Chapter 192 I Flipped a Switch (1/2)
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.]
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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.
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[……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.]
[……………….]
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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……]
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Ending her words there, Ein-san looks up.