## Chapter 177 – Collusion (20)
After finishing a heart-to-heart conversation with Hilda and greeting a new morning, Number 25 tidied up his bedding, stretched, and went outside. The cool morning air still enveloped the hallway, causing Number 25 to unconsciously cross his arms and hunch his shoulders.
The mansion’s morning begins with the maids cleaning.
Number 25 waved and greeted a familiar-faced maid who greeted him, then headed to Aser’s room to wake her up, as she was probably still asleep.
The mansion was strangely more crowded than usual, and maids with unfamiliar faces stood nervously in various places. Is it the day new maids arrive? Just as he was thinking that, he saw a familiar face among the maids, directing them.
Number 25 naturally approached her and called her name.
“Hilda?”
Hilda, called by Number 25, smiled with a much brighter expression than yesterday.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
“Yeah, but what’s all this…”
Before Number 25 could finish speaking, Hilda looked somewhere, her eyes widening, and she raised her voice at a maid who was carefully trying to clean a strangely shaped piece of pottery with a rag.
“Wait! You mustn’t touch that carelessly!”
The maid, suddenly scolded, turned pale and repeatedly apologized. Hilda, seeing her frightened expression, didn’t know what to do and offered words of reassurance and comfort.
“It’s okay. Just be careful next time. I’m not blaming you, but these kinds of objects can be dangerous because they might be cursed.”
Only after the maid, who bowed deeply, left, could Number 25 speak to Hilda again.
“What’s going on?”
In Number 25’s memory, Charlotte usually took care of all this. Hilda teaching someone… his brain couldn’t process it, so he even wondered if he was dreaming for a moment.
“What’s with that look? Is it weird for me to be doing this?”
Hilda smiled awkwardly and poked Number 25 in the side.
“I had a little chat with Charlotte early yesterday morning, and she asked me to take on some tasks.”
He couldn’t imagine Charlotte entrusting work to someone else. Especially to Hilda, who usually slurred her words when drunk and got excited while watching Number 25 have sex with other women, then masturbated?
As he looked at Hilda with suspicion, she turned her gaze away as if embarrassed.
“I might have only shown you strange sides of myself, but I’m pretty good when I’m serious, you know?”
Number 25 chuckled. True friendship must be genuinely rejoicing in a friend’s growth. Number 25 held Hilda’s hand tightly and offered his congratulations.
“Still, that means you’ve been recognized by Charlotte, right? Congratulations!”
“You think so too? If I grow like this little by little, it feels like the day we can drink together isn’t far off.”
While they were having a trivial conversation, a maid who had finished a simple task and returned to Hilda asked a question.
“Hilda-nim, how should I clean the hallway?”
At the maid’s question, Hilda took the mop, which was like a part of her body, and personally demonstrated. It was the first time he had seen Hilda teaching someone, but it seemed to suit her surprisingly well. He even thought that it would be nice to keep seeing her like that in the mansion.
The maid, while fixing her gaze on Hilda, who was teaching her the work, occasionally glanced at Number 25, who was looking at Hilda with a pleased expression. She only glanced with her eyes to avoid being caught, but excessive behavior is bound to be noticed.
“Are you looking too much?”
It was only natural since it was hard to see men outside, but Hilda warned, as if having experienced the end of that gaze firsthand. The maid blushed and shook her head, saying that wasn’t the case.
A love blooming in a new workplace, and if that person is a pretty boy that anyone would inadvertently glance at while walking down the street, isn’t that a situation everyone dreams of at least once?
Number 25 smiled slightly at the maid looking at him and bowed his head.
“Hello?”
The maid thought for a moment.
Could it be that she also has a chance? Otherwise, there was no way such a pretty boy would approach her and greet her so kindly. It was a common thought for someone who had never had a proper relationship before.
Hilda, observing the maid’s expression, eventually sighed and told her the cruel truth.
“He’s handsome, right? But you can’t just go after him. He’s the Demon Lord and the head maid’s thing, you know.”
The maid’s face, which had been flushed, instantly paled at the sight of Hilda’s pinky finger. The woman quickly greeted Number 25 and Hilda and disappeared as if running away.
“But suddenly so many maids have come, did something happen?”
Clearly, right after Number 25 returned to District 7, the mansion was so deserted that it felt chilly. Now, it felt as warm as when he first came to this mansion.
“The Demon Lord has come to her senses, right? So it seems like she’s creating as much work as possible. Demons with weak strength or stamina are sent to the maid association, and powerful monsters are sent to other districts for labor.”
“That’s good?”
If Hilda’s words were true, then no one in District 7 would have to starve anymore. They could earn money from proper jobs, eat what they wanted, buy what they wanted, and give gifts to their beloved families.
“Right? It’s not a simple thing. She’s giving everyone who has been wandering the power to work little by little to live a better life.”
For some reason, Number 25’s shoulders felt like they were rising as Hilda only said good things about Aser.
Speak of the devil, and there she is. Before he knew it, Number 25 felt something heavy on his shoulder. Aser, with an expression that showed she hadn’t fully woken up yet, hugged Number 25 from behind. Aser brought her face close to Number 25’s ear and said in a mumbling voice.
“Why didn’t you come to wake me up? I waited and got tired, and you weren’t in the room…”
“I’m sorry. I had something to talk about…”
Saying that, he looked towards where Hilda was, but Hilda, who had been happily talking until just now, was nowhere to be seen. She had quickly moved out of the way, noticing Aser coming.
“More importantly, you don’t have any special plans today, do you?”
Plans? He didn’t have any specific plans. It was better to deal with matters related to Orca when he had time. When Number 25 nodded, Aser smiled and opened her mouth.
“There’s still some time until the competition, right? If you don’t have any other plans, I’d like to go on a date for once.”
A date with Aser, it was joyful news just hearing it. But there was one thing that bothered him. Before Number 25 could even bring it up, Aser spoke first.
“Charlotte’s fine. She’s going to be busy today.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Nothing special. I just wanted to monopolize you today, so I gave Charlotte a lot of work.”
Charlotte would definitely be jealous later if she found out about this. Number 25, who had already realized that he would have to put up with all the grumbling that came from that jealousy, could only smile.
“Then get ready and come out. I’ll be waiting in the yard.”
After saying what she wanted to say, Aser kissed Number 25 on the cheek and walked away with light steps. Similarly, a smile never left Number 25’s face as he went to his room and started getting ready. He couldn’t even remember when he had last spent time leisurely with Aser.
Number 25 chose appropriate clothes from the closet and went out to the yard, approaching Aser, who was sitting on a garden chair waiting for him, and carefully asked.
“Have you been waiting long?”
“No, I just came out too.”
Number 25 stared blankly at Aser, who stood up and faced him, with a feeling that made him feel like he was going to stop breathing. Aser was wearing a pure white dress instead of her usual suit. Although it couldn’t completely hide her chest line, the simple, unadorned dress exuded a charm he had never seen in her before.
No other modifiers were needed. She was simply dazzlingly beautiful.
Aser, as if embarrassed, twisted her hair with her finger and watched Number 25’s reaction.
“It’s the first time I’ve dressed like this… is it strange?”
Number 25 shook his head vigorously and said.
“N, no! It suits you very well.”
Only after hearing Number 25’s answer did Aser smile with relief.
“Really? That’s a relief.”
Aser intertwined her fingers with Number 25’s and matched his pace as they headed out of the mansion.
The gate of the massive fortress wall that divided District 7 and the surrounding territory of the mansion was now wide open. Everyone freely came and went, greeting Aser with bright expressions. As Number 25 looked at them with a fresh feeling, Aser stroked Number 25’s hair and said.
“It’s all thanks to you.”
“Thanks to me? Other people have just realized how hard the Demon Lord has been working.”
“No, it’s thanks to you. You opened my eyes. If it weren’t for you, I would never have seen this scenery again.”
Aser, who had been silently looking at the streets, which were much more vibrant than before, shook her head as if realizing that she shouldn’t be doing this, and opened her mouth.
“Let’s stop talking about this now. Today, I’m here as your woman, not as the Demon Lord, right? Forget all this work-related talk and just focus on having fun. Got it?”
Aser’s consideration was conveyed beyond their clasped hands. Number 25 vowed to spend his day today solely for Aser and headed into the crowd.
