Hiya– It’s Me, The Runaway Female Lead - Chapter 5

I no longer even had the strength to argue, so I just nodded weakly. And perhaps that lukewarm reaction left him feeling slighted, because Claude glared even more fiercely.

“Look at you now. You’ve had a whole week off and you’re still staggering around.”

At some point, his barbs began to take on the tone of a complaint.

Hold on a second. That’s not fair.

Just because we hadn’t done this in his absence didn’t mean I’d had any proper rest. Not even for a single day. I mean, a noble household’s maid can’t exactly take a week off just because a war broke out.

“You never greet me properly. Just sprawl out on the bed every time.”

Given the nature of his nightly activities, Claude often returned well past midnight. And at that hour, most normal people were doing something called ‘sleeping’.

“Your stamina is pathetic.”

Sorry, but my stamina is perfectly normal. It’s not my fault yours is monstrous.

“And you’ve got no meat on your bones. What kind of fun is that to f**k?”

Ah. There it is.

By then, I’d stopped replying even in my head and had shifted to strategizing.

Hmm. It felt like now was the right time.

Before this foul-mouthed young master ran completely wild, it was time to firmly put a stop to it.

I mean, I’d put up with this much. Surely I was allowed one counterattack, right? Huh? This is mutual fault, isn’t it?

“I’m done.”

With those two cold words, spat out bluntly, Claude shut his mouth like nothing had ever come out of it.

At the same time, his increasingly brazen hips ground to a halt.

Our ill-mannered young master, so easily spooked at just this much.

I watched, annoyed, as his blood-tinged crimson eyes trembled violently.

Truth be told, this retaliation wasn’t entirely unplanned.

“Get off. You’re heavy.”

I pushed him away with a deliberately icy tone that didn’t match how I really felt. As he moved in response to my shove, something in my heart ached at the weight of his thick body. But I had to endure. This was a kind of survival game for me now.

Sure, Claude had spewed a bunch of nasty things, but honestly, I wasn’t all that angry. I simply had a reason to provoke him right now.

I don’t know if it counts as a real talent, but I had one particular skill: the ability to read and respond to the moods of the man in front of me—our wild yet fragile young master.

From menial errands to drawing his bath, I’d served him for nearly ten years. Even someone without a shred of intuition would’ve picked up on some cues by now. But beyond that, I was especially good at reading Claude.

For example, I understood very well that his verbal abuse just now was nothing more than a projection of his own anxiety.

So it didn’t bother me that much to take the brunt of it.

Even though it was absurd and something that could never possibly happen, Claude was always anxious that I might fall for someone else while he was away.

That possessive man’s jealousy or sense of territorial threat was easy enough to soothe. Normally, I’d curl into his arms and coo, “You’re the only one for me, Young Master,” and that would be that. My body might suffer a little for it, but the situation would resolve quickly.

And if I added a spoonful of sugar during s*x—something like “I’ve only been waiting for you, Young Master”—Claude would immediately calm down, like nothing had happened at all.

So why didn’t I just do that now, even though I knew all of this?

Because this time, I needed things to go this way.

“Move. I said I’m done.”

Claude went silent, like a dog with its leash yanked tight. And the one holding that leash was, of course, me.

“…I’m sorry.”

He bared his soft underbelly at once, tossing away his pride and dignity entirely, and my heart squeezed a little. But I couldn’t forgive him yet.

“Too late. I said I’m done.”

This game required delicate balance and precise control.

I knew exactly how to push him right up to the edge—just before he snapped.

If I tightened the leash too far and pushed him beyond that line, we’d both be screwed. Timing was everything: knowing when to pull and when to let go.

I was just a maid who wanted to survive. And in order to survive, I had to fulfill the wishes of someone far above Claude.

To explain all of that, we’d have to go far, far back into the past.

Back to the very moment I first arrived at this estate.

Back when I was just an eleven-year-old girl, still unaware of how terrifying the world could be.