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That afternoon was like any other day in Fontaine. As Hydro Archon's maid, Lady Furina. You have prepared lunch as usual for her and Monsieur Neuvillette.
Today's lunch is Croquet with macarons for dessert. Like noble people in general, the menu served is arranged every day. So there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. Unless your master is a god who always drops tantrums and hysterics and is a bit of... lunatic.
After setting the table and serving the food, you are standing at the side of the door, waiting for Lady Furina and Monsieur Neuvillette to eat their lunch at a very long dining table. Normally Monsieur Neuvillette would sit next to Lady Furina, but these few days he was seen sitting on the opposite seat from her, which meant being quite far away from her.
"Aah. I don't want to eat this. Missy, come here!"
Hearing Furina call you, you immediately walked closer to her. And asked what was wrong with today's menu.
"You see, I have no appetite, so I don't want to eat it."
You're overwhelmed, she shouldn't skip her lunch. You try not to look at her, but your face is so clear that you look worried and Furina knows it. No. You're not worried about her, you're worried about yourself. If you do something wrong, the butler will usually punish you. And you don't like that.
Furina looked at you and grinned mischievously.
"Ah, I know. What if you eat this?"
You shake your head and try to stay calm. Confused about what to do in this situation, you want to work up the courage to reply, but before that happens, the deep voice of the man at the end of the table fills the room.
"Hurry eat your lunch, we still have a trial after this."
His voice was calm, but his intonation had a bit of emphasis, like an order. That made Furina pout and stare at Neuvillette with an annoyed look.
"Hmm, boring."
Neuvillette did not reply and continued eating his lunch in silence and good manners.
Meanwhile, when you were about to turn around to leave, Furina grabbed your hand and pulled you to kneel beside her.
"No, Missy, you stay here. I just thought of some entertainment."
Due to Furina's forced tug, you stood with your knees on the cold floor and made your skirt mop the floor. Her hand gripped your wrist and placed it on the dining table. You just obey without daring to look at her. She took a fork from next to her plate, and without hesitation, he thrust the fork into the back of your hand, which made you gasp in surprise at the sudden pain. Several jabs, followed by her sinister laugh that echoed, put a lot of tension in that dining room.
You don't dare to cry or scream, even though you want to, but you don't know what this lunatic Archon will do to you if you do that.
Her sinister laugh was interrupted by a grunt across the table, it was Neuvillette.
"Don't make a lot of noise while eating."
Furina stared at him, took out the fork that was still stuck in the back of your hand, and then threw it towards Neuvillette's food.
"I have so little appetite, I'm leaving."
With that, Furina left the dining room, leaving you, who was still holding the pain in your hands. And Neuvillette, who cleared his throat slightly to get your attention, immediately stood up and cleaned up Furina's leftover food. You notice one of the forks has gone flying near Neuvillette's plate, and with that, you rush over to him to pick it up. When you reached the fork with your blood on it, Neuvillette remained silent, without touching his food or saying anything.
"Excuse me, Monsieur Neuvillette."
Neuvillette turns his attention to the back of your hand, which is bleeding from the stab wound. Undoubtedly, your voice is shaking, and even your injured hand is shaking. Neuvillette closed his eyes and sighed.
"I'm also done with lunch, you can clean up everything."
You nod at him without looking at him. Neuvillette stood up and left the room. Finally, you are alone. Your face is red because you can finally let out the hurt and humiliation you are feeling right now without fear of being noticed by anyone. You think you better clean it up and wash the dishes after this. It seems like it will make your mood better. But reality hit you fast as lightning, and the pain in your hand was throbbing more and more. You sigh. How do you bandage this wound when you are going to wash the dishes?
.
You give the other maids the job of washing the dishes, and instead of complaining, they understand when they see the wound on the back of your hand. Without saying anything, they just nod and let you go.
The clock showed that there were still 15 minutes before lunch ended and before the trial resumed. You visit the infirmary to get bandages. When you entered the room, strangely, there was no one. And you remember that it's still lunchtime. The nurse here must be having lunch.
"Oh, I'm in trouble."
You realize that you don't have any knowledge about how to bandage a wound or something. At least if you wash your hands clean with running water and cover the wound, you'll be safe, right? Maybe it will heal itself without you knowing it, you think.
Just as you're struggling to wrap the bandage yourself, the sound of a door opening distracts you. Is that the nurse? You sigh gratefully. Turning towards the door, you smiled welcoming someone who wasn't the nurse.
Surprised, you immediately stood up and dropped all the items from the first aid kit.
"Monsieur Neuvillette!? W-What are you-" You stutter, grumbling in your mind that you just stared at him when he entered the room. "I-I'm sorry if you went to look for the nurse, she's out for lunch."
"What are you stuttering so much about? I didn't say I was looking for the nurse."
He keeps looking at you, his eyes are cold even though you don't look back, but you know it. Neuvillette walks over to you, pushes you to sit back on the edge of the infirmary bed, and kneels in front of you. Your brain can't think of anything; it freezes as if someone gave it a cryo element.
Wait a moment. Neuvillette kneels before you. What's going on? Are you in a daylight illusion? When you become a statue, a sharp pain is felt on the back of your injured hand, causing you to snap back to reality. It's just that Neuvillette treats wounds on your hands.
"M-Monsieur, I'm afraid that this situation would be inappropriate- Ack!"
You cursed at yourself for the scream of pain at the end of your sentence. Neuvillette frowned and looked at you.
"My apologies, does it hurt?"
You shook your head with closed eyes, still not daring to look at him. But Neuvillette knows that you are in pain because he can see tears in the corner of your eyes. After finishing bandaging your wound, you can feel his hand slowly leaving yours, and Neuvillette is standing in front of you.
"Next time, you should learn how to bandage a wound yourself."
Neuvillette immediately turned around to leave. You were silent, impressed, seeing the results of his very neat bandages.
When you heard the sound of the door opening, you immediately stood up and bowed to thank him.
"Monsieur Neuvillette!! Thank you for your kindness. May the Archon bless you."
Neuvillette paused in front of the half-opened door, he let out an annoyed chuckle when he heard, 'May the Archon bless you'. Without saying anything, he disappeared from your presence.
You clenched your fists close to your chest and saw the door just now, that Neuvillette was standing there before.
"What was that..."