Facade Of A Lifetime
As soon as Ronald had arrived back at the the mansion that he had temporarily rented out for the time being, Ronald didn't immediately go inside of the mansion but just stood outside of the front doors and took a long and deep breath.
Then once he felt like he was ready for whatever happens next, Ronald slowly opened the door and saw Iris standing right infront of the doors waiting for him, like she would always do whenever Ronald would go out somewhere and leave her behind.
However, instead of Iris greeting him and invading his personal space like usual, this time she remained quiet and simply stared at him with a sad look on her face.
"Welcome back Iris... why did the hospital discharge you this early when you still look so beaten up?" Ronald pretended to closely observe all of the wounds on Iris's body as he spoke to her.
"I... um I-" Before Iris, who was trying her absolute best to hold back her tears, could finish struggling to get her words out, Ronald interrupted her.
"It's fine, you don't have to answer the question. Just go lay down on one of the beds and take a break for the next couple of days." Ronald said as he walked past Iris and made his way upstairs.
But before Ronald could disappear from her vision however...
"No." Iris stated in a nervous but clear tone.
Caught completely off guard by Iris's sudden rebellious statement, Ronald couldn't help but stop in his tracks and slowly turned back around.
"What did you just say?" Although Ronald looked and sounded somewhat cold and angry on the outside, he couldn't help but brighten up a bit.
Considering that this was the first time ever in this life that Iris had directly refused one of his orders, Ronald was hoping that maybe there was still a slight chance for Iris to change her perspective of him and start to revert back to her original personality.
"I...I won't take a break... Young Master..." Iris muttered out and quickly lowered her head down while holding her hands together behind her back in order to try and stop trembling.
Although Iris was extremely terrified that Ronald would hate her even more than he already does if she defied him, she desperately wanted to prove her worth to him.
After all, she knew that at this rate if she didn't try to change his perspective of her, then their paths will eventually... part ways once again.
And Iris definitely doesn't allow that to happen.
"Okay, just stay there then." Sensing that Iris clearly still didn't have any ill feelings towards him, Ronald said in a slightly gloomy tone and then headed upstairs.
Assuming that Ronald wouldn't come back down again, Iris slowly lifted back up her head and looked up their stairs with tears dripping down her eyes.
Although she should be staring at Ronald with absolute hatred and shaking with rage like any normal person would, she didn't.
She couldn't bring herself to hate him after all.
That was why she had initially tried to commit suicide after learning that Ronald wanted her dead.
For some reason however, that one message he had texted her broke her state of mind and stopped her from going through with it.
But to be honest, Iris was still currently conflicted on whether or not she should actually do it.
Sure, while she did say that she didn't want to part ways with Ronald again, she still wasn't too sure if their current relationship is still salvageable or not.
Like what if their relationship is already beyond repair?
Or what if she ends up making him hate her even more?
Then wouldn't it just be better to end it as soon as possible?
The pain in her heart is almost impossible to endure after all.
Besides, maybe Ronald would be happy about it.
And if that's what it takes to make him happy, then that's good enough for her.
As Iris was still going back and forth in her head whether or not she should follow through on her original plan, Ronald suddenly appeared back in her vision and started walking back down the stairs, making Iris panick and tried to quickly wipe the tears off of her face for fear that she might make him mad.
However, it seemed that Ronald didn't care about it and continued walking down the stairs until he reached the first floor again, in which he then walked straight past Iris and sat on the white couch that was about a few meters away.
"After you're done crying, come over to me, but walk very slowly so your wounds doesn't accidentally open up." Ronald said calmly.
Iris, who couldn't stop her tears from streaming out of her eyes, spent a good couple of minutes desperately wiping down her tears and finally walked over to where Ronald was sitting on the couch.
"Now lay down on the couch." Ronald then got off of the couch and signaled with his hands.
"I..." Worried that she might end up staining the couch with some of the still wet blood on her clothes and body, Iris started to speak up before quickly closing her mouth shut and reluctantly laid on the couch.
From there, Ronald slowly and gently remove the bloodied maid outfit on her, fully revealing her white undergarments.
"What? Did these doctors really use threads from a sewing kit to stitch up your wounds or something? Forget it, it'll have to do for now." Ronald stated in an irritated tone as he pulled out a small antibiotic ointment bottle from one of his pockets and started to apply it on all of her wounds.
Once he was done with that, he pulled a bandage wrap from his other pocket and started to tightly wrap them all over Iris's body until all of the wounds were covered up.
After checking that all of her wounds on her body seemed secured enough, he took off Iris's stockings and started to repeat the same process over again.
Iris, who was watching all of this unfold, couldn't help but feel a mix of shock, confusion, and nervousness.
She just didn't get it at all.
How did Ronald know how to apply bandages onto her body so well?
Or better yet, why was Ronald doing all of this for her despite clearly hating her?
While she wasn't sure why, she could feel her heart rapidly racing within her chest the more she watched Ronald gently touch and meticulous care for her wounds.
After finishing up bandaging the last wound on Iris's legs, Ronald looked back up and locked eyes with Iris once more.
"I wrapped your wounds just tight enough so that the threads won't snap off as easily while still allowing your blood circulation to flow freely. Your body should be able to endure for a few days." Ronald told her in a nonchant tone.
"Y-Young Master..." Iris stuttered out as she looked at Ronald with a shocked look in her eyes.
"Surprised, right? It's in the Kuangge family name to know how to treat all kinds of wounds properly." Ronald boasted arrogantly.
"But why...?" Iris asked.
"Why what?" Although Ronald had an idea of what she was going to say next, he still acted confused anyways.
"Why... why did you do all of this for me, Y-Young M-master." Iris finally managed to choke out the words after sobbing for a while.
"What a silly question, it's because you're my maid."
"B-but I-I thought that you... h-hated me." Iris replied in a broken tone.
"Hate you? Why would I?" Ronald asked back in a puzzled voice.
"...!" Extremely shocked by what she was hearing, Iris somehow stopped crying uncontrollably and immediately wiped the tears on her eyes to get a better look at him.
"You're one of the most beautiful, smartest, strongest, and most loyal girl I've ever seen. How could I ever hate having you by my side?" Ronald answered back like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Hearing what Ronald stated, Iris didn't instantly reply back but just locked her eyes with Ronald while trying to hold back her tears once again.
This time however, Iris couldn't help but burst out crying uncontrollably.
She had completely forgotten beforehand.
The reason why she had completely fallen in love with him.
The reason why she desperately tried so hard just to protect him in this life.
And the reason why she was willing to give it her all just to watch him bathe in the light.
But she remembered why now.
'The selfless love he had for his subordinates.'
And while that definitely wasn't just the sole reason as to why she had fallen in love with him, that was one of the redeeming traits he had that made her start to fall in love with him.
No matter what any of his subordinates did, whether it be talking bad about him behind his back, intentionally treat him badly, or even plot to kill him like she had been ordered to do multiple times in the previous life, he never turned their backs on them.
And it wasn't because he didn't know about it.
No, he definitely knew.
He just never cared what others thought about him.
And if he didn't hate her even after knowing everything she tried doing to him in the previous life, why would he hate her now?
The only explaination for an extremely strong assassin being hired to kill her wasn't because Ronald had hired someone to kill her, but rather someone else that had a deep grudge with him, knew about her identity, and wanted to shift the blame onto Ronald.
And she certainly knew very well exactly who would try and do something like that.
'Ye Fan.'
God, just even thinking about his name made her want to tear him up to bits so badly.
But since she loves Ronald infinitely more than she hates Ye Fan, she knew that she needed to take one step at a time.
With that being said...
"Young Master..." Iris announced firmly as she got off of the couch, knelt down on one knee, and placed her right hand on the floor.
Then she took the dagger out of her stocking and lunged it towards the hand on the ground.
But before the pointed blade could pierce her skin however, the dagger quickly disappeared, almost as if her right hand had engulfed the entire dagger.
And after a moment of silence later...
"Young Master... you'll get a good ending, I'll make sure of it."
Ronald, who had been completely stumbed by what the hell just happened, quickly snapped back to reality and looked at Iris weirdly.
"Uh alright thanks, it would've been cooler if you didn't say that while you were naked, but whatever. I'm going to go back upstairs now, make sure to put the maid outfit in the washer before you go to sleep." Seeing as how Iris's mood slightly improved for the time being, Ronald nodded his head and headed back upstairs without even bothering to question what she had just done.
"Yes, Young Master." Iris said as she continued to kneel down and looked at the back of Ronald's head until he left.
Unbeknownst to Ronald however, he had just dug himself into a deeper hole than he had ever realized.
'...'
'Did Iris just use some sort of cultivation technique infront of me or something?'
'And what does she even mean by good ending?'