Chapter 9: False Contract

From that day on, the Count’s family truly didn’t touch Yudith.

As Yudith said, I was dumbfounded by the situation, which was different from the original, wondering if they were really not going to touch her ‘for the time being.’

The situation had changed so much from the original. Even though it was clearly a good thing, for some reason, the anxiety in my heart didn’t disappear and continued to linger.

‘It’s strange that the Countessa, who is so obsessed, is so quiet… She should be making a scene by now…’

Even when I asked Yudith, she just said I was worrying too much. She wouldn’t tell me anything more, so there was no way to know what had happened.

‘…I’m a little disappointed. I thought we had become much closer.’

Yudith still seemed to be hiding a lot from me. It wasn’t like we had known each other for that long, but it was still quite disappointing that Yudith was hiding something from me.

But… I also had things I was hiding, so I didn’t intend to show my feelings.

Did the Countess notice my feelings first?

As if telling me not to worry, the situation changed.

The Countess issued an order to summon me, so I could clearly realize that the situation had completely changed.

‘Since they can’t touch Yudith for the time being, are they going to touch me?’

I was worried about the Countess’s summons.

But I was also a little excited.

If I did well here, I felt like I could escape the powerlessness I always felt. Not just living as a maid in a novel.

I even had the arrogant thought that I could give Yudith some real help.

I was just a maid.

That’s why I thought I should help in any way I could.

---

Countess Maia Sergia.

In the original story, Maia Sergia was just a bundle of hysteria. The level of torment she inflicted on Yudith surpassed Chloe and Yudel, and there was even an accident where she almost killed Yudith in an instant.

Contrary to that personality, her abilities were outstanding. There was a reason why the Count, who didn’t treat people as people unless they were Wizards, took her as his partner.

She used numerous Magic spells, and their power was also outstanding. She used all Magic freely and had excellent utilization skills, leaving many achievements in the Magic Tower.

She was even said to be the next generation Master of the Magic Tower. However, after meeting the Count, she abandoned everything in the Magic Tower and obtained the position of Countess.

That was Maia Sergia’s life.

She had lived with Magic all her life, and after that, she lived for the Count.

Their mutual love seemed like it would last forever, even after giving birth to their second child, Yudel, but Maia lost the Count’s love due to an accident.

‘The original story doesn’t say what that accident was, so I don’t know what it was, but… it must have been something big for the Count to act like that.’

The Count was someone who respected even criminals as long as they were skilled in Magic.

What on earth did the Countess do to be so hated?

After that, Maia, who had lost the Count’s love, became even more obsessed with him and craved his love even more, but in the end, the Count turned his back on her and even brought back Yudith.

Even so, she loved the Count. Even more strongly, even more obsessively.

Now, she was a crazy woman who could die smiling if she was told to die for the Count.

I was now standing in front of that crazy woman’s room.

I swallowed nervously.

The thought of facing that crazy woman, whom I had only read about in the novel, made me scared now.

-Creak

The door opened, and I was able to meet the Countess again, whom I had seen at the dining room that day.

Maia greeted me with a gentle look in her eyes, which was different from before.

She really only hated and despised Yudith. Her expression was so gentle that I couldn’t help but think that.

“I greet the Countess.”

“Yes… come in.”

She nodded at my greeting and gestured for me to sit down.

Following her gesture, I sat down and looked at the Countess.

Was she really the same person who had been burning with hatred back then?

She was so dignified, so elegant, and so gentle now that I couldn’t help but wonder.

It was a scene that didn’t match the original story at all.

Maia, who gracefully lifted her teacup, asked me.

“I called you because there’s something I want to ask you to do.”

Maia’s eyes, which had been sipping her tea, turned sharp as she looked at me.

“If you do me this favor, I’ll reward you handsomely.”

I had thought a lot before coming here.

What would the Countess ask me?

She could threaten me, or she could get rid of me.

But fortunately, she was trying to bribe me.

I looked at Maia with the most greedy smile I could muster.

“What… what can I do?”

Did my greedy smile work? Maia also smiled.

“It’s nothing much. That bastard you’re in charge of.”

I thought… she was more gentle than I thought…?

I thought she would tell me to kill her, but it wasn’t such a gruesome request.

If I refused here, I could only see a future where I would be stupidly kicked out.

Maia clearly approached me because she couldn’t touch Yudith.

If so… the right thing to do here would be to pretend to accept and stall for time.

“I’m… good at that kind of thing.”

I looked at Maia, smiling like a crescent moon with Chloe’s sharp eyes.

“…You two seemed to be on good terms… are you sure it’s okay?”

“Milady, really… what reason would I have to be nice to a mere bastard…?”

I had to act. As naturally as possible. With the sharpest smile possible.

“It’s because of money. I was trying to pick up any scraps she might leave behind. But… Milady is giving me money… is there any need for me to crawl under that child anymore…?”

Maia smiled and nodded, as if she liked my answer.

“Yes. I like you.”

“Thank you, Milady.”

I bowed to Maia and sipped the teacup in front of me.

The fragrant tea scent lingered in my mouth. But… was this the right thing to do…?

Since the only thing I could do was to deceive the Countess like this…

“Then we should make a contract.”

“A… a contract?”

I almost spat out the tea in my mouth at the unexpected word.

It was just a promise between a noble and a commoner maid, but she was going to make it a contract…?

“Don’t worry. It’s just a contract that states the money I’m giving you.”

“I… I see.”

The Countess took the paper and began to write the contract details.

The contract details were as follows.

After receiving the advance payment, she would break Yudith’s spirit and report it to her once a week.

After a month, she would receive the remaining balance.

That was all that was written.

The contents of the contract were so flimsy that it was embarrassing to even call it a contract.

“How is it? There’s nothing much, right?”

“Yes. That’s right…”

I felt uneasy, but I couldn’t not do it now.

I couldn’t think of any excuse not to sign the contract now.

‘If I don’t sign the contract now, she’ll suspect me even more… no, the situation might get even worse because she’ll think I was trying to deceive her in the first place…’

I was ashamed of my carelessness.

I never dreamed that she would even present a contract.

The arrogant thought that I could deceive the Countess had caught me off guard.

I couldn’t turn back now.

I had to sign this contract and buy time, or I would be caught by the Countess right now and kicked out.

‘Am I… just holding Yudith back until the end…?’

I read the contract more than three times and confirmed that there was nothing special in it. I signed the contract and handed it to the Countess.

‘Still… it’s a contract with nothing special in it, so it’ll be okay…’

There was nothing about risking my life, and there was nothing about any disadvantages for me, so I thought it would be okay.

However, when I saw Maia smiling as she looked at the contract I handed her, I felt a chill down my spine as if I had made a really big mistake.

“Okay… I look forward to working with you.”

“The pleasure is all mine… thank you.”

Then, a maid behind the Countess took out a pouch of gold coins and handed it to me.

It wasn’t like money was important…

I had to focus on deceiving the Countess right now.

After a short conversation, I was able to leave the Countess’s room.

My first meeting with the Countess ended with shackles and an uneasy feeling.

---

I approached Yudith, who was lying on the bed, sat next to her, and had to start talking.

I was really curious about the conversation I had with the Countess today, and what had happened at the dining room that day that made the Countess so concerned about Yudith.

I decided to ask her one more time, hoping that she would tell me now.

“Milady… can’t you tell me now…?”

At my question, Yudith got up from the bed and looked at me. She looked into my eyes, sighed softly, and opened her mouth with difficulty.

“It’s really nothing. I just told her to wait until the end of the year. I said I would do anything for the Count’s family if I really had a Magical Manifestation.”

Yudith, who was telling me this calmly, didn’t show any emotion. The story that she would do anything. I knew that she would definitely have a Magical Manifestation because I had read the original story, but…

Did she really think that she would have a Magical Manifestation…? Or was she just saying it out of desperation? I was worried about that.

“Are you really… going to do that…?”

For some reason, I felt like I was going to cry. I felt so sorry for Yudith, who had given up on her life. I couldn’t be of any help.

I felt so pathetic for foolishly offering to help and even signing a strange contract with the Countess.

Yudith looked at me as if she was dumbfounded by my appearance.

“Are you stupid? There’s no way I would.”

“Yes?”

Yudith sighed softly and looked straight at me.

“…I was worried about whether I should tell you yet, but…”

“Milady…?”

“I think I can tell you now.”

Yudith, who wiped away my tears of guilt that I didn’t know when they had fallen, smiled brightly and revealed a secret to me.

“I’m going to run away from the Count’s family around winter.”

“Run away…?”

Would it work…? Could a mere 10-year-old child really run away from this Count’s family…? In Yudith’s eyes, which were looking at me with a confident look, there wasn’t a single shred of doubt that she would fail.

Before a Magical Manifestation, there are premonitory symptoms. Due to the Magical Manifestation, the body can’t handle it and the fever rises sharply, and you have to suffer for a week.

In the original story, the Count, who noticed this, didn’t give Yudith freedom and began to imprison Yudith even more in the Count’s family by putting Magical power sealing handcuffs on her.

But… how could Yudith, who hadn’t even had a Magical Manifestation yet, be so confident that she could run away?

Now that the situation had changed so much from the original story, I couldn’t trust the original story anymore.

If I believed in anything… the right thing to do would be to believe in Yudith, who had told me this story because she trusted me.

Yudith, who was holding my hand tightly and telling me the story, didn’t hesitate at all. She looked at me with eyes that didn’t have a single doubt that she would fail. And then… she asked me to join her.

“If I run away… will you come with me?”

“With you…?”

I was a little surprised by Yudith’s proposal. Yudith’s proposal to run away with her was really attractive.

I had been living with Yudith ever since I came to this world.

If Yudith succeeded in running away from here, that would be a really happy thing.

But… I had never thought about my life that would be left behind after that.

‘What… what should I do if Yudith disappears…?’

Should I go to Chloe’s family? Chloe also had a family. But… I knew through Chloe’s memories that they weren’t a good family.

And they weren’t my family, Kim Haru’s family, who had lived in Korea.

‘What should I do…’

Yudith’s future was miserable, as I knew. After running and running away, there was no one who cherished her.

No one loved her, and no one wanted her.

Everywhere she went, there were only people who hated, envied, and loathed her.

How much could change if I interfered there? Even so… looking into Yudith’s sincere eyes, I couldn’t refuse.

Just a maid and a young child running away. This world was not easy for the two of them to survive.

Even so, I…

“…Okay. I’ll leave with Milady too.”

I felt like I couldn’t leave Yudith alone.

I’m just a maid, but if I can help her even in this small way.

I can at least leave with her, right?

I smiled bashfully and looked at Yudith, and Yudith also looked at me and smiled.

To prevent this small hand from hurting anymore.

I decided to make protecting this child the goal of this life.

To try to be by Yudith’s side, even just until she becomes an adult.

I made that decision.

But as if not allowing it.

-Thump

-Thump

I felt like everything I had decided collapsed in an instant.

-Thump

-Thump

My heart.

Suddenly, my heart ached as if it was being torn apart.

-Thump

-Thump

“Ugh.”

“Chloe…?”

Something poured out of my mouth.

When I wiped my mouth, what I saw on my hand was blood, so red it was crimson.

“Huh…?”

Red, crimson blood flowed down from my mouth.