Ouroboros Record ~Circus of Oubeniel~

Chapter 57: The Demon and the Bride (2)

"Yeah, about that, she had dark hair and her eyes were green!"

"Her skin was so fair that I can't tell if she's had been working at all....... I'm sure she's a lazy bum who skips work too!"

"Yes, yes! She had an impertinent armband on her left arm and a weapon hanging from her waist! Truly an unbecoming slave!"

The maids each gave their testimonies. They would never admit that she was beautiful. That would make them admit that they were inferior.

"That's quite the unique slave. Hmm, considering it all, it sounds like she is our chief...... no I mean...... Uni."

"Definitely the Viscount’s slave."

"It would be in the best interests to fire her, or even ‘terminate’ her. ......Ah, maybe that is too much to ask?"

She said so in a cat-like voice to Victor, who appeared apologetic.

And then,

"......How may I help you, Sir Victor?"

From behind Victor, a slave in a maid's uniform appeared silently.

"Oh, Chief—Uni. Just the right person I was looking for. I was told by these ladies that you had bumped into them and caused them to drop the laundry?"

"No, I don't remember any of that."

"Is that so? ......Since she said that, what do we do about this?"

The two maids didn’t react to Victor, who was pretending to act as a mediator.

They were frozen to the ground, terrified.

(What? When? How......?)

Where did this slave, called Uni, come from? How did she after passing by them and leaving, and after Victor appearing, reappear once again? In the first place, once they lost sight of her, when did she have enough time to hide in a room? And did they hear the sounds of her footsteps at all?

Many questions were running through their heads, but no answers were forthcoming. Or rather, they were forced to believe in the impossible.

The next thing they knew, she appeared in front of them.

She was like a ghost—

"I-I'm sorry. I-I think it was just our imagination."

"Oh, we were up so early in the morning, did we daydream? Ahahaha ......"

—They made forced smiles to try and gloss over their previous accusations.

They had enough. It was too creepy. They were scared. Now they wanted nothing to do with her.

The maids, witnessing the unbelievable phenomena by the maid in the early hours of a midsummer morning, were gripped by an intense sense of repulsion towards the slave dressed as a maid.

Victor said to the girls, who were fast turning pale.

"Both of you don't look like you're feeling well. What do you think, Uni? How about you take over their duties?"

"Yes, no problem Sir Victor. I shall wash the clothes and hang them to dry in the courtyard. Will that do?"

"Yes. I'm sure the girls will be feeling better by the time the laundry has dried...... How about that?"

"Ah, yes......."

"Please do so."

The two maids handed the full laundry baskets to Uni and walked away. They ignored the fact that they were abandoning their duties and the fact that they feared this slave. For now, they just wanted to get away from this silver collared slave. That was the only thing that occupied their minds.

On this day, there would be one more ghost story about the slaves of Tullius.

Victor exhaled deeply.

"......I hope you exercise restraint when using me to come up with excuses, Chief Maid."

"Yes, Sir Victor. I will try to do so as much as possible. As long as it is within my master’s orders, though."

"In other words, it's something that could happen in the future. Sigh......"

※ ※ ※

Due Schwarzer was puzzled. Ever since he had met Tullius, he had been accustomed to outlandish events and mysterious situations. But what was happening before his eyes was different from the norm.

"Um, well, could you please just calm down and talk to me?"

Tullius was troubled. No, this man was also human. He's downright demonic, the kind of person you want to look for to find horns, wings and tails, but alas, he was actually human. There would be times when he appeared troubled and annoyed.

However, it was very unexpected that Tullius would be caught up in such a situation and be troubled.

"Help me, Sir Tullius! I can't take it anymore! I can't stand living with him!"

The one who cried and clung to him was Simone, Tullius' sister-in-law.

Due thought she had not shown up at the breakfast table, but as soon as he went back to Tullius’ room, she appeared. When he let her in, she immediately clung to her brother-in-law with tears in her eyes.

"Umm...... did my brother say something again?"

"No, I don't want to say it, please don't ask!"

"What do you want me to do?"

Tullius looked at Due as if to say, "Do something about it," but there was nothing Due could do about it. If a woman was crying, he could only choose to let her cry until she felt better. A man who was all about swordsmanship and who had only ever had the pleasure of one night stands with women should not be expected to handle situations like these. Even Drei, his closest partner, was not the kind of girl who would burst into tears in front of a man.josei

It was hopeless, he tried to say by shrugging his shoulders. He could not offer any better plan.

"It seems like something very personal, so why don't I just stay out of it? If you need anything, just call me......"

When Due said that, Tullius made a blatantly disgusted face. This man probably found it more disagreeable that he would be left with nobody guarding him than the fact that he was stuck together with Simone, who showed no signs of calming down.

Fortunately, Simone had buried her face in Tullius' chest and was crying incessantly, so she didn't see the look of displeasure on her brother-in-law's face. If she had seen it, it would get even more complicated.

"Uuu, uuu...... please, do that. I don't want anybody else to hear......."

"Yes, I understand...... So there’s that, Due and the rest may leave. Don't go anywhere on your own, okay?"

"Alright, let’s get going."

"Yes."

Together, he took the mass-produced slaves that were packed in the room and went out to the hallway.

Some time later, after closing the door, they began talking.

It's not that he was actively trying to listen, he was one of Tullius’ ‘masterpieces’. His hearing has been enhanced as a result of all the work he has done on his body. A single wall or a single door was not sufficient as a barrier.

"Please have a cup of tea first to calm down. I'm sorry for my poor brewing skills."

"Uu...... Oh, thank you. I'll take it."

"I wish Uni was here, but she had some business to attend to. It'll be a little while before she returns."

As Tullius had said, Uni had left her master’s side in the morning to attend to business. Once that was done, the plot to unseat Linus would be closer to fruition. Simone was crying out to the man who was plotting to bring down her husband. It was such an outrageous situation.

"It's warm, your tea......ah, it hurts."

"Oh, what happened? Could it be that there are cuts inside your mouth? Excuse me, may I have a quick look?"

"Yeah, uh...... Please do."

The sound of the floor creaking, the scraping of different clothes against each other, and other such sounds filled Due’s ears.

Tullius must have approached Simone so that he could examine her.

"Yes, please open your mouth. Ahhh."

"Ahhh......"

"Mm-hmm. That's a pretty big cut. You must have bled there too, right? Since you were not treated at the time of the cut?"

"Well......."

"Well, if it's hard to say, I won't force you to say. I examined you to help...... Alright, it's healed. You should be able to drink now."

"Ah......"

The faint fluttering sound of magic was probably Tullius’ recovery magic. Then, the sound of bodies separating. The sound of a woman's voice saying goodbye.

What the hell is going on here? Why was she raising her voice like that now? Did she really have a thing for Tullius?

Due shook his head at his own imagination. It couldn't be. Even her feelings of goodwill towards Tullius was a mistake. To fall in love like that now would be the height of insanity. After all, Tullius Shernan Oubeniel was the exact opposite of the kind of man women liked. He was cold-hearted, self-centered, unconcerned about the feelings of others, and was not afraid to put women in the line of fire for his own survival. He was far from the ideal image of a kind and dependable good man. The only women who could love such a man would be those whose brains were tampered with.