CH 292.2

「They will take care of everything from carrying your luggage to taking care of your personal needs. If you need something, please ask away.」

“Well then everyone, I will see you at dinner,” he said and turned. He then straightened his back and walked away with a loud footstep.

They could only watch his back in silence.

「We will be carrying all your luggage」

The boy maids run up to them and offer their services. Their voices are so clear like when you use your fingers to make a tone with a glass cup and makes you wonder will their voice will change when they hit puberty.

The old captain managed to get a few words of rejection out of his mouth, even though he was flabbergasted by the bewitching charm of the boy dressed as a woman.

「No, I can at least do this much on my own. You guys can go back if you want.」

He could overhear the other pilots saying the same thing.

(As expected, their hearts won’t change with only this much, huh?)

The elderly captain wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand and let out a small sigh. But when he returns his gaze to the boy maid, his breath stops.

Despair. That was the only way to describe the expression on his face.

「What’s the matter?」

The boy in a maid uniform with beautifully trimmed hair above his shoulders, looked up at him with a wistful appeal as he answers his question.

「If we return now without doing anything, we will be punished not being helpful enough」

Apparently, they will be severely punished by those burly senior footmen. There was even a maid who cowered while holding his face in his hands, causing the pilots to become increasingly flustered.

In the midst of this, the elderly captain made a bitter expression in his mind and said to himself.

(That damn butler. He’s trying to lure our sympathy and take advantage of our kindness.)

The boys in front of me are not at fault or responsible for anything. That butler is driving them into the ground. He felt something close to the devil’s way of doing things and clicked his tongue in his mind.

He and his men nodded to each other and decided to ask them to carry the luggage.

「Thank you very much!」

With expressions of joy on their faces like blooming flowers, the boy maids’ skirts fluttered as they began to carry their suitcases into the room.

They are thin and slender around the waist, but only their hips are strangely plump, like those of athletes.

But even so, some of them staggered, as if the suitcases were too heavy for them. One of his men was about to step in to help, but he managed to hold his ground.

(This is bad. We’ve got to figure out a way to deal with this.)

The elderly captain sensed the emotional turmoil spreading among his men, and his expression turned grim.

After the luggage was brought in, they headed for the dining room, guided by the boy maids.

***

And soon after, the welcome dinner began in the great hall.

The emperor was seated at the seat of honor, and beside him was the small female A-class Knight’s pilot. It was an unusual treatment, but considering her role in Rose Castle, it could not be helped.

Fortunately, the emperor didn’t seem to think it was disrespectful.

(We must not let those boy maids anywhere near His Majesty.)

He watched anxiously, but it seemed that his fears were unfounded. Only the senior servants, the footmen, served the emperor, while the boys in skirts with their neutral charm stayed away from the emperor.

(Come to think of it, they’re just an 『Apprentice』, aren’t they?)

They’re probably not allowed to do that since they haven’t reached adulthood yet. The eight boy maids were surrounding the four bodyguards, serving them food and pouring drinks for them.

(If that’s the case, his target is us, huh)

The elderly captain’s face turned bitter as he saw through the butler’s plan. To the emperor, they are the horses that carry his body.

He’s probably trying to take down the guards first, like filling the moat around the castle before attacking it.

(If so then all the more reason we must not give in.)

The elderly captain left the dinner table and headed for the washroom. It was not good manners, but he wanted to cool down here.

Seeing himself leaving the table, one of his subordinates followed him. Incidentally, the boy maid did not follow him out of the hall.

「Captain, this is starting to get tougher for me. I feel like my heart started to waver when they’re so devoted in trying to serve me」

He grabbed his subordinate who was wavering firmly by the shoulders, put his weight on him and told him.

「Get hold of yourself. They are snipers who want to melt our hearts. If we allow them to get inside our hearts, those footmen will be the next ones to come in. And if we fall, His Majesty will be their next target.」

When he mentioned the emperor, his subordinate’s expression changed. He washed his face with water at the sink and nodded to the captain with eyes that became brighter than before.

「Right now, we are the only ones who can protect His Majesty. I know it’s difficult but please endure.」

Then they went back to the dining room.

In the midst of a harmonious atmosphere, the dinner party ended successfully. The bodyguards returned to their rooms as a group.

The number of boy maids accompanying them was only four, half by there were in the beginning.

「Please ask us if you need anything」

The same number of boys as the pilots went into the room of the pilot with whom they had the most conversations, and waited in the corner to be told what to do.

After ordering the boy to make a coffee, he told him to sit on the couch in front of him and pass the time with idle conversation.

(The night is getting late now. I guess it’s okay to call it a day here.)

The elderly captain looks out the window through the curtains and opens his mouth.

「Thank you for your hard work today. You were a big help.」

He told them in a roundabout way that today’s work was finished. But the boy maid’s reaction was the same as before.

「We will be punished if we return now. Just like the other four who couldn’t make it here.」

When he asked the boy what he meant, he was told that the eight of them had been tested.

Apparently, the butler had observed them at the dinner party and left one person who he thought each of the bodyguards liked.

He was amazed at the butler’s keen eyes. It was true that he had felt more danger by this one than the first two who had been assigned to him.

「The four of them are probably being severely punished by their seniors right now. Probably until morning.」

The boy with long, beautiful hair in a maid uniform held his hands in front of his chest. His wrists and ankles are so thin that they look like they might break with just a slight touch.

「I know you don’t like it, but can you please let me stay in this room until morning? Just standing in the corner of the room would be fine.」

He even had tears in his eyes.

The image of the butler with the corners of his mouth hanging up to his ears in laughter floated in the elderly captain’s mind.

(That devil. To think he would go this far and use an innocent boy to take advantage of the kindness in people.)

After a moment of contemplating, the elderly captain answered with a sigh.

「Fine. But it doesn’t sit right with me to let you just stand in the corner, so you can use that couch.」

He could give the bed to the boy and use the couch himself if he wanted to. But he knew that the boy would never accept it.

(Just what am I thinking?)

Shaking his head hard to get rid of the strange thoughts, the elderly captain went to bed to get some sleep. There, he noticed that the room temperature had dropped.

Probably because it gets cold at night in this area.

(I’m perfectly alright, but…)

The boy maid, who will be sleeping on the sofa, will surely feel cold. Thinking so, he asked him to raise the room temperature.

But the boy maid shook his slender head apologetically with his cheek flushed red.

「There is no heater in the rooms of this castle. They are using our bodies in exchange for that.」

In response, the old captain slammed his fist into the butler, who was now in full demon form and smiling broadly in his mind.

(Just how cunning can that guy be? Damn it!)

The boy maid sitting on the sofa shrugs his shoulders with his face looking down. The elderly captain, not knowing what to say, remained silent.

What broke the silence was the boy maid’s voice that faintly came from the next room.

「….Ahhh—!」

The sound of a scream that leaked after being unable to endure something that came to invade. An awkward silence descended between them.

(I won’t lose. I will definitely not lose!)

The elderly pilot gritted his teeth as he swore to himself.