Ariel was still completely stunned when the other person turned around.

It was a somewhat youthful face. Ariel felt it looked vaguely familiar, yet she couldn’t recall where she had seen it before. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Aside from that youthful appearance, the girl was wearing a black-and-white maid uniform, her hair neatly pinned up. Though clearly quite young, she carried herself with a hint of capable professionalism.

“Miss Ariel, you’re awake?”

The maid blinked, clearly unaware that Ariel had just attempted a dangerous ambush. In fact, she even looked a little happy about Ariel waking up.

“Honestly... how could you start playing such dangerous games the moment you wake up? Your body still hasn’t fully recovered.”

The maid scolded her lightly in a tone of mock annoyance, then quickly loosened her grip and gently placed Ariel back onto the bed like a rag doll.

Ariel was still a bit dazed, but now she finally understood why the carefully calculated ambush she had just launched had looked so ridiculous.

She had overlooked one extremely serious problem.

At this moment, there was not the slightest bit of strength in her body.

Not just her magic—her battle aura, even her raw physical strength had been sealed by some exquisitely crafted restriction. Aside from the fact that her head felt slightly fuzzy, there was no discomfort anywhere in her body, which was why she hadn’t noticed anything wrong at first.

Right now...

she was no different from an ordinary person.

But why would this happen?

If the enemy had captured her, fine—but why use a powerful restriction that only a Truth-Rank archmage could cast to seal her abilities?

What was the point?

From an enemy’s perspective, such a gentle limitation made no sense at all. Wouldn’t it be far simpler and more efficient to beat her half to death and tie her limbs together?

“Miss Ariel? Miss Ariel? What are you thinking about?”

Seeing Ariel staring blankly, the little maid waved a hand in front of her face.

Ariel quickly snapped back to her senses, but she was not fooled by the maid’s sweet smile. Her expression immediately turned wary.

“Who are you? What exactly do you people want?”

“Ah! I completely forgot to introduce myself! If the head maid finds out, she’ll scold me for neglecting a guest.”

The little maid hurriedly straightened up, folded her hands over her abdomen, and gave an elegant bow.

“Hello, Miss Ariel Bugaard. My name is Noah. I’m a maid of this residence. You can call me Little Noah.”

“No... ah?”

Ariel fell into thought. She was certain she had never heard the name Noah before. And the girl had used the word guest.

Had she misunderstood? Was this not a kidnapping after all?

“As for what we want to do...”

Noah continued with a smile.

“Now that Miss Ariel is awake, according to the schedule, the next step is naturally bathing and getting dressed!”

“Oh, bathing and getting dressed... that doesn’t sound too bad—wait!”

Just as Ariel was about to sigh in relief, her eyes widened again. She grabbed the blanket tightly around her chest and nervously looked around.

“Where’s the bath? And the clothes? I don’t see anything!”

“Of course you don’t,” Noah said matter-of-factly. “How could a proper bathing area possibly fit inside a bedroom?”

“...Huh?”

It couldn’t?

But she had always bathed in her room.

While Ariel was still puzzled, Noah once again showed that gentle smile.

“Don’t worry, Miss Ariel. You don’t need to worry about anything. Just leave everything to us.”

With that, Noah clapped her hands.

The door instantly opened, and a group of maids filed in.

They were elegant, well-trained, and extremely efficient. The moment they entered, they rushed straight toward Ariel, grabbed her arms, and lifted her up.

“Wait—what are you doing?!”

Ariel struggled in panic, but with her strength now no different from that of an ordinary girl, she had no way to resist these professional maids. Very quickly she was carried to a place filled with swirling mist.

Ariel’s eyes widened.

Now she finally understood what Noah had meant.

Having only ever bathed in a tub or small bath, she could never have imagined that a place meant solely for bathing could be this enormous.

It was a massive marble bath chamber. Decorative artificial rock formations stood around the room, and even the balcony along the edge gleamed like polished jade.

Beyond the rocks, a clear stream of hot water poured continuously from the mouth of a golden lion statue, gathering into what looked like a small lake—a hot spring.

To describe just how big it was...

Seven or eight girls could bathe, splash around, or even fight in it without feeling cramped.

And she was alone.

Before Ariel could fully process the luxurious sight, she had already been stripped bare and tossed into the hot spring.

The maids immediately split into groups. Two began scattering fragrant flower petals across the water. Two more poured in a clear, crystal-like bath liquid.

Meanwhile Noah approached with the remaining maids. They all wore clean white gloves—sponges in one hand, soft brushes in the other—and warm smiles on their faces.

“W-wait...”

Ariel panicked again. In her mind, Noah’s smile had already translated into the wicked grin of someone up to no good.

Clutching her chest, she retreated rapidly—only for her back to hit the artificial rock. There was nowhere left to go.

“Don’t worry, Miss Ariel.”

Noah blinked gently.

“We’ll make sure to wash you until you’re smooth and soft... and wonderfully fragrant too.”

“N-no need! I can wash myself! I can—”

Ariel shook her head frantically, eyes wide, but it was clearly useless. The maids, brimming with enthusiasm, closed in like a pack of hungry wolves.

“No—!”

Soon, a miserable wail echoed above the hot spring.

...

...

Two hours later, Ariel was finally allowed to return to her room.

At this moment ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) she was wrapped only in a pure white bath towel. The skin revealed beneath it was smooth like creamy jade, and every strand of her hair seemed to shimmer.

But Ariel’s eyes had completely lost their light.

“I’m not clean anymore... heh... I’m not clean...”

She muttered endlessly to herself.

“What are you saying, Miss Ariel? Right now you’re cleaner than you’ve ever been,” Noah said, clapping her hands in admiration. “You’re beautiful!”

“Ugh...”

Ariel hugged her knees and curled into a ball.

She stared at her pale little feet. The maids hadn’t just scrubbed her spotless inside and out—they had even trimmed her nails. The neat, curved nails were set into her toes, which had turned rosy from soaking in the hot spring.

As her toes curled and uncurled, they appeared and disappeared playfully.

A kind of playful cuteness she had never noticed before.

“All right, that’s enough...”

Ariel muttered with puffed cheeks.

“It’s over now, right?”

“Over?”

Noah tilted her head.

“What are you talking about? Bathing and dressing—bathing and dressing. The real highlight is the dressing afterward, not the bathing.”

“....”

Ariel slowly lifted her head, her face as pale as death.

She watched as Noah, practically bouncing with excitement, pushed several rows of rolling clothing racks into the room together with the other maids.

“Ta-da!”

Noah yanked away the cloth covering the racks.

Instantly, more than a hundred colorful, beautiful dresses—styles Ariel had never experienced before—filled her entire field of vision.

“Look! A surprise!”