Pig Prince Ethan (1)

“S-stop, put that down! You’re our maid, aren’t you?! I-I’ll tell Dad?!”

“…….”

In the darkness, as the unpleasant silhouette vaguely appeared, I felt all sorts of curses flash through my mind.

Pig Prince Ethan. Colloquially, Hyumdan.

True to that title, the moment I witnessed his plump, overweight physique from childhood, my mind instinctively formed a sense of disgust.

Unlike our first meeting, I couldn’t lose consciousness, so I had to face Ethan’s mug head-on and endure the unpleasantness.

His stuffy features, clustered tightly in the center of his face, were separate from his face, which was puffed up like a burst steamed bun.

His short stature and belly fat that had spread out just as much.

Given the nature of the game, 『Luminor Academy』, there were probably exaggerated depictions, but even considering that, his appearance was undoubtedly unpleasant to face directly.

Since it was a face I had been forced to confront countless times whenever I pursued the Lilith route in my previous life, I also harbored personal malice.

‘Should I just kill him?’

A natural killing intent surged within me, surprising even myself that I had such a thought in that instant.

Considering that this bastard made me waste 500 hours on useless endeavors, and that I was betrayed by not being able to clear Lilith as a virgin at the last moment, killing him wouldn’t even be satisfying enough.

Even though I hated Lilith for not being a virgin despite being the main heroine, the one I truly despised the most in the game was this damn Ethan.

If this bastard hadn’t taken Lilith’s virginity in every playthrough, I wouldn’t have wasted countless hours watching Lilith’s ending nearly thirty times.

Furthermore, I wouldn’t have posted persistent threads on Lua Gallery calling Lilith a slutty whore, nor would I have transmigrated into this damn game as the unfortunate character, Lilith.

And I wouldn’t have woken up two hours before work to chew on raw garlic.

He was practically the cause of all the suffering I was experiencing.

I happened to have a knife in my hand, the only exit from this storage room was the door behind me, and it was even the middle of the night, so if I played my cards right, I might be able to deal with him cleanly and escape.

…Of course, if I were caught by Harold, who would unleash all his forces to track me down afterward, the punishment wouldn’t simply end with execution.

If there was a branching point like in a game, now, this very moment, was the time to make a decision.

At this moment of choice that might completely change my life, I ultimately made a bold decision.

‘…Alright, well. What fault could this young bastard possibly have yet?’

Instead of killing this damn Ethan right here, I decided to leave him be for now.

While it was true that I despised Ethan because of my memories from my previous life, that was solely directed at ‘Pig Prince Ethan’ who had taken Lilith’s virginity and obstructed my playthroughs in that past life.

It was rather strange to harbor killing intent towards a kid who had just woken up from a curse.

No matter what, it would be too pitiful for him to die for a crime he hadn’t even committed yet.

Besides, if I could just escape from him successfully, perhaps he wouldn’t turn into the irredeemable trash that Ethan was in 『Luminor Academy』.

…Though I couldn’t be certain, as a person’s fundamental nature probably wouldn’t just disappear.

Standing at a once-in-a-lifetime crossroads that would determine the direction of my life, I, with all sorts of thoughts, finally came to a difficult conclusion in my heart.

Suppressing the killing intent that had surged within me, I pulled back the paring knife I was holding.

“P-put that away quickly! H-how dare you point a blade at your master….”

“I apologize, Young Master Ethan. I made a mistake out of ignorance born of fear.”

“……Huh?”

“I thought perhaps an intruder had breached this great Blackwood Family, and I intended to resist with my meager strength, but I consider it truly fortunate that it was Young Master Ethan.”

“Uh, r-right….”

“This mistake stems from a foolish maid’s ignorance, so would you kindly forgive me generously? I, too, will completely forget about today’s incident, where Young Master Ethan left his bed in the middle of the night.”

“Ah, alright…. I’ll forgive you….”

In truth, it was an excuse that wouldn’t have worked at all if the person in front of me had been of a certain age.

Especially since I hadn’t put away the weapon the moment I realized the other party was a noble.

Even if he only possessed the intelligence of someone around 17 or 18, he would have noticed that I momentarily harbored killing intent towards him, and in that case, even if not now, my head would be on the chopping block somehow later.

However, the Ethan before me, though technically 18, was not truly 18, so fortunately, I could get by with a plausible excuse.

18-year-old bastard… no, what I mean by being 18 but not truly 18, is that he had been asleep for five years due to a curse he contracted at the age of thirteen.

The name of the curse Ethan had endured for the past five years was the Curse of Erosion.

If left alone, it was a rather terrifying curse that would rapidly erode the body and activate after a year, taking one’s life.

It was a curse that was actually implemented to some extent within the game, so if one contracted it during battle, it absolutely had to be cured with a special item.

Indeed, it was a formidable game mechanic, to the extent that if a cursed character was left untreated, they would either leave the party or die during story progression.

‘And I used that to eliminate rival male characters in my previous life.’

Among some heroines, there were characters who couldn’t be cleared in their virgin state unless rival male characters (childhood friends, male siblings, fiancés) were eliminated, so it wasn’t just once or twice that I used a curse accidentally acquired during battle to kill them.

I’m not particularly feeling guilty about that now; I’m just saying that the Curse of Erosion is that dangerous. That it’s a curse powerful enough that even major characters in the game couldn’t avoid it.

So, how did this kid, who seemed wider than he was tall, manage to endure the Curse of Erosion for five years? It was because of the ancient magic tool Harold used, ‘Aeterna’s Pocket Watch’.

A time magic tool that could stop the user’s physical time for up to five years: Aeterna’s Pocket Watch.

As soon as Harold confirmed that his son had contracted the Curse of Erosion, he had it used on his son, Ethan.

Thus, during the five years Ethan slept, Harold tirelessly gathered the items needed to lift the Curse of Erosion from all over.

Ultimately, as soon as the magic tool’s effect ended and Ethan awoke, Harold succeeded in lifting the curse and protecting his son.

‘Honestly, I don’t think he’s a person worth protecting to that extent.’

Well, there’s no point in nitpicking every detail of a game character’s settings, so I’ll move past that. What I wanted to talk about was Ethan’s ‘five years of curse’.

While using Aeterna’s Pocket Watch, one’s physical age doesn’t progress. It truly becomes a state of complete stasis.

In other words, the Ethan before me was 18 years old by birth, but his physical and mental age was five years younger, at 13.

Based on my previous life, he was, at most, at an elementary school level.

No matter that he was a noble, it would be impossible for a mere 13-year-old to notice the killing intent I briefly harbored.

Besides, he probably wouldn’t want to tell his own father about breaking into the kitchen in the middle of the night because he was hungry.

“It’s late, Young Master Ethan. Please return to your bed.”

“…….”

“If by any chance the darkness of the quiet hallway frightens you, I shall accompany you.”

“…It’s not like that.”

-Grumble.

The sound of a stomach rumbling, presumed to be coming from someone’s belly, echoed the moment Ethan finished speaking.

It wasn’t a sound coming from Lilith’s body, who had been eating three meals a day at precise times for over a year, so I could easily infer the owner of that sound.

“I-I told you I came in because I was hungry! Is something wrong with that?!”

‘Pig bastard.’

“There’s nothing wrong, Young Master. You’re at an age where you’re growing rapidly, so it’s natural to feel hungry in the middle of the night.”

As expected of the Pig Prince, even the reason he broke into the kitchen in the middle of the night was truly shameless.

And through this situation, I could roughly infer how Lilith and Ethan might have met in the original story.

Although it wasn’t included in the official settings revealed by the game company, assuming that the game 『Luminor Academy』 was created based on this world…

…Lilith and Ethan’s first meeting probably wasn’t much different from the situation I was currently experiencing.

Due to Lilith’s appearance, her position was changed from reception to kitchen, and because of the senior maid’s work delegation, she had to come to the kitchen early in the morning to work alone.

And similarly, Ethan would have first learned of Lilith’s existence by talking with her after secretly sneaking into the kitchen in the early morning.

Of course, the Lilith in the game wouldn’t have held a paring knife against Ethan, nor would she have chewed garlic while peeling all sorts of vegetables with Clean Magic.

“I’m telling you I’m hungry… isn’t there any leftover food?”

‘As if.’

“The Blackwood Family adheres to the principle of consuming all dishes made on the same day, so unfortunately, there will be no food suitable for Young Master to eat.”

“I’m hungry!”

‘So what? Just starve to death then.’

Whether 18 or 13, Ethan was still Ethan. In that he made me harbor killing intent with the actions of a shitty-looking bastard.

The problem was that I couldn’t start my work today unless I quickly got this brat out of here.

Even if he was only 13, common sense like “only nobles can use magic” would surely be ingrained in his mind.

I couldn’t just leave him in the kitchen like this, so ultimately, feeding him something and sending him back was the most amicable way to resolve the situation.

“If you’re truly hungry, please go and sit in the dining room. I’ll make you something simple to eat.”

“Oh? Maids can cook too?”

“I can’t do anything complicated. But since Young Master is hungry, what else can be done?”

“Yay!”

“However, once you’ve finished eating everything, you must return to your room.”

“Okay!”

To think that a week after deciding to escape from Ethan, I’m now stuck taking care of him.

It was a moment when a fundamental question arose: was I truly handling this correctly?