episode_0012

After somehow feeding Edan an improvised dish and sending him off.

I swiftly moved on to today’s task of preparing vegetables, using Clean Magic to tidy up the disastrous restaurant and thoroughly wash the dishes.

First, I neatly sliced a few garlic cloves with the remaining magic used for cleaning the restaurant. Then, after emptying my magic completely, I stuffed five large garlic cloves into my mouth one by one.

To replenish nearly 250 units of released magic at once.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Despite the familiar yet unbearable taste and spiciness, enduring this training was necessary for survival.

The only way to make this agonizing moment slightly more bearable was to chew quickly.

With a determination akin to swallowing bitter medicine, I managed to chew the five garlic cloves in my mouth several times, pushing the remaining spicy bits down my throat.

Immediately afterward, a sensation of refilling magic enveloped my body.

“Ugh…! Ugh, ugh…!!”

Although it engulfed me in a brutal sense of urgency that was almost unbearable for a human high school girl’s body.

Fortunately, through sheer willpower, I managed to avoid any mishaps of regurgitating the contents inside me.

The five garlic cloves in my stomach not only replenished my magic but also increased my maximum magic capacity.

『Current Magic: 245 / 245+1』

…Five garlic cloves, increasing my maximum magic capacity by a whopping 1.

“This damn… hitting me hard with reality….”

On the first day, even swallowing half a clove of garlic would raise my maximum capacity, providing some enjoyment in the growth process.

However, the current situation had me struggling to swallow five cloves just to barely increase my maximum capacity by 1, marking an extremely inefficient growth phase.

In fact, at this point, leveling up was much faster than raising the maximum magic capacity.

Starting at level 2 and focusing solely on increasing my magic capacity to three digits was a playstyle I had never attempted in my previous life.

Yet, as I was currently bound by the debt of a maid unable to leave the mansion, pushing my growth to such extremes was essential to maximize efficiency.

“Heuk, heuk, heuk….”

Those damn senior maids… If I ever get the chance, I’ll show them who’s boss….

While it was my decision to chew garlic for magic growth, without them, I wouldn’t be suffering like this.

Ultimately, all the pain I endured was caused by those individuals.

Without thinking this way, I doubted I could endure the suffering itself.

Taking three potatoes out of a sack, I simultaneously cast three Clean Magics.

Now fully accustomed to triple casting, the three potatoes transformed into round chunks as their skins peeled off.

“Haha….”

Who would’ve thought I’d become proficient in multitasking through potato peeling.

Moreover, triple casting was a skill taught at the academy in the second year, a technique I was mastering ahead of schedule.

As I continued using triple casting to peel the remaining potatoes in unison, I couldn’t help but chuckle at my unconventional growth.

Including a muttered threat directed at those senior maids who threw me into this garlic hell.

-Scratch!

“Aeria.”

-Scratch!

“Alicia.”

-Scratch!

“…Katarina.”

Potato chunks tumbling into the pot one by one like the heads of three-year-olds.

Watching this scene unfold, I whispered a threat that no one would hear.

“Watch and see, you scoundrels. Before I eventually leave this mansion, I will mess with you women as much as possible and then depart…”

-Thunk!

“…Ah, ugh!”

“….?”

While cursing the senior maids under his breath and peeling potatoes, a sudden noise of someone falling from the direction of the kitchen was heard.

Soon after, high-pitched moans, presumably from a woman, followed.

…And somehow, along with a voice that seemed oddly familiar.

“What’s going on?”

Edan must have returned to his own bed by now.

Even though the voice itself was entirely different from Edan’s, it didn’t mean one could relax in the current situation.

Because just moments ago, I had been casting spells up to triple casting in the kitchen.

Using magic was a sight not meant to be seen by anyone other than Edan, so hearing the voice now made me uneasy.

Hoping that the voice I just heard belonged to Isabelle, I cautiously pushed open the half-open door inward and peeked inside.

Unfortunately, my earnest wish once again went unfulfilled.

The person sprawled on the floor in front of the kitchen door was not Isabelle but another maid.

“…Senior Katarina?”

A petite figure with pink hair, a junior maid at Blackwood Mansion.

Furthermore, Katarina, one of the senior maids who assigned me tasks, was sitting on the floor, looking up at me.

“H-hu, huugh…!”

For some reason, tears seemed ready to burst forth.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Katarina Lane.

She used to be the junior maid who had to start her day earlier than any other maid in the mansion until Lyrilis began working in the kitchen.

With Lyrilis taking over kitchen duties, she, like the other maids, could now enjoy a slightly more relaxed day.

“….”

Somehow, today, even before 4 a.m., she was staggering through the corridors of the mansion.

‘Something feels off…’

Since two days ago, a new junior maid had been assigned to work alongside them in the same position.

While her peers, Eiria and Alicia, simply remarked that a competent junior had joined them, Katarina sensed something amiss.

Having handled all her peers’ work for the past year, this situation did not sit well with Katarina.

‘To finish cutting that much produce in just an hour or two, it doesn’t make sense…’

Even when she alone had done similar tasks in the past, she had to work tirelessly all day, moving her arms constantly.

No matter how quick her hands were, finishing all that work in just two hours seemed absurd no matter how many times she thought about it.

Moreover, the stamina to handle such a workload for two consecutive days without collapsing.

Even with her two years of experience as a maid, handling that level of work alone would usually leave her fainting after it was done.

Yet, the new recruit, Lyrilis, showed no signs of physical exhaustion.

Though she seemed absent-minded just before leaving in the morning, upon returning from her break, she had regained her usual condition before the afternoon.

To Katarina, a seasoned practitioner, there were several peculiarities about Lyrilis.

‘Could she have secretly brought someone else to work in the kitchen with us…?’

It was hard to imagine that a junior maid like Lyrilis would have such authority, making that hypothesis the most reasonable one for now.

As no other scenarios could be fathomed with the mind of a mere maid.

Therefore, Katarina hid in front of the junior maid’s room where Relise and Isabelle were staying from 3 a.m. until dawn, waiting for her.

-Tsk.

Around 4 a.m., she quietly followed Relise as she walked out of the door.

-Creak.

“Hmm?”

“….”

There was a moment in the middle where she almost got caught, but luckily the darkness of the dawn mansion enveloped her petite figure sufficiently.

Following Relise cautiously, she entered the dining room of Blackwood Mansion.

“It doesn’t seem like she called someone else to the kitchen….”

Perhaps they had planned to meet someone to work together in the dining room from the beginning.

To confirm if her speculation was correct, Katarina waited a bit longer at the entrance of the dining room for other people to arrive.

After confirming that no one else was coming, Katarina cautiously followed Relise into the dining room.

“…You’re… sitting and waiting…”

“I don’t want to! I don’t want to watch you do that!”

Voices of two people conversing in the kitchen as soon as they entered the dining room.

Realizing it was Relise and another person speaking, Katarina quietly pressed her ear against the door of the preparation room.

Soon enough, she could easily discern who was conversing with Relise.

It was the voice of Lord Ethan, who had caused a commotion in the mansion since awakening from the curse a while ago.

“Why is Lord Ethan here?!”

Realizing that if he was a servant of the Blackwood family, he must be someone she should know, Katarina felt a chilling sensation in her spine.

Although she couldn’t understand why Lord Ethan was in the mansion’s kitchen at this hour, the conversation she just overheard revealed the truth of everything that had happened so far.

Ethan Richard Blackwood is a nobleman in the Blackwood family.

In this world, it was common knowledge that nobles inherently possessed the lineage to use magic, so it was natural to assume that Lord Ethan could also use magic.

If one assumed that he used magic instead of his hands to help Relise with vegetable preparation two days ago, everything fell into place, including his abnormally fast processing speed.

…And that’s where the problem arose.

Even though it wasn’t her intention, their actions were akin to assigning kitchen tasks to the noble Lord Ethan.

While there wouldn’t be immediate public repercussions since there were guests in the mansion, once the guests left and their kitchen duties were over, punishment would inevitably follow.

Having neglected her duties as a servant and delegated all their work to the replacement maid, thereby sullying noble hands with meal preparations.

While her other two colleagues might escape notice, Katarina, who had already flipped the suspicion of stealing mansion property, would not escape severe punishment.

The various complicated thoughts that would arise due to this situation swirled confusingly in the fragile girl’s mind.

“What should I do?! How should I handle this?!”

I never intended for things to turn out like this!

Not only had she always taken on her colleagues’ work, but she had never thought of passing off her tasks to the replacement maid!

And I certainly wasn’t the one who stole and hid Lord Ethan’s belongings in the first place!

However, the Blackwood Viscountcy was not a forgiving household to the extent of unraveling her grievances one by one.

As Katarina pondered anxiously in front of the kitchen door, Lord Ethan’s voice began to approach.

“…Why not just show him? I wanted to see you cook.”

Muttering to herself like she was talking to no one, Edan Doyeon’s voice echoed through the kitchen prep room as he approached the dining area.

Katarina, already so frantic that her heart was pounding, no longer had the mental capacity to face the nobleman Doyeon.

In the midst of crisis, Katarina hastily sought a place to hide and immediately crawled under the visible tablecloth below the dining table.

‘What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do….’

As Edan returned to his chambers after tasting Lillis’s cooking, and until Lillis magically tidied up the dining area and returned to the kitchen,

Katarina spent a solid 30 minutes hidden under the tablecloth, pondering ways to remedy this situation.

Perhaps, in this critical moment where her life may already be at stake,

She desperately sought a way to cleanse herself of the sins she had committed and find a way to survive.