After enjoying the sweets at the shop, we got attacked on our way back and the princess was kidnapped.

…

Just kidding.

With so many people watching over her, I would be surprised if anything even happened to her.

That's why after our visit to the sweets shop, I simply brought her back to the palace, jumped over the wall, and then flew over to the top of the tower to deposit her safely on her balcony.

"Ehehe~ I had a lot of fun today, big sister! There's so many interesting things out there!" Tiara giggled.

"Fufufu~ When you get stronger, you can go out and explore it however you like too~"

"I can't wait! Then I would be able to eat all the sweets I want!"

She was so cute so I couldn't help but went to pat her head.

"E… Eh?"

I hurriedly withdrew my hand, "Ah! I'm sorry! I just acted without thinking!"

Is it a crime for me to touch the Princess's head? Is it considered disrespectful? Arrghhh! I don't know!

But the fact that Tiara seemed surprised by me doing that was enough to tell me that it was definitely not something that she expected me to do…

Don't tell me there's some kind of weird custom in regards to touching the heads of princesses?

Tiara's hands went up to her head, "Ehehe… It's ok, big sister. Your hand is warm~ Can you do that again?"

Oh.

Well since she asked for it…

I patted her head, making the princess squirm cutely as she enjoyed the head pats I was giving her.

Ahhhhh~ Her reactions are just so cuuuuute!!

I even had her sit down on my lap and let me headpat her for a good long while. Plus, she's even making purring noises! She's so cute~

It took me a while before I recovered enough to pull myself away and wish the princess a good night. If I didn't, I might just end up spending the night here patting her…

Too dangerous… So I quickly jumped out from the balcony to land below on my feet.

"Thank you for tonight, Young Mistress Nilm," Aria bowed, apparently having been waiting under the balcony all this while.

"Oh, hello Aria. It's no big deal, I had fun with her as well~"

The maid straightened herself before looking at me seriously, "I see… Young Mistress Nilm, would you consider marrying the princess?"

…

Huh?

I blinked at her, "Wait, wait… Did you just… Why the sudden leap to marriage?!"

"Is the princess perhaps not to Young Mistress Nilm's liking?"

"I… It's not like I hate her but I see her more like a little sister than a romantic interest?"

The maid tilted her head, "Didn't you have fun with the princess?"

"Err… I did, but what does that have to do with anything?"

She sighed, "Young Mistress Nilm, you may be experienced but the princess has lived a sheltered life. She is not used to such things so I dare say that her heart might be quite fragile and would not recover if you were to break it. I would suggest that if you do not intend to pursue her that way, do refrain from doing such things in the future and let her down gently."

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"Doing such things? Is… Is there something wrong with head pats?"

Now it was the maid's turn to blink at me.

"Head… Pats? Did you… Spend the last forty minutes just head patting the princess in her room?"

"Oh what? I was in there for forty minutes?! I didn't even take note of the time! Oh, and err… I guess you got the wrong idea but I did not have sex with her… I only just head patted her, honest."

Aria quickly got on her knees with her head pressed against the ground, "Please forgive my rudeness, Young Mistress Nilm!! I beg that you punish only me for my mistake!!"

"Err… I'm not mad… I'm just surprised. Did I… Did I look like I was pursuing the princess romantically?"

"I… I had assumed…"

I giggled, "Well, I admit that the princess is cute but I prefer more mature girls."

"I see… Then in that case… It's… It's not much since I'm sure the maids in the Nilm Family are no doubt better than I… But if you would accept me…"

The maid in front of me started stripping her maid uniform and I had to hurriedly stop her.

"Wait, wait! I don't have any intention of doing that with you! Ack! I don't mean you're unattractive to the point that I don't have any interest, but I really don't mind that mistake… Also, I'm not really into coerced sex…"

"I… I see… I apologise for my mistake once again, Young Mistress Nilm. Would it help if I said that I am attracted to you?"

I smiled wryly, "How could you when you don't even know what I really look like?"

"Fufu… I suppose that is a good point. In that case, I thank Young Mistress Nilm for your benevolence."

"Mnn… Don't mention it. I suppose I should return home now since it's a little late."

"Of course, Young Mistress Nilm. Please be careful on your way home."

I thanked her again before leaving the palace.

What? It's true that I don't really have a thing for coerced sex… I would prefer that both parties enjoy it if they were doing it.

Outside the gates, I found Katsuki waiting there for me.

"Oh, hello Katsuki. Thank you for your help tonight~ I didn't even notice anyone following us."

"You honour me, Mistress. I am glad that you enjoyed yourself tonight."

I tapped my chin with a finger, "But… Hmm… Could I know where you were all stationed? I legitimately can't find anyone around us the whole night."

Katsuki seemed to hesitate for a moment, "Is Mistress alright with not knowing?"

Hmm… I'm guessing this is for security reasons? Or maybe it's so that I won't be too conscious of them?

I shrugged, "It's fine then. If it's better for me to not know about it then…"

"No, Mistress… I fear that you may start seeing the people around you as one of us even if that may not be the case…"

"Eh… Does that… Does that mean there were some of them that were close enough to interact with me?"

Katsuki fell silent after that, which kind of confirmed it.

Oh… Ok… Maybe I really shouldn't have asked, because now I'm wondering if Fred was one of the butlers in our mansion now… But I've never seen him around before so I doubt it…

Ok, I'm just going to stop thinking about it now.

"I'm good now, Katsuki. Shall we go back?"

Katsuki gestured to the side, "Of course, Mistress. The carriage is already prepared."

I looked to where she was pointing and sure enough, the carriage was waiting there with Sebastian seated on the coachman's seat.

"Oh… I even you got involved with this, Sebastian?"

"Please do not worry about it, Young Mistress. This is natural. How could I not when it involves the Young Mistress?"

Ugh…. Now I feel a little bad… It's like I made them work extra hours just for my wants…

Oh well, what's done is done, I guess I'll have to be more careful about this in the future… Or do I need to? I could technically just be selfish can't I?

Whoops, dangerous line of thinking over there… Best not to dwell on that…

After all, I won't want to keep relying on others for this either since I would want to go out and explore the World on my own once I graduate from school.

Katsuki reached up to open the door for me when Sebastian suddenly leapt off the carriage to stand in front of me protectively.

I was just about to ask what happened when several shadowy figures appeared from the ground to form into humanoid shapes.

Oh what the heck, I'm actually being attacked? In front of the palace gates no less?

Look, the palace guards had also unsheathed their weapons, though they remained at their own posts instead of rushing out.

Katsuki had also turned around to face the shadowy figures with her knives in her hands, also standing in front of me to protect me as well.

"Mistress, please enter the carriage, we will take care of this."

"It's ok, I can fight too! [Spotlight]!"

I casted the light magic that illuminated the area the figures were, causing them to recoil as though the light burned them.

At first I thought their features could not be seen purely because of how dark the area they were standing on was, but that was not the case since even with the light shining on them, their features could not be seen like it was made up of a mass of darkness.

I would have thought they were [Shadow Summons] too but I don't remember my summons actually being affected by the light like this before so I don't think this is what's going on here.

They were even making some hissing sounds before one of them flung its arms at me which shot a black arrow aimed at my head.

I was ready to block it but Sebastian had simply punched his fist forward, generating a wall of air from the force of the punch alone which obliterated the arrow apart like it was made of tofu.

The figures then made another inhuman… Or rather, inmahun shriek before disappearing back into the ground.

Ok… What was that?