With his eyes half-closed, Hayashi Maki wore a thoroughly satisfied expression.
Having a cute maid scrubbing his back left him in a very good mood.
Listening to the splashing of water, his thoughts inevitably started to wander.
Rem's pale hands, moving with the towel, looked strangely enticing.
Kneeling behind him, she focused seriously on cleaning his back, not missing a single spot.
"Alright, my back's pretty much done. Rem, isn't it about time you did the front?"
Hayashi Maki made the request with a perfectly serious face.
Rem's body trembled, her hands pausing for a moment, a conflicted look flickering across her face.
"What's wrong, you don't want to? Then I'll just call Ram instead."
Eyes narrowed, Hayashi Maki tossed out that line, instantly hitting the girl's soft spot.
"Rem… can do it. Please let Elder Sister rest."
Muttering that in a small voice, Rem took a deep breath, stood up, and walked around to face him. Holding the towel, she began carefully wiping his neck and chest.
She did everything she could not to look elsewhere, forcing her gaze to stay fixed on his neck and chest.
The next second, she couldn't help but gasp.
With a splash of water, Hayashi Maki had pulled the cute maid straight into his arms.
He slipped an arm around her slender waist, holding her against his chest with a mischievous smile.
Rem instinctively braced her hands against his chest, maintaining a bit of distance, but her breathing had already begun to quicken.
"What's this? Scared?"
Hayashi Maki leaned close to whisper in her ear, blowing gently as he spoke. Feeling her slight tremble just made him even more pleased.
He thought to himself that he really was a terrible man—
Sneaking chances to bully such an innocent girl.
But this was also one way to deepen their bond, so it wasn't exactly a problem.
"Rem isn't scared."
She bit her lip and stared up at him stubbornly.
"As long as you don't bully Elder Sister, you can do whatever you want with Rem."
Those words made Hayashi Maki genuinely excited.
Right now he fully looked the part of a villain, using her sister as leverage to force the girl to yield.
"Really anything?" he murmured into her ear.
The warmth of his breath made Rem tremble again.
"Yes," she answered firmly, lifting her arms to wrap them around his neck.
"Anything."
"Oh? Then why are you crying?" Hayashi Maki asked softly. "Your tears are already falling, you know."
He lifted a hand and gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, sounding a bit helpless.
"If Ram finds out I bullied the little sister she cherishes so much, she'll definitely be mad at me… So you should just go back to your room and sleep like a good girl."
He patted her head and let her go.
Even though he was very interested in Rem, he had already taken Ram. He had no intention of treating Ram's precious little sister the same way.
Rem froze for a moment.
She hadn't expected this lecherous, shameless master to actually let her go.
And for such a reason—because he didn't want to make Ram angry.
A complicated look crossed her face, but in the next moment she suddenly hugged him tightly from behind, pressing herself against his back.
"Rem? What are you doing?"
Hayashi Maki swallowed. If this was a test, then she really didn't know his weakest point.
Rem's face was flushed, but her gaze was even more resolved.
"Rem doesn't want to be useless anymore… So Rem wants to gain the strength to protect Elder Sister."
"Hayashi Maki-sama, Elder Sister's horn… You healed it, didn't you?"
"That's right. What about it? Are you not happy I cured Ram?"
"I'm happy," Rem nodded hard. "Of course Rem is happy you healed Elder Sister. I'm very grateful."
"But… that means Rem has lost the meaning of her existence."
"Ever since we were small, Rem has always lived under Elder Sister's protection."
"Elder Sister is amazing and capable. Her wind magic doesn't just fight off powerful enemies—she uses it to help everyone in the village with all sorts of things. She made life more convenient for everyone."
"But Rem couldn't. Rem didn't have Elder Sister's power. With Rem's weak magic, all she could do was barely lift a little stone. I was like trash, only able to hide in the corner and secretly watch the radiant Ram… just a parasite clinging to her."
"No matter how hard I trained my magic after class, I couldn't catch up to Elder Sister."
"Then, that day came. Mad Witch Cultists attacked the village. When they swung their blades down on us, all Rem could do was shake in fear, dragging Elder Sister down."
Hayashi Maki listened silently, not interrupting her.
He'd already heard Ram's version of the story before.
Rem took another deep breath, a faintly twisted look in her eyes.
"The moment Elder Sister's horn was cut off to protect me, deep down, Rem… thought, 'Thank goodness.'"
"Ram, who was like a god, had lost her power… and Rem finally had a chance to shine."
"Rem could finally protect Elder Sister. When I saw her so weak, I felt like I had finally found a meaning for myself. Hehe… Hayashi Maki-sama, isn't Rem horrible?"
"Even though Elder Sister did so much for Rem, all I did was think about myself, and even felt happy that she lost her horn… just so I could prove I wasn't useless—how despicable is that?"
As she spoke, tears began to spill down her cheeks again.
Hayashi Maki turned around and gently rested a hand on her head.
Being able to say all this out loud meant she truly trusted him now. There was no way he wanted to betray that trust.
"When people love someone deeply, it makes them 'weak'—but that's not shameful at all. Because it's not true weakness. Ram has always loved you, Rem. She was willing to risk her life for you. And really, you're the same."
"You're also willing to give everything for her. And you have given everything, haven't you?"
"And it's normal to envy someone more gifted, to want to become like that person. That's just human nature. Now that Ram's time has started moving again, Rem… you don't need to stay trapped in that painful past anymore."
"Let's look forward, okay?"
His gentle words fell into her heart like a beam of light tearing through the darkness.
She had exposed her ugliest, most shameful thoughts, hoping to use this man to validate her existence.
But instead of despising her, he had accepted her, even acknowledged her feelings—warmly comforting her on top of that.
At that moment, Rem's heart trembled.
"…You don't think Rem is awful?" she asked, looking up at him like a wounded little animal, carefully searching his expression.
Hayashi Maki smiled.
"I'm the awful one here, honestly. I used brute force to pressure Roswaal into handing you and Ram over to me, and I also forced Ram, in a way, into my arms."
"And you, Rem… you merely felt the very human envy of your brilliant sister, but in reality, you never did anything that actually hurt Ram, did you?"
"On the contrary, once she lost her power, you were the one who trained desperately, pushing yourself, taking risks—just to protect her. If not, you wouldn't be here now, standing in my place, stepping up for her like this."
He gazed softly at the blue-haired maid in front of him, his eyes full of appreciation and affirmation.