ORCA 109

With his pale face framed by light orange hair, he looked like a washed-out watercolor painting. His faint coloration made his already gentle impression appear even softer. The same went for his behavior. Not only did he flinch in fear despite her having done absolutely nothing, but he also anxiously scanned her reactions with a terrified look on his face. The way he was at a total loss for what to do was hilarious. He behaved exactly like a roe deer encountering a hunter in the mountains. He reacted this way even though she had asked him a question with unnecessary kindness.

While there probably wasn’t a servant in the world who felt comfortable around nobles, this boy was excessively frightened. If it were one of those idle provincial nobles who desired an obedient plaything to prostrate itself flat at their feet, they would definitely want to keep a boy with this kind of personality by their side. However, assuming that Orca’s taste would be the same brought a shallow sense of doubt.

Orca was a fellow who could place anyone beneath him if he simply set his mind to it. Since everyone clearly knew he could snap human bones without much effort, whoever he chose would have flattened themselves in an instant. To him, this orange-haired servant seemed utterly useless. The boy looked like he would faint from a single strike; if he were rolled around by Orca, it wouldn’t be surprising if he dropped dead. He was visibly far too weak-hearted to endure as his plaything.

Observing Niah closely while he remained terrified, Hilda suddenly narrowed her eyes. It was because the thought occurred to her that perhaps Orca kept him around for that exact purpose in the first place. It was a fairly plausible deduction.

Barely managed to withstand the burdensome gaze peering intently at him, Niah subtly parted his lips. It took him a long while just to pronounce a mere few letters of his name. His tone was cautious, as though it were some grand secret.

“Uh… Niah, it’s Niah…”

“Niah. Your name looks exactly like you.”

“T-Thank you…”

“Huh? I wasn’t complimenting you.”

“Y-Yes? Ah, I’m s-sorry, sorry…”

As Niah shrank back even further at her remark, Hilda snickered out loud. Watching his stifling attitude continuously actually piqued her interest. She reached out her hand and stroked his hair. She had never had a reason to touch a servant’s head with her bare hands in her entire life, but thinking that this was an item Orca had his eyes on made her want to meddle with it for no reason.

She rubbed his curly, winding hair. Shifting only her eyes, she looked over at Orca. Even from a distance, the murderous intent bleeding from his dry, hollow expression was distinctly palpable. That look actually stimulated her curiosity. It certainly seemed he had marked the boy as his own.

Even as Niah meekly accepted her touch, he wanted to escape this situation as soon as possible. Being touched by a stranger felt unpleasant after all, and he hated being stuck together this closely. He felt like brushing down and scrubbing the spot her hand had touched as if dusting it off. A desire for his young master to come and rescue him suddenly surged within him. Knowing he shouldn’t anticipate such things, he tried to quickly erase it, but it wasn’t easy. He repeatedly called out young master, young master only in his heart. He knew it wouldn’t be heard, but he couldn’t stop.

Realizing a beat late that she might truly get drowned, Hilda let go of the fluffy hair. Instead, she poured out all the questions that came to her mind. The trivial inquiries were added without delay, as if they had been prepared in advance. When he came to the mansion, how old he was, what his original duties were—they were all minor details that wouldn’t matter to Hilda no matter what answer came out. She simply prattled on with whatever came out of her mouth because watching his clueless reactions was entertaining.

Niah had to diligently open his mouth to keep up with the rapidly succeeding barrage of questions. He offered the best answers he could muster. Although he occasionally stated that he didn’t know well, fortunately, he was able to put a period to almost every question mark. The only times he lagged and faltered were when he heard questions regarding Orca.

He didn’t understand why she was asking him about his young master, but Niah’s responses were full of sincerity. Just thinking about his young master made him feel much better, and his tension seemed to relax a bit. Hilda stubbornly and tenaciously dug into that part.

“How is Orca? His personality is a bit foul, isn’t it? Right? You know it too, don’t you? You must know. He’s been an absolute wreck since the old days, so I was his only friend. He always walks around with his eyes glaring like this, completely crushing the kids’ spirits—ah, whatever, forget about that. What do you think?”

She displayed a coy smile, without revealing that her own personality wasn’t particularly good either. Pricking up his ears at the word friend, Niah glanced at her sideways. Wondering why she spoke poorly of him despite being his friend, he hesitantly countered her words.

Even though he worried about getting struck if he crossed her, he couldn’t bear to hear his young master spoken of poorly. For some reason, his stomach churned. Contrary to such feelings, his small voice slipped out timidly and with stutters.

“The young master is a good person… That… ah, he isn’t foul… He is clean. I… don’t know well about the old days, but… I like the young master… He is a good person. He is kind, and also sweet,”

Niah, who was about to unconsciously say that he was beautiful, abruptly shut his mouth and merely fidgeted with his fingers.

The corners of Hilda’s mouth trembled faintly. Hearing words like kind or sweet succeed the name Orca was so unnatural that it gave her goosebumps. She couldn’t even begin to imagine a sight where Orca treated someone sweetly. Even if she squeezed her brain to force it, it only brought up a wave of nausea. He was cloaked in murderous aura even now, yet kind? That was utterly absurd.

By this point, those nobles who had been holding onto Orca all this time were remarkable in their own right. She felt a bit sorry for them, wondering if they truly believed he behaved that way because he was highly shy. It was a relief that Orca had become an adult. If he had been a young child of ten-and-some years, he would have rushed over to drown her. Perhaps the surrounding nobles would have become the targets of his vented anger.

She still clearly remembered his expressionless face when he used to say that he had to become a soldier because he wanted to kill things, whether beasts or humans, and because enduring that urge was painful. At the time, she had countered by pretending it was nothing, saying that she wanted to swallow the Empire’s trading market whole so she had to become the greatest merchant, but it was true that Orca’s bizarre logic had crept her out a bit.

After that day, she came to understand his parents, who treated Orca as if pressing him down, to some extent. She also thought that, just as Orca said, if he became a soldier, he must never leave the battlefield. Honestly, he was a total lunatic.

No matter how much beast-kin lived while possessing the instincts of beasts, they were half human. Wanting to commit slaughter could never be a normal way of thinking. While she didn’t know the detailed inner circumstances herself, if his parents hadn’t kept him under control, he probably would have lived as a massive scoundrel.

However, the orange-haired servant, Niah, seemed to have absolutely no idea what kind of fellow he had gotten caught by right now.

‘And that’s despite the fact that there’s no guarantee the bastard won’t snap and kill him on the spot…’

“It’s true, it’s really true… Our young master is a good person…”

Hilda peered down intently at Niah, who defended Orca once more, before offering a cheerful response. She couldn’t bluntly advise him that he would die at this rate.

“Is that so? I guess he treats you well.”

At her readily given agreement, Niah’s cheeks flushed crimson. It sounded exactly as if the young master treated only him well, making his chest swell up fuzzily. He felt elated, as though he had become a special existence. His muscles, frozen from tension, melted away into a soft state.

Because his churning stomach had turned ticklish before he knew it, he had to forcefully drag down the corners of his mouth that kept trying to rise. He wished for the night to arrive quickly so he could listen to the young master’s voice a lot, look closely at his face, and hold him tight. Plunging into a world of his own, Niah let out a soft giggle without realizing it.

Hilda, who had merely offered a casual response with negligible meaning, found Niah’s shy behavior briefly amusing before it turned into pity. She felt sorry for him, thinking that he was only acting this way because he knew absolutely nothing about what kind of fellow Orca was. The way he had been trembling violently just moments ago, only to let his guard down easily at a single sentence and grin foolishly, somehow captured her attention. She figured being this simple-minded was a talent in itself. Nevertheless, the fact that he was gentle and followed his master well looked quite decent. A personality that showed loyalty to the master exactly as ordered was a perfect fit for keeping by one’s side as an attendant.