ITSM 09

Chapter 09

“What are you going to do with that?”
“You need to wear clothes suitable for the job, and match that by tidying your face and hair.”
“Good heavens!”

I quickly snatched the clothes from her frozen hands.

“Then I’ll change and be right back.”

Fortunately, Gremory didn’t follow me, apparently still in shock. Thanks to that, I was able to change comfortably and firmly twist my hair up with a pen. After that, she touched her forehead and asked me.

“There’s a hair tie—why use a pen…?”
“It’s just more convenient. Also, tying with a string leaves marks.”

Gremory made a gesture as if she couldn’t understand, waving her hands in the air, but I tried to ignore her neatly.

As I turned my back, a thought briefly crossed my mind.

‘Oh, maybe I shouldn’t do this?’

Still, if I treat a demon like this, won’t there be retaliation later?

A shiver ran through me at the thought, and I creaked as I turned to look at Gremory. Luckily, she seemed unaware I had ignored her.

Though what she muttered next was a bit chilling:

“Let’s tear those dull, horrible black clothes when we get a chance.”
“…….”
“No, wait. What if Lady Liliana gets angry? That’d be bad… Then maybe I should break the pen and somehow deal with those glasses…”

She’s not threatening to tear me apart, so it should be fine, right?

After getting ready, Bael was waiting at the door.

He looked up from the documents he was checking and saw me.

“If you’re ready, then…”

Bael slowly scanned me from head to toe, and words of shock escaped his mouth.

“Where did you get such horrible clothes?”

…Is this the start of round two?

“My goodness, Lady Liliana. Black is prohibited in our Windsphere!”
“No, that’s ridiculous. The contract didn’t say anything about that.”

Thinking about how I had signed the contract last night under the spell of Bael’s abilities, I tossed and turned all night, so maybe it was fine to be a little mischievous now.

Just as Bael was about to argue, Loan, dressed in black clothes like mine, walked over from a distance.

“Is something wrong? You didn’t come while I was waiting.”

Standing beside me, Loan looked sharply at Bael.

He flinched, and I smiled brightly at Loan.

“It seems there’s a problem with the color of the clothes I’m wearing.”
“Oh? What kind of problem?”
“In the Windsphere duke’s household, black clothing is apparently not allowed. Seems the Duke is stricter and more difficult to serve than I expected?”

I knew who he was, but they didn’t know I recognized them, so this level of comment should be fine.

Like a scared cat, I muttered softly.

“I’m worried. I didn’t realize he’d be so difficult to deal with…”

The more I spoke, the darker Loan’s expression became. At the same time, Bael’s face turned pale.

Loan seemed to grind his teeth, but whatever. The person beside me now was not the Duke of Windsphere, but Loan, the assistant I worked with.

“I see. So the Duke is that kind of person. I had no idea.”

Loan, with a thoroughly somber expression, looked Bael over.

Bael trembled and replied,
“No! That’s not it!”
“Oh my, Bael. Aren’t you shaking too much?”
“It’s just my preference! I hate black! Please don’t misunderstand the Duke…”

Bael’s pupils shook wildly as he glanced between Loan and me, trying to justify himself.

Perhaps I’ll stop tormenting him here.

I shrugged and patted his shoulder.

“Bael, I won’t misunderstand. So don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying!”
“Okay, okay.”

Even so, there were tears in the corners of his eyes. I couldn’t help but laugh a little at how easy it was to make a demon cry.

Bael bit his trembling lips, and I decided to let it go. Watching him from behind, a strange certainty settled in me: as long as they didn’t find out I knew Windsphere’s dukedom was basically a den of demons, I could work here happily.

Cancel that. Forget what I just said!

‘Happily work? What a joke.’

I sighed as I looked at the demons introduced as staff working in Windsphere.

“Please take care of me, Lady Liliana! I will serve you with utmost devotion!”
“Ah.”

It was clear there wasn’t a single competent one.

None of the supposed staff demons were dressed properly. Each stood before me in outfits that screamed individuality.

Above all, their sharp fangs flashed whenever they opened their mouths.

Those in the back scrambled to hide their horns and wings.

It all happened in an instant, but I saw it clearly: demons in Windsphere never gave you a moment to let your guard down.

The heavily prepared ones bowed to greet me. A few seemed satisfied with their bow, their shoulders twitching.

“Ria, shouldn’t you return their greeting?”
“Oh, right. Nice to meet you all.”

When I acknowledged them, the demons lifted their posture.

Their excessively sparkling eyes were overwhelming, so I decided I didn’t need to return their greeting as before.

“But from now on, we won’t…”

At that moment, some of the demons who had puffed up their shoulders sagged them.

“…greet?”

Their eyes drooped, and even their mouths turned downward.

I tried to hide my displeasure as I continued,

“…Thank you for welcoming me.”

At that, their pitiful appearance vanished, and they returned to their original demeanor.

Their sudden shift left me flapping my lips, but Bael introduced a few of them.

“Let me introduce only the important ones.”

Bael singled out a particularly tall demon among them.

“This is Amon. He often stays close to the Duke and serves as his eyes when going outside.”

Amon, bear-like with dark brown hair and eyes, stood before me.

I suppressed a hiccup and greeted him.

“Nice to meet you.”

Amon nodded silently.

After he stepped back, Bael brought forward another demon.

“And this one you saw yesterday: Shion, who uses magic.”

Shion, still hiding his face under a robe, nodded. Pale purple hair flickered briefly before disappearing.

“And over there is Basago.”

The only one with a sulky face among the demons stepped forward. His red hair and eyes seemed ready to burst into flames.

Bael kindly explained as I hesitated at Basago’s presence.

“His mind is a bit… weird, but he’s the strongest physically, so… um, maybe a knight captain?”

I couldn’t help but smile at Bael’s absurd explanation.

They seemed to do whatever they wanted without official ranks, but I decided not to care. I didn’t need to know the details of how this place ran.

“And, um… there are too many. Three important people should be enough.”

Bael, clearly reluctant to explain further, smiled faintly and asked for my understanding.

The other demons waiting their turn visibly drooped, but I didn’t care.

“Yes. That should be enough.”

When I agreed, the demons pouted, and Bael’s face brightened.

“You really seem to get along well with Lady Liliana.”

Behind him, the demons ground their teeth, but Bael scratched his ear and said,

“Shall we discuss work now?”

There seemed to be no structure anywhere.

“Um… we don’t need to move somewhere else?”
“No, it doesn’t matter much. Nothing we talk about here will get out, and the people of Windsphere are discreet.”