…

Fate: “So are you still going to keep playing this game?”

 

His tone is cold, but I can tell it’s forced. However, I’m more worried and scared by the burn on my arm! I can feel my muscles and joints burning!

 

He suddenly picked his head up from where he had it, near my ear, and brought his face to face mine. I was currently in a severe amount of pain but still managed to avoid grinding my teeth. His gaze suddenly turns from devilish to fierce!

 

-What’s eating away at you...my lord? What really...happened to you that...you’re trying to prove your cruelty after you...supposedly attacked her? Would someone...like that...really need to show off this many expressions to make me fear them…?

 

I continued to wince internally from the pain, but was brought out of it by my lord’s next words…

 

Fate: “Are you seriously looking down on me this much? You’ve already heard what I did to my mother, right?~”

 

His tone is playful, however, he still keeps his gaze fixed and barely blinks. I lull over his question and suddenly start to feel a bit calmer. The way he attempts to change himself, trying to figure out what will make me fear him...it definitely suits him.

 

-Am I looking down on him? In this situation, I don’t think I am…

 

Liza: “Currently, I think you’re the one who’s looking down on me, aren’t you master? Though, to answer your question, I am not, nor have I ever looked down on you.”

 

I suddenly feel an intense stinging sensation grip my burn, causing me to outwardly wince in pain, unable to restrain it like before! His gaze is starting to shake... what could he be thinking about?

 

Fear begins to grip me and I attempt to force myself to ignore the pain. I continue to lock eyes with him but moved my hand that he hadn’t restrained that much onto his hand. He sneered and gripped the burn tighter, but I did not make any attempts to remove him…

 

-It... hurts! I know that...he can’t...use magic that long, but...I hope that he runs out soon...so that I can talk…!

 

His eyes shook more intensely and it didn’t seem like he knew that his expression was becoming more depressed...I genuinely felt sorry for him. He gripped tighter and I could hear sizzling and popping sounds coming from my burn, I couldn’t hold my expression. I felt my eyes water, my eyebrows curl, and my body gradually becoming numb.

 

Fate: “Come on, just give it up already!”

 

His eyes continued to shake rapidly, but I soon felt a wet sensation running down my arm. I ignored it, of course, however, I couldn’t get rid of the question in my mind as I held his hand with my own…

 

-Is it... my blood...or his? How much... has he suffered... for him to shrug off digging his fingers into a wall...then burning them while trying to... frighten someone?

 

Liza: “I would not mind... dying this way, my lord. However, I don’t think... you’ll find another attendant such as I…!”

 

I spoke without really thinking, but I knew that there was logic in what and how I spoke. On the day that I had first met him, he was already despised by the other servants attending him and was even confined to a cell! Surely someone who went out of his way to threaten a servant had been desperate enough to do so for a reason…

 

He closed his eyes for a moment, a deep frown setting onto his face as he did so. The flames on his finger stopped burning as he stood himself up and looked over me like a beast that didn’t like the scent of its next meal.

 

He gazed at his fingers, cut up, bleeding, and a bit burnt while gritting his teeth. I stood up as well and tore some cloth from my sleeve, which I had to use my teeth for, given the condition of my other arm. I wrapped the cloth around his hand like I had been taught and tied it tight before standing confidently and grinning at my lord, at which he seemed dumbfounded.

 

Liza: “See? You didn’t fight back and now it should just take a few days for those scrapes to heal. However…”

 

-He must not do this to himself, he is a child of nobility after all! 

 

I furrowed my brow and gazed into his eyes with seriousness. After making sure that his gaze was fixed on my own, I decided to speak my mind…

 

Liza: “Please refrain from injuring yourself like this in the future, I’ll get in trouble if you’re not in good health!”

 

He switched his gaze towards the burn on my arm, seeming to examine the injury. I looked at it, it definitely looked like a cause for concern.

 

-As for my injuries, I’ll have to patch myself up in my quarters without Mother noticing. She’d kill me if she found out that this happened...or the young master, which I doubt his family would rebuke.

 

He continued to switch his gaze between my arm and my eyes, all the while seeming more annoyed. I chose to reassure him…

 

Liza: “Ah, I think I’ll have a good chewing out over this later, but I can just pass it off as a mistake in the kitchen so you don’t need to worry…!”

 

If push came to shove, I could pass this off as an injury in the kitchen. I was a child and a quite clumsy one so it really did seem like a believable story. However, my lord didn’t seem to appreciate the gesture and in fact, seemed quite shaken.

 

Fate: “Enough! Why are you so vested in forging a friendship with me that you’re putting up with what I just did?! Why are you trying to hide what I’ve done to you?! Finally, why did you even want this position in the first place?!”

 

His words were probably intended to sound furious, but all I could hear in them was despair that was deeply rooted within. I couldn’t help but grimace in light of his pain, something that I could never understand except through experience...and I felt that this burn could not compare with such experiences that he had suffered...

 

I tried sifting through various ideas of what I could say to make him believe me...to even come close to trusting me, even just for a moment…

 

Liza: “My mom...barely ever has time for me. My father has long since passed...Every single child in this manor and its related parties, judge me on my height and looks alone…”

 

-He’s never going to buy this…

 

His expression returned to annoyance, but he continued to listen.

 

Liza: “However, I heard of you, my lord...An outcast just like me, who apparently did such horrible things that his family disowned him, a firstborn son! In your situation...I thought that you wouldn’t have many people that you’d trust or want to be friends with. Being friends with you isn’t just an achievement, it’s the first time I’ve felt like I held the advantage in a situation!”

 

I waited for a moment for him to respond, but nothing came. He didn’t seem to believe any of it, at least going by his expression he didn’t.

 

Liza: “But if you don’t want to be my friend, then we’ll just go with the distant master and servant relationship...or I could always report you if you’d like?”

 

I walked past him and headed toward the door. However, he put his hand on mine to stop me from turning the handle.

 

-Quite fast…I wonder if I should call him zippy? Would he be annoyed by that?

I cocked my head to the side with a smile on my face, only for him to let go of me and bade me wait. He walked to his dresser and retrieved a small tin from underneath it.

 

-Is that what I think it is?

 

His brow creased and he rubbed his free hand’s fingers over his temples before he spoke.

 

Fate: “Haahhhh...Please come over here, Liza.”

 

-He actually asked me? I’m surprised.

 

I walked to his side and watched as he opened the tin, revealing a light green salve within, which he proceeded to thoroughly rub into and around my burn. This caused me a great deal of displeasure, as I had had to resist screaming or crying earlier, but I kept my smile.

 

If I had to describe what I felt in words at the moment when he was tending to me with a confused, annoyed look on his face...it would be happiness. Even I would not be able to explain it, but it made me happier than I thought I could feel…

 

-I don’t know why...am I just happy that he’s helping me? Or is it that he truly thinks of me as a friend…?

 

My smile broadened rapidly while my lord’s displeasure and confusion at his own actions also increased. He shut the tin with a loud clunk and threw it back under the dresser before pushing his face in close proximity to my own.

 

Fate: “Now get out...and don’t think that I healed you out of the kindness of my heart! You are not to breathe a word of this to anyone, especially Jacob or my mother! Do you understand?”

 

I couldn’t describe how I felt but decided to respond as a proper maid who had been acknowledged by her master should. I closed my eyes and lowered my smile to a polite and proper one. I bowed in his direction and began to walk towards the door.

 

-But I feel that I should say one more thing…

 

The feelings of happiness within me seemed to demand that I commit to at least one last comment. It felt like I couldn’t leave until I said something to express these feelings, so…

 

Liza: “I won’t tell on you, but you’ll have to behave better if you want any more snacks!~”

 

Feeling giddy, I quickly ran through the doorway and shut the door behind me as I went, the click of the lock sounding after it was done. I dashed down the hall but stopped. The happiness had now faded and a new emotion surfaced...guilt.

When would I ever tell him what my reasons were? Would I ever tell him about myself in earnest? However, the most pressing source of guilt was that I never knew if he would truly care about me…

 

-I hope it to be so...However, will you ever forgive me for such a forced friendship, my lord…?

 

To my own guilty conscience, I walked down the hall while squeezing the burn on my arm.