Lucky Charm

Lucky Charm

As soon as Rumi woke up at dawn, she slowly reached out and grabbed a quill pen first.

Since she had decided to make Deren hate her.

She had to find ways to make him hate her.

“… What should I do?”

In fact, someone hating you.

It’s something that happens as naturally as breathing, even without doing anything else, so it’s hard to even grasp what to do.

So, after racking my brain and pondering, I started writing down one by one the treatments I had received in the past.

*

1. Slapping.

2. Pushing to make someone fall.

3. Breaking things

:

:

*

Even at a glance, there were about dozens of items.

I wrote them down because I remembered feeling quite sad when experiencing these things.

After writing them down, I felt a bit relieved to see how many there were.

‘Having this many means there’s a lot to try, so at least I won’t be unable to do anything due to lack of options…!’

While thinking that I never knew the bullying I received would have such a good(?) influence in this way, as I was looking over the list.

I could spot one big problem.

‘I, I don’t think I can do these things to Deren…’

Just because I experienced it doesn’t mean I can do it to others.

No matter how I thought about it, I didn’t think I could commit such cruel acts to Deren.

So while I was wondering what to do, suddenly a good idea flashed through my mind.

‘… Then, couldn’t I just do these things but less severely?’

That might be bearable.

So, I decided to put it into action right away and move forward little by little for the farewell that would come soon.

*

After making the plan, I immediately went to the head maid.

Now that I was no longer a guest but a maid, I carefully asked her to give me work.

The head maid was somewhat flustered and asked me back.

“Miss Rumi, what do you mean by that?”

It seemed that Deren hadn’t told her about it yet.

Having no choice, I excluded the important details and said, ‘It was decided that I would work here to repay the debt.’

The head maid made a confused expression and told me.

“… I understand for now. I’m too busy to teach you myself, but there’s a maid in charge of training. It would be best if you learn from her.”

Judging by her continued use of honorifics.

It seems she still thinks of me as a guest rather than an employee.

Deren will correct this later, so I nodded, thinking I should just focus on doing my assigned work diligently for now.

“I-I’ll do my best.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

She still had an unconvinced expression.

With that expression, she gestured to the maid behind her.

*

Based on past memories.

When starting something like this, it was usually accompanied by severe hazing and violence.

I thought this time wouldn’t be much different, but.

‘Contrary to expectations.’

The maid assigned to her didn’t show any violence or even hostility, but instead greeted her with a bright smile.

“I may be your senior, but I’m much younger, so I’ll just call you unni, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You know, unni. First, you need to wear a maid uniform, but the size… Oh.”

The senior maid looked at her own chest and seemed to realize something, then pressed her lips together.

With an awkward smile, she slowly continued speaking.

“You’re really big.”

“Th-thank you.”

Not knowing what to say in this situation, she thanked her first.

The maid looked down at her own chest with a somewhat bitter expression and said.

“I’ll give you the largest size we have. You’re very thin, so it might be loose in other areas, but we can adjust that later… For now, this will do.”

She nodded quickly as she received the maid uniform.

The maid looked around, picking up scattered laundry, and continued speaking.

“Ah, now I’ll tell you about your duties. Basically, there’s cleaning, laundry, and taking out the trash…”

In the middle of speaking, she seemed to remember something and said with a somewhat worried expression.

“These aren’t too difficult if you follow the rules. The problem is… dealing with Young Master Deren.”

“Deren…?”

Even though she didn’t call him ‘Young Master’ and just said Deren, the maid didn’t comment on it.

It seems she already knew that Deren had brought her here.

As I thought about it and asked again, she nodded and said to herself.

“Young Master Deren has been very kind lately, but in the past, he used to be extremely sensitive…”

“… Ah.”

I nodded as I recalled that I had that impression when I first met him.

The senior maid seemed to have a lot to say about this, her lips twitching, but then she shook her head and said.

“… Anyway. The most difficult task is dealing with the young master. I’ll assign this task exclusively to you, sister.”

“… Pardon?”

I was taken aback when I was suddenly given the most difficult task and asked again.

She replied as if she couldn’t understand my confusion.

“Wasn’t that the play you were going for?”

I blinked, not understanding what she meant by ‘that play’.

She smiled and started to say, ‘I may be young, but I know what I need to know,’ but then.

She sighed, saying ‘What am I even saying,’ and pointed at the maid uniform.

“In any case, I’ll leave it to you. We don’t usually assign this kind of task exclusively… but I think you’ll be the best fit for it.”

“Yes, yes.”

As the youngest, I couldn’t refuse anyway, and above all, I needed to do ‘things that he would dislike’ while frequently interacting with Deren, so I nodded for now.

*

The first thing I did was ‘knocking on the door randomly and entering without permission’.

It was a method that took advantage of Deren’s habit of disliking arbitrary intrusion into his private space.

‘I’m not sure if the result was successful.’

Thinking that it must have made him a little less fond of me.

I decided to firmly drive the point home and trampled on some nearby documents with my foot.

‘Of course, if I step on them with my shoes on, they’ll get really dirty.’

I didn’t forget to take off my shoes before trampling.

Thinking that this would surely make him dislike me, I looked at Deren somewhat triumphantly.

“You’re energetic from the morning.”

I saw Deren’s face, which seemed unimpressed.

“And what’s with that maid outfit? Don’t tell me you’re planning to start working from today?”

It was a completely unexpected question, so I awkwardly nodded.

He stared at me for a moment, then slowly continued speaking.

“Then work hard. Stop doing weird things.”

“… Yes.”

While feeling a bit relieved at his usual demeanor, I couldn’t help but pout out of stubbornness.

So, while I was thinking about what else I could do to be even more mischievous.

A good idea came to mind, and I spoke in a small voice.

“Idiot… you’re a complete idiot”

After all, insults are essential when it comes to upsetting someone.

Aiming for this, I uttered the worst words I could think of, but Deren didn’t even react, as if it was beneath him, and simply turned his head away.

Realizing that my first attempt had failed due to this reaction, I couldn’t help but feel a bit dejected.

‘Should I go even stronger than this?’

Realizing that it would take more than this to hurt him.

I resolved to gradually increase the intensity, strengthening my determination.

* * * * *

I sighed as I watched Rumi doing strange things in front of me.

I didn’t know what change of heart she had, but her actions were simply frustrating.

So I decided to ignore it for now and go to the Academy first.

‘Oh, and… if possible, I hope Rumi graduates from the Academy.’

I was planning to talk to the butler or head maid to ask for as much convenience as possible.

After all, my goal wasn’t to make Rumi pay back the money.

So I spoke to Rumi, who was wearing a maid uniform that hung loosely like she was wearing her father’s clothes.

“Stop doing weird things and just go to school.”

“……”

I clicked my tongue inwardly at Rumi, who looked very displeased, and finished preparing for school.

*

Then, I took the grumbling Rumi to the Academy.

Once again, I see Delia sitting in my seat instead of her own.

Wondering why she always sits in my seat, I slowly approach her as Delia greets me with a bright smile.

“Deren Deren!”

That cheerful voice.

I nod indifferently to that voice, and Delia, still smiling, says to me.

“I have something to confess!”

A confession? Curious about what she wants to say with such words, I look at Delia.

Delia looks around to confirm that no one is around.

Then she whispers to me in a small voice.

“This was featured as a weekly special in the romance magic book. It says men prefer women with less body hair.”

“……?”

I looked at her with a puzzled expression, unable to understand the intention or context at all.

Delia continued speaking confidently, not caring whether I showed such a reaction or not.

“So I shaved it off, thinking you might like it.”

It was such an overwhelmingly confusing statement that I was trying hard to pretend I didn’t hear it to keep my sanity.

Delia spoke to me with a playful smile.

“But I’ve been growing it for quite a while, so it felt wasteful to throw it all away… I brought one as a souvenir. Want to keep it?”

Then she held out a gold-colored hair coated in a square shape and said.

“Here’s a gift.”

“……”

“It was written in the romance magic book that if a boyfriend has something like this, it brings luck like a four-leaf clover.”

I was really at a loss for how to react, so I just stared blankly at Delia’s face.

Delia seemed to remember something and spoke to me with a somewhat awkward smile.

“Oh, and I’ve never had hair in my armpits, so… uh, it’s nothing.”

At those words, I felt a headache coming on and held my throbbing head with one hand.