Chapter 10

It goes without saying that Sienna didn’t care what the head maid thought of her etiquette.

I’m so sleepy...

Drowsiness continued to plague her. It was rather odd. Was I always this sleepy as a child? She tried to recall how she had been when she was younger, but for some reason, all she could remember was being dragged to the Underworld and feeling uncertain and scared about everything around her. Well, I have heard that children tend to sleep a lot, so I’m certain that’s what this is about... Since she was experiencing such fatigue, her eating speed naturally slowed. In fact, the girl was eating so slowly that it seemed as though she were melting the omelet in her mouth after every bite.

It didn’t take long until Deborah gave up. “Would you like to end your meal now, miss?”

“Yes.”

Deborah then had the maid clear the table of the practically untouched food.

“Careful getting up from the table, miss.”

“Mhm...” Sienna entrusted her body to the head maid’s hands and allowed herself to be laid to rest in the bed. As she lay in the Cradle of the Moon’s bed—in Lorena’s bed—she felt, but didn’t show, the slightest bit of resistance in her haze of sleepiness.

“Sleep well, miss.”

Sienna did not respond as she looked to be sound asleep already.

“Be sure to stay in here and keep a close eye on her.”

“Yes, Ms. Deborah.”

Deborah couldn’t afford to allow a repeat of what had transpired that morning, and so ordered the maid to stay in the room before leaving.

The maid had dutifully attempted to remain awake and alert at first, but the child slept so soundly that watching her caused the servant to question what the purpose of her position actually was.

Ugh, honestly! I’m not some sort of nanny. Why should I have to watch this girl sleep so deeply that she wouldn’t even notice if someone kidnapped her?

Before long, sleep began to weigh down on the maid’s eyelids too as she sat in one of the room’s exceptionally cozy armchairs while watching the girl sleep.

After a few moments passed, Sienna’s eyes burst open.

Another nightmare...

Lorena had been rather nasty in Sienna’s nightmare by asking if she was happy getting to play the little lady of the Underworld.

I think I’ll keep having nightmares as long as I sleep in this bed.

She took a look around the room and saw that the maid who had been charged with watching her had evidently fallen into a deep slumber and was even snoring lightly.

Without saying a word, Sienna tiptoed back toward the small maid’s room, then slipped through the door.

The room had a loft for storing luggage, which caused the ceiling to be considerably lower than the larger room outside. Aside from that, there was just a small bed, a table, and a sink. She sighed with deep relief as she closed the door behind her. It was a tiny room, but it was her only source of comfort. Perhaps that was because she had used the room more often than her own when she had been on good terms with Lorena. Or rather, when she had unilaterally trusted that she and her sister were on good terms.

Well, that brings back some unpleasant memories.

When Sienna believed she had stolen Lorena’s mana and was tricking everyone at the castle, she had continuously devoted herself to becoming more cultured in various other ways. She practiced elegant calligraphy until her fingers became stuck in a crooked position from holding pens. She would also write Lorena’s letters for her and learned how to braid her sister’s hair. On top of that, she learned how to mend handkerchiefs and volunteered herself to be Lorena’s personal maid.

“It seems that she at least knows her place, don’t you think?”

“Hmph. She’s just putting on an act. She’s probably planning to ask Miss Lorena to keep her around as the lady’s personal maid once she becomes the grand duchess!”

“Oh my... Wouldn’t the personal maid of a grand duchess have to at least be a count’s daughter?”

She never cared what people thought of her. Sienna simply tried her best to brush Lorena’s golden tresses as she listened to her sister babble on about what she had done that day on one of her excursions away from the castle.

“It would have been nice if you could have come with me, Sienna.”

“Well, thanks to you, I was able to get plenty of rest here at home, Lorena.”

“Well, I suppose you have always been rather quiet and shy. Even if you did go, you probably would have made everyone else feel uncomfortable.”

Whenever she was forced to hear the truth so suddenly like that, it always felt as though her heart was being stabbed, and a chill would sweep over her. Even so, Sienna would smile partially as she swallowed her feelings. Since Lorena would usually be quite tipsy after those excursions, she never seemed to notice.

“But I’m so happy I have you, Sienna!”

Hearing such words would always melt away the small emotional wounds she had received so quickly.

“Oh! Would you like to sleep here with me tonight again, Sienna?”

“Sure, of course.”

Even if her sister caused her pain in some ways, Sienna was always of the mind that all she had was Lorena. Lorena had even been the first to suggest that she refer to her as her older sister and seemed to be the only person who ever acknowledged her fruitless efforts.

Lorena was the person she was most grateful for, and the one who had shared some of her mana with her so that she wouldn’t get kicked out of the Underworld castle. Sienna only ever felt that she was somewhat of a help to their world when she was next to her sister.

But... It was strange.

She was grateful—sincerely and immensely grateful—but... There were times that she wished to run past the lake, past the high walls, past everything to reach someplace even further away. She couldn’t understand why it was that she sometimes wished to go beyond the dangerous ruins and beyond the border known for the horrendous creatures swarming it, all to disappear. It was something she could never understand. At least, that’s how she had felt in the past.

I was so naïve.

Back then, whenever Lorena asked if Sienna would like to sleep in her room, she always meant for her sister to sleep in the little maid’s room. The more Sienna thought about that, the more amazed she was at how ignorant she had been of Lorena’s hatred toward her. She wondered what her sister would think upon her arrival in six months when she learned Sienna had been living in the Cradle of the Moon.

I’d rather not think about that.

Sienna curled up into an even smaller ball on the small bed. At some point, she fell asleep without even realizing it. Thankfully, she didn’t have any nightmares while in that familiar, tiny room.

* * *

To Sienna’s extreme fortune, a demon appeared near the capital, which required the grand duke to set out from the Underworld for a suppression operation right away. Aciel had also returned to the military academy, while Michael seemed uninterested in Sienna since he hardly ever showed himself around her. She was relieved to find that the younger boy still looked the way she had remembered.

Maybe the problem is that everyone else is behaving so oddly except for him...

The clearest difference in behaviors was Deborah’s. In the past, Deborah had considered Lorena to be the perfect candidate for the title of grand duchess. And although she never said much about how Sienna always stuck around the blond beauty, the head maid also didn’t welcome her presence all that much.

“Since Miss Lorena insists on keeping you near her, there’s nothing I can do, but I won’t stand by if you ever cross the line and act above your station.”

Deborah would give her such warnings whenever the opportunity presented itself. Sienna had no doubts that the head maid would dislike her this time around as well, just as she had in the past.

Right... I doubt she likes me at all this time either.

Of course, she was slightly confused since she had yet to detect any definitive expression of Deborah’s disdain toward her.

“Miss, are you in here again?”

“Oh... Hello, Ms. Deborah.”

Sienna was especially uncertain of what to think when the head maid had even come to find her hidden away in the maid’s room.

“I...”

“Enough. I’m well aware that you feel more comfortable in this room, so I can do without hearing it again. I trust I’ve made myself quite clear on that point, haven’t I?” Deborah then pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose to make herself appear sterner than normal. “I simply wished to say that I think it would be prudent of you to decrease the amount of time you spend here, if you think it possible. You must start getting used to your proper place.”

“But...”

There was no need to get used to it because it wasn’t her place to begin with. Sienna suddenly felt a pang of disappointment at not being able to tell the truth.

“You need to try harder, miss. Now then... Please come out.”

“Um...”

Sienna had no choice but to acquiesce to the repeated urging, so withdrew from her comfortable, snail shell of a room.

This is all very odd.

Sienna thought Deborah would simply pretend to stop her from going to the room for the sake of fulfilling her duties, but eventually allow her to do as she pleased. She even thought maybe Deborah would be more assertive about the issue, and insist that she move into a simpler room instead of the Cradle of the Moon since she couldn’t adjust to it.

I never would’ve expected this sort of situation.

The problem was that she couldn’t clearly remember how Deborah had treated her at this point in her past life, so she had nothing to compare the head maid’s current actions to.

Maybe Ms. Deborah adheres to the grand duke’s orders much better than I thought.

That thought didn’t make Sienna feel completely satisfied, but she didn’t want to dig into the matter any deeper. She repeated her mantra to herself once again. These people may be acting oddly now, but once Lorena gets here, it’ll all come to an end. Sienna simply had to endure the confusing behaviors for half a year. Perhaps Ms. Deborah will become discouraged with me and eventually leave me alone.

Ugh, whatever! I need to stop thinking so much.

As the saying went, “Those who think too much, often lose in the end.”

She took a deep breath to calm herself down again.

However, almost as if Deborah wished to prove that Sienna’s hopes wouldn’t come true any time soon, she began to nag her again with a displeased look on her face.

“Do you intend to stay in your room again doing nothing?”

“I’m not doing nothing.” Sienna half-laughed as she held up the book she was reading, but it was apparent that the head maid had no intention of budging on the matter.

“In other words, you’ll return to that windowless room to fall asleep again?”

“It’s comfortable there...” Sienna muttered.

“If you continue to say you feel comfortable in that useless room,” Deborah began to scold, “I can only take that as you insulting House Nacht, miss.”

“What?”

Even the girl found herself feeling flustered by the direction the head maid had chosen to steer her lecture in.