From the Tip of the Tongue of the Lowliest Maid - Chapter 154

This work contains scenes of sadistic coercion and hardcore depictions of BDSM. Reader discretion is advised.

After that, Arzeletta noticeably lost her vigor. She was still careful, and unchangingly quiet and diligent, but if she had even a moment of free time, she would fall into a depression as if being pulled down to the floor.

“Arzeletta.”

Yoseph slowly approached Arzeletta. After a few more signs of his presence, Arzeletta turned her head.

Her faint smile towards Yoseph was the same. But the current Arzeletta was as precarious as a glass on the verge of breaking. It was as if she had cried so much that she had been washed clean by tears and had become transparent.

“How about we, how about we go on an outing?”

Yoseph said hesitantly. Arzeletta smiled and shook her head.

She knew so well that he was trying to cheer her up somehow. But if the two of them were to go out into the streets together… it would probably be difficult for anything pleasant to happen.

Yoseph sat down next to Arzeletta. It was a new chair he had made for Arzeletta. Made from the best wood he could get and sanded relentlessly, the chair was as soft as velvet.

“Things will get better with time.”

Yoseph mumbled again. It was a bluntness as soft as sanded wood. Arzeletta raised her head and looked at him, who was sitting beside her.

“It’s good to get used to things quickly, Arzeletta.”

“……”

“Because that’s how… we can live without getting hurt.”

Within his messy gray hair, Yoseph’s eyes shone darkly. At this moment, he did not look slow-witted at all.

“Flowers wither quickly.”

“……”

“Once the season passes, it will be alright.”

Yoseph placed his hand over Arzeletta’s hand. Arzeletta sadly looked down at his hands, which were familiar with resignation.

“What if, Yoseph.”

At Arzeletta’s call, Yoseph raised his head.

“What if I disappear, then…”

“Ah, Arzeletta.”

“…Would you also be able to get used to it quickly?”

Yoseph’s eyes welled up within his messy hair.

As it was, the sight of Arzeletta in the spring sunlight felt unreal.

Looking at the woman who asked him as if she would melt away at any moment, as if she would fly away somewhere at any moment, Yoseph finally shook his head.

“No.”

“……”

“That is one thing I don’t think I could ever get used to, Arzeletta…”

Yoseph gripped Arzeletta’s hand more tightly.

Looking at her scarred hands covered by his, Arzeletta voiced what was in her heart.

“…I miss him.”

At this moment, only that was sincere. She missed Ragnar.

“There is someone I love.”

Ragnar, slowly collapsing at her words that she had spat out clearly while looking at him, was the last she had seen of him.

Just as Yoseph had said, after the time of excitement passed, the only thing left was her wretched self. Arzeletta knew. That she dared not have the right to worry about him, or to grieve while thinking of him.

Nevertheless, she yearned for him. She wanted to see him. She wanted to believe in Ragnar’s strength, his coolness, his strictness. All his life in this domain, he had been a man as hard as steel.

…So it would be the same this time.

He would return to being a cold-hearted monarch and would quickly forget about a lowly maid he had held for a moment.

He would not discard anything he had achieved and would ultimately remain a great Holy Knight. It had to be.

“……”

Arzeletta buried her face in her hands.

That she would wish for such a thing, she wanted to bite her tongue at her own shamelessness.

‘Save me from this pain. Kill him. Please.’

Theogrim’s screams pierced her heart. Arzeletta panted for breath, recalling his shining image she had seen in the square, in the temple, in the streets. Even amidst the praise and glory everyone sent him, his heart was screaming. It was a painful scream no one else could hear.

It was a painful voice that only Arzeletta, who had offered her prayers to him and was subordinate to him, could hear.

‘What do I do…?’

What should she do?

Until she could escape this life through death, she, who could not disobey Theogrim’s command, what should she do now?

What about her, who could no longer turn away from the Lord’s lonely back?

“Arzeletta…”

Listening to Yoseph’s gentle voice, Arzeletta pressed her aching heart.

It was then.

The sound of footsteps from outside the fence became hurried. The murmuring from the street grew louder.

From beyond the fence, from where no outside news ever came except for the songs intentionally sung to insult Yoseph and Arzeletta, someone’s shout was heard.

It was a voice of urgency she had never heard before.

“T-t-the Lord, has, has coughed up blood—!”