The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 181
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 181
I am a man.
Ah, no. No, I’m not. I am not a man.
Even though I’ve lived as a man for a long time, my mind and soul clearly hold the identity of a woman.
Actually, I only came to realize this a few months ago. Even in the early days when I chose the life of a maid, I didn’t feel the need to distinguish between myself as the man Andert and myself as the woman Daisy.
If there’s a source that made me realize the usefulness of such distinction.
It’s you.
“Is this enough now?”
You, Lu.
‘It’s you, you fool.’
I watched him with complicated feelings as he ostentatiously removed his upper garment. I was happy to see his back, incomparably cleaner than it had been in the spire, yet depressed that he didn’t recognize me.
I don’t know how he interpreted my dejected expression, but Lu’s face, after briefly observing my reaction, twisted slightly.
“Do I look like some wandering mercenary rolling around in the streets swinging a sword to you? Fractures, cuts, whatever—four or five people are desperately trying to heal me completely every day, so don’t try to treat me like an invalid over trivial matters.”
Right… where exactly did you get healthy.
“Yes, yes. I understand. You’re amazing, Captain Lu. Wonderful, incredible, and magnificent.”
“Are you mocking me?”
It was a prickly warning with the momentum to strike me, but Lu just gestured lightly toward me while standing in front of the hot spring water.
“Take off your clothes and come over here, let me check.”
…Take them off?
“Why, why?”
“What do you mean why. I’m going to look at the condition of your back. Don’t follow me inside though.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu stripped off his lower garment.
Yes, he stripped.
What? His lower garment.
Beyond my hazy vision like an early morning riverbank shrouded in mist, I stepped back from the magnificent silhouette showing off its majestic form… shadow… back view…
A moment of panic.
No, not a moment but a long panic. An extending panic. An unstoppable panic…
Lu seemed to interpret my silence as disobedience to his command.
“Are you ignoring what I said right now?”
His furrowed brow as he turned around was quite beautifully wrinkled. As if mocking my fearful hopes, Lu turned his body with the momentum to pounce on me at any moment! I was horrified and covered my face with both hands.
“St-stop! Halt!”
“What the hell are you…”
“I’m a woman!”
Lu’s presence stopped abruptly.
I didn’t miss that moment and immediately informed him of the factor I hadn’t been able to reveal until now, which would be most important between him and me at this moment.
“D-Dian is indeed a man, but I’m a woman… I’ve lived as a man for 10 years, but I’m clearly a woman. I was born a woman, so absolutely don’t come any closer from there!”
A somewhat long silence descended. Thinking he might have turned his back again, I checked my vision through my fingers, and beyond the narrow gap, Lu was standing there spouting nonsense with the same serious expression.
“I don’t want to?”
“Then I’ll just go back now…”
“Fine.”
Not long after, I heard the sound of feet quietly stepping into the hot spring water. Relieved, I lowered my hands and saw a face looking at me while soaking in the hot spring, leaning against a rock.
“Is this okay now?”
I nodded with difficulty, and Lu gestured to me.
“Come over here.”
I didn’t want to, but I followed his request for now. I could breathe a sigh of relief since the surface was filled with pure white steam, and the hot spring water itself wasn’t very transparent either.
Lu leaned his arm against the smooth rock and lightly touched my cheek with his fingertip, then murmured as if reciting.
“Right, I thought so…”
His detailed gaze examined every part of my face as if appreciating it. Thinking that the face reflected in Lu’s eyes now would be closer to my original appearance than Dian’s, my heart pounded as if it would burst.
“…Is it troublesome?”
I wanted to ask what he meant, but I couldn’t move my lips. It didn’t sound like a question directed at me, but rather like he was asking himself.
He removed his hand from my face and asked casually.
“Where is your body?”
“My body?”
“Yes, your body. The flesh that contains your soul. It’s somewhere else, right?”
The retort “When did I ever say that?” slipped back in just before coming out of my mouth. Right, I had just shouted that I was born a woman… After clearing my throat loudly to shake off the embarrassment, I answered.
“It’s in a place so far away it’s hard to explain. You probably could never find it.”
I deliberately emphasized “never.” It meant absolutely never plan to find it and use me as some kind of sword slave.
Lu seemed annoyed by my attitude and asked back with deliberate sarcasm.
“You’re making such easy assertions. Are you going to live your whole life parasitizing Dian Sereniye’s body?”
“Of course not. I have to go back. I don’t know exactly when that will be though…”
Maybe that someday will be soon?
Actually, compared to before, the time I spent active in Dian’s body was gradually decreasing.
Since I started taking the glass violet treatment medicine, my eyes that used to reflexively open at 5 PM now only react around 6 PM in the evening. Day by day, every time I opened my eyes, I could see the clock’s minute hand moving forward in wide intervals.
As the time I wake up continues to be delayed like this… someday I’ll suddenly leave Dian’s body. Just as I suddenly came to share a body with him one day.
“How do you plan to return to a body that’s in a place so far away it’s hard to explain?”
“It’s hard to put into words… but it’s possible, because we’re connected.”
“Then tell me where it is.”
“Why?”
“Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you if I found it and brought it? You treat Dian Sereniye like a younger sibling, yet you’re going to leave him among rebels bound by resentment? I’ll give it a try, so tell me.”
“So why would you?”
It was a question thrown out of pure curiosity, but Lu’s face, which had already grown cold with sarcasm, hardened even more sharply. Thinking my question might have sounded like picking a fight, I explained my situation as gently as possible.
“I appreciate the goodwill, but it’s unnecessary. Whether to part with Dian or not is a matter to be decided between him and me. I’m not such a fragile and foolish being that you need to worry about me. If you have that time, you’d better pay a little more attention to Dian instead. He’ll definitely become a great asset to you all in time.”
Well, he would become the world’s greatest healer in 150 years, so it wasn’t wrong.
“Why would I?”
But all that came back was cold mockery.
“Why do you think I’m keeping you alive? Because you helped me get out of that filthy prison? Because of the promise we made there? Ah, what an unpleasant delusion. Even if I had made you half-dead and dragged you around like a drained hunting prey, the promise would have been kept. I did bring you outside anyway.”
“…”
“Didn’t you understand? Should I say it again? What interests me isn’t Dian Sereniye, but you, green eyes. But I hardly know anything about you…”
He glared at me with a gaze that wasn’t affectionate at all and commanded familiarly.
“Now that you understand, tell me your name.”
I replied blankly.
“Dian Sereniye.”
“Ah, right. Dian. That’s right. That was your name.”
Lu nodded nonchalantly with a face that said he had been momentarily confused, then suddenly pulled my shoulder and embraced me.
“So?”
His chest, firm to the point of being solid, touched my cheekbone. Thump, thump. The regular sound of his heartbeat pleasantly shook my world. I instinctively tried to push Lu away, but the body of a supreme inspector who had crossed three walls wouldn’t easily retreat.
“What’s your name?”
Clear breath tinged with laughter drummed against my ear. What, what is this. I shouted as if screaming while my whole body stiffened.
“You per-pervert! Dian isn’t even an adult yet, he’s still a child! Get away!”
“That’s not my concern. If you want to protect your precious Dian Sereniye, just answer my questions obediently.”
His shockingly beautiful face descended toward me. Down and down it came until our foreheads touched. My goodness. At that point, I had no choice but to surrender obediently.
“A-Ash! Ash! Call me Ash!”
“Good… Ash.”
Lu, who smiled with a grin, suddenly grumbled while maintaining the position with our foreheads touching.
“But I have to go this far to make you open your mouth? You’re really more cunning than I thought. Did you want to stick close to me that badly? Are you a pervert?”
Pervert?
Me?
Is this what it means when you’re so absurd that you can’t even make a sound?
Not knowing what others were thinking, Lu laughed more refreshingly than ever and pushed my back away.
“Let’s leave it at this for today. The pervert can go back now.”
I ran away in the direction he pushed me, moving my legs frantically. I kept running until the shimmering heat of the hot spring disappeared far behind me.
At some point, I stopped in the middle of the courtyard, feeling like my body and mind were completely worn out.
‘Getting my heart racing over Lu while in Dian’s body…’
I’m trash.
I’m sorry, Dian. I guess I really am trash after all.
I’m sorry for being trash.
I’m really sorry…
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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