Rita had never once pondered this question before, let alone expected it to come from Cecilia’s lips.
Cecilia wasn’t the type to say, “Hey little Rita, I have a match for you,” like some gossipy middle-aged uncle.
How could she suddenly start asking something like this?
Could it be…?
A strange thought began to sprout in Rita’s mind.
Though odd, she couldn’t ignore the exaggerated yet plausible possibility.
“Lady Cecilia…”
Rita swallowed hard, forcing her voice to sound as normal as possible, and spent a long moment carefully choosing her words.
“Did you, after watching that stage play, develop feelings for me that go beyond master and servant?”
Cecilia: ?
Under Cecilia’s look, as if she were staring at someone with a mental illness, Rita wished she could just disappear into the floor.
Thanks to Rita’s brilliant answer, the topic was temporarily put to rest.
Following the exact same routine as that day with Klaus, Rita was supposed to cook something with her own hands, then have a few drinks with Cecilia.
Unfortunately, Rita couldn’t cook, tomorrow was their departure day, and Cecilia probably wouldn’t drink just the two of them anyway, so today’s plans ended there.
But Rita had other things to do, so she escorted Cecilia back to her room in the Lord’s Mansion.
After the day’s activities, Cecilia first counted the purse of coins she had given Rita, then threw it back to her.
“Accompany me in the bath, sleep with me tonight, and all this money is yours.”
With money on the line, why not?
So Rita agreed without hesitation, then took the purse to buy some supplies that might be useful for the test—food, water, and some portable tools.
Although most of these items were unnecessary for Rita personally, not bringing them would raise suspicion, especially since Cecilia required her to stay close for protection most of the time.
Not doing so would surely reveal a flaw.
Oh, and that terrifying Record Stone—while wearing it, she absolutely couldn’t regain energy through close contact with others.
Fortunately, it recorded but didn’t stream live, so there was a little wiggle room.
On the other hand, Rita’s mission was actually simple: just hang around Cecilia.
Cecilia would naturally give her a decent score, making passing the test almost a sure thing.
After buying these items, Rita also made a special trip to the prison to get something from a vendor under investigation for selling at the black market before returning to report to Cecilia at the Lord’s Mansion.
While Cecilia enjoyed her dinner, the steam-filled Bathhouse in the mansion had already been prepared for her.
By the way, Cecilia was very satisfied with Rita’s Maid Outfit from that day and added another twenty gold coins requesting Rita wear it again tonight.
Thanks to last time’s experience, Rita didn’t need Cecilia’s orders to start helping her change.
She neatly placed the outfit into the laundry basket, then helped the naked Cecilia to the edge of the bath.
One had to admit, Cecilia was truly beautiful—the most beautiful Rita had ever seen since crossing over.
The impression Rita had when first meeting Cecilia still lingered: Cecilia was like a doll—beautiful and delicate, but lacking a certain human aura.
Even after these days together, Rita’s perception of Cecilia had changed many times: a mix of an ordinary young girl’s side and a side utterly out of place for someone her age.
Yet, this feeling never wavered.
“Lady Cecilia, I have a question, but I’m not sure if I should ask…”
“Ask.”
Before Rita could finish, Cecilia cut through the hesitation.
“These past few days, have you been bathing with the other maids serving you?”
“No, I bathe myself. Also, you’re a knight, don’t think of yourself as a maid.”
Then why did you want me to wear the Maid Outfit!?
No wonder—when Cecilia first ordered Rita to serve her during the bath, Rita thought Cecilia knew way too much about bathing products for a normal noble lady.
Usually, they would just lie back and let others help.
But this only deepened Rita’s confusion.
“Then why, Lady Cecilia, did you want me to help you bathe?” Rita asked while applying a lotion mixed with petals and some unknown minerals to Cecilia’s smooth back.
Cecilia closed her eyes, like a lazy little ginger cat.
“You ask too many questions. It’s not good to pry too deeply into your master’s heart.”
Rita felt like a dialogue box had popped up before her eyes: “Current affection level insufficient to answer this question.”
But you just told me during the day you want to understand me better!
Rita grumbled silently, focusing on washing away the lotion with hot water.
Cecilia’s body was slender, but her figure perfectly balanced—there was no flaw to point out.
Even fully exposed like this, with Rita’s hands directly touching her, there was no special fluttering in her chest.
It wasn’t that Rita was particularly attracted to older women; Cecilia simply seemed too fragile, like a flower petal still attached to the stem—one gust of wind and it would wither into the dirt.
In other words, she looked like something that would fall over with a gentle push, incapable of enduring any rough handling…
Still, thinking this way didn’t mean Cecilia was completely unappealing.
Lost in thought, Rita suddenly felt a sharp sting on her butt, then saw Cecilia’s expressionless face turn towards her—her hand still raised.
“What are you daydreaming about?” Cecilia asked.
“N-nothing…” Rita stammered, feeling guilty.
As if seeing through everything, Cecilia said nothing more, only leaving the words, “Focus on your work.”
Now, Rita was much more familiar with the routine than last time.
Once she differentiated the various bath products—which were actually many: body lotion, shampoo, facial cleanser, conditioner, and so forth—the applying and washing off were straightforward.
It didn’t take long to finish everything.
Okay, calling them all “bath liquid” wasn’t exactly accurate.
When Rita glanced at Cecilia’s chest, she noticed a slight resistance.
Last time’s events must have left a shadow in Cecilia’s heart, but none of the unpleasantness that happened before came up.
Why Cecilia had reacted that way then was still a mystery to Rita, but judging by Cecilia’s attitude and recent happenings, that incident was now behind them.
No, no.
At the same time, Rita’s heart was a little unsettled.
If Cecilia hadn’t reminded her just in time, Rita might not have realized that for a brief moment, she had entertained inappropriate thoughts about Cecilia.
Not because she was shy—rather, she felt a sense of guilt about those thoughts.
Calm down, calm down.
She’s your boss; subordinates can’t go kissing their superiors.
No, that mouth still needs kissing, or else you’ll starve.
Too bad—you should have sneaked a lick during the bath.
Even if it wouldn’t satisfy hunger, it might have eased it a bit.
But it’s fine; Cecilia wanted Rita to sleep with her tonight.
There’d still be a chance then.
Right?
Nope.
Once in bed, Rita completely chickened out.
Her task was to accompany Cecilia to sleep, not sleep with her.
The closest she could get was just holding her.
Even though she could easily feel Cecilia’s warmth, Rita dared not cross the line.
That same doubt bloomed again deep in Rita’s heart.
“Lady Cecili…”
“Ask.”
This time, there was no preamble.
“Why do you want me to sleep with you?”
Upon hearing the question, Cecilia didn’t answer immediately.
Was there a reason? Actually, no.
If having Rita temporarily serve as her attendant was to have someone trustworthy and easily manipulated protecting her safety in Sorous City—where she had no close allies—then having Rita accompany her to bathe, go shopping, and sleep was more for psychological comfort.
Cecilia wasn’t that strong; some negative emotions had no place to settle and needed release.
It just so happened that the first time she vented was when Rita stumbled upon her, so she had to rely on Rita’s professionalism to keep her secret—a secret of crying alone in the night.
Thinking about it now, it was like the broken windows effect—since Rita had already seen the side Cecilia least wanted anyone to see, and since Rita was someone Cecilia could control reasonably well, depending more on her didn’t matter.
She would pay her properly, and since Rita was a courtesan girl, it didn’t matter who she accompanied.
Rita took the money but certainly wouldn’t dare speak of this.
But these weren’t words Cecilia could say to Rita.
The careful mind behind this childish reason for needing Rita’s company simply couldn’t be spoken aloud.
“Tomorrow is the day we set off for the test. There should be soldiers guarding outside my tent, but it’s safer with you here. After all, we don’t know if others are targeting my head, nor if Mel is really the mastermind behind it all.”
Cecilia already had some guesses about the mastermind.
Although all clues pointed to Mel, how Mel obtained the match list early remained unexplained.
In fact, it was because all clues pointed to Mel that Cecilia worried so much.
But this wasn’t the time to tell Rita.
Even if she did, Rita lacked the ability to counteract and might instead reveal weaknesses.
“In any case, you have to get used to this process. We have to leave early tomorrow.”
“Mm…” Rita replied, then after a moment couldn’t help but ask, “But why share the same bed…?”
Just as Rita expected Cecilia to say, “That’s none of your business,” she felt Cecilia shift slightly in her arms.
A warm breath pressed against her chest through clothing, as if sighing.
“Do you ask your clients so many questions too?”
Right, Cecilia still thought she was a courtesan girl.
Rita wanted to go along with the misunderstanding but felt awkward thinking about the girls in the brothels she’d shut down.
“Lady Cecilia, I think you’ve really misunderstood me.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“I really am not…”
“Mm.”
Cecilia replied casually, words Rita had said before.
But then, a sense of incongruity arose.
That outrageously revealing outfit belonged to Rita.
It was the key reason Cecilia assumed Rita was a courtesan.
The sex trade was almost monopolized by Mel’s forces; even independent operators mostly hid in the black market under Mel’s indirect control.
Rita wasn’t from Sorous City, had no connection with Mel’s faction, and didn’t belong to any group.
This had been confirmed when investigating her background.
But if Rita truly were a courtesan who worked in Sorous City, she’d have to have some contact with Mel’s forces.
So something had to be wrong.
Either Rita knew Mel—which was impossible, since Mel’s men had nearly killed her, she had personally raided Mel’s base, and even discovered Mel’s corpse with no abnormalities.
Or, she’d been misunderstanding Rita all along; Rita was never a courtesan.
In the past few days, Rita had been appearing openly around the city—something a courtesan wouldn’t dare do so brazenly.
Therefore, that scandalous outfit was likely just a reflection of Rita’s chaotic private life.
Though it sounded worse for Rita, this seemed to be the truth.
How childish of her—to have taken the assumption of Rita’s profession as fact, and then made many decisions based on that premise.
This is what they call darkness under the lamp, isn’t it?
No, that wasn’t the important part.
If Rita wasn’t a courtesan, then bathing together and sleeping together were just Cecilia abusing her status as a princess to coerce her.
But Rita’s body was warm enough.
Knowing Rita wasn’t in that profession, Cecilia suddenly felt a wave of relief.
“Rita.”
“Hmm, I’m here.”
“I understand now.”
“What?”
Cecilia nestled her head into Rita’s embrace and fell silent.
Only leaving Rita alone, asking the same question over and over.
“Huh? Lady Cecilia? What exactly is it?!”