“Princess, perhaps you don’t know this, but the Centaurs are a martial race who pursue honor. For many people, just being the Princess of Saint Laia draws everyone’s attention. In such circumstances, becoming Your Highness’s guard is itself a mark of honor.”
“But for most people, being someone else’s guard isn’t particularly, um, glorious. Selene, doesn’t the contrast in status bother you?”
“Not at all. While being someone else’s guard or maid is generally seen as lowering one’s status, the Princess of Saint Laia is different.”
“To become her guard is an honor in itself. Didn’t Serveyia also become the Princess’s maid? If we’re talking about status, Serveyia’s position is even higher than mine.”
Serveyia is different.
Liuli really wanted to say that.
After all, she was suspicious of Serveyia’s reasons for becoming her maid.
Though she kept insisting it was her family tradition, Liuli suspected she just wanted to indulge her wicked desires.
“Little Fox, what’s with that look? If you have something to say, just say it.”
“No, nothing…”
Liuli felt that if she spoke her mind now, she’d probably be subjected to another round of punishment.
So, after thinking it over, she decided to swallow her thoughts.
“Little Fox, do you have anything else to say? If not, then don’t keep interrupting Selene and the others’ training, alright?”
Although she had met several of her own guards, she hadn’t really talked to them much.
It was a bit regrettable, but thinking of their need to train, Liuli decided not to disturb them further.
“Serveyia, do you really have no thoughts about Yuli becoming my maid?”
There had been too many people earlier, and Liuli thought that even if Serveyia had any opinions, she wouldn’t say them in public.
Now, on the way back to Qingli Hall, with no one else around, she could finally ask Serveyia’s true feelings.
“No particular thoughts. Little Fox, do you want me to have some? Or are you hoping I’ll get jealous so you can satisfy your little kink?”
“N-no, it’s just that you don’t seem like someone who would let strangers approach me so easily…”
Whether it was possessiveness or protectiveness, she couldn’t deny that in the past few days, she had been well protected by them.
Moreover, this kind of protection always gave people, um, questionable associations, like yandere, imprisonment, and so on.
Although Serveyia had told her more than once that she could make friends with others, the act of making friends itself was already difficult.
Liuli didn’t know if she could really do it.
“Little Fox, you don’t think I’m a superhuman, do you? Handling things all day long, big and small, without a single moment of rest?”
“I-I remember telling you, Serveyia, that you could take a break if you wanted…”
“Hmm? Little Fox, are you doubting my resolve?”
Liuli was speechless.
Serveyia was the one who complained about being tired, and she was also the one unwilling to rest.
She’d managed to take both sides of the argument.
“But listening to what Yuli said, her duties aren’t just limited to being a guard. Does that really help relieve your burden?”
“Little Fox, in your mind, what do you think my responsibilities are?”
“Um, just like what you do every day, Serveyia. But come to think of it, it doesn’t really align with a guard’s duties.”
“Does it really not? It seems you have no idea who handles those piles of messy letters and endless strange invitations for you every day, Little Fox.”
In anime, a common way to show a character’s popularity is with mountains of love letters and gifts.
But in this era of advanced electronic communication, was it really necessary to express one’s thoughts by letter?
“Seriously, are there that many? Can’t you just throw them all away?”
“Are you serious, Little Fox? What if there’s something important inside? What if the sender is a Student worth befriending? These are all things to consider. If you just toss everything without a second thought, it’ll break the writers’ hearts.”
“So, so troublesome…”
“Since you understand, Little Fox, I trust you can appreciate my painstaking efforts now.”
In Liuli’s view, these letters could just be thrown away.
She didn’t expect there to be so much behind it.
Was this the way nobles socialized?
“So Yuli joined to help you handle these letters, Serveyia?”
Furthermore, Liuli felt that with Yuli’s abilities, just dealing with letters was a bit of a waste.
“No, she joined so that while I handle the letters, there would be someone by your side to protect you, Little Fox. After all, the letters aren’t something that need to be dealt with every day. And given Yuli’s abilities, she can be very useful in special circumstances.”
As for what those special circumstances were, Liuli didn’t understand at first.
But soon, she learned exactly what they meant.
***
The day after Liuli and Serveyia finished touring the Royal Guard’s training, Liuli woke up in the morning and, surprised that Serveyia hadn’t come to wake her, saw Yuli standing expressionlessly at her bedside.
“Uh, Y-Yuli, why are you here?”
Surely the so-called systematic training hadn’t ended already?
“Lady Serveyia sent me. She has some urgent matters to attend to today, so she asked me to serve as Your Highness’s guard for the day.”
“Urgent matters? Serveyia didn’t mention anything to me…”
Though Yuli had said it was a sudden affair, given what she knew of Serveyia, she would never leave without saying anything first.
“Lady Serveyia is waiting for you in the dining hall.”
Alright, so Serveyia hadn’t left after all.
In that case, she could just go ask her directly.
“Serveyia, Yuli told me you had urgent business to handle?”
In the dining hall, Serveyia was eating breakfast at a leisurely pace.
Looking at the little fox in pajamas with messy hair standing before her, she found it amusing.
“Little Fox, even if I suddenly disappeared, you can’t go around looking so disheveled. Understand?”
“I-I won’t. You never taught me, Serveyia…”
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