"No! No! I can't keep thinking about that troublesome child. I'm not his mother! I can't keep taking care of him like this.... Now, let's take a look at my new disciple! I heard this time it's a cute girl! And I absolutely can't repeat what happened last time! Hmm.... I'll try to make a good first impression!"
Muttering to herself like this, Roxy shook her head hard several more times, as if trying to drive all those distracting thoughts out of her mind. Then she nodded to herself, as though working up her courage.
However, once she adjusted her mindset and walked out of the guest room, the moment she saw the scene outside... she stood frozen on the spot as if struck by lightning.
The very person she had just been worrying about was now in the home of her new employer, and there was even a filthy-looking child beside him.
The child looked timid, clearly having just been bullied.
Without needing to think much, Roxy knew that this child must be the new student she was about to teach.
At the same time, however, the words Ash had said before they parted naturally resurfaced in her mind.
("Just wait. I'll go kidnap that child right away and make you understand the consequences of betraying me.")
She had thought it was just a joke, but she never would have imagined...
"Y-you... you really did it?"
Coming back to her senses, Roxy angrily strode forward. Her face was full of disbelief as she grabbed Ash by the collar and shook him hard, extremely agitated.
Ash was just as dumbfounded. He had only come over hoping to freeload a meal. How could he have known that he would end up freeloading at Roxy's new workplace? Besides, this place was obviously different from where Roxy had just gone, wasn't it? Could it be that Roxy had followed him?
He couldn't figure it out, but the headache-inducing situation prompted Ash to reach out and place a hand on Roxy's head.
"Calm down first!"
"I caught you red-handed! How am I supposed to calm down? I know you're not very good at being a person and that you have a lot of problems with your personality, but I never imagined you'd actually bully a child," Roxy was both disappointed and furious, the rims of her eyes even turning slightly red, and her voice trembling faintly.
"What's with that expression... And is it possible that, this time, I'm playing the good guy?"
"Really? Even though you...", Before Roxy could finish her exasperated reprimand, the woman beside them hurriedly pulled her away and explained in surprise and urgency, "That's not what happened, Miss Roxy. You misunderstood this gentleman. He's the one who protected Sylphie."
"Huh? Protected?", Roxy's eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth even fell slightly open.
Seeing this, Ash could only look helpless, "What's wrong? Why are you so surprised that I'm being a good person? Am I really just someone who likes bullying people in your eyes?"
"N-no! I've never thought that. It's just... should I say that what you said just now was a little too misleading, or...", Roxy looked extremely embarrassed, her gaze darting around as she guiltily avoided looking at him.
"Sigh! Forget it, forget it. I knew that in your eyes, I'm just a heartless, cold-blooded jerk. But I'm sure that's also because of your influence..."
Ash deliberately put on an exaggeratedly pitiful act and sighed repeatedly, as if he had suffered some enormous injustice.
This immediately made Roxy panic. She hurriedly waved her hands.
"I'm sorry! Please stop saying things like that. I was only joking! Really! Believe me!"
"My master really is selfish and willful. When I wanted you to believe me just now, you didn't believe me, yet now you want me to believe you..."
"S-so that's why I've been apologizing this whole time!"
"If apologies were useful, why would we need guards?"
"Huh? Do we really need to take it that far?"
"After all, I almost got sentenced in your heart for a crime I didn't commit. Besides, this is a matter of trust. Think about it. What were you thinking just now?"
"Um... That I didn't cook dinner tonight, so you were going hungry?"
Roxy subconsciously ignored the fact that she had suspected Ash of kidnapping a child and instinctively said what she had been worrying about all along.
But the moment those words came out, the employer's family of three all instinctively turned their heads toward her. Roxy herself also subconsciously covered her mouth as soon as she realized what she had said.
Ash was equally dumbfounded and reflexively blurted out, "Are you my mom?"
"No! It's just... haven't you always been the type to have your clothes put on you and food placed in front of you?"
"Don't make me sound like a useless person, okay?"
"But aren't you basically useless at everything except being extremely talented and extremely hardworking?"
"Are you praising me or insulting me?", The girl's blunt remark made Ash's expression turn slightly complicated.
"Both," Roxy answered without hesitation, with an expression that seemed completely matter-of-fact.
"Forget that for now. Anyway... how about you apologize to me first?", Ash deliberately tried to make things difficult for her, planning to tease her again when she refused. However...
"I did think that."
Roxy's little face was tense, and with unexpected frankness and guilt, she bowed deeply to him.
"I'm really sorry, Ash... I should have known you were joking, but I still misunderstood you without figuring out the situation first."
'W-what do I do? I'm supposed to be the victim here, so why do I suddenly feel guilty instead?', Faced with the girl's sincerity, Ash was suddenly at a loss.
But perhaps it wasn't strange. Roxy had always been a little clumsy and often made mistakes by accident. She was also worried that people would look down on her because she looked so young, so she always tried her best to appear dignified. Likewise... she would also work hard to be a good example for him.
And it seemed she still had no intention of changing that habit... even though their employer-employee relationship had actually already ended.
Although Ash had genuinely received Roxy's serious apology, he really couldn't feel happy about it. Instead, he vaguely felt as though he were bullying someone.
With his conscience suffering under that burden, his subsequent actions seemed to be restrained by some invisible force. Even the free dinner he had rarely managed to freeload tasted like cardboard.
Roxy, on the other hand, was in an especially good mood after learning that Ash had protected Sylphie.
During the meal, she unconsciously kept putting food into Ash's bowl, repeatedly praising him for not judging people by their appearance and for reaching out to help the weak.
The sight made Ash feel even more uncomfortable.
At the same time, he also noticed the slightly strange looks Sylphie's parents were giving him.
In the end, after finishing his meal, Ash felt so uncomfortable that he couldn't take it anymore. He left some money behind and hurried away... even though he had originally intended to eat for free.
But what could he do? Whenever Roxy was around, he felt guilty about freeloading.
Under the cover of night, after Sylphie's mother watched Ash insist on leaving despite her attempts to make him stay, she turned an approving gaze toward Roxy and sincerely said, "As expected of Miss Roxy's disciple. He really is a good child."
"Mm... He's an important disciple of mine," Roxy's face reddened slightly. Although she was a little embarrassed, she couldn't hide the proud smile on her face.
The journey between the two places took more than half a day. Perhaps it really would be difficult for them to meet again in the future. They might only get to see each other once more when it was time to leave.
She had work to do, while Ash was always buried in his studies. With such a long distance between them, there was really no way they could casually waste time just to meet.
Still, whenever Roxy thought about how she had just been worrying about whether Ash would have anything to eat that night, only for him to turn around and freeload a meal at her place, she couldn't help finding it both funny and exasperating.
On this somewhat lonely night, Roxy, trying hard to drive away her loneliness, closed her eyes and tried to stop herself from thinking about all sorts of strange things. She secretly made up her mind to devote herself wholeheartedly to her work and do her best to teach her new student well, but...
"Come to think of it, Ash already talked to that child, but she barely pays any attention to me. I still haven't even managed to have a proper conversation with her. Could it be that even when it comes to getting children to like me, I'm not as good as Ash? Ahhh... No, no! I can't think like that! At least when it comes to getting children to like me, I'm confident I should be able to beat him!"
After tossing and turning for a long time without being able to fall asleep, Roxy shook her head hard. Then she buried her head deeply into the pillow she had brought from Ash's place, desperately restraining herself from thinking any further, hoping to get herself adjusted as quickly as possible that night so she could greet the new day with plenty of energy.