Chapter 37 - Maya Rosenwald P15

Chapter 37 - Maya Rosenwald P15

~37.15~

*****

The next morning, I woke up and briefly wondered where I was. The ceiling was not that of the dorms. As I rose up out of bed, I remembered.

Right. Lanti had us move into this villa yesterday. I wonder how Sophie is doing…

Serah and Stella woke up before me, as usual, and prepared breakfast. The villa wasn't in use so it wasn't staffed, but my lovely cousins insisted it was fine, that they could take care of things until staff arrived.

I arrived at the breakfast table to find Maya, Cel, and Chris already at the table. "Good morning." I yawned as I sat down.

"Not much of one for noble etiquette in the morning?" Maya asked.

I looked up and saw that the three of them were fully dressed for school, whereas I was still in my pajamas. "Oh." I snapped my finger and magically, my pajamas were replaced by my uniform.

Maya giggled and sipped her tea. "Handy magic."

"I can teach you if you'd like. It's not as easy as it looks, though. You have to calculate the spatial coordinates of every piece of clothing flawlessly, or you might destroy your clothes."

"Calculate the spatial coordinates?" She and the wolfgirls looked at me quizzically. "What do you mean?"

I guess people in this world wouldn't have to do those calculations as long as they can imagine the results clearly. Even if it's just background in this world, there is a system in place that does that for them.

"Ah, I'm still a bit drowsy. Don't mind it."

"If you say so."

I took a bite of my pancake, and wondered aloud, "Where's Lena?"

"In the garden swinging her sword," Cel answered.

"She said something about wanting to improve her physique," Chris added. "Seems strange to me though. She is already in amazing shape."

I averted my eyes. "Maybe she wants to tone up a bit more."

Maya looked at me with a smirk.

She knows what I'm thinking.

"Maybe I'll build some muscle, too," the pink-haired cat said. "I do wonder how good I'd look with some muscle tone and abs."

Hehe. Two beautiful catgirls with toned bodies sounds nice. If I didn't know better, I'd swear she was actively trying to get my attention.

"Perhaps I'll start doing morning exercises with Lena tomorrow." Finished eating, she stood up and walked around to where I was sitting to whisper in my ear. "You gave her motivation, and I'm feeling motivated myself. What are you gonna do if our bodies turn out like yours, hmm?"

"Probably stare every chance I get."

"Pfft." She left the room without another word, giggling the whole way.

*****

During the club period today, that's fifth period right before lunch, our group of friends decided to form a club. After some discussion and everyone showing interest in my not-public accomplishments, we decided to form a club with a basis on magic creation.

We named it, creatively enough, Magic Creation Club. I insisted on not being any sort of executive, but they roped me into the club president role. I told them to decide amongst themselves who would be vice president, a decision they did not make right away.

It was a Friday, so we didn't do much other than establish ourselves and get a clubroom. The rest of the school day went by uneventfully.

After school, Rhia and Aira visited our villa, and we talked about magic we could work on for club with everyone. Of all the club members, only Lanti was missing for our impromptu tea party, but she was busy digging through reports trying to find Sophie's parents.

Part of me felt bad that she was working alone, but the rest of us weren't part of the case. We were taking care of Sophie while Lanti and Aunt Alice were working on different sides of the case. We all had our role, and I had to keep that in mind.

Besides, I would be going out late tonight to try to find them myself with some grand magic that I didn't want anyone to see me casting. After everyone left, I spent a bit of time with Sophie in the Royal Academy Library.

Maya went with us, and it kind of felt like we were two moms taking care of our daughter. I teased her a bit, and she said something that really struck home to me.

"I look forward to being a mom someday, but… I'm gay, so the chances I'll ever get pregnant myself are slim. Not that being the one that holds the pregnant wife's hand in childbirth is bad, I'm perfectly happy imagining that future. It's just I'd like to be the one having her hand held, and it probably won't happen. Technically I could just get myself pregnant, but that's actually illegal. Being the daughter of the Demon Lord himself, I can't do that even if it was kept a secret from the world."

I genuinely felt bad for her. The longing to be a mother was something I had in my heart, too. I had children in Alexandria. Azalea, Kaede, Kyra, and Liya. I missed them so much.

I'd cried myself to sleep more nights than I could count since I was born as Elise Aindrea. Serah and Stella knew everything and tried to comfort me in the past, but it's not something that can be fixed. Sometimes I just needed to cry it out. They usually left me alone, but did check on me.

That night was especially bad. Enough that I decided not to go out. I cried in bed and didn't realize I was calling out the names of my loved ones in Eden.

*****

My room was at the opposite end of the hall from Eli's. There were stairs on both ends of the hall to go up or down a floor. That night, I wanted a midnight snack and went to the kitchen. The kitchen was closer to the stairwell on her end of the hallway, so I went that way to go downstairs.

I could have teleported, but I didn't want to raise alarm from a sudden spell cast in the villa where all manner of spell detection was present.

As I was walking past her room, I heard the sounds of crying and knocked on her door. There was no answer. I called out her name a few times, but still got no answer.

Forgive me, Eli. I'm too worried about these sounds to ignore it. I have to make sure you're okay.

I rushed in, and found her asleep in bed. Her pillow was soaked from her tears and she was talking in her sleep.

"My babies-"

A lot of it was unintelligible, but some words and phrases came out of her mouth clearly.

"Azalea, mommy misses you. Kaede-"

Mommy? Should I be listening to this?

"Maya, my love, I miss you so much."

What?

"I want to go home. I'll give up my throne, just let me see my family again."

What throne? She's from a count family. They don't have a throne.

"Kaede, Kyra, Liya. Mom will never forget you."

She was having a dream… or maybe it was a nightmare. I knew I shouldn't be listening to it, but something compelled me to stay. Something felt familiar about those names, but I'd never heard them before.

Why does my heart ache hearing those names? Am I feeling this way because she's hurting over a family in a dream?

"I'll come home eventually. But, I'm getting attached. Maya, Rhia, Aira, Lena. I fell in love with mortals."

Mortals?

When I realized what she said, I felt my cheeks grow warm.

Wait, she said 'fell in love'. With me? And the other girls?

"If I stay, I'll never see my daughters and wives again. If I go back… I'll never see these girls again. But I'm exiled. I'm not allowed to go home."

What in the world…? Is it just a dream. I know she's special, but… she said mortals. It has to be just a bad dream, right?

I patted her head and she stopped talking in her sleep. Normally, this would be unthinkable even between girls. Being in another's bedroom with them at night. It would make the front page if anyone knew.

She had stopped talking in her sleep, but she didn't stop crying. I couldn't bear to let her keep crying, so I shook her away. "Eli." She was sleeping very deeply. "Eli, wake up."

"Mmmhff." Her eyes opened slowly. "Maya?" She rose up slowly, with her hand on her pillow. She felt the wetness and looked down. "Oh."

"Bad dream?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure… I don't remember the dream. I'm sorry, was I crying loudly tonight?"

"A bit. I was going to get a late-night snack and heard you crying from the hallway. You didn't answer and I got worried. I'm sorry for coming in without permission."

She smiled at me as she pulled the pillow case off her pillow. "Oh it's soaked. I must have been crying badly. Maybe it's a blessing I don't remember the dream, though I have an idea. I was thinking about… things when I went to sleep." She paused for a moment and looked up at me. "I'm sorry, that's a little TMI. But don't worry about the permission. You said you were worried, and that honestly makes me happy to hear. I was feeling sad earlier, but knowing I have a good friend that worries over me makes me happy."

I nodded. She didn't want to tell me, so I decided not to ask. "Want to get a snack with me? I make a mean tunafish sandwich."

She giggled and tossed her pillow in a basket. "Sure. I could go for a snack." She giggled again.

"What's so funny?"

She smiled and said, "You're walking right into a stereotype!"

"Hmm?"

"Cats like tuna."

"Oh, pfft. Yeah."

*****

Revision: 2025-2-12