I assure you, I am alive and well for those that care or were concerned. I just got lazy and busy with shit. I'm now back to writing and ND ch12 has undergone revisions which means it'll come out soon. TRUST. Otherwise have fun reading what is the longest chapter in this series. Thanks
The next month went without incident. Sure it was highlighted by Neptune making more forward advancements with me whenever she was in my vicinity, but I could handle those easily.
The moment it flipped to the final month however…
"Oh, Blanc?" Mistress called as she fiddled around with her computer like usual.
"Yes?"
"You're coming with me and Neptune on our class' field trip. You can't say no either because your name is already confirmed on the list. "
I blinked from where I stood in the corner of Mistress' room, and took time to process what she had just told me.
"I am accompanying you and Miss Neptune on your field trip…?"
"Yes."
"And you did this without my consent, so I can not back out even if I wanted to…?"
"Mhm."
I blinked again, "Vert. I'm sure you found a way, but is this not an abuse of your rights as royalty?"
Mistress swiveled around in her chair to face me with the most devious grin I've seen on her face yet.
"Oh no."
If a picture could tell a hundred stories, then that face she's making only tells trouble.
I coughed. "How much did you 'donate', Vert?"
"Five million."
"To…?"
"The teacher. Wasn't hard to persuade her to change the trip location after that."
"Wait so the destination was different before?"
Mistress slyly put a hand over her mouth and gave a fake chuckle. "Oops! Might've spilled too much!"
"...does it require that I provide a swimsuit?"
"No, no! You can be rest assured, Blanc. I wouldn't do something so humiliating to my maid. I want you to relax once in a while! Not be self conscious about your body in front of my class."
I sighed, "So you are aware of it…"
Mistress did not continue the conversation further. Ending it there and leaving me with dread at a potential future situation…
Wait, she didn't tell me when the field trip was happening…
I sighed loudly and mumbled underneath, "Maybe my Mother is right after all…"
"...isn't this worse than having to provide a swimsuit, Vert?"
"What're ya talking about there, Blanc?"
I sighed and shook my head, "It is nothing, Miss Neptune. Now stop invading my personal space."
"But I'm so excited that you're part of our class' field trip! To a hot springs no less! Way to go Vert!" Neptune exclaimed, (very loudly I might add), with an XD face as she hugged me tightly.
"M-Miss Neptune… t-too tight…"
Neptune released her hug and chuckled sheepishly. "My bad. I forgot you're still pretty frail, despite being trained for self defense."
"Just because I know such techniques does not mean I have the strength to overpower anyone with strength alone. Self defense barely has anything to do with strength."
"Right, right. But hot springs!"
I groaned, but nodded as we could finally move on from this topic.
The destination that Mistress had so graciously bribed their teacher to change to, was a hot springs resort.
It was a modest one however. Very homey, a splitting image of one you might see in an anime or video game, but I think that's what the owner was going for.
Speaking of the Mistress earlier however…
"Are you not going to respond to my question, Vert?"
Mistress snickered from beside me. "I thought you were having fun with Neptune. So I didn't bother responding."
"You call harassment by Miss Neptune, fun?" I questioned as I glared at Mistress
She quickly broke into a sweat and started panicking. "N-No, that isn't fun at all…" She finally pried Neptune off of my arm after, and told her to have some restraint.
"And my answer?"
"It isn't worse. We're going to be with all the girls so its fine. You need to learn to get over it eventually anyway. No one cares in this day and age, Blanc."
"..."
"Blanc?"
After a while, Mistress groaned to herself, lamenting the situation she put herself in. Not that she could do anything about it. I'd still be attending to her as her personal maid, I just wouldn't be responding to her aggression.
Speaking of.
The rest of the day flew by in a flurry. The owner of the resort, a woman with long, grey hair, acquainted us with all the faculties and rules. But she also started talking about her glowing reviews (which were all written by old men for some reason), and started to go into too much detail about all the faculties.
So the teacher had to cut her off and send all of us off to our separate rooms.
It was expected for me to share a room with Mistress, as I am her maid. But then I saw two other particular names on the sheet of paper.
Neptune and Noire…
I could only pray to Celestia that I didn't lose my sanity
"Why am I with all three of you?" Noire scoffed as Mistress and I entered the room. Standing beside the door with a piercing glare and her arms crossed.
"What? Don't want to see my affection for Blanc~?" Neptune said in response, standing beside the raven-haired woman and jabbing at her with the biggest shit-eating grin I could've ever seen on a woman.
"Damn straight!"
Neptune blinked in genuine surprise and paused for a moment before her response. "Huh…" she mumbled, "Definitely wasn't expecting a straight shot answer…"
As Neptune went to her spot in the room she unpacked, in shock at Noire's response, I gave a simple bow, "Please treat me kindly. This is a trip for your class, and I didn't particularly have any say whether or not I would have gotten involved in it."
"...Fine." Noire sighed in contempt, "I can at least do that much."
"Thank you for your consideration."
Brushing that aside, it seems that both Noire and Neptune had arrived before us and had already familiarized themselves with the room. The reason I had accompanied Mistress specifically was because I didn't want her plotting with Neptune. But if she's already here beforehand, then my plan was all for naught.
I sighed, "This is supposed to be relaxing, but I'm already anything but relaxed…"
"Why are you even here anyway?" Noire asked, staring directly at me, "Last I remember, you weren't on the list of students, and the location of our grad trip changed so abruptly…"
I shot over a glance to the Mistress and Noire instantly understood my response. Grunting in indifference. "Of course it's all her doing…"
"You two do know I'm right here right? And that I can hear everything you're talking about?"
I nodded at Mistress' assertion and smiled simply, "Of course, Vert. I'm only responding to Noire's inquiry about why I'm here. There's nothing more to it than that."
Mistress frowned, "Still… the way you two are being friendly with one another is making me unnerved."
"It's all in your head, Princess." Noire spat back, "If your maid can't even have a conversation with an opposing nation's daughter, then you've got more issues than I do with Neptune's infatuation with her."
Mistress groaned and shook her head, opting to keep quiet and start unpacking her things.
I raised an eye and smiled. "I think we'll get along just fine for this trip. Don't you think, Miss Lastation?"
Noire huffed, "Maybe. Why don't you help the Princess over there with her unpacking like you're supposed to."
Note to self. She still hates my very existence…
It wasn't too long after that the four of us unpacked our belongings and set their spots in the room where they wanted to sleep. I of course lamented the fact that Mistress so willingly gave Neptune a spot in between where I would sleep, and herself, but I had expected it to happen nonetheless.
"What an obvious disaster this was going to be…" I muttered to myself in an exasperated tone. "And those two are acting like it had nothing to do with them at all."
Currently sitting cross-legged on the makeshift bed were Mistress and Neptune. The former having pulled out her portable console the exact second they were done preparations. She had quickly roped Neptune into joining, and now they were playing some sort of video game. Which one, I could care less for.
While they were being boisterous and loud amongst themselves, it wasn't hard to notice Noire sitting beside Mistress with an uncomfortable look on her face as she scrolled a social media app on her phone.
"Hey! Neptune! That was super targeted wasn't it?! With that red shell?!"
"Of course! You're in third place right now! And I want that spot, if not first!"
"Grrr…! I won't let you!"
Noire let out a sigh at the excited banter between friends and stared off into the distance absentmindedly. I could tell she didn't feel comfortable in this situation. She had no one to talk to, and I was 'guarding' both people that she possibly could. Not that they would pay her any mind since they seemed so engrossed in their own little world.
"Whatever… screw this. I'm gonna leave for a bit." she said to no one in particular. Standing up from where she sat and leaving quietly through the door.
I frowned. Even if I was simply a maid, I feel like I could understand her situation and I wanted to talk with her, even if she despised me. At the same time however, I had my maidly duties to fulfill to the Mistress.
But when I cast a glance back to Mistress and Neptune… They were really into that game.
Letting out a heavy sigh, and forgoing my own obligations, I announced, "I'm going to take a walk."
Of course it was an excuse, but they both knew that. Especially the Mistress, who didn't bother looking up, but yet had the most ever-knowing smirk on her face when she heard my declaration.
I couldn't bear with the atmosphere any longer and left just as quietly as Noire. And because she hadn't left long before I did, it was easy to find and catch up to her. Matching her pace and walking behind her, like a maid would.
Even if it might piss her off.
Only issue was that it had been eerily silent for a long while as we walked aimlessly. Until finally, Noire spoke up and said something.
"Why aren't you with your Mistress?" asked Noire with a bemused expression on her face. "I thought it's your job to stay by her side all the time?"
I chuckled slightly, "Normally yes. But these are different circumstances, as this was a prerogative by the Mistress. I didn't have any say in the matter."
"Does she not like you calling her your Mistress?"
I shook my head, "Not at all. Even though it directly contradicts what everyone else expects of her, she forces me to address her so casually, and see herself as equal to me."
"But at the same time she can force you to participate in things without your consent because you are still a maid…?"
I nodded silently
Noire sighed and broke into a nervous sweat. "What a confusing woman. She wants to see you as an equal, but will still so easily abuse her authority to do as she pleases…"
"Mistress, is simply being herself after all. She doesn't like to be beholden to any sort of any responsibility and does what she wants to at her own discretion."
Noire raised an eyebrow at my statement. "Even though she's the next in line to rule over Leanbox?"
"Correct"
"Has she denounced her position then?"
"Not quite, no."
Noire stopped walking abruptly and groaned, placing a hand to her head in frustration, probably. "Then she's practically dodging any of the responsibilities she has as the only Princess of the Royal Family…!" she suddenly shot a glance at me, "How long has she been like this?"
"Ever since Neptune and I were kids." I responded blankly
"Wait, you've known Neptune since childhood?"
I gave a curt nod. "Indeed. I remember a lot of the details clearly."
My family has always been serving the Royal Family for years now. I can't place an exact date on when it started, but all I know is that all my parents knew was how to serve the Royal Family of Leanbox.
And that's what I was taught the moment I was able to recognize who my mom and dad were. There wasn't a day spent where I wasn't learning maid etiquette and so forth. And if I wasn't learning about my maidly duties, I was beside the Mistress always watching over her even at a young age.
It was during one of the days when I was watching over her in the back garden, when we were both around 6 years old, did Neptune and her mother appear in our lives.
"Oh! I didn't know that I'd be living beside the Royal Family!" exclaimed an unfamiliar woman from the next plot of land over.
The Mistress' parents raised an eyebrow, her mother responding. "And you are? Why is a commoner talking to us?"
"Oh I'm xxx! Can't I at least greet you all before you all isolate yourselves? I think it's at least customary for neighbors to at least greet each other if nothing else."
"Th-That is true." her father responded, clearing his throat to respond in kind to the woman, "I'm yyy and this is zzz. We have a daughter, her name is Vert."
"The brown haired one?"
"How dare y-"
The unfamiliar woman laughed heartily and waved her hand in jest. "I'm only joking Miss! I know that the blonde haired child is Vert! You're all remarkably similar to one another and very beautiful."
The Lady blushed and had a complicated look on her face, probably regretting her actions and choice of words towards the commoner woman, "T-Thank you…"
"Oh, right. I have a daughter of my own. Neptune. She's fairly shy you see, so she won't show herself, but I can assure you she's as cute as your daughter!"
The entire time the conversation happened, Mistress didn't care for it one bit, and I stood not too far from her, watching over to make sure she didn't hurt herself. It wasn't until the woman mentioned she had a daughter, did the Mistress turn to look in that direction as said woman raised her daughter in her arms for everyone to see.
"She looks cute…" Mistress mumbled to herself, as Neptune was crying from suddenly being lifted up and shown to everyone. "I want to play with her."
"But she's crying though…" I mumbled under my breath, which I thought the Mistress couldn't hear.
"She'll come around." Apparently I wasn't being quiet enough at the time.
And as the Mistress stood up from where she was sitting and walked closer to the fence that separated both houses, Neptune had seemingly quieted down and recognized someone was approaching her.
"...Brown?"
I blinked, "Me?"
"Her hair is really pretty." Then she seemingly noticed the Mistress approaching, "Oh! Ummm… the daughter right?"
Mistress nodded, "Indeed. Do you want to play with me?"
"Can I also play with brown hair?"
"She's my maid. She's not allowed to."
"What's a maid?"
Mistress looked to her parents, "It seems she won't play with me unless Blanc is involved. I want to play house with her, Mom, Dad."
Both of Mistress' parents had pained looks on their faces, letting a commoner not only play with their daughter, but let the servant get involved as well? How preposterous indeed.
However, the unfamiliar woman did promise she'd be out of their hair after today so they relented and let out very distressed sighs.
"She may play with my daughter and her maid…" the Mistress' father relented, a visibly conflicted smile on his face.
The unfamiliar woman giggled and nodded, placing Neptune down on our side of the fence as she ran over to us.
"Y-Yay! Let's be frens!" she said, clasping our hands together.
I could only stare in bewilderment through my poker face as Mistress giggled in response. "I want to be your friend too. Right, Blanc?"
I said nothing in response and we continued to play throughout the night that day.
"So she was always into you huh…" Noire mumbled. "I thought that was a recent development."
I let out a pained laugh and shook my head. "No, unfortunately not. Truly, Miss Neptune is a confusing person, and I've had to deal with her advances here and there as she and the Mistress have grown up."
Noire let out a loud sigh and put her hands to her hips. "I give up. I can't win against a childhood crush that's been happening for years. And here I thought I could partially win her over with my money from being Lastation's Princess…"
I chuckled. "If it makes you feel any better, I never asked for her infatuation to begin with. It's been troublesome for me ever since."
"I can imagine."
"Then what about you?"
"What about me?"
"I've told you why I knew Neptune from childhood, and why she's infatuated with me. Are you going to reciprocate in return then?"
"I have no obligation to reply,you know that?" Noire replied. Then a pause. "...I came here at the request of my parents to avoid involving my younger sister in any of the family affairs."
"I thought you weren't-"
"S-Shut up! I felt bad, okay?"
I giggled and grinned, "Sure. Whatever you say."
"Her name's Uni. I would've wanted to stay in Lastation and go to high school there, but my parents were 'suggesting' I go to Leanbox's national high school instead. Otherwise they'd start getting on Uni's case about being brought up 'properly'."
"So you're shielding her from all the politics and such so that she can live life as a normal girl?"
Noire nodded, a tinge of red to show her embarrassment as she did so.
"Commendable indeed. So then why Neptune and not my Mistress?"
"My parents aren't that heavy handed when it comes to their views on commoners." Noire said, "After all. My dad was a commoner before he met my Mom. They just want to secure the future of Lastation."
"I can see why that'd get muddy then."
"Yeah." Noire stopped suddenly, having arrived at a vending machine seemingly at random on our aimless wandering around the inn. "You thirsty? I am."
I shook my head. "Not particularly. But if you're the one offering, I feel compelled to say yes anyway. Considering this may be the only chance to receive kindness from you."
"Fuck off." Noire half-jokingly spat back at me, tossing me a can of orange soda, "You really like those long words and to drag out sentences huh?"
"I originally picked it up from Mistress, but now at this point, I really only do it to annoy her. Since she wants me to be so casual."
"I hope orange soda is okay by the way. I don't know what you like."
I smiled, "It's more than fine. My favorite fruits are tangerines after all. I appreciate the gesture."
"So long as you help me get through this field trip."
"I wasn't even supposed to be here. So it's a done deal."
I made my only friend that evening.
