Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Development (2)
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Harold Richard Blackwood.
The master of this mansion who currently employed me, and the father of that loathsome brat who would make me his personal maid in the future.
No, wait—not quite. Now that I've regained my memories, there's no way in hell I'd ever become that bastard's personal maid, so scratch that last part.
Anyway, this man was the only guy in the entire mansion who didn't look at me with lecherous eyes.
"Welcome home, Master."
The ingrained memories from a year of working in this mansion as Lilith, combined with my instinct to stay alive by faithfully performing my maid duties, made me bow automatically to him.
With a curt "Yeah," Harold brushed past me and headed straight to the desk at the back of the study.
He sat down in the chair farthest inside the room and picked up the papers on the desk.
From this reaction, it was easy to guess, but this guy didn't show much emotion to anyone—not just me.
His eyes were inherently vacant, as if they never truly focused on anyone. In this world, I'd never once seen those eyes change.
Well, except in Luminor Academy from my past life, where I'd seen it a few times while playing.
'...What the hell are you doing right now, Ethan?'
'The maid won't listen to me and keeps trying to go somewhere! Lilith is my personal maid!'
'...No, Young Master. I was just going to wash your bedding...'
'Shut up, shut up! Don't talk back!'
-Slap!!
'Ahhh!!'
'...So you're walking around the mansion with a leash on your personal maid and swinging a whip?'
'Yeah! Lilith is mine! So she can't go anywhere!'
'Haa...'
Whenever emotion flickered in Harold's eyes, it was almost always tied to something involving Ethan.
Of course, that emotion was rarely positive—more like a mix of pity and sympathy.
I had no idea how he'd spawned a perverted pig bastard like that, but the father, Harold, was relatively normal.
That didn't mean I'd ever thought, even for a second after regaining my memories, that Harold would be on my side.
As I'd said before, this Harold was a damn son-con.
'...Don't be late for lunch. I told them to prepare your favorite tomato soup today.'
'Yeah!'
'Wait just a moment, Master! Then what about me...'
'Have another maid handle Ethan's bedding. From now on, your top priority is to keep Ethan company.'
'Pardon...?'
'Hurry up, Lilith! You have to let everyone know that until lunchtime, Lilith is my dog!'
'W-Wait, Young Master! That's the men's servants' waiting room...'
-Slap!!
'Ahhh!!'
Fuck.
The flashback scene I had to witness every damn time I played the Lilith route popped into my head, and curses spilled out automatically.
This was famous for its extreme love-it-or-hate-it storyline, centered on "saving" Lilith after years of abuse from Ethan that broke her mind.
For a unicorn like me, this plotline was pure hate.
As the flashback showed, for me—whose top priority was escaping that bastard Ethan—Harold was an enemy, not an ally.
He was a decent master in matters unrelated to Ethan, but when it came to his son, he never stopped him no matter what he did. Total son-con dad.
Building any sort of rapport with Harold halfway would actually be dangerous.
Not that he even seemed like the type who'd allow it in the first place.
"......"
Harold had called me here, only to suddenly sit at the desk in the study and pore over documents.
I timed it just right—right before the papers in his hand dropped to the desk and he reached for another stack, I spoke up.
"Master."
"...Ah, right. I had something to tell you."
...Judging by that reaction, if I hadn't cut in, I'd have been standing there like a statue for another two hours.
This trick of starting a conversation at a moment when it wouldn't annoy the other person was servant know-how Isabel had taught me.
Harold set down the papers he'd been about to pick up and scanned me up and down, as if observing.
Then, nodding slightly like he'd figured something out, he spoke.
"Starting tomorrow, work in the kitchen for a week. Tell the head maid I ordered the transfer."
"Pardon?"
"There are too many idiots asking pointless questions because they like your looks. Stay out of sight until they buzz off."
"Ah...."
"Any complaints?"
"...No, none."
As if I'd complain. If anything, I'd welcome it with open arms.
The fact that I wouldn't have to see those sleazy bastards' faces for a week was the best news ever for me.
I was this close to jumping around right here.
Of course, even Harold would look at me like I was crazy if I did that, so no dice.
"That's all the instructions. Your senior should still be in the kitchen, so learn what you'll be doing tomorrow morning and head out."
"Yes, understood!"
"You're dismissed."
"Then I'll take my leave!"
I barely managed to hide my grin as I closed the study door and hurried out.
A smile never left my face the whole way to the kitchen.
Of course I was thrilled not to deal with those creepy pervs anymore, but what really had my heart racing was something else.
From tomorrow, I wouldn't have to waste another meaningless day.
Being reassigned to the kitchen—a place off-limits to first-year junior maids under normal circumstances.
It meant it was finally time for this Lilith Rosewood to do something.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Kitchen duty.
Maids in this world had various duties, and kitchen work was naturally one of them.
Cooking itself was the chefs' domain, so junior maids had no business there, and kitchen entry was strictly forbidden for us.
But serving and dishwashing were maid territory, so I'd been in and out of the prep room right next to it plenty of times.
However, when the mansion had lots of guests like now, maids sometimes handled prepping ingredients too.
Washing fruit or peeling vegetables didn't require cooking knowledge—anyone could do it—and the number of chefs was limited.
Being assigned to the kitchen during this busy period meant prepping and washing dishes, so actually entering the kitchen was a huge win for me.
It meant the stage was finally set for me to use magic in Lilith's body.
"Man, holding back was driving me up the wall."
It'd only been a week, but once I realized I could use magic, my body itched to do it—it was inevitable.
The problem was all the constraints preventing me from just casting spells willy-nilly.
If anyone caught me using magic in Lilith's body, it wouldn't end with a minor fuss.
In this world, only nobles' bloodlines could wield magic. Commoners who could? Virtually none.
It wasn't law, just the setting. Nobles' blood had special mana for magic, that kind of nonsense.
If a commoner could use magic, they'd be the Luminor Academy protagonist or at least a main character.
...And the character I possessed, Lilith Rosewood, was one of Luminor Academy's main characters.
This plain-looking commoner maid (face and figure aside) became a main heroine precisely because she could use magic.
"...Conversely, the reason she gets screwed over the entire game is because she can use magic."
How Lilith could use magic and why it led to her hellish life—I'll explain later.
What mattered now was that my kitchen reassignment finally gave me a place to cast magic.
In this world, magic was a noble's blessing.
If word got out that a commoner maid like Lilith could use it, eyes would turn her way, like it or not.
And when unwanted attention focused on a powerless commoner girl, it never ended well.
The nobles, bloated with chosen-people syndrome, could squash one magic-using maid without batting an eye.
Besides, Lilith's magic was mostly buffs and barriers—support spells. Resisting threats with magic in a pinch was practically impossible.
So, I had to keep my magic a total secret.
From Harold and other nobles, and even from my closest colleague, Isabel.
"I never noticed playing as the protagonist, but from Lilith's perspective, these restrictions are no joke..."
If avoiding detection was the only issue, I could just cast in a place no one saw.
But the problem was that mansions like this were covered in Magic Detection Barriers.
Anywhere inside, any magic cast by anyone would be detected via investigation.
Who, where, when—what spell.
Except for one place in this vast mansion.
The kitchen, where the barrier was disabled for all the magical tools used there.
Finally, the moment to unleash my pent-up magic cravings had arrived.
"The long oppression... it was suffocating."
The sharp, thrilling surge of mana coursing through my body.
Now, it was time for Mage Lilith's stage to unfold.