9. Damsel in Distress

Paula and Risa hurried up with the chores in Jin's private chamber and soon, they were done.

However, Paula felt the need to inform their young lord that they were finished.

Seeing how Jin was taking time inside the room he had entered, the female servant had assumed that he may have done that to give them more time to finish their work without disturbing them.

"I think we should tell him we've finished," Paula advised, looking at Risa.

Risa merely shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her colleague's suggestion. She, for one, had no issues with either of the options.

Paula shook her head and sighed. "I will just tell him, then we can go."

Wink~

Risa nodded and then heartily winked as she made funny faces at Paula while giving her two thumbs up.

'Silly…' Paula let out a muffled laugh before heading in the same direction which Jin had gone earlier.

She knocked on the door twice before opening it, only to realise there was another door a short distance in front of her.

She looked in the room and there was nobody there. Just layers of clothes were strewn all over with some furniture.

She observed it for a bit more before heading towards the door in front of her.

Paula had no idea what this place was for. Whether Jin used it to store cloth or for laundry or both, she didn't know.

She gulped, not completely comfortable with what she was about to do. To be taken out of her comfort zone at the side of her lady, Lady Margaret Weiss, was what she had not expected.

Without a choice, she had to heed her lady's instruction to attend to her son for the rest of the day.

She reached the second door and raised her knuckles to knock on it and then retracted.

Sigh~

She was hesitating, looking at the ceiling and breathing a sigh. Her heart pounded fast inside her chest.

After some seconds of aimlessly standing there, Paula finally mustered a little courage, not from her own will but because she had heard Risa's voice outside.

"Paula?" Risa called. "Hurry up, we have to go and join them in making dinner!"

She exhaled and adjusted her black and white gown, proceeding to knock.

Knock~ Knock~

Her first set of knocks received no response whatsoever for some seconds. This even made her more uneasy as she began to move her legs recklessly, waiting for Jin's reply from the other side.

"Master Jin," she called out.

When an answer didn't come, she proceeded to knock a second time.

Nothing changed, and Paula was now gravely impatient with her master.

Paula raised her two hands, ready to make a disturbing sound on the door this time around.

Just as she was about to bang on the door for the third time, in a way that would make sure that Jin must hear from wherever he was, the door opened up.

"Huh…?" her mind wiped as she found her hands swerving through air and space since the door in front of her gave way.

Catching the crimson eyes of the young lord of the Weiss mansion, Paula tripped and saw herself falling over.

Time seemed to flow very slowly as she fell. She could see, in full, the figure of Jin Weiss.

Like every maiden, something inside of her made her think it was her moment now, especially as she noticed his manly arms seemed to move.

She thought it was her time to fall into the hands of a handsome young man like Jin. However, her mind was simply playing tricks on her.

Bam~

She grimaced and winced as she lay face down on the ground.

Luckily for her, there were enough clothes on the floor to prevent her face from directly smashing against the floor.

"Annghhh…!"

Jin stood by the door and unknowingly, chuckled.

His reflexive laughter prompted the maid to raise her head and turn, her face burning with rage. "What's so funny, Mast—"

It was at that moment that she swallowed the rest of her sentence, seeing how Jin was staring at her with raised brows.

Even though he had a smile on his face, it appeared like he was intentionally spurring her on to say what she wanted to say.

"S-So-Sorry! Forgive me, Master Jin!" she blurted out, bowing vigorously to express her sincerest apologies.

"...Forgive me! I didn't mean to!"

"Behehehe!" Jin burst out with laughter, going on for a few seconds while rubbing his belly.

Indeed, he was truly amused by Paula.

Jin crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, "Don't sweat it."

Paula nodded and fiddled her finger in front of her thighs, drawing Jin's attention to them as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

She averted her eyes elsewhere, not wanting to make eye contact with the young master.

"You are?"

"Paula Ravenbark!"

"Hmmm. Paula Ravenbark, the damsel in distress," Jin rubbed his chin, raising his eyes in thought. "Haven't seen you here before…"

The maiden blushed.

"I just started," Paula abruptly answered, cutting Jin short.

"Sorry…"

"It's fine, Paula," Jin said. "So…"

Paula looked at him and he at her. A short silence followed their stare.

A few seconds later, Paula realised what Jin was inquiring about and composed herself.

Bowing deferently, she said, "I just wanted to inform you that we have finished."

"Oh! That's fine," Jin replied. "I was just about coming out too."

Paula then bowed a final time and hurried out of the room. "Goodbye, Master Jin!"

Jin chuckled and stepped out of her way before she bulldozed into him in her rush. He watched her the whole time she was leaving, examining her.

He clicked his tongue and shook his head, closing the door shut.

"Tsk! Paula Ravenbark. Didn't think she would be this shy in person."

Jin knew who she was but his new form as Jin Weiss was yet to encounter Paula at this point in the game and so he had to play it out as if he was oblivious to her presence in the mansion.

He headed back to the mirror, looking at his physique one more time and refocusing his thoughts on more important things like how he was going to accomplish the task for why he was here.

Mwah~

Jin felt the soft lips of a woman suddenly pressed against his left cheek.

"Hello, dear husband…"

Jin immediately jumped to the side, taking a stance for combat as he examined himself and the woman who had appeared inside the room.

He was impressed with how quickly he reacted to the sudden presence and his lips formed a half smile as he considered that he was more in tune with his new body than ever.

"You can't just appear out of nowhere, you know," Jin reprimanded her as he dropped his arms and walked over to the mirror.

The system made a sad face and shook her body like a culpable child trying to guilt trip Jin.

"I'm sorry," she softly apologised, but it didn't seem to move Jin one bit.

Jin looked at her from the mirror as he arranged his white hair.

"By the way, if you are a system, shouldn't I be getting all these stats and skills?" Jin asked. "You know, like other systems do. You should give me boosts, you know."

The blonde-haired system went behind him and wrapped her arms around him, clasping them in front.

Jin reacted to the warm touch of her tongue running briefly along his spine.

"Oh, dear. Looks like you have it all wrong…"