Saying it in a hushed tone was out of consideration for Alisha, even though there were only the two of them in the room.
Alisha, due to her earnest nature, carried stress within her —though unseen by others, it was said that such mental strain often caused people to collapse.
But stress relief… was that really something Lotte could help with?

“I… I don’t really know what to do, you see.”

When Lotte admitted this honestly,

“It’s simple —would you push me down?”

She declared it with a confident expression, for some reason placing a hand over her chest.

“…Push… me down?”

Unable to grasp the meaning, Lotte found herself repeating the words.
　Push down —well, taken literally, that was precisely what it meant.
Lotte pushing down Alisha —a maid pushing down a princess knight.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

Confused, Lotte asked Alisha.
It was kind of surprising to be told to push someone down out of the blue.

“So, you push me down!”
“I understand what you’re saying, but, um, why would I…?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question —why should Lotte be the one to push Alisha down?

“If you want to relieve your daily stress —well, I think the best way is to do the things that interest you yourself. That’s why I want to try some ‘questionable things’ like the ones in that book I bought the other day. I’m asking for your cooperation with that.”

　The book Alisha bought was the rather extreme one Lotte hadn’t been able to finish.
Given the author described its contents as ‘questionable’, that was hardly surprising.

“Q-questionable things… y-you mean me doing them to Lady Alisha!?”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all along.”

Faced with Lotte’s flustered reaction, Alisha looked utterly bewildered.
How could she remain so calm?

“N-no, no way! I can’t do that! What on earth are you saying!?”

Naturally, Lotte refused Alisha’s request.
She’d never imagined being asked such a thing.
For Lotte to do something indecent to Alisha —regardless of whether she could or couldn’t, it simply wouldn’t be permissible.

“Stop saying it’s impossible straight away.”

But to that, Alisha retorted sharply.

“S-such a valid point…!”

It wasn’t wrong, but in this case, she didn’t want to admit it.
Then, Alisha let out a small sigh,

“…I thought you understood me.”

Saying that, she wore a slightly sad expression.
　――It felt like a needle had pricked his chest.
She genuinely wanted to help Alisha.
It might be presumptuous, but ――if she was stressed, she wanted to relieve that for her.
But she couldn’t grant a wish for something so dubious.
Because she didn’t think it would solve the root problem, and Alisha was someone Lotte admired.
　To push her down like that.

“…I’m afraid I simply can’t do it. I’m sorry.”

—Lotte had refused every single one of those repeated requests.
If she had brought Lotte back as a maid for this purpose, she had already failed to meet her expectations.
But if the meaning of ‘pushing her down’ included ‘something indecent’ —well, that was still something Lotte simply couldn’t do.

「……Right, I suppose there’s no helping it then」

Having resigned herself, Alisha rose from the bed.
Lotte breathed a sigh of relief.

「Ah, um, what about changing clothes…?」
「It’s fine. More importantly, I’ve decided to ask another maid instead」

Alisha replied thus to Lotte’s question.

“…Er, change clothes, you say?”
“No. I’m going to find someone to pin me down right now.”
“…Huh?”

Lotte couldn’t help but let out a gasp of surprise.
What on earth had Alisha just said?
Find someone to pin her down —she hoped she’d misheard.

“So, I’m looking for someone to pin me down. Within this mansion. Surely there’s someone who’d do it if asked?”

—Unfortunately, it hadn’t been a mishearing.