REM’S ULTRA-ORDINARY AND COZY DAY
1
As the head maid at Roswaal Manor, Rem began her day quite early.
The manor consisted of three wings. Rem awoke in one of the bedrooms in the eastern wing when the sky was still dark indigo.
“………”
As the morning sun began to approach in the east and a touch of light mixed with the inky night sky, the girl quietly opened her eyes in bed as if she’d heard dawn’s footsteps in the air.
Her frame was small, her limbs were thin, and her short bob of hair was a bright blue. Her big blue eyes, a shade lighter than her hair, were cute, and her youthful face was another noteworthy part of her charm.
But Rem herself had no awareness of her blessed good looks.
“Phwah…”
Sitting up with a little yawn, the girl in the blue nightgown lowered her legs from her bed to the floor. She always woke with ease. As she rose to her feet without a trace of sleepiness, Rem did a few small stretches. And with a little rub of her eyes with the palm of her hand, she bid farewell to any lingering dreams.
“I have to wash my face and get dressed…”
Vocalizing her to-do list before getting to work was one of Rem’s secret habits. Rem knew she wasn’t the brightest, so putting all her tasks on a list and checking off everything in order was a necessary ritual. That was how she just barely managed to fulfill her duties as head maid of the mansion. At the very least, that was how Rem saw it.
“……”
On the way to the washroom with a towel in hand, Rem reviewed her mental list. A splash of cold water sharpened her foggy thoughts, and after she wiped her face with the soft towel, she returned to her room to get dressed.
She let her thin nightdress drop to the floor, leaving her supple skin covered only in underwear. Rem was small for seventeen, but she was well-endowed. Her bust in particular had grown remarkably the past few months and was a source of concern for her.
“Haa…”
Rem turned to her closet with a melancholy sigh. Inside were neat rows of maid uniforms, all in the same familiar design. She grabbed one and quickly dressed herself. That was when she realized that she was coming up on her tenth year wearing this uniform.
Ten years. That was the same amount of time that had passed since the oni village had been destroyed and Roswaal took in Rem and her twin sister Ram. This was more than half of all her years of life.
And that whole time, Rem had spent her days sliding her arms through the sleeves of that maid uniform. She never once felt any doubt or discomfort over it, and she assumed she would continue to feel the same way forever—
“But I wonder, would it feel strange to wear different clothes every now and then?”
Rem examined her reflection in the closet mirror, checking to make sure her uniform was on properly. A well put-together appearance was essential to being a good maid; it was the bare minimum maids needed to ensure they would not bring shame to their master. Frederica had told her that countless times when Rem was a maid-in-training.
And naturally, Rem followed Frederica’s rules precisely, never neglecting her attire and grooming. But for the past few weeks, she had been putting extra care into her appearance. Yet it wasn’t perfection that she was after, but cuteness.
“I guess this should work as a compromise…”
After twirling several times in front of the mirror, Rem wrapped up her endless primping. After donning the rather revealing maid’s uniform, all that remained was to slide the flower clip into her hair. With a flip of her short skirt, she darted out into the hall and took a deep breath.
The mansion hallways were filled with the cold air of the morning. After filling her lungs with it, Rem walked with a spring in her step. She headed to the next room over. Anyone assuming that would be her sister’s room were wildly incorrect.
“Good morning,” Rem chirped as she entered.
Though the room was the same size and make of Rem’s, its decor reflected aspects of its owner’s personality. There weren’t many items in the room yet, but the air in the room still reminded her of him, and every time that she laid eyes on it, Rem felt a warmth deep in her chest.
This room didn’t belong to either Rem or Ram, but it was still in the servants’ quarters. Besides the twins, there was only one other servant currently in the employ of Roswaal Manor, and this was his room.
“Subaru…” Rem looked down at the boy asleep in bed in the dimly lit room and called his name. But her voice was so frail, it disappeared into the air, and there was no way it could reach the boy, who was still in dreamland.
But she did call out her morning greeting before entering the room, so it was all right to call out to him in his sleep.
“The fact that Subaru didn’t wake from that only further proves he isn’t a morning person.”
This was the perfect excuse for Rem to stand beside the bed. Then she peered into the sleeping face of the boy—Subaru Natsuki—and let the tenderness welling inside her surface as a smile.
Subaru was sleeping on his side, hugging a little blanket to himself. He was dressed in a replica Rem had made of his sweatsuit—clothing from the foreign land Subaru originally came from. Seeing him use it as pajamas warmed her heart.
But that was not the only thing that warmed her heart. His innocent sleeping face was shadowed by the hair that usually stood up straight. It gave him a sweet, boyish look. The surprisingly quiet breathing from his lips, his thin, graceful fingers hugging the blanket, the drool wetting his pillow—so precious.
“Subaru, you’re so cute…”
Rem admonished herself for her reckless behavior, but she couldn’t betray her feelings. She couldn’t help how she truly felt.
Her pale cheeks pinkened as Rem enjoyed the stunning sight of Subaru sleeping. She sharpened all her senses and prepared herself to catch any signal Subaru might give away. And after carrying out her ridiculously grandiose observance for some time, she finally said—
“Th-that’s all for this morning… I won’t last any longer. I have to pull away…”
When she realized her heart was pounding fast and her blush had extended all the way out to her ears, Rem steeled herself and stepped away from Subaru’s bed. It wasn’t until she finally tore her eyes away from him that she somehow managed to regain her composure.
“That was close… I almost lost myself there.”
She pressed her hands to her cheeks and gave herself a pat on the back. Sneaking a peek at Subaru in bed was part of her morning routine, and it was never easy to keep her desire in check. It was a test of willpower she always barely cleared.
Even now, as she succumbed to the temptation to watch him sleep, she scarcely had any misgivings about her compelling desires.
“A valiant effort for an early morning, if I do say so myself. Subaru, your charm is downright criminal…”
Of course, if Subaru were awake, he would have hotly protested that comment.
Leaving behind those words on a gust of hot breath, Rem scurried out of Subaru’s room. Now that her morning trial was over, it was finally time to go to Ram’s room.
“Good morning—”
Whenever Rem called out to her elder sister as she entered her room, her voice was always meek as a mosquito. Though the lights were off and the room was dim, compared with Subaru’s room, it was quite bright. That was due to the coming of the rising sun and was further proof that Rem had spent quite a lot of time in Subaru’s room. However, it was not enough of a delay to hinder her duties. She made sure to wake a bit earlier to compensate.
It cut into her sleep time, but vitality of the spirit was just as important as vitality of the body when it came to her daily work. Rem was merely prioritizing her spirit vitality. And not only with Subaru’s sleeping face—
“Beautiful as always, my dear sister…”
Rem smiled softly at Ram, who lay flat on her back, breathing quietly in her sleep. Ram was Rem’s older twin sister. Outwardly, they were the spitting image of each other—or so others often said—but Rem did not believe a word of it.
Ram’s face was elegantly composed, with intelligent, highly confident eyes of light crimson. Her pink hair was beautiful and vibrant, yet it held a fleeting luster. With a perfectly proportioned body and thin, delicate limbs, her big sister seemed perfect in every way, and Rem felt unworthy to be compared to her.
Rem was often told that she had her own virtues, and she was making every effort not to feel a sense of inferiority. However—
“Still, you are everything I aspire to be, Sister.”
Ever brimming with confidence, always correct and just, strong in the face of any challenge—that was Ram.
At times, Rem felt burdened, but her pride in her sister always won over any negative feelings. And so, it was with love and respect that Rem called out to her sleeping sister.
“Sister, Sister…it’s morning. Time to wake up.”
She hated to disturb Ram’s peaceful slumber, but Rem hardened her heart and shook her sister awake. Waking Ram before the day’s work began was part of Rem’s daily routine. (And Ram sleepily opening her eyes at the sound of Rem’s voice and weakly muttering, “Five more minutes…” was also part of this routine.)
If it were up to Rem, she would let Ram sleep in to her heart’s content. But it was not up to Rem.
“No, Sister, you must get up quickly and get dressed to set a good example for our trainee, Subaru. His wounds from the demon beast incident are still not healed, so it wouldn’t be fair to make him work too much.”
“…I don’t like that you worry more about Barusu than me, so I’m not getting up.”
“Please don’t say something so cute, Sister. But if you do take the day off, that means it will just be Subaru and me working today. All right, Sister, you can take it eas—”
“I just decided that I will be getting up after all. Fetch me my clothes, Rem.”
Brazenly retracting her last statement, Ram jumped out of bed and stretched toward the ceiling. Rem’s eyes widened in surprise over how fast her sister had changed her mind, but they quickly softened as she broke into a smile.
“Not so fast. We’ll get you dressed, but first we must brush your hair. You have a particularly large crow’s nest today. Were you up late last night?”
“It’s been hard to sleep lately, since you won’t share a bed with me anymore.”
“But it’s been years since we shared a bed, Sister.”
As she reminisced about those tender moments, Rem ran a comb through her older sister’s hair. Her lustrous pink hair was so glossy that it seemed to dance between her fingers. The fine, silky locks that slid between Rem’s fingers ought to be the same as hers… Then a sudden thought occurred to her.
“Maybe I should grow my hair longer…”
There was only one reason Rem’s hair was in a short bob—so she could have the same hairstyle as Ram. As long as she had the same hairstyle, wore the same clothes, matched her sister’s appearance in every way possible, Rem felt closer to Ram. It was a source of great comfort for her.
But lately, she was starting to feel that it might be time to abandon such childish hang-ups.
“Sister, do you think I would look strange if I grew out my hair…?”
“…Are you asking if I think it’ll look strange? Or are you asking about other people? My answer will change, depending.”
“Um, will Subaru think it looks strange…?”
When Rem timidly jumped to the heart of her concerns, Ram let out a long, blatant sigh and said, “What brought this on? Did Barusu say something to you?”
“No, not at all. It’s just a passing thought I had while combing your hair…”
“……Lady Emilia has long, beautiful hair, doesn’t she?”
Rem smiled sheepishly as her sister immediately saw through her. Rem’s only response was to shake her head tiredly as Ram continued, “Of course, if you grew your hair long, you would look very pretty, Rem. You would look so pretty that I’d want to rip Barusu limb from limb.”
“Sister…”
Rem felt both joy and concern over Ram’s harshening voice and demeanor. Joy over Ram’s concern for her, and concern over Ram’s potentially sour relationship with Subaru.
“Sister, do you dislike Subaru?”
“Whether I dislike him and whether I simply think he isn’t worthy of my adorable Rem are totally unrelated.”
Rem was momentarily taken aback by her sister’s snubbing. But it didn’t take long for her surprise to melt into a smile. This was because one thing was now clear: Ram did not dislike Subaru.
“Thank you. I couldn’t be prouder to call you my sister.”
“Oh? Well, I can’t blame you. I am a big sister to be proud of.”
Though they were slightly talking past each other, Rem felt elated knowing her sister loved her just as much as she loved her. And if she wasn’t mistaken, Ram was humming a cheerful little tune under her breath, perhaps unconsciously. Even her singing was exceptional.
Rem gently slid the comb through her sister’s hair as she listened to her soft humming.
This special sisterly bonding ritual was yet another part of Rem’s daily routine.
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