The longer Liora stared at the maid, the more something about her felt… suspiciously familiar. Human skin. Human eyes. Human ears. A very human face and body until you noticed the horns and tail sticking out like cosplay accessories.
"My sincerest apologies, dear guest," the butler said with a graceful bow. "Our maid here suffers from a certain... inadequacy."
"Inadequacy?!" the redhead snapped, spinning toward him with flared nostrils.
"Yeah, what kind of inadequacy?" Liora added, tilting her head. She couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or dead serious. He had that permanent brooding aura afterall.
"Miss Marla," the butler sighed, "is half-human. So do try to excuse her... occasional outbursts."
Huh?
So the same girl who called her an insect for being human was... half-human herself?
Was that projection?
Did she really have to be that dramatic about it?
The more Liora thought about it, especially after all those study sessions with Selarin, the more it made sense.
In the Elarion Empire, power was everything.
Even with humanity's slow rise, demons still saw themselves as the superior race.
Anything that didn't look or feel demonic enough was rejected and marginalized. Probably bullied out of their horns.
That had to be the case with this girl. Classic overcompensation.
"If I'm inadequate, then this girl right here is completely inadequate!" Marla huffed, pointing at Liora.
"Mind your manners, Marla," Parlon sighed, adjusting his monocle with exasperated elegance. "This isn't what Lady Selarin taught you. And for the record, this is our guest. Her disciple. And, I might add, an immortal human."
They heard the girl gag loudly. "This flimsy thing is immortal?! Don't humans drop like flies?"
"That's what we'd like to understand as well," Parlon said, clearing his throat with a touch of forced grace. "In the meantime, kindly escort our guest to the bath and provide her with proper clothes."
"I can't believe I have to serve a human..."
You're half-human, you walking contradiction!
It took every ounce of willpower not to throw hands.
Liora ached to call her out for looking like a budget cosplayer, but none of these demons probably even knew what a cosplayer was.
For once during her short stay, she was finally treated with a shred of decency.
Ironic, really.
The humans had cast her out, and the demons were supposed to treat her like disposable cutlery, yet somehow, the ones with horns and tails were the first to offer her basic dignity.
She took a long, glorious bath in a cavernous bathroom, was handed a clean, modest robe, and got to eat an actual breakfast.
"God, I am stuffed," she groaned, rubbing her belly as she waddled back to the library.
When she opened the doors, there was Selarin already seated, looking too bright for this early in the day.
"Well, well, if it isn't my darling student..."
The table was stacked with scrolls and books like a scholar's dream.
If she weren't such a big nerd, she might've turned and sprinted. But this? This was what she lived for. Her eyes sparkled.
"What even is your name, girl?"
Ah, right. They hadn't even exchanged names.
"Liora."
"Well then, Liora. I am Selarin. It's a pleasure to have you under my tutelage."
Days stretched into weeks, and weeks blurred into months.
Liora had more or less adapted to the strict, often ridiculous rules her so-called madam imposed.
At this point, she was practically Cinderella - if Cinderella were an intellectual NEET who swapped video games for ancient demon law and soul-binding syntax.
Bit by bit, she picked up the accent, mastered the tongue, and grew confident in the Empire's customs and laws, especially in the intricacies of Akarin, the Empire's primordial language.
To others, she was just a quiet, forgettable slave, exactly as planned.
Most days were spent perched in her favorite seat by the library window, quietly absorbing everything like a sponge.
"Va-sar tu'reth kan? (Are you paying attention?)"
Liora flinched, turning to Selarin. "Ah, fa'shen. Ra-thak ul'mor ra. Ka-luth va'drek ran'ul. (Ah, my bad. Let's get into it again. I was distracted thinking about something.)"
"Nozhen, va'lir, tel'ar linakar. (Well, it's alright, my dear student.)"
⬧︎[] System Notification []
⬧︎[] +1 EXP earned []
⬧︎[] You survived another uneventful day with your usual studying routine. Progress is progress! []
⬧︎[] Progress: 21/200 EXP to Level 3 []
Liora was a quick study, not because she was particularly gifted, but because she actually put in the work, day in and day out.
Today's topic was the legal system of the Elarion Empire, and something about it rubbed her the wrong way.
"The laws of the Elarion Empire are so... archaic," she muttered, furrowing her brow.
Selarin arched a brow, clearly intrigued. "Oh? And what makes you say that, dear?"
"For one, debtors can still be magically branded and forced into servitude for a lifetime. That's not justice, that's institutionalized enslavement. Wouldn't it be more efficient to implement a regulated labor exchange with capped terms and magical contracts that dissolve upon repayment?"
An awkward silence dropped like a weight between them.
That hadn't been Liora's intention at all!
Did she say something dumb?
Selarin was unusually quiet, cupping her chin as she stared at nothing in particular, and it made Liora gulp. Her master had never been this silent.
Why am I giving legal reform ideas in the first place?! I'm practically waving a flag that says "I'm not from here!
"You're... right," Selarin finally said, her voice thoughtful. "But how do you know this?"
Great. I outed myself. Fantastic.
"I—well! Haha!" Liora scratched her head, laughing nervously. "Just… came to me after all the reading, you know? Inspired thinking!"
"No…" Selarin exhaled slowly. "There's something you're not telling me. We're teacher and student, remember?"
Then, gently, she took Liora's hand in hers.
Liora instantly melted. Her face turned beet red. She hated physical contact, hated being touched, but this... this felt oddly comforting.
And terrifying.
"Ah.." She quickly took away her hand like she was allergic. "Fine, I can tell you..."