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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Knowing One's Place
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Personal Maids.
Beings who shared their fate with the direct lineage of the Unlight family.
They were their master's first sword, second mind, third hand, and final shield.
From bodyguard to advisor, teacher, and subordinate—one had to be capable of fulfilling all these roles single-handedly just to meet the minimum requirements of a personal maid.
But that didn't change the most important fact.
They were maids.
Beings who served.
And for the servants of a noble house, a duty more important and essential than simple service was required.
—The role of swatting away the insects that clung to their master, oblivious to their own station.
"The Young Master is, without a doubt, the shame of the Unlight family."
"Compared to the other young masters and ladies, he is undeniably weak and impoverished."
"Even now that he has Awakened, that fact remains unchanged."
From fiefs to treasures and knowledge.
Nobles, who inherited so much through generations, were the privileged ruling class of Odobaekryeong, acknowledged by all.
But there was one treasure the nobility valued above all else.
Bloodline.
A lineage that was naturally born with a 3-star Class or higher.
Or one that carried a rare, unique Trait.
No matter how great an Awakened One was, if their bloodline was ordinary, their legacy would end with them. But for nobles, the power of their house grew stronger with each generation as their bloodline expanded.
This was Odobaekryeong, where the very existence of a fief could depend on the presence or absence of a single high-ranking Awakened One.
That was why bearing a noble's child was the dream of every commoner.
And why nobles managed their bloodlines with an almost obsessive thoroughness.
"But no matter how pathetic or unhinged he may seem, the Young Master is of the Unlight bloodline."
Among them, the Great Magic House of Unlight was special.
They were the most prestigious family in the Magic Territory, having produced geniuses that astounded even other nobles.
The direct bloodline was so coveted that the great houses of Baekdaesega would wage political wars over an engagement, and scheme just to produce an illegitimate child.
That was the purpose of the personal maids.
Whether by their own will.
Or the will of others.
They were the guardians who protected the Unlight bloodline from being carelessly diluted.
And at this very moment, Parsha, as such a personal maid, spoke with a chilling voice.
To her own mother, Arsha.
"In other words, he is not someone a lowly elf like you can dare to covet."
Was it because the words were so unexpected?
Or was it because she had never seen such a cold gaze from her daughter?
Arsha, who had been staring at Parsha in bewilderment, finally managed to speak with forced composure after a long moment.
"Parsha, I don't know why you have such a misunderstanding… but I have no such ambitions."
"Then why do you keep acting so presumptuously?"
"Presumptuously?"
"—I'm talking about how you act as if you're the Young Master's actual wife."
"...!"
To the stunned Arsha.
Parsha spoke coldly.
"It is fine for you to serve him when I am not present, or when the Young Master instructs you to."
"But what are you thinking, trying to serve him in my stead even here at Crouching Dragon Manor?"
"Don't tell me you wish to flaunt your relationship with the Young Master to everyone?"
It wouldn't matter if Dion had requested it first.
Whether as the lord of Crouching Dragon Manor.
Or as a Gongja of Unlight.
Dion had the authority to have anyone in this fief serve him.
But to serve him without his command, and with his personal maid Parsha right there, was a clear overstep of her authority.
For serving a person of power was, in itself, a form of power.
Still, if it had been only that.
She would have let it slide.
Dion often had Arsha attend to him, and for a concubine, it could be excused as a trifle.
But…
"Above all, what was that act of checking the Calamity Princess?"
"...!"
"Did you really think I wouldn't know? After so blatantly inserting yourself between the Young Master and her?"
"That was because I thought Pandora-nim was too dangerous for the Young Master…"
"That is what was presumptuous."
Whether Pandora was dangerous or not.
How close he would get to her.
Or whether he would keep his distance or treat her with hostility—that was for Dion to decide.
She might be able to offer her opinion, but she had no right to judge and decide in Dion's stead.
Parsha, cutting her off, continued her dispassionate speech.
"In case you are mistaken, allow me to be perfectly clear."
"..."
"To the Young Master, you are nothing more than a toy, Mother."
In the first place, Dion had only taken Arsha as a concubine as a means to make the dark elves his subordinates.
No matter how friendly he acted.
No matter how much he seemed to like and cherish her.
There was no way he held any genuine affection for her.
At best, it was the affection one might have for a tool to be played with and discarded at will, or for a pet.
That was how nobles thought of commoners and the lower classes.
Therefore, if she deluded herself into thinking she had won Dion's favor, she would pay a heavy price.
As a personal maid who had seen, met, and learned from countless nobles in the Great Magic House of Unlight, Parsha declared this, staring at Arsha with frigid eyes.
"If you wish to keep your place, then spread your legs in bed and attend to the Young Master's nights."
"If you wish to be acknowledged as a vassal, then prove with your abilities that you are an irreplaceable asset."
"Don't parade around like you're his legitimate wife when you can't do either of those things properly."
To a noble, a wife was an ally and a partner who shared their destiny…
But that only applied to the legitimate wife from another noble house, bound by a political marriage.
A concubine was a concubine.
She had no rights and no power.
Only the duty to offer love and the privilege to bear an heir.
And so, *step*.
Her daughter, who had closed the distance between them, leaned in and whispered into her mother's ear.
"If you know your place like that…"
"..."
"—I will permit you to bear the Young Master's child."
"...!!!"
If, by some miracle, that child was not born a lowly elf but inherited Dion's blood strongly enough to receive the Unlight name.
Even if she couldn't raise the child herself, she would at least gain some authority as the birth mother.
She should know that even that was an excessive privilege for the likes of an elf.
At her daughter's cold words, Arsha barely managed to utter something like a rebuttal.
Or rather, she tried to.
"Pa-Parsha. I have no such intentions…"
"Your intentions do not matter, Mother. What matters is that you must."
"..."
"Not unless you wish to lose the clan you protected by selling your own daughter to the Unlight family."
Whether in formality.
Or for other reasons.
From the moment she became a noble's concubine, she never had a choice.
Before being a dark elf.
Or her daughter.
As a personal maid of the Unlight family, and as the wet nurse who had raised Dion since infancy, Parsha finished her warning.
She quietly stepped back.
Then, toward her mother, who stood frozen with a dazed expression, she bowed more politely and respectfully than ever before.
"Then, my lady, I pray you rest well."
***
*Creeak.*
"You're late, Arsha."
"...Were you waiting for me?"
"Yeah. My bed is too big to sleep in alone, you know?"
In the bedroom on the top floor of Crouching Dragon Manor.
The boy, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed looking out the window, smiled warmly.
Then he flopped onto his back and burrowed into the bed, lifting one side of the blanket to make space and gesturing with his hand.
"Come on, hurry and change, then get in."
"...Yes."
*Rustle.*
Slender fingers untied her clothes, and the fabric slid down her long, shapely legs.
In its place, a soft texture enveloped her smooth, dark skin.
The dark elf changed into a thin nightgown that revealed more than it concealed, her skin visible through the sheer material.
Arsha quietly approached the bed.
She took the lifted blanket.
And gently slipped into the empty space.
To lie down beside Dion.
The entire process was as fluid and natural as flowing water.
It was to be expected.
Ever since she became his concubine, Dion had always shared a bed with her unless there were special circumstances.
The days of being so flustered and embarrassed that she couldn't sleep a wink were long past.
Now, for Arsha, sleeping beside Dion had become not just familiar, but a matter of course.
*Flinch!*
"Hmm?"
But why?
The moment Dion wrapped his arm around her slender waist, just as he always did.
Why did Arsha's body stiffen?
As she herself was startled by her own reaction, her expression filled with confusion.
Dion tilted his head slightly.
"Arsha, did something happen?"
"No. I must just be more tired than I realized."
"...Is that so?"
For some reason.
Though she was always calm and mature.
Today, Arsha felt like a rain-drenched kitten. Dion gazed at her face for a moment.
Then, he suddenly buried his face in the crook of her neck.
"M-My lord?"
Whatever she might have been expecting.
Arsha froze at the sudden action, her ears standing straight up.
But unexpectedly, Dion neither sank his teeth into her neck nor kissed her lips.
He simply pressed the tip of his nose against her smooth neck, slowly tracing the elegant line of her throat.
Then, he spoke casually.
"I see you didn't wash up today."
"...!?!?!?"
"It's fine. Even your sweat smells fragrant, Arsha."
"Ah, that is…!"
Only then did she realize that in her daze, she hadn't properly washed today.
And that the boy had been smelling her scent. Her face flushed a deep crimson.
She reflexively tried to push Dion away, but…
Dion wouldn't let her go.
Instead, as if rewarding her.
He pulled Arsha closer, savoring her body scent, which was like a mix of flowers and fresh grass.
He whispered into her long, scarlet ear.
"So I'll forgive you for lying to me."
"...!"
"It's more fun when there are a few secrets between a married couple, anyway."
He was a generous husband.
As long as she wasn't cheating on him, he would pretend not to notice a few trivial lies.
Watching the smiling boy, Arsha froze for a different reason than before.
After a long silence.
She spoke softly.
"Young Lord."
"Yes?"
Not 'my lord.'
Not 'my husband.'
Addressing him as she had when they first met, she turned her head.
Then, with deep, sunken golden eyes, she looked straight at Dion and asked.
"Young Lord, do you wish for me to bear your child?"
"Yes."
"..."
"It's only natural to want the woman you like to bear your child, isn't it?"
No hesitation.
No wavering.
No reluctance.
An immediate answer, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
As she quietly gazed into his smiling face and his bewitching red eyes.
Arsha lowered her gaze slightly.
And she saw them.
The scars that remained on the boy's body—from his white neck down his long arms to the backs of his fine hands.
Considering most of these were from his fight with Lashanta, his recovery speed was astounding.
But it also meant the battle had been fierce enough to still leave scars.
She silently looked at the wounds on the boy who had been called the shame of Unlight his entire life, and who had continued to fight life-or-death battles even after Awakening.
Then, she slowly raised a hand.
"My husband."
"..."
"Are you not… thirsty?"
*Slide.*
Letting her nightgown slip from her fine shoulder, she exposed her long, slender neck, like that of a doe.
As if in resignation.
Or perhaps with resolve.
…Or maybe, with yearning.
She gazed at him quietly.
An invitation from a clumsy wife—one that Dion did not refuse.
He gently lowered his head to place a soft kiss on the corner of her eye, then let his lips slide down to her delicate neck once more.
Just like before.
But deeper than before.
The moment his red lips gently parted her smooth skin, revealing his pearly white fangs.
"Hnngh…!"
—A sweet, melting moan soaked the darkness.
***
"..."
Panting breaths.
The twitching of a waist and limbs.
The sound of nails tearing at the sheets.
And above all, a choked-back moan.
A storm of pleasure and ecstasy that filled the bedroom and leaked outside.
Faint and wispy, so much so that one would have trouble hearing it even with an ear pressed to the door.
But to the keen senses of a high-ranking Awakened One, the sounds of bliss were all too clear.
The dark elf maid, who had been standing in silence with her hand raised to knock, slowly turned around.
Then, *creak*.
Clenching her steel-gauntleted fist, she walked down the empty corridor, moving away from the bedroom.
And…
*Slither.*
In the deep darkness.
High on the shadowy ceiling.
A shadow clung there.
So stealthily that even a high-ranking Awakened One would not have noticed its presence.
An indistinct figure wearing a white mask, blended into the corridor itself, gazed intently at the bedroom door.
As if observing something.
Or perhaps, contemplating.
After remaining silent for a long time before the door Parsha had left, the figure eventually melted back into the darkness.
Just as it had roamed through the 괴목장 from the start of the hunt until the disaster was resolved, unnoticed by all but one.
『Achievement: Fief Defense』
『Achievement: Conquered the Hunter's Forest』
『Achievement: Hunter Leading a Pack』
『Acquired 2-Star Class [Concubine].』
『Acquired Unique Trait [Pack Command (Un)] as a Labyrinth clear reward.』
Name: Arsha
Race: Dark Elf (High)
Title: [Last Daughter of the World Tree]
Class:
[Spirit Master]☆☆☆☆ Lv0 (Inactive)
[Lord]☆☆☆ Lv2→ Lv4
[Civil Official]☆☆ Lv6→ Lv9
[Archer]☆☆ LV10
[Village Chief]☆ LV10
Traits: [Gentleman Among Flowers (SR)], [Blessing of the World Tree (R)](Inactive)』, [Rapid Fire (N)], [Management (N)], [Pack Command (Un)](New)
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