I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

Chapter 10

“Master Ethan, are you okay?!”

“......Yes.”

“Thankfully, your injuries don’t appear to be life-threatening. I’m guessing you were just so startled that you blacked out.”

“Thank goodness, master. If something had happened to you, I’m sure you would have been....”

Waking from a brief, cozy sleep, Ethan opened his eyes and immediately took in his surroundings.

A familiar room, and a bunch of maids gathered around him.

Realizing that he’d been carried to the bedroom after his collapse, Ethan quickly grasped the situation despite his young age.

The maids were giving him worried glances; not the excited ones he was used to.

He didn’t know why, but their gazes had suddenly changed.

Ethan quickly realized that the emotions that had suddenly flooded him had changed.

There was only one thing that was different from his usual self.

He had lost his footing on the grand staircase, near the ground floor, and fell down.

It’s amazing how such a small accident can change the way people look at you.

At such a young age, Ethan naturally began to form a false sense of self-worth.@@@@

His assumption became a fact when his father walked into his room shortly afterward.

“Ethan! Ethan!”

The urgency in his voice and the distorted expression on his face that he never normally shows.

Ethan wasn’t stupid enough not to realize that it was his father’s concern for him.

From a young age, Ethan had already felt the gazes, conveying a myriad of emotions, towards him.

In the way his father hugged him tightly, Ethan could feel every single one of those raw emotions.

“Ethan! I’m so glad you’re okay.... If you’d be gone too, I...!”

A father’s love he never thought he’d felt before.

He never thought he could feel it just because he was hurt and fell.

It happened just once, just one fall down the stairs.

At such a young age, Ethan realized in the strangest of ways how to be loved by others.

For the next two years, he tried to gain the love of others.

“Master Ethan, are you okay?!”

“Master Ethan, if you skip your morning training, my master will be worried.”

“Did you skip your etiquette training today as well....? Please don’t forget to attend tomorrow, master.”

“Master Ethan. If you come out of your bedroom in the middle of the night like this....”

“Young master....”

Every time he gets hurt, messes up, or makes a mistake, the expectant glances he used to get from them quickly fade, replaced by concern and pity.

With each passing day, people stop expecting perfection from him.

Over time, Ethan had come to recognize these people’s changing feelings as love.

Some had said that he had become dumber after falling down the stairs that day, but that was not the case at all.

On the contrary, he had only become more clever.

Once he realized that no one could criticize him, Ethan practically had the manor at his disposal.

No one stopped him from sleeping until the sun was high in the sky, no one stopped him from eating whenever he felt hungry, even when it wasn’t mealtime, and no one stopped him from training in swordsmanship and magic.

No one could control his behavior or reprimand him for it, even as his body regressed into a terrible state. He lacked even the most minimal refinement found in a nobleman of his age.

For everyone knew that Harold loved Ethan dearly, the final remnant of his family, his flesh and blood.

If you offended Ethan in the wrong way, you could be sent to some other harsh duty station away from the manor, or even disqualified and cast out.

He could only silently hope that one day he would come to his senses and become more like his father, Harold.

Rustle.

“Huh?”

“.......”

What was that?

I think I just heard something behind me.

I turned my head to see if Isabel had inadvertently followed me out, but there was no sign of anyone following me.

Shrugging it off as my bad mood, I trudged to my destination, the kitchen.

‘Hah.... I really don’t wanna be chewing on garlic right now....’

It was an inevitable sentiment after spending over an hour chewing garlic and chopping vegetables after Ethan finally went to bed yesterday.

Unfortunately, the results of all that hard work were lost on the second day.

『Current Mana: 245 / 245』

I was somewhat prepared for the drop in efficiency, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.

I did a quick calculation and found that the amount of mana consumed was almost exactly the same compared to the first day. It’s just that I’m not as efficient as I used to be as my maximum mana has grown.

Still, it was undeniable that my mana cap was growing.

In the first place, I had already come too far to stop now.

The senior maids were expecting me to finish all the work as if this situation were completely natural.

“Lilith, thank you for your work today. Please do a good job tomorrow.”

“We really do need you here in the kitchen, Lilith. Do you want to continue working with us in the future?”

“.......”

Are you crazy?!

I’m losing my mind by working with you guys either way.

What kind of junior maid would want to work with a bunch of bitches who are only in their second year and are slapping their juniors around?

I’m only putting up with it because it’s a good environment for my magical training, but after this shift, I’m done working with the damned senior maids.

In another five days or so, I’ll be able to work with Isabelle again, so I’ll just have to suck it up until then.

Creak.

With that thought in mind, I sighed as soon as I opened the kitchen door and stepped inside.

The mountain of vegetables was refilled again as soon as the day was over. That was also the moment I realized that what I had to do today hadn’t changed.

...I just hadn’t considered the possibility that there was someone else in the kitchen I wasn’t expecting.

“Haaaaa....”

“Maid, are you sighing?”

“......Huh?”

Just now, for some reason, I thought I heard an unpleasant voice nearby.

I looked around cautiously, hoping I had misheard, but alas, my guess was wrong this time.

An expletive nearly escaped my lips as I caught sight of a short silhouette on the kitchen floor.

...but I had to hold back what was about to spill out, knowing who I was dealing with.

“The maid was sighing because she didn’t want to work~. Shall I tell my father?”

“.......”

“Maid, I’m hungry. So please cook for me again today.”

...Ha, really.

You’re really pissing me off right before work.

T/N

This most likely refers to the military enlistment that young South Korean men are required by law to comply with. This applies to physically fit men aged between 18 and 35.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading, and see you in the next one!