“Your Highness Luwei!”
“You have a reply from the Third Princess~~”
Struggling to climb out of bed, Luwei reached up to smooth down a stubborn tuft of hair that had gone wayward during her sleep.
She stared at Floxi with bleary, half-asleep eyes.
The latter had come bouncing into her bedroom, waving an envelope in her hand… acting completely and utterly at home.
Stare…
Luwei said nothing, attempting to use her gaze to exert some pressure on this fellow who seemed to have forgotten her place.
‘Predator’s Intimidation, activate!’
But facing Luwei’s fierce glare, the other girl only gave a sheepish laugh and scratched her cheek.
Then, as if nothing were wrong at all, she sat down right on the edge of Luwei’s bed.
“Your Highness…?”
Floxi pinched the envelope, teasingly waving it back and forth in front of Luwei’s eyes.
This only earned her an even more huffy, indignant look.
“What’s the matter? Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”
Floxi leaned in closer out of curiosity.
Facing that face, which was gradually enlarging in her field of vision, Luwei subconsciously averted her gaze…
‘Fine, you win, alright?’
Turning her head away in annoyance, Luwei thought the girl would have the sense to distance herself.
Instead, she felt a sudden coolness on her cheek.
Poke, poke-poke…
“…?”
Floxi’s somewhat chilly fingers were pressed against her cheek…
“Your Highness? Don’t be angry~~”
Luwei rarely got this physically close to others.
It was close enough that she could feel the other’s warm breath hitting her neck—a very foreign experience…
But the moment she remembered this was Floxi—the weak maid who was supposed to be cowering and begging for mercy under her tyrannical authority every day—a surge of inexplicable anger rose in Luwei’s heart.
What gave this girl the nerve to be so bold?
“Get away from me!”
Luwei gritted her silver teeth and raised her leg, kicking hard against the girl’s chest.
But the other only let out a small “oh?” and instead grabbed Luwei’s ankle…
“What exactly do you want? Can’t you have a little self-awareness as a maid??”
In the face of Luwei’s interrogation, Floxi only blinked in confusion.
“As a maid, isn’t it perfectly normal to try and make you happy?”
As she spoke, she even began to massage Luwei’s calf in a pleasing manner…
Enduring the slight soreness and swelling sensation from her leg, Luwei lay on the bed, feeling somewhat at a loss.
‘How did it end up like this…?’
Since that day, it was as if Floxi had seen through something.
All of Luwei’s previous tricks involving threats and intimidation had lost their effect—in Floxi’s eyes, they were all equivalent to a kitten’s hiss.
Luwei clenched her fists in distress.
If things stayed like this, how was she supposed to fulfill her role in the plot and make Floxi feel bullied?
“Your Highness, how is the pressure?”
Floxi carefully controlled the strength in her hands as if she were handling a fragile, precious treasure.
This was experience she had gained from long-term care of a little stray cat…
Looking at Luwei, who was spread out on the bed like a deflated balloon, Floxi couldn’t help but feel a different sort of thought rising in her heart.
‘If Her Highness were that kitten, she’d probably be purring comfortably by now, wouldn’t she?’
On the way to the Magic Academy, Floxi often encountered that little cat.
Come to think of it… her ankle had even been scratched by it once.
The more she thought about it, the more Floxi felt Luwei resembled that kitten—whether it was her moody personality or her silver-white hair that looked like snow…
“Hey…”
The white “kitten” suddenly spoke.
Her voice was trembling slightly, as if she were… mortified?
“I’m here, Your Highness.”
But to Floxi’s surprise—
The “kitten” suddenly arched her back, looking like her fur was standing on end.
She fished something out from under her pillow and threw it at Floxi.
“Put this on!”
“Eh?”
Floxi looked closely… It was a familiar Slave Collar.
“You disobedient maid… I really have to enslave you properly now!”
“…”
Floxi looked at the collar in her hand, her mind suddenly dazed.
The same location, the same Princess Luwei, and the same situation happening to her… yet the emotions in her heart were worlds apart.
Listening to Luwei’s words, which carried absolutely no threat whatsoever, Floxi’s lips curled up slightly.
However, she feigned a pitiful expression…
“Y-Your Highness…”
“Have you… changed your mind? Do you want to… turn me into your toy…?”
Floxi asked tentatively.
“Yes!”
“I’m tired of your current attitude,” Luwei said with a stern face, looking quite fierce.
“I want you to be my slave, to be humble and submissive every time you see me!”
If Floxi were still the old Floxi… she might have actually been frightened by Luwei’s terrifying expression.
But she had seen Luwei’s true self after the mask was removed…
“N-No, don’t do that…”
“I’m sorry! Your Highness… I let myself get carried away.”
Floxi pursed her lips, making a fearful expression.
However, she couldn’t control the corners of her mouth from turning upward… she could only bury her head, trying her best not to let Luwei see.
‘Princess Luwei’s thoughts are actually very easy to guess~’
‘She just… wants to feel a sense of control, right?’
‘In that case, if I just pretend to be careless and place the handle in her hand… wouldn’t that make Her Highness happy?’
Thinking this, Floxi squeezed out a few tears with effort.
“I don’t want to be a slave…”
Sure enough, seeing Floxi soften, Luwei regained her arrogant demeanor.
“Hmph, as long as you know!”
“Perform your duties as a maid properly, or else I’ll put the collar on you and lock you in the basement.”
Luwei shook her fist and threatened viciously, “I’ll put a blindfold on you, whip you with a leather lash, and drip candle wax on you.”
“I’ll make every inch of your skin feel the pain!”
“…!”
“Uwah… so scary…”
Floxi pretended to be shocked and covered her mouth, her eyes wide.
But in her heart, the scene Luwei described couldn’t help but surface…
‘Eh? Why am I actually looking forward to it a little?’
“…”
Luwei felt that she was getting worse and worse at controlling the scale of things.
Look at that—she says a few harsh words, and the little girl is scared to tears…
If she pushed too hard, Luwei was worried that Floxi’s “revenge” would come early.
But if she was too nice to her… the consequences were already starting to appear.
The plot was a mess, events were spinning out of control, and crises were arriving one after another…
Luwei shook her head, tossing her inner worries to the back of her mind.
Right now, there was a more urgent hurdle she needed to clear…
“Stop crying, look at you…”
Luwei scolded harshly.
“What are you dazing off for? Did you forget the business at hand?”
“Hurry up and give me Fina’s letter…”
Luwei snatched the envelope from Floxi’s hand.
Before opening it, she was actually a bit uncertain.
What if Fina flatly refused to provide sanctuary?
Even if it was just to hide there for a few days to wait out the storm?
Luwei opened the envelope, and the cold words on the letter almost made her heart sink halfway.
[I understand your request…]
[Being hunted by the Vampire Princess? You really know how to cause trouble…]
Half of the letter was spent scolding her…
It was clear just how much Luwei’s words at the coming-of-age ceremony had hurt the Third Princess’s heart.
Fortunately, at the end of the letter, Fina made some compromises.
[You may come to the Royal Palace, but you cannot let the Vampire Princess easily track you here.]
[The Vampire Princess is a major trouble, so you had better not leave her any evidence.]
[Come alone, come quietly. Do not bring guards, and do not tell anyone else…]
[You can leave a note saying you’ve gone to avoid the storm to prevent Duke Roy from worrying, but do not mention anything about “being with the Third Princess.”]
[If you can do these things, I can take you in…]
[Tomorrow, in the east of the Lower District, in that garden we visited as children, there will be a team of people I sent. You can trust them.]
[When you’ve made up your mind, follow them.]
Seeing the end, Luwei finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
The Third Princess was actually willing to provide sanctuary!
And from the looks of it, she had thought things through very thoroughly… such as having her hide her tracks and trying not to leave any handles for others to grab.
However…
Luwei tilted her head in confusion, her gaze falling on the word “tomorrow” on the letter.
‘So soon??’
‘Why does she sound so reluctant to help… but her people were already prepared in advance to escort me away?’