The Maid Recruitment Exam (Part 2)
I finally understood. Erinea had passed.
I did my best to erase the ominous feeling that was troubling my heart, hoping against hope that such a thing would never happen.
I slowly approached the remaining two calamities, my mind still churning with unease.
And then my eyes fell on the light strawberry-cream hair.
Beneath it, emerald-green eyes gazed up at me with the most unsettling stare I had ever seen.
A mischievous smile curved her lips, brimming with pure curiosity.
I recognized her identity instantly, but barely managed to swallow the vulgar words that threatened to spill out.
‘The absolute worst girl… you can’t possibly be here…’
The Wandering Calamity, the Princess of the Ruined Empire—Reniel.
Born with the most brilliant magic in continental history, she had lost her way during the empire’s collapse and finally awakened the power of creation, burning thirty percent of the entire continent.
Of course, thanks to me, the empire had never fallen.
No, if anything, a little more time and it would have entered its greatest golden age since its founding.
That meant she had no reason to wander anymore.
Why? She was the princess of a ruined empire—and the empire was no longer ruined!
Then why was this imperial princess, who should have been learning imperial studies and receiving the emperor’s favor, sitting in our ducal waiting room wearing an apron?
‘Stay calm… I have to stay calm.’
Panicking or panicking would only make things worse.
At this stage, there was still plenty of room to correct things.
I hid my trembling hands and accepted the documents she offered.
But contrary to my expectation that the emperor’s seal would be on it,
the paper contained nothing more than a plain recommendation letter from some obscure border noble family.
I rubbed my eyes several times to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, but it remained unchanged.
‘Thinking about it, she’s openly displaying the imperial family’s signature emerald eyes… yet…’
I glanced around.
Not a single attendant or candidate showed any hint of suspicion.
Even if they altered their appearance slightly, only the royal family of the Hernea Empire possessed that distinctive emerald hue.
That could only mean one thing: advanced illusion magic powerful enough to fool even those with calamitous abilities like us.
In other words, she had deliberately come here to impersonate a maid.
And since she had deliberately done so, even if I could see through her deception right now,
this mad princess would simply change into someone else’s skin and crawl back into the ducal house anyway.
… I’m going insane.
I barely held back the tightening in my shoulders and opened my mouth with great difficulty.
“I have confirmed the documents. Reniel has… passed.”
“Truly an honor, Prince Theron Layton.”
Reniel—my Reniel—beamed with beautiful eyes and gently clutched her hem in an elegant bow.
Her movements looked like they had been perfected through years of etiquette training, but I chose not to comment.
I turned toward the last remaining candidate instead.
There stood a woman whose skin was so pale it looked almost alive, and whose red eyes gleamed with an unmistakable hunger for blood.
The True Ancestor, Meina.
Born during the age of creation and standing at the peak of vampirekind, she pushed a single recommendation letter toward me with a truly arrogant posture—nothing like the others.
As if to say, “I’m here only for the purpose, so don’t underestimate me.”
I opened the envelope with a resigned expression.
‘The eastern guardian and noble blood guide, Duke of Valentia… recommends…’
A small, involuntary laugh escaped me.
I had expected it, but recommendation letters from others were always the same.
A recommendation written by the duke herself using her own title as the greatest noble in the east.
The man who could block every trade route with the east tomorrow was only the second son of the Layton ducal house?
Father would have to swallow his pride in diplomatic disgrace.
“… Meina has passed.”
I muttered as though my soul had left my body.
The True Ancestor smiled with that utterly arrogant expression, as if she had known this would happen all along.
In the end, my carefully laid plan had completely failed.
But that didn’t mean I should give up now.
‘It’s all right. The exam has three stages.’
The ducal house’s maid exam was no easy hurdle.
From the very basics—laundry, cleaning, cooking—to etiquette and patience, it was full of strict gates waiting to trip me up.
Even the strongest beings in the world would never pass every single one of them without ever having picked up a broom in their entire lives.
‘They’ll definitely make a big mistake somewhere, and I’ll use that as justification to throw them out properly.’
I moved forward while carefully controlling my mind.
***
The place I arrived at after shifting location was the training ground behind the Layton ducal house.
There, about fifty remaining candidates stood lined up in perfect formation, waiting with perfect military discipline.
In front of them stood Margaret, the ducal house’s head maid and my childhood nanny.
She swept her hawk-like gaze over each candidate.
‘Please, Nanny Margaret. Show us that famous strict eye of yours.’
I prayed with all my heart.
Margaret had served the ducal house for forty years, surviving every trial and tribulation.
If even she didn’t notice the aura coming from these four impossibly beautiful women, I would be shocked.
Especially when four such strikingly gorgeous women were mixed in.
I was certain she would throw them out without mercy, claiming they would “corrupt the family’s pure spirit.”
“Hmm… humph.”
“Oh my, your posture is quite refined.”
“Um… good enough.”
Margaret’s sharp eyes passed over Seres, whose black hair was harmoniously mixed with white strands.
Then Erinea, expressionless.
Then Reniel, with that playful smile.
And finally Meina, with her pale skin and red eyes.
I bit my tongue so hard I nearly drew blood, desperately hoping she would say something soon.
But.
“Truly perfect.”
The words that came from Margaret’s mouth were an honest compliment that completely crushed my hopes.
“Steady posture, unwavering gaze, dignified yet graceful chin angle, and neat appearance—excellent basic training for a maid of the ducal house.”
She kept nodding, visibly moved.
Then, instead of scolding them, she shouted at the five ordinary candidates who had grown stiff or avoided eye contact.
“The five of you, you’re rejected. You lack the spirit of a maid. Go home and pack your things at once.”
Before I could even open my mouth, those five left in tears.
Well, even the same woman could lose to a stare-down…
‘Nanny… you really didn’t notice that suspicious aura at all…?’
Margaret, who had completely missed my desperate gaze, clapped twice to draw everyone’s attention.
“From now on, we will begin the first practical test. The location is the Third Knights’ Dormitory.”
As soon as she said that, several candidates’ faces turned deathly pale.
The ducal house’s knights’ dormitory.
And among them, the Third Knights’ Dormitory was infamous for its insane training volume.
A space where sturdy men spent their entire days covered in dirt and sweat, rolling around.
It was nothing more than a cave thick with sweat and masculine pheromones.
In other words, anyone without iron nerves and strong professional pride would find even basic cleaning impossible.
“Let’s see your most basic cleaning and tidying skills. Enter the assigned room for your group and clean every last speck of dust.”
Before the words were even out of her mouth, the candidates split into groups and rushed into their rooms.
And in less than ten minutes,
a few noble daughters couldn’t endure the knights’ peculiar smell and the room’s chaotic state.
They vomited and fled, noses covered, tears streaming down their faces.
I took that as another sign of hope.
Even the strongest beings who could destroy the world had never cleaned another person’s back in such a hellish environment.
They would definitely run out the door the moment their pride was stung or their noses were offended.
But my hopes were shattered again.
Because I had peeked through the slightly opened door using the excuse of patrolling and witnessed the unbelievable scene.
Meina, the True Ancestor, kept her expression grim and covered her nose with her fingers.
But her other hand was silently wiping away the dried stains on the floor with a rag, as if staring at dust like it had killed her entire bloodline.
Reniel had spread a small wind magic around her nose to block the stench and maintained a calm expression.
Yet her hands moved with perfect honesty, neatly folding the knights’ belongings at precise angles.
Seres didn’t even change color as she swung her broom, controlling her breathing itself.
Just like knights practicing basic swordsmanship, her single sweep gathered every speck of dust into one neat corner without a single speck scattering.
Erinea, with her indifferent gaze, was staring out the window and perfectly collecting the dust in the cracks with her fingers.
That was it. They hadn’t used a single speck of magic or mana during cleaning.
Only pure physical ability and honest bodily labor had turned the knights’ chaotic rooms into spotless perfection in an instant.
“Unbelievable. Such perfect sweeping and wiping. I truly understand now.”
“……”
Margaret, who had been watching the situation with me, cried out in ecstatic joy.
Even Seres, who had moved her body the hardest of all,
her eyes shining as if she could hand over the head maid position itself.
I pressed my palm to my forehead, clutching my head as a migraine pounded through it and let out a heavy sigh.
‘I’m going crazy… really.’
These calamities who supposedly only knew how to destroy—where on earth had they learned to clean so professionally…?