I’m not sure when I fell asleep.

Maybe it was because the mattress was too soft, like lying on cotton; or maybe it was Master Naoya’s embrace and breath. His embrace was warm, and his breathing was steady. With his head buried in the crook of my neck, I could hear his breath clearly. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier until I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up the next day, I found myself curled up in Master Naoya’s embrace on the single bed. The room’s air conditioner was on, and I was covered with a blanket, but Master Naoya was already gone.

I sat up drowsily, taking a moment to register that the clock already read seven thirty. Master Naoya was already dressed, sitting on the sofa, yawning and eating breakfast.

Panic-stricken, I hurriedly got out of bed, my hands trembling as I knelt on the floor, shaking.

Master Naoya seemed indifferent to my distress. “Hurry up and change your clothes.”

“Yes.”

I rushed to the kitchen, quickly changing clothes, washing up, and tying my hair.

I didn’t dare to wear the clothes Master Naoya bought for me. I still wore the maid outfit that had been patched up many times before. I tied my hair in a hurry, but my only white headband was left at the barber shop yesterday. I had to use the pink hair tie with a bell pendant instead.

After haphazardly tying my hair, I opened the kitchen door.

Master Naoya had already finished eating breakfast and was lazily looking at his phone. Hearing the noise from this side, he glanced over. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw me.

He was definitely angry.

Once again, I knelt on the floor, trembling.

“Come here.” Master Naoya’s voice lacked patience.

I cautiously approached.

He grabbed me when I was about half a meter away, pulling me towards him. He tugged at my sleeve, his brow furrowing even deeper.

“Why are you still wearing these ragged clothes?”

I trembled, “Because… because I’m afraid of getting the clothes you bought dirty.”

“You really have the look of poverty.” Master Naoya’s face was full of disdain, but when he noticed the pink hair tie in my hair, his expression softened slightly. “Go change and wear the pink one.”

“Yes.”

I returned to the kitchen.

The clothes Master Naoya bought for me yesterday were all stored in the cupboard. I opened it and rummaged through the dozen or so shopping bags until I found the set of rose pink and apricot-colored kimono. The fabric was very comfortable, the best clothes I had ever worn in my life.

I fastened the belt and gently opened the kitchen door.

Master Naoya’s eyes quickly glanced over. Seeing me obediently putting on the clothes, he seemed slightly more satisfied, gesturing for me to come closer with his fingers, like calling a puppy.

I approached cautiously.

He tugged at my messy hair, his face once again showing disdain.

“Untie it.”

I obediently untied the hair tie.

With no hair tie holding it back, my waist-length hair cascaded down, falling onto Master Naoya’s arm as he grabbed me. He casually rolled up my hair and said, “Don’t you know how to tie your hair?”

I whispered, “I, I do.”

“Then tie it again.”

I retied it, this time with a bit more patience due to the lack of time. But Master Naoya still looked disdainful. “Is that it?”

After a while, he added, “Can you do the hairstyle the shop assistant did for you yesterday?”

I quickly shook my head.

“Tsk.”

He took out his phone and searched for something on it. After a while, he turned the phone towards me.

“Follow the steps in this video.”

The phone displayed a three-minute tutorial video on how to tie hair. It was my first time coming into such close contact with a phone. My breathing involuntarily slowed down as I was curious about how such a small device could capture real-life images.

I followed the instructions in the tutorial.

But the person in the video moved too quickly for me to keep up. When the three-minute video ended, my hair was even messier than before.

Master Naoya…

I could clearly feel his peak level of disdain towards me.

“Turn around,” he said impatiently.

I quickly turned around, facing away from him.

He handed me the phone. “Hold it.”

Then he roughly snatched the hair tie from my hand, using his five fingers to comb through my hair and untangle the knots, all the while watching the tutorial and following the steps.

I was stiff all over.

Feeling the delicate fabric of the kimono on my body and the occasional tug on my scalp, I couldn’t quite understand why Master Naoya had taken me shopping for so many clothes yesterday, or why he was now helping me tie my hair.

Although he ended up pulling out quite a few strands of my hair in the process.

Maybe it was to please him.

Come to think of it, Master Naoya has always been generous.

Although he looks down on the maid who has been by his side since childhood for being a woman and lacking magical powers, he has never been overly harsh to her. He constantly rewards her, and I’ve heard from other maid sisters that the current assets of the head maid exceed those of some small families.

Three minutes later.

He finished the final step, pinching my cheeks and swaying them from side to side, looking very satisfied. “You have two days to learn this.”

“Yes,” I whispered.

He didn’t let go of my cheeks. “You’ve been eating a lot lately, but you’re still so skinny.”

He pinched my cheeks and pulled them outwards, causing pain. Seeing a tear glisten in my eye, he smiled wickedly. “You really are ugly.”

My eyelashes trembled, but I didn’t deny it.

With a satisfied heart, he withdrew his hand and picked up a soft, cherry-sized pastry, offering it to me near my mouth as if bestowing a favor.

I gingerly bit into the corners of the pastry, waiting for Master Naoya to release his hand before I could eat it.

Today is the weekend.

Master Naoya returned to his family’s main house.

I followed along, but this time, instead of rushing on foot and taking the tram like before, we rode in a car. As soon as we arrived at the main house, Master Naoya was summoned by the head of the household.

I stayed in the courtyard.

Noticing the gazes of the other maid sisters, I sat stiffly on the soft cushions of Master Naoya’s tea room, afraid to move because Master Naoya had instructed me to wait here until he returned.

Outside the tea room.

The maid sisters pretended to pass by one after another, then craned their necks to look at me.

Occasionally, I could hear their whispers.

“Is that Naoko?”

“Why does she suddenly look so pretty?”

“This child has always been good-looking since she was young, it’s just that she’s always been low-key.”

“Did Master Naoya buy it for her? But didn’t Master Naoya used to dislike Naoko so much, why the sudden change?”

“Shh, the young master has reached that age, hasn’t he?”

“Isn’t he bored?” It wasn’t until the head maid’s voice hinted at a warning that the maid sisters dispersed.

Outside the tea room, the head maid didn’t look at me and left directly.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

But Master Naoya didn’t return until evening.

I was bored, staring at my fingers, when suddenly something fell into my lap. It was a crumpled piece of paper, and when I unfolded it, it read, “Do you want to eat rice cakes?”

I looked outside the tea room. I spotted Master Sato, smiling as he stood there, waving a paper-wrapped pastry in his hand.