- VOL 1 – THOSE UNITED BY THE FATE -
Chapter 3: Final Preparations (2/10)
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After closing the door violently, the short woman collapsed on the floor.
‘Ahh! Why am I so ashamed of just a little boy!’
She covered her face with her hands and talked to herself. If anyone saw her in this state, they might think she had gone crazy.
"B-but a body like that..."
She remembered the huge scar on the boy's back. It started at the nape of his neck and ran along his back. Then she remembered his muscles and her face grew strangely reddish. It didn't take long for the flush to fade, though, and she focused on the next thing that came to her mind.
"It's the wound on his stomach. It must be fresh if it was bleeding just now!"
She stood up nervously and turned to the door behind her.
"What could he have gotten into?"
She grabbed the doorknob but was startled by a sound behind her and jumped, dropping it before she could knock.
"What are you doing here, Rina?"
"Ahh!!!"
"What happened? Why are you yelling, you'll disturb our guests."
The blue-eyed, short woman's surprise and shouting had no effect on the tall woman in the maid's uniform. Not only this sudden shout, but it was as if nothing could disturb her seriousness. Surprisingly, however, the maid's attention was diverted.
Rina's short figure, as if trying to hide the door behind her, caused the maid to relax her serious expression, and curiosity flickered in her eyes instead.
Rina also noticed this change in her and as soon as she realized what was going on, she hurried to speak.
"Ehh, nee-san, what are you doing here?"
The tall woman in the maid's uniform pulled her eyes away from the door and looked slightly down at Rina. She asked with a skeptical expression on her face.
"Nee-san? My, my, what a sweet tongue you have. I was walking down the hallway to see if any of our guests needed anything, and when I saw someone sitting on the floor at the end of the hallway, I thought it would be good to check on them, but guess what? It was my little sister Rina. I was really surprised to see her wandering upstairs."
The tall woman paused for a few seconds. Then she leaned closer to the worried woman in front of her, squinted her eyes, and continued her barrage of questions.
"I thought you didn't like working as a maid. Since when did you care so much about our business? Or could you be doing something else here?"
Rina was quite panicked at first, but now she seemed a little calmer and more confident.
‘She mustn't realize what it is! If she sees that idiot, she'll definitely get worried and do weird things. And there must be a connection with Minato! I have to investigate this myself without giving anything away.’
After taking a deep breath, she placed a fake smile on her face and began to answer the woman in front of her one by one.
"Hehe. I mean, I'm an employee here, after all. It doesn't matter if I'm a maid or a receptionist, right? I wouldn't want to disappoint Dom-san after all he's done for us."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Despite the answers, neither the tall woman's expression nor her suspicious gaze changed. On top of that, a slightly angry expression was added to her face.
"Enough with the games, Rina. Since when did you become a good girl and do your work properly? After all these years, is it only now that you think of helping Dom-san? Especially when you're trying to hide the door behind you. You have no conviction whatsoever."
‘Damn! She obviously knows who's in there. She's unlikely to believe anything I say anyway, but I don't think talking to distract her is going to help. Huh... I guess I'll have to tell a bigger lie. Anyway, once I figure this out, I'll have a better reason to beat them both up.’
Seeing that Rina was silent for a while, the maid, thinking that she was not going to talk further, moved forward to open the door. But when she reached for the door handle, she was blocked by Rina.
"Huff... Okay sis, I won't lie anymore, I think Sana-nee knows me well enough to see through me."
With her saying this, the woman in uniform stepped back. She put her hands on her waist and sent Rina a sharp look. It was clear she wanted a proper explanation.
"You'd better explain everything properly. I hope you didn't break into Shin-kun's room and beat him up."
A frightening expression crossed her face, albeit briefly. It lasted only a few seconds before it was replaced by a serious and emotionless expression. However, these few seconds were enough to make Rina shiver.
The blue-eyed, short woman laughed again, obviously faked, and continued to speak, pretending to be surprised.
"Haha-hahaha! So you knew, sis. I'm not going to lie, I came here knowing that this was his room."
"So?"
Sana kept her expression, but her tone of voice made it clear that she was waiting for the rest of the story. So Rina hurried on so as not to anger her again.
"After thinking calmly, I realized my mistake. I blamed them because I was frustrated, but after talking to them, I understood Minato's situation and agreed with him."
The tall woman's doubts were still not completely dispelled. She raised her head once more and shifted her focus away from Rina and towards the door behind her.
"I think Shin-kun can explain it to us better. Since you're here, there must be someone inside, right?"
Rina's face showed a look of defeat. She knew better than anyone that she could not convince the woman in this situation. That's why, as her sister put her hand on the doorknob again, Rina stopped herself from blocking it.
The short woman moved away from the door and waited, accepting her fate. However, just as the tall woman was about to open the door, something very important crossed Rina's mind.
‘Wait a minute. Didn't I just come here as a service girl? What am I trying to convince my sister for? I was already right from the first place.’
Apart from this thought, an image of what was inside came to her mind. She remembered her real purpose in protecting this door from her sister.
"Kyaa! Do-don't open it!"
Her face suddenly turned red as she jumped into her sister's hand and tried to pull her away from the door as if her life depended on it. Sana, who had no idea what was happening, was dumbfounded, but the idea of opening the door was erased from her mind as the short woman pushed her with all her might.
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‘Ahh! I will definitely avenge everything!’
Rina was walking nervously on the main floor of the inn. Although the place was quite crowded and noisy, she was lost in thought and didn't seem to care about her surroundings.
She had gotten out of the dangerous situation she had just been in by partially telling her sister the truth. She told her that Shin had asked her to bring something to his room and that she had prevented her sister from opening the door because the boy looked tired.
After her reaction, Sana had already realized that there was nothing malicious about it, but her curiosity was still piqued. She said a few things that could give Rina a headache and calmly left.
Her sister's curiosity was imprinted in the short woman's mind. She cursed her situation as she walked with quick steps.
‘My sister seeing me like that! I definitely have to stop her from talking to that boy alone or I'll just cause myself more trouble trying to hide something else!’
There were people dancing up and down, groups bickering, fighting, fun, noise, everything needed for total chaos. At the same time, the inn was full to the brim, so there was even more commotion.
While people were walking around almost bumping into each other, the short woman, without a care in the world, was walking through the crowd and moving quite fast to her destination. The kitchen of the inn.
‘I'll have a nice talk with him when I bring the food...’
When she reached the door to the kitchen area, she bumped into someone as she was about to go in.
"Ahh sorry, I got distracted."
She had a sorry look on her face and a respectful tone in her voice. She bowed out of courtesy despite her already short height. Even though she was not wearing a maid's uniform, most people who came to this inn would recognize her as an employee.
"Watch where you're going, shorty! Did you come to the dining hall to beg for food-"
However, the person she bumped into did not seem to accept her apology despite her respectful behavior. In response to his rude speech, Rina turned her face to the person in front of her and showed a displeased expression.
At that moment she was face to face with the man in front of her. This encounter also interrupted the man's words. The moment the auburn-haired, thin man saw her face, sweat began to pour down his forehead and his eyes began to tremble with fear.
After only a few seconds of eye contact, the respectful and polite demeanor of the short woman instantly disappeared and a devilish smile formed on her face. As her smile grew wider and wider, the knees of the man in front of her trembled, as did his eyes, and he turned around in fear and tried to run away.
He had failed. A hand that felt like a ton of weight landed on his shoulder, pinning him in place. With her short stature, Rina forced him to bend down to her height. Then she put her lips close to the man's ear and whispered something.
"'Well, well, well, who do we have here? Looks like it's my lucky day."
The man could hardly stand on his already trembling legs, and the pressure on his shoulder was too much for him to resist so he gave himself up to the gravity. He had a look of total surrender on his face as he fell to his knees.
Realizing that he was not going to move, the short woman grabbed him by the collar of his clothes and began to drag him forcibly. She pulled him straight into the kitchen next to them without any difficulty.