Chapter 75
Chapter 75
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Excuse (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Maid, are you perhaps a young lady born with noble blood from some aristocratic lineage?"
A question that suddenly popped into the conversation with Ethan—one that, in hindsight, felt utterly predictable.
Well, it was the first conversation after she'd unleashed such powerful magic, so of course something like this was bound to come up.
In this world, there was no such thing as a commoner who could use magic. And if such a case ever arose, it almost always boiled down to one explanation.
Not a commoner who could use magic, but a bastard child who had inherited noble blood from somewhere.
In this world, a family's bloodline magic was a direct symbol of their status and power.
As a result, noble families strictly married among themselves to prevent their bloodline magic from leaking out. If a child was accidentally conceived between a commoner and a noble, the standard practice was to take the mother as a concubine—anything to keep the bloodline magic from spreading.
No, taking her as a concubine was actually the fortunate outcome.
There were plenty of cases where they branded the woman with a slave seal to prevent her from fleeing with the child, confining her forever in some corner of the estate, or simply killed her to stop the bastard from being born.
Those who escaped such life-threatening predicaments and were born became known as "commoners who could use magic."
And that was precisely why there were so many reasons I couldn't let it be known that I could use magic.
The moment rumors spread that I was some noble's bastard—regardless of who my actual parents were—I could become a target for any noble with a guilty conscience.
'Of course, Lilith is a completely special case with no connection to noble bastards whatsoever...'
Connection or not, there was nothing good to come from that fact getting out.
It was a truth so dangerous that if it leaked, I'd be doomed to live out my days as a maid in the Blackwood territory forever.
The instant I gained my freedom from the Blackwood household, some nameless noble would come hunting for me solely based on the fact that I could use magic.
In that sense, revealing the truth to Ethan and asking for his cooperation might actually be the better choice.
The problem was that the truth itself was even harder to confess to him.
And that was because the reason Lilith Rosewood could use magic was that this character was this generation's "Saintess."
'Even claiming to be a noble bastard would be hard to believe, but insisting I'm the Saintess? That's crossing the line, no matter how you slice it.'
In this world, there were only two people who could wield magic without noble or royal blood: the Hero and the Saintess, born with mysterious powers timed to the Demon King's revival.
The Hero was, naturally, the protagonist of this Luminor Academy game.
And the other one, the "Saintess," was none other than Lilith Rosewood.
Of course, claiming I was the Saintess would sound even more absurd than saying I was a noble bastard, so even Ethan wouldn't buy it.
Besides, Lilith couldn't even recognize herself as the Saintess in the first place.
The Saintess of Luminor Academy wasn't the type of character who could prophesy her own identity.
The process for Lilith to be officially recognized as the Saintess by the Aurelia Church probably went something like this.
They'd track her down based on an oracle from the Aurelia Church, confirm her Saintess qualities upon discovery, and then, once she realized her true nature, relocate her to the main church.
The reason I assumed that's how it should've gone was simple: neither in my current situation nor in the original plot did Lilith's identity as the Saintess get revealed until the very late stages of the story.
All thanks to her father's monumental act of idiocy right before he died of alcoholism.
Just before the Aurelia Church's priests could find Lilith, her father sold her off to pay his gambling debts.
'It's also the number one reason her life turned out so tragic.'
Because of that foolish blunder, Lilith— who should have lived a life of reverence under the blessings of the Aurelia Church's priests—plummeted to the very bottom as Pig Prince Ethan's sex slave in the Blackwood Duke family.
And to top it off, the father who sold her off didn't even last a few more days before dying a lonely death from alcoholism. Truly a cursed fate.
It was the worst possible event for a character whose luck stat was single digits.
In fact, there were plenty of hints in the game that Lilith was the Saintess.
Why was her offensive magic so inaccurate despite being a mage, while her support spells were ridiculously efficient?
Why was her charm stat—the one that drew people in—absurdly high compared to her other abilities?
And as the game progressed, various hints gradually unraveled the Saintess foreshadowing.
Plus, one decisive clue was that Lilith was the only heroine who wasn't a virgin. ...Not a setting I particularly liked.
The Saintess's divine power was a unique ability only she could wield, much like Moonshadow Princess Seraphin's lunar calendar.
But there was an additional condition to using that power: the Saintess had to remain a "pure virgin."
By the start of the academy storyline in Part 2, Lilith had already become Ethan's sex slave, so she couldn't access it.
The fact that none of the major characters could use the Saintess's power was practically a blatant hint.
She does awaken and use it in the final chapter, though.
'By then, pretty much every character awakens, so it's not that special anymore.'
That's why I said defeating the Demon King wasn't impossible without Lilith.
My explanation about my identity dragged on, but the conclusion was simple.
I couldn't tell Ethan why I could use magic.
Explaining why I could use magic meant revealing I was the Saintess.
Revealing I was the Saintess meant admitting I knew about the events unfolding in this world.
And that meant confessing I was a being from another world altogether.
At that point, it was far better to just keep my mouth shut and play dumb.
Even if it meant letting Ethan mistakenly think I was some nameless noble's bastard.
For a fleeting moment, I wondered if I could tell him I was the Saintess.
But no, I decided I still couldn't reveal it to him.
So now, it was time to act like the "clueless maid Lilith."
"To be honest, I don't really know, Young Master."
"...You don't know?"
"It started back in my old hometown when I saw a noble using magic. I got curious and tried imitating it without thinking. I was so young back then that I knew nothing about magic or that it was exclusive to nobles."
"......"
"Any normal child probably would have just pretended and nothing would have happened. But a spell that should never have worked burst from my hand with this strange sensation, and I got excited and told my mother about it."
"...Your mother must have forbidden you from using magic after seeing that."
"...Yes."
A lie.
In truth, I barely remembered my mother even from Lilith's early memories.
She had died of tuberculosis less than three years after giving birth to me.
My first magic spell wasn't from childhood—it was Clean after becoming a maid.
It felt a bit guilty dragging my late mother's name into this, but survival was my top priority right now.
So I shamelessly played the "innocent maid Lilith," glossing over my magic origins.
"But foolishly, I couldn't understand why my mother forbade it, so I secretly practiced in places where no one could see."
A lie.
"Of course, that was all before I was sold to the Blackwood territory. I haven't used magic once since starting work as a maid in the Blackwood mansion."
Obviously a lie.
"The spell I used against the King Serpent was the same. Princess Seraphin suddenly dragged me to the palace's west gate, and when she saw me use magic to kill a monster... For some reason, I wanted to live up to her expectations, and it just happened by accident while I was focusing."
This was a lie too, of course.
I'd lost track. Why did every plausible excuse turn into nothing but lies?
If I were a wooden puppet whose nose grew with every lie, my nose alone could heat the entire Blackwood mansion by now.
I wasn't spewing lies because I wanted to. The truth I had to hide was such a massive burden that I had no choice but to fabricate an entirely different story.
Part of me wanted to run to the Aurelia Church, declare myself the Saintess, and seek their protection—but considering the original story, even that was impossible.
In the end, this was the only way for Lilith to survive.
Hide my ability to use magic as much as possible, and if it got out, pretend to be some nameless noble's bastard.
That was the best option.
"Hmm..."
Ethan lowered his head, murmuring thoughtfully as he listened.
He might have spotted something suspicious in my excuse.
After all, the story I'd just spun for him was hastily cobbled together to pose as a noble bastard.
If Ethan seriously investigated my background, exposing it as a lie wouldn't be hard.
Things like my mother dying young, so she never saw me use magic, or my father being a mere commoner farmer—easy facts to uncover with minimal digging.
Hell, he might already know them.
But I had no choice. Throwing together an excuse was still the best play right now.
...Assuming, of course, that Ethan would keep my secret.
"Got it, maid."
"Pardon?"
"You've been able to use magic since you were young, but as a commoner, you've hidden it until now, right?"
"Yes."
"Understood. Now that I know about your dilemma, I'll take care of it somehow."
"......Pardon?"
...Take care of it somehow? What did that mean?
His tone suggested he was being cooperative.
Did he mean he'd keep my ability to use magic a secret?
"Young Master, do you mean you'll continue hiding the fact that a commoner like me can use magic?"
"...Huh? Oh, yeah, for now. Though we'll probably need to talk to Princess Seraphin first about what comes next."
"...You don't need to worry about Princess Seraphin. She already knows my secret and promised to keep it."
"That's a relief then. If the princess cooperates, we can resolve this more easily."
"...Thank you so much, Young Master."
...Who would've thought I'd ever get help like this from Ethan?
Of course, this Ethan had grown up properly unlike his villainous original self, so his character wasn't that surprising.
Still, I hadn't expected him to show loyalty to a mere maid like me.
'Well, it's proof that I've built a decent rapport with him over time.'
The bond I'd nurtured with Ethan had swayed his heart, and he'd helped me at the right moment.
The only direct witnesses to that incident were Ethan and Seraphin anyway.
As long as those two kept the secret, I had no reason to worry.
It seemed like everything had worked out. What a relief.
Thanks to Ethan's promise to protect my secret, I could finally ease the tension in my chest.
With all worries dispelled, I immediately resumed my duties as his exclusive maid.
"We've talked so long that time's gotten away from us. You should head to breakfast before it's too late, Young Master."
"Right, maid. If we dawdle, Father will chew me out again."
Ethan Richard Blackwood nodded and headed down the stairs toward the dining hall.
I followed behind him, fulfilling my exclusive maid duties as we descended to the first floor.
However, at that moment, I still had no idea.
That his words—"I'll take care of it somehow"—didn't simply mean keeping my secret.