The Consequences of Having a Master-Servant Relationship With a Yandere After Reincarnation - Side Story 10
A/N: Tah-dah! By the way, they are just flirting!
T/N: Here’s the last chapter for this series! Hope you enjoy this chapter and the series as a whole like I did. Thank you for reading this!
Side Story 10 – Countdown
It’s been a whole month since Ashley graduated.
But, since our marriage was announced earlier, there is no time for us to play around because we have to busy ourselves for the marriage ceremony. In fact, I haven’t even seen Ashley for at least five days now since both of us have different things to prepare for the ceremony. In addition, Ashley is also training for his future job, working as father’s secretary. In truth, father told him to immediately take the position, but Ashley insisted to wait until he learned everything he needed to learn.
And then, there’s me, who’s currently adjusting my dress while contemplating life. Should I really be doing this right now when my husband is doing his best?
The men of the family insisted that it’s the men’s job to work for the family, and the women’s job is to protect the house while also helping their husband out, but, I’m not really sure about that. Is it really okay for me to just idle around since I couldn’t even be a proper housewife because the maids are the ones doing all the work?
“White really doesn’t suit me…”
I muttered to myself as I looked in the mirror.
As expected, since Cecille’s face looks harsh, black or primary colors like red or blue would look better on her. On the contrary, lighter color like white, pink or yellow doesn’t suit her at all.
One of the maids holding the dress said…
“But, the bride is supposed to wear white.”
“Even if it doesn’t suit you, it can’t be helped.”
“That’s right, no matter how ugly you look in it, you need to wear it.”
My cheeks twitched.
“I don’t mind if you guys stop being so reserved around me, you know? If you got a problem with my look, then say it to my face.”
It should be fine if I were to scold them a little, no?
“We’re kidding, they all look good on you.”
After giggling for a while, the maids then went back to pick more dresses for me to wear. They went, I like this one, but that one is also good, and so on for a long while.
It’s starting to get harder to tell the differences between each dress.
Eventually, my father, who left his works to Ashley, came to visit and joined the maids, trapping me in an even worse hell of unending dress picking. Seriously, when will this ever end?
I never thought that I would ever go through this hell, but I guess it’s inevitable for every woman to experience this. What did they call this phenomenon? Marriage blues?
It’s not like anything is going to change even after I got married. We’ve been living together for a long time now, and I don’t think we’ll discover any discrepancies in our lives. The only thing that changed was the fact that I now love him, and that I’m perfectly confident that he loves me back.
To be honest, I don’t even know what am I so worried about.
Back in my previous life, I always thought that the right age for a woman to get married is around twenty-five, and the word m of marriage scared me. It wasn’t like there were a lot of failed marriages around me, rather, it was the opposite, successful marriages were a lot more common back then, but at the same time, I wasn’t confident that I could be like them. Even in this world, there are father and mother, Ashley’s parents, who I heard a lot of stories about, Camilla, and many other senpais who had gotten married right after they graduated, they were all content with their marriages.
But, all those happy couples just made me feel even more pressured.
“Ojou-sama?”
“…”
“Cecille?”
“Huh? What? What’s wrong?”
I suddenly heard Ashley’s voice from the hallway. After looking at me, he suddenly stopped walking, before dropping her gaze with a complicated expression on his face. He then came forward without trying to look at me.
“Do you know where did master went off to?”
“He’s over there, choosing dresses for me.”
“…I see.”
Why did I ever come here then? I caught him muttering that.
“What happened? Is something wrong?”
When I asked him that, he wrinkled his brow and stepped back a little.
“It’s nothing. Then, please excuse me.”
“Huh? Okay…”
Before I could stop him, he closed the door and never came back.
* * *
I’m tired, but I can’t say it out loud since I know that Ashley will worry if I did.
During dinner, Ashely seemed absent-minded. When we walked together down the hallway, he would occasionally arch his back and sigh. His behavior was unusual that it worried not only me but also everyone in the house.
I was contemplating on whether I should go to his room to ask him what happened, but at the same time, I was afraid that he would rather be left alone instead. As I was stuck in my indecisive state, he came to my room.
“What happened? Why are you visiting so late? Ah, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t come at this hour, though.”
Ashley who had been silent while moving his neck, suddenly stopped while staring blankly at me.
Eventually, he bit his lip before hugging me tightly.
“I’m… a bit tired…”
He mumbled before he went silent once again.
Mm. I know he’s tired, but why does he look THIS tired though? I’ve never seen him like this before since he had strong enough stamina to run around all day long while also staying up late at night for a few days.
Could it be that he’s sick…?
Blood drained out of my face as I pulled my body back to look at his face.
“Are you sick? Where does it hurt?”
“Huh? I’m not hurt anywhere, and I’m perfectly healthy.”
Ashley stroked my cheek and closed his eyes, smiling.
“Are you having a hard time at work?”
“Yeah, a little…”
He sighed and made a troubled smile.
“I’m not trying to vent to you or anything, it’s just that I haven’t had a chance to talk to you in a while, and I wanted to hear your voice… I missed it a lot…”
Somehow, I understand his feelings. Whenever I feel tired or sad, I always wished to talk with Ashley, not to vent, but to talk about something fun with him, because talking with him always makes me feel better. He is my mood booster.
But, doing that, at least for me…
“There’s no way you’re just a little tired…”
…Is my last resort. I’ll only do that when I’m reaching my limit. Only whenever I feel really desperate would I pamper myself with him.
“Wait for a second, I’ll make you some tea, so, sit down, okay?”
I pointed toward the two chairs surrounding the small table that I’ve always had since my childhood. Ashley sat down and pulled me over so I could sit across him.
“No. Just stay here with me, please.”
He held my hand, so I couldn’t stand up, so I nodded at him.
“Cecille… let me see your face…”
His hand ran through my cheek and lips. Is it bad if I feel somehow, aroused by this?
Ashley smiled softly, looking melancholic, a look that he never showed to me normally.
“I love you… I really love you, my everything…”
He kissed me on the forehead. As I turned over in embarrassment, I could hear him chuckling.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to be by your side… With your love, I can be stronger than anyone… But…”
Ashley’s tone devolved into self-mockery the more he went on. His gentle smile never left his lips.
“I’m a much more sh*ttier person than you think. I was willing to lose anything to be loved by you, I was willing to dirty my hand for your love… Back when I was chasing you, I was THAT desperate, but now, I’m just scared. I’m scared of you leaving me, after I finally embraced you with these hands.”
His voice trembled with sadness.
“Hesitating in doing my job… I’ve never had any of it before. As a servant, I didn’t hesitate whenever I did my job since whenever I made a mistake, I would be the only one to suffer the consequences. But now… From now on… My mistakes would be considered Aldington Family’s mistake…”
“I see.”
“What your father… my father-in-law had built… could be destroyed completely in an instant.”
“Yeah…”
“It could ruin your life too…”
“Ah, right…”
The fact that he was smiling while saying all that made everything he said more painful.
Ashley and I are two different people, we will never completely understand each other. I know that when you feel pressured, it takes a toll on your mind.
For a moment, I thought of the time when I took my high school entrance exams and job interviews, but I quickly stopped myself from comparing his problem to them.
For Ashley, who had always indulged himself in self-hatred, this might be the first time he felt this much pressure. A pressure so heavy that it could bring down his entire family if he took the wrong step.
“That sounds tiring…”
Just imagine that whenever you’re doing something, your heart will start pounding, cold sweat running through your back, and your hands started shaking. He received that much pressure from his work, it’s impossible for him to not be exhausted working in such state.
While I was fussing over my marriage, Ashley had something much bigger occupying his mind.
“Hmm ~”
Because of me, Ashley is having this much trouble, that fact alone made me wonder, what the hell was I fussing about, really.
I found myself giggling at him as he glared at me resentfully.
“I thought I was talking seriously.”
“Sorr… ufufufu… You’re so cute, I can’t…”
“I’ll get angry if you keep doing this.”
Ashley pinched my cheeks. He seemed to be genuinely angry, now I’m scared.
“No matter what happened, father won’t disown you or anything, and I won’t ever hate you if you fail. Besides, I’m content with my life, don’t think about it too much. As long as you are healthy and smiling by my side, I will be happy no matter what.”
I kissed his forehead in retaliation. He turned his head around as he opened his mouth wide, unable to form any words.
The wrinkles between his eyebrows deepened, but he stopped wearing his stern, adult expression, it looked quite childish.
“You’re thinking too much. I’m not going to leave you for the rest of your life, even if you want me to, so, don’t stress over your job too much. Besides, even if you were to fail, we could still live together in a small house in the countryside… wait, that actually sounds fun.”
“Ojou-sama, you’re too carefree.”
“Ojou-sama?”
“Cecille just doesn’t think hard enough about the future.”
But, muttered Ashley as he stood up with an even more childish expression on his face. He then pulled me to the bed.
We both fell down on the bed, him on top of me, making it hard for me to get up.
“But, that does make me feel better.”
“That’s great to hear.”
We hugged each other as we both laughed. I hope this could ease his burden a little.
“Cecille… look at me… Kiss me.”
I did as he told me, and kissed him, but our lips barely touched as he moved away.
I blinked in confusion, but Ashley just tilted his head with a mischievous smile on his lips.
“You look dissatisfied.”
“Not really…”
The kiss was lighter than I expected, so I actually felt relieved.
“We can’t do anything more than this, you know? Or else I wouldn’t be able to control myself.”
Ashley’s skin is as smooth as ever, I feel envious as he rubbed his cheeks against mine.
“I’ll stop at this until the night of our wedding, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Master wishes for a grandchild soon, so I won’t hold back when the time comes, okay?”
“…Yes.”
“I want five by the way.”
“I didn’t ask.”
Don’t hate yourself anymore, okay? His smile right now is so bold and firm, it’s rare to see him like this. This rare, cute, childish expression of him, I want it to last forever.
“Poor Cecille, having to wait a little bit longer to hear a proposal.”
I looked up at him. The word ‘proposal’ actually surprised me.
I mean, I hadn’t expected to get a proposal from him since our marriage was set in stone by the time I noticed it.
“I haven’t come up with a good line for it yet.”
“Is… that… so…?”
I nodded. I feel the blood rushing rapidly to my face.
“Wait, why are you pitying me again?”
“Your luck with men is abysmal.”
“Huh?”
“You chose a man who fell in love with you so deeply that he went insane. To be honest, I’m still not sure that I’ll be able to refrain from hurting you if I were to get that jealous again.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then you’re also pitiful, Ashley.”
I wonder how many people will come to the wedding? Also, I need to take a look at more dresses and decide some things about the food.
Not all my fears about getting married are gone, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.
I’m sure that the proposal he’ll give me before the wedding will blow away the rest of my worries.
I wonder if he’ll still call me ojou-sama when he proposes, or will he drop it and call me by my name like when he couldn’t control his emotions? If he were to make a mistake and bite his tongue midway, wouldn’t it be amusing? I can’t help but imagine the scene.
.
The countdown to our wedding is still going on.
TL: Iyo