Chapter 57

The advantages gained from being possessed are not entirely nonexistent.

Thanks to the Holy Maiden’s resilience, I have not had to deal with minor illnesses.

Since falling into this world, I have never caught a cold or experienced a fever.

However, due to inherent limitations, there are a few ailments I do suffer from.

One of them is menstrual pain.

Another is shoulder stiffness.

And the last one is chest pain.

“Ugh. It hurts so much…”

I suspect that the cause is the accumulation of breast milk in my chest.

It was bearable when I was breastfeeding Tia, but after weaning, the pain began to intensify rapidly.

At its worst, even a slight touch felt sharp, and any impact would cause unbearable agony.

I have not found a solution.

The only way to prevent it from worsening is to express breast milk every day.

Now, I can only endure until no more milk comes out.

“I’ve emptied it again…”

The milk container was empty.

I had definitely filled it up this morning.

I glanced up and looked at Tia, who was still asleep.

To think she drank all this by herself in just one day…

She probably doesn’t know it’s my breast milk.

I couldn’t help but worry a bit about what to do when the milk runs out and she looks for it later.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

The long and grueling time of expressing breast milk was over.

I hurriedly finished getting ready and left the accommodation.

In the past, I would have probably been standing silently in front of the duke’s bedroom door.

But now I know that I shouldn’t do that.

Instead of going straight to the villa, I took a detour toward the back garden.

“Good morning, master.”

“Ah.”

As I lifted my head, I spotted the duke preparing to jump off the balcony.

He looked at my face and froze for a moment before awkwardly lowering the leg he had placed on the railing.

The way he leaned back and looked down at me was quite comical.

“What were you doing just now?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just exercising.”

“You weren’t trying to jump down, were you?”

“Come on, why would I jump off the balcony?”

“That makes sense.”

“Yes. So, would you like to come up and wait at the door? I’ll put on my shoes and be right out.”

“Certainly. I’ll head up immediately, master.”

I nodded and greeted him, then pretended to head toward the villa…

I rounded the corner and paused, waiting for about five seconds, until I heard a thud.

Looking back around the corner at that moment…

“You just said you weren’t going to jump down.”

“I tripped…”

“You managed a perfect landing position even after tripping—impressive.”

“……”

I saw the duke landing gracefully on the ground.

As expected of a resident of this world, he seemed unscathed despite falling from the second floor.

He must have intended to make me go back up and then jump down to shake me off, but that was no use.

I had already figured out his patterns after several encounters.

I simply could not understand why he was avoiding me so much.

“This is embarrassing.”

“Shall we have breakfast?”

“No. There should be urgent mail. Let’s attend to work first.”

“Understood, master.”

After brushing off some dust from the duke’s clothes, I followed him as he walked toward the office.

He seemed genuinely embarrassed, as his pace was unusually quick, and I had to nearly jog to keep up.

However, it also felt like his gait was slightly awkward.

Did he twist his leg while landing?

How unfortunate.

“Can you tell me why you keep avoiding me every morning, master? Please don’t pretend you didn’t hear me.”

“There’s a reason. It’s something men deal with, and I doubt Julia would understand.”

“……”

I was a man too.

The words rose to my throat but came back down.

What could this ‘men’s issue’ possibly be?

As someone who used to be male, I found no clues even after racking my brain, so it seemed like just a made-up excuse.

In the end, the reason behind the duke’s strange behavior every morning fell deeper into the abyss of confusion.

“Please bring all the items from the mailbox to the office. I’ll be waiting there.”

“Yes. Ugh…?”

Opening the mailbox nearly made me faint from shock.

Envelopes spilled out and nearly buried me…

I thought they were fan letters from an idol.

The only difference was that they were not pretty white envelopes sealed with cute stickers, but rather dark and dull document envelopes.

There were many, but it was not so much that I couldn’t carry them all.

I found it easiest to hold them with my chest to balance.

One of the few advantages of having a large chest.

“Um, master?”

“What is it?”

“The door is locked.”

“It appears I accidentally locked it. Please wait a moment.”

I turned the door handle to the office and tried to enter, only to bump into it and spill the envelopes everywhere.

This person who never touches locks managed to lock the door by accident?

That made no sense.

Clearly, this was an attempt to trick me.

As I swept the envelopes back into my arms, the door suddenly burst open.

“Come in.”

“Yes…”

The duke’s face looked a bit awkward after he opened the door.

His breathing was slightly heavy.

And the smell inside was oddly musty.

It had a savory yet somewhat pungent odor.

This smell was definitely… definitely…

Hmm. I felt like I knew it.

I certainly did know it, but I couldn’t recall well.

“Can I ventilate a bit, master?”

“Oh. Aah. Is there a smell?”

“It’s somewhat bothersome, but it’s bearable.”

“Let’s do it. Ventilate.”

To be honest, I could no longer endure it.

Even if I had to brave the bitter autumn wind, I had to air out the place.

It was certainly an unpleasant smell, yet for some reason, it had a strange addictive quality that made me want to keep sniffing…

I decided to shake off those distracting thoughts and dumped the envelopes on the desk in the office.

Seeing them piled up surprised me anew.

So all of this had been resting on my chest.

“Come sit beside me. I need some assistance from you as a maid.”

“Yes. How can I assist you?”

“It’s nothing major, just a little help will be needed.”

I moved behind the desk and stood next to the duke.

He actually moved over completely and offered me his seat.

I sat down casually, listening to the duke’s explanations as I began to figure out my tasks.

“You can read, right?”

“Of course.”

“And do you know how to calculate?”

“I can manage basic arithmetic… but what are you doing with my hair, master?”

“You’re just too beautiful. I got a bit lost in thought.”

“……”

The duke briefly lifted a handful of my hair and sniffed it before shamelessly acting as if nothing was wrong when I caught him.

He must have made a promise not to touch my body.

But does hair count as not touching my body?

What a crazy guy…

“Please continue explaining, master.”

“Ah, right.”

Check if different dates are written on a single document.

He’d provide a table to verify if the author’s name, family crest, and seal match.

Check for minor calculation errors in the ledger.

It was all such simple tasks—nothing too serious.

Just knowing how to read and perform addition and multiplication was enough; anyone could do it.

No, in this world, just being able to do that might make one a high-ranking individual among commoners.

“Nothing complicated then?”

“Exactly. These are business reports and approval documents that come up every year in the same format. In terms of content, there’s nothing to check. Once it reaches this point, you just need to catch any minor errors that might have slipped through.”

“So… doesn’t that mean I’m effectively doing the duke’s work?”

“Oh no. I will do the final approval.”

“Are you saying that’s the final approval after seeing you stamp it without even reading it?”

As soon as I verified a document, he slammed his stamp down with a bang.

It was happening way too fast to have read them all.

Handing documents to a maid who had just started, without reading any of them, for approval…

I turned around and stared at the duke with bewilderment.

He wore a face that seemed to lack any understanding of what was wrong.

“If I were to maliciously manipulate the documents, what would you do?”

“Oh come on. I believe you wouldn’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t feel any malice from you, Julia. You’re the type of person who can’t intentionally harm others.”

“……”

What on earth does that mean?

Right now, I was feeling like I wanted to strangle the life out of him.

Of course, I could only suppress it as it was not realistically possible.

If I had enough strength and ability, I would have long since killed the rapist who assaulted me and dumped his body in an alley.

Me, lacking malice?

The type of person who cannot intentionally harm others?

That’s pure nonsense.

My teeth ground together, unable to contain my frustration.

“Master, with all due respect, you’ve completely misjudged me…”

“We have a guest, Duke.”

Knock knock knock.

Just as I was about to snap at him, the sound of knocking interrupted me.

What a perfect timing.

There was nothing to gain from insulting someone who pays me.

“Please go out.”

It seemed to be an important guest.

Seeing the duke immediately put down his seal, I stood up and followed him out.

Now it was time to welcome the guest, and I had to be really on my toes.

I had to be even more nervous than when facing the duke.

A maid’s mistake would reflect on the duke, after all.

“Have you guided them to the reception room?”

“No. They should be at the main gate right now.”

“What are they doing outside…?”

I left the villa without thinking.

And I was astonished.

“Muhihihih! So high…!”

“……”

A darkly dressed man stood at the main gate.

Based on the situation, it was highly likely that this man was the duke’s guest.

But the problem was, Tia was perched on that man’s shoulder, laughing away.

My vision suddenly went dark.

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