I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

Chapter 57

After a long carriage journey of about three hours from the Blackwood Estate, we finally managed to enter the Imperial Palace.

I got up with my stiff body due to sitting in the shaking carriage for a long time and slowly got off the carriage with Ethan’s help.

As soon as I was in an environment where I could stretch my body for the first time in a while, a refreshing moan naturally burst out of my mouth.

“Aggghhh...!”

It’s times like these when you can really feel that Luminor Academy has a medieval fantasy setting.

No matter how good the carriage of a ducal family’s noble son is, it can’t match the suspension of a car I rode in my previous life.

Moreover, since the roads weren’t made of asphalt, it felt bumpy here and there.

Considering that most of this was a well-maintained road leading from Blackwood territory to the Imperial Capital, unpaved mountain roads or dirt roads would be even more uncomfortable than this.

Somehow, just imagining them made me feel sick, and my expression naturally frowned slightly.

“Lilith, are you tired? Want to rest for a bit before going in?”

“...No, it’s fine. If I can’t even endure a carriage ride of this level, no one would see me as a noble lady, right, Ed?”

“...R-right.”

Although I had a desire to rest my body that was tired from the long journey for a while, I just gave up on it.

My acting had already begun the moment I entered this Imperial Palace.

Since I had already taken on the role, I would only faithfully carry it out by matching it.

I’d do so just like how I had acted as Lilith Rosewood, the maid of the Blackwoods, for the past 3 and a half years.

...Personally, I had a stronger desire to enter the Imperial Palace quickly and see the original characters rather than the rest.

“Have you visited the Imperial Palace before, Ed?”

“...I may have come before, but I don’t have any particular memories left. It was probably much earlier than when I met you, Lilith.”

I thought that as a noble son of the Blackwoods, he would have visited at least once, but it seemed that it didn’t leave much of an impression due to the time he was bedridden with the Curse of Erosion.

The Imperial Palace of the Argentian Empire was famous for its notoriously complex structure, even among players.

If you’re not careful, whether you’re a noble or not, it’s the perfect environment to get lost and become a laughingstock.

...There’s no choice, I have no choice but to use my knowledge from my previous life here.

“The gatekeeper said that there will be servants on standby in the central hall, so let’s go there first and get guided to the ballroom...”

“...This way, Ed.”

“Lilith...?”

“The ballroom is to the right after entering from the west entrance and going up to the 3rd floor using the stairs you see ahead. As soon as you go up the stairs, there will be a three-way fork, with the Morning Glory Hall on the left, the Noon Sunflower Hall in the middle, and the Evening Rose Hall on the right. The place we need to go is the Evening Rose Hall, so...”

“...Lilith, there’s something I’m curious about, can I ask?”

“Yes?”

“As far as I know, Lilith, you are a commoner, but how do you know the structure of the Imperial Palace so well?”

“......”

Ah, I’m an idiot.

I should have just quietly followed where he was going; why did I suddenly get switched to yapping mode at a strange place...

Rambling on when I knew something was an unavoidable habit from my previous life. ...Or it could be a characteristic of most humans.

...I have no choice but to somehow gloss over it with a suitable excuse.

“I knew through prior preparation. Since I was participating in an event hosted by the Imperial Palace, I thought it would be good to collect information about that in advance.”

“...As far as I know, the structure of the Imperial Palace is kept secret and not explained in detail, even to nobles.”

“......”

“Lilith. I’m asking just in case, but have you visited the Imperial Palace before...”

“...Yes, I was wrong. As you said, Ed, it would be better to receive guidance from the servants in the central hall. That would be more reliable than following my insufficient guidance and wandering around the Imperial Palace.”

“Ah, no! I didn’t mean to say that I couldn’t trust you, Lilith! It was just a minor question...”

“Shall we go to the central hall where the Imperial Palace servants are, Ed? You said there will be Imperial Palace servants that you can trust stationed there. It would be much better than following my guidance on unfamiliar paths and shamefully getting lost.”@@@@

“No, no! Let’s go to the stairs, then head right! I trust you, Lilith...!”

“...Can you repeat what you just said one more time?”

“The part about enduring the discomfort?”

“...A little further ahead.”

“I have no intention of neglecting my role as your fiancée, Ed. ...Is this the part you’re referring to?”

“...Yeah, that’s enough. Thank you, Lilith.”

I don’t understand his intention in insisting on hearing that part again.

Am I that unreliable to the point where he needs to get confirmation two or three times?

Well, it wasn’t something I couldn’t understand him being anxious about.

From Ethan’s perspective, bringing me, a maid, as his partner must have been a very adventurous act.

As I said before, bringing a commoner maid as a partner to an event hosted by the Imperial family like this was something that could easily cause misunderstandings in many ways.

Although Ethan said he had discussed my arrival with the Third Princess in advance, other nobles couldn’t support that situation unconditionally.

If he was unnecessarily poked at politically or unfavorable slander was amplified, even the Blackwood family wouldn’t be able to quell the controversy easily.

...Thinking about that, I still couldn’t understand why Ethan brought me as his partner.

If he really wanted to act, it would have been much safer to set a lesser-known young lady from a branch family of the Blackwoods as his partner.

Well, maybe there was no particular special reason for bringing me.

Perhaps the lady he had previously discussed with couldn’t attend for some reason, and he hastily replaced her with me.

From the beginning, the strategy of bringing a partner to the banquet hall to avoid causing a commotion was a role that could be replaced by anyone, not just me.

It just so happened that I was the exclusive maid closest to Ethan among the maids, so I was coincidentally given this role.

Even if Isabel or Catherine had taken this position, what they had to do wouldn’t have been much different.

‘...No, I guess Catherine wouldn’t work after all.’

She was a girl whose heart was so weak that she was completely distanced from acting and such.

If a passing noble just tapped her shoulder in this banquet hall, she would automatically blurt out ‘Young Master, Miss,’ and her identity would be exposed.

Tap.

“Ah?!”

...Yes, exactly like in this situation.

The hand of a lady with sky blue hair walking from the opposite side while looking away slightly bumped into my shoulder in the banquet hall.

As a result, some of the contents of the cocktail glass in the lady’s hand had spilled.

“Ah...”

“......”

The young lady’s glove and the shoulder part of the dress I was wearing got wet at the same time due to the spilled cocktail.

...This one dress I’m wearing right now seems to cost more than a mid-level maid’s annual salary. Surely they won’t ask me to compensate for it later, right?

Well, I’ll think about that problem slowly later, but for now, I had to deal with the situation at hand first.

If I cause a commotion like this, I’ll only stand out unnecessarily, so I need to approach this as gently as possible...

Honestly, the damage to me, whose dress got wet, was a bit greater than that lady whose glove got a little wet, and it was her fault for not paying attention to her hand as she held the cocktail.

But I, who didn’t want to cause a scene, bowed my head first and spoke.

I thought that if we just apologized to each other moderately and moved on without causing a scene, that would be enough until then.

“I’m sorry, Miss. I didn’t notice you approaching because I was looking away for a moment...”

...Perhaps, I had been underestimating the ‘nobles’ of a medieval fantasy world setting.

I had a naive thought that even if it wasn’t my fault, if I apologized first, we could move on without any issues, momentarily forgetting that my thinking was a modern person’s way of thinking.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“......”

“M-my glove is ruined because you were looking away! How are you going to take responsibility for this?! Huh?!”

...The audacity of this fucking bitch?