Shocking news!

"WHAT IN THE…!?"

"...?"

"...?"

In the middle of helping Adrianna unpack Melinda's belongings, Zane called out, blushing crimson while holding a set of something looking like a bunch of belts and strings, making the girls turn to him with slight confusion.

"This…! This is clearly inappropriate! Y-you're not planning to wear it around here, are you!?!"

The monstrous servant gasped in embarrassment and turned to Melinda, staring at the girl with his distorted eyes that ended up at least doubling in size.

"...~"

For a second, Melinda's eyes shone playfully and even in a somehow excited way, but she shook her head to get rid of those kind of thoughts.

"Zane. I like where this is going. I love the idea of you being jealous about something like that, but... despite your imagination, that is just a garter belt. You know, for holding up the stockings and... well... garters."

The gold-haired girl breathed out in amusement before pointing out.

"One made purely for functionality and not for the looks, might I add."

The brown-haired girl joined in explanation.

"Working girl's best friend. Not to mention, it's mine. Please put it back."

The maid added casually, maybe because Zane was acting embarrassed enough for all of them and then some.

"Oh...? Ohhh… I-I'm sorry, Miss Adrianna…"

The monstrous servant breathed out, still blushing, but not nearly as much as when he misunderstood the owner of the garments, about to put the piece back in the suitcase.

"Mister Zane, I didn't expect a reaction like that from you. It would be more fitting for a boy going through puberty than a man with certain worldly knowledge~"

Adrianna chuckled, trying to make a lighthearted joke so that Zane could laugh it all off, too.

"...wordly...?"

"Did I say something wrong?"

But interestingly, instead of things playing out like that, the monstrous servant turned his head away while his ears and neck became red again, confusing the brown-haired maid.

"He certainly has a lot of knowledge of the world, don't get me wrong here, Adi. But, all things considered, right now Zane is, like, seventeen? Going eighteen-ish? So, don't tease him too much."

"...wh-what…?"

Melinda walked over to her maid and plopped on the floor beside her to finish unpacking faster, but her words made the brown-haired girl freeze as she muttered.

"I… ugh… well, I was made this way, my body is that way, and even if we add the in-game time I had to grow beforehand… Everything makes me close to eighteen years old. Yes."

"YOU…! YOU ARE YOUNGER THAN ME!?"

Zane breathed in before deflating and grumbling in a defeated voice while sending Melinda grumpy looks when, out of nowhere, Adrianna jumped back on her feet and faced the monstrous servant, crying out at the top of her lungs while pointing her index finger at him.

"Y-yes...!? You're over eighteen, right?"

Zane flinched and stuttered before gaining back some gusto and pointing out not sure what the ruckus was about - but just so happened to still hold onto Adrianna's garter belt while doing so…

"!!!"

"Ah…! S-sorry!"

The brown-haired maid's face turned completely red, and she threw herself forward, snatching the garment out of the once again embarrassed and apologetic colleague of hers.

"G-GET OUT! WHY A BOY LIKE YOU IS LOITERING AROUND LADY'S UNDERGARMENTS IN THE FIRST PLACE!? WAIT OUTSIDE THE ROOM UNTIL WE'RE FINISHED! NOW!"

Completely taken over by embarrassment, Adrianna shrieked while clutching the garment to her chest with one hand and pointing at the door with the other, getting teary-eyed to boot.

"...!"

Unprepared to face such backlash - especially from Adrianna, who never acted like that towards him - Zane lowered his head and hurriedly skedaddled out of the room as commanded.

"...nhn…!"

As the monstrous servant left, Adrianna let out a pitiful squeak and hid her burning face in her hands while still holding onto her garter belt.

"Well then… In that case, how old did you think that Zane was?"

Melinda breathed out while returning to move the pieces of underwear prepared by Adrianna and Zane from the pile to the closet's drawer.

"I… I always thought he was in his mid to late thirties or early forties at most…? You know… the reliable type since he has everything already figured out and all… And he doesn't look like he would be YOUNGER THAN ME!"

The maid flinched and sniffled in embarrassment before answering, raising her voice once more.

"Ah… I'm sorry, my lady… I didn't mean to make it sound like that…"

Still, she returned to herself after a few deep breaths and bowed apologetically before plopping down by Melinda to finish the job, although with a comically pitiful expression.

"With that in, is it safe to assume that your behavior towards him until now…"

"...was caused because I thought that he was a dedicated servant used to the world and in control of his emotions… yes…"

Melinda asked, and Adrianna nodded and finished the sentence for her in a miserable voice.

"You think he doesn't control his emotions…?"

The gold-haired girl had to really do her best to not start laughing as she asked, biting the inside of her mouth to stop herself from even smiling.

"My lady, you don't understand!"

Adrianna called, smacking her thighs with both hands.

"Boys at that age are unpredictable! I've heard so many horror stories from other maids during vocational training you wouldn't believe, my lady! I'm too ashamed even to dare to repeat any of them now, but…! Uwaaah…! My lady, young Zane definitively has his eyes on someone as beautiful as you, so please be careful around him from now on! You never know when he might pounce on you! Oh dear, oh no, oh dear… We were staying in the same room all this time in Chainlink City…!"

The brown-haired maid fidgeted with unease and cried out, giving the gold-haired girl a desperate look.

"...hooooo… haaaaaa…"

Meldina had to take a few long, deep, overly exaggerated breaths before she was able to say anything without bursting into a peal of laughter.

She had to control herself, as it seemed that the scene that made Adrianna become her personal maid in the first place escaped the girl's memories for the time being...

...and Melinda wanted it to stay like that...

"Adi… I'm going to take a wild guess here, but… you didn't have too much contact with boys around your age or younger this whole time… did you?"

The gold-haired girl cleared her throat and asked the shaken maid.

"...n-no… I mean… I always properly greeted young lord Lazurii… but nothing more than that… I was the youngest staff member back in the mansion, too..."

Adrianna lowered her head and admitted in an embarrassed voice.

"Yeah… pfffft…! Ehm! Yeah, no, yeah. This makes perfect sense. Please, do rest assured, though. Zane won't do anything that I would dislike. It's okay for you to keep your distance from him from now on if you so like, but do consider that the only thing that has changed, is you knowing how old... or rather young he actually is."

Meldina had to start pinching herself, but she managed to point out a very reasonable argument, snorting only once.

Taking wild guesses at what kind of worldly knowledge Adrianna expected Zane to have was definitely not helping Melinda stay serious~