房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

The dark-haired girl thought to herself.

|Dear god! She\'s furious!|

Zoemi sneaked a glance at his master and hurriedly looked back down.

Miriette\'s face was completely red and her jaw was moving slightly, so it was obvious to Zoemi that his master was grinding her teeth in anger.

|I\'m so stupid! I selfishly decided that she looks good and because of that, she showed her fiancé the appearance that she thought of as disgraceful! What was I thinking!? I got too confident and haven\'t considered her feelings! I\'m just an attendant and nothing more for her|

The black-haired attendant cursed his mishap.

"..."

Miriette took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

It was not the time to delude herself, she knew that the gap between the master and the servant couldn\'t be breached so easily.

If she just pounced on her attendant – as she often felt the urge to do - it could have the exact opposite effect!

The dark-haired girl was well aware of her bad personality.

Since she was extremely small even her own maids didn\'t like her because of her selfish behavior and tantrums.

As a child, she thought that was normal to be disliked and never put any thought into it.

But - only after one day when she ordered the boy who saved her from the kidnappers to ride together with her in the carriage, and the boy was shaking from fear because of her just looking at him and then even cried in relief when he could get out of the carriage and away from her, did she decided that she needed to change.

|I don\'t want him to be afraid of me! The others... Well, I don\'t really care...|

Miriette thought to herself and stopped thinking about the past since there were more important things to do...

For example, she wanted to proceed with the plan that she came up with right after finishing lunch.

"What done is done, let\'s return to my room and you will do something about this awful hair! We\'re not leaving until I\'ll be satisfied with the result!"

Putting her rather petty plan into action, the dark-haired girl declared in an arrogant voice - even though she felt bad that she said that the hairstyle that Zoemi called lovely was awful.

"As you wish my lady! Please forgive this foolish servant!"

Zoemi pressed his forehead to the floor again.

"Enough of this already! Let\'s just go!"

"A you wish!"

Miriette sounded grumpy so the black-haired attendant didn\'t dare to delay any longer.

---

When they walked through the corridor lady Espine looked angered and her attendant looked as apologetic as the ugly scars on his face allowed him to.

Zoemi was worried that his master would start scolding him as soon as they entered the room but instead, she just toddled towards the chair by the desk and sat down.

"We are not going anywhere until I\'m satisfied!"

She declared without turning around but her ears were still red so Zoemi understood that she was still very much angry at him.

|But that hairstyle really makes her look so beautiful, if she wasn\'t my master I would have fallen for her already...|

He thought and picked up the hairbrush with a heavy heart.

As always, the act of brushing Miriette\'s hair was calming - not relaxing - since it was always hard work with her reality-bending mane, but nonetheless, something about touching her would put the scarred boy\'s heart at ease.

From time to time Miriette would check her looks in the mirror but no matter how much time has passed, she wouldn\'t be satisfied.

"Not good enough, continue."

She would say and put the mirror back on the desk.

Of course, this was a part of Miriette\'s ploy - but not just that - she also was very fond of the contact with Zoemi.

...most likely because, before she would find a way to be together with him, it was the closest that they were allowed to be.

The time was slowly passing in a serene atmosphere.

Zoemi stopped worrying and Miriette was enjoying herself.

"...?"

Then out of the habit, Zoemi pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time.

"!!!"

And his eyes widened from shock.

"My lady! The time!"

He exclaimed and put down the hairbrush.

"Wh-what? What do you mean?"

Miriette didn\'t ask in a strained voice and didn\'t look him in the eyes.

"It\'s almost time for the prince Horeo\'s examination! We\'re going to be late! We must go now!"

He grabbed the hand of his master and helped her stand up.

Without looking back he pulled her with him and rushed towards the examination grounds.

"Tsk...!"

The black-haired boy was so focused on leading his master that he didn\'t hear the clicking sound she made with her tongue.

|It didn\'t work...!|

Miriette thought bitterly.

The first prince Horeo was standing around with his hands crossed and was tapping his fingers on his biceps.

It was almost the time but the person he was waiting for wasn\'t anywhere in sight, and he even checked the sky if Miriette decided to fly there together with Zoemi.

|She would not make up something just to excuse herself from not coming, would she...? Even she isn\'t so petty... right...?|

He squinted his eyes in suspicion – unknowingly hitting the bullseye with his prediction.

"And the final student. The first prince Horeo Marets Bellcephora, if you please."

An elderly light attribute magician with a long beard called him, and Horeo had no other choice than to walk towards him.

As a prince, he got to keep up the appearances, he can\'t be just openly defying the teachers and all. No matter what he wanted, he wasn\'t the king after all.

Not yet – at least.