CHAPTER 05…………………………………………
Xenia jolted awake in alarm, then let out a sigh of relief once she confirmed that barely an hour had passed. She hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep.
“My body’s stiff…”
Despite not having slept in a chair for two days in a row, her body felt rigid and creaky. She thumped her aching shoulder and rubbed her gritty eyes.
“I never imagined I’d end up ruining my day off like this…”
After seeing the hero’s lifeless eyes, she’d been too anxious to sleep properly. Anyone with eyes like that was bound to do something reckless. He hadn’t even tossed or turned in his sleep, so she’d checked several times just to be sure he was actually alive.
His wounds had healed completely, yet the hero still hadn’t regained consciousness.
I should probably go out soon.
So far, no one had come looking for her, but since the hero arrived she’d stayed holed up in her room for two days straight. There was no way the head chef—who usually kept a close eye on her—wouldn’t notice.
“Leaving him alone like this is risky… Who knows what he’d do if he woke up by himself.”
Her heart felt unsettled.
Xenia lightly patted her cheeks and pulled the blanket up to cover him to the top of his head. He could still breathe, right?
She couldn’t keep staring at the hero’s face while drowning in gloom.
After a moment’s hesitation, Xenia left the bathroom door slightly ajar and quickly washed up. Standing under the hot water made her feel a little more human.
As she roughly dried her short, limp bob and glanced at the mirror, a face worn down by exhaustion stared back at her.
Chapped lips, dark circles as deep as her violet eyes, and eyes so softened they’d lost their usual sharpness. Just two days of nursing him, and her face was already a mess.
Shaking her head, Xenia ruffled her hair and stepped out of the bathroom.
At least the shower went fine.
One arm was sticking out from under the covers, but the hero was still buried in the blanket. No visitors had come, and the door was still intact—
BANG!
Before she could finish thinking, the door flew open with a loud crash. A kitchen servant stuck their head through the doorway and shouted,
“Xenia! Are you still asleep? The head chef’s asking why you haven’t come for—”
The servant’s gaze landed on the bed, where something very obviously much larger than Xenia was lying. Slowly, they turned their head and scanned Xenia up and down, mouth falling open.
“Uh…”
Xenia scrambled for what to say. Since only an arm was visible, maybe she could make up a decent excuse and get through this more easily than expected.
“Well, um, so—”
She took a step toward the servant, who looked even more flustered than she did. That was when the servant clapped both hands over their mouth and exclaimed,
“Xenia! You finally got yourself a man?!”
“What?”
She echoed the words in disbelief, but the servant just grinned brightly and nodded over and over.
“Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was about time.”
“What are you even—”
“I always wondered why you never dated! You know how many people liked you?”
She had no idea what they were talking about. As she raised an eyebrow in disbelief, the servant chuckled.
“I’m curious who he is, but you’ll tell me later, right?”
After sneaking another glance at the bed, the servant closed the door they’d flung open earlier and said,
“I’ll explain things to the head chef for you. Still, you should drop by tomorrow and show him you’re doing fine.”
As Xenia’s eyes snagged on the half-destroyed doorknob, the servant added with a lewd grin just before fully closing the door,
“Man, those arms are something else!”
Laughing about how strong he must be and wishing her a good night, the servant vanished down the hall.
In the sudden silence, Xenia stared at the closed door.
Is this… a good thing?
It was a ridiculous misunderstanding, but the servant had sorted things out on their own and even offered to smooth things over with the head chef.
Is it really a good thing?
She didn’t know how long she stood there staring before she finally noticed water dripping down, soaking her shoulders. Only then did she realize her hair was still wet.
Shivering, she awkwardly rubbed her hair with the towel in her hands.
“…I should fix the doorknob first.”
Before another demon barged in, she had to deal with the door. Fortunately, Xenia was a capable servant who could replace a doorknob on her own.
Let’s look on the bright side.
The misunderstanding, and the fact that she could fix the door herself—everything.
Steeling herself, Xenia turned around and clamped her mouth shut at the sight of brilliant blond hair right in front of her.
So that was why an arm had been sticking out.
She met the hero’s blue eyes, now peeking out from beneath the lowered blanket, and thought,
Seriously, what is going on?
The hero was awake.
The way he just stared at her blankly was incredibly uncomfortable. She didn’t know what that gaze meant, but she wanted to explain herself.
Still, going into a long explanation about what had just happened felt ridiculous. So she spoke as casually as she could.
“You’re awake. Are you feeling any pain?”
Afraid he might bolt before she finished explaining, Xenia positioned herself in front of the broken door. If he really wanted to leave, something like that wouldn’t stop him—but she hurried on anyway.
“You might not know this, but this is the Demon Realm. And I’m human.”
Meeting his blue eyes head-on, Xenia felt her mouth go dry as she introduced herself.
“My name is Xenia. I work as a maid in the Demon King’s castle.”
She curved her lips into what she hoped was a friendly smile, but the hero remained silent. To be honest, she hadn’t expected an answer in the first place.
Of course he wouldn’t respond.
She’d been too flustered by everything to notice right away, but his eyes were still dull and unfocused.
Still, the fact that his gaze followed her movements meant things weren’t completely hopeless.
Swallowing the sigh that threatened to escape, Xenia decided to show proof of her harmless intentions.
She carefully stepped closer, looked straight at him, and raised both hands. Slowly—so he wouldn’t be startled—she extended one hand toward him.
Please work.
A warm sensation gathered at her fingertips, and a pure white light flickered briefly before fading away.
Even in that fleeting moment, the presence of holy power was overwhelming.
For the first time, the hero’s gaze shifted away from Xenia’s eyes to her open palm. At the same time, his warm yet rough hand closed around hers.
Is there hope?
He still didn’t look like he wanted to talk, but the grip on her hand didn’t feel like rejection either.
So rough.
Unlike the Demon King’s large, soft hands. His were big and well-shaped, with thick bones—but his palm was calloused and hard, as if it bore the marks of a hard life. It felt like a glimpse into the road he’d walked until now.
As if searching for something, he rubbed her palm with his thumb. The rough touch sent a ticklish sensation through her—maybe he was looking for traces of her holy power.
The faint swell of emotion that rose in her chest quickly faded. Xenia pushed aside what she’d just seen and lifted her head.
“I found you by chance and treated your wounds. Your clothes were dirty, so I took them off.”
She spoke again, but the hero was still staring at their joined hands. Even so, Xenia held her head high.
“This is the Demon King’s castle. You can’t just wander around freely, can you?”
Without waiting for an answer, she continued,
“So I was thinking I’d go get you some clothes. This is a little awkward right now.”
That wasn’t an excuse. The hero’s bare upper body was on full display as he sat on the bed.
Looking down at the hand he was holding, her gaze inevitably drifted somewhere it really shouldn’t.
“I’ll show you my holy power again when I get back. So could you wait just a little while?”
Avoiding the many uncomfortable aspects of the situation, Xenia handed him the pocket watch she’d been carrying and hurried out of the room.
Of course, before leaving, she didn’t forget to fix the broken doorknob. No matter how flustered she was, she had no intention of letting the same thing happen again.
She needed to fetch clothes, bring food for both of them, and—most importantly—find out what exactly the servant had told the head chef.
And maybe ask them to keep it quiet while I’m at it.
Judging by how excited they’d been, the servant had probably already spread their misunderstanding all over the castle.
A few rumors wouldn’t be a huge problem, but she absolutely didn’t want people hanging around her room out of curiosity—especially not with a hero inside.
So Xenia decided to ask for help from Beef, the head chef of the Demon King’s castle.
He’d been in charge of all the meals in the vast castle for years, and he was skilled at calming down servants who were always trying to sneak off.
More than that, he was a demon who had looked after Xenia unconditionally ever since she was young—the person she relied on most in the Demon Realm.
“…I’m a little scared of what I’ll hear first, though.”
She trusted him, but she couldn’t tell him the whole truth. To be precise, she planned to go along with the rumor the servant had started.
Taking a deep breath, Xenia knocked on the kitchen door.
“Beef?”
