3 Okay

I know the maid said we'd arrive there shortly, but it only took 10 minutes! I didn't know I lived so close to the slums. I wonder if she's ever been near the house… I wonder what face she'll make when I tell her that it belongs to her.

On a side note, I need to learn my maid's name. But I can't let her know that I forgot her name. Let's see…

"Introduce yourself to me. I want to make sure your introduction is not too overbearing or too simple." Even though I said this, I wonder if she'll fall for it… Ah! She's looking at me suspiciously!

With a slight head bow, her right hand on her chest and her left hand straight on her side she introduced herself as a knight. "I understand. My name is Madison Waters. I am head knight of the Valentine family's first division."

Oh! I've never seen someone introduce themselves this way. That was pretty cool. And she's head knight? I knew she was strong, but first division? I don't know much about ranks, but first of anything has to be pretty good. Is she just acting clumsy in front of me? I'll have to be more cautious around her. I really liked her introduction though.

With a few gentle claps and a smile on my face I decided to praise her.

"That was really cool, Maddy. I'll be asking a lot of you from now on, so please continue to hold your pristine performance and I'll reward you as soon as I can."

"H-huh? Um... Miss?" She had such a complicated look on her face. I thought that was a good compliment. I even told her I'd reward her… Oh right!! I don't know how the old me used to be! Maybe she never complimented her employees? Come to think of it… My name is Zara Valentine. I wonder if my cursed friend chose this name, or it was coincidence? There's no way, right? I'm sure he planned it.

"Just accept the compliment, don't make things difficult for me." I waved my hand in a downwards motion to tell her to not worry about it. I don't want to deal with this awkward situation, but luckily, the coachman intruded at the perfect time.

"We've arrived at the the slums, but where exactly should I be heading?"

"Just wait for us here, we'll be going for a walk. Maddy, grab the shoes I put in the bag I gave you and bring them with you."

I opened the carriage door and quickly stepped down. I'm getting pretty nervous, I wonder what she'll look like. I know how beautiful she'll be when she gets older, but I can't wait to see how cute she is now. I might get a bit tired from this, but there's no other way around it. I'll thin and expand my Alm around here until I feel her presence.

Unbeknownst to me, while I was gathering Alm in my hand and spreading it all over the slums, Madison was staring at me with a calculative and wary expression. Thinking back on it now, I should have paid more attention to what I was doing when I first came back, this brought me a lot of problems, but Cera took priority and I think it was worth it since I got to see her on the very first day.

I found her faster than I thought I would. I was pleasantly surprised when I found her despotic aura emanating through the hundreds of people in this dilapidated city. This made me realize how bad my taste in women is. In my previous life, she was the one whom killed thousands of people simply because she had a fight with the princess of their country. Yeah, her magnificent eldritch aura hasn't changed a bit. I was a bit worried that she would be more restrained since she's younger, but it seems I was worried for nothing. Well, since she's still young, maybe she'll be a bit more patient.

I reinforced my body with Alm and instantly shot towards the alley where I could sense her. I could feel Maddy a few steps behind me but she didn't stop me and simply followed along. Maybe she's starting to understand me instead of questioning everything I do?

As I turned into the alley, I saw a few kids huddled together and my beloved Cera sitting across them by herself. She was clenching her hands together with her arms over her knees. She was wearing a black torn rag-like shirt and no shoes. She had small cuts and bruises all over her feet, legs, and arms. Her face had dirt and grime all over while her oily hair was disheveled with dirt here and there. My heart started beating so hard that I began to feel uncomfortable. Being able to see her made me so unbelievably happy, but seeing her like this, it felt like my heart was being crushed. I slowly approached with echoing footsteps into the narrow alley and a few of the huddled kids started shifting away while Cera looked up at me as I stopped in front of her.

I feel extremely distraught. I don't know what to say. How do I approach her? Looking at her is making my heart throb with conflict.

"Hey, what's your name?" I tried my best to smile and spoke in the most gentle and soothing voice I could make while I invitingly spread out my hand in front of her. The moment she looked at me with her light blue eyes, I felt just how lucky and enamored I am. To be able to see her again is nothing short of a miracle.

"Cera." She replied but didn't move. Even though she looks like a scared feral kitten, her eyes have that indelible regalness that I fell in love with. I should thread lightly, I don't want to make her suspicious of me. How do I ask her to be my wife without making her feel weird about it…

"You have a really pretty name, Cera. My name is Zara Valentine, and I came here to find someone who would be willing to become the lady of my house. I would like you, Cera, to be that person. W-would you please come home with me?" Shit! I stuttered! I'm super nervous!! What if she says no! Ahhh!!

As soon as I saw her open her mouth, it looked like she was going to say no! My heart felt like it stopped.

"O…kay…" She reached her hand out and touched mine and I felt a shiver running down from my head to my toes. I can't believe how happy I feel right now.

"Alright! Let's go home, Cera!" As I helped her get up, I saw her feet again and instead I forcefully pulled her against me and picked her up. As I turned around with Cera in my arms, I leaned into her ear and I softly spoke to her with a smile.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. The floor is just a bit cold, so please bear with it until we get home." As I holstered her on my chest, I tried to hold her a bit more intimately and more carefully so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable.

"Miss, what about the other children?" Maddy suddenly asked me a question I wasn't expecting to hear. I tilted my head slightly to the left just to see them out of the corner of my eye and looking at them made me feel nauseous.

"Who cares. Let them freeze together." Since they didn't bother to help my cute little Cera, they deserve to die.

As we walked back to the carriage, I could feel the homeless people looking at us strangely, but their scared curiosity doesn't matter to me. Now that I have Cera with me, the only things that matters is making her happy and helping my cursed friend come back. I urged one of the knights that was next to the carriage to open the door and I carefully walked inside so I wouldn't bump Cera against the door frame.

I sat down and placed Cera on my lap while I held her back with one hand and one free hand so I could feed her.

"Maddy, sit next to me and hold the lunch with extra meat that I told you to bring. And hand me a fork." Maddy quickly stepped into the carriage and shuffled through the bag we brought and took out the two lunches. I looked down at Cera, who had an awkward expression on her face and tried to reassure her while I coaxed her with food.

"It's not too extravagant, but I hope you like it. I'll get you whatever you want to eat in the future, so don't hesitate to tell me. But for now, please eat this. I brought extra meat just for you. So make sure you eat it all." I held the fork that Maddy gave me and slowly stabbed the piece of meat covered with sauce and moved it up towards Cera's mouth.

She was looking at me with a concerned expression. Does she think I poisoned it? I quickly brought the fork to my mouth and ate the piece of meat.

"It's not poisoned, see? You can eat it without worrying about it. Just let me know if you like it. I'll prepare some more for you in the future." I reached out for another piece of meat and as I was bringing it close to her mouth, Cera suddenly spoke.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Well, that's a fair question. To her, I probably seem like a rich lunatic taking her in on a whim or maybe trying to make her believe in me just so I could hurt her later. Nobles are usually ill-natured animals, I know this from experience.

"Maddy, seal your ears with Alm for a few seconds." Maddy quickly obeyed my orders and did as I asked. Wow, she's getting better and better. It really makes me wonder if her clumsiness is an act. I pulled Cera up and leaned into her ear.

"This may be hard to believe, but I am willing to bind myself to a Alm oath, if that's what it takes to convince you. The reason I'm being nice to you, is because I fell in love with your eyes from the moment I saw you. I want you to look at me. I want you to see what I'll do for you. I want you to see the world with me. I want to experience the life you want to live. I want to be there for your sad moments and be part of your happy ones. I want you to see how much I love you. I want you to look at me, the way I look at you."

She kept looking at me with a concerned expression, but her body seems to have relaxed a bit.

"Here, Cera, I hope you like it." I pressed the meat towards her mouth again and she finally opened up.

"Do you like it?" I asked her with a smile on my face.

"Yeah, thank you, Zara."

My heart started beating faster as soon as she called my name. I know this isn't a name I'm used to, but as soon as she said it, I felt my mind going hysterical. I started affectionately rubbing her back as I grabbed another piece of meat.

"N-no need to thank me, this is just a selfish request of mine, so please, let me keep feeding you." With a dazzling smile, she looked up at me and spoke.

"Okay."