“Ahahahahahaha.”

In the Dragonherz mansion, two people were currently walking down the corridor towards the room, where the former High Priestess was staying. One of them, Clara, was laughing out loud like there was no tomorrow. The reason for this was the girl with a beet-red face and eyes filled with tears behind Clara.

“C-C-Clara, I'm going to tell Madam Lauren about your unladylike behaviour!” After being utterly destroyed by her mistress, this was all Rina could muster as a last attempt at damage control. It went without saying, that Rina's mind had stopped working after Clara had pulled the “B-but please... be gentle” stunt a few minutes prior.

“Heeheehee... so what are you going to tell my mother?”

“...” Of course, it was just an empty threat. There was no way Rina could tell Lauren what had just happened in Clara's room, that Rina had wanted to tease the blonde, only to be done in, instead. So, with no counter to Clara's question, Rina just kept silent, while puffing out her cheeks.

Unfortunately, this expression triggered Clara's hidden switch even more. But luckily for Rina, they arrived at Fran's room just as the blonde was about to strike again, so Rina was safe, for now.

*Knock* *Knock*

“Come in.”

Hearing these words, Clara opened the door and entered the room, dragging the girl behind her with her.

“Hello Fran, I will be intruding on your lessons again.”

“Fine, fine, I've already given up on being alone with Rina... speaking of whom, where is she?”

At that question, Clara stepped aside, revealing the red-haired girl behind her. “Here.”

“Hmpf.” The person in question turned her head away from Clara with her arms crossed, still pouting. Of course, Rina wasn't actually angry with her crush. She never could be. She was confident that her fondness for the blonde would still remain even if she was betrayed, hurt, or even killed by Clara. Rina was only sulking because she still couldn't cope with the fact, that she was no match for a soon-to-be twelve-year-old girl.

“... What's up with her?” Obviously, there was no way, Fran could know what the redhead was thinking or what had happened.

In truth, Rina really wanted to answer the question so that they could finally move on from the (mainly for Rina) embarrassing situation. However, she was currently supposed to be sulking, and people who sulk usually ignored their surroundings. So she just kept silent while hoping that her mistress would answer the elf's question as ambiguously as possible.

Unfortunately, the world was a cruel place, as five minutes later...

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *cough* *cough* HAHAHAHAHAHAHA *cough* Bleergh, oh shit, I'm dying *cough* *cough* hehehe”

…the former High Priestess was rolling around in her bed, laughing, coughing, and whatnot, after Clara had explained what had happened earlier in every possible detail.

“You don't have to laugh so much, that you start coughing.” Rina couldn't help but grumpily comment on Fran's behaviour.

“Ahaha, I'm sorry, but watching you two is really funny.”

“... I have the feeling that it's mostly at my costs...”

“But real-talk, Rina, you shouldn't challenge your sadistic mistress anymore in the future.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Sadistic!?” The person in question couldn't let that statement slide but was unfortunately royally ignored by both Rina and Fran.

“Why?”

“What, why? Your mistress is scary! In the beginning, I have managed to tease her quite a bit, but lately, I can't do that anymore. She will return the teasing to me instead. And even if you ignore the more light-hearted situations, I don't think that I could even win a serious debate against her. She will be really scary to reckoned with when she grows even further, so you need to stay on her good side or you'll regret it.”

“I see... now that you mention it, even Lord Eric has a fair share of difficulties arguing with her.”

“Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, so you'd better never try anything funny with your mistress again.”

“Yes! Thank you for your advice! I will keep it in mind!”

Rina and Fran seemed to be on agreeable terms regarding this topic.

“Erm... you both do realise that I'm standing next to you, right?”

“Ehh!? C-C-Clara?”

“Of course, I know that you can hear us.”

However, their reactions to Clara's awkward interjection couldn't have been more different. While Rina seemed to have completely forgotten Clara's presence and panicked, Fran was well aware that Clara was here to hear the compliments/insults (?) and simply acknowledged it.

“Haaah, Rina do you understand that you just got played by that elf?”

“Eh!?” At her mistress's shocking announcement, Rina turned robotically to Fran, whom she had just thought of as an ally. “L-Lady Fran, d-did you also just t-tease me?”

But instead of answering the nine-year-old girl's question, Fran just looked away and feigned ignorance. In return, it was Clara, who then spoke up. “Rina, I hope that you don't think that she was your ally. She just tried to make you say bad things about me...”

“... With all due respect, Lady Clara, but I don't think that you have the right to say that. You are the reason for this in the first place.”

Hearing the change in her maid's tone, Clara knew that she had gone too far. So while it was now her time to panic inwardly out of fear that she had upset Rina, the blonde approached her maid and stroked the smaller girl's head. “I'm sorry Rina, I'll refrain from teasing you from now on... I'll try... maybe... I can't promise you though... So please, cheer up, okay?”

Usually, hearing Clara's words, Rina would have definitely retorted, as those words didn't reflect any sincerity in her mistress at all. But with her head suddenly being caressed by the soft and warm hand of her crush, Rina didn't have the mental capacity to do so. After all, she was too busy fighting off the embarrassment, keeping her fantasies intact, and etching the current sensation on her head deep into her memory.

Unfortunately for the mistress-servant pair, there was currently a third party in the room. In fact, they were in the private room of said third party.

“Wow... watching this scene in front of me, I have so many comments that I don't know where to start.”

Upon picking up Fran's voice, Clara begrudgingly turned her attention to the elf but still kept petting her servant. “Do you have to interrupt? We were just in such a good mood.”

“Really? Are you serious? At least try to remember where you currently are! You are in MY bedroom, flirting with your clueless wife!”

“Heehee~”

Unfortunately, Fran's words seemed to have made Clara even happier than before, though the elf didn't need to think for long about why. So, after letting out a heavy sigh, she spoke up in a serious tone. “All jokes aside, I need your attention now.”

Noticing the seriousness in the former High Priestess's voice, Clara stopped caressing her maid's head. “Rina, snap out of it, Fran seems to have something serious to say.”

“Y-yes!” Although Rina was startled by her mistress's words at first, she managed to regain her composure almost instantly after and turned towards Fran. “I'm sorry for that display earlier, Lady Fran.”

“It's nothing you have to apologise for. Now then, take a seat, we need to talk.” While saying this to Rina, Fran subtly tapped on her lap as if to show the redhead where to sit. Unfortunately, this gesture went unnoticed by Rina, as she moved to stand behind Clara as if it was the most natural thing in the world. To make matters worse, Fran's pointing at her own lap was noticed by Clara, which earned the elf an annoyed glare.

'Seriously, children mature at an alarming rate these days... Even though Rina already seems to act well beyond her age, Clara's behaviour really takes the icing on the cake.' Once again, Fran couldn't help but be highly impressed by how both girls appeared. Unfortunately for Rina, Fran concluded that Clara's mental age was superior to Rina's, even though the redhead was actually the mentally older one of the two.

“Have you already seen Lord Eric's guest list for your Social Debut?” Fran asked, after pushing her previous thoughts to the back of her mind.

Clara shook her head at the question. “No, not yet.”

“I have bad news for you... It seems the Lumiéres are invited.”

“Just because Father invited them, it doesn't mean that...” At first, Clara was taking Fran's 'bad news' rather lightly, but after she saw her instructor's grim expressions, Clara could feel the colour in her face draining. “... Don't tell me, they are going to be there!?”

Fran nodded.

But before Clara could react to the elf's confirmation...

*Thud*

… a dull sound came from behind her. When she looked back, her mind stopped working, as she saw Rina collapsed on her knees with tears dripping from her face.

“R-Rina? What is wrong?” Seeing her maid in this state, Clara jumped out of her chair and rushed to the red-haired girl's side. “A-are you hurting anywhere?”

When Rina saw the face of her beloved mistress, she was at first slightly relieved. But then she recalled the bad news that Fran had just told them and, thus, paled again. Then she looked at Clara.

“A-Are you getting married, Clara?”