Beginning (2)

Lee Ji-hwan, an ordinary male university student from South Korea.

That was my identity from my past life that I could remember.

I hadn’t lived a spectacular life where I could remember every single memory from childhood through university.

Just studied like everyone else throughout middle and high school, got into a decent university in Seoul, and lived my college life-that was about it.

Though I never dated for various reasons, I made a decent number of friends and was set to graduate with average grades, then join a decent company-a perfectly ordinary life.

Even looking back, it wasn’t the kind of remarkable life that would warrant being reincarnated into a game like this.

The only remotely relevant karma was that Luminor Academy was my favorite game, with nearly 2,000 hours of playtime.

…And the fact that I used to post relentlessly on the Luminor Academy gallery (aka Lua Gallery) calling Lilith a “slutty bitch.”

The only saving grace was that the Lilith whose memories I regained was still pure-no, still untouched by men.

If I had been reincarnated after that bastard had already brainwashed her, I would’ve bitten my tongue and killed myself right then and there.

“Still, if I had to be reincarnated, they could’ve at least done it before I was sold to this house.”

It felt oddly malicious to have my memories return only after working at the Blackwood Mansion for a year.

It was like being a crab slowly boiled alive in a steamer with no way out.

If things progressed the same way as in the original game, the future awaiting me would be nothing short of horrifyingly predictable.

To summarize my current situation, I was now in a position where I had to work as a maid for the Blackwood family for the next seven years.

Before regaining my memories, “Lilith Rosewood” had chosen to work as a maid for the Blackwood family for eight years to pay off her father’s gambling debts.

Even excluding the year that had already passed, I was fated to serve as a servant in this mansion for the next seven years, no matter what.

Seven years might be long enough to find an opportunity to escape, but this world wasn’t exactly forgiving for a lone commoner girl trying to make it on her own.

Making an enemy of a noble family and running away was practically suicidal.

The Blackwoods were an ancient ducal family.

Even if I somehow managed to escape from Blackwood territory, tracking down an unidentified commoner girl wouldn’t be difficult for them.

Of course, deploying troops just to catch one girl wouldn’t be cost-effective, so they might let me go if I escaped beyond their borders.

But if I ever crossed paths with the Blackwoods again, the fate awaiting me would be unspeakably brutal.

They’d make an example out of me-a living lesson on the consequences of insulting a ducal family.

Honestly, even the original storyline where that bastard brainwashed me might’ve been better than that, so I didn’t even want to consider it.

With Lilith’s abilities, I could probably scrape by as an adventurer in a decent guild, but adventuring was still a job that relied on noble commissions.

If I wanted a stable job elsewhere, the only places that would hire an unidentified woman without conditions were… well, brothels.

So, escaping the Blackwood Mansion and living another way was on hold. Not that escaping was easy in the first place.

The most realistic option was to endure the remaining seven years of my contract and then go independent-that was the most ideal solution.

Another method existed-being “saved” by the “protagonist” at Luminor Academy and escaping-but…

“That ending’s just as fucked up…”

There were two major problems with escaping the Blackwoods by being saved by the protagonist.

First, to meet the protagonist, I’d have to enter Luminor Academy-which meant first accepting the position as Ethan’s personal maid.

Second, after being saved by the protagonist, I’d have to stick with him until the end of the story.

In short, it meant enduring all kinds of abuse from that bastard, then switching to the protagonist and repeating the same role.

It meant following the exact same slutty route Lilith Rosewood took in the game.

“Hell no. Even I have my limits…”

To escape that bastard, I’d have to become his personal maid and stay put until academy enrollment? That’s beyond ridiculous.

And after running away from him, I’d have to live as one of his other girls for the rest of my life?

Worse, if the protagonist somehow ended up on the harem route or Lilith’s individual route, those few years could become my entire future.

Instinctively repulsed, I shook my head.

Not to mention, if I somehow endured all that abuse to enter Luminor Academy but missed the protagonist’s rescue sequence, things could get even worse.

“Play it safe, play it safe.”

Seven years wasn’t exactly a short time, but it wasn’t unbearable either.

Working as a maid for the Blackwoods at least guaranteed food and shelter, which was much safer than going outside as an adventurer with nothing.

Besides, Lilith Rosewood’s abilities were more suited for party hunting than solo play, so surviving alone as an adventurer would be tough.

“Just grit my teeth for seven years. Once the contract’s over, Lilith will be in her mid-20s. If I save enough money, I can go independent. Maybe move to a rural village and farm, or open a small shop in a minor city…”

It was still a distant future, but imagining a peaceful life made it feel less bleak.

Just being in the world of my favorite game, Luminor Academy, was already a joy beyond words.

Except for the fact that I’d been reincarnated as that damn Foolish Maid Lilith.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Three full days had passed since I regained my past memories and collapsed onto the bed.

“Lilith, how are you feeling?”

“Ah, Isabelle…”

The fellow maid smiling and speaking to me now was Isabelle.

As I mentioned earlier, she was a colleague who had entered the Blackwood Mansion with me about a year ago.

Of course, that was before I regained my past memories, so the bond was formed when I was still just Lilith Rosewood.

But just because my past life memories returned didn’t mean I’d treat her like a stranger.

Since she had experience in similar work, Isabelle quickly adapted to maid duties, and I’d relied on her a lot over the past year.

As I said before, the 18 years of memories as Lilith hadn’t just vanished the day before yesterday.

It was more like an additional 20 years of past memories had suddenly flooded in.

So now, I was a hybrid of sorts-18-year-old Lilith Rosewood and 26-year-old Lee Ji-hwan combined.

Maybe it would’ve been easier if I’d been reborn with my male memories from infancy. Over 18 years, I might’ve gradually accepted being a woman.

…Then again, if I’d had my memories from the start, I wouldn’t have let my damn father fall into gambling, and I wouldn’t have been sold to the Blackwoods as a maid.

No matter how I looked at it, the timing of my reincarnation was absurd. Just one year earlier, and things would’ve been much better.

But if seeing Ethan’s face was the trigger for regaining my memories, there was nothing I could do about that.

“…Liss.”

“It’s not too late. If I can just endure these seven years, I can leave the Blackwoods forever. By then, I’ll be in some distant city, far from Ethan and all of this…”

“Lilith!”

“Gah, you scared me!”

Isabelle’s voice right next to my ear made me yelp and fall backward onto my butt.

When I looked up, Isabelle was staring at me with a startled expression, as if she hadn’t expected me to react so strongly.

“A-Are you okay, Lilith?!”

“Oww… That hurt like hell…”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t think you’d be this startled…”

Isabelle clasped her hands together and bowed her head in genuine apology.

Seeing her like that, I couldn’t bring myself to be angry, so I quickly got up and dusted off my skirt.

It was partly my fault for zoning out in the middle of our conversation.

“It’s fine. I was the one who spaced out while talking to you.”

“Are you really okay?”

“I said I’m fine. Didn’t I always say my strong point is being tough enough to not get hurt easily?”

“First time I’m hearing that…”

“……Ah.”

…Come to think of it, being tough was a trait from my past life.

And since I died in an accident in that life, it wasn’t even much of a strength.

Not that dwelling on it mattered now.

“But Lilith, what were you thinking about so hard while cleaning? I called your name so many times, and you didn’t even notice.”

“Just… It’s nothing, don’t worry about it…?”

“And you’ve been acting weird since the day before yesterday… Are you sure you’re not still sick?”

“It’s not that. I’m perfectly fine, really.”

My body was fine-it was my mind that was in shambles.

With countless problems ahead and no solutions in sight, it was only natural to feel restless.

The only silver lining was regaining my past memories before becoming Ethan’s personal maid, giving me some way to prepare.

But as a low-ranking maid, there was practically nothing I could do.

Especially since, as a long-term contract servant sold off to pay a debt, I wasn’t even allowed to leave the mansion.

The only thing I could do was try something within the mansion-but the problem was, there wasn’t a single person here with lower status than me.

Isabelle was the only fellow maid at my level; everyone else was connected to the Blackwood family, leaving no room for a commoner maid like me to maneuver.

Even among maids, I couldn’t act out of line with the senior maids.

So, realistically, the only person I could potentially influence within the mansion was Isabelle.

“……”

“What’s wrong, Lilith? Now you’re staring at my face.”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

Of course, “influence” didn’t mean I planned to exploit her.

No matter how desperate I was to escape the fate of becoming a personal maid with my past-life knowledge, I would never throw Isabelle into that hell in my place.

I wasn’t so ungrateful as to forget the friendship of the past year or the favors she’d done for me, teaching me things behind the seniors’ backs during my probation.

Thanks to what she taught me, I could at least pretend to be a normal maid now.

Without the knowledge Isabelle secretly taught me during our probation days, I would’ve served the salad and soup in the wrong order this morning.

I’d have wrinkled clothes while ironing or messed up basic maid etiquette.

Drawing attention from the family now would be bad in every way, so I had to stay under the radar until I could act.

And Isabelle, who had shaped me into who I was now, was someone I owed-not someone I could heartlessly sacrifice in my place.

‘Ugh, why am I worrying about others right now…?’

I was a fly on the wall who’d have to silently accept becoming Ethan’s personal maid if ordered tomorrow, yet here I was fretting about repaying favors…

Being a low-ranking maid in a ducal household was more exhausting than I’d imagined.

All I could do was pray that these seven years would pass without incident.