Translator: Kurehas.h.i.+ Aiko
Editor: Weasalopes
Chapter 3: The Earnest Princess
PART 1
「Umm… Rou-sama, if you don"t mind, could you lend me a hand for a while…?」
Since early morning, Reaina was staying in the music room, being busy with taking lessons in violin from the best instructor in the whole kingdom. While standing guard at the door, Rou was asked that by one of the maids who was currently cleaning the hallway.
「Sure, what would you like me to do?」
「Really? Thank you so much! Now then, could you please carry this sofa for me?」
He answered with a smile, to which the maid began blus.h.i.+ng. It seems that they often had trouble with that kind of tasks, since there was no one around who would be fit to do some heavy lifting with chairs and sofas. And since he became the resident of the castle and the maids were slowly getting used to his presence, he would be asked to help them out from time to time.
He had his duty to protect the Princess, but since they were not all that far from the music room, he would be able to rush to her aid if he heard that there were some trouble.
The boy helped the maids with their cleaning for a little while, and when he was done he went back to his original post. Having done all the heavy lifting for the maids, they could come back to their usual duties.
「Is that it?」
「Yes, that was the last one. Thank you very much.」
「You truly saved us. Thank you for your hard work.」
「Rou-sama is so sweet, don"t you think?」
At the end of their work, the maids bowed their heads down in a sign of grat.i.tude.
「P, please, it was not that big of a deal…」
Although he didn"t do anything all that special, he still felt somehow embarra.s.sed from getting praised for it.
「Being protected by such a wonderful knight as Rou-sama, I"m so jealous of Reainsama.」
「And yet, Reainsama still continues to act so cold towards him.」
「That"s right! But still, Rou-sama continues to be truly wonderful, isn"t he?」
The three maids seemed to have forgotten that Rou was still in front of them, for they began to talk just how wonderful he really was. Rou himself had a rather hard time keeping up with their conversation, for their topics kept on changing so fast.
「Umm… I need to return to my post, so please let me know if there is anything more that you need help with.」
Not really sure what to say, Rou finally managed to open his mouth, and the maids lowered their heads in grat.i.tude yet again.
「Of course, thank you very much.」
「Rou-sama, once your work is done, and if you will be free, of course, would you like to drink some tea together with me?」
「Hey, not fair! Getting ahead of the rest by yourself like that!」
「It"s first come first served when it comes to those things!」
The maids flocked around the one how came up with that proposal, pus.h.i.+ng her until all of them eventually hit the wall. All of them were selected from throughout the kingdom and were quite beautiful. It felt nice to be invited by them like that, especially for someone who was still vulnerable for womanly charms.
「I"m afraid that I need to be on patrol until midnight, so maybe another time…」
He wanted to say something more, but suddenly he heard a voice behind his back and turned around in an instant.
「Hey, Rou, what do you think you"re doing?」
「…Eh, this is, umm…」
Looking back in the direction of the voice, he could see his childhood friend walking to him, shaking her trademark twin-tails. She looked at the boy being surrounded by the maids and put her hand onto her waist.
「Mina, are you done with your work? Diansan is going to get mad at you if she finds out
that you are slacking off.」
「Hee, heeh~, we finished already~」
「Rou-sama helped us out.」
When Karen looked surprised, the maids nodded with satisfaction.
「Ha? You didn"t really have to do that, you know… You"re seriously good to a fault…」
「No, it really was not that big of a deal…」
There was no rule out there that would explicitly say that he shouldn"t help the maids if he was able to. But to Karen it seemed that he hasn"t really changed all that much since they were kids, always willing to help everyone in need.
「Come to think of it, Karen, why are you addressing Rou-sama so casually? Do you guys know each other or something?」
「You guys aren"t dating, are you!?」
「I, it"s nothing of the sort…」
The three maids blurted those words while blus.h.i.+ng heavily, asking what the relations.h.i.+p between them was really like, all the while s.h.i.+fting their gazes between them. Something in his mind was telling Rou that he should be the one to answer that question.
「Umm, Karen and I are childhood friends, you see, and…」
He couldn"t tell them that she suddenly jumped the gun and confessed to him, and that they ended up having s.e.x right after that, but since he had to say something he said something like that. After all, he wouldn"t want the girls to start to spread some nasty rumors about them.
「So, with things being the way they are, there is still a chance for me, right?」
「Eh, I, I wonder about that…?」
「N, now, stop mumbling such nonsensical things and get back to your work, all of you!」
The other girls turned away, their faces kind of angry, and they released the boy, although really reluctantly. They waved their hands at him when they were walking away, and since he had no idea how to answer to that, he simply chose to smile.
「Geez, stop acting so bashful!」
「It, It"s not like that, I swear…」
He was desperately trying to explain himself to the girl, but she also went her own way looking somewhat displeased.
Since then, ever so often the maids would ask Rou for help with various tasks, since he was probably the only so gentle and so reliable man in the castle. That also helped to melt the distance between the boy and other castle"s servants.
Seeing just how popular Rou was becoming among other maids, Karen wanted to speak to him about in on numerous occasions, but ultimately gave up on the idea.
「You seem to be enjoying this greatly.」
「Umm… Y, yeah…」
During tea time, the Princess crosses her long legs extending from under her dress" skirt while she sits on the sofa and stares at the boy.
「Recently, all of the maids have been talking about you without stop. Are you perhaps interested in any one of them?」
「T, that"s not about it at all…」
It seems the rumors about the boy knight spread amongst the maids have reach even the Princess"s ears.
「Now that got me curious. Rou-sama, have you taken a liking to someone?」
「Even you, Diansan… I keep telling you, that"s not it…」
「Fufu… What a shame. I was hoping that you would say it was me.」
「Eeh!? T, that would be…」
The Head Maid laughs gently while refilling their tea. Even though he knew he was being teased, since it was Diansan Rou couldn"t help it but to get slightly excited.
「You panicking like that is awfully suspicious.」
「Oh my, are you perhaps also interested in who Rou-sama likes, Reainsama?」
The Princess, who was up until now looking closely at Rou"s profile, blushed strongly hearing Diana"s bold statement.
「T, there"s no way something like that could happen! Why would I even care about something that has nothing to do with me in the first place…?」
「Is that so? Please pardon me, then.」
Reaina pouts, and then turns her head away while brus.h.i.+ng her hair aside with her hand. But since her cheeks were red, she must have been even a little bit embarra.s.sed.
「Eh, umm… This is…」
The person he liked was right in front of him, and it was Reainsama. But there was no way that he could just go and declare that right here right now. He looked at her, and their eyes met for a moment. However, the Princess quickly averted her gaze from him.
「…If you are quite done with meaningless banter, than go and focus on doing your job properly!」
「Y, yes, Your Highness!」
He didn"t know what got the Princess so agitated all of a sudden, but the Head Maid kept watching them with a lovely smile on her face.
「Fuaaah…」
Rou kept on walking through a dimly lit corridor in the middle of the night while hanging his head and sighing heavily. Beside him, no other knight was on duty at this hour. Although he understood his responsibilities, it was hard to do them night after night without any kind of break or day off.
(c.r.a.p, I need to focus on my duties, I mustn"t s.p.a.ce out…)
His thoughts were drifting off in a completely different direction, so once he corrected himself he began to check every nook and cranny for any kind of suspicious activity with double the usual care.
「Hm…?」
There was light coming out from under the door to one of the rooms. He remembered that this room belonged to the younger Princess, bu then he also remembered that he soiled her face with his s.e.m.e.n and the way in which treated his c.o.c.k, which made him both rock hard down there and broke him into cold sweat.
Rou started to feel tremendously guilty for committing such a heinous atrocity, but on the contrary Mirianne didn"t seem offended in the slightest, after that acting in her usual and clingy matter towards him.
(Doing that with Ann-sama… No, no, what the h.e.l.l am I even thinking!?)
a.s.saulted by the little Princess" temptation, he couldn"t help but to think like that, and he shook his head to chase those thoughts away.
「Ah, it"s Rou-san~! You finally came this way!」
At that moment, the door springs open and little Princess" head peeks from behind it, smiling broadly.
「No, you see, this is my usual patrol route, so…」
「There"s no need for you to sweat about the small details, there"s no need~!」
Mirianne tried to drag the boy into the room by grasping his arm with her small hands.
「Ann-sama, I don"t think that this is such a good idea…」
「No way~. Karen interrupted us previously, but today I was waiting the whole day for you to pa.s.s by here.」
She smiled at the puzzled boy, and pulls him with her small hands. And since he already experienced her strength before, he knew that she was not to be underestimated.
「Even if you say that…」
「Muu~… Do you dislike me that much?」
Ann looks at the boy, and thinking that he really dislikes her she turns around with something similar to tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. That painful expression was contrasting with her usual cheerful expression, making Rou feel guilty for making her look that. He shook his head in panic.
「It"s, it"s not like that, I just… I guess I can keep you company for a little bit, if you insist…」
「Really~? Ehehe, I love you so much, Rou-san!」
When Mirianne regained her usual cheerful demeanor in an instant, Rou let out a sigh of relief. Truly, Mirianne"s smile was something else, calming and warming the hearts of others.
(I"m going to just have a short chat with her, just so I won"t make Ann-sama cry anymore…)
Even though just a second ago he was so fired up to do his job properly, apparently Ann-sama had a different opinion on that subject. However, since she was so insistent he had no other choice but to accept her invitation, so he might as well apologize for the other day.
「Please hurry up and come inside… Ah…」
「Eh…?」
When the Princess tried to drag him into the room, she looked past his shoulder and suddenly the look on her face s.h.i.+fted to that of a little child who"s been found out by its mother in the middle of some mischief. Following her gaze, Rou looked back only to see the Head Maid, looking at the Princess with her hands on her waist.