At my mention of work, they raised their faces, full of wariness.

“Lionel, and Sion, you two will be my bodyguards, but you’ll also need to manage the mansion.”

“Manage the mansion?”

“You knew my name?”

Lionel and Sion asked in turn.

“Speaking of which, Lionel, do you know how to landscape a garden? And Sion, your name was on the slave document.”

“……”

“I’ll do my best with the garden.”

“The four of you can clean together, and don’t give Soho too much work. He’s just a child.”

“Yes.”

“Aria, it was said you’re good at cooking, so you’ll be in charge of that.”

Perfect.

‘Oh right, I should tell them this.’

“And let me be clear, listen well. Especially you, Lionel and Sion. You’re not here as my s*x slaves. Don’t think strange thoughts and work hard.”

“Yes, Master.”

“…Yes.”

After I finished speaking, Lionel smiled comfortably with relief. Soho also looked more relaxed, fidgeting with his fingers. Sion and Aria maintained their expressionless faces.

“I’ll use the master bedroom on the second floor. The room next to mine will be for my maid, so leave that one, and you can choose from the rest of the rooms. They’re all empty anyway, so don’t use the attic and take a room each.”

“Yes.”

“Now, rest comfortably.”

I made sure to tell them not to crawl into the attic on their own, and I also took a moment to enjoy some sweet rest.

As soon as I opened the door, Demian and Irena returned and put away the necessities. Demian skillfully instructed them on how to manage the mansion for a month.

Then, after pondering for a while, he suggested to Irena.

“It would be better if Irena stayed here to manage the slaves.”

“Huh? Irena?”

I tilted my head, but Irena nodded in agreement.

“I’m fine with it. I was worried that if they were left alone, they might do a sloppy job, and various problems could arise.”

“After all, the young lady lacks awareness.”

“That’s right. I’ll stay and make it a comfortable place for you to live in as soon as you arrive!”

“But you guys, never mind.”

I was quite irritated by the previous comment about awareness, but I decided not to scold them. There was no reason to object if they were making things comfortable for me. I just gave Irena some advice.

“Irena, don’t become too much like Demian.”

“Pardon?”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Well, don’t you know yourself better?”

I shook my head at his complete lack of self-reflection and walked towards the door.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming? Sion, you come too.”

“Why are you taking me along?”

Sion asked as he obediently followed. I could almost hear his inner voice saying, ‘Even though you’re not going to use me as a s*x slave.’ I could feel even my ears perking up.

So I didn’t want to tell him everything at once.

“Well, it’s a secret.”

“……”

“……”

I enjoyed their brief silence of disbelief.

“I’ll tell you something special. Your leg tendons were cut, weren’t they? Shouldn’t we treat that?”

“…Pardon?”

“How can you be my bodyguard when you can barely stand? I brought you along because I heard you were a knight.”

Perhaps due to the cut tendons, he didn’t show much difficulty standing or walking, but he seemed to hesitate when moving quickly or climbing slopes.

“Is that true?”

“Well, since you were a knight, you should be good at guarding.”

Sion had a half-believing, half-doubting expression.

“When you don’t understand what’s going on, just follow along. It’s not like you have a choice anyway, right?”

“…Yes.”

Having shaken off my complicated feelings, I spoke lightly, and Sion followed behind me with his eyes lowered.

“Sion, you’re more docile than I expected.”

Despite my words, he remained silent with his guard up. I pondered for a moment about how to handle him, then shrugged and opened the door.

“Well then, Irena, I’m counting on you for the next month.”

“Yes, young lady. Don’t worry!”

Leaving her greeting behind, I set off for the Count’s mansion with Demian, Sion, and the two knights.

***

And unfortunately, as soon as we entered the lobby, we ran into Lindel, who had a stiff expression.

I’m tired today, can’t he just disappear?

“You, where have you been?”

Despite my mental cry, he was oblivious as usual today.

“I went to buy a mansion. Didn’t the Count tell you?”

I answered him while signaling to the knights and Demian to go ahead. Reading the atmosphere, they bowed to us and went inside, leaving me, Lindel, and Sion in the lobby.

“Where did you buy it?”

“Why?”

“I need to know if you’re doing anything to disgrace the Epine Count family in that area.”

What is he saying?

“The north, the north. I’m tired and need to go in and rest.”

“Who is that man? Don’t tell me.”

“Mind your own business, brother.”

I tried to quickly escape to the stairs, but Sion was caught. It was because of his slow steps.

Lindel grabbed Sion’s slave collar and said, looking at him,

“Judging by his appearance, he seems to be a slave. But you…! Did you buy a s*x slave?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Ha, how unsatisfying. How can you go out while disgracing the family like this? I must tell Father and Brother immediately.”

Lindel seemed to have found something to use against me and kept talking without listening to me.

He looked quite excited.

I waited for him to finish speaking, not hiding my tired expression.

“What? You’re not even going to make excuses? As expected, you’re a shameless girl.”

“Haah-.”

After taking a deep breath, I also fired back without giving him a chance to speak.

“He’s a bodyguard. I heard he was a former knight. Why have you been going on about s*x slaves since earlier? Really, I don’t want to talk to a pervert who only has lewd thoughts in their head! I don’t even want to associate with you! I’m going upstairs!”

“What? Who!”

“Sion. Let’s go.”

And I dragged Sion, who was lost in this childish conversation, back to my room.

“Phew, that was close.”

“……”

“This is why I’m going to the north.”

I sat on the sofa and pulled the cord to call a maid.

“Sit down. It must have been hard rushing up here earlier, right? I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing.”

He answered briefly, but after seeing the messy state of my family, he seemed to have lowered his guard a bit, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Knock knock-

“Young lady, did you call?”

“Yes, come in. Sion, go with the maid.”

I handed Sion over to the maid.

“Show him to a room. Close to mine. And bring his meals to the room.”

“Yes, I understand. Please follow me.”

The maid seemed flustered by the sudden presence of a robust man in my room, but soon understood after seeing his collar and left. Sion followed the maid out, turning back once to give a slight bow.