Instant Maid Creation
Alice was in a full-blown panic the moment she smashed her ice cream into Yosef.
Wh-what do I do…?!
Her family had never looked kindly on her. If House Goldrain demanded compensation, House Honlight would never be able to cover the cost. To make up the loss, they would marry her off even sooner.
Anything but that!
Alice was the female lead—a woman who carried knowledge of the modern world. That singularity would one day let her approach people of high station without hesitation and win their hearts. That was still in the future, of course, but even now the effect was already working to some degree. Even mid-panic, she managed to apologize first.
"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"
A maid standing nearby let out a shriek, but Alice kept her focus locked on Yosef. Rather than join in the fuss, she decided a sincere apology was what she owed him. That kind of composure would, in time, become one of the charms that captivated any number of male leads.
"How do you plan to make this right?"
"Ah—well, that is—I'm sorry. I don't have any money…"
"Then is there nothing you can offer?"
"No, sir. I'm sorry…"
"Actually, there is one thing."
"Pardon? What…"
"You can pay with your body. First, the soiled parts need washing. Follow me."
"Y-yes?"
Alice still hadn't properly grasped what he meant by the time Yosef slipped an arm around her waist and led her away.
Pay with my body? Wash? Wash what?
She had to get through this somehow. Otherwise she would be sent home from the academy—and she could not let them snatch away the freedom she had only just tasted. She had still dreamed a few dreams about the academy. Dropped into a fantasy world, she had imagined meeting a prince, maybe falling in love.
I didn't want it to start like this!
Yosef did not look like a prince with a glittering retinue. But he had poured so much money into his upkeep that his appearance itself was outstanding—skin and physique maintained at a cost even a modern-day tycoon would struggle to imagine.
The place Yosef stayed was a private mansion inside the academy grounds—a privilege granted only to those who donated heavily. Students from poorer noble houses had to live in cramped dormitories.
Yosef glanced toward the neighboring mansion and frowned slightly.
"My older brother and sister are staying next door. I'd rather not run into them."
"Whoa…"
Alice already knew she had been assigned to a narrow dorm room, so stepping into a private mansion like this felt utterly novel.
Karen did not follow them inside; she waited at the entrance. She seemed to assume Yosef would, as usual, be chasing after a woman—and she knew how furious he became if interrupted when meeting one. Watching Karen stay behind only made Alice more uneasy.
"This is the bathroom."
"Y-yes…?"
Alice stepped in, tense—and Yosef casually peeled off his top as if it were nothing.
"…!"
Faced with a man's muscular upper body at point-blank range, Alice screamed without a sound.
No way—surely not?!
While she was busy imagining the worst, Yosef dunked the discarded clothes into the bathtub. Then he pointed at the submerged garments and said,
"Wash them and bring them out."
"…Pardon?"
Alice blinked blankly for a moment. He meant that since she had dirtied his clothes, she was to wash them by hand and return them.
"Th-ah… yes…"
Once she understood, Alice's face flushed all over again. Earlier it had been from the strange things she had imagined; now it was from sheer embarrassment at having imagined them at all.
When Alice finished the laundry and came out, a maid contract was waiting for her. Karen looked from the document to Alice and back, then asked carefully,
"So… why did you sign a maid contract?"
"He said the clothes were incredibly expensive, so I had to pay with my body."
"Ah…"
Karen's expression stiffened oddly. In one corner of Yosef's room, Alice's freshly washed top of his hung dripping. She had wrung it out, but not thoroughly—water still fell steadily to the floor.
"If you wash it that clumsily, the clothes will only get more damaged…"
"What? Really?!"
Alice, who had never lived as a maid—and had never even been properly attended by one—was thoroughly shocked.
"That's how I washed my own clothes, so…"
Hearing that, Karen examined Alice's outfit more carefully. The clothes Alice wore looked cheaper in material than even Karen's own maid uniform.
"Karen, how much is this garment worth?"
At Yosef's question, Karen inspected the wet clothes closely and answered,
"Three hundred gold coins, at least."
"Three hundred gold coins?!"
Alice's voice shot up in horror.
"It's less the fabric and more the designer's fee that makes it so expensive."
Karen's face grew grave. She seemed to suspect that Yosef had deliberately made Alice do the laundry so the damaged clothes would become grounds for an even larger debt. Had he simply sent them to a professional cleaner instead of ordering Alice to wash them, they would have come back neatly restored. Instead, after passing through Alice's hands, the clothes looked like a failed art restoration—worse than before.
"Should I add this debt as well?"
"…Ah."
Alice's face went paper-white.
"Never mind. I ordered it, so we'll let it go."
"Really?! Thank you!"
The phantom of a three-hundred-gold debt document had been floating before her eyes; the moment Yosef waived the extra charge, Alice felt a surge of gratitude. One could argue it was his fault to begin with, but the sheer scale of the gold coins clouded her judgment.
"If you could earn the money yourself, that would be fine—but looking at you, you don't seem to have that kind of knack."
"…"
Alice answered with an awkward smile instead of words.
"Shall I send the bill straight to your family?"
"You can't!"
Startled by how loudly she had spoken, Alice immediately bowed her head in apology.
"You don't seem to get along with your house."
"…No, sir."
"So you can't repay it alone, and your family can't either. A very awkward situation."
Every time Yosef tapped his fingers on the desk, the steady sound felt like a countdown to a death sentence.
"Work as my maid. We'll start by settling the debt that way."
"Yes—thank you!"
With no other options, Alice finally accepted Yosef's contract.
"Move your things out of the dormitory. There are plenty of empty rooms here."
"Really?!"
"Yes."
Dorm rooms were typically cramped and often shared by two. Being told to move into a mansion left Alice in an excellent mood—the place looked dazzling and magnificent at a glance.
"I'll also provide a certain amount of personal wages. I can't have your appearance damaging my dignity."
"U-uhh…"
"What is it?"
"I'm just so grateful!"
The family that disliked her was never going to send pocket money. They had told her to earn her own keep, and that had been one of Alice's worries.
Instead of becoming a debtor, I get an allowance. Is this good or bad?
She thought it over—then, true to her heroine nature, decided to take it positively for now.
"For your studies, you'll take the classes we share. The first stretch is an orientation period, so you'll sit through all of them. Do you have any particular aptitude?"
She would share classes with Yosef, but he was still allowing her to attend properly.
I beat the Korean CSAT—Mado Academy will be a cakewalk!
"I don't really know yet!"
"In any case, after classes end, you'll move according to my schedule. Report any outings as well."
Yosef finished reading the last paragraph of the document and handed the contract to Alice.
"Finally—if you bring the money yourself and repay the debt, this contract ends. Understood?"
Alice skimmed the contract quickly. It listed the term, wages, and clauses guaranteeing her studies.
"If I really pay the money back, I can end the contract?"
"Yes."
Yosef had offered remarkably generous terms. Hearing that this was not a forced slave contract—that she could resign of her own choosing—Alice had no reason to refuse. As she smiled in relief, a satisfied smile touched Yosef's lips as well. Karen watched the two of them with a complicated expression.
After Yosef went off to bathe alone, only Karen and Alice remained in the room.
"Haa…"
"…Umm, I'm sorry."
When Alice carefully apologized, Karen shook her head.
"No. You don't need to apologize. You're hardly the first or second woman to get tangled up in Young Master Yosef's schemes."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It might have been better if he'd just played around for a bit like usual and sent you back."
"Pardon?"
"Once he gets bored, he at least presses some money into their hands and never looks for them again. But now that he's signed a maid contract… Lady Alice will have to stay by his side."
Karen blinked as if she found it pitiful, looking at Alice, who seemed to know nothing of Yosef's reputation.
"Don't dig any deeper—just remember that Young Master Yosef is extremely fond of women."
"What? Y-yes…"
Told not to ask questions, Alice tucked her curiosity away in her heart.
"Well, now that you're a maid… hmm. You've never received maid training, have you?"
"No, I haven't."
"We'll need to have a maid uniform made, and report the contract to the academy…"
"I have to report a maid contract to the academy?"
"Of course. Being a maid isn't just a change of status—it means offering loyalty to a noble in exchange for protection."
Alice listened carefully to Karen's explanation. A maid contract had something in common with a feudal bond.
"Once you sign a maid contract, Lady Alice becomes a person of House Goldrain. In return for serving the young master, other nobles won't be able to lay a hand on you freely."
You served the noble who became your master—and in exchange, you received that noble's protection.
"Whoa…"
"Wait—you really didn't know any of this?"
"Huh? N-no…"
When Karen raised her voice, Alice shrank her shoulders.
"No, I'm not angry—if there's something you don't know, just ask. Causing an accident because you didn't know would be far worse."
Deep fatigue ran through Karen's words. It was the face of someone who had personally suffered every time Yosef blundered into trouble without knowing a thing. And now another problem child had been added to her plate—she had every reason to worry.
"If a problem arises between a commoner and a noble, a single word from the house is usually enough to make the commoners back down."
"…"
It seemed like common sense to Karen. Even a debt-ridden house would never tolerate one of its nobles being insulted by a commoner.
Would I be all right…?
Alice, however, doubted whether her own family would truly shield her. Even coming to the academy had been an opportunity born of stacked coincidences. Coincidence piled on coincidence would eventually remake her into the female lead—but that was not something the present Alice could know.
"But if a problem arises between nobles, it's a serious matter. This intake has a lot of famous people enrolling, so I'm even more worried."
"Famous people?"
"Yes. His Highness the Crown Prince, the young master of the Northern Ducal House, the heir of the Amethyst Magic Tower, and even a Saint candidate are said to be coming."
"Whoa…"
Alice figured those people had nothing whatsoever to do with her. What connection could a girl who became a debtor the moment she entered the academy possibly have with such splendid men?
"By the way—nothing really happened to you, did it?"
"No."
"Strange…"
Karen studied Alice, who was still perfectly intact. Yosef's schemes were so cunning that more than a few women had found themselves bound by debt and leverage before they even realized it.
"Still, since the young master took you on as a maid himself, he'll pay attention to Lady Alice as well—so don't let your guard down completely."
"…Uh, if he's paying attention to me, shouldn't that mean I can relax?"
If someone was protecting her, Alice thought, the normal response was to trust them and set her mind at ease.
"Not around other people—I mean don't let your guard down when you're with the young master."
"What are you talking about?"
"Y-Young Master?!"
Yosef's voice suddenly cut in, and Karen jumped so high she nearly hit the ceiling.
"Ah—uh—that is…!"
When Karen couldn't manage a proper answer, Alice stepped in first.
"She was telling me to be careful when serving the young master!"
Karen had looked in danger, and Alice instinctively took her side. Of course, by openly admitting they had been talking about being careful around Yosef, it was unclear whether the defense had actually helped.
Karen stared blankly at Alice for a moment. Then her expression softened, almost touched. Alice becoming a maid had been entirely Yosef's doing. Alice herself had done nothing wrong. Remembering that, Karen's face grew gentler still.
True to her heroine nature, Alice had already begun building rapport with Karen at remarkable speed.