I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by James B. (6/14). If you enjoy reading and are willing to sponsor more bonus chapters, see my Ko-fi.

Emperor Valtoria V of the Argentian Empire had four wives and nine children.

No, to be precise, he ‘had’ them.

Five princes and four princesses born from four wives.

Even at a glance, it was a sufficient number of royal descendants to spark a competition for the throne. In fact, in the world of Luminor Academy, that power struggle was ongoing.

Of course, even with four wives, there was bound to be a main wife and a legitimate first son. Normally, there shouldn’t have been a reason for conflict among the children’s generation, even if the wives didn’t get along well.

Until a few years ago, the existence of First Prince Philipson, born to Emperor Valtoria V’s main wife, had been preventing the risk of such a rift.

Although there was a verification process to prevent the possibility of placing an incompetent person on the throne when passing it to the legitimate heir, the qualification test to become emperor was at a level that any child of the royal family could pass easily.

If multiple children passed the qualification test, the throne would naturally be passed to the eldest legitimate son. This was regardless of how well the other children performed in the qualification test. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Philipson had passed the qualification test, albeit narrowly, and obtained the qualification to become emperor.

Of course, considering the game’s story, inheriting it in such an ordinary way would have been quite boring. Above all, using this method of succession would have made it impossible to make Seraphine, the main heroine, the empress.

Thus, in Luminor Academy, the fierce competition for the throne among the royal descendants began with the assassination of the eldest legitimate son, Philipson, and the first wife, the main empress, during the first part of the story.

Given that they were all characters with varying degrees of desire for power befitting their royal backgrounds, a full-fledged power struggle was unavoidable.

As a result, among the remaining eight children, excluding the youngest princess who was too young, the rest had no choice but to enter the succession race regardless of their personal wishes.

Among them, there were exactly four people who were most sensitive to the succession competition at the current point in time.

The Second Prince, the First Princess, and the Third Prince and Third Princess.

Among them, the Third Princess was Seraphine, the main heroine of Luminor Academy, and the only royal who wholeheartedly supported the protagonist.

Originally, there should have been seven royals who had to enter the competition, so what about the other three?

What else would they do? They just lived as usual, as if they had no interest in the succession race from the beginning.

Second Princess Luschetia, Fourth Prince Machart, and Fifth Prince Antonio.

These were the types who showed no interest in the throne competition within the work. More precisely, they were the type of people satisfied with living as royalty rather than competing for the throne.

Machart, who indulged in a decadent lifestyle with young ladies, relying on his looks and family name, was needless to say.

Luschetia was only interested in a luxurious lifestyle despite being Seraphine’s older sister from the same mother.

And Antonio, who was among the youngest of the competitors, fundamentally lacked any motivation for the throne competition.

Excluding these three, making Seraphine the empress while overcoming the interference of the remaining three was also one of the main storylines of the work.

…So, why am I suddenly reciting the family relationships of the royals and Seraphine?

Of course, it’s to talk about Antonio, the protagonist of today’s banquet.

In the original work, he was the Fifth Prince, Antonio Robert Valtoria, who had no particular influence on the throne competition and, despite being royalty, played no significant role in the story.

In fact, even today, I had no intention of meeting and talking with him separately, even though he was the host of the banquet….

But due to this ridiculous action he just committed, I too had no choice but to become inevitably entangled with Antonio.

“From the moment I first saw you at the Imperial Palace two years ago, I fell in love! So please, I beg you to promise me your hand in marriage!”

“…..”

“…..”

“…..”

At Prince Antonio’s statement that chilled the atmosphere of the hall, Ethan and I were left speechless, watching the scene in disbelief.

Even Seraphine and Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, who were talking a little distance away, were looking at this scene with incredulity, which suggested that they too were quite taken aback by this situation. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

The noble heirs around who had been noisy, and even the servants busily moving about the banquet hall…

Everyone was waiting for the response of the person in question to Antonio’s sudden public confession.

…Just to be clear, I wasn’t that person.

At first, I almost mistook this prince’s sudden confession to be directed at me, but his gaze was clearly directed at another young lady beside me.

Even now, hearing the name of the confession’s target from his mouth, I honestly felt like I might still be dreaming.

“Please accept my feelings, Miss Agnes Elizabeth Blaze!”

“…What?”

…If this is a dream, it’s definitely a nightmare.

About an hour before Prince Antonio made his public confession to Agnes…

Prince Antonio’s birthday celebration banquet was flowing in a relatively smooth atmosphere.

After Machart approached me once at the beginning and then distanced himself, there were no further incidents of us meeting again and getting into an argument.

First of all, since the banquet hall was quite spacious, it would have been difficult to encounter each other by chance unless one approached with a specific purpose. Moreover, for some reason, I had the feeling that Machart was intentionally avoiding approaching me.

While we were also moving in a way to avoid overlapping with Machart’s path, it seemed that he didn’t particularly want to face me again, either.

Perhaps it was because I had given him the image of a troublesome woman, unlike other young ladies.

If that was the reason, it was fortunate in many ways. It essentially meant that Machart had no reason to approach me further.

There’s no point in getting involved with a character destined for ruin; it would only be troublesome for me.

“Thank you, sincerely, for attending my birthday banquet today. Although I may be young, as a prince of the Argentia Empire…”

After that, while listening to Prince Antonio’s speech that reeked of being written by someone else, Ethan and I had a casual conversation in one corner.

After some time passed, Agnes also slowly made her way to my side.

“…..”

“Oh, Miss Agnes. Have you finished meeting with your friends?”

“…Yeah.”

It was obvious that she had slipped away as soon as the formal banquet started and Seraphine became busy talking with other nobles.

If her intimacy level had increased normally, she probably would have been sticking close to the Hero instead of coming to me, but seeing her come this way suggested that even that hadn’t gone well.

It seems the Natalie incident from before was still making things awkward between Agnes and the Hero’s party.

It wasn’t a good sign, considering that after graduating from the academy, she would have to spend several years with the hero as part of the Demon King subjugation team.

‘Though she’ll end up joining the Hero’s party anyway due to the Blaze family issues.’

Still, if she’s going to join anyway, it would be better to do so on good terms. If things are too awkward, it would be difficult to coordinate in actual combat.

However, it was important to maintain an appropriate distance between them, as getting too close could also lead to the possibility of Agnes falling for the Hero. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Anyway, she was a friend who made me unnecessarily worried, right from our first meeting.

“What are you drinking? Alcohol?”

“Ah, yes. It’s just a light cocktail.”

“…Light? Really?”

“Just in case, I should mention that it’s better if you don’t drink, Miss Agnes. It’s just my intuition, but I think you might be the type who doesn’t handle alcohol well.”

“…I know that, too.”

Contrary to her seemingly stubborn personality, she surprisingly readily admitted that her alcohol tolerance wasn’t great.

Probably because her wariness of alcohol had increased due to the Natalie incident. Maybe she had even tried drinking alone secretly where others couldn’t see.

Unlike Natalie, Agnes tended to vividly remember what happened when she was drunk, thanks to her good memory.

The winter break was long, after all. If she had experienced getting drunk in a place I didn’t know about, she probably wouldn’t even think about touching alcohol at such a public event.

“By the way, Lady Blaze, I heard you’re taking a few classes with Lili this semester too.”

“…Lili? Oh, right… you mean Lilith? Yeah. I get it.”

“Can you tell me how Lili is during classes? I take two classes with Lili too, but both are more physical than theoretical. I’m curious about what Lili is like in the lecture hall.”

“…Just normal. She listens attentively and takes notes diligently. She dozes off a bit in Monday afternoon lectures, looking tired.”

“That’s probably because of the Magic Swordsmanship lecture class in the morning. Lili’s skill with daggers has been improving day by day. Recently, she’s gotten good enough that I can occasionally spar with her. Of course, with a slight handicap…”

“…Tell me more. How is she in the Magic Swordsmanship class?”

“…Is there really a need for you two to talk about me right in front of me?”

The two seemed to be getting along strangely well, continuing their conversation without much awkwardness. 

…Although it felt like most of the conversation topics were biased towards one side.

While it was understandable for Ethan, who had liked me since we were young, I wasn’t sure why Agnes had suddenly become interested in my personal life.

Maybe she was still grateful to me for helping her contract her first fire spirit.

Just when I thought the banquet would end after some appropriate exchanges without any particular incidents…

A major event capable of turning the hall upside down struck suddenly.

“Ah, here you are. I’ve finally found you, my mademoiselle.”

“…Huh?”

“…Pardon?”

“…..”

Prince Antonio suddenly appeared before me, Ethan, and Agnes, who were in the middle of a conversation.

Ethan showed a somewhat wary reaction due to the recent Machart incident, but for now, showing respect to the prince came first.

…If I cursed him to his face out of the blue like I did with Machart, the atmosphere would become hostile again.

“Greetings, Prince Antonio. I am Lilith Blackwood Rosewood, the eldest daughter of the Rosewood family.”

“…I am Ethan Richard Blackwood, the eldest son of the Blackwood Ducal family. I am also Lilith’s fiancé.”

Ethan immediately introduced himself after my introduction, likely to prevent my background as a quasi-baroness from standing out. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Feeling secretly grateful for his consideration, I was pondering how to deal with Antonio, but surprisingly, the prince who had made uncharacteristically flirtatious remarks like “my mademoiselle” from our first meeting responded rather calmly to my and Ethan’s introductions.

“Ah, yes. Pleased to meet you, Miss Lilith. Young Master Ethan.”

“Ah, yes, it’s an honor…”

“…It’s an honor, Prince Antonio.”

“So… I haven’t heard the name of this beautiful lady here…”

“…?!”

“…?!”

Ethan and I simultaneously turned our gaze towards Agnes in surprise at the sight of Prince Antonio referring to her as a ‘beautiful lady’ while I was right beside her.

Of course, the most surprised was probably Agnes herself, who directly heard those words from Antonio.

“…Me?”

“Yes, my mademoiselle.”

“Ah, I’m Agnes Elizabeth Blaze…”

“Ah, how can even your name be so beautiful…!”

…No, it’s just an ordinary name.

Seeing Antonio’s behavior, which was completely different from the original game, I almost thought I had mistaken him for someone else.

Judging by his hairstyle and eye color, it definitely seemed to be Antonio.

As I was racking my brains trying to figure out where things had gone wrong this time, Antonio’s ‘confession’ to Agnes continued.

“From the moment I first saw you at the Imperial Palace two years ago, I fell in love! So please, I beg you to promise me your hand in marriage!”

“…..”

“…..”

“…..”

“Please accept my feelings, Miss Agnes Elizabeth Blaze!”

…And so, the story comes full circle.

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow for the bonus chapter!