Hiya– It’s Me, The Runaway Female Lead - Chapter 12 - II.

II.

After personally helping him into his armor and handing him his luggage, my problematic young master finally returned to the estate. He’d been gone a full month.

It was a night with a full moon.

“Ayla, you need to go attend to the Young Master.”

Woken by the head maid’s voice, I immediately got up and headed to the young master’s room.

The missions of the Black Bear Knights were always top secret, so a mere servant like me never knew what Claude had been doing when he returned. All I could do was guess the difficulty of the task from his condition.

As always, it looked like this one had involved killing. The young master, soaked as if by a downpour in blood-red liquid that might have belonged to one person or several, who could say, no longer looked remotely human.

It seemed as if he’d just come off a brutal battle right before returning, his body still seemed to give off steam.

Facing him like that, I swallowed hard. At times like this, even I found him difficult to handle.

All I could do was move quickly, focused on one thought: I had to get him clean as soon as possible.

Because I knew that, after washing away at least some of the blood, his mood would improve a little.

“Welcome back, Young Master. Did everything go well?”

Praying that the beast inside him wouldn’t lash out, I greeted him in as calm a voice as I could manage. The stench of blood seemed to pierce through my nose and right into my brain.

Claude stood there motionless, only his eyes flickering toward me. His gaze was so unfocused it was hard to call it seeing at all. Those red eyes, and a face blank as a marble statue, were frightening to behold.

I was suddenly afraid he might turn his blade on me too, but I had no choice but to trust him.

“You’re a complete mess. Just a moment, let me help you out of your armor.”

With practiced skill, I quickly began to remove his armor. Acting like nothing was out of the ordinary, just as always, was the trick. If I screamed or my hands trembled, it would only agitate him further, especially when he was already on edge.

I’d seen other maids nearly get into real trouble before.

Was it the first time Claude had returned from a long-term mission? That time, too, he came back reeking of murder, completely out of his mind.

One of the two maids who came with me to serve him met Claude’s eyes and let out a small, startled scream before she could stop herself. The moment I saw that red gaze flash dangerously, Claude grabbed her by the hair.

The knights had to rush in and restrain him, their swords pointed at her trembling neck. But Claude thrashed so wildly it was as if he meant to cut down even his own allies.

It was utter chaos in the middle of the night.

‘Young Master, it’s me. Ayla!’

He only calmed down, like a bull in a ring, when I cried out, clutching at straws.

Even now, thinking back, it was a moment I was strangely proud of. Maybe that was when my own reputation began to rise in the household.

In any case, I did have a weapon of my own. The intimacy built up over time. The kind of wordless trust that existed, without form, between him and me.

And right now, it was time to use that weapon to soothe the young master.

There was no benefit to dragging this out. The first thing was to strip off his blood-soaked gear and clothes and get him into the bath as quickly as possible.

“Ugh, bloodstains are hard to get out… You really managed to get yourself covered this time.”

Feigning levity as I took his sword and began dismantling his armor, Claude silently watched me.

It looked as if he’d decided to quietly submit himself to me, but in the next instant, a rough hand seized my wrist in a grip of iron.

I’d been about to remove his breastplate, but both my hands were suddenly trapped in his large palm.

Maybe he saw me as a threat. I’d be lying if I said his wild, unfocused eyes weren’t frightening, but I forced myself to keep calm. With everyone else having run away, there was no help to be had, and it wouldn’t do to let him see I was scared.

“Young Master, come to your senses. It’s me, Ayla. The Ayla who’s been slaving away every day because you refuse to keep a squire.”

His bloodshot eyes met my brown ones. The instant I saw the light return to those red eyes, previously clouded with agitation and bloodlust, his grip loosened just a little, though it still felt like he might break my wrist.

“Ayla…?”

In the silent room, only Claude’s low voice echoed. He finally seemed to come to his senses, slowly looking around the room. It’s as if he was only now realizing that the only living people there were just the two of us.