she was nowhere near as red as I was.

 

“Hah! I didn’t think you’d- Hya!- actually do it”, I said, as she kneaded my breasts.

 

“Hehe, how’s this? Regretting your decision to tease me, yet?”, she asked.

 

“Yes, I do”, is what I said, but internally, I didn’t want her to stop. I wanted this to go on, but I can’t say that aloud.

What if she figures out how immodest I am?

 

Would she still look at me the same way?

 

She continued teasing me, “You started it, so you’ll have to take responsibility”

 

Her hands tenderly massaged my breasts, and I was thoroughly enjoying it, to the point where it was getting very difficult to hold back my moans. It was a very different feeling from when I did it myself. There is just something about not knowing where her hands are going to move next that makes it even more exciting.

 

I’m starting to feel a little tingly.

 

As we were playing around, I heard the carriage door open. Shocked by the abrupt sound, we seized our actions, but alas, we were a bit too late.

 

Teacher had caught us, with Aria’s hands all over my breasts. There is no getting out of this situation.

 

‘Kyah- how shameful!’, I internally screamed.

 

“Young Ladies!! Do you not have any shame? Get off each other and follow me. Here I was, worried about the both of you, and this is what I see. I’ll have to punish you so that you think at least three times before performing such vulgar actions in public”, she roared.

 

Aria quickly got off me and straightened her clothing.

 

“Mom, it’s not what it looks like-”

 

Just as she was about to make up some excuse, Teacher shot her down, saying, “Oh it is exactly how it looks like. You are not getting out of it this time, prepare yourselves for a long chat after lunch”

 

Oh God, we are in for a loong lecture.