Chapter 6 Embrace
“I—Iaar… umph… when I went to the outhouse… I found the Young Master asleep, so… so I came to put on a blanket.”
She lowered her head shyly.
This was, of course, a lie.
She hadn’t left at all!
Perhaps the stories she heard in class today had given her a shiver—especially when she imagined the Young Master and herself as the protagonist and the little hound in the story. Her mind was filled with the scene of the Young Master turning back, telling her, “I don’t need you anymore,” and then leaving with the little fire dragon.
So, she had deliberately been gentler when pushing the door open, leaving a gap.
Then, she peeked through the crack, watching Will’s body sink little by little, even starting to snore.
But she had to lie!
As a loyal maid, how… how could she spy on her own Young Master?! What was wrong with her?
Wail, it must be because she read “Blackening 300 Questions” before bed.
“Hm? You didn’t leave? That’s strange, though…”
Will looked sensitively at the moon phase outside the window and realized he hadn’t slept long, perhaps only ten minutes.
“I shouldn’t have slept long, so it’s quite a coincidence that Iaar knew I was asleep so quickly and came to put a blanket on me?”
“Mmph!”
Iaar, who had been sleepy before, perked up. Her ears twitched, her eyes brightened, her tail wagged, and her whole spirit lifted.
—The Young Master is too perceptive, how could she possibly hide it?
Iaar had no choice but to confess.
“Th-th-that… Iaar was… was copying “Blackening 300 Questions”… ”
“Oh? And so?”
“It had… a question that says… if the man you like… closes the door and doesn’t let you in, what should you do…”
Will became vigilant.
“It-it-it said to peek through the door crack, so… so my mind went blank and I just… I just wanted to try… and then I saw the Young Master fall onto the desk little by little. Iaar thought the Young Master must have been asleep, so… I’m sorry! I’ll definitely next time… Huh? Young Master?”
Before Iaar could finish speaking, Will hugged her.
She felt the embrace was heavy, holding her tightly as if to comfort her.
Will didn’t speak immediately, but Iaar vaguely felt like he had sighed in relief.
In the brief silence, Iaar listened to her Young Master’s breathing in her arms, so clear—along with his breaths, her own heartbeat grew faster.
This was the first time Will had ever hugged her.
For some reason, Iaar felt that since the first moment she met the Young Master, there had been a sense of “respectful” distance between them, unlike other perverts who were rumored to do things to their personal maids.
He rarely had physical contact with her without confirmation, and even pulling her clothes would be double-checked to ensure he wasn’t hurting her.
Therefore, this was abnormal.
It made Iaar very worried.
Did he… have a nightmare just now? And in his dream, did the Young Master call her name, related to her?
“Young Master… did you have a nightmare just now?”
Will’s face was pressed close to Iaar’s ear, and she heard his deep breath.
“Haa… It’s alright now. It’s good that you can genuinely learn something…”
But Iaar felt Will hugging her even tighter.
He even patted her back in encouragement.
Will’s words often contained jokes, and it was sometimes difficult to discern his true intentions.
But Iaar felt it; at least, when he said this, he was sincere.
He sincerely wanted her to graduate from “Blackening Love Studies.”
“Keep it up.”
“Huh?”
“I will make you be reborn in flames, with hatred to nourish your body and soul, wielding an ice shield, clad in pure ice, to slay dragons and extinguish stars, making the one you desire forever kneel at your feet—”
Iaar didn’t understand a single word. She wondered if the Young Master had learned the skill of dreaming while standing.
“Young Master… you should go to bed early. You… you are even more… abnormal than usual. Iaar is very… very scared…”
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“Yawn… I really didn’t get enough sleep last night. I shouldn’t have peeked at the Young Master…”
The next day, Iaar was yawning nonstop.
Standing in front of the mirror, she looked at the dark circles under her eyes and put on the collar that was on the table.
The icy sensation from the collar against her neck made her shudder.
Today, Will told her they were going to do something big, which might consume a lot of Iaar’s physical strength and magic power. Therefore, Iaar’s morning training was canceled, and she was asked to wake him up this morning so they could go to the training grounds to prepare.
She rubbed her eyes and walked down the corridor. Perhaps it was the first day wearing the collar in the Hysterm Family, and she heard many voices discussing her—
“As expected, Will isn’t anything good either.”
“Hmph, I thought he was quite serious about learning magic before, and his grades were pretty good. I thought he was different from his older brothers.”
“But he still put that kind of collar on his personal maid?”
“Don’t say anymore. He’s going to Entak First Academy. The master dotes on him, so let him do as he pleases.”
Hearing this, Iaar clenched her fists. She turned around, about to yell, “The Young Master isn’t like that!” then realized those gossiping maids were about ten meters away in the corridor.
She touched her ears.
Perhaps the training had paid off. Her magic circuits were being utilized thoroughly, and her physical functions had also improved. Her beast ears could clearly hear sounds from this far away.
However…
She stopped in front of Will’s room.
The Young Master devoted almost all his energy to training her, even staying up so late every day.
Such a good Young Master is so misunderstood behind his back. Perhaps the Young Master could hear these words too…
Thinking of this, Iaar felt a little sad.
She had to become stronger so she could protect the Young Master!
With newfound determination, Iaar knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in, I’ll get up right away.”
As soon as she opened the door, the smile disappeared from Iaar’s face.
Will, shirtless, was lying prone on the bed, with a medium-sized Slime in a cage on his back. Viscous liquid from the Slime was flowing down his body.
And at this moment, the Young Master, wearing glasses, was reading through the draft paper he had written excitedly last night with great concentration.
“Don’t be surprised. I was thinking that it shouldn’t just be you training; I need to learn to adapt to fate too.”
He pushed up his glasses and lifted the trembling Slime from his back.
“This is a trial. Since we know fate is unchangeable, we can only adapt to it starting now—”
“At least put on some clothes, Young Master.”
“Fate told me that when the future me meets it, I will be naked.”
“Young Master, be normal.”
Iaar felt she was being too sentimental for worrying about Will like this.
Will, like this, wouldn’t care about others’ opinions!
He was always so willful.
However…
This kind of Young Master also hugged her last night, as if afraid she would leave.
Thinking about yesterday, Iaar felt delighted.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Today is a big day. I’ve already prepared the operation of the Extreme Flame Meteor. Let’s begin…”
Will said confidently, got out of bed, and then stepped on the Slime juice that had just flowed down.
Iaar only remembered seeing Will’s glasses fly off and struggling to suppress her laughter.
