The News That Shocked Everyone
The office of Arvian Valaxar exuded an air of refined luxury, its walls adorned with ornate patterns. While the other knights were resting to shake off the exhaustion from a month-long campaign, he strode directly into the office with the Valaxar knight commander at his side.
“So. How did it go?”
At his question, the knight commander bowed his head and replied.
“The education is proceeding without issue. She displays exceptional talent in every subject—history, arithmetic, and of course magic. Her martial studies in particular show true genius—”
“Results only. Is she capable of defeating a Valaxar knight?”
The Grand Duke cut the man off, his tone indifferent, as though the details bored him. The knight commander’s face filled with alarm.
“Your Grace… Her Highness is only nine years old.”
“If she carries the blood of Valaxar, she should be able to show at least that much talent.”
The knight commander fell silent, at a loss for words. He was normally a man of impeccable judgment, yet when it came to the Grand Duchess he was… excessively strict.
Even so, expecting a child who had not yet reached ten years of age to defeat a knight with decades of training was impossible, no matter how prodigious her talent with the sword.
“She shatters stone statues with ease. Clearly her strength is more than sufficient. Am I mistaken, Knight Commander?”
“……No, Your Grace.”
The Grand Duke exhaled in clear disappointment, then began tapping his fingers on the desk as he sank into thought. After a long stretch of silence, a cold smile curved his lips.
“It seems she has grown lax and forgotten her place lately. It wouldn’t hurt to remind her of it once more.”
“Then…”
“Come to think of it, the position of the Grand Duchess’s personal maid is still vacant, isn’t it?”
At the Grand Duke’s chilling remark, the knight commander’s body gave an involuntary shudder. Just as he said, it had been a long time since anyone had been assigned to that role.
Ever since the last personal maid was found as a cold corpse behind the mansion, no one had volunteered for the position.
After that incident, every servant in the estate began treating the Grand Duchess like a ghost. Being entangled with her had never brought anything good.
Adriel held the highest authority in the mansion after the Grand Duke himself, yet ironically she was also the one person everyone feared and avoided.
“I can’t have my daughter with no attendants at all. Inform the head maid and assign someone.”
On the surface the words might have sounded like paternal concern, but the Grand Duke was not thinking of his daughter’s well-being. He knew perfectly well what had happened to every previous personal maid. The new one would surely meet the same grim fate.
It was simply his way of carving the truth into her bones: You have neither the qualification nor the power to protect anyone.
Nothing more, nothing less. A truly twisted hobby, yet the knight commander did not refuse. After all, he too held no particular fondness for the Grand Duchess.
Poor girl, whoever she is. She has my deepest condolences.
With that silent prayer for the nameless sacrifice, the knight commander bowed respectfully to his lord.
A bright morning had arrived at the Grand Duke’s mansion. Though no birds sang, the unusually clear sunlight and pleasant breeze promised a pleasant start to the day.
Of course, my own mood was the complete opposite.
“…What the hell is this?”
My hands trembled as I clutched the scroll.
Name: Alice
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Strength: B
Speed: A
Intelligence: C-
Hand Dexterity: A+
Magic Power: D
Holy Power: F
Not much had changed. These were the stats I had painstakingly built over five days by scraping together every little opportunity I could find. I figured they were more than enough to survive in a fantasy world.
Every time I looked at my speed and hand dexterity, a surge of pride filled me.
But…
“Why the hell did my intelligence drop?”
I stared at the scroll in disbelief. After the head maid’s punishment left my legs numb, I had checked my status just in case something had gone wrong. Physically, everything was fine. The only problem was this ridiculous drop in intelligence.
“I could maybe understand a C, but what’s with the minus?!”
I hadn’t been able to attend school properly because of childhood poverty, so my formal education was lacking… but I never thought I was stupid. I had even passed the high-school equivalency exam through self-study. Sure, I couldn’t afford college, but still.
Had a month of nothing but maid work dulled my mind? The job kept the body busy but didn’t exactly require deep thinking.
…It’ll probably fix itself later.
It had to be a temporary glitch or something. Shaking off the uneasy feeling, I pulled something from my back pocket—the item I had picked up while leaving the head maid’s office.
It was a silver case decorated with lavish ornamentation. Inside was an ointment that looked extremely expensive at first glance. Thanks to it, my wounds had healed remarkably well, but not knowing its origin left me feeling unsettled.
“Who on earth gave me this…?”
There weren’t many people in the mansion who would show me such kindness. The only possibilities were the head maid or Senior Lani. The head maid had been with me the entire time in her office, so it couldn’t have been her. That left Senior Lani.
She came from a noble family, so she might own expensive items like this. Still, given her personality, she would normally hand it to me directly. Why leave it in front of the door?
…Or could it be?
Another person’s face flashed through my mind, but I immediately snorted and shook my head.
That’s ridiculous.
There was no way he would give me anything. It would be more believable to think a passing magpie had dropped it.
I took a deep breath, stood up, and walked to the full-length mirror. I slipped out of my nightclothes and slowly changed into the maid uniform hanging in the closet. At first I had needed help just to figure out how to put it on, but now I could dress myself with practiced ease.
“Still bruised…”
The clear marks of punishment stood out on my calf—a deep purple bruise stretched across the skin. It throbbed a little, but it wouldn’t interfere with my daily tasks, so it was fine. At least the head maid’s lesson had knocked some sense back into me.
That’s it. No more thinking about the Grand Duchess or her family drama. I’m just going to do my job.
I lightly patted my cheeks to psych myself up, then stepped out of the room with a bright smile. The hallway was completely empty. Since I had woken an hour earlier than the other maids, they were probably still asleep.
I decided to handle the annoying cleaning chores before my seniors woke up. I had caused trouble for the head maid and the others, so the least I could do was this. By the time I had finished dusting the hallway and windowsills, Senior Lani emerged from her room with a small yawn.
“Good morning, Senior Lani.”
She flinched when she saw my face, but quickly hid her reaction behind a faint smile.
“…Morning. Did you clean the whole hallway by yourself?”
“I woke up early and had nothing to do, so I just took care of it.”
“I see. Thank you for your hard work.”
She looked like she wanted to say something more, her lips moving hesitantly, but in the end she simply patted my shoulder and said, “I’ll head out first. Don’t be late for morning roll call.”
“Oh, right. I used the ointment, Senior. Thank you.”
“Ointment?”
“Ah… never mind.”
It wasn’t from her? Then who could have left it?
“…See you later.”
With those brief words she left. Normally we would have chatted a bit, but today it felt like she was avoiding me.
Of course she was. There was nothing surprising about it. After I had openly badmouthed the master of the house, even she would find it difficult to look at me favorably.
Still, it was okay. If I kept showing my good side, I was sure we would eventually return to how things used to be.
Before long, the head maid’s morning roll call began. The seniors emerged from their rooms one by one. Since there was nothing to gain by drawing their attention right now, I followed quietly behind them like a ghost.
The first-floor hallway was filled with roughly twenty maids, including myself, all gathered for the roll call. The head maid stood at the center. Her expression was clearly troubled.
“…His Grace has given an order.”
Her voice had sunk low, as if something truly terrible had happened. The others sensed the heavy mood and began sneaking glances at her.
“What is it?”
Senior Lani was the one who broke the oppressive silence. The head maid closed her eyes, let out a short sigh, and answered.
“He has asked us to fill the position of the Grand Duchess’s personal maid.”
“…Pardon?”
Senior Lani’s usually calm dark eyes began to tremble. She wasn’t the only one. Every senior around her stared at the head maid with faces full of disbelief.
“So it seems we must choose one of our own to become Her Highness’s personal maid.”
At those words, every face in the hallway was dyed with pure terror.