Chapter 3: The Rod of Correction

Returning to my room after accepting the irresistible offer.

This red-haired maid, despite being scolded so harshly by the Head Maid, was surprisingly resilient and enjoying a break in my room.

“How are you still attached to this mansion?”

It couldn’t have been just once or twice that she was caught hiding by the Head Maid, yet remarkably, she hadn’t been fired and was receiving a hefty monthly salary of 50 gold.

She even got promoted recently.

It was good for me to have a good conversation partner remaining in the mansion, but I seriously doubted if this mansion was functioning properly.

“Huh? Young Master, you really don’t know?”

Kani’s eyes widened, as if she assumed I would naturally know the secret to her survival.

“How would I know?”

“I saved your life, Young Master!”

“You did?”

“Well, it was when you were three, so it’s understandable if you don’t remember. I don’t know how you got up there back then, but you were dangerously perched on the windowsill, Young Master. I was the first to spot you and save you!”

Ah, that time.

I, confident in my ability to get down safely, hadn’t thought it was dangerous at all, but from a third person’s perspective, it certainly could have seemed like Kani saved my life.

No wonder she acted as if she had something to rely on; she must have been counting on the title of ‘the maid who prevented the family line from being broken.’

“Honestly, if any ordinary maid were sitting on your bed playing like this, Young Master, they’d be accused of trying to seduce you and their head would be chopped off, you know?”

So you were aware you were crossing the line.

I thought she was just a thoughtless maid, but she was a crazy maid who crossed the line knowing she was crossing it.

Coincidentally, I had something to ask Kani, so thinking it was a good opportunity, I took a notebook and pen from the bookshelf and sat on the bed.

“Are you studying? Should I leave?”

“No, stay right there.”

“Oh my, how embarrassing.”

“You’re crazy.”

My head was spinning.

I knew she became a maid at the young age of 10, had no friends, and was starved for human conversation, but because I indulged her, the level of her antics seemed to be escalating lately.

Slap.

“Ouch!”

I disciplined her by swatting Kani’s plump thigh.

“That hurts. Sob.”

“Enough of that. Tell me everything you know about Lady Marine.”

“Miss Marine? Weren’t you avoiding her, Young Master?”

“Th-there are circumstances. From now on, I have to manage Lady Marine.”

Kani’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Whaaat? Young Master, you’ll be in real trouble! There isn’t just one or two maids Miss Marine has made cry.”

“It’s Father’s order. I can’t help it.”

“If it’s the family head’s order… Good luck, Young Master!”

A maid worrying about the eldest son of a prosperous Count family.

It felt like an office worker worrying about a chaebol.

“Still, we’re both nobles. Would she torment me too?”

“Well…”

Honestly, Marine, who seemed destined to be a villainess, would probably confront anyone regardless of whether they were a noble or an emperor, but I had to believe she possessed at least a minimum level of discernment.

“Stop talking nonsense and just tell me what you know.”

“Hmm… Miss Marine dislikes carrots.”

“And?”

“Ah! She also loathes broccoli.”

“Is that… it?”

“Yes!”

I felt dizzy.

For someone who was her personal maid for three whole months, she knew so little.

“What on earth did you do for three months?”

Kani scratched her head, seemingly embarrassed herself.

“Well… I can count on one hand the number of times I actually conversed with Miss Marine in those three months…”

“You were always whining about how Miss Marine picked on you.”

“I was just unilaterally scolded; we never really had a conversation…”

Only sighs escaped me.

If Kani, who had lasted the longest, knew this little, it was unlikely any other maids knew much about Marine either.

“Ah!”

Kani, who had been sitting awkwardly, clapped her hands as if something came to mind.

“I know one thing Miss Marine really loves!”

“Oh!”

It seemed that even if she was a rotten apple, having been a personal maid for three months meant she knew something.

Dislikes could be learned through being scolded, but likes were hard to know unless told first.

Considering that, knowing her likes and not her dislikes might be better.

“Miss Marine is crazy about sweet food!”

“…”

I glared at Kani with cold eyes.

“Wh-why!”

“It’s common sense that girls like sweet food.”

“Is that so?”

In the end, I couldn’t get any useful information from Kani and felt dejected.

It seemed I would have to approach getting close to Marine from a blank slate.

---

In front of Marine’s room.

“Hand over the cart to me.”

“Yes, understood.”

The maid pushing the snack cart readily handed it over, perhaps having been informed that I was now in charge of Marine.

The maid, who looked like she was on death’s door, brightened up considerably, showing just how much she hated entering Marine’s room.

Though my title was ‘Marine’s manager,’ my duties were virtually no different from those of Marine’s personal maid.

Feeding her, washing her… well, entrusting the washing to a maid, and putting her to bed.

I knocked on the door to confirm the reality of Marine, who boasted such a fearsome reputation.

“Young Lady, I’ve brought some snacks. May I come in?”

“No!”

“…”

She wasn’t refusing a meal, but rather snacks.

There was no justification to force my way in.

I had planned to gradually get closer to her by feeding her sweet things, based on the information that she liked them, but the plan had gone awry from the very beginning.

“Young Lady, are you really not going to eat? There are sweet macarons and freshly baked chocolate cookies.”

“Don’t talk back to me!”

Kutadang.

“…”

I heard the sound of things flying around inside.

It seemed best to retreat for now.

“Young Lady, I will see you at dinner.”

“No!”

When she first set foot in the mansion, Marine had attended meals regularly, perhaps somewhat mindful of the Count.

However, recently, she seemed to have decided to completely ignore any such considerations and was even refusing meals.

It would be a big problem if a Grand Duke’s daughter starved to death, so until now, Father had personally stepped in and pleaded with her to eat.

But now that I was in charge of managing Marine, it was my responsibility to feed her.

“If you refuse dinner as well, I will pick the lock and enter.”

A threat an ordinary servant would never dare to make.

However, I was not an ordinary servant but a noble of a Count’s family.

I could handle this level of threat.

“Wh-what gives you the right!”

Marine’s voice grew smaller, perhaps not expecting to be threatened by someone like me, a Grand Duke’s daughter.

I cleanly ignored her protest and left her with one last remark.

“I am a man who does what he says. If you do not come to dinner, I will use coercive measures.”

“Hiccup.”

Marine hiccuped, seemingly intimidated by my threat.

The surrounding maids smiled brightly, as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

I patted the shoulder of Marine’s personal maid, who had dark circles under her eyes.

“Leave everything you need to do to me. Understood?”

“Yes, understood!”

I smiled contentedly and returned to my room.

No matter how much of a villainess she was, she was ultimately an 8-year-old child.

She was still far from being able to beat me.

---

The Edgar Count family’s special dining room.

Even though the table was filled with luxurious food, no one could lift their spoons.

“The Young Lady isn’t coming out…”

My mother, with her charming pink hair, let out a deep sigh.

I heard she had been very worried lately because Marine had been breaking her cherished artworks day after day.

“I’ll go.”

Father stood up from his seat with a grim expression.

When Marine threw tantrums like this, if Father intervened, Marine, unable to completely ignore the current head of a Count family, would usually come out.

However, considering the increasing frequency of her tantrums and the lengthening time it took to persuade her recently, a point would eventually come where even Father would find it difficult to persuade her.

“Just a moment.”

I stopped Father as he was getting up from his seat.

Seeing that she wasn’t coming out despite my warning earlier, what Marine was doing now was a battle of wills with me.

If Father, not me, intervened here, Marine might arbitrarily think she had won the battle of wills.

‘Absolutely not.’

I didn’t know how much longer I would have to see her, but if I lost this battle of wills from the beginning, my future life would become tiresome.

“I will take responsibility and bring her.”

“Hendel… will you be alright?”

Mother, knowing Marine’s temper, looked at me worriedly.

Father merely nodded silently, as if deciding to trust me.

“I will definitely bring the Young Lady. Don’t worry and eat first.”

“Alright, I’m counting on you.”

After a light bow to my parents, I headed straight to my room.

‘It must be around here somewhere.’

Having even transmigrated, I couldn’t guarantee there would be no assassination threats, so I had my own weapon prepared in my room.

Reaching under the bed and fumbling around, I felt a heavy sensation in my hand and grinned.

For a disobedient villainess, a rod was the answer.