episode_0086

It had been about a month since Seraphine and Eden told me that they would enroll me in the academy.

Although it was only a month, quite a lot had happened during that time.

From visiting the palace briefly after defeating King Serpent with Eden (I had to hide my identity as it had not been determined yet), to receiving a substantial amount of reward not only for Eden but also for myself. And with the reward came the unfortunate realization that my contract as a full-time maid was now in jeopardy.

It was unavoidable. The amount I received for defeating King Serpent was so substantial that it automatically cleared all the remaining debts that Reilis had. Since the reward had to be delivered through the Blackwood family, to which I belonged as a member of the Blackwood clan, it automatically went towards paying off the remaining debts.

When I had defeated Galgomni, it was all thanks to the favor of Chief of Security Seru that the money came to me. It was only natural that when money came in from the maid, it would first go towards repaying the existing debt.

As a result, I now had only about two weeks left in my remaining contract period.

During these two weeks, I had to somehow negotiate a deal. Eden had to take me on as a full-time maid and enroll me in the academy with him.

And so, it had been about three years since I started as Eden’s full-time maid. Since taking on this role, I had been actively and wholeheartedly dedicated to my duties as his full-time maid.

All in an effort to persuade Eden to rehire me as his full-time maid.

“Have you finished your meal, Master?”

“Yeah.”

“This afternoon, you have a sparring session with the master. I will prepare your training attire in advance.”

“…Are you going to follow me to training today?”

“Yes, it is part of the duties of a full-time maid.”

“You haven’t really followed me before, but lately, you’ve been coming diligently. It’s been hot lately…”

“Until now, Master, you never said I couldn’t come.”

“…I haven’t told you to come lately either.”

“…But as your full-time maid, I believe it is my basic attitude to be prepared in case anything uncomfortable happens to you. Don’t you think so?”

“…”

Eden looked at me with a bewildered expression after my textbook response.

I knew. I was being quite audacious in front of Eden.

But if I could secure the position of Eden’s full-time maid, I could be even more audacious. It was a necessary position for me, who was entering the academy as a mediocre nobleman from the Blackwood family.

“Is it rude for me to observe your sparring session, Master?”

“N-no, it’s not rude. I just thought you’ve been working too hard lately, that’s all.”

“Of course, I must do my best in my duties. Even after entering the academy, I continue to serve as your full-time maid to assist you…”

“Before it gets late, I’ll go change into my training attire! Maid, go to the training ground and wait for me first!”

…Lately, whenever I mentioned the position of the academy’s full-time maid, Eden always avoided the topic like that.

If it had been the original Eden, he would not have hesitated to accept such a proposal, and would have even ordered me to follow him first.

It was fortunate that he had not grown into a lustful pig, but it was still a bit disappointing that he lacked that kind of assertiveness.

However, the position of being Edan’s exclusive maid was an important position that I could never give up. So these days, I tried to stick to Edan as much as possible and appeal to him with my competence as his exclusive maid.

Of course, just because I’ve been working hard recently doesn’t mean I was slacking off before. I never crossed Edan’s boundaries as his exclusive maid, and I always faithfully performed my duties without fail.

But that alone seemed insufficient for my employment, so I’ve been working even harder recently.

In fact, except for the time to change clothes, bathe, and sleep, I was practically by Edan’s side for 16-17 hours out of 24.

Among those hours was the daily swordsmanship duel between Edan and Harold, which was also part of my duties.

-Clang! Clang!

“Ugh, huff…!”

-Clang! Thud! Clang!

“Ouch, aah…!”

-Thwack!

“Kk, aah…!”

Edan, gripping the wooden sword tightly in both hands and swinging it, dropped the sword from his hand when Harold’s strike hit his wrist.

Unlike Harold, who calmly wielded his sword, Edan collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

Watching the two of them duel, Dietmayer raised a hand to pause the duel.

“It’s Lord Edan’s victory! We’ll take a short break!”

“…I’ll give you 5 minutes to pick up your sword again.”

“Haah, yes, yes…”

Edan, grimacing in pain as he held his injured wrist, got up from his seat, and a healer from the family rushed over to cast a recovery spell on him.

Quietly approaching Edan, I carefully wiped the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief.

“…”

“…”

Initially, Edan was bewildered when I first handed him the handkerchief, not knowing what I was doing. But after about ten days of this behavior, he now accepted it without a word.

It was important to gradually build rapport in this way.

Even if Edan didn’t feel the need to bring me to the academy as his exclusive maid, at least I needed to show that I was capable enough to be kept as his exclusive maid.

…Actually, I already knew there was an easier way than going through the trouble of building rapport.

Using this body, which was the most noticeable advantage of this release, to stimulate and seduce a man’s instincts.

Of course, I would never use that method.

‘Even if it’s Edan, it’s a bit too much.’

It wasn’t that I particularly disliked Edan. On the contrary, I had never thought that it would be better if it were Edan, and he was quite a decent guy in terms of appearance and personality.

But apart from that, it was inevitable that I didn’t want to be embraced by a man.

Above all, it seemed like all the efforts I had made so far to avoid the future imposed by a man would be in vain.

Chewing garlic in the kitchen in the middle of the night, fighting with guys like Aeliana Alicia, and even risking my life in battle in front of monsters like Gargoyle Fang.

In a way, recklessly handling my body for no reason other than it didn’t matter anymore was a behavior that didn’t align with who I had been up to now.

‘Of course, whether I do something like that with Edan or not, the future I’ve changed will continue to unfold.’

The unbelievable growth achieved as Release, saving Lizzie who should have died, and even the changes that Edan didn’t recognize.

When considering such things, these days I often think that it might be okay to embrace the conditions of protection by entering the academy and receiving support from Edan.

Of course, even though I thought about it, it was too much of a prostitute-like idea, and I soon dismissed it.

And for some reason, Edan didn’t seem to like me behaving that way.

If Edan had any such feelings towards me, he would have had countless opportunities to take advantage of his position and power.

The fact that he hasn’t done that until now probably means that Edan doesn’t have that much interest in me.

“Duel, begin!”

As they said that, Edan and Harold’s sword training resumed immediately after the break.

As expected, Edan once again failed to land any significant attacks and was knocked down by Harold’s sword.

“Oof!”

“Aaah…!”

Already, it seems like I’ve fallen about eighteen times just during today’s training.

It was strangely embarrassing to see him fall without being able to land a successful attack.

But I couldn’t blame Edan, as it was an impossible story to have an equal match against Sword Master Harold in the first place.

Rather, Edan is exceptionally good at fighting for his age.

To duel with Sword Master Harold for 10 or 20 minutes is already an incredible feat.

Perhaps, by today’s standards, Edan might be even stronger than the protagonist.

“Heugh, heugh, heugh…”

“…Let’s call it a day for today’s training.”

As I thought about it, observing the two of them exchanging swords, Edan and Harold’s sword duel came to an end.

I quietly wiped his face, drenched in sweat, and said, “Well done, sir.”

“Yeah… thank you, maid…”

…Come to think of it, when I first observed Edan receiving sword lessons from Harold, I had this feeling.

Until then, I couldn’t imagine Edan growing up so well.

Every time I watched his training these days, I couldn’t help but feel that Edan had really put in a lot of effort.

It was still difficult to guess what had driven Edan to be so determined.

“It seems like you’ve sweated a lot, so I’ll prepare your bath immediately. Please prepare the clothes you will change into and I will take care of washing your training clothes…”

So, today, I spent the whole day looking after Edan, determined to make him reconsider the position of a full-time maid.

But my plans were easily thwarted by Harold’s sudden voice.

“Lilith, you.”

“Yes, sir?”

“After Edan finishes his bath, come up to my study immediately.”

“…Yes?”

“I have something to discuss with you regarding your recent attitude at work.”

“…Understood, sir.”

…What’s going on?

Did I do something wrong?