Episode 29

A sharp slap rang out. Stunned, I stared at Hendel, who had fallen to the floor, unable to immediately understand what had just happened. She was clutching her cheek.

It was the same cheek that had been bruised until just moments ago.

“How rude. How dare you bow to me when the young lady is present.”

Susan spoke coldly. Hendel, on the other hand, could not even get up and was trembling.

What in the world is this…….

My heart pounded. What was she doing? Why did she suddenly hit the child? I still couldn’t understand the situation.

So, Susan just slapped Hendel because Hendel greeted her while I was there?

The moment I finished that thought, I reached out without realizing it and grabbed Susan’s shoulder.

Then Susan glanced at me and turned toward me.

“I apologize, my lady. I will educate her properly. Please do not be too angry.”

“What are you talking about?”

What education? Angry? Who am I angry at?

My thoughts kept breaking off instead of continuing. The fact that someone had struck Hendel—Hendel, whom I cherished—right in front of me was unbearably shocking.

Susan smiled mechanically.

“Or shall I drive her out? If you wish it, my lady, that can be done. The authority lies with His Excellency, but I will speak to him well…….”

“What are you talking about! I’m not, I’m not angry at Hendel! If I’m angry at anyone, I’m angry at you! Did you just slap her because she greeted you?”

Susan stared at me blankly, as if she did not understand, then said mechanically,

“I do not understand, my lady. You are angry at me?”

“Ha…….”

“……My lady, this maid bowed and greeted me even though you, her master, were present. She deserved to be slapped. When someone of higher standing is here, does it make sense to bow to me?”

“……Maybe that wasn’t allowed before, but it’s fine now. No. Even if it isn’t fine, don’t use violence in front of me. That’s even ruder. Understand?”

Susan fell silent, as if she had no words to say in response.

At that, I thought, Oh no, and took a deep breath. My words had come out too sharp.

Rene, don’t lose your temper. This woman is just working hard. That’s why she can’t stand seeing an employee behave rudely in front of her master.

The problem is, I don’t think it’s rude…….

Desperately trying to understand Susan, I helped Hendel to her feet.

“From now on, don’t hit Hendel……. No, don’t hit any maid recklessly. I don’t want to see it.”

She seemed like a clever person, so I was sure she had understood me well enough. Keeping wary of Susan, I took Hendel’s hand and was about to head to my room when Susan muttered from behind me.

“Master.”

Master? At the strange form of address, not “my lady,” I turned my head back, and Susan continued.

“What game is this?”

It was late at night. With very few lights, the darkened corridor felt eerie.

The three of us were the only ones in that corridor. The employees had greeted Reuden and me for tomorrow’s sake and then gone to their assigned rooms to rest.

Standing in the middle of that bleak corridor, Susan—who had said those incomprehensible words, asking me what game I was playing—was looking at me with unfocused eyes.

All of a sudden, I instinctively understood why Hendel feared Susan so much. There was a strange, unapproachable air flowing from her.

I looked at Susan as if I were looking at a madwoman, then started walking again. I did not want to deal with her right now.

No, I did not want to deal with her ever again. She had never appeared before me until now, and she had not done anything befitting a maid either, so there would be very few occasions to meet her in the future anyway.

But that was my vain wish.

* * *

“You are awake, my lady. Shall I prepare you to wash up right away?”

“Mm……”

“Warm water would be best, yes?”

“Mm……”

Today, too, the intense morning sunlight made my eyes open on their own. I only raised my upper body and rubbed my eyes, reflexively answering the barrage of questions.

Since I was less awake than usual, I sat on the bed for a long while before blinking at the question that suddenly rose in my mind.

Huh, did Hendel’s voice sound like this……?

“My lady, are you certain warm water would be better?”

A kind voice, but only that. No matter how many times I heard it, the voice that came again was not Hendel’s.

The moment I realized that, I was startled out of my wits. With a gasp, I sucked in a breath and pulled my body backward.

I should not have done that. Since the bed was wide, I thought there would be space behind me, but of all places, I must have been sitting at the edge. What my palm touched was not the soft feel of the bed, but empty air.

“Whoa!”

In the end, I failed to grab anything and toppled backward, falling off.

Thud. A heavy sound struck my ears, and I woke up completely. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt.

Looking at my two legs hooked over the bed and the upside-down world, I worked my brain hard. Who was that? Who was that just now?

“My lady, are you all right? You have only just recovered, so you must be careful.”

At the unfamiliar voice that rang out again and the sound of footsteps approaching me, I tensed without realizing it and only rolled my eyes around. Before long, the person finally came into view.

A person in a maid uniform that looked new, her hair pulled tightly back and fixed in place with a hairpin. A person wearing a gentle yet businesslike smile.

“……Susan?”

“Oh my.”

“…….”

“Yes, it is me. Are you hurt anywhere?”

Unbelievably, it was Susan. When did she come into the room? More importantly, why was she here?

It was not surprising for a maid to come in the morning. A maid’s work was to help with the morning preparations and keep one company.

But the other party was none other than Susan. Susan, who had never once come to attend to me since I had possessed this body.

Why would someone like that suddenly……?

All at once, I remembered what had happened last evening and reflexively furrowed my brow. Had she come as an apology because of yesterday’s incident?

In the end, I had gotten angry at Susan yesterday, so it suddenly occurred to me that she might be doing this to get on my good side.

Even so, I did not like it, so I stared at Susan with a slightly wary gaze. Though she must have seen my expression, Susan paid it no mind and helped me up with a rather careful touch.

I was bewildered. In the end, I asked her directly.

“Why are you here, Susan……?”

Susan stared at me for a moment, then answered slowly.

“Why, because I am your personal maid, my lady.”

She smiled brightly. That smile looked less mechanical than it had yesterday.

Then what was the reason you shoved all the work onto Hendel until now, despite being my personal maid?

I wanted to ask, but I held it back with effort. Even the thought of arguing with her was unpleasant.

Besides, how could I say anything when she was saying she would do her own work again?

Just as an oddly awkward silence flowed between us, the familiar sound of a clock striking broke it. And then, a mission window flashed into view.

Today’s Mission

‘Let’s fire a maid!’

Accept / Decline

It was a mission related to maids, following yesterday’s. It was a relief, at least, that the missions had been easy for two days in a row.

In truth, I had been a little nervous, worried it might be something as absurd as that mission from a month ago.

‘But I guess I was worrying for nothing.’

At any rate, firing a maid meant I could just fire myself, so I pressed Accept right away.

Susan quietly spoke.

“His Excellency had breakfast first and went to the royal palace.”

“Well, Reuden is always busy, so it can’t be helped.”

Reuden was a truly busy man, and since I’d possessed this body, the number of times I’d eaten with him could be counted on one hand. So it wasn’t something Susan needed to go out of her way to tell me. Unless she was saying I’d be eating with Reuden.

I shrugged, then suddenly felt someone’s gaze and turned my head. Susan was looking at me with an unreadable expression.

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Her bland response puzzled me, but I didn’t bother prying and sat down at my desk for now. The mission was an easy one, after all, so I intended to clear it right away.

If I fired myself, I’d have to worry about what to do when maid-related missions appeared in the future, but what was the problem? I could just become a maid again, couldn’t I? Ah, the more I thought about it, the more becoming a maid myself really seemed like a stroke of genius.

I opened the drawer, took out the dismissal notice, and filled in my name and position without hesitation. I wondered what I’d do if Susan asked what I was doing, but fortunately—or so I should say—she merely stood silently nearby.

Before long, my hand paused at the field for the reason for resignation. I couldn’t decide what reason to write. But as if I had never hesitated, I immediately scrawled something down carelessly.

‘Does far too little work.’

It was true. Ever since becoming a maid, I hadn’t done a single thing that could be called maid-like.

What an utterly valid reason. Nodding to myself for no reason, I pressed the seal firmly onto the completed dismissal notice.

The moment the Blair family crest was clearly stamped in red onto the dismissal notice, I rejoiced. Only inwardly, since Susan was still nearby and I didn’t want to look strange.

Wow, I got fiiired.

But for some reason, the mission remained silent.

What? Why isn’t the mission success window popping up……

Beep.

Error

‘You did not fire anyone.’

Just as I was growing puzzled, an error window appeared, and I furrowed my brow. What did it mean, I hadn’t fired anyone, when I’d written a dismissal notice?

As I alternated between looking at the error window and the dismissal notice in my hand, grumbling inwardly, my eyes widened at the characters written plainly on the document.

【Letter of Resignation】

“What the! This is a resignation letter!”

“Is something the matter, my lady?”

“What do I do? I needed to fire myself, but I resigned instead……. What do I do!”

Whether Susan asked worriedly or not, I clutched at my hair before yanking the drawer open with a clatter. I needed to write another application.

Stupid Rene. It’s not as if you can’t read, so how could you make such an insane mistake!

No wonder I thought it was strange that a dismissal notice had a field for reason for resignation.

Taking an application form from the bottom drawer, I filled it out with extremely rough movements. At the work experience field, I debated whether to write that I’d been a maid for one month, then wrote it down.

After stamping it at the end, I wrote a dismissal notice this time and stamped that as well.

But wouldn’t you know it, another error window appeared.

Error

‘You are not a maid.’

At that moment, I remembered the warning Reuden had given me. They accepted employee applications once every three months, so I should keep careful track of the date.

That had already been more than a month ago, and for the application period to come around again……. I still had to wait another month and a half…….

“I’m doomed.”

* * *

After breakfast, having come to a decision after long thought, I had Susan gather the maids in the first-floor hall. She said she would do so at once and disappeared, and I too headed for the hall with a dismissal notice in hand.

They were so quick on their feet that, even though I hadn’t stopped anywhere along the way, the maids were already waiting in the hall.

There were five maids in total, including the head maid, Susan.

Hendel, who had helped me get ready in the mornings until yesterday; Rin, who lent me clothes for an image change every time I went to a banquet; Julie, quiet but quick with her hands; and Laura, who always recommended new perfumes to me.

I calmly looked over the faces of the surprisingly few maids, then spoke in an extremely cautious tone.

“The reason I called you here is because I have one thing to ask. It isn’t something I can decide on my own, so I wanted to hear your opinions first.”

At my words, the four except Susan looked at one another. As if they sensed the atmosphere was unusual, Hendel and Laura even looked frightened.

Their expressions made my chest sting as though someone were pricking it with needles, but there was nothing I could do.

“By any chance, among you……”

“…….”

“Is there anyone who wants to quit……?”