"Good morning."

As I stared blankly at the outside world, which was getting brighter and brighter, a young woman entered the room.

It's the same woman who watched me in the middle of the night. From the clothes she was wearing, I'm guessing she's a maid in this household.

Hmm? Looking at the woman, I could see that she was strong.

There's no opening in her movements, her footwork and her core are both solid. She's of medium weight with no muscles in her body, probably because muscles would only hinder her. This body is perfect for her.

She is too skinny if you ask me. I would like to tell her to eat more meat.

However, the weight and muscle mass of the body can be increased by using a weapon. This maid is probably someone who has something to do with a weapon.

In fact, it looks like she's hiding her weapon under her skirt.

Well, I'm sure that even when she's sleeping, she can easily defeat her opponent without even using those weapons.

"Ojou-sama, how do you feel?"

Ojou-sama?

Is she calling me Ojou-sama?

After all, Nia is the daughter of a rich family.

But I'm still an Ojou-sama.

Hearing that word makes me shudder, but I have no choice. If I'm going to live as Nia, I have to get used to it as soon as possible.

"...."

But what should I say to her?

What kind of girl was Nia, and what kind of relationship did she have with this maid?

Without waiting for my answer, the maid put her arms around my back and lifted my upper body.

Judging by this situation, Nia doesn't seem to be the talkative type.

Or perhaps she's been a loner ever since.

Well, she can't help it, can she?

Her body is so weak that she can't even walk properly.

Even an adult would have a hard time in her situation.

"It's time to eat."

Oh, it's food.

To be honest, I have no appetite at all and I don't think my body will accept it.

But I have to eat to survive, and when I look at this body, I'm sure it's weak because it's not getting enough proper nourishment.

When I look at my own hands, they are so thin and small that they are clearly nothing but skin and bone. And when I look at my skin, it's so pale that I wonder if Nia has any blood circulating in her body.

I wasn't able to look at my whole body, but from what I saw on my hands, I could guess how weak this body is.

Seeing this, I had no choice but to conclude that even if this body doesn't accept the food that is going into it, I have no choice but to force it to accept it, because this body needs to replenish the food that is missing from it.

Because there's a limit to what can be healed with Ki.

Also, in order to generate Ki, the body needs to get its energy from food. It's true that Ki can cure diseases, but it's not something that can come from nothing.

That's why I have to eat now to produce Ki.

*gulps*

I ate it.

I carefully swallowed the rice porridge, which was so soft that it almost fell apart.

This food is perfect for a sick person because it's easy to digest and the taste is not too stimulating. Well, for me it is unsatisfactory to eat, but I have no choice as it is the only food that Nia's body can accept at the moment.

Just bear it... One day I'm going to eat meat that's still dripping with blood. Tsk, it looks like just thinking about it will make me vomit. It's only natural that this body can't accept solid food right now, but seriously, even this body can't accept it, even if it's just a fantasy.

"Well, I ate it all.

I just forced myself to eat it all, but the maid looks surprised and pleased at the same time. I had the feeling that when I forced the food directly into my mouth, it went straight into my stomach.

"Ugh!"

It seems that this body is rejecting the food and trying to get it out, but I held my mouth shut and endured it. Hurry up and digest it, no matter how you reject it, I won't let you throw it up.

"Ah, that's right, medicine."

I shook my head while still covering my mouth, implying that I couldn't drink that right now, and the maid quickly understood what I was trying to say.

Judging by the maid's surprise reaction a little while ago, I must have shown an extreme appetite, unusual for Nia, although to call it an appetite would be an exaggeration, as I only put it into my body because I needed the energy to heal myself.

It seems that this way of living will continue for a while.


...


It seems like a week has passed since I started fighting the disease in my body.

Perhaps because I was forcing myself to finish every meal, I pretended not to notice that the amount of food I was being served was gradually increasing.

And thanks to various medications such as sedatives, a magic herb for my lungs and some sleeping pills, I'm able to keep Ki circulating in my body even when I'm asleep.

It seems that my efforts are beginning to pay off.

I am beginning to look forward to my meals, as small fruits and desserts have recently been added to my diet.

It's still hard for me to digest, as usual, but I'm happy that the taste of my food has changed a little. That's why I look forward to my meals now.

As for my illness, the number of coughs, which made me feel like I was going to die each time, has been greatly reduced, and although my body is still weak, I can now afford to move my body.

This body, which is almost lifeless and always screaming in pain to the core...

Is now beginning to yearn to live.

Since I've been circulating my Ki in this body for quite some time now, I've become quite adept at handling the Ki in this body.

With these improvements in my health, I should now be able to decapitate a small magical beast with my hand. If I can regain my physical strength, I might even be able to clear a simple labyrinth. And as long as I can maintain my strength, I should be able to survive in a Class 4 danger zone for at least a month.

"What do you think, Ojou-sama? Would you like to go out for a while?"

As I was eating breakfast, which is slightly more compared my usual meals. Nia's personal maid, Linokis, asked me that.

I've spent the last week gathering as much information as I can about Nia.

Nia's personal maid is Linokis, she's sixteen years old.

She was hired by the Liston family as a maid six months ago, after graduating from the Adventurer Department of the Altoire Institute.

Although physically weak since birth, Nia collapsed six months ago.

She was then hired to take care of Nia, and the reason they gave her such a role is because they expected her to have various special skills.

I'm sure from her point of view it would have been a very difficult job.

No matter how hard she works, taking care of a child who's getting weaker by the day while she can't do anything about it is pretty hard. I'm sure if she couldn't separate her personal feelings from her work, she would have quit a long time ago.

"Outside?"

I muttered, turning my eyes to the large window in the room.

Right now the curtains are open and I can see the vastness of the blue sky, but I can't see anything else, probably because this room is on the second floor.

Outside?

Outside, huh?

"Will I make it in time to see my father and mother when they go to work?"

Those two, whose love for Nia is either so deep or so dense that they can't read the atmosphere in the room, are going somewhere to work every day.

Then they come back in the evening to show me their faces before they go to bed.

From what Linokis told me, they are very busy every day.

They used to come to my room every morning, but now they have stopped.

They came the day I became Nia and the next morning after that, but I told Linokis to tell them that they should stop coming to my room every morning.

Because I was busy every morning. Yes, I'm very busy every morning fighting the disease.

I think it's time I expanded my activities outside of this room.

If these two are worried about me every day, then it's a form of filial piety to show them that I'm getting better.

"I'm sorry, but the master and his wife have already left."

I see.

So that's what's going on?

"It looks like I made the right decision in stopping them from visiting me every morning. It looks like I caused them an unnecessary problem."

The time I ate breakfast didn't change.

And the time my parents came to see me was during my breakfast.

As a result of me stopping them coming to see me every morning, they can now go to work earlier. That is, the fact that they can come to work earlier means that meeting me every morning was an unnecessary burden on them, or that they deliberately took time out every morning just to meet me.

"I don't think it was an unnecessary problem for them to come and see you. I think for them Ojou-sama is more important than their work".

Maybe they just loved Nia so much.

"But my father and mother work hard to earn money so that I can live now. I just don't want to be an extra burden on them, because I'm already causing them trouble with my illness.

If I were their real child, maybe I wouldn't have to feel this way about my parents.

And I could just accept their unconditional love with a smile.

But in my case it is a bit different.

Even though I became Nia, I'm still not Nia, so I can't accept their affection at all.

That's why I want to live in such a way that I don't cause them any more problems than necessary.

To do that, I need to cure this illness as soon as possible.

"Tomorrow morning I'll go out and say goodbye to my father and mother. Please serve my breakfast earlier than usual."

"Yes, I understand."

I don't know what Linokis thought of me, but she raised her eyebrows a little, then she smiled.

"Somehow it looks like you are much more considerate than I am."

Hmm?

"Isn't that normal?"

Even a normal child would be considerate when thinking about of their parents, right?

"If that's normal, then my position would be..."

Ah! I see. It looks like Linokis isn't the caring-type.

"It seems that women who don't care aren't attractive, you know."

"It looks like I've just been told I'm not attractive by a girl whose age is a single digit."

...


The day, which was the same as before, passed and morning came.

After breakfast, which came much earlier than usual, as I'd requested, Linokis put me in the wheelchair.

I'm grateful that my body is no longer rejecting the food I'm eating and there's no sign of me vomiting it up.

But I'm having trouble with the quantity.

The amount of food I am eating is increasing in exquisitely reasonable portions, little by little, spoonful by spoonful, as my stomach continues to expand.

As I left my room and walked down the carpeted corridor, an old butler was standing in the entrance hall, in front of the stairs leading down to the first floor.

He is a butler who has served this house for a long time.

He's tall and thin as a dead tree, but I can clearly see the well-built muscles wrapped around his bones under his clothes.

Even now he's still strong.

Although his strength seems to have diminished considerably with age, I'm sure that in his prime he must have been many times stronger than he is now.

Well, let's forget about his strength in his prime. Right now, this butler can beat his opponent with just his pinky finger, even if he's in a wheelchair. But now, even if he's still in his prime, I only need my left arm to defeat him.

When the old butler saw us coming out of the room, he nodded at us and then went downstairs. I'm sure he's on his way to make the final adjustments to this house.

When we reached the point where we could overlook the entrance hall, my father and mother, who are quite well dressed in suits, quickly came out of the hall on the first floor and made their way to the entrance.

"Father, mother."

I tried my best to raise my voice as much as I can.

And as a result, my voice was a little loud for a normal person.

But it looks like my voice reached my father and mother, who look so busy this morning.

""Nia""

When they turned around and saw me in the wheelchair, they cried tears of joy.

It's just a small thing, but I wonder if I, as Nia, have been able to perform an act of filial piety for them?





Note:

1. This chapter contains more than 2200 words in all and it took me 4 days to finish this as I'm doing this bit by bit everyday as I'm focusing right now on Tyrant.