## Chapter 26 – No. 25. Drunk
No. 25, having been thoroughly squeezed by Acer under the guise of a shower, dragged his wobbly waist out with difficulty.
Acer apologized from the morning, said he would see him later, and disappeared into his office, leaving No. 25 alone in front of the great bathhouse.
The pleasure he had gained even at the cost of skipping meals vanished like a dream when he didn’t see the person he liked next to him. All that remained after the pleasure was gone was his stomach clinging to his back and the rumbling of hunger.
No. 25 grabbed his empty stomach and headed to the dining hall.
The dining hall, located in the opposite direction of the bathhouse, was too far for patient No. 25, who had been drained of all his energy since morning.
He gritted his teeth and somehow managed to move his feet, finally arriving at the dining hall, but breakfast had already been cleared away, leaving it spotless.
In despair, No. 25 searched the floor for any fallen food, but the maids of the Demon King’s castle, who were the elite of the elite, would never be so sloppy.
‘What should I do…’
No. 25 looked around again.
There was no rice, but fortunately, a small amount of snacks prepared in one corner of the dining hall was still left.
No. 25, mindful of the maid who was left cleaning, put bread on a plate and sat down at an empty seat.
He shoved the stale, dry bread into his mouth and began to chew slowly.
His stomach was vaguely filled, but his heart was still empty.
Now that he had known the warmth of another person, eating alone was all the more lonely.
Just then, a delicious smell that stimulated his appetite spread in front of No. 25 with a thud. No. 25 turned his head to look to the side, and there was the maid who had been cleaning the dining hall until just now, looking down at him.
For a moment, No. 25 was under the illusion that he was looking at a blue sky.
Her hair was the color of the sky, and her nape, visible due to her hair tied back, was full of cool healthiness.
The maid, seeing No. 25 looking back and forth between the food and herself with a bewildered expression, scratched the back of her head and opened her mouth.
“I left this to eat after cleaning, would you like to eat it with me? That’s not enough, is it?”
Was she an angel sent from heaven after hearing his prayers? No. 25 asked back, his eyes shining.
“Really…?”
The maid, hearing No. 25’s words, grinned, revealing her white teeth.
“Yeah, food tastes better when you eat it together, right? Ah, I’ll go put away the mop and come back, so wait a minute.”
The maid took the mop and bucket of water she had been using to clean the dining hall and went to the back of the kitchen.
No. 25 couldn’t take his eyes off the food even while waiting for her.
Perhaps it was due to hunger, but that short moment felt like an eternity. No. 25’s wait ended when the maid put away the mop and came back with a small bowl in her hand.
She sat down opposite No. 25, handed him utensils, and began to serve food into No. 25’s bowl.
“Ah, I can do it myself…”
“It’s okay. I’m doing it because I want to.”
It was the first time he had received such kindness from a maid other than Acer or Charlotte.
The maid started her belated meal and asked No. 25 a question.
“What’s your name?”
The maid, hearing No. 25’s name, opened her mouth with wide eyes before she could even swallow the food in her mouth.
Some of the contents inside splattered, but No. 25 didn’t care much.
“Oh, really!? You’re that rumored male slave? By the way, I’m Hilda. Feel free to call me by my name.”
Hilda, after finishing her words, reached out her hand to No. 25 and asked for a handshake. No. 25 took her slightly firm hand and asked, as if confirming, about the content that bothered him among the words she had said.
“The rumored male slave?”
“Ah, the person involved might not know. You’re the first male slave to come to the Demon King’s castle. So you’re quite famous among the maids.”
Hilda swallowed all the food in her mouth and said again.
“Well, being famous isn’t always a good thing. Just a warning in advance, you should be careful of any woman who is overly kind to you. There are definitely some who are doing it out of genuine goodwill, but most of them are just trying to sleep with you.”
No. 25 put down his spoon at the rather direct words and asked cautiously.
“Then… are you also interested in my body, Hilda?”
Unlike before, there was tension in No. 25’s eyes. If Hilda’s kindness was for his body, he couldn’t purely accept it.
Hilda laughed and answered, making No. 25’s worries pale in comparison.
“Well, I’m also a common woman in her 20s with overflowing sexual desire, so it would be a lie to say I have no interest at all? But I have no intention of laying a hand on someone the Demon King likes.”
No. 25, knowing that Hilda’s kindness was not for sexual desire, breathed a sigh of relief.
For a while, the conversation between them stopped, and only the sound of chewing food and the clattering of utensils echoed in the quiet dining hall.
When about half of the meat was left in the bowl, Hilda, who was eating, was suddenly looking around so much that even No. 25 thought it was strange.
No. 25 swallowed the meat in his mouth and asked cautiously.
“Are you looking for something?”
“No, not looking for anything…. No. 25, from now on, this is our little secret, okay?”
No. 25’s body flinched at the word secret.
Perhaps because of the conversation they had just had, the only imagination in No. 25’s head was being violated by Hilda, who had become unable to control her sexual desire.
In the end, was the maid named Hilda also after his body? No. 25 relaxed his body as if resigned.
But unlike No. 25’s expectations, Hilda suddenly approached the kitchen and began to take something out from below, constantly looking around as if she were a thief.
What Hilda was holding in her hand was a brown bottle. She hummed and happily snapped the neck of the bottle, then put it to her mouth and began to drink.
The sour smell that stung his nose was a familiar smell that No. 25 had smelled sometime before.
Yes, it was the smell of alcohol that ogres drink only when they are happy to sell slaves at a good price.
No. 25, knowing what kind of behavior a drunk person exhibits, looked at Hilda with an incredulous gaze.
Was it even possible for a maid of the Demon King’s castle to drink alcohol during work?
Hilda, conscious of No. 25’s gaze, raised the corners of her mouth with a subtly loosened, red-stained face from before.
“Why? Is it your first time seeing someone drink alcohol? Ah, we have to keep it a secret from the Demon King or the head maid!?”
Even though there was no guarantee that No. 25 would keep the promise, Hilda began to drink alcohol to her heart’s content.
Once with the half-eaten meal as a snack, once while having a meaningless conversation with No. 25, and once just because she wanted to drink.
Each time the alcohol entered her mouth, the contents of the bottle noticeably decreased, and in response, Hilda’s face noticeably reddened.
She wasn’t particularly causing a ruckus, but it was a face that anyone could tell was drunk. She even emphasized that it was a secret, but wasn’t she drinking too recklessly? Such thoughts even crossed his mind.
Hilda barely opened her mouth after emptying one bottle.
“Phew…! This is what I live for…?”
Her pronunciation was fine, but the tone of her voice was raised to the fullest. Hilda hummed again and was about to go get more alcohol when she made a suggestion to No. 25.
“Ah, I’m going to drink one more bottle and then leave, so you can leave now if you want. Or do you want to drink with me?”
No. 25 was lost in thought for a moment at Hilda’s words.
Was drinking alcohol that good? He had only seen two people drinking alcohol so far, but both of them seemed to be in a good mood. If he could feel that good just by drinking, he wanted to try it at least once.
Unknown.
There was a vague fear of the unknown, but his curiosity to experience it surpassed his fear. No. 25 answered Hilda with expectant eyes.
“Um… then just one sip….”
Hilda, hearing No. 25’s words, put her arm around his shoulder and made a pleasant voice.
“Good, you actually wanted to drink too, right? Come on, chug it down.”
Hilda shoved the mouth of the bottle she had put her mouth on into No. 25’s mouth.
A slight apple scent spread from the entrance of the bottle, and then the scent and taste of the alcohol flowing down his throat made his head throb. He couldn’t understand Hilda at all for drinking something like this and liking it.
But such trivial complaints were only fleeting.
The first sip became two sips, and it wasn’t long before two sips became one bottle. No. 25’s body, which had emptied a bottle of alcohol in an instant, gradually lost strength, and his thoughts began to blur.
His head ached as if it would break, but his dazed mind felt like he was floating in the sky, so he smiled without realizing it.
Hilda seemed to be in a good mood with the first drinking buddy she had made in the Demon King’s castle, and she kept offering No. 25 alcohol.
No. 25 also wanted to feel the current sensation more, so he didn’t refuse and drank the alcohol as Hilda gave it to him.
Hilda and No. 25 emptied three more bottles of alcohol in one go, and then collapsed on the table with satisfied expressions.
Hilda, taking out a clock from her pocket and checking it, was surprised and left No. 25 alone with the irresponsible words, “That’s it for today.”
He fully understood. She had to start working again in a state where she couldn’t even control her own body properly, so there was no way she could afford to take care of a stranger she had met for the first time today.
No. 25 slowly got up from his seat. He knocked over a chair because he couldn’t control his strength well, and stumbled while bumping into the table little by little. At that moment, Charlotte’s image suddenly came to No. 25’s mind.
He wanted to talk to Charlotte again, who had suddenly shown strange behavior and committed the atrocity of breaking his horn. With that one thought, No. 25 somehow moved his body, which he couldn’t even control properly, and began to wander around the castle.
Every maid who passed by gossiped about No. 25, who was staggering drunk, but there was no way that the words could be heard properly by No. 25, who was lost in the dizzying world created by the intoxication.
No matter how much he looked around, Charlotte, whom No. 25 wanted to see, was nowhere to be found. No. 25, who had searched the dining hall where he had just been drinking, the great bathhouse, and the first floor, but couldn’t even find Charlotte’s shadow, stopped in his tracks and pondered.
‘If she’s not on the first floor, could she be in the yard?’
There was no particular reason. Why? Because the yard was closer. You shouldn’t try to understand the thoughts of a drunk person.
Every time he took a step on the stairs leading to the yard without fear, he came close to falling several times, but No. 25 was finally able to reach the yard.
You might say, “Why all the fuss about something as trivial as going to the yard?” but for No. 25 now, going to the yard was also something that could intoxicate him with a great sense of accomplishment.
However, the moment he arrived in the yard and received the sunlight pouring down, a wave of nausea overwhelmed No. 25.
No. 25, feeling the sensation for the first time, sat down on the spot and covered his mouth with both hands.
Just in time, another maid who was in the yard saw No. 25 and helped him up.
The maid frowned at the smell of alcohol coming from him and asked in a slightly annoyed voice.
“What’s with the smell of alcohol from the morning… are you okay?”
No. 25 nodded instead of answering.
While nodding, No. 25 saw Charlotte standing next to the fountain.
As if possessed by something, No. 25 broke away from the maid who had helped him and approached Charlotte.
Charlotte didn’t seem to notice No. 25’s presence, who had come right next to her. No. 25 came right next to Charlotte and carefully called her name.
“Charlotte…”
Charlotte, seeing No. 25, immediately avoided his gaze and answered coldly.
“Let’s talk later.”
Charlotte, after finishing her words, turned her back on No. 25 and moved her steps elsewhere.
The only thought in No. 25’s head when he saw Charlotte leaving was one.
If he let Charlotte go like this now, he would no longer be able to return to their original relationship.
He didn’t want such an ending. He couldn’t accept it.
No. 25 desperately clung to Charlotte’s fluttering skirt.
Charlotte, seeing No. 25’s appearance, which was completely different from usual, stuttered and panicked.
“W-why are you suddenly doing this!?”
A strong, sweet smell of alcohol emanated from No. 25’s body, which was embraced in her arms.
No. 25, clinging to Charlotte, pleaded in a tearful voice.
“I was wrong… I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’ll do better in the future…”
Charlotte, having finally grasped the whole situation, took No. 25 to her room before the attention of the maids around her could be focused on them.
