Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Development (1)
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A week had passed since the day I realized I had been possessed and reincarnated into Luminor Academy.
Surprisingly, daily life in the Blackwood mansion was flowing by peacefully without any incidents, unlike what I had feared.
Aside from the fact that everyone had been ridiculously busy these past few days because of the Blackwood family's only son, who had awakened from his curse after five years.
Ethan himself hadn't caused me any particular trouble yet.
If anything, he was probably still in a daze since he had only recently awakened from the curse.
To be precise, we had gotten busy fundamentally because of that Ethan.
The number of visitors to the Blackwood mansion had increased exponentially following his awakening from the curse.
Normally, aside from preparing and serving three meals a day, simple cleaning, and laundry, there wasn't much to do—it was a leisurely household.
But now, using Ethan's awakening as an excuse, guests were flooding in to pay their respects, and the Blackwood family's servants had all become busy as a result.
Not only did we have to greet and see off the constant stream of arriving and departing guests every day, but we also had to prepare meals and bedding for all the guests filling the guest rooms, plus the increased cleaning and laundry.
The maids, who usually handled a bit of everything, were now operating in a strictly divided labor system during this emergency situation.
Maids dedicated only to laundry, maids dedicated only to cleaning, and so on.
And the task assigned to me, out of all the many jobs, happened to be the most exhausting one: reception duties.
In fact, it was basically shoving the work that the senior maids hated the most onto me and Isabel.
"Haa... This is fucking exhausting..."
Harold Richard Blackwood, the head of the Blackwood Duke family.
Nobles from all over the kingdom were swarming to build even a sliver of connection with him, the hero from the prestigious swordsmanship family that had been around for five centuries.
Because Duke Harold, known for having no greed for status or wealth, cherished only one thing above all: his only son, Ethan.
In the backstory, he was someone who loved his entire family, including his wife Thanacia, but after losing his sole companion, he had come to dote on Ethan even more.
How would a lowly maid like me know about Thanacia, who died before I even arrived?
When you pour 2,000 hours into playtime, you end up knowing even the background of extra characters like her.
Especially since taking the Lilith route inevitably tangled you with the Blackwood family, meaning you'd run into the family head, Harold, quite often.
...Of course, in my current situation, Harold wasn't some extra from Luminor Academy—he was my lifeline, the master holding my fate in his hands.
"Lilith, time to switch."
Exactly one hour into my break, Isabel entered the servants' waiting room right on cue for the next shift.
My body reacted to her voice, slowly rising from the chair like a zombie.
"Ah, yeah... I'm resting..."
"...If you're too tired, Lilith, should I cover for another hour before we switch?"
"No, it's fine. I have to do my job."
If I made Isabel overwork in my place and she collapsed, I'd be even more exhausted than now.
Besides, I didn't want to burden her with more debt.
"Got it. Then hang in there!"
"Yeah, thanks..."
"If it gets too tough, come switch anytime!"
"Yeah..."
At least, the one consolation in this merciless emotional labor was Isabel's cheerful encouragement.
She was a character you occasionally met as Lilith's old friend if you took the Lilith route in the game, so her voice felt somewhat familiar to me for that reason.
With her seeing me off, I dragged my weary steps out of the servants' waiting room to resume my shift.
To circle back, the news that Duke Harold's only son, Ethan, had awakened from his curse spread across the entire empire in just three days.
After that, nobles from nearby territories began visiting the Blackwood territory one after another.
They probably figured that pretending to sincerely celebrate the recovery of Ethan—the one person Duke Harold was rumored to cherish—would let them build a connection with him.
Some even brought their daughters along, proposing engagements with the guy who had barely awakened from his curse.
...Yeah, I could understand how the days were insanely busy and exhausting from constantly greeting guests.
No matter who I was in my past life, right now I was a Blackwood family maid, and to escape this family, I had to faithfully serve as a maid for the next seven years.
But there was another issue that made my already fatigued self even more pissed off.
Most of it stemmed from the male guests visiting the mansion.
"Welcome, Count Cassis Vanderbelt. The master is in the study on the third floor. If needed, I can escort you there myself."
"That's kind of you. ...By the way, what's your name?"
"Lilith Rosewood."
"A pretty name to match your face. How many years left on your contract with the Blackwood family?"
"About seven years remaining."
"...Hmm, a shame. If it had been around a year, I might have made you my third concubine."
"...I appreciate the words."
"Welcome, Margrave Arthur Mondrake. The master is in the study on the third floor. If needed, I can escort you there myself."
"...No need. I've been here before."
"Understood."
"More importantly, I'll be staying overnight, so prepare my room. ...And if you wish, you can come to my room tonight."
"...I appreciate the words."
"...A woman with a high price on her ass, just like a Blackwood servant."
"Welcome, Viscount Oscar Piermont. The master is currently out, so if needed, I can relay a message later..."
"Wow, the Blackwood family's maids are no joke. How much do you make a month? With a face like yours, gotta be around five gold coins, right?"
"...Servants' salaries are internal Blackwood family information, so I cannot disclose. I ask for your understanding."
"Duke Harold says he can't forget his dead wife and all that, but he's sleeping with girls like you every day behind her back! How much do you get per go with the duke? If I pay, maybe I could..."
"The master does not spend private time with servants. Moreover, as a Blackwood family servant, I do not offer my body to outsiders..."
"What a snobby bitch. Hey, you think I'm easy pickings just 'cause I'm a viscount? Back in the Great War ten years ago, I even became sworn brothers with Brother Harold! Huh?!"
"...To think I formed a sworn brotherhood with a guy like you—that's news even to me."
"......B-Brother Harold?"
"I'll handle this one myself, so you go wait in my study. I have something to tell you."
"Understood, Master."
"Brother, I mean, Lord Harold... That was just a misunderstanding..."
In short, this was my daily routine lately—my head hurting for entirely different reasons from the scumbag guests who showed up several times a day.
As I said before, there wasn't a single person in this Blackwood mansion with a lower status than me. Including all the visiting guests.
The only commoners allowed through a duke's mansion entrance were its servants.
Any non-noble commoner getting permission to enter such a mansion was virtually unheard of.
So, in a situation where I couldn't lash out at anyone, the number of guests I had to deal with kept growing, and among them, the number of scumbags eyeing me with filthy gazes increased too. Naturally, it pissed me off doubly.
Of course, there were some guests who didn't try anything weird with me, but since the character I possessed was the main heroine of an eroge, her appearance drew even more male attention.
Recalling memories from my time as Lilith, after secondary sexual characteristics developed, quite a few men had looked at this body with lecherous eyes.
Back then, before I recovered my past life memories, I hadn't fully grasped what those gazes meant.
"No wonder it's an eroge—they even make the maid outfit look like whore clothes..."
This outfit, exposing nearly half of my breasts and thighs, was malicious in many ways.
Of course, as an adult miyabi visual novel-based SRPG, this was standard maid attire in this world.
The other outfits Lilith could get from late-game events... Better not to imagine them; it was for the best.
As a player, the heroines' various outfits were fun to choose from, but thinking I might have to wear them sparked an inexplicable sense of crisis.
Moreover, as I mentioned, Lilith was such a pitiful character, brimming with what seemed like the developers' malice.
For nearly five years before entering the academy, she was toyed with by Ethan, and after enrolling, she faced mentally shattering ordeals depending on the route.
No need to explain the kind of outfits the devs would put on a character like that.
Anyway, with this eye-catching appearance and such an outfit, attracting men's gazes was inevitable, like it or not.
After all, Lilith Rosewood was one of Luminor Academy's main heroines. She had to have superior looks compared to average women.
Among the men I'd met since regaining my memories, the only ones who hadn't ogled this body with lust were noble kids five years old or younger.
Young children could recognize that I was pretty, but at least they didn't stare openly at my breasts or thighs like adults.
...Excluding those kids who had no concept of sexuality yet, there was exactly one other person.
A truly remarkable figure in many ways who had never looked at me with lustful eyes.
"...Sorry to keep you waiting."
The door to the Blackwood mansion's study opened, and a tall man stepped inside.
I reflexively bowed to the master who appeared before me.
"Welcome, Master."
Harold Richard Blackwood.
The man employing me right now, and the father of that damn Pig Prince Ethan.
Also, the only man in this mansion who never looked at me with strange eyes.