TLNTAAM Chapter 10

Treated Like a Pet

I looked at the king, blinking.

The man who had fixed my gaze on himself furrowed his brow.

"You look relieved."

He applied force and turned my head this way and that. His grip was so strong that my head moved wherever he directed it.

"I don't like it."

What didn't he like?

"Aren't you a maid of my castle?"

I nodded. Through blurring vision the king's face swam back and forth.

That's right. I'm the maid you're paying. Who's arguing?

"Everything in the castle is mine."

The large hand that had gripped my head slid down and this time closed around my neck.

What are you doing grabbing my collar. Handsome king, let's use our words.

"You are also mine."

I laughed awkwardly. Anyone hearing this would misunderstand.

'Why is he saying this while gripping my neck...'

He probably meant that if she was going to be loyal, it should be to him. The grip on her throat suggested he'd tighten it if she said she wanted to be better to the saint. I followed my gaze slowly up the arm holding my neck. Its owner was looking at me with a faint smile.

Your Majesty. Stop making this look like something it isn't. As if I'd actually believe you see me favorably—

'You're someone who only looks at the saint.'

It was a bit strange, though.

Why was he smiling at Nina, who was an extra?

'And why is he sleeping with me pressed against him in the first place?'

In the original, he'd been more calculating. Generous to those who came inside his circle, yes—but someone he didn't need, he'd cut off without hesitation.

'The physical contact from a handsome man isn't unpleasant, but I can't get used to it.'

Wasn't he supposed to be the type to be possessively fixated on Seraphie and make a battlefield of anyone who approached?

The touching because she felt cool and refreshing—that, she understood. Beyond that, none of it made sense.

"Strange expression."

"Because it's difficult to figure out."

Yeah. You're very hard to read. My brain isn't slow, but understanding what the king wanted was genuinely beyond me.

He released my neck and this time placed his palm firmly on the back of my head and pressed down. Frail Nina moved like a doll in whatever direction he chose.

My face touched something smooth. A human warmth came through. The pillow she'd been rubbing her face against this whole time. But pillows aren't smooth like this.

I lifted my head slightly to confirm.

"Hick!"

I jerked my head up in shock, and the king's laughter reached me.

"You were rubbing your face quite contentedly on my arm. Entertaining, I must say. Ice couldn't make the heat disappear, but the moment you touched it, it vanished."

Wait. So I was sleeping with my face pressed against your arm? And you just sat there. And watched. And let it continue!!

I was mortified and at a complete loss, but the king leisurely stroked my cheek with one hand. And now that she thought about it, he hadn't stopped touching her even once.

"Isn't this going to be a problem later?"

"What problem?"

"Well—a maid and a saint and a king, all spending a night together?"

Seraphie would be fine—she'd become queen and live happily ever after—but wasn't this a rather odd situation for Nina?

"My age alone—and what if people get the wrong idea about His Majesty's tastes?"

If the servants gossiped about something resembling a predilection for children, her dear king's reputation would take a strange turn.

"Who would say such a thing?"

"The people of this castle? With all due respect, you can't stop mouths from talking."

"Even if that happened, what would be the problem?"

She was momentarily speechless.

Right. The king uses his power and suffers for it, and touches a young maid a little—who would dare say anything? Even if somewhat unpleasant rumors circulated. In a world without child rights protections, even if that were the case, who could say anything? Especially when she was a maid and this person was the king.

"That... that's true. There's only one problem here."

Her own position.

I laughed awkwardly and lowered my head. I wanted to cry. Even setting aside that she worked in this castle, Nina herself was the one who looked odd.

'The saint's taste-testing maid, apparently sleeping in the same bed as the king.'

Background music she could hear without even looking.

Hey, Your Majesty. You might be completely unbothered, but I would like to settle in here and live well? Why are you making my life this complicated.

I was smiling weakly when the king's voice came.

"Keep your face pressed there."

If it's an order, I obey. I wrinkled my brow and shuffled my face reluctantly onto the king's arm.

'Embarrassing.'

Why was it so disorienting to lie here using a beautiful man's arm as a pillow.

"Not there."

The king gripped the back of my neck and pulled my head upward. I was dragged along like a rabbit caught by the ear.

'M—mortifying...'

Nina's body was too light to brace against his arm with any real weight, so she'd been using her legs to hold herself in place, but as she was pulled higher, that wasn't an option. She had no choice but to go limp.

He stroked her head with evident satisfaction.

"Sleep, Nina Cage."

As if she could sleep like this. Face pressed flush against the bare skin of a certain king's chest!

"If you're well-behaved, I'll grant whatever you ask."

What did he mean by that. What counted as being well-behaved? And grant what, exactly? Was she supposed to make a wish?

No, rather than that...

'Is this being treated like a pet?'

Touching and stroking and offering his arm as a pillow. Looked at this way, it was exactly how you'd handle a puppy.

Even if Nina was small and cute, that was a bit much.

'No, wait. Pets don't get killed, though.'

Come when called, go when told, and in exchange you get food and shelter?

'Better than morning dew on a scaffold? What do I do. There really is no answer here.'

Half a day after groaning at the compulsive force of the original story, and now she had to worry about her collapsed reputation among the maids. Nina Cage's life had a difficulty setting that was simply too high.

'No breathing room.'

She wanted to live in peace. Build a small cottage somewhere quiet, tend a garden. Eat barley rice and mountain greens while listening to birdsong.

'But that really does seem wrong.'

Situations kept flipping and there was nothing she could do about any of them. What was she supposed to do. I was furrowing my brow, about to sigh, when I stopped short. What I had my cheek pressed against was the king's skin.

I quietly closed my mouth.

The wind came through and it was a little cold, but the skin I was touching was warm. When I closed my eyes, the only sound was the curtains brushing against each other.

Then a warm hand stroked her cheek. A touch grown familiar from so much handling.

It felt like someone touching something precious. Maybe that was why. Something hot welled up from somewhere in her chest.

I bit my lip.

'Strange feeling.'

The king was touching her, and Seraphie was beside them.

Unlike Lee Hwayun, who had been in relationships, Nina had never experienced gentle physical affection. The priests and nuns at the orphanage hadn't looked after the children with any real tenderness. So Nina had always been the one doing the holding—caring for the younger children, being the one who embraced.

Nina had sometimes wanted to be the one held. That was why this warmth, this touch, felt so unfamiliar.

It occurred to her suddenly that if Nina were fully herself right now, she would probably be crying. She couldn't have said why.

"Nina, did you sleep well?"

Through the sunlight, a beautiful Seraphie smiled brilliantly. My eyes were immediately too full of light to bear. I ducked my head. I couldn't look up for some reason.

'Embarrassing...'

I covered my face and sank to the floor where I stood.

When I'd woken in the morning, the wide bed held only me. I'd shot upright and looked around—Seraphie was up and in the middle of prayer, and the king was gone.

Watching the saint kneel in prayer, I wanted to find a hole in the floor and disappear into it.

'Bare skin. His arm as a pillow. My face pressed against him...'

At first I'd thought it was a dream and talked nonsense. On top of that, the moonlit enchantment of the night had loosened my tongue considerably.

'I've completely lost my mind!'

I should have kept my mouth shut! If I'd known it was the king, I should have just trembled with appropriate fear and done exactly as I was told!

"Are you unwell?"

Seraphie was gentle. I shook my head from where I sat on the floor.

"Saint."

"Yes. Nina."

"Why was I here last night?"

She bent her legs and sat down, bringing her eyes level with mine.

"You collapsed in my arms yesterday. Don't worry about it—people who've had serious conditions healed often do that. At first one of the maids wanted to lay you on the floor, but I told them to move you to the bed."

You should've just left me on the floor. I genuinely wanted to cry.

"And then I forgot."

How does one forget there is a maid collapsed in the bed.

"The curtains around this bed are so many that it's hard to see inside. Usually I leave them drawn too."

I turned and looked at the bed. This bed, positioned deepest in the inner chamber, had its curtains drawn such that the interior was usually invisible.

"I found you later and was surprised too, but he told me to leave you there."

"You could've just left me in the corridor."

Better to sleep somewhere cold and end up with a stiff face than have it come to this.

"How could I. It's you, Nina."

Seraphie really did say things that sounded like something else. What was that supposed to mean. As if she were fond of Nina. Were all important people like this?

I lowered my head and sorted through the situation.

'So what do I need to do now?'

I looked at Seraphie. She was smiling softly, her eyes still level with mine.

'First, I received a kindness. So I should be kind in return.'

There wasn't much Nina could do, but she would serve her with complete sincerity.

'And going forward, my life here...'

A sigh came out on its own. I exhaled until the floor might crack open beneath me.

'What do I do about my reputation.'

【 Taste-testing maid spends night with king. 】

A perfect tabloid headline. This place already seemed to love gossip, and now what. Completely ruined.

'And I'm fourteen, foreign-born on top of it!'

The king who'd pressed her against him was objectively the problem, but in this world he was held to a reverence beyond untouchable—so he was exempt. She was not. She was no one precious, utterly unprotected, with nowhere to lean.

'Am I going to be ostracized by the maids?'

She hadn't needed everyone to adore her—she'd just wanted to be recognized for her competence and seen as a pleasant, capable girl. How had it come to this.

'Don't tell me this is the original story too?'

In Bound Bird, Nina had been an outsider—was that why she was now the lone duck on the Nakdonggang?*

'What kind of wretched fate is this!'

If there was a god, she'd like to kick them. What—someone trying very hard to live a decent life is that offensive to you? Why do you keep tangling everything up!

"Nina, are you still unwell?"

Seraphie patted Nina's shoulder. I caught my breath and shook my head.

"I'm perfectly healthy now, thanks to you."

Gained health, lost reputation.

"Healing the sick is a saint's duty."

"Not everyone gets this kind of luck. Thank you."

One moment cursing heaven, the next thanking the saint. Nina Cage's life was nothing if not ironic. I grabbed Seraphie's hands without thinking.

"Saint—do you believe in fate?"

"Well? I do believe there are things that God has decided for us."

"Starting today, I've decided not to."

I will not yield to the compulsive force of this original story. From every direction things keep trying to kill Nina—but now that it's come to this, even rolling in a field of dog dung, this one life is fine. This one life I will absolutely not let go.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

I looked at the saint and smiled brightly. When I grinned wide, she smiled back.

"Please take care of me, Saint."

Since it's come to this, I'll cling on and survive. I am genuinely too furious to die. Fate or compulsive force or whatever you are—you seem to enjoy watching worms wriggle. My self-respect as a human being is in considerable pain right now.

"Oh?"

"I'll go see Mary now. I need to taste-test your morning meal. I'll see you shortly."

I gave a slight curtsy—one knee bending briefly before straightening—and bolted for the door. Behind me, Seraphie was staring after me with a bewildered look.

I didn't spare it a thought.

I ran hard. I was so furious I wanted to break something.

Translator Note:

낙동강 오리알 (lone duck on the Nakdonggang) is a Korean idiom meaning someone left completely isolated — cut off, abandoned, with no allies or backing. The Nakdonggang is a major river in southeastern Korea; the image is of a single duck egg floating alone downriver, separated from everything.