After leaving the cursed chamber,

I didn’t return to the beautiful room arranged for me by the housekeeper, but slept in Master Naoya’s bedroom instead, which was even more spacious and bright than the one I originally thought was already beautiful enough.

However, the bed was similarly soft, like sleeping on a cloud.

No need to work, no need to go hungry. After every meal, Master Naoya would feed me various delicious snacks and expensive fruits. I showed a bit of resistance, but even then, I didn’t have to learn flower arranging, tea ceremonies, or dancing anymore. Master Naoya would kindly teach me two characters.

Not to mention the countless expensive jewelry and clothes.

He said they were all mine.

Apparently, just apologizing, shifting blame onto others, pretending to be innocent could get you all these.

But what I missed the most was actually the clothes Master Sato bought for me, which Master Naoya called trash; and what I wanted to eat the most was the rice cakes Master Sato bought in the rain, but in Master Naoya’s eyes, they were only fit for servants.

What I wanted even more was Master Sato and freedom.

I dared not show it.

I buried them deep in my heart.

“Master Naoya, why would you do this? Master Sato has always had a good relationship with you,” Aichina burst into heartbreaking sobs in the hall, then rushed to Master Sato, who had already become a vegetable on the stretcher, crying bitterly.

I shrank behind Master Naoya.

Master Naoya looked lazy, but he stood very straight. Standing there, he could shield me completely. Because of him, I didn’t even need to kneel in the face of such a big scene.

But my heart still felt hollow.

My knees softened several times, wanting to kneel down, but Master Naoya’s hand irresistibly pulled me up. After pulling me up, he let go, and I could only grab the back of his clothes and lean tightly against him.

In front of him, Master Naoya didn’t even bother to look at the second master’s wife. With his arms crossed in front of him and his head slightly tilted, he said to second master in a tone of arrogance mixed with the need for gratitude, “If you ask me, this bastard is not even worth a finger of Shige. Let alone Shigeru. In the future, he can only be on the same level as those useless sisters, Nakoto. Uncle, you must have been troubled by giving birth to such a waste. What I did is also helping you make a choice, isn’t it?”

The Second Master’s face turned pale with anger.

The Third Master’s face also turned unpleasant as he warned, “Naoya, mind your words.”

A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Naoya’s mouth, and he didn’t continue speaking.

"Master of the household," the Second Elder's wife pleaded again at the feet of the Master of the household, her face full of tears, evoking much sympathy.

The head of the household remained silent for a moment before speaking. “Hand over that woman. I’ve heard all about it. This whole thing must be her doing, right? Just a woman, yet you’ve gone to such absurd lengths. It’s getting out of hand. I shouldn’t have allowed you to take servants to school in the first place.”

I stiffened instinctively, gripping Master Naoya’s clothes tighter.

That day in the cursed chamber, after I revealed that Master Takuto and several other branch family young masters were trying to bully me, Master Naoya chopped off their arms. They must have undergone special treatment; even reversal spells couldn’t heal them, and they could no longer use spells in the future.

They became almost like ordinary people.

No, more accurately, they were even worse than ordinary people, needing to be served by others for the rest of their lives.

Master Naoya let out a mocking laugh.

I knew he was mocking me for being cowardly.

“Father, you’re getting up there in age, with one foot already in the grave. You probably can’t produce a son better than me anymore. Before you’re too old to even walk, you should cultivate a good relationship with me. When I inherit the position of head of the family in the future, I’ll feed you well every day. Oh, and,” Master Naoya grinned, “I’ll arrange for you to have more women then, so you won’t feel lonely. Of course, you can rest assured that they’ll come to you on their own, without you needing to exert any effort.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” the Head of the Family threw a cup lid at him.

But it didn’t hit Master Naoya.

Master Naoya didn’t even bother to dodge, remaining calm and composed. Facing his father’s rage, he didn’t bother saying anything more. He reached back and grabbed me, then turned to leave.

“Stop,” his father stood up.

But Master Naoya didn’t listen to him.

The Head of the Family’s anger gradually dissipated.

Second Elder’s wife anxiously pleaded, “Master, please make the decision for us.”

The Master didn’t say anything.

The second master’s wife continued to plead in a sorrowful tone, but no one spoke up to stop Master Naoya until he left with me.

Although Master Naoya’s words just now were sharp and harsh, they were indeed true.

In the Zenyuan family’s generation, apart from Master Naoya, there was only Master Shir, who had zero cursed power, and Miss Maki and Miss Mayi, whose cursed power was weak. Apart from Master Naoya, there were no promising successors. So, without a doubt, he should be the next family head.

As he grew older, no one dared to openly oppose him.

This time, when Master Naoya left the Zenyuan family, he didn’t take me back to Kyoto School but went straight to Tokyo.

The annual Sister School Exchange Match.

Tokyo School won last year, so this year it was held in Tokyo.

Actually, only second and third-year students could participate in the exchange match. First-year and fourth-year students were not allowed to participate. However, since Master Takuto, a third-year student, and several second-year branch family young masters had become vegetables and couldn’t participate, first-year students were sent this year to fill the numbers.

To me, Tokyo and Kyoto were almost the same.

The same tall buildings, the same bustling crowds. It was so noisy.

Tokyo School was also similar to Kyoto School, located deep in the mountains, with similar architectural styles. The only difference was that Tokyo School looked a bit more old-fashioned. The floor in the corridors creaked when you walked on it, and the bright white lights on the ceiling were dazzling.

But the teaching building looked particularly new, as if it had just been built.

There were even four machines in the dormitory hall between the girls’ and boys’ dorms that I didn’t recognize, emitting colorful lights and containing various canned drinks I had seen in convenience stores.

I felt curious.

But I didn’t dare to look around much and hurriedly followed Naoya-sama’s footsteps.

Because the exchange match consisted of team matches and individual matches, we had to stay in Tokyo School for three days. For convenience, we also stayed in the empty dormitories at Tokyo School. Master Naoya was very dissatisfied with the dormitories at Tokyo School because they were much smaller than those at Kyoto School. And because it was in Tokyo, the Zenyuan family couldn’t send meals as they had before. Moreover, it was during the exchange match period, which was important, so we couldn’t enter and leave the barrier at will and could only eat at Tokyo School’s cafeteria.

Master Naoya was very unhappy, feeling that the cafeteria’s food was simply fit for pigs.

But I thought

It was quite delicious, especially the egg and beef rolls, although not as delicious as those made by Master Sato.

Perhaps because in my eyes, there’s no such thing as bad food. After all, even with no side dishes, just plain steamed buns or white rice, I can still eat to my heart’s content.

The only inconvenience.

Is that I need to find a new place to bathe.

After Master Naoya finished bathing in the bathroom, I went to the cafeteria to get half a basin of hot water. Standing outside the girls’ dormitory, I felt a bit lost. Previously at Kyoto School, it was because nobody lived in the girls’ dormitory there. Now I wasn’t sure about the situation at Tokyo School, so I didn’t dare to casually go to the storage room on the first floor of the girls’ dormitory to bathe.

I stood there, hesitating.

Until my shoulder was tapped, “You’re also a student from Kyoto School.”

I was startled, and the wooden basin in my hand fell to the ground, splashing water onto the hem of my kimono. I turned around in panic and saw a high school girl with a cigarette in her mouth. She was wearing a dark blue uniform skirt, had shoulder-length hair, and a teardrop mole at the corner of her eye. When she saw my face, she paused for a moment. After about two seconds, she reacted as if she realized something, somewhat uncomfortably shifted her gaze away, cleared her throat, and said, “You seem quite surprised. You don’t look like a sorcerer.”

“I-I’m Master Naoya’s maid,” I stuttered, not daring to meet her eyes, feeling embarrassed about being caught. Because I felt that sneaking into the girls’ dormitory storage room to bathe was like a thief entering without permission.

“So, it’s true what I heard from Gojou. There’s indeed a bold one. Bringing a servant to participate in the competition,” she said with an understanding expression, squatting down, picking up the wooden basin, and handing it back to me. “What are you doing with this?”

Still not daring to look up at her, I kept my head low. “T-to bathe.”

Perhaps my voice was too soft, and she didn’t hear clearly. “Hmm?”

I had to repeat myself, my face even redder than before. “I-I want to bathe.”

She seemed taken aback.

As if she didn’t expect that in this era of advanced technology, I still needed to bathe in this primitive way.

I hugged the wooden basin tighter, bowed hastily, and wanted to leave in a hurry.

But she grabbed my arm.

I trembled, thinking she was going to hit me, immediately dropped the wooden basin, and raised my arm to shield my face.

But the pain never came. Instead, there was a tired yet somewhat gentle voice, “I’m asking if you want to use the bathroom in my dormitory.”

I learned her name.

She was Kaira Shiraki, a third-year student at Tokyo School. As a courtesy, I also told her my name.

She was curious. “Don’t you have a surname?”

I was a bit unresponsive, briefly stunned. I really didn’t know what my surname was. In the Zenyuan family, everyone called me Aichina, and no one ever mentioned my surname.

Seeing my reaction, she didn’t ask any further.

She kindly helped me place the hot water, “Your clothes are on the rack. Go ahead and bathe.”

She left, closing the door behind her.

Leaving me alone in the bathroom.

This was my first time using the school’s bathroom, with modern bathtubs and various bottles and jars on the shelf next to the bathtub.

I didn’t move.

I took out the soap I had prepared.

During my time at the Zenyuan family, my treatment had improved a lot, almost better than the head maid’s. But those were all prepared by the head maid. After leaving the Zenyuan family, although Master Naoya still prepared many things for me, it was limited to clothes and jewelry. He wasn’t very concerned about cosmetics or bathing products.

“Oh, right.” The bathroom door was gently knocked on, and Kaira’s voice came from outside, “The shampoo and shower gel are all placed on the shelf next to the bathtub. Did you see them?”

I quickly replied, “Yes.”

But I didn’t recognize the characters and couldn’t distinguish which one was shampoo and which one was shower gel.

I looked at them, biting my finger in confusion for a while.

In the end, I decided to use the soap

After bathing, I changed into a clean kimono and, holding the washed but still damp clothes, smiled gratefully at Kaira, “Thank you.”

She looked at the clothes in my hand, “Do you have a place to dry them?”

I cautiously said, “There’s a clothesline downstairs in the dormitory. C-can I use it?”

“Pfft.” She smiled, her eyes curved, making her teardrop mole somewhat enchanting. She pointed to the balcony, “You can hang them there. If you hang them downstairs, they might easily be blown to the ground and get dirty.”

I was rarely treated so kindly by someone, feeling extremely restrained

In the end, Kaira took the stiff clothes from my hands and hung them on the balcony clothes rack for me.

After everything was done, I still walked out of her dormitory feeling very awkward.

“Snap.”

She lit a cigarette, exhaled a circle of white smoke, stood at the door of the dormitory, raised her hand to me in the corridor, and made a waving gesture, “For the bathing issue during this period, you can come to me to solve it.”

I returned to the temporary dormitory where Master Naoya was staying.

It was on the fourth floor.

When I went back, Master Naoya had just come out. Seeing that I had changed my clothes, he didn’t show any special reaction. Instead, he asked me, “Are you hungry?”

I shook my head.

In the evening, I ate two buns. They were the only things in Tokyo School’s cafeteria that Master Naoya said were edible.

“Oh,” he rubbed the back of his neck listlessly, turned off the dormitory light, pulled down the balcony curtains, checked and confirmed that they were tightly closed, stood by the window for a while, then lay down on the bed, buried his face in the pillow, leaving only his slightly red ears exposed. His voice no longer had the former domineering tone, but rather a hint of awkwardness. “Come here.”

“”

He had completely allowed me to sleep on the bed now.

!

Even though the curtains were tightly drawn, he still wanted to cover the blanket over his head, not even wanting a single strand of hair exposed to the air.

I was helping him.

His right hand was held by my mouth, while his left hand tightly grasped my sleeve, a bit more intense, pressing down on my hand. He buried his face in my arms, his breathing becoming noticeably irregular after a few interruptions.

Because he always wanted to appear calm and collected.

Whenever he sensed his breathing quickening, he forcefully held his breath. But this only had the opposite effect. When he held his breath until his eyes bulged and he felt like suffocating, then gasped for air, it only made things messier.

I calmly observed him.

After noticing his more sensitive spots, I specifically targeted them.

He became even more agitated, withdrawing his fingers, breathing unsteadily as he leaned closer, his body pressing tightly against mine. I took the initiative to lick his lips.

He trembled.

His tongue slipped in, kissing me rhythmlessly.

His breath was erratic, hot, like scalding water when it splashed onto my cheeks, and his expression became a mess. Perhaps sensing this, he lifted his hand to cover my eyes.

I couldn’t see.

The kisses on my lips became more intense, and after a while, he convulsed for several seconds, leaving my lips, burying his face in my arms again, trembling for a long time.

My hands were dirty too.

During this time, he didn’t make any sound, probably biting the back of his hand.

I couldn’t see it because his other hand was still tightly covering my eyes, so I could only guess. But I felt like I guessed right.

Because he was always like this.

After a while, he released the hand covering my eyes, and I finally saw the fresh blood seeping from the teeth marks on the back of his other hand.

He held me tightly with both hands, burying his face in my arms without lifting it.

His voice sounded a bit listless.

“What do you want to eat tomorrow morning?”

This was a reward, otherwise, all three meals tomorrow would only consist of the buns that Master Naoya deemed edible, without considering my opinion.

So I spoke softly, “Egg beef rolls, and I want to eat white rice.”

“Mmm.”

He sounded tired, showing a tendency to fall asleep.