The Maid With a Child - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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13. The Beast’s Hunger
Adlen read the intention in his gaze and moved first.
“M-master, your, your kindness, I’m, I’m so grateful. J-just knowing you care means everything, and I swear I won’t leave until I’ve repaid this debt, not ever! I won’t betray you!”
The sharper the edge of death, the brighter survival instinct burned.
“……Of c-course, later…… if I ever really need to find a man…… could I perhaps ask you for…… help?”
She didn’t cast aside the lottery ticket that had rolled into her hands.
For now, love was more urgent than anything—but who could say how her heart might change later?
Perhaps one day she’d decide any man would do.
“……All right, I’ll leave that open then.”
“Th-thank you.”
Adlen felt as though she’d already inherited the whole world with just his promise, but Rachalte was not satisfied.
He wanted something more concrete, something he could see with his own eyes.
Rachalte crossed his arms again, and his gaze fixed on Adlen.
“…….”
Whether sweat poured from her back or torrents flowed, he didn’t care.
Adlen, who had never received such unwavering attention in her life, felt as though a thousand needles were piercing her whole body.
As a child, she’d craved this—this very attention and gaze—but now that she had it, it burned like acid.
Time slipped away until the night grew deep.
Even the Baby’s eyes began to flutter sleepily. Adlen’s eyelids grew heavy too.
Only Rachalte’s eyes glowed, sharp and blue in the darkness.
She couldn’t lie down and sleep before her master did—that much was unthinkable for a servant.
Adlen bit the inside of her cheek and tensed her thighs, employing every trick she knew to fight the drowsiness.
But the gulf between their physical endurance was absolute.
“Huff!”
She nodded off.
Her head drooped, jolting her awake—and once again, her eyes met Rachalte’s.
It was still too early for dawn; only a couple of small Lamps pushed back the darkness of the room.
In a space dim enough that one might stumble over furniture if careless, only Rachalte’s eyes shone with the savage gleam of a wild beast.
“Gasp!”
This was the third time their eyes had met.
Three times, and each felt like staring into the gaze of a wild leopard—she hiccupped with fright every time.
“H-hic, hic…… huff!”
Adlen first checked whether the Baby had woken. The previous two times, she’d startled so violently that she’d jolted awake the child.
“M-master. A-are you still awake……?”
She’d spoken carelessly, risking nothing but loss. Until now, she’d deliberately ignored his gaze.
But now it was past dawn, deep into the early morning. The Baby had cried all night and kept him from sleeping, so why hadn’t he slept yet?
“I have something I need to think about.”
He’s not planning how to kill me, is he……?
“……Y-yes…….”
Adlen swallowed yawns and sighs in quick succession, loosening her stiff lower back and shoulders bit by bit.
This was unbearable.
With her master sitting so rigidly, watching her—there was no way a servant could sprawl out and snore peacefully.
“You didn’t sleep last night either, did you……?”
Struggling with the Baby all night.
When he’d come to fetch her, he’d looked exhausted—but somewhere along the way, he’d recovered his strength and begun to shine again.
Was there truly a person who could recover without sleep?
“A day or so is nothing. Besides, I’m resting right now.”
……There was.
But Adlen desperately wanted to send her master to bed, to let him sprawl out and rest comfortably.
Or at least have him say a word or two.
Take it easy.
But she expected nothing.
Not just her master, but all masters in the world were the same. They seemed to think servants could live without food, sleep, or even visits to the privy.
And they hated it if a servant so much as hinted otherwise.
“Isn’t resting while awake different from lying down and sleeping?”
“This is enough. Let it go.”
“…….”
Perhaps he would relax. But she wouldn’t. Still, she had no argument left to send him to bed.
It seemed she simply had to endure until exhaustion finally felled her unconscious.
Adlen began to gradually curve her back toward the Sofa’s armrest—a last, desperate attempt to at least lean against something.
‘I want to lie down…….’
But her body, now that tension had released, felt far more exhausted than she’d expected.
Before thought could follow its thread, Adlen surrendered to sleep as though struck unconscious.
* * *
Light seeping between her eyelids jolted Adlen awake.
She’d slept so deeply that she’d lost all sense of time and place.
“Ugh!”
Yet one fact remained vivid in her awareness: she was holding Baby.
Her ribs ached—courtesy of Baby’s feet pressing down on them all night.
Adlen twisted carefully onto her side, freeing her feet without waking the child.
It felt like escaping from beneath a predator’s claws.
After successfully extracting her ribs without rousing the beast, Adlen released a silent breath—only to find herself staring into those piercing blue eyes.
“Oh!”
Her shock wasn’t only because she’d locked eyes with her master at this early hour.
It was because he stood half-bare, chest exposed, wielding his sword.
Should she be startled by the expanse of skin flooding her vision, or by the reappearance of that blade which had tormented her heart all of yesterday?
Her half-awake mind couldn’t decide. She stared at him with her mouth hanging open, frozen in place.
“…….”
Rachalte noticed her presence and glanced over.
Still her mouth remained agape, her mind suspended in indecision.
But Rachalte paid her no attention and returned to his training.
The blade sang through the air again.
Only then did Adlen collect herself.
Her fleeting thought—was he an exhibitionist?—was wrong. Neither was her second thought—was he about to slice her open with that sword?
He was simply training in the morning.
‘Training? At this hour of dawn?’
Adlen glanced toward the window at the grey pre-dawn light.
The sky still held the blue of night, not yet shaken free of darkness.
The servants were only just beginning to stir, their eyes barely opening. Adlen too had awoken by habit at this early time.
Yet her master was already up and training. She couldn’t help but marvel at such diligence.
The moment his eyes opened—not to break his fast, not to clean, not to bathe, but to practice killing.
‘So he practices murder before dawn…… Truly diligent…… I wish I hadn’t crossed paths with someone so diligently murderous…….’
Had she never come close to death herself, she might have found it impressive. But after nearly dying several times, the sight of that blade alone made her stomach turn.
Adlen turned her gaze away, trying to settle her queasy stomach.
“Master. Did you call? It’s Butler.”
Adlen startled again at the Butler’s voice from beyond the door.
Diligence was not the master’s alone. The Butler too had risen early and stood ready with preparations complete.
And here she was, a mere servant, the last to wake. Was this acceptable……?
Suddenly she felt she ought to be doing something, yet Baby still slept and there was nothing to do.
Adlen continued her role, keeping watch over the spot where she lay.
“Come in.”
At Rachalte’s command, the Butler entered and, spotting Adlen, raised his eyebrows.
“So you were already awake?”
“Of course.”
Adlen smiled innocently. She heard her master chuckle softly, but deliberately didn’t turn to look.
“How are your wounds, master?”
The Butler set down the bandage and disinfectant he’d brought on the sofa, turning to Rachalte.
“They’re fine.”
Rachalte sheathed his sword and approached the sofa.
At the Butler’s words, Adlen too looked her master over again.
Now that she thought of it, even the assailant yesterday had mentioned wounds.
She’d forgotten about them since he showed no sign of injury.
Yesterday, despite his wounds, her master had wielded his sword, carried both her and Baby on his shoulders, and hadn’t slept until nearly dawn. By any measure, these were not the actions of an injured man.
Was he truly wounded at all? Adlen stared intently at her master’s ribs.
“……?”
A moment too late, she realized what she was doing.
It was the instant their eyes met.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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