Me? At the Academy? (3)
"Are you serious, Maid?"
Ethan asked, eyes widening in disbelief at my request to extend my term as his exclusive maid.
I met his gaze and nodded firmly. "Yes. I am completely serious, Young Master."
"...Maid, maybe you just don't quite understand how this works. A noble lady isn't supposed to serve as a man's exclusive maid. Of course, families do sometimes send their daughters off as ordinary household servants for the sake of family ties, but..."
"No, Young Master. I am already well aware that a noble lady of standing does not normally take on the role of a man's exclusive maid."
"...You really don't seem to get it, though."
Considering everything I'd done in front of Ethan up until now, I supposed I couldn't blame him for doubting me. But this time, I was absolutely certain of one thing.
The problem he was so worried about—the one that came with me becoming his exclusive maid—was, for me, not a problem at all.
Still, Ethan seemed convinced I simply hadn't grasped the situation, and he pressed on with further explanation about what serving as his exclusive maid would actually entail.
"It's a little... complicated. And I'm saying this for your sake, Maid."
"......."
"It doesn't matter now, but if it ever comes to light later that a woman of noble rank served as my exclusive maid, your chances of marriage could very well be ruined."
...Well, of course they would be.
An exclusive maid to a noble was, in rare cases, a position that included 'nightly service.'
Not that it was quite the same thing as assault, since it was a relationship entered into by mutual consent—and by this era, the custom had all but died out anyway.
Regardless, any profession that raised the possibility of sleeping with another man before marriage was bound to draw disapproving eyes.
That said, nothing of the sort had ever actually happened between Ethan and me—mostly because I had fought tooth and nail to prevent exactly that kind of situation from ever arising.
Not that any outside observer would believe nothing was going on between us, of course.
So Ethan was only looking out for me in his own way. Frankly, though, it was a courtesy I had zero use for.
"That doesn't matter to me."
"...What?"
"Having my marriage prospects ruined by serving as your exclusive maid is no problem for me whatsoever, Young Master."
"...Take this seriously, Maid. I'm only saying this because I genuinely don't want you to end up in a bad position because of me."
"And I genuinely am taking it seriously."
Because marriage wasn't something I had ever planned on in the first place.
Serving as Ethan's exclusive maid would shut down my prospects? So what?
If anything, it would be a bonus—it would preemptively keep those annoying noble sons from sniffing around, the kind who could use their power to make themselves very difficult to avoid.
Granted, commoners didn't place much stock in chastity as a virtue in this world, so there was always a chance they'd come swarming regardless of whether Lilith had any 'experience' or not.
But that was exactly what the quasi-baroness status Ethan and Seraphin had arranged for me could handle.
And besides, hardly any commoner was foolish enough to gamble his worthless life on forcing himself on... pouncing on a noblewoman.
"Even since receiving the rank of a quasi-baroness, my wish remains the same: I want to continue as your exclusive maid, Young Master Ethan. For the entire four years I attend the Academy."
It was, after all, the only way a quasi-baroness like Lilith—backed by no power, no connections, nothing—could hope to survive.
Yes, I was now a fairly capable mage, one who could cast Mana Blast. But on its own, that wasn't nearly enough to keep me untangled from the messy politics of the other nobles at the Academy.
Quasi-baronets were the bottom rung of the lower nobility. A daughter of that rank enrolling with no proper connections to her name? People lining up to push me around and put me in my place were a given.
And on top of them, plenty of others would appear, pretending to help me while quietly scheming to use me.
Given all that, it was far safer to simply continue serving as Ethan's exclusive maid and keep my activities permanently tied to his.
Exclusive maid duties meant spending most of Academy life at his side whether I liked it or not—and above all, it would stamp one fact indelibly into every other student's mind: that I belonged to House Blackwood.
...And even if some situation did arise where someone tried to use me, I figured being used by Ethan was preferable to being used by a total stranger.
Having weighed every angle like that, I had requested the extension of my post as his exclusive maid.
The answer that came back from Ethan's mouth was less a refusal than a deflection.
"...Let me think about it. Slowly."
"I'm sorry?"
"It truly makes me happy that you want to stay on as my exclusive maid. But this is something I need to consider very carefully."
"I see..."
"...I'm just not ready yet. So give me a little time."
...Ready? What on earth did he mean, ready? All he had to do was keep me on in the same position I'd held all along, didn't it?
For some reason, Ethan's answer filled me with unease, and a matching anxiety began to bloom unbidden in my own heart.
Still, there was a far happier piece of news to dwell on, so I let it slide.
After all, the fact that I—Lilith—would be enrolling in the Academy's Department of Magic mattered infinitely more to me.
A single carriage crossed the border of the Blackwood Territory, flanked by mounted soldiers on all sides.
Inside that lavish carriage, ringed by guards like an honor escort, its owner—Princess Seraphin—sat quietly, watching the passing scenery drift by beyond the window without a word.
In the seat beside her sat her bodyguard, Luke Cruella.
Past the gate marking the border of the Blackwood Territory, the domain gradually receded into the distance behind them. Taking one last look back at the Blackwood estate—already shrunk to little more than a dot on the horizon—Seraphin offered up a small, silent apology in her heart.
I'm sorry, Lady Lilith.
This was the woman who had slain the King Serpent in the royal palace and ended the monster wave—and far from rewarding her properly, Seraphin had simply tossed her a quasi-baronetcy and enrolled her in the Academy.
Wringed by that guilt, Seraphin could do nothing but stare blankly out the window, her heart restless and heavy, until the Blackwood Territory had slipped entirely from view.
Luke, watching her mistress's uncharacteristically troubled expression, ventured a careful question.
"Your Highness, Princess Seraphin."
"What is it, Luke?"
"If something weighs upon your heart, would you not care to share it with me?"
"......."
"If you would trust me enough to tell me, I swear I would never breathe a word of it—not even with a blade at my throat, Your Highness."
Luke was appealing for her confidence, offering her own loyalty as collateral.
Seraphin knew perfectly well that Luke was not the sort to go carelessly spilling private conversations. That much was beyond question.
But even so, she could not pour out the secret she carried to Luke.
If the matter burdening Seraphin had been her own secret alone, confiding it in her tight-lipped bodyguard might have eased her heart somewhat.
But what weighed on Seraphin now was not her own trouble. It was a problem concerning Lilith Rosewood, a servant of House Blackwood.
The moment she spoke of that problem, it would inevitably drag Lilith's secret out along with it.
Carelessly gossiping about another person's secrets was utterly foreign to Seraphin's nature—and so, even to Luke, the most discreet and trustworthy of all her guards, she could not speak of it.
"I'm sorry. This isn't something I can share with you, Luke."
"......."
"It's a personal matter of mine. You needn't trouble yourself over it."
"...Does it concern the conversation you held at the Blackwood estate?"
"......."
Luke's question struck dead center, and for an instant Seraphin's composure cracked.
After so many years in her service, Luke did not miss that fleeting change of expression.
"Even if it were true that Your Highness had fallen into conflict with House Blackwood, I would stake my life on serving you faithfully to the very end, Princess Seraphin."
"...No, it's nothing so dangerous as that."
"Is it, then, that maid of House Blackwood? The one who lingered in the drawing room to the last and overheard your conversation..."
"...Luke."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"I distinctly remember sending you out of that drawing room."
"...That is correct."
"Then do not presume to speculate about what happened inside it. Is my command so amusing to you?"
"F-forgive me! I stand corrected!"
The instant she realized her slip, Seraphin's bodyguard dropped to a deep bow, prostrating herself in apology.
But the one who had received that apology paid it no further heed, her eyes fixed silently on the landscape scrolling past outside the window.
And in her heart, she kept sending her unspoken apology to the girl she had promised to enroll in the Academy.
Lady Lilith, I imagine you're overjoyed right now—just knowing you'll be admitted to Luminor Academy's Department of Magic.
But I know. I know exactly what torments await a rootless noble daughter who enters the Academy on nothing but a quasi-baronetcy.
The quasi-baronetcy—the lowest rank of the nobility, bar none.
The moment Lilith set foot inside the Academy, every scavenger and opportunist in the place would come crawling out of the woodwork, hoping to make use of her.
It was a future anyone could have predicted without needing Future Sight.
And your magic, Lady Lilith, has more than enough power to draw every eye in the room. People far too heavy a burden for you to bear alone will seek you out as well.
I won't ask you to forgive me for knowing that and enrolling you anyway. But it had to be done. I'm sorry, Lady Lilith.
However refined Lilith's magical education might be, the persistent attention converging on her from so many people would not be so easily shaken off.
And the Department of Magic admitted nobles only—there would not be a single commoner student beneath her rank to dilute the target on her back.
It wasn't hard to imagine her becoming a 'target' for the Department's students in every possible sense.
Cruelly enough, though, Seraphin's plan counted on Lilith becoming that 'target' as well.
Half a year... perhaps you'll break even sooner than that. The Academy's Department of Magic is not a place a quasi-baroness can easily endure.
And if, after being hounded by those nobles, I extend a hand of salvation to you—could you truly refuse it? If I made your protection the condition, and asked you to become my exclusive maid in exchange, could you refuse me then?
You wouldn't be able to. Because I intend to reach out my hand only at the moment you find yourself in a position where refusal is impossible.
I'm sorry that scheming to use you like this is the only way I know how. Every sin I am about to commit against you, I will atone for someday—perhaps in my next life, I swear it...
One day, Seraphin had glimpsed a future she could not allow to come to pass. To forestall it, she needed to keep the strongest possible aides within her grasp.
Luke, the guard knight, in her right hand—Lilith, the exclusive maid, in her left.
These two were, by her own reckoning, the most powerful pieces she could currently command. Enrolling Lilith in the Academy's Department of Magic was simply the first step in the process of bringing her into Seraphin's hands.
And so Seraphin's plan to secure her second, strongest and most capable aide appeared to be proceeding as smoothly as her other operations, without a hint of obstruction.
Unfortunately, however, her plan contained one blind spot that not even Seraphin herself had foreseen.
That Lilith would insist on continuing as Ethan's exclusive maid even after receiving a noble daughter's rank—that was a future beyond even Seraphin's ability to predict.