48 Transparency (Letty’s POV)

"Do I really have to wear this?" I groaned as I asked Sophia and Carolina, who were currently forcing me to wear this rather revealing maid uniform.

Today is Aria's birthday, and for some reason, both Sophia and Carolina think that it'd be a perfect birthday gift to make me wear a short version of my maid uniform when I go to serve her after dinner.

"Of course, you don't have to do anything else. Just go into her room while wearing it, and she'll handle the rest herself. What are you shy of? You both already bathe together every day. So go on, she'll love it", Carolina said.

"No, that's completely different. Sigh, alright, I'll do it. It better be worth it". Sensing that there was no use arguing, I agreed.

***

Sigh, Why did I agree to this?

I looked in the mirror to find myself in a short- no- a very short version of my uniform.

The maid uniform that Lady Sophia and Lady Carolina made me wear had been altered to show off more skin. The hem of the skirt had been raised so that it ended several inches above my knees, and the sleeves had been shortened to reveal more of my arms. The neckline had also been lowered, exposing a hint of my cleavage.

The outfit still had the same classic design of a traditional maid uniform, with a white apron and frilly lace accents. But the shortened hemline and sleeves made the uniform.

I just hope what they said is true and Aria really likes it. Otherwise, all this embarrassment will be in vain.

As I adjusted the frilly apron and headband, I couldn't help but feel self-conscious in the outfit.

'Well, stop thinking about it! If she likes it, that's all that matters' I lightly slapped my cheeks and brought up my courage to go and see Aria.

I wrapped a shawl around myself and quickly made my way to Aria's room. As per her schedule, she must be in the bathroom. So I turned my attention to the newest member in the room, the little bird. It is just so adorable, with its small wings and glowing body. So in an attempt to pet it, I put my finger through the gaps of the cage. Unsurprisingly, my finger wasn't able to reach it. But then, the bird, who seemed to have understood my actions, leaned in closer to my finger and bobbed its little head on it. Aww, I love it. Sir Richard chose such a nice gift for Aria. I wish my gift was as fancy as this, but I guess she'll have to settle for what I got her.

After a while, the bathroom's door opened, and Aria walked out while drying her hair in her bathrobe.

"Oh, Letty, you're here. Why didn't you join me…". At this moment, she looked at me and halted her steps. Was it a bad idea all along?

+500 SP

Guess not…

"Wow… uhm… Well, I finally figured out why my big brother in my last life liked maids so much, hehe", she smiled and walked closer to me.

Oh, dear God, this is so embarrassing.

Looking at the amount of SP, Lady Carolina must be telling the truth. In the past month, I often got +50 and +100 SPs for various tasks, such as helping her or just performing my duties as an assistant. But a +500 for just showing up means that she must really like this.

Well, it's good that it's working, but isn't she staring a bit too much? I told the system to skip any SP alerts for now.

"Don't stare so much. It's embarrassing", I sheepishly said.

I hoped that she would stop, but she didn't. "Hehe, no can do. You must have known I would stare before you wore the dress. So you can't complain now". She touched my cheeks with both hands. I took the signal and leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Mmm, I love your embarrassed face… Anyway, whose idea was it?", she asked.

"Lady Carolina and Lady Sophia said that you'd love it, so I wore it. So… How do I look?", I asked as I lightly lifted the frills of my skirt and turned around.

"You look very cute… and sexy", she whispered something after 'cute', but I didn't hear it. "They didn't force you? Did they?", she inquired.

"Well, a little. But I agreed on my own accord", I clarified.

"That's better"

"By the way, was that bird always red? I distinctly remember it glowed yellow when Dad gave it to me"

"You're right! It was emitting a warm yellow light in the evening, but now it's red. Can we turn off the light stones for a second?", I asked.

"Sure"

After turning the lights off,

"Oh yeah, it changed its color. It has a pinkish hue now. Fascinating… Dad must have known about this and asked me to look up more information about it. Let's do that tomorrow"

"Yes!"

I turned on the lights, and Aria started walking towards the wardrobe room.

"Wait, I actually had some things planned for tonight, if you don't mind", I said.

"Oh really? Sure!", her smile widened. It's good that wearing this tiny costume paid off.

"Take off your robe and lay down. Use these towels to cover yourself. I'll give you a special massage first", I said.

She did as I asked and laid down on the bed.

I activated my 'Massage' skill, and gave it my all. And it was well received, earning me a series of "mhm"s and "oh"s. Hearing those sounds was strangely tingly. I don't know what's happening with my body nowadays, every time I am near Aria, I get all tingly.

I'm sure I'll end up earning lots of SP tonight.

After the successful massage session, I let her get dressed in her nightwear.

"And now for the gift. Actually, I, Lady Carolina, and Lady Sophia had this idea of pooling our money together to get you something bigger, but it still looks pale in comparison to Sir Richard's gift. I hope you don't mind"

"There is more? This cosplay massage was enough for me, you didn't have to do anything more. And you shouldn't have to compare anyone to Dad, he's just a fool for his daughter", she said.

"Oh, stop it. I know that you love receiving gifts. Close your eyes and count to ten", I said, and I brought out her gift.

She counted to ten, just like I asked, and opened her eyes. In my hands was a thick book that looked to be around 500 pages long. The jacket of the book read King Jerome I. Many people believe that it was written by King Jerome himself, but others say it's just some random gibberish.

"This… This is a book about King Jerome I. I had been looking for any of his belongings for such a long time. Where did you even find it?", she asked.

"Yes, it was Lady Sophia's idea. She told us that you were looking really hard, with no luck to find anything related to King Jerome I when you were at the academy. So I had some people look around and found this diary in the hands of a lesser-known noble. I wasn't sure if it was even the real deal, as the book itself is unreadable. So after confirming its authenticity, we struck a deal with the book's owner and bought it"

We actually had to use some connections as well as a hefty sum of six platinum plates– that's 600 gold coins! But if the diary is the real deal, I'm sure it's worth the price. To be honest, we were ready to raise the price if he negotiated more.

Aria looked very content with our gift. She quickly opened the first page and said,

"My God, it's written in English. Oh, I missed this language so much. It says that it's his personal diary that he kept since he reincarnated in this world. Look!", she said, pointing towards some gibberish on the first page.

"Wait! Can you actually read this?", I asked, shocked. As nobody was able to decipher it until now. So people believed that it was a fake.

"Yeah, and now I'm sure that even King Jerome was reincarnated from my previous world like me. This language is called 'English', the most popular language in my previous world. I had my suspicions, but now I'm sure that he was someone from my old world", she cheerfully said.

"Wow… I don't know what to say. If people find out that you can read this, your secret would be in danger. So, please don't tell anyone", I said.

"I'm not an idiot, I won't tell anyone about this. This is so cool, though. I am not the only one who has reincarnated from my previous world. I'm not the only freak! Yay!". She jumped and hugged me.

"I'm happy that you liked our gift. But don't call yourself a freak, I don't like it"

"Hehe, sure. And thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it", she said.

After we broke our hug, I saw her keeping the book away. Confused by her actions, I asked, "You don't want to read it now?"

"I would have, but it's already kind of late. And I won't get another night with my seductive maid, will I? I'll read it later. For now, I want to spend more time with you. Thank you for making my birthday so special". After another quick kiss, we settled on the bed with Aria holding my waist and my head leaning on her shoulder.

We chatted for quite some time, and I kept having those tingly sensations throughout the evening. That's it, I should tell her. I've put this up for long enough.

"Aria, there is something really embarrassing that I've been meaning to tell you"

I gritted my teeth and started explaining,

"It's about the day you returned from the academy…", I described my thoughts, insecurities, and how I unknowingly touched myself in the shower. And about the time I did it again and again, even after knowing what it meant. And also about my class skill.

"So the point is, I didn't know what I was doing. I'm sorry. I know that I shouldn't have let my desire take control. And it was very unladylike of me. I was just confused, and it felt so good. Even now, throughout this evening, I've been feeling all sorts of weird tingles in my body. But I swear, I'm not doing this on purpose, something's wrong with my body. I… I won't do it again, so please don't think less of me", I pleaded.

"Shh, shh. Calm down, Letty. There is nothing wrong with you, it's a perfectly normal thing to do. You don't have to feel so guilty about it. It's your body, you shouldn't feel any need to explain anything to me or to anybody else. I've told you before, you are way too hard on yourself", she said, embracing me tightly and gently stroking my hair.

"But the books from church… They say that proper ladies should never do something like that. A-Aren't you disappointed that I'm not a proper lady?", I asked, my voice trembling with both guilt and embarrassment.

"That book is stupid, don't pay attention to such nonsense. There's nothing unladylike about you. You are more of a lady than I could ever be. You're my precious girlfriend, and I love you just the way you are. So don't feel any absurd guilt about anything. Who cares about the silly church's ideology", she continued to hold me close.

As expected, I'm way too embarrassed to look at her face, not to mention my clothing. "Aria, let's not talk about anything that I just said today, especially about the skill. It's very embarrassing", I whispered. Ah, this is so humiliating.

"Hehe, as you command. I know that you are burning with embarrassment, but let me tell you something. I'm very happy that you were able to overcome your guilt. It's just like before, when you first told me about your class. It feels like we are back to the level of transparency we had before", she said in a playful tone, lightening the mood. I also feel great getting that off my chest.

I reminisced about the old days, when we had just met.

Back then, I was just a naive kid who had no idea what my class actually meant. Now that I know what it actually means, I realize that if I hadn't met Aria, my life would have been unbearably challenging. I am endlessly grateful for everything she has brought to my life. She has given me a home, a family, and so many precious memories. She's the best thing that has ever happened to me. And for that, I love her with all my heart.