They both fell asleep.

One thought the kid had settled down and wasn’t bothering her. The other thought they’d lost contact, and he might never run into something this fun again.

But their connection hadn’t been severed. It had only faded a little.

And so, these two people who should have had nothing to do with each other met in a dream.

“Huh? Where is this...?”

Where am I?

She was wearing her usual patched-up rags, and her feet were still bare.

“Looks like this place preserves how we look in reality, not the image in our minds...”

Leticia murmured softly. The place where she stood was strange. It looked a lot like the shore of a lake, except the entire lake—and the ground beneath her feet—was as dark as night.

The lake looked more like a mirror, only it showed no reflection.

“What the hell is this place?”

A voice suddenly sounded from behind her, telling Leticia that she wasn’t the only one who’d come here.

And, strangely enough, she found the voice a little familiar.

“Oh, there’s someone else here! Hey, who are you? Why are you here? Why am I here? Did you do this? Answer me!”

It wasn’t the voice itself that seemed familiar. It was the way he spoke, his tone, and... his accent.

Hmm...

“That brat?!”

Leticia spun around in surprise, and her eyes met those of the kid behind her.

“...”

“...”

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?!”

They asked the same question, but with very different tones. Leticia was surprised; the boy who’d somehow appeared here was angry.

“Did you drag me into this weird place?”

The boy eyed Leticia suspiciously. “Are you one of those lowly Demon Maids the Church warns people about? You dared to bewitch me while I was asleep, young master and all? You’ve got some nerve!”

“Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!”

Seeing that this little brat’s wild guesses were about to make her out to be some unforgivable villain, Leticia cut him off. “Could you stop accusing people of things? I’m just as confused as you are!”

“Accusing you? What’s that supposed to mean?”

The young master frowned, seeming to realize things weren’t as simple as he’d thought. “Are you saying you don’t know what’s going on either?”

At least he was a little smarter than average!

“That’s right!”

Leticia nodded firmly. “I don’t know where this place is either. I just ended up here out of nowhere. I was still trying to figure things out when I heard your voice.”

“Hmph. But what proof do you have?”

Who knew this brat would be so suspicious? “You could still be a Demon Maid, trying to trick me into thinking you just got here!”

“Ah... I give up...”

Leticia nearly spat blood. “Then how am I supposed to explain it? And what even is a Demon Maid? You keep going on about maids this and maids that—what the hell are you talking about?!”

“Huh?”

To her surprise, the boy froze at that, and some of his anger faded. “What did you just say?”

“I said, what even is a Demon Maid?!”

Leticia demanded in exasperation. “Could you explain what that is before you start interrogating me?!”

“Uh...”

The kid hesitated, then suddenly planted his hands on his hips. “All right. I believe you!”

Books said the servants of devils cared deeply about their identities. They’d never slander their own kind, or they’d be punished by devils and demons.

And this scruffy little blonde girl clearly wasn’t one of them...

So he’d misunderstood her?

Pfft...

Leticia felt like the blood in her chest was about to burst out for real. Dude, I’ll call you bro if you want, but who asked you to believe me? What I need is information, okay? Information!

What the hell is a Demon Maid, anyway?

“Well, if you’re not an enemy, then I should apologize first.”

Although the kid came from a noble family, he didn’t seem to have been molded by all the stuffy rules of traditional nobility. He was pretty straightforward with Leticia. “My name is Stano. Stano Bansen. What’s yours?”

“Uh, I-I’m Leti.”

“All right, Leti. Can you tell me how you got here?”

Stano nodded as he asked.

Stano was clearly more curious about the place they were in than about the skinny girl who looked like a stick.

How did this brat end up taking control of the conversation?

“I’m not really sure. I think it was time for me to go to sleep. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was here.”

Leticia thought carefully about what had happened, then asked, “What about you? How did you get here?”

“Fell asleep... I think I fell asleep in the garden, then somehow ended up here too...”

Stano fell into thought. “So the common factor is sleep?”

But why?

Stano looked up and studied the little girl who’d arrived in this place alongside him. His first thought was:

What a sorry sight.

Compared to pampered noble girls, this blonde kid looked like a weed you could find anywhere on the roadside—unloved by people, unwanted by flowers, the kind of thing even a carriage would roll right over.

No hips, no chest, and rough skin, too. Honestly, there was almost nothing about her that seemed like it belonged to a girl.

Still, her eyes were beautiful, like gemstones. Maybe they made up for some of the rest of her appearance?

“Wait... Hold on...”

Why did Stano feel like this skinny girl, who looked like a stick, was somehow familiar?

Especially when he looked at her hands and feet, and the clothes she was wearing. That strange sense of familiarity was stronger than ever...

Where had he seen her before?

Suddenly, a flash of insight crossed his mind. He remembered!

“It’s you!”

“Huh?”

Leticia stared at the astonished Stano in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘It’s me’?”

Had the brat come up with another strange persecution fantasy?

“You’re today’s toy!”

“Pfft!”

This time, Leticia really couldn’t hold back. “What did you just say?!”

He’d taken this long to recognize her?

And what did he mean, toy?

I ********!!! (Those are ordinary asterisks.)

So this kid really was that twisted and terrifying inside!