Chapter 53

I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince – Chapter 53 [A Man is What a Woman Makes Him (3)]

As soon as I received the summons from Ethan through Dittmeyer, I went up to the 4th floor of the Blackwood Mansion.

I immediately stood in front of Ethan’s door and announced my arrival to the room’s owner inside with three knocks.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Young Master, it’s Lilith.”

“…Come in, Maid.”

After a brief silence, I opened the door at the reply and was immediately greeted by the sight of Ethan’s room.

I think there was a time when this room was a mess every time I entered.

These days, however, whether I came in the morning or evening, it gave off the vibe that it was fairly organized.

On top of that, the room’s owner, who gave off a completely different impression from before, was sitting at the table, waiting for me.

He looked neat and organized, with slightly disheveled hair and tired-looking eyes with slight dark circles.

Arms and legs that had become thinner and firmer compared to before, and a belly that had completely disappeared to the point of not being noticeable.

The noble, who had changed to a considerably more human-like appearance compared to that at the beginning, was looking towards the door I entered through.

Our eyes met, and I lightly grabbed my maid skirt and slightly bowed my head to give a maid’s greeting.

“Did you call for me, Young Master?”

“…Yes, Maid.”

As soon as our eyes met, Ethan seemed to carefully avert his gaze and even slowly moved his head to the side.

Seeing his side profile, it was definitely noticeable how much he had lost weight and gained muscle compared to before.

He had changed so much that someone seeing him for the first time would never think he was Ethan.

Especially to me, who knew what Ethan would have looked like if he had grown as he did in the game, the impression felt even more alien.

At least I had gradually gotten used to his current appearance by seeing him lose weight and gain muscle in real time while going around the mansion.

“Maid, shall we sit and talk? I think it might take a while.”

“……”

“…If it’s uncomfortable for you, Maid, we can just talk standing.”

Ethan’s suggestion to sit at the same table made me hesitate slightly.

Of course, it wasn’t like I seriously saw Ethan as a sexual harasser sprout like before, and I only hesitated for a very brief moment.

…Well, Ethan had changed in many ways compared to before.

He probably wouldn’t try any weird tricks on Lilith at this point.

Having reached my own conclusion in my mind, I nodded my head and quietly sat my butt down at the table across from where Ethan was sitting.

“I understand.”

In the first place, the reason Ethan showed lecherous intentions towards Lilith in the original was likely because she was the person who was the ‘easiest to touch’ from his position.

Not only was she the closest in proximity as his exclusive maid, but the maids of similar age to Lilith were all spirited and not as easy for the young Ethan to mess with.

Catherine, who was used by even her peers Ariana and Alicia, was out of the question, and Isabel, who had the nickname ‘Clever Isabel,’ wouldn’t easily fall for Ethan’s clutches like ‘Foolish Maid Lilith.’

If Catherine, the weakest in the “food chain,” were his exclusive maid, it might be a different story. In the original game, though, Catherine was probably sent to Silverwood in Ariana’s place after taking the blame for her crime.

In many ways, the environment itself was set up to make it easy to touch Lilith.

‘On the other hand, now he has no reason to tarnish his honor by messing with a commoner like me.’

Seriously, with that appearance, the moment he set his mind to it, he could easily seduce not only the other maids in the mansion but also the pretty young ladies of lower nobility.

As soon as he lost weight, Harold and Thanasia’s genes were showing on his face, as he was a noble in name.

Even from my perspective as a man, he had an objectively handsome appearance, so how much more so for women?

There was no reason for him to forcibly push down a maid who said she didn’t like him…it was right to see it that way.

…And, in fact, this kind of concern itself had become meaningless now.

‘Now, there’s no way I can win if Ethan comes at me seriously.’

There was no chance that Lilith, with an Attack of 13 and a Defense of 19, could defeat the compressed battle muscles formed through training.

If Ethan had really only swung a sword with Harold in the mansion’s backyard, that would be one thing, but Harold was a person who knew better than anyone how to ‘become strong’ in this world, befitting a noble.

After Ethan was able to swing a sword to some extent, Harold took him to the mountain behind the Blackwood Mansion every day after it rained.

He did so to have Ethan directly hunt the Slimes that naturally spawned whenever it rained and have him gain experience points.

Of course, Harold probably didn’t do it knowing the concept of experience points itself.

He was just remembering ‘this is how you become strong’ based on his experience and taught the same to his son.

Anyway, as Ethan’s exclusive maid, I also watched him hunt whenever I accompanied him up that mountain.

Whenever I accompanied him, I estimated the number of monsters he killed and had a rough grasp of what level Ethan had currently grown to.

‘He’s probably at least level 7 or 8. Moreover, he can use sword and body enhancement magic together, so he’ll be much stronger in reality.’

In fact, at this point, it was meaningless for me to be wary. If he really came at me with determination, I had no choice but to be taken even knowing it.

Of course, if I used Mana Blast, I could resist once, but the moment I used such high-level magic in this mansion, my destruction was a predetermined order anyway.

Rather, it was better to put my mind at ease and pray that he wouldn’t do that.

“……”

“……”

Even after going through the trouble of calling me, Ethan just avoided my gaze without saying anything.

…Is making people feel awkward after calling them over engraved in his genes or something?

For a moment, I almost felt a slight heat spreading in my head at the action that was just like his father’s, but fortunately, before any words could escape my mouth, Ethan’s mouth opened first and started speaking.

“…Maid.”

“Yes, young master.”

“Do you happen to have time… on Saturday afternoon…?” *1

“…Pardon?”

What kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden?

Where in the world is there a master who asks his exclusive maid if she has time?

In the first place, the position of an exclusive maid itself doesn’t have the authority to freely decide holidays or breaks, and even if there are other schedules, it’s only natural to adjust them to the master’s side.

Since Ethan asked a stupid question first, it was my turn to give an extremely common-sense answer in response.

“As I am the young master’s exclusive maid, my time is the young master’s time.”

“Th-that’s not what I meant. I was wondering if you had any other plans scheduled.”

“What plans or schedules would a debt maid who can’t even go outside the mansion on her own have?”

“You have many close colleagues, maid. I thought you might have a prior commitment or something with the others.”

…Well, the fact that I got along well with Isabel and Catherine was something most of the other servants knew.

There was nothing strange about Ethan mentioning that part.

The problem was, why did Ethan keep caring about that and stay mindful of me?

Even if I did have a prior commitment with Isabel or Catherine, what was he going to do about it, knowing that in the end, I had to prioritize the orders from him, the master?

There was no way this noble, who received academic lectures and etiquette education that changed daily, wouldn’t know such basic knowledge.

‘I’m not sure what his intention is to keep asking, but….’

First of all, I hadn’t really made any promises, and even if I had, I had to say I didn’t in this situation.

If an exclusive maid made a noble walk on eggshells, it was hard to expect it to lead to anything good.

“I don’t have any, Young Master.”

“…Really? You’re not just saying that to be mindful of me, are you?”

“If you really think I’m being mindful of you, can’t you just take the hint and understand that I don’t have any?”

“…Sorry. I’ll be careful in the future.”

I accidentally let out a few words because I felt frustrated, but fortunately, it didn’t seem like I stepped on a landmine.

Well, he had heard much worse than that several times before, so he wasn’t the type to get angry over this at this point.

Well, maybe the hated Ethan from Luminor Academy would, but not the Ethan in front of me.

“For what reason did you ask about my weekend schedule, young master?”

“…An invitation came from the Imperial Palace.”

“Ah….”

The Imperial Palace… the Imperial Palace…

If it’s an invitation the Imperial Palace would send to Ethan around this time, it’s probably that.

“If it’s an invitation the Imperial Palace would send to the Young Master around this time… it would be an invitation to a Birthday Banquet for Her Highness the Third Princess.” Searᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“…You knew?”

“I just happened to find out.”

To be precise, it was knowledge I had because the Third Princess was one of the heroines in Luminor Academy.

The Emperor was famous for holding banquets and inviting noble sons on each of his children’s birthdays.

Ethan’s family had a fairly high status, and his age was similar to the Third Princess, so it wasn’t strange for the Imperial Palace to send a birthday banquet invitation.

‘The Ethan in the original game probably also occasionally received such invitations.’

After all, the Ethan in Luminor Academy was undoubtedly a noble son in terms of his background.

It’s just that he was unpopular due to his unpleasant appearance and hygiene, that drained people’s mental strength.

He himself probably knew he was ugly, so as far as I knew, he declined to attend most of these kinds of events.

Of course, that was only the behavior of Ethan Richard Blackwood in the original game.

For the current Ethan Richard Blackwood, who was walking a completely different path from the hated Ethan… it wouldn’t be strange even if he made a different judgment.

The current Ethan probably wasn’t lacking in confidence in his appearance, and he had also matured a lot after receiving lessons on proper etiquette.

Above all, as he had recently started participating in learning how to manage a territory following Harold, he himself would know best that it was important to show up at such important events.

In the end, Ethan asking me if I had any plans on Saturday probably didn’t have any special meaning.

‘It means that since he has an event scheduled on Saturday, I should clear my schedule as his exclusive maid and accompany him.’

I had already roughly grasped his intention, so now it was time to quickly move on to the main point.

There was no excuse for me, as an exclusive maid, to be absent from Ethan’s external events anyway.

Thinking of finishing the main point quickly today, I casually brought up the matter Ethan might ask.

“Will the banquet be held this coming Saturday?”

“…Yeah. So I wanted to ask you, maid, if you’d be willing to attend together.”

“I understand. I didn’t really have any plans originally, but I will make sure to clear my schedule for that day, Young Master.”

“…Really?”

“Yes, Young Master.”

In the first place, it was strange to summon someone over such a trivial matter. It was natural and even essential for an exclusive maid to accompany the master she served to events.

Moreover, looking at Ethan’s recent actions, such external events that required traveling would only increase in the future.

To clearly convey that there was no need to ask for permission from me every time for such matters, I supplemented the answer I had just given to Ethan.

“In the first place, there’s no need to ask your exclusive maid about every little thing like this. After all, it’s the role of the exclusive maid to always accompany the young master to external events.”

“…Huh?”

“If you’re done with the matter to convey to me, I’ll return to my waiting room.”

The moment I tried to get up from my seat, thinking I had roughly wrapped up the conversation, Ethan suddenly grabbed my hand that was about to rise from the table with an urgent expression.

“W-wait a moment, Maid!”

“Do you still have more to discuss?”

“No, I thought you might be leaving with some misunderstanding…”

“What?”

“…You understood correctly, right? That you will attend the banquet together with me.”

Why does he keep asking obvious things multiple times?

I’ve already served as his exclusive maid in the Blackwood Mansion for over 2 years, so does he think I might not understand even that much?

In the first place, it wasn’t rare for nobles to bring their exclusive servants to attend banquets.

To convey the meaning that there was no need to explain again, I nodded my head up and down once greatly.

“Of course, I understand clearly.”

“…I-I see. If you understand, that’s good.”

“I’ll return to my room. I’ll see you at dinner time, Young Master.”

“Yeah. Go in and rest, Maid.”

After finishing the conversation with Ethan, who was saying pointless things like that, I immediately returned to my room adjacent to his and rested until dinner time.

…It was three days later that I would come to understand the meaning behind Ethan’s words, ‘let’s attend the banquet together.’