Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Exclusive Maid (2)
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Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Swallowing every curse bubbling up in my throat, I hurried up to the mansion's upper floors without a moment's hesitation.
Fuck. Why the hell me?
Fuck. What did I do to deserve this?
Fuck. Why, the fuck, am I becoming that goddamn Pig Prince's exclusive maid!
"Congratulations, Miss Lilith Rosewood."
"Th-thanks..."
Part of me wanted to smash Ditmeyer's smug face to pieces, but that wouldn't fix a damn thing—it'd just make everything messier.
Stifling a whirlwind of complicated emotions, I simply quickened my pace toward Harold's office on the third floor.
What was I going to do when I got there? Fuck if I knew.
First things first, I had to somehow ditch this cursed sex slave... no, exclusive maid position.
I couldn't wrap my head around why Harold had shoved me into Ethan's exclusive maid role in the first place.
Why?
At least in the original story, there was a somewhat understandable reason for Lilith becoming Ethan's exclusive maid.
A believable excuse: the Pig Prince, smitten with her looks, threw a childish tantrum until they assigned her to him.
Originally, it should've been impossible for someone as young as Lilith to land that role.
She was only eighteen right now—and she'd turn nineteen in a week by full count.
Young enough already, and if anything, she was a tad younger than Ethan himself. Just a few days' difference, but still.
An exclusive maid's duty was to assist her assigned noble in every little thing, up close and personal. Naturally, they were almost always much older than their charge.
In the game's lore, Ethan's first exclusive maid had been someone with real experience.
Then he griped that she wasn't to his liking and insisted on Lilith, leading to the reassignment—a process anyone could follow from the story alone.
Harold, the ultimate doting dad, folding to his son's stubbornness? Totally plausible.
From that angle, this appointment felt completely off.
Harold buckling to Ethan's whims and swapping the maid from someone experienced to Lilith? Sure, that tracked.
But appointing a debt-ridden maid like Lilith—with zero credentials or background—to be Ethan's exclusive maid? That was straight-up nonsense.
This couldn't happen. This was an impossible setup.
Where the hell had the story gone off the rails?
I'd probably left a slightly favorable impression on Harold by accident, but I'd also cemented myself as a dangerous weirdo.
Putting a maid with a screw loose—who'd throw herself at a wild boar ten times her size—on his own son?
Are you insane? Are you fucking serious?
As I mentally conjured a imaginary Harold and bombarded him with questions, my feet had already carried me to his third-floor office.
Outside the room where he likely waited, I took a quiet, deep breath.
"...Hoo."
The deranged noble who'd jammed me into his son's exclusive maid role was beyond this door.
A lunatic who thought it fine to assign his son a debt maid of shady origins—and a madwoman who'd risk her life against a level-ten monster.
I had to change this. If things followed the original plot from here, I'd hit a point of no return eventually.
Of course, dodging this exclusive maid gig didn't guarantee escaping Lilith's fate of being "trained" a hundred percent.
Even if I talked Harold out of it now, one tantrum from that brat could reverse it anytime—this reassignment was that flimsy.
Hell, it wasn't like he hadn't met me before; we'd tangled multiple times already.
If Lilith's looks had caught the Pig Prince's eye, this protest would be nothing but pointless venting to blow off steam.
"......"
Maybe it was all meaningless anyway.
Maybe I should just accept it and not waste time.
The Lilith in the game probably made the same call.
Trying some half-assed negotiation or transfer request could backfire, souring his impression of me even more.
Hell, the odds of that happening were way higher than not.
Coldly rational? Best to take the exclusive maid spot for now and find another way out later.
That'd be the safest, most efficient play available to me.
...
...
...
Fuck that shit. What's the point in blindly bending to reality like some pushover?
I have to accept this because it's inevitable. I have no choice but to go along with it.
And when the time comes that I inevitably get jumped by Ethan, I just take it? When I'm inevitably leashed like a dog, I slip it on without a peep?
Having seen "Ethan Richard Blackwood" in the game, I knew for damn sure.
The moment I gave that opportunistic pig bastard even a sliver of an opening, it'd be the same as begging him to suck me dry to the bone.
To survive as Lilith—who endured every brutal ordeal across all the routes—not a single inch could be yielded.
Where's the harm in trying, even if it's pointless?
At least I could sell myself to Harold as "one weird bitch."
The rumors hadn't spread through the mansion yet, so he'd probably only told a few like Ditmeyer.
This was my one shot to turn it around.
-Knock, knock, knock!
Even in this fucked-up mess, skipping basic servant etiquette would make cleanup impossible, so I rapped on the office door three times—with a bit of feeling behind it.
Soon enough, that damn Harold's voice echoed from inside.
"Come in."
-Click.
The second I heard Harold, I pushed the door open and slipped inside.
As I entered, our eyes locked instantly—he'd been staring right at the door.
"......"
"......"
The door clicked shut behind me, followed by an awkward silence.
I wondered if I had to speak first in this uncomfortable setup, but luckily, Harold beat me to it.
"Miss Lilith Rosewood, I presume."
"...Yes."
Fuck. I'm totally marked now.
A guy with zero reason to care about me remembering my name? One of two possibilities.
Either he figured he'd see me long-term—like with Head Maid Melissa or Sub-Butler Ditmeyer—so better memorize it.
Or I stood out way too much, forcing it into his head.
And mine? Obviously the latter.
As regrets from my past screw-ups flooded in, Harold spoke again, handing me the floor to explain why I was here.
"I don't recall summoning you today. What brings you?"
"...I have something to say regarding the reassignment notice from Sub-Butler Ditmeyer."
"Your reassignment? That would be about my son's exclusive maid position, then."
"Yes."
"Go ahead, speak."
Harold fixed me with a look like "Spit it out, then," eyes challenging.
I laid out my case boldly, without flinching.
If not now, I'd never get another shot to protest this.
"I know it's insolent to question the master's judgment, but if I may say one thing."
"......"
"I am utterly unqualified to serve as Young Master Ethan Richard Blackwood's exclusive maid."
"Hm."
"So, I wish to yield that position to a senior maid far better suited to assist him."
Harold listened to the end, then met my eyes silently, unmoving.
His steady gaze gave nothing away—what the hell was he thinking?
The stifling silence broke with a slightly irritated tone from Harold.
"So, you're saying there's a problem with my reassignment order?"
"......"
This was the crucial part.
In this conversation, I had to stroke Harold's ego while proving I didn't fit the role—or I'd be done for.
One wrong move, like seeming defiant or revealing my feelings toward Ethan, and my head could roll within days.
To survive as Lilith in this world, I had to stand tall and confident even before Harold.
Steeling myself inwardly, I met his gaze head-on and pressed my point.
"Yes."
"Hm."
"Regrettably, I'm not the capable, skilled maid you seem to think I am. That's why I'm reiterating that I'm unfit for Young Master Ethan's exclusive maid role."
"......You really do take after her."
"Pardon?"
"...No, continue."
Harold stared at me with slightly widened eyes, like he hadn't expected direct pushback.
But we'd come this far—no point stopping now.
Feeling like I was shoving my neck into an alligator's jaws, I bullied myself onward, spilling every word crammed in my head.
In my life, getting any more tangled with Ethan was a hard pass—even if it meant my head on a pike.