Life in Another World as a Maid Mage

Sleepy and sleepy. However, it is hot and my body hurts somehow so I can't sleep.

Alexei turned around without knowing how many times. The wet towel on my forehead had fallen off a long time ago, but the harder to sleep won and fixed it. In any case, it's already completely warm.

Turn around again and look out the window. It was snowing. Adults at the castle said, "This will snow." It's the beginning of a long winter.

"... I've been looking forward to it..."

If it were true, you should have taken me to Olivier's secret place today. But when it snowed and the fever came out, I kept it for the time being.

Though I thought it was a cold, the waiter said it would be a fever from fatigue because there was no swelling of throat or stuffy nose.

"Ouch...."

The maid who takes care of the patient does not appear except to come from the waiting room from time to time to see how she is. I don't know if you're reluctant or if you don't want to be involved with the bastard prince.

"... if it were my mother, I would have stayed by my side while I was away from work."

However, even if there is a stranger beside me who I don't know very well, I feel uncomfortable and I feel unnecessarily ill.

"Mother....."

My sweet mother. When I caught a cold and fell asleep, I took a break from work and stayed by. Hold your hand, stroke your head so you can sleep with peace of mind, so you can speak softly.

But my mother is gone. He's dead. It seems that it was not good for her to be weak because of the impossibility. Normally, she died of a fever that could not have been caused by a person as old as her mother, and she died nervously.

Tears fell out of my eyes. Ever since I was brought to the castle, I've been waiting for you to cry.

No matter how much you wipe it with the back of your hand, tears won't stop flowing from one hand to the next. Sad, lonely, painful. I snuggled up and buried my face in the pillow and cried.

After a while, I felt tired of crying and asleep.

Fluffy.

Someone put the clothes back on the skin, then touched the forehead and eyes, and woke up again.

A man looking down at a pillow. Golden hair, dark purple eyes. I'm sure Olivier looks like this when she grows up.

"... Father... Father"

"... I don't care if it's just my family."

My father smiled with a slightly troublesome face, soaked the towel in the bucket, squeezed it, and put it back on his forehead. Then sit on the next chair.

I heard you didn't eat.

"... I'm sorry."

I was given porridge and soup several times, but I didn't feel like I could put it in my mouth. I'm sorry I couldn't eat it even though you made it, but I don't have an appetite and don't want to eat it. I think I'll throw up again even if I eat it. Instead of eating, it will cause more trouble.

"You don't have to apologize. I'm not feeling well, so I won't blame anyone. Just..."

"Olivier was worried."

"... Olivier?

Father lowered his eyebrows and smiled bitterly. It looks just like Olivier's face when she's in trouble.

"Oh, I was half crying when I said Alec would die if I didn't eat."

I don't think it will kill me if I get a fever and lose my appetite.

"... I just lost two brothers in a row. I suppose that's what I thought when I left you."

Two brothers. His face didn't even know his name until he came to the castle, his mother's two different brothers. I heard he died in an unfortunate accident a few months ago. He was Olivier's proud brother.

"... I won't die. I just got a little fever. I'll eat it when it's healed."

I see.

The two of them looked at each other and laughed a little.

At first I thought he was scared and cold, but Olivier said he was a king. As he said, he was an ordinary man who was everywhere when he was alone with his family. "Ordinary father" that I always imagined.

"- But even so, if you don't eat anything, nothing will heal. So..."

Father gave out the vessel that was on the table by the bedside. A pure white wine in a glass vessel.

"Ah. Ice cream."

"I heard you like it. Could this be eaten?

Yeah!

Sweet and cold treats I had for the first time since I came to the castle. But it's not good to eat too cold, so they rarely serve it. Olivier also told me whether to use it once or twice a year.

My father laughed at me when I woke up feeling my appetite suddenly.

"Ah, stay asleep. I'll feed you."

"Eh... yeah"

I loved ice cream, but it was still hard to wake my body, so I listened carefully. When you put ice confectionery in your mouth, it's sweet, cold, and melts away.

"... delicious..."

For the first time in a while, I felt happy and unexpectedly murmured.

I see.

My father smiles softly and thinly.

"Don't tell Olivier. He wants to see it. Besides, I snuck in from the kitchen. The chef scolds me if I find out."

Eh?

Father laughs with a slightly evil face. This smile looks just like Olivier's, as if she's doing something bad.

--A father who left his mother and himself alone. Father who made me suffer and let my mother die. Of course, there is an unforgivable feeling.

She's exactly what she said.

Someone who looks tough and cold, but is really nice and funny.

"... Dad"

"What?

Um...

Ah.

"... did you like your mother?

With the ice cream container and spoon in his hand, my father hardened. I saw Alexei's face and then I looked out the window. And then we'll turn around again.

"- Oh, I loved it."

"From the queen?

You did not answer this question. I just laughed like I was in trouble again.

"... I really wanted to welcome your mother to my wife. But with each other's identities and the surroundings - above all, your mother - Jessica herself didn't want. Someday she disappeared from the castle and went somewhere."

……

I tried to say something, but I couldn't say it. Because my father looked so sad - he looked like he was crying. I love you, but why can't you be with me? I didn't expect that to happen.

But when I came to the castle, I somehow realized that kings, princes and nobles had difficult "rules" that I could not help myself with. I'm sure my father couldn't be with my mother because of the "rules."

But then... that's why I was born.

No matter how much I thought about it, I didn't get an answer. Will I know when I grow up more?

--My father silently gave me the key. Keep your mouth shut and eat ice cream.

Eventually, the vessel was empty. The inside of my mouth is cold. I also feel that the fever has decreased a little. When my body got easier, I kind of fell asleep again. My eyelids are heavy. When I started stroking, my father stroked my head. Just like my mother did.

"... now, go to sleep. Fever is above all about sleep. If you sleep a lot, you'll get better soon."

"... yeah"

My skin hanging was pulled up to my shoulders and my head was stroked again. The signs of my father standing up quietly are moving away. The door opened slightly - the sound stopped.

"--I couldn't be with the woman I loved the most, but I want you to marry my daughter from the bottom of my heart. That's my only wish."

The door closes with quiet words and the footsteps move away. While listening, Alexei fell loosely into the abyss of sleep.