To My Arrogant Master - Chapter 8

If there is such a thing as the beginning of memory, for her, it would be the bleak forest like a pitch-black abyss without a single moonlight.

Darkness filled everywhere. Without any sense of direction, she stepped barefoot on the ground, pushing through the black forest. Her whole body ached and hurt, but only the thought of having to survive filled her mind.

‘I must survive. To live.’

The continuing thought stopped abruptly. It was because the reason why she had to live didn’t come to mind.

Nevertheless, she walked again and again.

After wandering around in the dark forest for a long time, following the light she barely found, she saw people busy setting up dark green tents in a wide clearing. Men wearing the same clothes were moving in perfect unison.

‘People.’

Although she didn’t know who they were, she, who had only seen dead trees for days, approached as if entranced.

Rustle.

The moment she took a step, the sound of grass being stepped on was heard. A man who was sitting on a cart piled with hay for the war horses and fiddling with his sword turned his head, and their eyes met.

‘Aah! Who’s there!’

Suddenly mistaking the figure that appeared staggering from the dark forest for an enemy, the soldier screamed and fell on his bottom with a loud thud. At the same time, the cart he had been sitting on made a cracking sound.

‘What! What’s going on!’

At the commotion, even the other soldiers nearby, thinking it was an enemy attack, were startled and simultaneously drew their swords from their scabbards.

However, what they faced was neither an enemy with sharp swords nor the terrifying monsters that occasionally appeared. It was a small girl whose height didn’t even reach their chests.

Confused eyes darted between the soldier who had fallen to the ground in fear and the girl. One of the soldiers who had regained his senses relatively quickly shouted.

‘Stop!’

The girl, already frightened by the chilling sound of swords being drawn, had long been frozen in place. Her body trembled at the sound that seemed somehow familiar.

With her body completely stiff, the girl looked back at the men who were watching her with evident tension in their eyes.

They, who had been watching her suspiciously wondering if she might be a spy sent by the enemy, soon frowned upon noticing her dress torn deep to her collarbone and her disheveled hair.

‘What’s this little kid doing here? Is there a civilian house nearby?’

‘Have some sense. Even if there were civilian houses, they would have evacuated long ago. If anything like that had remained, we would have found it already.’

‘What kind of trick is this? Damn those Verseum bastards. Are they now even using children?’

This was the very front line where they would immediately encounter enemies just by crossing the forest, and it was absolutely not a place for civilians, especially an unripe girl.

The soldiers started to murmur about the girl who suddenly appeared. In the end, it was other knights in different uniforms who stopped the commotion.

The girl flinched and took a step back when she faced a man among them who was wearing distinctively shiny large armor.

‘What’s all this commotion about!’

‘Um, Commander Pahelo. There’s a girl here.’

The girl, who had been keeping her mouth shut until then, met the gaze of the man who seemed to be sizing her up.

Although that gaze was indescribably cold, it was natural that he felt like a much higher person than the rough men she had just seen.

‘Where did you come from?’

As there was no reason to treat her kindly just because she was a child, Pahelo asked without relaxing his stern expression.

The girl shook her head. Since she couldn’t remember anything, it would be fair to say she knew nothing.

After asking her various additional questions, Pahelo, looking at her attire, gave orders to his aide with a face that seemed to have some understanding.

‘Take her to the base for now.’

The western front’s base was located at Filheim Stone Castle, half a day’s journey from Filheim Forest, and they were in a state of having entered deep into the forest for reconnaissance.

So the girl spent one night at the clearing where temporary tents were set up and was moved to the base the next day. She was supposed to be sent to the civilian area after staying there for a few days.

But that night, something happened.

Ding dong ding!

The bell rang dizzyingly, and the sentinel at the highest tower of the old castle, built by laying soil between stones, shouted loudly.

‘Enemy!’

It was an enemy surprise attack.

The enemies had climbed over the forest to Filheim Castle where the base was located.

A violent roar shook the ground, and red flames flew from the sky. The girl trembled all through the dawn as the surroundings burst into flames and soldiers fell one after another from arrows flying from here and there.

She was scared. The men’s shouts and the sharp noise of metal clashing. The time she spent enduring, covering her head, thinking she might die like this, was terribly long.

When she finally opened her eyes, all the commotion had ended.

The girl moved her body groggily. Medics were running around busily, and wounded soldiers were rolling on the ground, bleeding profusely.

When she came to her senses again, the girl was standing beside a wounded militia as if entranced.

Pahelo, who was going around leading the knights to assess the situation, noticed the girl wrapping bandages around a soldier’s arm without anyone telling her to do so.

‘What’s the matter, Commander Pahelo?’

‘Did that girl say she had no memories?’

‘Yes. The medic who examined her said she doesn’t remember why she was in the forest, not even her name.’

‘Hah… She doesn’t even look startled.’

He sighed deeply.

It had been a truly hellish dawn. The proof was the heavy casualties on their side. It was fortunate that the number of enemies was small, perhaps they only intended to cause confusion in the first place, otherwise, the unit might have been completely annihilated.

‘The medic who diagnosed her with amnesia said she didn’t respond at all.’

He changed his mind. The guide who was supposed to take the girl to a civilian house had lost his life in the commotion, and as they were short-handed, they decided to take charge of the girl’s custody for the time being.

That’s how Flora came to stay at the western front’s base. At that time, no one could have predicted that she would become the most outstanding talent later on.

“Filheim Forest…”

Flora fixed her gaze on the landscape painting on the ceiling as if reminiscing about that day.

Eight years had passed, but Flora often recalled the time when she first set foot in the base. Strangely, since coming here, the frequency of these recollections had increased.

Life at the ducal residence was very comfortable, but she still couldn’t fall asleep easily.

The absence of endless screams and the sound of bombardment filled with acrid smoke made this moment so quiet that it was rather unsettling.

Sleep wouldn’t come.

* * *

The work of maids was very monotonous. Basically, their job was to clean the mansion and help ensure that the master’s daily life went smoothly.

The work assigned today was also ordinary, but not in Flora’s case. Flora was busy wiping the floor of the stairs with a dry cloth.

Although she was strong, she had no knack for this kind of work. She held a dry towel in her hand and pushed it back and forth like the other maids did, but somehow the floor was getting rougher rather than smoother.

Not knowing that this was because she was using too much force, it was natural for Flora to have nothing to say in response to the head maid’s scolding when she appeared later.

As soon as Mrs Melady, who had poured out a round of scolding, disappeared, other maids flocked around as usual.

“You said you worked as a maid before, so how come you can’t even do simple mopping properly?”

Flora had known for a few days that the way other maids looked at her had changed a bit. Among them, Celine was the most prominent.

Although it was clearly a sarcastic remark to anyone who saw it, to Flora, who had been with people who used much harsher language, it just sounded like a greeting.

“……”

“Oh, look at her. Now she doesn’t even answer when asked a question.”

Faced with their blatant provocation, Flora pondered for a moment what to say. It was a lie that she had worked as a maid, but it was true that she couldn’t mop properly.

“That’s right.”

Flora gave a brief answer and lowered her head again to continue mopping. Suddenly, one of the shoe-clad feet firmly stepped on the cloth she was holding.

Flora had no choice but to raise her eyes to look at them. Mary was smiling cutely and lovingly, while Celine was smiling in a truly strange way.

“You need to scrub harder. Don’t you know how important it is to clean the stairs?”

“Would you show me how it’s done then?”

“What?”

“If you show me directly, I think I might understand.”

It’s difficult to understand just by hearing words. Flora had learned swordsmanship by watching Ian’s demonstrations.

Just as it was much quicker to grasp when watching the opponent swing their sword, Flora meant it as an effort to learn in her own way.

On the other hand, from their perspective, it sounded like she was saying, ‘If you’re going to nag so much, why don’t you try it yourself?’ Celine’s face suddenly crumpled.

“Are you telling us to do something like mopping?”

“Didn’t you just say that mopping is important?”

“……”

It was impossible to grasp what they meant. Flora found it hard to understand how they could emphasize how important this work was just a moment ago, and now they were changing their words as if it was trivial.

This too was an innocent question, but the maid who said it turned red with humiliation.

“Hah… They say you were used to warm beds, but you’re really showing your true colors now.”

“I haven’t been assigned such work yet. Is that what you three do?”

Flora tilted her head, looking puzzled.

Flora’s tone, which might have sounded blunt, also irritated Celine. Moreover, for someone who had just been rolling in bed to dare ask if they were in the same situation. It greatly offended her pride.

Gritting her teeth, Celine pointed her index finger towards the ceiling.

“You! Stop this and go clean the attic window on the top floor of the central staircase.”

“But the head maid ordered me to…”

“Just do what you’re told. Why are you talking so much? The head maid directly instructed me.”

It was a lie, but she didn’t care even if Mrs Melady found out later. She could just flatter her a bit and hand over a piece of jewelry.

“Make sure to clean thoroughly, not just the lower parts but also the upper parts that are hard to reach, until not a speck of dust is visible. You know what will happen if you just pretend to clean the surface, right? This time, the head maid won’t let it slide.”

“Then…”

Flora recalled that the glass window at the very top center of this main building was a full-length window taller than a person.

Before she could ask how to clean that, Celine quickly said,

“It’s simple. Since you’re not tall enough, climb up to the roof and clean it diligently.”