“Clara, I have finished tying up your hair.”
“Mhm. Thank you, Rina.” Clara replied to her maid and looked in the mirror. “As expected, you're getting better at this.”
At the praise, Rina smiled brightly like a blooming flower. “Hehehe~ Even though I am untalented, I have to get better at this eventually after doing it every day for almost a year now... I can't stay useless all the time, after all. So this is the least I can do.”
“Eh? No, I didn't mean it like that!” Hearing her maid's words, Clara panicked a little and spoke up loudly. She hated this part of Rina. Every time she complimented her on something over the past year, her maid would always add some negative nuance to the words to talk herself down.
At first, she thought that Rina was just being humble, but as they spent more time together, Clara understood, that these were Rina's true thoughts. Her maid was incapable of taking praise at face value. She would always find a way to interpret them in a negative way for herself. It was as if Rina thought that there was no good in her existence.
That was why Clara instantly regretted denying Rina's words in panic. She was sure that the younger girl would interpret them in a bad way once again. And indeed, Rina's next words confirmed it.
“S-sorry, Clara, I've just misunderstood your words as praise. I will practise preparing your hair more until you are satisfied.”
When Clara looked in the mirror, she saw her maid looking down, blushing from having misunderstood her words as praise. Although she found it incredibly cute how Rina squirmed in embarrassment, she couldn't enjoy that expression at all. After all, her words to Rina were a genuine compliment, but once again, they failed to get through.
So, frustrated and crestfallen, Clara got up, went to her bed, and lay down.
Seeing her mistress's actions, Rina stored away the tools she had used to comb Clara's hair and prepared to leave the room. “Then, good night Clara.” But before she reached the door, she was interrupted.
“Wait, Rina. Why don't you stay here for a while so we can talk a bit?”
“Yes?” At the suggestion, Rina blinked thrice and tilted her head in confusion. In her mind, she couldn't imagine what the blonde wanted to talk about. “Is there a problem?”
“No... it's just... since Fran became our teacher almost a year ago, our days have been filled with lessons. And when we didn't have magic lessons, you were always training with Arland or doing maid's work...”
Hearing these words, Rina thought initially that Clara wanted to spend more time with her, but she instantly abandoned that speculation. After all, in her mind, she could not imagine, why the blonde would want to do that. It must have been a misunderstanding because of her feelings for Clara. So, shaking her head, the now eight-year-old girl tried to put her fantasies out of her mind and racked up her brain for the true meaning behind her mistress's words.
Meanwhile, Clara sighed in frustration as she watched her maid's reaction. It was obvious that the red-haired girl had twisted Clara's words in a strange direction to interpret them in a negative way, once again. So, to interrupt the younger girl's self-harming thoughts, she spoke up. “Never mind what I said. Thank you for helping me. You can rest now.”
Now, when Clara thought more deeply about it, her wish to spend more time with her maid alone was a very bad one. After all, it was already past 11 PM. Her usual routine was to be woken up at around 7 AM in the morning, which meant that Rina would have to be up much earlier. Maybe 6 AM or even 5? Either way, the younger girl had to get up very early in the morning, so wishing her to stay up any longer would be extremely selfish.
“Okay then, Clara, good night.”
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“Mhm. Good night, Rina.” So Clara was relieved when it looked like her maid was going to sleep.
***
Stepping out of Clara's room and closing the door behind her, Rina made her way to Fran's room.
After the rough first meeting between her mistress and the former High Priestess nearly a year ago, Fran somehow managed to convince Clara to accept her as their magic instructor. Well, to put it bluntly, Fran had threatened, that she would reveal Rina's existence to the world otherwise. Although the girl in question didn't understand why that was a threat in the first place, Clara gave in to it. To this day, this was a mystery that Rina failed to solve. After all, why would it be a threat?
At first, Rina thought it was because of her ability to cast Dark magic. After all, she still feared that her affinity for Dark magic would be seen as something evil in the eyes of the public. So, wouldn't that mean, that the Dragonherz family would risk being hunted for protecting her? True, she was very happy, that she could be beside her crush, but not if said crush's life was in danger.
When Rina brought it up and suggested that she would leave for the safety of the Dragonherz family, who were very kind to her, she was slapped by a crying Clara. Even now, she couldn't help but feel that her mistress had overreacted. Why would her suggestion that she leave the family hurt Clara so much, that she cried? Rina couldn't understand it.
It was only later, when the magic lessons with Fran began, that she learned that having an affinity for Dark magic was not a bad thing at all. According to Fran, there were records, albeit very few, that had documented cases of individuals being capable of Dark magic. And not only that. Fran had even stressed multiple times during the lessons, too often in fact, that Rina's powers were very important to win against the demons.
Hearing that had made the young girl incredibly happy. After all, it wasn't often, that she was needed for something, that she had a purpose in the world.
So when Fran, who had moved into the Dragonherz mansion, offered her extra lessons, Rina accepted. That was why she was currently on her way to her instructor's room. But because the time suggested by Fran for the extra lesson was so late and would last into the next day, Rina hadn't bothered to inform her mistress about this. After all, she couldn't imagine that Clara would be interested in what Rina would do after bedtime.
After walking for a while through the dark corridors of the mansion, Rina eventually arrived at Fran's bedroom, the location for those extra lessons. She then knocked on the door and entered the room after hearing a “Come in” from inside.
“Welcome Rina, please sit on the bed as usual. You're a bit late tonight, aren't you?” Fran spoke as she sat in a chair, writing something in a document on the table.
“I'm sorry, Lady Fran. I know it's rude... you even take the time to give me extra lessons.”
Seeing the little girl's reaction, Fran had mixed emotions building up inside her, because she felt like she was tricking a clueless, unsuspecting child. Well, in fact, she was, as she was actually trying to get Rina to dedicate herself to the world. But still, the end justified the means, even if it would cost the happiness and the freedom of an innocent girl.
At first, after Fran had just moved into the Dragonherz mansion to tutor the mistress-servant pair, she tried several times to talk to the red-haired girl. Unfortunately, Rina and Clara were stuck together like glue, so each time she talked to Rina, she could always feel a pair of blue eyes from the blonde girl staring at her. It was as if Clara was saying, “I'm watching you, so be careful what you do with my maid.” After the incident at their first meeting, Clara was extra cautious.
Hence, Fran had to separate them so she could imprint her ideas on Rina and research the Dark magic. Therefore she had offered to give Rina private magic lessons, which the girl accepted. Then Fran had deliberately suggested those lessons at night time, hoping that Clara would be too tired to follow Rina. And it worked. Clara had been never present at those lessons.
To the elf's surprise, it even seemed that Rina didn't tell her mistress about these private lessons. From what Fran had observed of the red-haired girl's personality, she concluded that Rina had assumed that Clara wasn't interested in how Rina spent her free time. Although, in Fran's eyes, the opposite was true.
But that was another thing the elf had managed to learn about the maid.
Rina lacked self-confidence. The girl always thought that bad happenings were her fault, even if that was definitely not the case. Just like earlier.
When Fran had commented that Rina was late, the girl immediately apologised, without giving any reason or excuse, as if she was aware of her mistake. But from past experiences Fran knew, that Rina was rarely really to blame for anything. This time was no different. It was obvious that Clara was the reason, why Rina was late.
Still, it was a good thing for Fran that the little girl had this personality trait. That way, she could use Rina's guilty thoughts to push her even harder to devote herself to the world.
That's why she put a soft smile on her face, and answered, “Hmm... well fine, if you give your best later I'll forgive you.”
Hearing the elf's words, Rina smiled happily and pumped her fists in front of her chest in determination. “Yes, thank you! I will do my best!” Then she walked over to her teacher's bed and sat down as she was instructed. “Once again, thank you for your time Lady Fran. What are we going to do today?”
“You don't get bored thanking me for this at all, do you? You have been doing it every day since we started the extra lessons nearly a year ago... Well, fine... Let's see... how about practising the Loading Phase for other parts of your body besides your hands again?”
“Okay, Lady Fran.” At her instructor's suggestion, Rina stood up from the bed again and guided her hands to the maid uniform she was wearing. After removing the ribbon around her neck that held the top of the uniform together, she stopped and looked at the elf to confirm her actions.
“Should I take off my clothes again?”