Mayfield pondered how, despite having similar temperaments, they really didn’t get along. It was what you’d call self-loathing of one’s own kind. The other party was probably thinking the same thing.

“It would be better if you didn’t mention my visit.”

“Why the hell should I listen to the likes of you? And if you blow that smoke in here, you’re dead!”

“I hope you have another pleasant day tomorrow.”

“cough cough Hey! I told you not to blow it!”

The man strolled out of Mayfield’s room at a leisurely pace.

“That bastard…!”

Mayfield whirled around to the new vase the servant had brought. Even while coughing from the acrid smoke, she hurled it with genuine intent to hit this time.

“Don’t you dare come back here! Hey―!”

CRASH.

The vase traced an arc through the air but failed to connect with the man’s head. Beyond the unpleasant sound of shattering glass, only the relaxed rhythm of his footsteps faded into the distance.

***

The next day at the Mayfield mansion.

“Hey, your superior came by last night. Real piece of work, that one.”

“Pardon?”

Mayfield completely ignored whatever that final request—or threat—from the man had been.

“A-are you talking about Levian?”

Mayfield gave a curt response to the servant’s cautious question.

“Red hair and an absolutely insufferable face.”

“That’s him…”

“He said not to give you anything to eat.”

She deliberately left out the disturbing part about him ‘dying if he ate anything.’

“Do you have some kind of illness?”

“N-no!”

The servant startled violently.

“P-please believe me! I-I wouldn’t have come here if I had anything contagious!”

“There’s really nothing else wrong with you?”

Mayfield’s interrogation continued relentlessly. Egru finally lowered his head, fidgeting with his hands.

“Well, I am taking some medicine…”

“Give it to me.”

Mayfield snatched the medicine bottle that Egru fumbled to produce. It was a glass vial filled with unfamiliar pills.

What’s this? Not heat suppressants…

Mayfield scrutinized the transparent bottle with suspicious eyes.

“Who gave you these?”

“L-Levian…”

“What? You really do just eat anything! Taking something from such an obviously bad guy without even questioning it!”

“N-no, it’s not like that. We’ve known each other for a long time…”

“How long have you known each other?”

“Um…”

Egru’s amber eyes blinked several times.

“I can’t really remember, but s-since I was very young…”

“That makes it even worse.”

Seeing Egru’s bewildered expression, Mayfield clicked her tongue and asked:

“Have you always been sickly?”

“N-no? I’m super healthy!”

Egru quickly raised his skeletal arm. He flexed as if trying to show off muscles, but nothing bulged out.

I was going to feed him something despite what Red Hair said…

Mayfield looked the frail servant up and down with deeply distrustful eyes.

“Are you a Beta or an Omega? For an Orc hybrid to be that small, you must be an extremely recessive Omega. Though looking at you, there’s no way you could be a dominant Omega.”

“Omega?”

The self-proclaimed Orc hybrid tilted his head in confusion.

“Yeah, absolutely the worst. A trait that combines every bad thing in existence.”

“I don’t really understand… I’m sorry…”

“You don’t even know your own trait? How the hell did you get into our household?”

No doubt it was that redhead’s machinations.

Mayfield squinted hard as she looked down at Egru.

It was a strange feeling. She felt an inexplicable sense of kinship. Even though he was of a different race entirely.

Mayfield turned to look at the round brush on her vanity.

“…I couldn’t say this properly yesterday because of the vase incident, but you do know I can throw you out whenever I want, right?”

“A-are you going to throw me out?”

“Depends on how you do.”

Mayfield flopped back onto her bed and closed her eyes.

“By the way, don’t bother with generic sweet talk. All the servants I’ve thrown out tried buttering me up with every kind of praise imaginable. ‘What an honor to serve the Grand Duchess’ or ‘You possess both exceptional beauty and upright character.’ I’m sick of empty flattery.”

“I-I’ll keep that in mind, young lady!”

“Good, you better. Now bring my breakfast.”

“Y-yes! Just a moment please!”

Egru darted out of the room like an arrow.

Time with the new servant passed much faster than it felt. Days turned into weeks, and soon a week had gone by.

Mayfield couldn’t help but be surprised. Contrary to first impressions, the servant’s work was nearly perfect.

Hey, you, servant there. The casual ways she’d called him gradually changed to using his name.

Perhaps it was inevitable. For Mayfield, who had grown up seeing only artificial aristocrats, to open her heart to such a blindly kind fool.

It’s already been over a month.

Time flew when they were together. Maybe it was because teasing him was so fun.

Then one day, Mayfield ordered Egru as he was clearing away dinner:

“Tell me an interesting story.”

“I-I had a dream last night…!”

Egru responded immediately, like a jack-in-the-box springing up.

“Wow, boring already.”

“Ah…”

At Mayfield’s criticism, his mint-green pointed ears instantly drooped. His listless hands began scrubbing the table. Something about his dejected appearance made her want to laugh.

He’s actually a tiny bit cute.

Mayfield hid her smile behind her pillow.

Clatter clatter. She was watching him clear away the rest of the dishes.

“It’s strange, young lady…”

“What is?”

“Whenever I talk about dreams, Levian says exactly the same things as you. You seem to have some things in common. Like how your hair is pink and his is red…”

“What? Me and that bastard…!”

Mayfield started to shout but quickly suppressed her anger and forced a smile.

“How could we be alike, Egru? I was just joking earlier. If you don’t mind, would you tell me about your dream?”

“R-really?”

“Of course. I’m truly curious.”

“Wow!”

Despite her textbook-like tone, Egru excitedly dropped to his knees.

Why does he like sitting on the floor so much?

Before Mayfield could finish wondering, he began telling his dream like a children’s story.

“In my dream, you see, I become a great warrior and defeat monsters. With a sword this big! White light bursts out everywhere, like this!”

Egru grabbed the fork Mayfield had used for dinner and held it high.

“Wow.”

Mayfield clapped and exclaimed in admiration.

“You look really pathetic right now.”

“O-oh really?”

Egru sheepishly put the fork back down. Mayfield rolled around on her bed hugging a pillow as she spoke:

“Keep going. It’s actually interesting.”

“Ah! W-well…!”

Egru started speaking again, so excited his face turned red.

“I can’t really remember their faces or names, but there are amazing companions too! We go on adventures crossing burning seas and sandy plains!”

“Pretty detailed. Sure it wasn’t a prophetic dream?”

“What’s a prophetic dream, young lady?”

“Hmm, would you understand if I said it’s the ability to see the future?”

“Th-then maybe I saw my brother’s future. Everyone in the dream calls the warrior by my brother’s name.”

“Hey, Egru. Speaking of your brother…”

“Yes?”

Mayfield slowly rolled her eyes from side to side. This was the first time Egru had mentioned his brother himself. The curiosity she’d been suppressing all this time welled up and finally burst forth. Mayfield carefully broached the subject:

“What happened to your brother?”

At the cautious question, Egru, who had been grinning broadly, froze as if turned to stone.

Mayfield gently asked again.

“From things you’ve said, it seems like you don’t live together. Can you tell me about it?”

“Ah…”

Egru’s face instantly turned gloomy.

“My brother, he…”

“If you want, I’ll tell you everything about my younger sister too! There might not be much interesting to tell, but still!”

“M-my brother D’Élysée…”

Egru’s usually gentle, pleasant voice became suddenly thick with emotion. Thus began a new story.

“—What kind of bastard does that!”

After hearing the whole story and pressing for details, Mayfield couldn’t help but be outraged.

“Levian’s the real culprit! I knew I didn’t like him from the moment I saw him!”

“N-no, it’s my fault. Levian even gave me generous repayment terms…”

“Say one more word of nonsense and I’ll spank you! No, I’ll throw you out right now!”

“Eep.”

That’s how the day of revisiting painful memories ended.

Mayfield tossed and turned in bed, gazing at the starlit window. It was strange. At some point, she’d begun to feel his absence during the night hours when the servant left the mansion to return home. Mayfield squeezed her eyes shut and tried to force herself to sleep.

Several more days passed after that.

“…Does Levian hit you?”

Mayfield suddenly noticed something different about Egru’s face.

“N-no!”

“Then what are all these? Take off your shirt right now.”

“Y-young lady…!”

Mayfield set down the hot chocolate Egru had secretly made for her against the chef’s orders. After noticing the bruise around his eye, she saw traces of other bruises on different parts of his body. No matter how much she pressed him about what happened, Egru only smiled stupidly.

“N-nothing happened, young lady! Don’t worry!”

“Really? You know I hate lies, right?”

“Of course!”

Despite his bold declaration, unfamiliar injuries kept increasing day by day.

Who the hell is doing this…!

Mayfield nervously bit her thumbnail. Every day she waited, determined to catch the culprit.

Then one day, as she remained constantly on edge:

SLAP!

A sound of flesh striking flesh so hard it made one’s skin crawl echoed through the corridors of the Mayfield mansion.