Happy Ending(?)
One day, without warning, I fell into another world.
And I fell into it as a woman, no less.
There was exactly one way back home.
You have become the maid serving a villainess. Become the perfect maid and guide her to a happy ending.
[Success: Return Home]
[Failure: Failure does not exist for the Perfect Maid]
I had to play the role of the perfect maid and lead the villainess to her happy ending.
**
It didn't take me long to understand what that line really meant.
[Failure: Failure does not exist for the Perfect Maid]
I was pacing around the room, unable to accept my situation, when all of a sudden I snapped back to the exact moment I'd first been dropped into this world.
Failure doesn't exist.
In other words: fail, and you start over from the beginning.
I had been cursed with infinite regression — every time I failed, I was flung back to square one.
The person I was to serve was the daughter of a duke, a young lady infamous throughout high society as a villainess.
Her personality was impossible, her temper a wildfire, and her mouth a garden of poison-tipped thorns.
Times I regressed because my uniform wasn't pressed properly: 775.
Times I regressed because my walk wasn't perfect: 1,649.
Times I regressed because I served the wrong tea: 2,968.
Times I regressed because I failed to serve the villainess to her standard: 4,902.
Times I regressed because the ending wasn't a happy one: over 10,000.
By the time my total regressions had crossed the twenty-thousand mark,
I finally succeeded in guiding the villainess to her happy ending.
My lady — the villainess transformed into a picture of grace and purity — stood smiling as she wed the Crown Prince, and I applauded her with a smile painted straight out of a portrait.
Inside, I was so moved that tears were streaming down my face. But if I actually cried, I'd just regress again.
Then, as the wedding drew to a close,
my lady glided over and took my hand in hers.
"Thank you for everything, truly. Now it's your turn to be happy."
"I'm sorry... what?"
You have successfully guided the worst villainess of all to her happy ending.
Returning you to Earth.
Wh-what?
My lady?
What exactly did you mean by that just now?!
Don't tell me — you knew about the regressions this whole time?!
Hey, you absolute lunatic of a villainess!!
I had so many questions I wanted to ask, but by the time I opened my eyes, I was already back on Earth.
And then a year went by.