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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: My Name is Sei-an (2)
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Pike momentarily wondered if her eyes were deceiving her and quickly rubbed them.
“Go out and get proper treatment. You might end up with a scar.”
“Yes?”
“Tell someone else to clean this up and just leave.”
“Huh?”
Pike, with a blank expression, couldn't quite process Sei-an's continued words.
Did he mean he was just going to let her mistake slide?
“…? Is there something you want to say?”
“Oh, no!”
Seeing Sei-an looking at her with a puzzled expression, Pike quickly fled the scene as if escaping.
“W-what happened?”
Outside, Pike couldn't hide her bewilderment. He was so different from the Sei-an she had heard about.
“They said he lost his memories…”
She had heard rumors that he lost his memories in an accident, but could someone's demeanor change so drastically? Pike stared blankly for a long time at the handkerchief Sei-an had tied around her injured leg.
“Just who was this guy, anyway?”
Meanwhile, after Pike left, Sei-an, left alone in the room, subtly furrowed his brow, and for the first time, began to wonder about the person named Sei-an.
“Crying out for her life…”
Recalling Pike's reaction—crying out for her life just for breaking a single food plate—Kai genuinely wondered what kind of person Sei-an had been.
***
As time passed, Sei-an's body began to return to normal.
The elderly Healer constantly uttered words of admiration at his recovery.
It was astonishing enough that he had survived, but his body recovering so quickly was also a miracle, and the Healer couldn't hide his surprise.
‘Did Shainos do something?’
Sei-an himself had the same question.
Perhaps his own Soul, as a Grim Reaper, was affecting Sei-an's body.
“Well, at least it’s good to be able to walk without crutches.”
Whatever the reason, Sei-an felt light-hearted at the fact that he no longer had to use those bothersome crutches, and he headed outside.
His legs, which had been uncomfortable for a long time, still felt a little awkward, but he figured he would get used to them soon. He began to walk around his residence.
He thought it was important to remember the layout of the place, as it would be his living space from now on.
Moreover, due to a slightly peculiar constitution he'd had since long ago, learning his way around was crucial.
‘Hmm?’
As Sei-an walked down the corridor after leaving his room, he saw many people busily moving around, cleaning the area as if a major cleaning was underway.
“Pike! Bring water here.”
“Yes! Coming!”
Then, a familiar figure caught his eye. He spotted Pike, his exclusive maid, who always brought food to his room.
Pike, who had been wiping a window sill, picked up a heavy water bucket nearby and hurried towards the call of the others.
“Oh… oh!”
Pike, grunting and hurrying precariously, eventually slipped on the water spilling from the bucket and fell to the floor.
Splash!
“Oh… dear…”
The bucket also overturned, instantly turning the corridor into a puddle.
“Huh?”
Pike, who was about to get up, complaining of pain from her scraped knee, suddenly felt that the atmosphere around her was strange.
Everyone who had been cleaning with her was staring at one spot, their expressions frozen as if they had seen something they shouldn't have.
Pike, too, turned her head with a puzzled look towards where everyone's gaze was fixed.
“...!”
And her own expression froze.
“Young… Young Master Sei-an…”
Sei-an was standing not far from her.
And the water from the bucket she had spilled was soaking his feet.
Pike couldn't even think of getting up, just staring at him with wide, startled eyes, unable to say a word.
“...”
Sei-an silently watched Pike for a moment, then slowly walked towards her.
The others thought Pike was doomed, and some even turned their heads away, squeezing their eyes shut.
Pike felt the same way. She had splashed water on Sei-an's clothes, of all people, and her head swam.
“You seem to fall often.”
“...?”
But Pike's expectation that a beating would commence immediately was once again proven wrong.
Sei-an, sighing softly, simply helped Pike, who was still sprawled on the floor and staring blankly at him, back to her feet without a word.
“...”
Then, he subtly frowned at her disheveled clothes from the fall, and with practiced hands, he quickly straightened Pike's clothing.
Pike was neat again, and Sei-an made a satisfied expression, then slowly left the spot as if he had no further business there.
“W-what was that?”
Watching Sei-an disappear, Pike couldn't shake her dazed expression, as if her soul had left her body.
And it was the same for everyone else.
“H-how did that happen?”
“Is that really Young Master Sei-an?”
With Sei-an's demeanor completely different from the one they had known, people stood like statues for a long time, staring blankly after him as he disappeared.
***
“Is your name Pike?”
“Yes? Yes, yes! Young Master.”
The next morning, Sei-an initiated conversation with Pike, who had arrived at his room with food as usual.
Pike flustered and quickly bowed her head, but she wasn't trembling excessively like before.
Of course, she still appeared tense with every word Sei-an uttered.
“I have a few questions. Would you mind answering them?”
“O-of course. Ask me anything.”
Pike was flustered again by Sei-an’s overly polite tone, and she bowed her head even deeper than before.
“Was I, perhaps…”
“...?”
“A complete scoundrel?”
“…What?”
Pike momentarily didn't understand what Sei-an meant, as he asked the question with a very serious expression.
“I’m asking if I was a rotten person.”
“Yes, a rotten person… Huh? *Gasp!* *Cough, cough!*”
As his words continued, she unconsciously blurted out an answer, then finally grasped his meaning and spent a moment coughing dryly.
“...”
Even as he watched Pike fluster, unsure what to do, Sei-an's expression remained calm.
This was because, having observed people's reactions so far, he had somewhat anticipated Pike's reaction to his question.
The way people looked at him—not with reverence for a superior they served, but with eyes filled with the fear of possibly dying—left Sei-an with no other conclusion.
“W-well… that is…”
“I understand.”
“Yes?”
“It seems I've already received the answer to my question.”
“...!”
Seeing Pike flustered and unable to answer his question properly, Sei-an moved on to the next.
The very fact that she couldn't readily answer 'No!' was as good as an answer itself.
Most would have offered pleasantries, even if they were lies, saying he wasn't, but the fact that she couldn't give such an answer despite her fear was enough to understand what kind of person Sei-an had been all this time.
“That is…”
And Sei-an's thoughts were precisely accurate.
The little devil living in Count Shurayton's household.
People called Sei-an the Count's little demon. From a young age, Sei-an never forgave even the smallest mistake.
The most infamous incident was when he burned out a maid's eye with fire, simply because she dared to laugh while looking at him. That was when he was only eleven years old.
Sei-an, the second son of Count Shurayton's family, whose appearance was as beautiful as an angel's, but whose actions and disposition were like a demon's.
Because of this, people couldn't even properly lift their faces in front of him. If they so much as risked making eye contact, they would tightly shut their eyes.
‘Ugh…’
Recalling these facts, Pike felt a surge of fear towards Sei-an once more.
She was only fifteen years old. She had only been in Count Shurayton's household for a year.
The reason she became Sei-an's exclusive maid was that everyone else refused to work by his side.
So many maids who had worked as Sei-an's exclusive maid had ended up crippled or beaten to the brink of death before being dismissed, so no one but the newcomer, Pike, was willing to take the position.
Knowing this fact from the other maids, Pike bowed her head even lower and began to sniffle inwardly.
“Pike.”
“...!”
Then, at Sei-an's soft call of her name, she flinched and quickly looked up at him.
Of course, she immediately realized her mistake and quickly lowered her head again.
But Pike, who was lowering her head, soon had to raise it again.
Sei-an had gently lifted her chin, making her look up, though she hadn't noticed him approaching.
“I believe conversations between people involve looking each other in the eye. Am I mistaken?”
“Yes… Yes?”
“I don't know about others, but when you talk to me, please look me straight in the eye.”
“...!”
“It feels as if I'm speaking to myself.”
Sei-an was well aware that it was against etiquette for a maid to converse with a noble while maintaining eye contact.
However, conversing with someone who kept their head bowed felt like talking to a wall by himself, and Sei-an didn't like it.
“...!”
Pike's face began to flush, feeling hot, at Sei-an's words.
Seeing Sei-an's hand gently cupping her face and his proximity, close enough for her to hear his breathing, her cheeks spontaneously reddened.
“And…”
“Yes?”
Flick! Tap… tap!
“...?”
But that was only for a moment. As if he didn't even notice her flushed face, Sei-an quickly touched various spots on her clothes, removing something or tidying them.
“Hair…”
“Huh?”
“Loose threads.”
“...?”
“Dust…”
“...!”
Then, at the words he quietly mumbled, as if to himself, she could guess that he was tidying up places on her clothes that were dirty or had things stuck to them.
“As you already know, I lost my memories in an accident.”
“...”
Pike was momentarily dazed as Sei-an returned to his spot as if nothing had happened, speaking to her with his usual impassive expression.
“So, I have a few questions… Could you tell me about my family relations?”
“Yes? F-family relations?”
“Yes.”
“Well…”
However, at Sei-an's next question, Pike quickly shook off her dazed expression and prepared to answer.
