At the mont I realized the dog bowl—or rather, my bowl—filled with food was placed on the floor by Ethan, I felt a wave of bewildernt.
Could this really be my “breakfast”? I glanced up at him, but he just stood there, waiting in silence as if expecting to eat.
“Master Ethan?”
“Hurry up and eat. There’s plenty to do today.”
“…”
…Maybe I should just comply for now.
Resisting further didn’t seem like it would change anything, and I needed more information to understand why things had reached this point.
If I wanted to recover the lost year of my mory, cooperating with him might be the better option.
“All right, Master Ethan. To be honest, I still don’t fully understand why you’re requiring this of , but if this is what you want, I’ll comply for now.”
“…Saying things like you did when you first arrived, Lilith.”
“…”
I half-listened to his words and prepared to begin eating when I realized sothing was missing.
“…?”
It hit only then that he’d set down the bowl without any utensils.
“Master Ethan.”
“Yes, Lilith?”
“I haven’t received a spoon or fork. Would you mind providing one?”
“I don’t understand what you an.”
“Pardon?”
“Have you ever seen a dog or a cat eat with a fork or spoon? I rember explaining this to you on your first day.”
…Right, I kind of expected that answer. I asked on the off chance, just in case.
It seed that burying my face in the bowl was inevitable, so I lowered myself to follow his instructions.
“…Sigh.”
“…”
“Sigh… Hah…”
“…”
This was, frankly, extrely uncomfortable.
The human body simply wasn’t designed for quadrupedal eating. Even if he served food in a dog bowl, there was no way I could eat it as naturally as an actual dog might. A spoon, at the very least, would’ve made this much easier.
“Well, for dog food, it’s quite a fancy spread.”
Although it looked haphazardly tossed together, the contents of the bowl were fairly well-balanced.
On the top was a lettuce salad with an oil dressing. The middle layer held chicken risotto, buttered baguette, and cubed steak, all neatly separated. Though so items mingled a bit, this was a pretty decent al. It seed as if Ethan had simply transferred his usual breakfast into a single bowl.
He even left out soup or dessert, which was surprisingly considerate, as adding anything too liquid or creamy would’ve made this al much harder to eat.
“…”
Things would’ve been much better without Ethan silently observing as I ate, but it wasn’t sothing I could change. After managing to empty the bowl, I glanced at him carefully.
“Finished?”
“…Yes.”
“You did well. Was it good?”
“…Yes.”
“Good. Here, have so water.”
-Drip, drip, drip.
“…Thank you, Master Ethan.”
He poured water from a pitcher directly into the dog bowl and offered it to .
It seed the first bowl I’d found was indeed a water dish. After all, food dishes need washing daily for hygiene.
-Gulp, gulp.
“…”
I could’ve just lifted the bowl with my hands, but Ethan likely wanted to continue acting “like a pet.” So, I complied, lowering my head to the bowl and sipping the water. Ethan was literally holding my “leash” right now.
In a crawling position, I tilted the bowl slightly to bring the water to my lips.
Today was probably the first ti I’d ever drunk water this way, but surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined.
“Haaah…”
“Lilith, face this way.”
“…Yes.”
-Swish, swish.
Finally, Ethan wiped my mouth with a napkin, bringing my al to a close.
Though I was being attended by the future lord of Blackwood himself, I could hardly feel any satisfaction from it.
“Isabel. Katarina. Are you outside?”
-Creak!
“Yes, yes…! I-it’s Katarina, s-sir…!”
Ethan called, and a red-haired maid burst into the room, as if she’d been waiting right outside the whole ti. Ethan casually handed her the empty bowl and pitcher.
“Take this back to the kitchen.”
“Yes!”
“Also, inform the head butler to keep everyone off the fourth floor today except you and Isabel.”
“Yes, sir!”
…So, she knew all along.
Katarina accepted the bowl, clearly aware of the sight before her: locked in the cage. To her, it was a normal scene, apparently. I stared at her in disbelief, and our eyes t briefly.
“Ah, Miss Lilith…”
“…”
“G-good luck today, Miss Lilith!”
“…?”
With that cryptic remark, she left the room in a hurry.
Until that mont, I’d doubted that Isabel or Katarina knew about my situation, but Katarina’s reaction left stunned.
“If Katarina is reacting this way…does Isabel…?”
No… Isabel wouldn’t.
She’s my closest friend here. She’s known the longest, even since I couldn’t properly cast magic. She helped then, so…
Holding onto that hope, I looked back at Ethan, who was now unfastening the chain attached to the cage.
-Clink, clink.
The sound of tal against tal echoed as the chain slowly unraveled.
This seed to be a regular routine. I’d be chained and confined while I slept, then freed after breakfast to go about my day.
At least he was letting out of the cage. Even Ethan wouldn’t keep confined 24/7. He was sowhat reasonable, I supposed.
“All right, Lilith. Let’s go out for a short walk since you’ve had breakfast.”
“Yes, Master Ethan.”
The leash still around my neck, I felt so relief at the prospect of stepping out of the cage. But as I began to move, Ethan blocked the doorway, glaring at .
“Master Ethan?”
“…Lilith, I said we’re going out for a walk.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So why are you standing on two legs? Did you already forget yesterday’s rule?”
“…What are you talking about, Master Ethan?”
“Lilith, you’re my pet, so walking on two legs is out of the question. Go back in, then crawl out on all fours.”
…This was just absurd.
Honestly, wearing a leash outside was already pushing my limits, but crawling on all fours?
Ethan was taking liberties now, and I couldn’t let him get away with this nonsense.
“Are you kidding ?”
“…Lilith?”
“What? Crawl out on all fours? Why not just ask to crawl between your legs while you’re at it, huh?”
“…”
“You think I’m your slave because I’ve been going along with this crap? If you’re going to act like a brat, at least learn so restraint. Do you think this is normal?”
For the first ti in a while, I let Ethan have it. I’d been holding back on cursing him out, but if he was going to start acting like a tyrant, I wasn’t going to stay quiet.
Eye for an eye, absurdity for absurdity.
“Hah. So that’s your answer, Lilith.”
“Answer? You think any woman would just put up with this? Get this leash off . As of today, I’m done being your maid. I’m done with this crap.”
Up until now, I’d been willing to go along to understand what was happening, but my patience had finally run out. No matter how close we were, I wasn’t about to tolerate being treated like a pet.
It wasn’t just the pet treatnt—I couldn’t stand the condescension and disregard for no reason at all.
Back when I wore those cat ears and a tail, I’d done it because I felt guilty for sothing I’d done, and it was my way of celebrating Ethan’s victory over Harold. But this was different—this wasn’t even remotely tolerable.
“This is the Lilith I know. I knew you were only pretending to be obedient.”
“Stop playing around and take off this leash. If not, I swear I’ll start firing magic at—”
“Go ahead. Let’s see you fire so magic.”
“…What?”
He knew my magical abilities, yet he looked at , smiling as if challenging to follow through.
-Rip!!
“…Huh?”
In my mont of shock, my clothes were torn away by his hand.
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