“S-s-sleep with me on my bed tonight!” Clara stuttered out these words while turning red like a tomato, which was highly unusual for her.

“Huee!?” Rina couldn't help but squeal strangely at Clara's absurd suggestion.

“L-like I said, sleep on my b-bed. It's more than big enough for us.”

“...” Usually, the prospect of sleeping in the same bed as her crush would be more than enough to drown Rina in her fantasies and for her to get embarrassed as a result. But humans were strange creatures. If they were in the same room with someone, who was already blushing from embarrassment, they could remain calm instead, although they should also be fidgeting. So was Rina. She was strangely calm and therefore able to think rationally. “Clara, you are a noble lady. There is no way that I, your maid, can share a bed with you.”

“T-then it's an order!”

“... Even if it's an order, I have the responsibility to stop you from giving unreasonable orders.”

“W-why!? There is nothing unreasonable about it.”

“It is!”

Realising that her maid was stubborn, Clara managed to cool down a bit. So she thought of a new strategy to get Rina to agree to her proposal. With the processing speed of her brain, it didn't take her long to come up with a solution. “Rina, what is today for a day?”

Rina tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Just answer my question instinctively.”

“Today is the day after your birthday?” Rina replied after noticing that it was already past midnight.

Not expecting that as a response, Clara facepalmed inwardly. “You're oddly petty about the smallest details, aren't you? I'm talking about my Social Debut!”

“So... what about it?”

“You haven't given me a present for it yet,” Clara said, hoping her maid would accept her suggestion.

Unfortunately, as always, Rina misinterpreted and overthought her mistress's words and intentions, as her face reflected sadness and regret. “As expected... the brooch was no good?”

“Eh?” Clara was not prepared for Rina to misunderstand her words, so it took her a moment to realise what her maid meant. “Yes! …I mean no! I love the brooch, but that's not what I meant! You gave it to me for my birthday, right? But I still didn't get anything from you to celebrate my Social Debut!” But even after, or maybe because she understood what her maid was trying to say, Clara panicked and thus spat out some crappy logic. In fact, those words might even reflect badly on her, because they made her sound like a needy woman. That was why she instantly regretted her words as soon as she had said them.

Luckily for her, what sounded absurd to normal people, was compelling to Rina. “I see. I'm sorry Clara, you're right... It was a big oversight on my part.”

“Ehh? Ehhhhhh?” Naturally, Clara didn't expect her maid to buy her weird logic.

“But, I'm sorry, I haven't prepared anything else to give you... Is there anything you want?”

Confused or not, Clara didn't let her chance to achieve her goal slip by and therefore asked for what she wanted the whole time. “Well, then stop arguing and sleep on my bed with me. Come on, it's already late.”

“Clara... you're really putting me in a bind here... It's usually unheard of for a maid to sleep in the same bed as her mistress. I don't know why you insist on me sleeping here, but if you want me in the same room, I can sleep on the floor.”

Seeing that Rina still wouldn't give in to her wishes, Clara changed her tactic to one, that had always worked with her maid, without exception: Crocodile tears. So Clara deliberately moistened her eyes and looked at her maid with an insecure expression. “You were willing to sleep with that girl on your tiny bed... but you won't sleep with me on my bed, which is twice as big... Do you like her more than me?”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As always, Rina couldn't see through Clara's performance – or maybe she could see through it, but decided to ignore it so she could enjoy the usually self-confident Clara being insecure – so she finally gave in, not unwillingly if one might add. “O-okay, Clara, no need to be sad. I'll sleep here tonight.”

And suddenly, Clara's 'tears' disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, and the blonde blossomed like a flower. “Yaay” she shouted out in joy, leaped to at her maid, and hugged her.

Reluctantly, Rina freed herself from her mistress's arms, causing a disappointed grunt to escape the blonde's lips. Then Rina moved her hands to the ribbon around her neck, that held the top of her maid uniform together and unravelled it. Afterwards, she started to unbutton her top.

“Wha-!? What are you doing, Rina!?”

In the middle of undressing, Rina turned to the bright red Clara and tilted her head. “I'm changing my clothes.”

“T-then wait until I leave the room, stupid Rina!! Pervert!” With that, Clara rushed to the door and left her room.

'She is not only bad at being seen in her underwear, but also bad at looking at others in their underwear?' Left alone in the room, Rina made a note of her beloved mistress's reaction and stored it deep in her memory. She then continued changing into the comfortable nightgown Clara had given her years ago.

'But still, nobles are really amazing. They have their children wear something grown-up like this as their nightwear.' Once again, Rina couldn't help but wonder about the difference between the clothing of this world and her previous world. On Earth, in her home country, children, and even adult women, usually wore pyjamas consisting of a thick top with long sleeves and pants that reached down to the ankles

In Yggildos, however, the nightclothes Clara gave her were all thinly sewn one-piece dresses. Even though Rina found them comfortable to wear, especially while sleeping, she couldn't help but feel somewhat defenceless in them.

A few minutes later, when she had finished changing, she went to the door, that led to the corridor and through which Clara had left earlier, and opened it. “Clara, I'm done.”

“...”

“Clara?” Feeling Clara's blue eyes on her, Rina called out to her mistress. Getting no response, Rina waved her hands in front of the blonde... but still no reaction. So Rina became bolder and poked her mistress's soft-looking cheeks with her index finger, finally waking Clara up from her daze.

“Huee!? R-Rina? What are you doing?”

“No... That should be my question. I've finished changing and have called out to you several times but you haven't responded.”

“I-I see...” Clara, flushed, turned away from Rina and scratched her cheek where she had been poked earlier. “Um... You look really c-cute in it...”

“Hmm?” At first, Rina didn't understand what her mistress meant. But after looking down at herself in Clara's old nightgown, she figured out the meaning behind those words. “Fufu, thank you, Clara. But I bet you were even cuter in it~”

“T-that's enough!” Clara said. With a red face, she entered the room and lay down on her bed on the right side. She lifted the blanket on her left side and tapped on the bed, signalling her maid to lie down there.

After closing the door and blowing out the candles illuminating the room, Rina followed Clara's command and lay down on the bed. However, she chose to take her place at the very edge of the bed.

“Rina, you have to come closer, or the blanket won't reach you.”

“... I don't need a blanket.”

“Don't be silly. There's no way I can let my cute maid freeze in the cold of the night... Now come closer.”

“...” At first Rina just stayed where she was, but after half a minute she slowly rolled over to her mistress, who then pulled the blanket over her. “T-thank you.”

“Oya? You're bright red~ How precious~” Obviously happy that her advances were finally having an effect, as she could see from her maid's reactions, Clara took Rina into her arms and cuddled with her. Her actions, however, were met with weak resistance, as her maid turned around. As a result, they ended up in a position, where Clara was spooning the red-haired girl. But since Clara was nevertheless pleased with this arrangement, she didn't mind too much.

Unfortunately, Rina, realising that she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, complained soon after. “I knew that you would do that... that's why I didn't want to...”

“How so?”

“Well... because you really like skin-ship, don't you?”

“Hmm~~. So that's how you perceive my advances?”

Rina flinched when she heard that. “W-what do you mean by 'advances'?” she asked, hoping for an answer that would prevent her from potentially overthinking her crush's words.

Unfortunately for Rina, Clara remained ambiguous. “Nothing~.”

“...”

“...”

And so they both lay there silently in the dark room for a few more minutes, until Clara opened her mouth again. “Rina... Say... Can I ask you a really personal question?”

Hearing the hesitation in Clara's faint voice, Rina knew her mistress wanted to talk about something important, so she turned around. As a result, both girls looked at each other at point-blank range. Their faces were so close that they could even feel each other's breath. To make matters worse (?), their eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, so they could clearly see each other's defined facial features just a few centimetres away.

Usually, this would be enough for Rina to overheat and reflexively distance herself from her crush. But for some reason she felt that she had to keep her embarrassment to herself, sensing that whatever they were about to discuss might change their mistress-servant relationship forever.

So, with her courage gathered and her heart prepared for whatever was to come, Rina nodded. “Ask me anything, Clara. I'll answer as best I can.”

When Clara saw the facial expression on her maid, who somehow seemed to be prepared for the worst, she couldn't help but smile. But that smiling face soon turned to a serious-looking one, as she still had to ask her question.

“What do you think about romantic relationships between girls?”