He had been angry then, but he hadn’t pulled out his spider legs like this. But now it was different. He was deeply angry, and he really meant it when he used his spider leg to sting me. What had changed?

“Maybe…”

Is it because I did it to someone else? I almost asked, but stopped myself. I already had a feeling that the answer was yes. And with that I understood. This wasn’t a bet or a negotiation. This was coercion, where I had no choice. Zetak was going to act whether I agreed or not. He must have felt that words were no longer enough and wanted to show me by action what would happen if I did it again.

That didn’t bother me. What bothered me was whether this would lead to another summons to a holy tribunal.

“If you want to do it, do it. But if priests are called for treatment, a tribunal will surely…”

“There will be no tribunal.”

“From this point on, whatever happens has nothing to do with me. This is about Your Highness being injured on your own. Whether you say it was an accident or claim you fell, deal with it as you see fit. Isn’t making excuses one of your specialities?”

“……”

“Answer me.”

I’d thought he’d mellowed compared to his future self. Obviously I was wrong. Seeing the cool calm in his eyes, I gave a small nod.

“Fine. It will only be me who gets hurt.”

At my reply, his spider leg rose. Judging by the angle, it seemed to be aiming for my left arm. Not the right one – perhaps he didn’t want to damage it any further.

I hesitated. Zetak had suggested this because he wanted me to lose the wager. That much was clear. So taking all five blows wasn’t an option. How many blows would I have to take to satisfy him, to make him believe I wouldn’t do it again?

The spider’s leg moved so quickly that it was barely more than a blur as it sped towards me. I clenched my teeth, bracing myself for the pain to come, when an unexpected interruption broke the tense moment. A light tapping sound echoed through the room. The spider’s leg froze, stopping just short of piercing my arm.

“Excuse me, may I come in for a moment?”

A familiar voice called from the doorway. Zetak hesitated, his expression betraying his indecision. Should he open the door and deal with the visitor, or should he continue to pretend that no one was inside and carry on with what he was doing? As he deliberated, another female voice came from outside.

“I’m telling you, he’s probably not in right now because of class. Let’s just go in.”

“If no one’s here, shouldn’t we come back later?”

“You’re so frustrating. If you’ve got something to deliver and no one’s here, just leave it. An unlocked room is tacit permission to enter. If it’s locked, we leave, but if it’s open…”

With a soft click, the doorknob turned.

“See? If it’s unlocked, you just leave the clothes and go. You’re new to this side of the Academy, so you’ll have to get used to things like this.”

The door opened and two maids came in. They were still talking and hadn’t noticed us yet.

“But is it really okay to do this in a royal’s room?”

“They don’t care about such things here. If we fussed over every little thing, when would we ever get any cleaning done? Do you know how many nobles live in these dormitories…”

One of the maids turned her head and her eyes met mine. She froze, as if turned to stone. The other maid, who had been listening intently, followed her gaze and her mouth fell open in shock.

At first they were startled by the fact that someone was in the house. But the way their faces turned pale suggested that they had also seen Zetak’s spider leg ready to pierce my arm.

Zetak remained expressionless, though a faint flicker of unease crossed his eyes. He clearly hadn’t expected anyone to burst in at this moment.

“Ah, w-we… um… th-that’s…”

The two maids stammered and retreated in fright. If they ran out of the room in such a state, who knew what rumours would spread?

“Come in.”

They were so pale they looked almost blue. Though they approached as instructed, they stopped after a certain distance, hesitating in place. All this for a single spider’s leg. Had they seen all eight, they might have fainted on the spot. Zetak stepped back, pulling the spider’s leg back slightly. He didn’t bring it all the way back to his body, probably thinking that showing the retraction would only provoke a scream. Given her reactions, that seemed entirely plausible.

“You’re the maid I saw at the royal palace.”

Zetak said, addressing the maid to his left. Her voice had sounded vaguely familiar earlier, and now it made sense. She must have been someone he had met before. It was only when he looked at her that he remembered where he’d seen her before.

“The upside down maid.”

I said, using a distinctive feature instead of her name, as I didn’t know it. The maid on the left visibly stiffened at the term.

“Weren’t you a maid in the royal palace? Why are you here at the Academy?”

“Th-that’s… I was… demoted…”

The maid couldn’t meet my gaze, her eyes darting around nervously. Demoted. That alone was enough for me to piece together the situation. Most likely, she had been punished for spreading unseemly rumours and assigned to an external post at the Academy.
“My name is Neiri. And, um, we promise we won’t say anything.”

“Yes, that’s right. We haven’t seen anything. The head of the academy just told us to deliver the clothes, so we came in. When we arrived, Your Highness wasn’t in the room. We just left the clothes and left. That’s what we’ll say if anyone asks.”

The two maids, aware of the tension, placed the bundle of clothes on the table. The neatly folded garments were a set of blue training robes, drawing my attention to the bloodstained ones I was still wearing. If the Head of the Academy had sent a new set of clothes, it meant that word of what had happened on the training grounds had already reached him. Karial would probably handle the situation quietly, so I wasn’t too worried about that. What worried me more was the spider leg that Zetak had revealed.

Now that there were witnesses, it was only a matter of time before rumours began to spread. I turned to Zetak, who stood silently, leaving the fate of the maids to me. He had no intention of interfering. After all, he was planning to send them to the demon realm as part of a birthday present. As long as the rumours didn’t get out before then, that would be fine.

“Do you swear not to talk about what you saw here?”

“Of course! We didn’t see anything! We just dropped off the clothes! Right, Neiri?”

“That’s right! There was nobody here when we came in! So, um… can we go now?”

As soon as I nodded, the two maids hurried out of the room and threw the door open. The difference was that one scampered out like a frightened rabbit, while the other lingered, cautiously watching both Zetak and me as she slowly exited. Neiri. When her eyes met mine, she jumped and quickly looked away. But as if steeled, she looked back at me and muttered something softly.

Even as she walked out of the room, she kept her back to Zetak and whispered quietly.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but you should pray. Your opponent is a monster.”

She couldn’t seem to shake the image of what she had seen earlier. Just before closing the door, she whispered again.

“Pray. For… the higher cannot win against the lower.”

With that cryptic statement, the door clicked shut. I could tell she had risked giving me advice out of concern, but what was I to make of such a coded message? The higher can’t win against the lower. Was this some sort of phrase used among maids? A secret saying passed around in their circles?

“Do you have any idea what this means?”

Zetak had undoubtedly overheard the exchange, so I thought it would be quicker to ask him. Turning to him, I paused in surprise. He was pulling back his spider leg. Somehow the sharp intensity that had been in his eyes moments ago seemed to have faded. Was he planning to postpone the wager for another time? His gaze was fixed on the door Neiri had just left.

“She’s a woman who knows how to sap motivation… It’s true, I don’t think I’ve ever won against her,” Zetak muttered to himself and let out a sigh. The cold ruthlessness he had shown earlier seemed to have disappeared completely. I wasn’t sure what had caused the change in his behaviour, but it was probably a good thing. Neiri, was it? Whatever she had said, it seemed to have drained Zetak of his will to continue. I made a mental note to thank her the next time I saw her.

“So what are you going to do to appease me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m going to let the bet slide. But like she said, shouldn’t you pray or apologise? What I’m asking is, how are you going to make up for upsetting me?”

The way he phrased it made it sound like his anger had already subsided. That was my impression, although I didn’t say it out loud. If he was willing to let the matter drop without the wager, there was no need to push my luck.

“I’ll do as you say. I’ll never use my body as a bargaining chip again.”

“That’s a given.”

He got a fresh set of clothes from the cupboard and brought them to me. He seemed to want me to change. He had scolded me, threatened me with his spider leg and used the pretext of a bet to intimidate me. But somehow I felt it was all out of concern for me.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“That’s something for Your Highness to think about…”