Chapter 76: She looked at him, she looked at him

Early in the morning, Xiaolan was leaning on her broom, lazily dozing off. But she hadn’t nodded off for long before a sudden slam to the back of her head jolted her awake.

Just as she was coming to, Lola’s stern expression came into view.

Seeing this, Xiaolan immediately snapped fully awake and gave Lola an awkward smile. Then she picked up the broom and started sweeping the floor, pretending she had only momentarily dozed off and definitely wasn’t slacking!

“Sigh, you can’t keep going like this! Be careful or Lord Colin might fire you. If you don’t want to lose your job, then sweep properly! Do you hear me?”

“…Yes.”

Xiaolan replied casually, genuinely not understanding why she had to clean so much when the place wasn’t even that dirty. Was it really necessary?

Lola, seeing Xiaolan’s indifferent attitude and realizing she hadn’t really listened, felt a surge of anger.

She really didn’t understand how this person had managed to trick Lord Colin into hiring her! What on earth was so good about her?

Lola was deeply puzzled by Lord Colin’s decision to bring such a lazy and useless person into the mansion. She couldn’t grasp his reasoning. Suddenly, a troubling thought sprang up in her mind.

Could it be… that Lord Colin actually likes this type of person?! Otherwise, why would he hire such a slacker as a trainee maid? Could it really be true?!

After pondering, Lola dismissed the absurd idea. After all, Lord Colin was a righteous and powerful Paladin. If he truly liked this kind of person, there was no way he would have her working as a maid, let alone as a trainee! So Lord Colin definitely didn’t have any such thoughts about Xiaolan!

Feeling reassured, Lola’s mood brightened considerably. Her gaze softened into pity when looking at Xiaolan, which left Xiaolan utterly confused. She had no idea what had suddenly caused this drastic change in the beastwoman’s attitude.

But Lola didn’t bother explaining further. She simply instructed Xiaolan to finish cleaning the place within an hour, then moved on to check other rooms.

Watching Lola leave, Xiaolan stuck her tongue out and swept the floor halfheartedly before slipping away to rest in a corner.

Hiding in the corner, Xiaolan squinted her eyes and dozed off again.

In her nap, she dreamed once more of past events—back when she was still a man.

That’s right, Xiaolan was the transformed Lant. As for why she was called Xiaolan, it was because Lain felt it was inappropriate for her to continue using her old name. After all, what if someone from her past came looking for her? So he gave her this new name.

Although Xiaolan didn’t particularly like the name—it didn’t sound cool at all—since it was Lain’s choice, she reluctantly accepted it.

In this fleeting dream, she reverted to her former male self. But she wasn’t as happy as she imagined. As a man, she constantly faced setbacks. Nothing went her way, and several times she nearly died, almost waking herself from the dream in terror.

After playing the male role for a while, she met Lain. For some reason, upon meeting him, her body instantly transformed into a female one. Surprisingly, becoming female made her feel calmer and more at ease—as if this was her true form.

Once she met Lain and became female, her dreams shifted from strange, chaotic events to memories of surviving the dungeon together with Lain.

At that time, she had just transformed into a woman and felt anxious and uneasy about everything around her. But Lain stayed by her side, easing her fears, comforting her, and helping her overcome the hardships.

Though her small mistakes later put both of them in danger, it also led to them securing a decent job.

Though Lain sometimes grumbled about it, Xiaolan thought it was fine. Even though the beastgirl maid always acted like a strict head maid when supervising her, she didn’t dislike the place much. As long as she worked here, she wouldn’t be separated from Lain!

At some point, she had grown very dependent on Lain. When Lain wanted her to leave because of her mistakes, she was truly terrified. She didn’t want to leave Lain’s side; if she did, she wasn’t sure how she would continue living.

Fortunately, Lain’s words didn’t come true, and she remained with him. Ah, she wished this could last forever.

But Xiaolan knew nothing stayed the same. Eventually, her relationship with Lain would change. Whether that would be for better or worse, she couldn’t say yet.

Suddenly, Xiaolan sensed a familiar presence. She slowly opened her groggy eyes and saw Lain’s round, adorable figure before her. But his expression wasn’t very pleasant.

Xiaolan snapped fully awake. Seeing Lain’s sour face, her heart instantly grew uneasy.

Fortunately, perhaps because Lain was used to this version of Lant—or maybe he never had any real hope for her—he stared at Xiaolan with a grim expression for a long time before simply saying, “Clean properly,” and walking away.

Watching him leave, Xiaolan didn’t come back to herself until his figure vanished completely.

Looking at the floor that she hadn’t thought was so dirty, and the slightly dusty decorations, she recalled Lain’s words to “clean properly.” So she picked up the broom and started sweeping carefully and thoroughly.

She didn’t want Lain to be disappointed in her, so whatever he asked her to do, she wouldn’t slack off but would try her best to get it done. Even if her intellect couldn’t come up with clever methods, she still wanted to please him.

When Lola returned from checking other rooms, she was somewhat surprised to see Xiaolan actually cleaning.

She hadn’t expected Xiaolan to really sweep. She had come early, half an hour in advance, just to make sure Xiaolan wasn’t slacking off. But seeing her genuinely working hard made her wonder if she had been wrong all along. Maybe Xiaolan wasn’t lazy after all?

Just then, Lain came out from nearby and stood beside Lola. Lola glanced at this trainee butler who had come in with Xiaolan, puzzled about what he was doing there. Surely a trainee butler should have many things to do.

But Lola quickly noticed the issue from Lain’s expression: his eyes were fixed on Xiaolan at work with a complicated look, and he kept counting on his fingers as if deep in thought.

Lola soon realized what this meant. Remembering how Lain and Xiaolan had entered the mansion together and how Xiaolan kept asking Lain questions, she finally understood everything.

She looked at Lain with a teasing smile. Lain, noticing her gaze, looked back in confusion.

And Xiaolan saw this entire scene unfold right in front of her eyes.