Nothing Comes for Free
The head maid’s office carried the faint, refreshing scent of aromatic candles. Unlike the last time I had seen her, she now wore a monocle. She lifted her gaze from the documents and greeted me warmly.
“So, did you have a good trip home?”
“Yes. Thanks to your permission to use the carriage, I was able to travel comfortably.”
“Hehe. That’s good.”
The head maid gave a soft laugh, removed her glasses, and rubbed her tired eyes with her fingertips.
“You’ve worked hard. Starting tomorrow you’ll begin your duties in earnest, so go to your room and rest.”
“Understood.”
Unlike the elegant composure she had shown before, her face now openly displayed exhaustion. It made sense. She managed every single household matter in this enormous mansion… of course the workload would be crushing.
“All right. You may go now.”
“Head Maid.”
“Hm? Is there something you need?”
She looked at me with mild surprise.
“If it wouldn’t be too forward… may I prepare a cup of tea that helps relieve fatigue? I’d like to repay even a small part of the kindness you showed by choosing me.”
Her eyes widened as though she hadn’t expected those words at all. I knew how to return a favor. The fact that she had doubled my salary without hesitation made it clear she thought highly of me. In that case, responding to such goodwill was only proper. Besides, I wasn’t exactly opposed to staying in her good graces.
‘She’s the one handing me a salary in the eight-figure range… I’d better treat her well.’
“….As expected, my eyes never fail me.”
The head maid murmured softly to herself, then looked at me with deeply moved eyes.
“Then could I trouble you for just one cup? I’d like to taste your tea again.”
Of course. You absolutely cannot get sick, Head Maid. That’s how I keep receiving my paycheck on time.
While such devious thoughts swirled inside me, I answered her with a bright, clear smile.
“Yes. I’ll brew it right away.”
The annex where the maids lived stood a short distance from the main mansion. Recalling the satisfied smile the head maid had worn while drinking her tea, I stepped into my room. I wanted nothing more than to wash up and collapse into bed, but I pushed down my fatigue, pulled the scroll from my pocket, and unrolled it.
On the white surface of the unfurled scroll, the results of the past five days stood out in sharp detail.
Strength: B
Speed: A
Intelligence: C
Hand Dexterity: A+
Mana: D
Holy Power: F
“Hehe… Seeing it written out like this feels incredibly satisfying.”
I still couldn’t understand why my intelligence remained at C, but during the five days I had told the head maid I was visiting home, I obviously hadn’t gone anywhere near a house. I didn’t even know where Alice’s family lived, or whether her parents were alive. If she did have parents, they would probably contact her eventually… I could worry about it when the time came.
Over those five days, I had scraped together every piece of knowledge from the original story and collected as many opportunities as possible without disturbing its flow.
I had thought about it very, very carefully.
The novel Please Protect the Saintess’s Private Life was a story centered on the protagonist Lucy. It followed her after she was chosen as the Saintess, the countless trials she faced, the growth she achieved together with the three male leads who loved her, and their final confrontation with the Demon King—the ruler of all beasts.
Naturally, nearly all the opportunities I knew about were ones meant for Lucy. Since this was still eight years before the original story began, those chances were most likely still sitting exactly where the novel had described them.
But I had no intention of stealing them. In a situation where I could only return home after reading the completed novel, who knew what catastrophe might occur if I snatched the protagonist’s rightful rewards? If the worst happened and Lucy’s growth faltered, leading to her defeat or death, that would be entirely my fault.
I only wanted to earn money and open a café. I had zero interest in playing hero and shouldering some massive responsibility. Besides, I had always preferred gentle romance-fantasy stories with adorable female leads over those overpowered “soda” power fantasies.
In any case, because most of the opportunities mentioned in the novel belonged to Lucy, the pool of choices I could safely take was extremely small. But it wasn’t completely empty. The story had plenty of villains, and a few of the opportunities they were supposed to obtain had been described as well. As long as it didn’t interfere with the protagonist’s growth, I could claim the villains’ rewards without any guilt.
Of course I didn’t dare approach the truly dangerous locations hiding top-grade elixirs, weapons, or secret manuals—my life was too precious for that. Instead I gathered every lower-grade potion I could easily obtain and every useful item that could be bought with money.
Incidentally, the funds had come as an advance on this month’s salary. The end result was my current stat sheet. With speed at A and strength at B, I wouldn’t become an untouchable overpowered monster, but I should at least avoid getting beaten black and blue everywhere I went.
And as an extra bonus, I had obtained a priceless item that could save my life.
"Open Sesame."
At my words the scroll unfurled with a rustle, and a small black ring popped out from within. I slipped it onto my left index finger with deep satisfaction. Most of the five days had been spent acquiring this, but it had been worth every second.
It was a mid-grade magic tool that let me travel to any place wrapped in deep shadow up to three times per day. The very artifact once used by the villain who stalked the protagonist. That sinister extra had discovered it inside a hidden tomb behind the academy and used it to follow Lucy around, interfering with her at every turn. Of course he was quickly caught by one of the male leads and imprisoned.
“Better that I use it than let some perverted extra keep it.”
I hadn’t liked the bastard who caused our Lucy so much trouble anyway.
In any case, I had done everything possible in those five days. I now possessed insurance that would let me flee from danger, and although I was still hopelessly weaker than the main cast, I had gained the bare minimum strength needed to survive in a world crawling with beasts.
All that remained was making money.
I changed into the nightgown provided for maids and lay down on the bed, preparing for tomorrow. The work that would begin in earnest starting in the morning.
I closed my eyes with a relaxed smile.
‘How hard could maid work possibly be?’
But at that moment I had overlooked one crucial fact.
There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
If the salary somewhere is unusually high, there is naturally a reason for it.
“Alice! Come help serve breakfast!”
“Yes, Senior!”
“I need you to handle this corridor, Alice. Clean it so well that not a speck of dust remains.”
“Yes! Senior!”
“Alice, here’s the laundry. The washing magic tool is full, so you’ll have to do it by hand.”
“All of… this?”
“Yes. And you need to clean the rooms right after, so hurry.”
“…Understood.”
“Oh, there you are. Come help prepare the ingredients for dinner.”
“……Yes.”
“It’s tradition in Valaxar for new maids to handle the onions. Sorry, but I’ll leave it to you, all right?”
“…Yes, Senior.”
. . .
In the food storage room tucked inside the kitchen.
“…Sniff.”
Alone in the lonely storeroom, I peeled onions and wiped at my stinging eyes. I had no idea how many I had already finished, but my eyes were already swimming with tears. I dropped the fully peeled onion into the basket, set the knife down for a moment, and let out a deep sigh.
“…It’s tougher than I thought.”
From the very first day I had been running nonstop without a chance to catch my breath. Except for lunch, I hadn’t rested once. I had worked countless part-time jobs before, but never anything this relentlessly busy. I had cleaned rooms and corridors since dawn, stomped on mountains of bedding to wash them, and hung every single piece on the drying racks by myself. The moment that was done I was dragged to the storeroom and put in charge of food preparation.
On top of that, the other maid who had been prepping ingredients with me had dumped all her tasks on me and leisurely wandered out of the kitchen. Thanks to her, I was now stuck here alone, peeling onions like some tragic side character.
‘Isn’t this the kitchen staff’s job…?’
If maids were even handling ingredient prep, then what exactly were the kitchen people doing? Were they just pushing all the dirty work onto the maids? Or were they deliberately hazing the new girl?
“I’m only enduring this because the pay is good. Seriously.”
The senior maid who had abandoned me with a quick “I’ll be right back” was infuriating, but I had already experienced that kind of culture countless times in the military, so I could let it slide. It was fine. Whenever my tired mind started to waver, the thought of my eight-figure salary bloomed like sweet hope in my chest.
‘Once I finish this, they said I’d get a break before dinner service…’
With the mindset that I just had to finish quickly and collapse onto my bed, I reached for the next onion.
And at that moment—
Creak—
The storeroom door, which had been tightly closed after the senior maid left, opened with a slow groan. She must have come back to help after all. Maybe she felt guilty about abandoning the new girl, or perhaps some shred of conscience remained. Either way, I was glad.
I had almost finished anyway… but it was still nice that she returned. I broke into a wide smile and turned toward the door.
“You’re back, Seni—”
A chill ran down my spine.
My survival instinct moved my body before my mind could even register the situation. Without a single second of hesitation, I immediately lowered my head and dropped my gaze. Like prey playing dead in front of a predator, my entire body froze solid, not daring to move an inch.
“……”
I even held my breath, terrified of making the slightest sound. Even without looking, I could feel it with pure instinct. The moment I caught sight of the long, snow-white hair cascading downward, intense goosebumps erupted across my whole body.
A cold presence so overwhelming it seemed capable of freezing a person where they stood. An icy aura that made it feel as though my neck could be severed at any moment.
My heart hammered violently, threatening to burst. Cold sweat slid down the back of my neck.
There were only two people in this entire mansion with hair that pure white. And of those two, only one had hair that flowed long and straight down her back.
The young Grand Duchess of the North, Adriel Valaxar.
It was her, and her alone.