I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

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With twice as many people, the commotion doubled as well.

Or rather, it should have only doubled.

Not that I wanted to see a commotion dozens of times louder with shouts flying around, or the terrible drinking habits of an orange-blonde wild horse.

“Master Ethan! Out of 21 duels we’ve had, I’ve lost 18 times! I haven’t forgotten for a moment!”

“…Natalie, your drinking habit isn’t good. If you want a duel, I’d gladly oblige, but this is an event organized by Princess Seraphine, so you should restrain yourself…” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“What are you saying?! I’m not drunk! Someone who doesn’t get drunk on alcohol couldn’t possibly have such a drinking habit! Even my longtime hometown friend Thomas, who often shared drinks with me, said he’s never seen me drunk!”

…Of course Thomas would say that.

It would take considerable courage to honestly tell the woman he likes about her drinking habit.

Moreover, unlike Agnes, she was the type to completely forget her memories when drunk, so honestly, she was even worse.

I couldn’t help but direct a resentful gaze at Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, who had created this situation.

‘Shit. Why the hell is that Hero bastard just watching Natalie drink?’

Didn’t he know the walkthrough? He did all sorts of veteran player moves like protecting Seriste, bringing along Silena, and even including Thomas in the party, but why didn’t he prevent the most basic mistake of Natalie drinking?

Of course, if you asked whether Gyeongmwajogyegigwat did nothing at all during that drinking session, that wasn’t the case.

He seemed to know something about the interaction between heroines and alcohol, as he did try to stop someone dangerous from drinking.

…The problem was that the one he tried to stop wasn’t Natalie, but Agnes.

‘Miss Agnes, isn’t it a bit early for you to drink alcohol?’

‘What? Are you mocking me for being a child?’

‘I think a different drink would be better for you, Miss Blaze, than this Blue Curaçao cocktail. Here you go.’

‘Who are you again? The Spirit Communication lecture is already over, you know? The semester’s ended, do you think I’ll just obediently listen to you?’

‘Don’t be like that, Miss Agnes. Some people just don’t handle alcohol well depending on their constitution…’

…I had inadvertently joined in as he suddenly tried to stop Agnes from drinking, just like me, but no matter how I thought about it, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s actions were too irresponsible.

I absolutely agree that Agnes, like Natalie, is a character who shouldn’t drink alcohol.

…But if you could only stop one of them, shouldn’t you obviously stop Natalie?

It’s better to listen to Agnes whining for hours than to leave that wild horse causing chaos by insisting on a duel.

…And I don’t understand why Natalie is pointing her finger at Ethan and causing this uproar instead of the protagonist.

Ethan replied with an incredulous look at Natalie, who was wildly swinging her orange ponytail like a wild horse.

“If you like dueling so much, why don’t you fight that Hero you follow? I don’t understand why you’re pointing that finger at me.”

“18 losses out of 21 duels! 18 losses! I’ve only managed to win three times against you while accumulating 18 defeats! Even including one draw!”

“So what? Is it my fault that your sword can’t break through my defense?”

“No! All I want is to defeat you, Master Ethan, and redeem the shame of the past! My past is stained by 18 defeats! 18! 18!“

…It’s probably just my imagination that those 18 losses she keeps emphasizing as soon as she focused on Ethan sound like curses.

It seemed that Natalie’s ‘duel maniac’ drinking habit was determined by the person with the ‘lowest’ win rate she has against those present. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, Ethan, Natalie.

Including Caraham who wasn’t present, there were four top-tier first-years in the Swordsmanship Department, and even among those four, there was a subtle hierarchy of individual win rates. Among them, Natalie’s estoc was particularly weak against Ethan compared to the other two.

Natalie’s estoc, which specialized in targeting the opponent’s openings and weaknesses, had an especially hard time against Ethan’s dual swords that could freely attack and defend.

Even though Natalie had about a 30% win rate against the Hero Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, her win rate against Ethan was less than 20%, so her ‘duel maniac’ drinking habit probably targeted Ethan.

This was something I hadn’t realized in the original game because she was never given alcohol in front of anyone other than the protagonist.

‘This is really getting messed up…’

If she was making this fuss at the protagonist, we could just ignore it or I could secretly sneak out with Ethan in the midst of the commotion.

The problem was that the orange-blonde wild horse’s focus was on Ethan.

If he didn’t properly agree to the duel, she would probably repeat this tantrum for hours until she collapsed from exhaustion or passed out from the alcohol circulating in her body.

With Seriste present, some accidents during the duel could be sufficiently prevented, but I just didn’t want to comply with what that lunatic was saying, regardless of everything else.

If possible, I wanted to just put her to sleep without any duel. Was there a way to calmly put her to sleep…?

“Accept the challenge, Master Ethan! If you’re a true swordsman, you need to respond to a sword that comes at you fair and square!”

‘…Wait, fair and square?’

At that moment, a way to avoid this situation came to mind from Natalie’s words that I had unconsciously heard.

Just before Natalie and Ethan’s duel was about to start, I intervened between the two and hastily tried to resolve the situation.

“I thought you were just a friendly commoner lady, but I never knew you harbored such hatred towards me.”

“I only want to move forward as a swordsman, overcoming my defeats! And the first mountain I need to overcome to advance is you, Master Ethan…”

“N-Natalie? Could you please calm down for a moment? No matter how much you’ve accumulated from your duels, your opponent is the young master of the Blackwood family. Any more commotion and even I won’t be able to cover for you…”

“Just a moment, Miss Natalie!”

“…Lilith?”

“…Miss Lilith?”

Ethan and Seraphine’s gazes moved to me as I suddenly blocked Natalie’s path.

Even Natalie’s eyes, who was causing a commotion while thoroughly drunk on one cocktail, turned towards me.

“You are Master Ethan’s fiancée, aren’t you? Are you planning to intervene in a sacred duel out of concern for your fiancé…?”

“That’s not important right now, let’s talk about that later. More importantly, you just said ‘fair and square’ in your name, didn’t you?”

“That’s right! I, Natalie Sharp, said so! Although I was born a commoner with only the talent for thrusting a sword, I have lived a fair and square life without shame under heaven!”

“And you said that you have never been drunk, Miss Natalie.”

“That’s right! I have never been drunk, so the claim that I requested a duel from Master Ethan due to a drinking habit is clearly a false accusation…”

“Then, Miss Natalie, is it truly ‘fair and square’ for a sober person to point a sword at a drunk opponent and request a duel?” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“…Huh?”

Natalie, who had been shouting at the top of her lungs requesting a duel until just now, suddenly closed her mouth.

With this logic, even she in her ‘duel maniac’ state would have to respond.

Honesty and fairness. These were values that Natalie protected as dearly as her own life in the game and were like symbols of her character.

Even Natalie in her drunken state, operating only on her subconscious, seemed to have awakened to these words.

“Th-that… is not fair and square behavior…”

“Yes. And yet, Master Ethan has been present at this gathering long before you arrived, Miss Natalie. He has naturally consumed a lot of alcohol and is in a drunken state.”

“Ah, aaaah…”

“Do you understand now, Miss Natalie? You were trying to request a duel in an unfair situation to grasp a cowardly victory over Master Ethan.”

“Aaaah, wh-what have I done…”

Only then did Natalie stop pointing her finger at Ethan and bring both hands to her head.

She clutched her head on both sides, seemingly greatly shocked by her own ‘unfairness’.

Thud.

“I-I’m sorry, Master Ethan! I have committed the discourtesy of behaving in a manner unbecoming of a swordsman!”

“It’s alright. People can make mistakes in life. …Though in your case, you almost crossed the line.”

“H-how can I possibly apologize for this shameful mistake…”

BANG! BANG!

“N-Natalie?!”

Natalie prostrated herself on the floor, banging her head with a despairing expression.

Her hard head, boasting a thickness rivaling Caraham’s, echoed through the banquet hall with each thud.

Worried that either the floor or Natalie’s head might crack, I hurriedly grabbed her shoulders and suggested another ‘method of apology’.

“N-Natalie!”

“That’s enough. I’m not asking for an apology, so there’s no need to abuse yourself like that.”

“Natalie, stop it! Master Ethan says it’s okay!”

“N-no… I-I am a shameful swordsman who was not fair and square… I must apologize…”

“It’s okay, Miss Natalie. There’s a more certain way to apologize than this barbaric method.”

“…Really? Is that true, Lady Lilith?!”

“Y-yes…”

Natalie grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth at the mention of a certain way to apologize.

I decided to overlook the sudden change in my title to ‘Lady’ for now. She’d forget everything by tomorrow anyway. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“Miss Natalie, you made one mistake. You, who were not drunk, requested a duel from the drunken Master Ethan.”

“That’s right… What a shameless disgrace, trying to take advantage of a weakened opponent…”

“Then the problem can be solved if Miss Natalie gets drunk to the same level as Master Ethan.”

“…Pardon?”

“A duel request exchanged between two drunk people is just a joke, isn’t it?”

“Th-that’s right!”

…As if that could be true. If punishment could be offset by getting drunk later after causing such a commotion, why do we have laws and knights… I mean, police?

But what mattered in the current situation wasn’t an irrefutable perfect logic. Logic that wouldn’t seem strange to one thoroughly drunk person was enough.

Probably no one else would refute my logic, not wanting to see Natalie, who had been fooled, cause another disturbance.

“Here, have another drink, Miss Natalie. Gulp, gulp…”

And so, I gave her three glasses of the strongest alcohol I could find disguised as ordinary cocktails.

Thud.

“Snore, phew… Snore, phew…”

The wild orange horse fell into a deep sleep, breathing peacefully.

…Really, the aftermath is such a pain to deal with.

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!