Chapter 24: Take You Away

She washed her face, letting the cool water completely rinse away her decadence.

She took out the maid uniform she had only wanted to cherish—the one Miss Yiluo had bought for her—and put it on.

Dressed neatly and prettily, the naturally cute Coco now had only seriousness left on her face.

Miss Yiluo, thank you for giving me the courage to keep going.

Coco closed her eyes, prayed, and then stepped out of her room.

“Eh? Coco, where are you going? I was just about to call you for dinner!”

She had only just stepped outside when she saw a young maid at the door, half-asleep.

When the maid saw Coco come out, she hurried over, looking somewhat nervous.

So she was here specifically… to watch me?

“To the dining hall.”

Coco swept her sharp gaze over the maid, making the other freeze instinctively.

Gentleness only needs to be reserved for certain people.

The young maid was startled by Coco’s suddenly fierce eyes.

She had never seen Coco like this.

Feeling guilty, she lowered her head.

But when she saw that Coco ignored her and simply turned away, she panicked and trotted after her.

“Coco, wait for me.”

“Let’s go together… together to the dining hall.”

Coco ignored her and quickened her pace.

“Wait, Coco, where are you going?”

“That’s not the way to the servants’ dining hall!”

Of course not.

Coco was heading to her master’s dining room—the viscount’s own hall.

The maid tried to grab her, but there was a clear difference between humans and demi-humans in both body and reflexes.

Coco noticed and sidestepped, lifting her skirt slightly and breaking into a run.

Don’t stop me!

She screamed in her heart as she ran straight to the ornate door of the master’s dining room.

Before the two maids standing at the entrance could react to their shock, Coco pushed the door open.

“Master, please forgive my rudeness, but I have something to ask!”

The two maids who had been at the door hurried in and grabbed her from behind, stopping her from rushing further into the room.

Coco raised her head.

Her gaze was firm and serious as she stared at the head of the long dining table, where the viscount sat, knife and fork in hand, looking surprised.

“Coco, what are you doing? How dare you be so rude!”

“Let go of me! Let go of me!”

“Master, I have something I want to ask!”

The two grown maids were strong, but Coco was struggling as if her life depended on it.

She was not so easily subdued.

The viscount frowned deeply as he watched Coco making a scene in front of him.

At last he sighed, put down his knife and fork, and said, “Let her come.”

“Let go of me! Didn’t you hear the master?”

“How dare you! Coco, stop making a scene here!”

The maids let go but scolded her harshly.

Coco didn’t care in the slightest.

With her momentum still high, she walked to a spot five meters away from the viscount.

The two maids followed nervously behind her, afraid this irrational Coco might do something even more extreme.

Meanwhile, the doorway of the dining room was already crowded with servants, each with a different look in their eyes.

The viscount swept his gaze around them and spoke.

“Everyone except Coco, leave.”

“Return to your rooms.”

“Without my orders, none of you are to come out.”

His tone was stern and allowed no argument.

“But, Master—”

One of the maids behind Coco still wanted to protest, but the viscount snapped at her angrily.

“Silence! Do you want to rebel as well?”

“Do you think I, a fifth-rank warrior, once a vanguard general, could be injured by an underage demon?”

Everyone except Coco, who continued to stare fixedly at the viscount, was frightened by his words.

They bowed their heads and rushed away.

Once the servants had left, only Coco and the viscount remained in the dining hall.

His anger slowly faded.

Coco’s eyes were very red.

She had never intended to make such a scene, but things had gone this far.

She had probably already lost the right to be a maid.

The viscount looked at the girl before him.

He had never seen her so defiant, so unwavering, so completely ignoring decorum.

He stared at her sternly.

She didn’t shrink back at all.

After a brief silence, the viscount sighed again and spoke.

“Ever since you returned, you haven’t had to do anything, and no one has mistreated you.”

“Why are you acting like this?”

Coco gritted her teeth, trying her best to steady her mood so her voice would sound a little calmer.

“This is not what a maid should be.”

“This is not the life I’m supposed to have.”

The viscount couldn’t understand.

“Why are you so obsessed with being a maid?”

“Is this treatment really so bad?”

“Every other servant dreams of such a life.”

Coco shook her head fiercely and shouted back.

“From the moment I was born, I was raised to become an excellent maid!”

“I grew up with the dream of becoming an excellent maid!”

“Other than being a maid, I don’t know anything else!”

“But… but… everything after I came back has been too strange!”

“Everyone who used to be kind and friendly is, on the surface, even nicer than before…”

“But the distance between us is so strong!”

“This is wrong—everything about it is wrong!”

“What I want isn’t a comfortable life that feels like I could be tossed away at any moment.”

“I just want to be a simple, ordinary maid!”

The viscount rubbed his forehead, completely unable to understand this girl.

Still, he didn’t scold her.

Instead, he thought for a few moments, then softened his tone.

“I can make everything go back to how it used to be.”

“I can overlook today’s rudeness.”

“Will that be enough for you to go back to your room?”

Everything back to how it used to be.

Today’s behavior forgiven.

What a beautiful promise…

So beautiful that Coco’s fists clenched tightly, tears welling at the corners of her eyes.

To forgive such a rude servant this easily?

Even with the viscount’s good temper, that wasn’t normal at all.

“Viscount, what happened to my mother?”

Master, I’ve served you and your daughter for so many years.

I know you better than you think.

You’re clearly hiding something important from me—something you absolutely don’t want me to know.

The viscount’s eyes flashed with surprise, but he answered calmly.

“She went back to my hometown with Meris.”

“Have you finished making a fuss?”

“If you have, go back to your room.”

When she heard this, Coco’s tears finally spilled over.

She bit her lip and scrubbed them away with her arm.

“Viscount, you’re lying.”

“Your hometown is nearly ten days’ journey from here, passing through five large cities.”

“My demi-human mother could be detained at any time.”

“There’s no way she could go with them.”

“You would never let the daughter you love so much be in that kind of danger.”

“What… what really happened to my mother?”

Coco had once dreamed of going with her mistress to see the viscount’s hometown.

She had asked her mother about it and learned that it was completely impossible.

The viscount listened and stopped pretending.

He suddenly looked at Coco with unexpected gentleness.

“I didn’t think that after one trip out, you would grow this much.”

“Is it because of that adventurer lady?”

Coco’s heart jolted, and she looked up with wide eyes.

She stared at the kind-faced viscount in disbelief.

“Why… why do you know that?”

“What did you do to Miss Yiluo?!”

Her voice turned hysterical.

The viscount shook his head.

“I’ve never seen her, and I don’t want to meet someone that dangerous.”

“I just didn’t expect Coco to learn how to lie.”

Coco pressed her lips together.

Knowing that Miss Yiluo was safe, she calmed down a little inside.

But she still didn’t know how to respond to him.

“Coco, don’t blame me.”

“I had no choice either.”

“That lecherous son of the new city lord set his sights on Meris and sent his butler to threaten me every day.”

“What a bastard. Meris is only eleven years old.”

“My title isn’t hereditary, and after retiring from the army I had no power.”

“I couldn’t abandon this estate and my title to return home without the king’s permission.”

“I did fight back, but… but…”

“What started as simple harassment and petty revenge completely changed because of you.”

The viscount’s gaze turned bitter.

“Of all times, it was then that you were taken.”

“Hiding a demon is punishable by extermination of one’s whole household.”

“I’m not one of those nobles with overwhelming power who can ignore such a crime.”

The more Coco listened, the heavier her heart felt.

The fault seemed to rest entirely on her.

“I gave in.”

“At least for the moment.”

“In exchange, they promised… that you would disappear.”

“And then I sent Meris away, and stayed here alone to bear the city lord’s retaliation.”

He looked down at Coco from his seat.

“…”

“M… my… mother?”

Coco’s voice was very weak.

The viscount sighed and shook his head, clearly reluctant to speak.

“I couldn’t leave any more hidden dangers.”

“A demi-human who gave birth to a demon…”

“She did me a great kindness, but it’s been thirty years.”

“How many demi-humans have been killed for no reason in that time?”

“One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?”

“There’s no counting them.”

“I let you and your mother live peacefully here for thirty years. That debt has been repaid.”

“My wife died ten years ago.”

Coco lowered her head, not daring to look at him.

“So… my mother… my mother is dead?”

Why did I even come back?

What was the point?

After such immense torment, Coco’s heart went numb.

“She didn’t suffer much. She went very peacefully.”

…

…

…

Coco stood with her head down.

Her tears had nearly dried on her face, hidden in the shadow where her expression could no longer be seen.

…

…

…

I’m a non-human.

A non-human among non-humans.

All I bring is disaster.

All I bring is trouble…

Coco suddenly felt she had lost all ability to move or speak.

She could only stand there.

Just stand there.

…

…

…

“I originally thought your return would bring only disaster.”

“I didn’t expect it to become a lifeline instead.”

“A rare opportunity.”

“And for that, we have to thank that adventurer—that forbidden existence.”

“Go back to your room.”

“You can stay in the estate.”

“You don’t have to work. If you want to keep being a maid for a while, that’s fine too.”

Coco stood there for a long time before finally lifting her head.

Her eyes were bloodshot.

In a hoarse voice, she said, “Viscount, please allow me to leave.”

The viscount shook his head and refused.

“You’re still my maid. You have no right to leave.”

“I won’t let you go.”

“Return to your room. You can’t escape, and at least for now, you won’t suffer.”

Coco stared straight into his eyes.

In her numb gaze, a spark of determination flickered.

“Please allow me to leave.”

She slowly leaned toward the long dining table beside her.

The viscount’s eyes never left her.

He saw the cruelty hidden in the girl’s gaze and could not miss it.

He said nothing.

In front of him, Coco had absolutely no chance to resist.

“No…?”

Now very close to the table, Coco suddenly grabbed the delicate dinner knife and clenched it tightly in her hand.

There was still one final shred of hope in her eyes.

“No.”

The viscount’s answer cut it ruthlessly.

The moment he refused, Coco did not rush at him with the knife.

Instead, she suddenly turned the blade toward her own throat and thrust.

I… can’t drag… Miss Yiluo down with me!

As long as I die…

The knife was extremely sharp, glinting with a cold light as it drew nearer and nearer to her neck.

The viscount had never imagined she would try to kill herself.

Even as a fifth-rank warrior, he had no way to stop a blade already at her throat.

Miss Yiluo, please… never come to see Coco again.

If you’re going to be a proper liar, then never come back to see Coco.

What does Miss Yiluo’s homeland look like, I wonder…

I wish that the place you must return to is a place that is truly waiting for you…

At the end, the last thing in Coco’s mind was Yiluo’s sweet smile.

Miss Yiluo…

Never again…

…

Crash—

Clink—

But things did not go as Coco imagined.

With the sharp sound of shattering glass, her hand suddenly went numb, and the knife was knocked from her grasp.

In the next second, a familiar scent reached her nose.

She opened her eyes.

Aside from the sword still quivering where it had pierced the floor and the knife lying on the ground, a familiar figure filled her vision.

A simple long dress with thin white straps.

A waterfall of pale golden hair.

A face so delicate, holy, and beautiful.

She was looking at Coco with earnest eyes.

She stepped closer and bent down slightly so their eyes were level.

Her hand, gentle as a spring breeze, wiped away the tear tracks at Coco’s eyes.

Her cold expression slowly softened, turning warm like blossoms in spring, soothing Coco’s battered heart.

“My dear maid.”

“Please allow me…”

“to take you away.”