Love(?) Letter (2)

House Peshinar.

It was one of the noble houses that frequently appeared when progressing through the story as the protagonist in 『Luminor Academy』.

One peculiar thing was that it wasn’t actually an existing house within the 『Luminor Academy』 worldview, but rather a fictional house fabricated by someone with personal intentions to make it seem real.

Especially when focusing on Seraphine’s route, this house name appears even more frequently, and once you know the true identity of House Peshinar, it becomes quite an obvious story.

Because, the name House Peshinar was practically an alias for Seraphine herself.

It was common knowledge that could be easily understood by simply analyzing the anagram of Seraphine and Peshinar. The name House Peshinar was just a rearrangement of the consonants and vowels from the word “Seraphine.”

Some players argued how a medieval fantasy setting could have a Korean anagram, but 『Luminor Academy』 was originally a domestic game after all.

And if you really think about it, it wasn’t impossible to do it in English either. You could just change “Seraphin” to “Peshinar.” Though this was something users discovered.

Frankly, more people chose to understand and move on rather than complain about immersion.

In any case, it was undeniably more accessible than creating an anagram in English.

Princess Seraphine created the fictional sender “House Peshinar” instead of using her real name as a means to communicate while avoiding others’ attention.

If Seraphine, as a member of the imperial family, wrote her real name on the letter, it would become correspondence that couldn’t be sent anywhere carelessly.

Nor could she impersonate another house’s name.

If she sent a letter pretending not to be a noble, some nobles would discard or ignore it without realizing it was from Seraphine.

It was a sort of dual identity used for private or secret communications, separate from official correspondence from the imperial palace.

The reason it appears frequently when focusing on Seraphine’s route is, of course, because of these private communications.

Seraphine couldn’t send a letter with her real name to a commoner protagonist, so in her route, she contacts the protagonist with “love letters” under the name “House Peshinar.”

…Wait, love letters?

“…No way?”

A personal letter Seraphine sent to Ethan under a pseudonym.

Most of the personal letters Seraphine sent to the protagonist under a pseudonym in 『Luminor Academy』 were love letters.

Which means, there’s a possibility this letter from Seraphine contains personal feelings toward Ethan.

…Honestly, it seems like a very plausible scenario.

Even from my male perspective, Ethan’s appearance that day, standing alone against the boss monster to defend the imperial palace’s west gate, was quite impressive.

Not just the original Ethan from 『Luminor Academy』, but even by current standards, it would have been an incredibly difficult feat for any character.

If not Ethan, the only person who could face the King Serpent at this point would be “Seraphine of the Full Moon.”

In any case, thanks to Ethan’s efforts, the number of casualties was significantly reduced, needless to say.

And for Seraphine, who values human life above all else, Ethan’s actions must have seemed quite attractive.

After all, the reason Seraphine falls for the protagonist in the original game is because she’s gradually drawn to their righteous actions.

Since the protagonist hasn’t appeared yet, it’s not strange for those feelings to be directed toward Ethan instead.

‘…That’s actually pretty good?’

I can’t jump to conclusions right away, but the thought that Seraphine would make a great match for Ethan briefly crossed my mind.

As the Third Princess, her status is on par with the Blackwood Ducal Family, as mentioned earlier.

Her appearance is officially described as peerlessly beautiful in the game, and when I met her last time, her beauty was so radiant it practically leaked aura.

Her personality being a bit meddlesome is a slight flaw, but it’s only to the extent that Seraphine can handle it herself. And a few flaws make her more humanly appealing.

Besides, this non-flaw flaw is more than compensated for by her other strengths.

‘…Now that I think about it, she’s really on a whole different level compared to Lilith.’

In terms of status and appearance, Lilith doesn’t stand a chance.

The only thing Lilith had going for her was her personality, but the problem is that in this world, the “personality” part has already been replaced by me.

Even Lilith’s one redeeming quality-her personality-has been completely taken away now.

The only thing left is that she’s spent a lot of time with Ethan, so they’re familiar with each other, but honestly, I’m not sure if that’s even an advantage.

Well, what can I do? If Seraphine really is interested in Ethan, I’ll just have to accept it and cheer for their relationship.

Marriage talks with someone like Seraphine aren’t just rare-they’re practically unheard of. Even if the other party is Ethan Richard Blackwood, the noble son of the Blackwood Ducal Family.

Ethan might act indifferent toward Seraphine, but if a proper marriage proposal comes in, he’d definitely be interested…

‘Wait, what am I even thinking?’

For a moment, I shuddered at the realization that I was evaluating whether Seraphine was good or bad for Ethan-even comparing myself to her.

It’s not like I have any right to comment on his fiancée, and the fact that I was even involved with someone like Seraphine is practically a miracle.

Maybe I lost sight of my place after getting too entangled with the main characters of 『Luminor Academy』 during the masquerade ball.

Or maybe pretending to be his fiancée back then made me delusional.

I need to restrain myself. I’m just a debt maid who could lose her head or be sold off at any moment without it being strange. …At least for the next three years.

“Then, since this is a letter from Princess Seraphine, I should set it aside and let Ethan read it himself…”

…Wait a minute.

Now that I think about it, wouldn’t giving this letter directly to Ethan backfire?

Because, no matter how you look at it, this letter doesn’t seem like it’s from “Seraphine.”

There’s no other proof attached or written to verify it’s from the “imperial family.”

Seraphine has been sending letters to Ethan under the name “House Peshinar,” so I should treat this letter as correspondence from “House Peshinar.”

And according to my duties of sorting and reading letters addressed to Ethan, correspondence from a viscount-level house is something I should check first.

If I handed this over to Ethan without opening it, it would cause a different kind of uproar.

Very few people-even among high-ranking nobles-know that “House Peshinar” is Seraphine. Of course, Ethan doesn’t know yet either.

In that situation, if I handed over a letter from “House Peshinar” to Ethan without checking it first?

Even saying something like, “This is a letter from Princess Seraphine, so you should read it yourself”?

Even Ethan would be 200% suspicious if he saw me doing something that stupid.

‘I almost screwed up big time.’

I already raised suspicions last time at the imperial palace when I carelessly acted like I knew its layout from my past life memories.

If I did something suspicious again this time, it would be really hard to brush it off.

…Though it still feels a little scary to read a letter meant for the imperial family first.

But since the sender is officially “House Peshinar,” I doubt they’d charge me with insulting the imperial family or something.

‘…Ah, whatever.’

What else can I do? It’s not like overthinking will solve anything.

Besides, if Seraphine sent the letter under the name “House Peshinar,” she must have already considered the possibility of a servant reading it.

Other noble ladies have already had their embarrassing love letters discovered by me without their knowledge, so even Seraphine shouldn’t expect to be an exception.

It’s absolutely not because I’m curious about the contents of Seraphine’s love letter. I’m only doing this because it’s my duty as “Exclusive Maid Lilith.”

With that thought, I took the letter opener to Seraphine’s secret love letter (presumed) and carefully scraped off the sealing wax with the knife.

-Tuk.

As the seal broke and the envelope opened, two sheets of paper appeared.

The first thing I noticed was that the front and back sheets were lightly stuck together with another layer of sealing wax.

Even if someone broke the seal and read the first page, the second page was secured to prevent further reading-a double safeguard.

Seeing this suspicious sealing method only made me more convinced it was a love letter.

I wonder what the love letter from the princess in 『Luminor Academy』-which I’ve never read before-contains.

With a slightly excited heart, I began reading the first sentence of the first page-and immediately, a chilling terror gripped my entire body.

“To Miss Lilith Rosewood.”

“……!!!”

…This crazy woman.

Just how far ahead has she calculated?