I couldn't even dare to lift my eyes to see what she was doing; the tone of her voice had left me completely paralyzed in fear.
I simply kept my eyes down and kept looking at the wall of texts; the next one was a grammar test. Thankfully it wasn't that hard; as I was doing it, I noticed in the corner of my view my mother picking up my consoles and confiscating them.
Oh, come on! That was one subject; I'm sure I'm going to ace the rest. No need to confiscate all of my games!
I didn't; I barely got passing grades for my age on most subjects except for history, geography, and literature.
That was rough! What the hell… Wasn't I supposed to get tested tomorrow?
"Worry not; our school offers special classes for children such as him; he'll be able to catch up with the rest of the students in just a couple of months." One of the teachers said as he was sweet-talking to her.
And here I thought I could start relaxing here. Why do we even study such useless subjects? What do we have to learn from geography? What a chore, really!
My mother then exited the room, carrying away all of my games, followed by every teacher; each of them was trying to sell her their "special program."
"So, how was it?" The maid asked while peeking her head out of the door.
"What? The test? It was okay; I did better than expected, to be honest." I responded. I laid my back against the back of the chair. I wanted to rock the chair, but for some reason I failed to, as the chair seemed to weigh way more than me.
"I wonder how the young lady will do." The maid said while looking back at me.
"Yeah, yeah, she'll do just… Wait a second, what did you just say?"
The maid immediately rushed to my side.
The hint was loud and clear: the maid wanted to use this excuse to go look for Elena. Perhaps she was interested in her, or maybe she was ordered by my mother to act that way.
No, my mother is not that kind of person; when she wants something, she's direct about it… The one who's indirect is my father. Guess it won't hurt to go… But—
I was distracted by the maid's tail; it was nervously moving left and right.
"Haa! Do I really have to go? I just wanted to—" The maid grabbed me, put me over her shoulders, and began running in circles in protest.
Okay, okay! I get it; you want to see how she's doing… The message was loud and clear, jeez.
"Strange… this usually works." The maid said this after she noticed a lack of reaction.
Usually? Who did you use this method on?
The more I thought about it, the more questions began to pop out. Who was this maid? Why, despite being a bodyguard, was she dressing like a maid? Why, unlike the rest of the maids, was she allowed to treat me like her peer, and most importantly, why did Mother choose someone that was basically of the same age as me to protect me?
I tried to free myself, but my efforts were in vain, as she was several times stronger than me.
"Let me go!" I said, practically hissing at her.
She is crossing the line… What kind of maid would behave like this… Tch!
I wanted to inform my father; I didn't want her to be fired, but she needed to be disciplined; she was getting too comfortable with her position. She needed to know her place in the house.
She did save me from my uncle… No! Act like a noble would! They wouldn't let this slide, right?
"Is everything okay, young master?" The maid asked me.
When I recovered from the hazy thoughts, I found myself lying on the bed; the maid was pinning me down, trying to tickle me on my sides and just under the neck to no avail.
"Nothing, it's nothing important; let's go."
She led the way, periodically looking back at me, worried. Her ears were on high alert, her tail was lying low, and her steps made no sound, as if she were weightless.
The empty hallways of the house felt even larger because of the lack of furniture and people. The floor tiles were dark, and the walls were red, but the people working on it hadn't finished painting them.
Why am I even bothering with this? It's just a waste of time. I can already picture it: me peeking out of the door only to freak out Elena and make her cuss me out… Do I really have to do this? Why does she hate me so much? I don't get it; we were getting along so well in the past…
The more I tried to remember those days, the louder the phantoms around me became; even with the bracelet my mother gifted me, I couldn't repel all of those ghosts.
This seems more like a curse than a gift; couldn't you just… I don't know… But reducing me to this state… that is something I'll forever remember.
"What was that?" The maid suddenly took out a couple of daggers from underneath her skirt and had taken a combat stance, looking around as if she saw something.
???
I was taken aback by the sudden reaction; nothing strange had happened so far; we were completely alone; I didn't know if the maid was messing with me or not.
Too many bothersome things are happening all together. When will I be able to have a break? Last week was pretty uneventful… I wish every day could be like that.
When we finally reached Elena's room, I saw that it was just like I did before. She was struggling to fill the empty spaces of the test. She was different in one thing, however: she didn't answer the question. She knew she wouldn't answer the next question unless she had answered the previous one, which was frustrating the teachers around her.
I stood outside of her door, then I took a couple of steps back and hid away; I didn't want to bother her now. The maid still hadn't put the daggers away; her eyes would drift left and right in search of something.
I wonder how the others are doing; they grew up here… Not only did Leo grow up here, but the others were born on the surface, just like me. I wonder how it feels growing up here, in such a beautiful place.
Before I knew it I was sitting on the floor, next to the door leading to Elena's room, with my back held against the wall to keep an upright posture.
"So? How is it going inside? How is she doing?"
"Oh!" A mischievous expression suddenly appeared on the face of the maid.
"Are you perhaps interested in the young lady? You can't! It's forbidden! After all, you're family now…" She teased me as she gently played with my cheeks, pinching them and stretching them.
I refused to fall for her provocation and remained silent for the time being.
"You're no fun… Anyway, she seems to be doing… fine? At the very least, she's doing better than you, but not by much…" Seeing my lack of reaction, the maid gave up and peeked back inside the room to respond to me.
As I put my hands on the floor, I noticed it was surprisingly smooth; it wasn't made out of wood, yet if one applied enough pressure against it, it would make the same sound.
Did they put strange paint on the wooden floor?
"Oh, they finished correcting the science test; she scored a 55 out of 100; she even got you beat there…"
"Was she better than me at math?" I asked.
"I don't know; she hasn't completed that test yet." The maid answered.
"What? It's been… I don't know, but time is passing rapidly; how can she be so slow?" I complained.
"You too were incredibly slow, young master; she's just… a little more stubborn than you."
"What does stubbornness have to do with anything here?" I protested.
The maid then urged me to be quiet as my mother turned around. She hid behind me when my mother came all the way over to warn us about the noise we were making.
Shave gave me one look that told me an infinite number of things; however, she was too intimidating for me to look her in the eyes.
"If you want to stay, try to be quiet. If you can't stay quiet, then go back to your room." She warned me before heading back inside the room.
The storm was over.
"You were too loud, young master! You should try to whisper just like me!" The maid said to me,.
"No thanks, I'll simply keep my mouth shut." I responded.