Volume 11 Chapter 4 The Night Of The Handmaids (a Possibility By Ciel)
Ciel Vermilion has a light sleep.
It's like an old habit.
Leaving the Margrave family with nothing, he became a mercenary relying only on his magic.
Belonging to a mercenary guild, he earns a living by completing requests.
His small rented room is cluttered, with no bed or table.
Being half Gem's People, Ciel is already looked down upon, and his young age makes it even worse.
You never know when someone might attack.
Many believe that Gem's People have no human rights.
It's rare for day labor mercenaries to be well-behaved.
Some come to steal the money he's earned, while others try to gouge out the jewels that protrude from Ciel's body.
Inevitably, his sleep becomes shallow.
He has to stay on guard all the time.
It's been like this for a long time.
Often waking up in the morning not knowing if he actually slept, sometimes he thinks, "If I can't sleep anyway, why not just curl up and keep my eyes closed?" and read books by the light of his magic.
(I wonder if Sir Ciel didn't read much as a child since they didn't receive a proper education.)
(Well, let's say they started reading after becoming a mercenary.)
──As a child, he would look at the stars outside the window in a bare room, but once he had some money, he read more books.
Even after joining the Mage Headquarters and becoming the head mage, it was pretty much the same.
He no longer needed to be on guard, but the habit wouldn't go away.
Since he couldn't sleep anyway, he piled on work, hardly feeling hunger, but nibbled on solid food to sustain life.
His job varied widely; being able to easily use teleportation magic, Ciel would replenish the magic stones used to set up barriers to prevent monster invasions in distant towns and villages, go out to hunt dangerous monsters when they appeared, conduct research on monsters and herbs, investigate diseases, and also guard the castle. Disaster relief and suppressing skirmishes.
Saintwise's subordinates all wondered when that person ever takes a break.
It's like he's living as if he's in a hurry to die.
Behind his calm demeanor and gentle tone, he always carried repressed emotions.
──I'm not a person. A monster born from humans and Gem's People.
With a rare talent for magic, that beautiful appearance, and the jewels that shimmer all over his body.
For Ciel, everything that shapes him felt like it belonged to something not human.
To the people of the Kingdom, Gem's People meant Ciel, to the point where he stood out.
He had to make sure not to slip up even a little. Suppress his emotions. Always, calmly.
If he didn't, the people's negative feelings towards Gem's People would only grow.
Without even realizing it, he must have been cornered.
Ciel was always empty. Even though he was hollow inside, he lived solely for others.
He didn't want to live. He just couldn't die. He was just repeating breaths.
Day by day, it felt like he was living while gradually wearing away his body from his fingertips.
Until everything could wear down and disappear like dust, the same unchanging days continued.
He didn't want to achieve anything.
Protecting people might be a calculation.
He wasn't kind.
He wasn't sympathetic.
Words slipped out from his lips and vanished.
Ciel met Lydia Rest by chance, like seeing a shooting star while walking down a night road.
But that coincidence ignited a beautiful flame in Ciel's cold heart made of jewels.
Seeing a shooting star is a coincidence, but that coincidence lights up the hearts of people.
In this country, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people live.
Meeting among them──.
Even if it was by chance, it might have been inevitable.
(That's nice. It gives off a sense of destiny!)
(For Lady. Lydia, it might be a coincidence, but for Sir Ciel, it was bound to happen...)
Since meeting Lydia, Ciel has developed feelings for her.
Should he express these feelings? If he dos, will she accept him?
His half-human self, can he really love Lydia?
Various conflicts had silenced Ciel like a mineral sleeping in a rock.
And even now, despite living with Lydia, he just kept watching her.
With a gentle, brotherly face.
"Sir Ciel──can't sleep, huh?"
Today was a noisy day.
The Festival of the Dead party was happening in Lobelia.
Thanks to meeting Lydia, Ciel's surroundings had become lively.
He only had to interact with Saintwise's subordinates and people he needed to talk to for work.
But now it was different.
Lydia, who shared a similar loneliness, was surrounded by people, and Ciel was the same.
Participating in the party in costume was something Ciel would have never considered before.
But now, for Lydia, if it made her happy, he wanted to do anything.
Dragging along the noise and heat, Ciel was idly passing time in Lobelia.
He still wasn't very good at sleeping.
Lydia, who could fall asleep easily, was probably already in their room.
Just imagining her sleeping face warmed his heart.
Before his feelings of love overflowed and spilled out of him, he really should be sleeping.
He knew that, but even lying in bed, only lazy time passed.
Originally, Gem's People and humans are built differently.
Maybe he inherited some of that trait.
He could live without eating or sleeping.
They were closer to minerals than humans.
So maybe Ciel was just bad at sleeping too.
However, Lydia, whose should have been fast asleep by now, being peeked by him through the door of Lobelia.
Her body wrapped in sleepwear looked defenseless, and her hair had a slight bedhead.
The expression on her face seemed somewhat dreamy, probably because she had been asleep once.
"Ms. Lydia, what's wrong? Did you wake up?"
"Yeah... I woke up. I was wondering if Sir Ciel was still awake."
"My thing, don't worry about it, just sleep. You've got work tomorrow, right?"
"That goes for Sir Ciel too... He always has trouble sleeping. I'm worried."
As Lydia flitted into Lobelia, she sat next to Ciel.
It was a carefree action for someone living with a man.
While it felt like a sign of trust, it still made her a bit uneasy.
(What should we do about Sir Lucian?)
(It's fine, since it's creative freedom, let's just make it a 2-person living situation. Three's okay too, but this time it's just the two of them!)
Ciel looked up at Lydia, whose large amethyst eyes sparkled like stars falling from the sky.
The petite Lydia looked even smaller next to Ciel.
"Sir Ciel, um, why can't you sleep...? Is it because you're anxious? Do you dislike being with me...?"
"Not at all... I feel happy being able to see your face both morning and night."
"Am I... making you endure something, Sir Ciel?"
"That's not the case at all."
For a moment, he hesitated to answer.
He wanted to touch her cheek.
He wanted to hold her.
He wanted to feel her lips against his skin.
He wanted to tell her he loved her, morning and night.
"But, Sir Ciel... you always hold back. I think you've been holding back for a long time. Even the way you talk, it's so polite when we're together..."
"It's just a habit... Yeah, I guess so. Since meeting you, Lydia──no, it's been a year. I haven't really spoken like this, so I'm not used to it."
"Hehe, that makes me happy."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. But if it's hard to talk, it's fine to just be yourself. Whatever's comfortable for you, Sir Ciel."
"Ah... thank you."
Ciel never forgot to use polite language with others, but he was usually calm and spoke little.
That was a side he only showed in front of the people from Saintwise.
He wondered which was better.
He wanted to cherish Lydia.
If that was the case, shouldn't he be polite and kind? Lydia was gentle.
She would probably accept him no matter how he was.
But, exposing my true self feels like laying bare even the emotions I've been hiding, and it makes me a bit uneasy.
"Sir Ciel, um, today's wolf ears on your head. They were super cute!"
Lydia said with a cheerful smile.
One moment she looked worried, and the next she was laughing or crying.
Her quick mood changes are one of Lydia's traits, and whether she's crying, angry, or laughing, it's all adorable.
For Ciel, who has learned to suppress his emotions, it's a pleasant sight that never gets boring.
"Ah, the wolf's."
"Yes. Sir Ciel doesn't really look much like a wolf, but you pull off anything, don't you? So fluffy and cute."
"You were cute too. The image of a girl being attacked by a wolf."
"I'm not really at the age of a girl anymore... I'm already an adult."
"...An adult, huh?"
Lydia has a somewhat childish side, but she's already 19.
To Ciel, she still seems young, but when he thinks of her as an adult, it strangely stirs something in his chest.
As an adult, would she ever fall in love with someone? With someone other than himself.
"Do you think I'm not like a wolf?"
"Yes. You're always so kind."
"...Even if I wanted to eat you right now?"
Her eyes widened in curiosity, reflecting Ciel's figure.
The emotions he had been suppressing were on the verge of overflowing.
* * *
"Isn't it just wonderful...!"
This is the room where the maids of the Rest Priest Family live.
The Rest Priest Family, located deep within the Great Temple, is the second largest after the castle.
It had its share of troubles, being destroyed by a giant spider woman and serving as a refuge for people fleeing from monsters falling from the red moon, but now it's very calm.
There are many rooms, and each maid has her own room.
But right now, everyone is gathered in a certain maid's room, working on their writing.
"What will happen next?"
"After all, the two of them...!"
"In the end, they'll hold hands and dive in... but the conclusion is that Sir Ciel chooses to live in response to Lady Lydia's call."
"That's great...!"
"It's really great...!"
"Then the two of them will live happily ever after, right? Lady Lydia will become a bridge between Gem's People and humanity, and her name will be forever etched in the Kingdom."
"Isn't that just the best...!"
The night deepens for the faction of maids who can't help but wish for Ciel and Lydia's happiness.
The contents of their fantasies about the young lady and Sir Ciel are, of course, a well-understood secret.
Now that the main story is over... they're having so much fun...
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