The room was silent after the Duke and his group, including Arland, had left. Neither Rina nor the girl, the only ones left, said a word. While Rina was busy alternating her facial expressions between blushing and paling at the memory of the kiss and the nightmare respectively, the brunette just stood there, watching her new mistress.

The colours of Rina's face had changed a dozen more times before she finally had enough and pulled herself together. Only then she managed to look at the brunette seriously. “Um... May I ask you a few questions?”

“Of course.” The girl answered in a monotone voice that matched her expressionless face. “But please don't be polite to me, Mistress.”

“O-okay. But in return, also talk to me normally. A-and p-please don't call me M-Mistress.” Especially the 'Mistress'-part was important to Rina, as she couldn't stay calm when a cute girl addressed her like that.

“Alright. I will talk to you informally. But I will still address you as 'Mistress'.”

Unfortunately, Rina wasn't allowed to have a calm mind. So she slumped her shoulders dejectedly. Deep down, though, she was pleased with the answer. “Fine... Call me what you want... Um... First of all, can you tell me about yourself?”

“Yes, Mistress. I'm Marianne, twelve years old. I was living with my single mother when Duke Lumiére picked me up four days ago.”

“D-did he kidnap you?”

“No, it was a clean transaction.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rina tilted her head at Marianne's strange phrasing.

“My mum got a huge amount of money from the Duke.”

“S-so she sold you off?”

Marianne nodded. “Yes, even though we were poor, she loves to have a gaudy lifestyle. She accepted his offer without a second thought.”

“I see... I'm sorry for asking but... do you want to go back to your mother?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you still have a family, unlike me... Just because the Duke treated you like a commodity, it doesn't mean, that you are one. If you want to go back to your mother, I won't stop you... In fact, I think you should go back to your family, while you still have one.”

“No, I stay with you.”

“I s-see.” Rina couldn't help but look down and blush at this straight answer. After all, Marianne's words were easy to misunderstand.

Fortunately, Marianne spoke up before the wrong ideas could take root in Rina's head. “Can you also tell me about yourself, Mistress?”

“Y-yes, of course. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself first.” With that, Rina told Marianne about her name, her age, how she had lived in an orphanage, how she had escaped from the orphanage, how she had come to the capital, and how she had been hired as Clara's personal maid. Naturally, Rina didn't tell the brunette anything about her magical abilities.

“Don't you think it's hard to work at your age?”

Rina shook her head, swaying her red hair from side to side. “No, I love working here. Especially for my mistress.” A soft smile appeared on her face as she thought of Clara.

“Do you love the Young Lady Dragonherz?”

“Hyuee!?” At this question, Rina jumped up from the couch and took a karate-like stance, as if she was about to fight Marianne for whatever reason. “L-l-l-l-love!? W-w-w-w-what d-d-do y-y-you m-m-m-mean?”

Ignoring, or not caring about the strange sound Rina gave off or the strange posture she took, the brunette clarified her words in a still monotone voice. “You had a very soft expression on your face when you spoke about the Young Lady. That's why I guessed you might have romantic feelings for her.”

“W-w-w-what a-a-are y-y-you t-t-talking about? I d-d-d-don't l-l-l-love her.”

Stolen story; please report.

“I see... I understand your situation, Mistress. Because of the difference in status between you and her, you have to hide your relationship. Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret.”

“Hyueeeee!?” Needless to say, Rina couldn't keep up with why Marianne had gotten that misunderstanding and how to clear it up.

“Now, I can also understand the Duke's orders. He knew you like girls. That's why he ordered me to give you the antidote mouth-to-mouth. He wanted to use me as a honey trap to get you on his side.”

“...” Fortunately, Marianne's words were serious enough to calm Rina down almost immediately. Of course, Rina had already suspected that Marianne's presence was only meant to pique her interest. Or rather, Thalas had even said so himself. Still, when the brunette told her that the kiss was just an order, Rina couldn't help but feel a little hurt. It wasn't that she was hopeful or the like, but still, anything that hurt, hurt. “Do you hate me?”

Marianne tilted her head at the question, which came out of nowhere for her. “Why?”

Rina tried but wasn't able to look into the older girl's face. “You were separated from your home because of me.”

The brunette seemed to think for a moment. But then, instead of answering the redhead's question, she asked another one. “I ask you again. You have romantic feelings for the Young Lady Dragonherz, haven't you?”

“...” After realising, that Rina couldn't just sit this question out, she nodded weakly with a bright red face. After all, this was the first time ever, in both of her lives combined, that she told anyone about her feelings.

“Are you going out with her?”

This time, Rina shook her head.

“Do you want to go out with her?”

Again, Rina shook her head. She had no intention of ever becoming romantically involved with anyone.

However, Marianne had other plans as she listened to her new mistress's answer and slowly and surely approached Rina.

But the red-haired girl didn't understand what the brunette was up to. So Rina simply remained still and watched as Marianne came closer and closer until Marianne's malnourished-looking but still beautiful face was only a few centimetres away from her. Then, for a split second, Rina felt a peck on her lips before Marianne backed away.

Only then did Rina realise what had just happened. However, maybe because of the serious mood they were in, she didn't go into overheating mode as one might have expected. Rina still got red, but it was not from embarrassment. “Wha-!? Why have you done that!?”

“You asked me if I hate you. Does this answer your question?” Marianne was still calm despite Rina's displeased face.

“No! Not at all!”

“I love you, Mistress.”

“Wha-?” Hearing this, the red tint on Rina's face intensified, as her emotions changed from anger to embarrassment. A few seconds later, however, she realised, that there was no way that Marianne's words were the truth, so the red colour faded again. She sat down on the couch and took a few breaths before speaking up. “Indeed, your actions have answered my question... So you hate me so much, that you want to get my hopes up, only to crush them, right? Sadly for you, I've already experienced that... before I died.” The last sentence was murmured so quietly, that Marianne couldn't hear it.

“No, that's not it.”

“Then explain yourself.” Rina crossed her legs as she glared at the brunette. This might be the first time in both of her lives combined, that she had ever felt so irritated.

“As I've said before, I was living with my single mother before the Duke picked me up... No, it might even be appropriate to say that he saved me from the hell that was called 'home'. And by extension, because he did it for you, you saved me, Mistress.”

Of course, Rina didn't buy the brunette's absurd logic. So she remained silent for now and waited patiently for her to continue.

And since Marianne was no fool, she correctly guessed the younger girl's intention and went on. “My mum, no, that woman is a single mother who loves buying unnecessary stuff. Well, maybe it's also because of her job that she often wears expensive accessories and fancy clothes.”

“What is her job?” It didn't escape Rina's attention that Marianne was talking about her mother in a hateful tone.

“She's a prostitute. She works in a so-called high-class-brothel, aimed at rich commoners, or the lower nobility.”

“... I see...” Prostitution was something, that Rina couldn't evaluate. She just didn't know what to make of it and what to comment on Marianne's words.

Of course, young girls selling their bodies for a daily meal was nothing to scoff at in her opinion. But what about adult women or men, who had chosen this profession? In fact, in her past life, Rina had often, too often in fact, considered visiting a lesbian brothel. But in the end, she had refrained from doing so.

Rina shook her head to clear her thoughts of her past life out of her head and turned her attention back to the topic at hand. “Is it too hard for you to have a mother who works in such a field?”

Rina's eyes showed sadness when she said this. Her image of prostitutes was that of women, who were more or less forced to do that job. So that they could buy a meal to get through the day, or even feed their fatherless children. As someone, who had never experienced parental love, she thought it was a privilege, even a gift, to have a mother who would go to such lengths to earn a living for her child. So she found it heartbreaking that the girl in front of her couldn't see that. “Don't you love your mother who gives this much for you?”

Rina looked at the girl, expecting to see a face reflecting on her words. But what she perceived instead, was an angry face from a normally emotionless girl. “DON'T TALK LIKE YOU KNOW ABOUT US!”

Rina was so shocked by the loud voice, that she flinched quite visibly and reflexively slid back on the couch as far away from Marianne as possible.

Seeing the younger girl in that state, the brunette managed to calm down almost immediately after and regained her usually stoic face. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get loud... That woman isn't the person for who you think she is. She does it for pure pleasure and money. In fact, she loves money so much, that she even trained me to become a prostitute.”

“Wha-!?” For the nth time today, Rina wasn't able to contain her surprise.

“Were it not for you, the Duke wouldn't have taken me away from that place. So it's thanks to you that I escaped that fate.”

“Okay, I understand your thoughts. Even though I still find it a bit far-fetched for you to be grateful to me, I can accept it for now. But I don't buy your claim that you l-l-love me.” Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rina still couldn't say that last sentence without blushing.

“Because this woman kisses and has intercourse with countless men, I've decided to do the opposite. The first person I share my kiss with will be my last... That's right, Mistress, no...”

“...”

Before Rina could even seriously register the gravity of what she had just heard, Marianne continued.

“Rina, you were my first and you will be my last.”