Life in Another World as a Maid Mage

After completing the reception at the hotel, Annelier returned to her room early after promising to have breakfast with her tomorrow. Looks like dinner is going to be easy with room service. But in that state, you might fall asleep before dinner comes. I heard two men arguing and embarrassing their voices from behind the door, saying, "Oi, at least get dressed" and "It's impossible anymore...", and then they all looked at each other and burst out small.

"What about us? I'm tired. Can you take me to my room?

"Hmm... then it might be quicker to finish in the cafeteria"

I didn't feel like taking a break, but then I felt like I would fall asleep until morning before I waited for my meal.

Alec and the others, who were just tired after the irregular events, agreed, finished eating early and took an early rest tonight.

--Kantan.

Your consciousness rises to the slightest sound that hits your ears. The hands on the clock looked around, indicating the time immediately after the date changed. I remember entering the floor after eighteen o'clock, so it seems like I had quite a rest.

I heard footsteps walking slowly after the door opened and closed, and it stopped in front of this room. After a while, the footsteps fade away.

Alec?

I felt like him somehow, and Siori woke up gently.

Nadia takes a quiet breath on the adjacent bedside.

At the foot of the bedding, Louis spread out and fell asleep. Louis, who was delighted to receive a pile of skewers, also felt exhausted when she finished eating and returned to the room, and soon after performing her usual stretching exercise, she fell asleep. This minute won't get up till morning.

(... thank you so much)

In my heart, I put a word of effort on my rugged friend, then gently weave the shawl and gently slip out of the room. A midnight inn where everything slept quietly was surrounded by silence.

When the footsteps turned toward him, Alec was there. He is sitting at the edge of the window in a loose shirt. Looking out the window while sipping a vial of liquor, there was a distressing shadow somewhere, perhaps because he was under the magic light.

He turned around and opened his eyes slightly when he noticed Shiori.

"... Shiori. What's the matter, can't sleep?

"Yeah, I just woke up. Alec, what's going on?

"Once I woke up, I couldn't sleep. I thought I could sleep with a drink."

Close to Alec laughing in a bit of trouble.

I can't see the look of fatigue seeping. The thin neighborhood that fell under your eyes shows that you haven't slept for a long time since you woke up.

Reaching gently to his cheek, he presses from the top and his hands are stacked and tightly squeezed.

--It's as if you hold onto it.

"... this is how you stay here."

Yeah?

"... you're staying with me."

"Alec...?

The other hand also pressed against his cheek, so he confronted him.

"What's wrong? Have you ever had a bad dream?

Alec nodded little after hesitating a little.

"... I can't, only that dream."

"The dream?

"Oh, I was told it wasn't worth anything - it was that day's dream."

As if to remember, the event of that day is still dreaming. Instead of the warm memories that should have been piled up until then, Alec said that even the self who created the memories together was worthless - after dreaming about the day when they were so judged, he couldn't sleep anymore.

"... I don't think I'm pathetic. It's been almost 20 years."

That said, he laughed weakly.

The words, which were smashed by those who trusted him, became poisonous thorns, pierced into the soft part of his heart, and rotted, and he continued to be irritated.

That's all you trusted about him.

"... ahh. Like my younger brother - no, maybe more. He was my home."

"Yeah."

"I was just a kid, and he was kind to me. If it's hard, you can cry and lend me your chest."

"... yeah"

"... like my sister... I admired it."

"... I see."

I felt as if the hand holding my hand was trembling.

Strong and dependable - this strong and gentle person who always protects himself now looks terribly weak. And he's unbearably loving, exposing weak parts like this.

Reach out to the unscrewed person and gently hold Alec's head. I slipped my fingertips on the soft chestnut hair and combed it gently many times.

A reluctantly stretched hand was turned around Shiori's back - holding her tightly.

"... I'm sorry. I can't believe I'm talking to you about an old woman...."

"... that's fine."

It's not that it doesn't hurt my heart. I'm sure I won't ever be jealous of a woman who's been by his side longer than I am now, hugged in her arms, and doesn't even know her face, who would have made a hot mouth like that. But...

"It's okay. It was hard enough to dream, wasn't it? That's why I'm gonna spit it all out here now. It might be a little... easier."

Alec is hard because he's hard. So tell me.

When I told her that, the chestnut hair I hugged shook my head small.

"... she admired me, too. I checked on each other over and over again - and eventually I wanted to be together. But..."

The strength of the arm holding Shiori became stronger.

"... my parents live in a slightly (...) high family home. When my father fell ill, and either my bastard son or my brother-in-law succeeded the governor, the surroundings rubbed and could not tidy up - so I left the house and tried to calm down. But then I can't keep seeing her. It's obvious that you won't be able to match your stature and that you'll have trouble taking her with you when she grows up. So I decided to arrange at least another good relationship so that she wouldn't be in trouble, who was already too late for the bride."

"... yeah"

"But I don't think she was convinced that she was going to be with me. Well, I guess she'll wait till she's late, and if she thinks she's going to propose, she'll cut me loose. I can't help being angry."

"Yeah."

"But... but I still thought you'd understand at the end. Like my sister... she was kind like my mother. That's why I had a faint expectation that you might say you'd follow me. But she....."

The edge of the cut word trembled slightly.

"My memories of me are worthless. On the contrary, I refused even to abandon the house, saying that it was worthless... and said never to talk to him again. I'm alone with her."

"Alec...."

I don't know how she feels because she's the same woman who doesn't know her face or her name. It would certainly have been uncomfortable if she had smelled her marriage and cut off her farewell at the age of her late bride. Even Annelier, who is still in her mid-twenties, is said to be late, so it may be more difficult for the daughter of a lost good family to find a new daughter-in-law.

Even so - words that deny the very existence without any value, even if it is a man who is trying to leave himself. It's too sad to bump into him because of his circumstances and still try to be honest with her.

"... because I was a child my father made outside. Luckily, my family was good to me, but I still wasn't in a good position at home. That made me feel awful, and I didn't have a look at women my age. And yet, as soon as my father fell down and realized that there was little chance of me succeeding the governor, the women who had been looking at me with their bugs' faces turned their palms back and changed their eyes slightly. I really didn't feel good about these women."

Among other things, only the man was kind to him from the beginning. She also treated him kindly, who was ridiculed as a worthless bastard. That's why I thought that kindness was real.

"... but as soon as she found out she was leaving home, she changed her attitude. I thought that all that kindness was an act to get close to me... and that I'd been cheating on me for years with the kind of heart I'd be nostalgic about from my childhood..."

I exposed my weak inner side without knowing anything, and talked about my warm thoughts many times. Isn't that like a clown?

The words exhaled with trembling breath melted away in the silence of the night.

Siori gently brushed Alec's chestnut hair, holding herself tight.

"You loved him... so much. Very much."

"... ahh. I loved it."

--A "love" directed at a woman who wasn't herself gave Shiori a slight pain. But his thoughts have been in the past for a long time.

"... but since then, the woman approaching me whispering sweet words has become physiologically unacceptable. I don't think so, if you treat me normally."

"Really....."

A period of silence.

While stroking Alec's chestnut hair, Ciori looks at the city covered in pure, innocent white snow.

People's minds are complicated. Like this snow, you can't just be innocent. There are different positions, there are different thoughts - people live in each other's thoughts, hurting each other.

With such thoughts in mind, Siori answered the many questions she had.

"... hey, Alec"

"... what?

"You said you decided to break up with him when you left home, but then - and if you're going back home - you're going to break up with me?

He said that he decided to say goodbye because it would be difficult because of his different identity.

What about yourself?

When asked, he took a small breath.

"... I'm sure Alec's true identity... is nobility or something?

He hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

"... ahh"

"Then I'm a civilian and a foreigner... and I can't match Alec.

So if you decide to go back, you're just like her.

Just imagining it will tear your heart apart.

Alec, who was hugging her chest, moved. Siori's gentle and sweet restraint is lifted, and now he is hugged to his chest.

"- I don't want to let you go anymore. I want to be by your side forever. I want you to stay."

A hot, scattered voice blew into his ear, and Shiori trembled.

"To do that, I decided to face the house and my brother. Even if it takes time, I'll definitely digest it. And then..."

He whispered with his lips as if he were eating his ears.

"You, my..."

There were no more words. However, I felt like my breath leaking from my hot lips was telling the whole story, and my body got feverish.

"... what about you?"

Huh?

Siori, who had a feverish body, was questioned to blink her eyes.

"... you would have wanted to go home. If the day comes when you can go home, you'll be the one... leaving me."

If the day comes when I can go home.

"That's not true...."

I noticed that my lips trembled.

"I want to stay by Alec's side forever. I don't want to think that the day is coming. It's only natural for Alec to be around."

I wanted to go home. If I had the means to go home, I would have tried to go home if I had been before. But I've already made something important in this world. I have something important. Someone so precious that you can't think of leaving. People you care about.

I wasn't alone. There were people who went out with each other like friends. There were people watching me all the time. There was a rugged friend by. And right now, there's someone I love more than anyone.

"... if I can really go home... I'd like to say hello to my family, friends, and people I've taken care of. But I don't want to leave Alec anymore. I want to stay with you forever. Let me stay with you... forever?

Strengthens the power of the hugging arm. You're holding me so tightly that I can't breathe, but I'm even so happy about that.

"... of course. If I say I don't like you, I won't let you go again."

"... thank you, Alec."

Because this person will be there. Because it will stop you with a powerful arm. They will carefully pick up what they have lost in this world one by one - I feel like I can stay here.

"... you know, Alec."

Yeah?

"I don't have the courage to talk yet - but will you listen to me someday? It's about my home."

If one day you're ready for that.

I want him to tell me about his hometown, the world in which that country was born and raised. I want him to know. Someday, the world that shaped me.

Alec stared down at Shiori with his gentle, warm, dark-skinned eyes, and stayed there for a while before finally laughing to exhale slightly.

"... ahh. Of course."

As he said, his fingertips traced Shiori's lips.

"Someday... tell me everything about you. I'll teach you everything one day."

"... yeah"

The fingertips that I was touching were removed and attached to my cheeks. Lips are pressed upwards and still hot. I felt like I heard the word "I love you" when my melting lips were broken open and mixed with intensely entangled breath - I'm sure it wasn't my fault.

That's why you have to tell Shiori.

"I love you," he said, blending into your breath and whispering small.