Haha, I don't know how many of you still remember this forgettable authoress, but I finally managed to save enough motivation to publish this!
A sigh escaped her dainty lips. "Her" meaning she, the woman-girl-demon-thing. Also known as Lu, whose full name was Luciela R. Sourcream. Or, at least, that's what she was called before the doppelgangers from other parallel dimensions plopped into this one. There were multiple Elswords, multiple Eves, multiple Aras, multiple Lus and Ciels and—you get the point. So to save everyone a massive headache, they were called by their titles and not by their names. But even formal titles couldn't escape the fate of nicknames. But for this story, she believed it would be best to only mention four—and only four—names in this story to avoid a text wall. Oops—speaking of walls—she broke one already.
Haha, anyway, when Lu reflected on the origins of these nicknames... She had to cringe a little bit. Hers, to her dismay, stemmed from a period in which she became ill, which then resulted in a lot of sneezing, and when everyone got tired of saying, "Bless you!", someone thought it would be funny to chop off the first two letters of her title. Not that "Blesse" was a particularly bad name, but it didn't have to refer back to such an embarrassing moment. The other Lu and her Ciel were named Chili and Bread respectively, which made sense considering how close they were to their real titles, but the lack of creativity left a bad taste in Blesse's mouth. But her own Ciel—oh my El Lady—shedidn'twanttothinkaboutit. One day she woke up to see not Ciel by her side, but some kind of abomination, clad in blue armor and a hideous red wig, who was donning a sloppy, misplaced blue headband. And then Chili and Bread ran around like idiots screeching, "Roy's our boy!" And thus, his name became Roy. Blesse had never babysat before (thank the El Lady), but on that miserable day, she felt the pains of a babysitter and made a mental note to never, ever, ever raise children by herself.
Crappy humor aside, here's what her real dilemma and the source of her sighing was—she was a teensy, weensy, little envious. Juuuuuust a little bit. Okay, it was a little bit more serious than that. But it wasn't really anything major, but it was also major enough to trouble Blesse. Well, whether or not it was important is up to you to decide for yourself. You see here, Blesse was slightly curious about Chili and Bread. After all, it wasn't quite a normal occurrence in a person's life to see themselves and their partner, but not exactly themselves, separately standing, living, breathing before their very eyes. And so she observed them after multiple sparring sessions and missions.
Was it wrong to feel miniscule needles pricking at her heart every time Chili and Bread exchanged cheeky smiles or high-fived each other or supported each other back-to-back or when Chili jumped into his arms and Bread swept her into a bridal carry? Not to mention when something went wrong, he would comfort and pacify her even when she threw a tantrum. Their relationship was so deep that when she kicked him in a fit of anger, he would apologize and comfort her without getting angry.
She huffed, twirling one of her pigtails around her index finger. She was nobility, so why would her majesty have to worry about frivolous things like these? ...Right? She paced in the inn, her high heels clicking and clacking on the polished wood floor. A blur of blue and purple suddenly whizzed by, and for a moment, Blesse forgot his name.
"Hey, you! Chili's pet!" The corners of the man's mouth drooped as if his lips traced the outline of an opened umbrella, and his midnight blue eyebrows crashed down with the force of a thundering waterfall.
"Didn't they ever teach you manners? Honestly, I don't understand how Roy puts up with you." Out of all the people, was this servant trying to scold Her Majesty? Bread sighed and placed his hand on his forehead, shaking his head in this process—the exact same actions Roy would perform whenever he was dissatisfied with Her Majesty's behavior. He then rolled his eyes in a perfectly formed arc and retorted, "For your information, the name is Bread. And, no, I'm not anyone's pet." Roy would never say those exact words. He was Roy and wasn't Roy—grr, how frustratingly perplexing!
"Hmph, I didn't call for you to deal with your arrogance!" complained Blesse. She was not putting up with his impudence.
"What do you even want from me? Make it quick." Blesse's eyes twitched. So this was how it was going to be… Very well, she could play this game of patience. She motioned for Bread to take a seat on the sofa across from her, and described her dilemma to him. Surprisingly, he was a decent listener, maybe even better than Roy.
"So in other words, you want to show your affection for him, but you don't know how to." Bread's only response was the dumbfounded blinking of Blesse's eyes. Affection? Wasn't that a problem only inexperienced children faced? Granted, she was in a child's body, but her years of wisdom couldn't have dissipated when she reverted to this form. She had previous butlers before and had no problem with them… Ah, was this the first time she wanted to show affection to a bodyguard? No, not quite. She and Roy had grown quite close together unlike the other servants she had… Maybe to the point where he was more than just a butler. So this was it! She was confused because she became close to him and desired to become closer, but her pride wouldn't allow him to cross the boundary between master and servant! And, thus, what she should do—
"Am I wrong?" interrupted Bread, who was scratching his head. He wasn't able to read the general idea of her thoughts, unlike Roy. Perhaps that meant Roy was a more competent companion, she mused gleefully.
But just because she understood the nature of her predicament didn't mean that it was solved. "No, that's quite accurate, coming from someone like you."
"If you're here just to insult me, then I'll take my—"
"Relax. It was a compliment. Why are you so agitated?"
He sighed and muttered, "So this is what I'll have to deal with in the future…"
But Blesse didn't pick up his words. "Speak louder. I cannot understand if you mumble."
Bread shook his head to signal 'never mind'. He crossed his legs and threw his arms around the back of the sofa. "I don't think it's something you should worry about. There are multiple ways to show affection—it's best that you discover them on your own." Upon noticing Blesse's dissatisfaction with his advice, he suggested, "For starters, why don't you try copying us? Then you can see what works and what doesn't work."
"Us"? Oh, "us" meant Chili and Bread. Blesse thanked Bread for his advice, and her gratitude seemed to take him by surprise. Her last words before they departed were, "Why, did you think I would have a bad personality? I'm quite charming, if I say so myself."
After a job well done, Blesse walked up to Roy, extended her arm, opened her palms, and swung forward—only to result in a concerned butler with a fresh and fleshy pink mark on his cheek that resembled a small child's hand.
"Roy!" Blesse took a running leap of faith—only to result in the rest of the El Search Party members cringing as Blesse attacked Roy.
When she lost a sparring match, she kicked Roy in the shin. His brow furrowed and his lips traced the outline of an umbrella—it infuriated her that his frown was exactly the same, angle to angle, as Bread's.
"Have I done something wrong, Your Majesty?" inquired Roy. Why did he look so guilty?
This wasn't going as well as she planned it to be. She sighed. She heard the calming sound of some liquid being poured into a container. A fragrant aroma wafted through the air—wait, this scent…
Earl Grey tea? Whipping her head around eagerly, she saw Roy pouring her favorite tea. And was that a tart? It must have been a new recipe, considering she had never seen anything like it before.
"Roy…" Blesse's voice trailed off. She was completely and utterly speechless.
He handed her a well-brewed cup of tea and the tart. "You've been acting strangely lately, but know that I'm always at your side. And, if there's anything you want to try, please tell me before doing it."
"Thank you. There is one thing I do want to try—you are my personal servant, after all, but I believe our relationship can go beyond that."
"What do you mean?"
"Can we… become good friends?" At this point, she was embarrassed and radiated a deep flush of pink from head to toe.
Roy chuckled lightly. "As you wish, Your Majesty. I'd be more than happy to."
Now some of you might be wondering what pushed me to write again. I can't guarantee I'm fully back, but when I write a short story as an assignment, I remembered how fun it was to write. I might be writing more, so keep your eyes peeled! Shoutout to Riri for beta-reading while I was writing half-sleepily! (Is that even a word?)