The Maid With a Child - Chapter 74

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

74. Between a Kiss
Adlen thought her ears were deceiving her.
This morning she’d been summoned by a letter bearing the Royal Seal, only to be asked about scandal?
Whether the King wanted to play territory games or solve puzzles, that was his right—but the question itself felt absurdly trivial.
“We are not without some connection, Your Majesty.”
It was Racalte who answered first.
What? No connection?
Adlen’s eyes widened as she turned to stare at Racalte.
The King raised one eyebrow with a curious hum.
Racalte continued calmly.
“We share a master-servant relationship, and we cooperate as colleagues toward a shared goal.”
“Ah…? Aha, I see? Master-servant, colleagues. But that’s not what I was asking, Racalte.”
The King’s gaze shifted to Adlen.
She was far easier to work with than Racalte.
“You feel the same way?”
“Yes! I—well, as for being called a colleague, I hardly dare presume. I am merely my master’s servant.”
“Mm.”
In the end, both their answers aligned perfectly.
The King nodded lightly, then asked with sudden bluntness.
“So you’ve never even kissed?”
“What? No!”
“Relationship” had been a measured word.
The crude frankness that followed left Adlen reeling.
“A kiss, sharing a bed—not just sleeping, mind you, but the physical intimacy of it, undressed, that sort of thing. Nothing like that between you?”
“Nothing! Absolutely nothing!”
Adlen’s face flushed crimson as she cried out.
A kiss with her master? Sharing a bed? Undressed? Doing what?
These were things she’d never even imagined.
She couldn’t picture any of it even now.
It was absurd—like a chicken being born between a dog and a cat. Impossible.
“And in the future?”
“There won’t be! Never! Absolutely not!”
Adlen’s face flushed to her very neck as she shouted.
Forgetting herself before the King, she bellowed at the top of her lungs.
“Ha ha ha! If you shout like that one more time, you’ll bring the whole Royal Palace down!”
The King laughed heartily, amused by her outburst.
But Racalte did not laugh. He found nothing amusing about it. He couldn’t even grasp what was supposed to be funny.
What was funny about it? That he’d never kiss her? That they’d never be intimate?
They’d already slept in the same bed—hardly a position to be so shameless. And if you counted the floor, they’d slept together twice.
If they’d already been intimate, why would there be no kisses? No one knew what happened between a man and a woman.
Her so-called flat denial felt like a rejection of him as a man, and the thought settled uncomfortably in his chest.
“Then that’s settled.”
The King confirmed her resolve and moved on.
Racalte had always been certain he would have his way and claim the woman he wanted. There was no need to verify it.
“It wasn’t mere curiosity—I have a task for the both of you going forward.”
The King dropped his amusement and spoke with gravity.
Racalte cast aside his distraction and straightened with proper deference.
“Your command, Your Majesty.”
“Move into the palace for now.”
“…? Suddenly? For what reason?”
“It seems General Kias is serious this time as well, wouldn’t you say?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Then we must prepare accordingly. But hiding away at home wounded my pride, so we’ll do it differently.”
The King’s competitive spirit was formidable.
In everything save physical strength, he refused to lose.
The War with Morn had been no different.
After all that time fighting without resolution, the stalemate gnawed at his pride relentlessly.
Now, cowering before a single general? Unthinkable.
“Let him try if he dares. We’ll be ready. And let him breach the palace if he can.”
Let him pierce even the royal guard and breach these walls—let him crawl straight into the heart of the enemy’s nest if he’s capable.
That was the pride the King had staked on himself.
It was a war of a different sort.
If the Crown Prince were seized even within the Royal Palace, that would be true defeat. But Kias would have to stake his life on it as well.
“I’ll have parties held every single day. The nobility will swarm here. Everyone will know the Crown Prince is here.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“But the baby must sleep at night. You’ll have to stand guard beside her at night, Racalte.”
All the guest chambers in the Royal Palace were single rooms.
Everyone was equally lowly beneath the King. That was why only single rooms were permitted.
To defend completely against Kias’s mercurial movements, the two of them would need to share one room. The adjoining walls had gaps.
That was why the King had asked the question.
If the two of them were in some kind of relationship, they might become so preoccupied with each other that they’d lose sight of the baby. An intimate relationship was like that—once a person lost their head, they saw nothing else.
But the way they’d both denied it so vehemently suggested that even if they were forced to share a room, nothing would come of it.
“Your command is understood, Your Majesty.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The King moved his chess piece first.
Two pieces obediently answered back.
* * *
Though she’d steeled herself after hearing beforehand, the Royal Chamber proved incomparably cramped compared to Racalte’s quarters.
It was as if someone had carved out just a bedroom and glued it down.
“It’s so small…….”
Adlen was startled by her own words.
She hadn’t expected to hear herself say the word “small.”
She must have been mistaking the master’s room for her own.
She remembered the maid’s quarters she’d have to return to once everything was finished.
With that thought came a new eye for the luxurious bedding and ornate furnishings that filled the cramped space.
“Oh, I’ll sleep wonderfully here! The room may be small, but the bed is enormous. And, look—there are so many things the baby will love!”
As Adlen scurried about examining every corner of the chamber, Havel waddled after her, peering about with equal enthusiasm.
“Adieu! Meow!”
Havel had discovered an object with an almost uncanny sense—something ball-shaped.
But it was no ball.
It was a ceramic object, pristine and round, exactly the sort of thing one might mistake for a ball—except it was never meant to be thrown. Its weight and size made that clear.
“Ack! No, no, no—baby, baby, wait, please use your words instead, use your words. You can’t!”
“Kyaa!”
But this was no ordinary baby. Havel, whose strength had long since surpassed that of a true infant, hurled the treasured ceramic object with all her might.
The weighted sound split the air with a whoosh.
Adlen’s arms opened instinctively.
Her only thought was to catch it somehow.
“Ahhh!”
Adlen was ordinary; the baby was not. And the room was far too small.
The ceramic object flew straight at Adlen’s face at a speed that made catching it impossible.
Havel hadn’t meant any harm. It was simply an accident born from the unfamiliar size of this new room.
‘Is this how I die?’
Adlen forgot that standing behind her was a master who could buy a hundred—or a thousand—ceramic objects like this without blinking.
Racalte reached toward the ceramic object. But it all happened in an instant. Catching a smooth, round ceramic vessel with only the grip of the rim—with one hand—was nearly impossible.
Crash!
Racalte’s hand drove clean through the ceramic object, and a deafening sound burst forth.
“…….”
Adlen stared blankly down at the scattered remains of the ceramic.
“Are you hurt?”
At Racalte’s question, she lifted her head. A fragment of ceramic was clenched in his hand.
“And you, master……?”
“I’m perfectly fine, of course.”
An ordinary person would be far from fine.
Even with deliberate Breaking technique, one risked fractured hand bones or torn skin.
But the master’s body seemed composed of different material than other people’s—his skin bore not even a red mark.
“Oh, Adieu……!”
Then Havel crept toward Adlen, whimpering.
Her face, pale and bluish in a way rarely seen, showed she was thoroughly startled by the accident she’d caused.
Still learning coordination, Havel crawled when she needed to move quickly. She was crawling now.
“Oh, no! Wait!”
The floor was scattered with shards of broken ceramic, each piece glinting in the light. Crawling across this would mean serious injury.
Adlen hoisted the Baby onto her hip and crouched down.
I need to clean this up fast, or something terrible will happen.
“Stay still.”
Her hand was just about to touch the ceramic shards.
Racalte caught her wrist and held her back, then began gathering the pieces himself.

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