The Maid With a Child - Chapter 16

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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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16. The World’s Greatest Coward
One way or another, catching the attention of her master was never a good thing.
Just then, it was time for the child’s meal, and the Head Butler entered carrying infant food.
It was a convenient excuse to escape the master’s gaze.
Adlen shifted herself into the most distant corner she could manage.
“Come now, let’s have our meal. Your Highness.”
But the master’s eyes never left the child, not even after he had finished eating.
She pretended not to notice, maintaining an air of composure, yet internally her entire body trembled so violently it seemed her organs might shake loose.
‘What is it? Have I done something wrong? Made some mistake? Or do I just look like I’m about to bolt at the slightest provocation today?’
The hours dragged on as her anxiety deepened.
“Come here.”
Ricalte called to Adlen.
She had just finished feeding him, playing with him, and had barely laid him down for his nap.
Adlen’s heart sank.
This was it. The moment had come.
Adlen suppressed the rapid hitching of her breath and approached her master.
“Yes, sir.”
“Your arm.”
“My arm…… sir?”
Ricalte said nothing more, merely gesturing with his hand.
Adlen shook her head and hid both arms behind her back.
It was an order from the master, true, but even if the divine goddess of housemaids grew angry, there was nothing she could do. She was terrified.
“Why, why would you——”
Ricalte regarded Adlen with contempt as she cowered out of sheer habit.
“How is it you’re always so afraid?”
“…… I apologize……”
Even those words frightened her, and tears pricked at her eyes again.
The world was nothing but danger. In trying to protect herself from all those threats, she could not help but be afraid.
If she did not look out for herself with caution, no one else would.
“I’m only checking. It’s just a check.”
Ricalte gestured again impatiently.
Adlen inched her arm forward, extending it only as much as a single finger joint at a time.
“I don’t know what this is for, but you’re only checking, aren’t you? You’re not going to pull anything, or break anything, or wrench it apart?”
“Why would I do such a thing to valuable help who watches over my child?”
Well, that was a fair point.
Only then did Adlen relax, placing her wrist into her master’s hand.
It occurred to her, idly, that her master’s hand was truly enormous.
“Ow!”
Ricalte grasped Adlen’s wrist. The pain was sudden and sharp.
“It hurts!”
“That hurts?”
Ricalte’s eyebrows rose slightly in surprise before he released her arm.
Adlen cradled her wrist protectively and turned her entire body away from him.
At her resentful glare, Ricalte raised both hands in surrender.
“I’ve checked. So your wrist does hurt.”
“Of course it hurts when you grip it that hard!”
Like a rat backed into a corner who will bite a cat, even Adlen—now utterly spent—found her voice, crying out in anger.
“It shouldn’t hurt at all.”
Does he not realize his grip strength is abnormal? The casual brutality of it all—squeezing her wrist under the pretense of checking an injury—was absurd beyond words.
No wonder he had no luck with women.
Another secret was about to be revealed.
Adlen’s face darkened as she frowned fiercely.
Of course, Ricalte paid her no mind.
After releasing Adlen’s wrist, Ricalte called for the Head Butler and ordered him to bring a Bandage.
“Has the wound reopened?”
At the word “bandage,” the Head Butler came rushing over so quickly that his hair was practically flying from his scalp, asking in alarm.
“That healed ages ago.”
“Then……”
“Check for yourself.”
“…… Yes, sir.”
The Head Butler had posed one curious question only to be chased out empty-handed.
“Your arm.”
Ricalte seized Adlen’s wrist and pulled her along again.
“But, well. It’s not actually injured…….”
“I know. Rookie Knights often get like this. If you ignore it, eventually you won’t even be able to hold a sword.”
“……Really?”
She hadn’t known her condition was so serious.
She hadn’t bumped into anything, hadn’t gotten a wound—she’d only thought it was exhaustion from holding the Crown Prince so much.
“Why does everyone forget that maintaining your body is part of your duty?”
“……I apologize.”
“Unless you want to be completely removed from your duties, you need to be more careful with yourself.”
“……How, sir?”
……
Was this like telling someone who wanted to be rich to save money from their food budget?
As if to prove that the master’s words made no sense, the Crown Prince mumbled in his sleep.
“Mmgh……!”
Adlen rushed over and patted his chest. If she didn’t, he’d wake up and cry magnificently.
“Sigh…….”
After settling the Crown Prince back to sleep, Adlen exhaled heavily and massaged her forearms. She hadn’t even lifted him—just patting his chest sent a sharp twinge up her arms. Now that she’d heard the master’s words, she couldn’t stop worrying about it.
“Come back here.”
Ricalte called Adlen over and had her sit, then began wrapping a Bandage around her forearm.
His hands moved with practiced skill, starkly different from the Head Butler’s clumsy attempt. And unlike when he’d gripped her wrist, his touch was soft and delicate.
Adlen’s eyes widened in surprise at the master’s touch as she looked down at her own arm.
As the Bandage wound around her arm, his fingertips occasionally brushed her skin. Despite the calluses hardened from use, his touch was unbearably ticklish each time it made contact.
“……Oh.”
“Hold still.”
When Adlen’s shoulders tensed from the tickling, Ricalte gently held her wrist and pulled it taut.
That, too, tickled—making her want to scratch frantically at something, anything.
Now she understood why the master couldn’t endure tickling more than pain.
When the master finished wrapping the Bandage, he seized her wrist once more.
“Take care of it. Even if your wrist breaks, I won’t let you resign.”
“?!”
The tickling sensation vanished instantly.
* * *
Still, the master wasn’t entirely inhuman.
He’d taken measures before her wrist could break.
“Your arm.”
“Huh……?”
Adlen, who’d been wandering through dreams, opened her eyes with spittle drooling from the corner of her mouth.
There, silhouetted against the dim window as always, stood the master with his piercing blue eyes fixed upon her.
Those cool eyes that never failed to jolt her awake in an instant.
“Y-yes! I’ll offer it right away!”
Adlen thrust out her arm faster than she could fully open her eyes. It was the speed of pure survival instinct.
Ricalte wordlessly seized her arm and retied the loosened Bandage.
“Anywhere else.”
Once he’d finished rewrapping, Ricalte surveyed Adlen’s body with his question. There was no improper intent, yet under his gaze, Adlen stiffened.
“Um, how far up were you planning to wrap the Bandage?”
As he watched her arms cross defensively upward across her chest, Ricalte’s gaze grew even colder.
“I should wrap that mouth of yours first.”
“……I apologize.”
When people hurt or suffer enough to die, words won’t even come out.
By that measure, Adlen concluded she wasn’t quite at death’s door yet.
As the days wore on, she’d noticed various aches and pains cropping up, which had bothered her inwardly. But it seemed she could afford not to worry just yet.
Ricalte dusted off his hands and stood.
“Thank you so much…….”
Adlen rose slowly and bowed her head. Sleep clung to her eyes, gathering at the corners alongside the grit of sleep.
“You can sleep longer if you’d like.”
“Y-yes, thank you so much…….”
So unbearably drowsy was she that Adlen collapsed back down without a single protest. Ricalte’s gaze lingered on her for a moment.
Lately, the Crown Prince had become remarkably active. It seemed she was finding it difficult to keep up. Her tendency to collapse whenever she had a spare moment hadn’t escaped his notice.
She had always overlooked an essential truth: that maintaining the Crown Prince’s health was a vital part of her duties. Had she been a knight, she would have struck him down for such negligence.
‘Though I can’t very well strike him down…….’
For now, she remained indispensable.
Until General Kias was captured, this maid alone possessed the skill to manage the crucial hostage she was forced to keep in hand.
The Crown Prince grew more temperamental by the day, and he was terribly particular about whom he would tolerate near him. The moment she or the Head Butler approached, his voice pitched up five octaves. She could never dream of entrusting him to another servant.
With a disposition like that, she suspected he might well die of sheer stubbornness the moment she disappeared. So for now, she had no choice but to indulge his every whim without question.
“Mmph…….”
“Uh-uh……. Your……. There, there…….”
As the Crown Prince babbled and thrashed in his sleep, even unconscious, his hand reached out to pat his chest in a soothing gesture—and Ricalte’s frown deepened further.
That too was a problem.

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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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