I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

After returning with a contract with the fire spirit Inferno… anyway, a spirit with an overwhelmingly chuunibyou-like name, Agnes couldn’t hide her excitement.

|Agnes, where is this? Why were there so many strange stones and trees as soon as we left the forest? Who’s that over there? And….|

“This is the academy, a place where humans gather to study. Those stones and trees over there are like houses where humans live, but they’re not just shaped stones or trees, they’re processed by magic….”

Agnes was busy answering the spirit’s questions with quite an excited expression, probably because it was her first contracted spirit.

It was actually the first time I’d seen her with such a joyful smile since she entered the academy.

…She always showed a sullen or angry expression in front of me, for whatever reason she was dissatisfied with.

‘It would be nice if she smiled like that more often.’

Putting up with the temperament of tsundere characters is only possible outside of games; in reality, a tsundere is just a woman with a bad personality.

I fully realized this fact during this semester’s classes.

Still, in the end, I managed to give Agnes a spirit before the Spirit Communication class ended, so I had achieved my goal. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Moreover, giving a fire spirit to Agnes, who is an expert in fire magic, could potentially lead to unexpected level-up opportunities.

‘Anyway, Agnes will likely join the Hero’s party, so it’s not bad for her to get stronger.’

We’ll have to see how Gyeongmwajogyegigwat will form the Hero’s party, which can include 8 members, including himself and Serista as an extra character, but in any case, Agnes would try to join the Hero’s party for her own purposes.

Also, the Hero wouldn’t turn away Agnes, who is irreplaceable as a Main DPS, even if he doesn’t intend to pursue her.

In other words, the stronger Agnes becomes as an almost confirmed party member, the easier it would be to subjugate the Demon King, and consequently, the higher the chances of my peaceful future.

Giving her a fire spirit as her first spirit was definitely the right choice.

‘Additionally, if Agnes gets stronger, the chances of her eyeing other potential party members might decrease a bit.’

Since the Hero already has Serista, I don’t think he’ll covet Lilith, but it doesn’t hurt to create some insurance.

As I was absentmindedly watching Agnes quickly teaching her fire spirit the knowledge of this world with these thoughts…

Our eyes met once while she was busily talking with her spirit.

“…And over there is the dormitory, where you and I will live from today…”

“……”

|…Agnes?|

“…Wait a moment, Infernocilia.”

Agnes, who seemed to be excitedly talking with her spirit, suddenly closed her mouth when our eyes met.

As I was trying to avoid her gaze and pretend not to notice, I heard her footsteps approaching me. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Her footsteps seemed strangely cautious as if she had something to tell me.

Step, step.

“……”

“Um… Lilith.”

“Yes, Miss Blaze.”

“……………Thank you.”

…Of course, you should thank me. Do you know how much trouble I went through to give you a spirit?

It was an achievement impossible to achieve, no matter how the original work was twisted.

I practically force-fed her this fire spirit.

Even Agnes, seemingly not completely without conscience, was thanking me for helping her form a spirit contract.

I pretended not to know and calmly responded to her words of gratitude.

“I’m just glad that your spirit contract went well, Miss Blaze.”

“Lilith….”

“However, I think you need to improve your unsociable personality that calls people crazy as soon as you meet them. It’s for your own future, Miss Blaze.”

“…You just had to add that. How annoying.”

No matter how incapable one might be, you can’t live as a tsundere forever. It’s probably because of such a personality that she ends up with either the Hero ending or the single ending in the game.

Anyway, I had somehow finished what I needed to do today, so it was time to return.

…I had to hurry back to avoid being caught sneaking out without Ethan knowing.

Several hours after dusk had fully settled, in the deep early morning…

It was a late hour, well past the dormitory curfew. I quietly walked through the corridor of the Swordsmanship Department Dormitory towards Ethan’s and my room.

I had to avoid being caught until the very end that I had pretended to sleep with Ethan and secretly went out at night and returned.

‘If I had said I was going out alone at night as a servant, they definitely wouldn’t have let me go.’

It was already a brazen act as an exclusive maid, and Ethan himself would probably try to interfere with my outing with unnecessary worry.

Probably because of what happened at the Lake of Knowledge before, he had become much more protective of me compared to before.

Even if it was for Agnes’s sake, there was a considerable possibility that he would feel averse to his temporary lover going out alone.

‘But I felt too sorry to wake up Ethan and take him along.’

To begin with, it would have been ridiculous to bring Ethan, a third party, to the scene of my and Agnes’s business. I’d be lucky if Agnes didn’t mock me for always bringing Ethan along.

That’s why the strategy I thought of was a secret outing.

Anyway, once Ethan falls asleep, he doesn’t usually wake up until his wake-up time. It was a small habit I had learned after sharing the same bed for several months.

Sneak out after Ethan falls asleep and return before he wakes up. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

The habit of sleeping later than the master and waking up earlier was already ingrained in me, so sneaking out in the middle of the night wasn’t a problem. The issue was the returning bit.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out whether Ethan was asleep or not since I was right next to him, but when returning, I had to time it to when Ethan was definitely in deep sleep.

‘The REM sleep cycle returns every 90 minutes. The cycle from deep sleep to deep sleep is also 90 minutes….’ *1

So, I should aim to return about 3 hours after I had left. *1

It took 22 minutes to leave the dormitory and move to the Dark Forest. It took 1 hour and 47 minutes for Agnes to form a spirit contract at the Spirit Pond and return. It took 19 minutes to talk with Agnes after she returned. 22 minutes to come back.

With the thought of just holding out for about 10 more minutes before going in, I recalled the last task I needed to finish this week during that short time.

‘Now, the only task left is the sword duel with Harold the day after tomorrow….’

I didn’t need to worry about the end-of-term Hunting Festival since I was planning to participate as a pair with Ethan anyway.

What was more important was the sword duel with Harold.

This one-on-one duel with Harold was still a task I couldn’t be confident of winning.

Of course, Harold had handicaps of not using his physical strength, nor his magic, and only using basic sword techniques, but the difference between a Sword Master and an ordinary person was already more than those handicaps.

It would be impossible to exploit anything other than a gap he couldn’t even imagine, but the question was whether such a gap existed for Harold, who had experienced all sorts of situations as a Sword Master.

With these thoughts, I quietly waited for time to pass in front of the dormitory door.

After silently counting to 600 in my mind, I moved into the dormitory with the quietest steps possible.

Click, creak.

“……”

As soon as I opened the door and entered, I saw a dark room.

I had to rely only on the faint light Sally naturally emitted to move, but since I had to walk quietly anyway, not being able to see my feet clearly wasn’t much of a problem.

I had gone out wearing my sleeping maid uniform and returned in it, so there was no need to change clothes.

Softly, softly.

After slowly moving to Ethan’s bed with footsteps as quiet as possible…

I quietly slipped into the empty space next to him and naturally prepared to go to bed.

Rustle.

‘…Phew.’

Somehow, it seems I wasn’t caught.

I forgot about the sword duel with Harold that had been filling my mind with worry until just now.

Anyway, it’s not like I could win by thinking about it while lying in bed, and I wouldn’t know if my prepared strategy would work until we actually faced each other in the real match.

Moreover, there was the end-of-term Hunting Festival with Ethan the following week, so I didn’t have the luxury of focusing only on this. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

I quietly buried my body, tired from the late-night outing after a long time, under the blanket.

Just as I was about to close my eyes and fall asleep, there was a small rustling from the space next to where I lay.

Rustle, rustle.

“…?”

…What’s this, is he just turning over?

Sleep talking is a characteristic of REM sleep. If I had come in even a little later, it could have been dangerous.

I felt a chill for a moment at the thought that Ethan might have woken up the moment I opened the dormitory door.

Well, in the end, it was fortunate that I could safely finish the night outing and return like this…

Grasp.

‘…Huh?’

As I was trying to feel relieved with these thoughts, I felt my left wrist being quietly grasped from inside the blanket.

My mind stopped its ongoing thoughts and froze for a moment.

‘Really, his sleeping habits…’

Why is he grabbing someone else’s wrist while sleeping?

He grasped it so tightly that it wouldn’t let go, even with a slight shake.

…Well, can’t be helped, I guess I’ll just have to sleep like this tonight.

To begin with, I was supposed to be in deep sleep next to Ethan at this hour, so if I clumsily tried to remove his hand, it might raise suspicion.

At least it’s better to put up with his sleep-talking than to be caught sneaking out at night…

“Lili…th….”

“…!”

Wh-what’s this?

Could he really be awake?

My heart sank for a moment at the sudden sound of Ethan calling my name.

After debating whether to answer or not, I was finally able to calmly judge why he called my name.

‘…Sleep talking along with sleeping habits is common.’

My name coming out was probably just a coincidence.

To begin with, I had the most contact with Ethan since entering the academy, so it was natural for me to appear in Ethan’s dreams.

He’s probably dreaming about our date from before, or what happened on the lake.

That’s why he’s naturally grasping my wrist and calling my name.

Just as I was thinking it was nothing again and trying to go to sleep, there was another rustling from Ethan’s side. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

…A much bigger and more troublesome rustling than before.

Rustle.

‘…Huh?’

Squeeze.

‘…No, wait.’

Ethan, who seemed to be naturally turning towards me, ended up lying on top of me.

I felt almost ridiculous at his attitude of crushing me like I was some kind of hugging pillow.

‘Even if it’s a sleeping habit….’

This is a bit… excessive compared to usual, isn’t it?

I don’t think he’s ever been this entangled, even on days when he tossed and turned a lot.

Anyway, no matter how much I tried to ignore it and sleep, I couldn’t go to bed in this state.

So, just as I decided to push Ethan away and move to the side, grabbing his shoulders to push him to the opposite side…

…Ethan’s clear voice quietly reached my ear.

“Lilith.”

“…?”

“…Where did you go?”

T/N

This is commonly referred to as the 90-minute rule. Since a complete REM cycle lasts around 90 minutes, it follows that the period between the states of deep sleep is also 90 minutes, and Lilith takes advantage of that fact here by using a multiple of 90 minutes (3 hours = 180 minutes).

Hello! Axiomatic here. 

More trivia on the 90-minute rule!

Sleeping around the start of a REM cycle and waking near its end results in an energized feeling upon waking up since deep sleep occurs during the cycle. Waking up during the cycle might feel tiring since you may have been awoken during deep sleep. This explains why, despite sleeping for long periods of time, you could still feel tired upon waking up. Thus, when you want to wake up feeling refreshed, count 90-minute (1:30) intervals starting from your sleeping time, depending on how long you want to sleep, and wake up at the resulting time. You could also do the reverse, where you count backward from your waking time to determine when you should sleep. Consequently, sleeping for intervals that are multiples of 90 minutes (such as the 3 hours mentioned earlier) results in that refreshing feeling. Try this yourself! I’ve done it before and it really does work.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!