As I walked down the road towards Lilia-san’s mansion, which was beginning to get dimmer as night falls, I saw a familiar figure at the end of the road.
Her short, platinum hair, which is longer in her sidelocks, reflecting my image in her silver eyes which don’t hold any quivering at all…… A woman stands as if a portrait of her was placed right at the end of the road.
[……Ein-san?]
[I’ve been waiting for you. Kaito-sama.]
When I called out to her, a little confused, Ein-san gracefully curtsied and gives a beautiful bow.
Why is Ein-san in this place? She said she was waiting, so I guess she must have some sort of business with me……
Seeing me tilting my head, with her usual coolness, Ein-san spoke.
[……I should have visited earlier, but I was hesitating. No, to be precise, I’m still hesitating at this moment.]
[……Hesitating?]
[……Yes, as Kaito-sama may have conjectured already, I’m not very good at expressing my emotions.]
I certainly always had the impression that Ein-san is a cool woman who is very good at her job, but to my knowledge, I haven’t seen her expression and her tone of voice change much.
However, what did she mean when she mentioned she’s hesitating? She mentioned how she was supposed to have visited earlier, so I guess that’s related to me?
Seeing me tilting my head, Ein-san quietly continued speaking.
[……I was hesitating as to which way I could show you the gratitude within my heart……]
[Eh?]
[It’s not enough to say a hundred words, nor would it be enough even after a thousand actions…… I have no way of expressing the emotions I have in my heart right now.]
[……Errr.]
As she told me this, Ein-san slowly approached me.
The small-statured Ein-san is just a head smaller than I am, and as she gets closer, her face is at my chest area.
And then, coming in front of me, Ein-san slowly…… reached out her trembling hand and lightly grasped my clothing around the center of my chest.
[……Thank…… you…… very much. For saving Kuromu-sama……]
[……Ein-san. Errr, it’s not like I……]
[I know. I know that Kaito-sama doesn’t take such action as some sort of achievement.]
Ein-san’s words, which seemed to see right through my heart, were exactly right.
It’s not that I was thinking of saving Kuro or fulfilling the wishes of the Six Kings or Ein-san or anything of such magnitude.
I only confessed my feelings to Kuro because I was in love with her, wanting to tell her how I felt about her and asking her to be my lover…… Everything I did was just for me. It just so happened that such an act would lead me to saving Kuro.
[However, I can’t thank you enough. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kuromu-sama so happy.]
[……Ein-san.]
[……I was the first baby bird that Kuromu-sama raised…… Kuromu-sama reached out to me back when I was a little girl, alone and shivering with nowhere to go, and asked me to go with her. She led me to the place where I could call home.]
[……………….]
While holding unto my clothes, Ein-san tells me with her face down and her small shoulders trembling…… I just continued quietly listening to her story, trying not to interrupt her as much as I could.
[It may be selfish of me, but I consider Kuromu-sama…… as my mother. I am the person I am today because of the love and nurturing that Kuromu-sama gave me. That’s why I became her maid, to use this life that Kuromu-sama picked up for the sake of Kuromu-sama’s will for the rest of my life…… to serve Kuromu-sama until the end of my life.]
[………………..]
[……It’s ironic, isn’t it? I was so drunk with the happiness of serving and being by Kuromu-sama’s side…… that it was late in realizing the wish in Kuromu-sama’s heart. I wished to live for Kuromu-sama…… but I was also the first one to drift away from Kuromu-sama’s wish.]
Ein-san, raised by Kuro, became a maid devoted to Kuro.
But now that I know about Kuro’s wish, I can understand her regret…… Ein-san’s choice was to stand behind Kuro, instead of Kuro’s wish of standing next to her.
And just when she realized that she was drifting apart from Kuro’s wish……
[……That’s something I couldn’t do anymore. I already clearly see Kuromu-sama as my lord. I had formed a self that was proud to serve Kuromu-sama. I couldn’t change the way things were anymore.]
[……………..]
[I felt really pathetic… Even though I knew more than anyone else about Kuromu-sama’s suffering, her wishes, and yet, I couldn’t do anything about it…… So……]
Ending her words there, Ein-san looks up.
Her silver eyes that shed some tears stared at me, and after a few moments of silence, she spoke.
[……Kaito-sama, I will remember this favor….. for the rest of my life. Even if you don’t think of yourself as such, for me, I still think that you’re our saviour.]
[E- Errr, I feel that you’re kind of making it sound very impressive……]
[No, I may be hesitating on which words to say to express my gratitude, but I can unhesitatingly say that my thoughts about you come from my heart. I love you second in the world. I will put you second only to Kuromu-sama.]
[………………..]
What the heck is this, I’m kind of feeling a chill similar to how I felt when I first met Isis-san…… I don’t really know why, but did I flip some sort of switch from Ein-san?
Her expression still held the same coolness as usual, but her eyes kind of looks like it’s filled with an absurd amount of passion in it……
[……Simple it may be, I’ve finished telling you how I feel at this moment.]
[Errr, ah, yes. I- I understand?]
[……If there’s something troubling you, you can always call for me. If there’s someone troubling you…… I will immediately erase them.]
[……Y- Y- Y- Yes!]
She started saying some absurdly disturbing stuff!? I don’t know if what she’s saying is just a joke or not but…… I’m afraid of thinking that Ein-san is really going to mercilessly erase someone with just my words.
W- Well, it’s not like I have any enemies, so maybe, i- it should be alright, I guess?
Removing her grip on my clothes and giving me a deep, respectful bow, Ein-san looked at me again.
[……Kaito-sama, I’ve heard that you like ripple pie, is that true?]
[Eh? Ah, yes.]
[Well then, meager it may be, please receive these……]
[Eh? Wha!? Wait, E- Ein-san!?]
Right after I nodded, Ein-san took a box out of nowhere that looks like a cake box……. or rather, she’s just giving me a mountain of them!?
[……U- Ummm, I’ll just ask just in case…… but these are?]
[Ripple pies. It might be presumptuous of me, but I thought of offering these as my gratitude.]
[……Errr, how many of these are there?]
[Approximately around “1000”.]
[A thousand!?]
A thousand ripple pies!? Didn’t you prepare way too much!? Eh? The heck is this? It kind of looks like a wall of boxes already though…… Seriously?
[If you need more, I can always make them for you.]
[A- Ahhh, errr, yes. Thank you.]
W- Well, I have my magic box, so they won’t get moldy…… but even if I eat a ripple pie once a day, that would mean these are more than 3 years worth of ripple pies…… Ein-san, are you not aware of the word “moderation”?
[U- Ummm, Ein-san…… Do you know what moderation means?]
[But of course. Compromise, moderation…… It’s an indulgence that I, as a maid, must eliminate.]
[……Okay.]
This woman is totally hopeless!!! In a different way from Shiro-san, I also can’t talk to this person at all!!!
As the dumbfounded me silently put away the ripple pie into my magic box, Ein-san politely thanked me before leaving.
Yep, I feel like I’m caught up in something once again.
[Well~~ As expected of Kaito-san, I never expected that you would also catch Ein-san into your basket……]
[Hey, Alice…… Ein-san, she was just joking, right?]
[No, not at all. Ein-san basically doesn’t bend on anything that she decides for herself. If she’s saying she’s going to prioritize Kaito-san as second in the world, that’s really what she’s going to do…… In a way, you can say she’s a certain type of yandere, you catch my drift? If she sees someone as Kaito-san’s enemy, without any hesitation or compassion, she will erase them immediately.]
[The heck is that, that’s scary.]
Hearing Alice’s words, who appeared as if it’s something natural, I felt the same chill run down my back again as before…… Well, I’m really starting to feel like something outrageous just happened.
Dear Mom, Dad——– Ein-san has come to give her thanks regarding Kuro, but there was something around the second half of what she said that sounds disturbing. Yep, how should I say this—— I probably flipped a switch.
<Author’s Notes>
<Ein joined the party!>
<Ein’s zealot switch has been turned on>
<If he had attacked right at this time, Bacchus would have been dead>
<Perhaps, the cool yandere may be the scariest one around>
And thus, next chapter, Sieg’s arc starts…… The theme is “A trip for two”!