I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by James B. (7/14). If you enjoy reading and are willing to sponsor more bonus chapters, see my Ko-fi.

Antonio Robert Valtoria.

The Fifth Prince of the Valtoria Royal Family, and an unfortunate prince who suddenly had to enter an unexpected succession race after the assassination of the First Prince.

In the game Luminor Academy, his original role was that of a mediocre supporting character.

He could be recruited as a companion, but his abilities were mediocre, so he wasn’t worth keeping around for long. Instead, he could occasionally be helpful when a royal character was needed in Seraphine’s absence.

It was unavoidable from Antonio’s position. When the succession was decided with Philipson, Antonio was only ten years old.

How could he have anticipated that five years later, Philipson would die and he would have to enter the succession race? [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

While Seraphine had prepared to some extent through her future vision, Antonio didn’t have such an ability.

As a result, from the player’s perspective, he was just a royal character who could be used without particularly hindering Seraphine—just a character who maintained his position and preserved his life.

Still, from an objective evaluation, he was quite a likable character. 

In Luminor Academy, among Seraphine’s siblings, everyone except Antonio and the youngest princess were either competitors or obstacles.

In other words, originally, Antonio should have been in the position of a potential ally who occasionally helped the protagonist while playing the role of a recluse to avoid attracting attention from his other siblings…

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

“What…?”

I couldn’t comprehend why he was suddenly confessing to Agnes for whatever reason.

‘…What exactly did I mess up?’

No, come to think of it, maybe it wasn’t me but Gyeongmwajogyegigwat who messed something up. This time, I really felt wronged no matter how I thought about it.

To begin with, I had only started interacting with Agnes about half a year ago, and as for Antonio, this was practically our first meeting.

Logically thinking, it would undoubtedly be correct to assume that it was Hero who had done something, not me.

…Right, that’s it. After all, I’m not the only variable that appeared in this world.

And Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, being in a position to enjoy an open-world RPG much more freely than me who can’t go anywhere without Ethan, could possibly have built a relationship with Antonio before Part 2 of the story if he wanted to…

“From the moment I first saw you, I was completely captivated by your beautiful magic!”

‘…Huh? Magic?’

“Two years ago, you appeared like a comet and protected the Eastern Gate of the Imperial Palace, allowing me to escape from that day’s danger.”

‘…Two years ago? The Eastern Gate of the palace?’

“Since that day, I’ve dreamed of meeting you again. There were times when I thought I might never see you again.”

‘Wait, if this story is true, could it be…’

Two years ago, the Eastern Gate of the palace, and magic.

As far as I knew, there was only one incident that could overlap with these keywords and Agnes.

The masquerade ball for Seraphine’s birthday celebration naturally came to mind.

‘Wait, then when Agnes said she met Antonio before…’

Could it be that they met while defeating monsters at the palace’s Eastern Gate?

Why didn’t Agnes properly tell me such important information?

Of course, I didn’t ask properly and just let it slide, but still, for an event of this magnitude, shouldn’t she have explained it on her own? [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

As Prince Antonio continued his series of bombshell statements, the hall was filled with more and more murmuring.

…Also, Agnes, suddenly finding herself the center of attention, was rolling her eyes with the most flustered expression I had ever seen on her.

“I, I…”

“Yes, Miss Agnes!”

“I, I don’t know anything about this…!”

“…Pardon?”

“Ah, aah, AAAAAGH…!!”

“W-Wait a moment! Miss Agnes!!”

Bang!

Unable to handle the sudden attention, Agnes chose to flee.

Prince Antonio reached out emptily towards where Agnes’s retreating figure had been as she kicked open the door of the Noon Sunflower Hall.

“Q-Quickly bring back the person who just left! She might become the prince’s consort!”

“Yes!!!”

Immediately, the Palace Guards who were guarding the banquet hall rushed out to find Agnes.

Taking advantage of the commotion, I also hurried out of the banquet hall.

“I’ll bring Agnes back! Ed, please wait for a moment!”

“Lili?! Wait, do you know where Lady Blaze…”

“It’s okay, I can find her!”

Although I didn’t pay much attention to Agnes’s route in my previous life, I knew her basic habits.

So, for now, I had to find Agnes before the Palace Guards.

Whether to persuade her to come back or to send her home could be decided after finding her.

The process of finding Agnes was surprisingly simple.

She had a consistent pattern in the direction she habitually moved when faced with difficult situations or embarrassing incidents.

It was a rule I naturally came to know even though I never deliberately tried to pursue Agnes. After all, Agnes was a character with excellent performance, having been recruited as a companion in nearly 20 out of 24 playthroughs.

‘The Palace Guards have probably scattered to the exits on the first floor.’

In such situations, people usually think of escaping outside when running away.

Of course, the Palace Guards didn’t really have the right to stop a guest who wanted to go home, but anyway, Agnes had abruptly ended her conversation with Prince Antonio, the protagonist of the banquet.

At least they had some pretext to try to persuade her for a moment.

‘The premise that Agnes ran away is probably wrong to begin with.’

No matter how flustered she was by the situation, Agnes was still representing the Blaze family at this event.

To prevent giving the ‘old-fashioned people of the family’, as she called them, something to nitpick about, she wouldn’t leave without permission.

She was probably just looking for a place to be alone for a while, and I could guess where she might have gone. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

She had a habit of escaping to ‘high places’ when she needed to think about something.

‘And there’s only one high place she could have run to from the Noon Sunflower Hall.’

Coming out of the Noon Sunflower Hall, there are stairs on both sides and following those stairs up leads to the 5th-floor Outdoor Garden.

It was a place in the palace that was almost always open for guests to use except at night, so it wasn’t difficult to guess Agnes’s steps.

Clank.

“…..”

As soon as I opened the door leading to the Outdoor Garden, a red-haired young lady came into view.

I slowly approached her, who was unmistakably Agnes, judging by her height and figure.

“Why did you suddenly run away, Miss Agnes?”

“…Oh, it’s you.”

“Who did you think it was?”

“…Either Seraphine, or that whatever prince.”

That whatever prince…

From Agnes’s position, it wasn’t exactly wrong. After all, she had suddenly received a confession from Prince Antonio in a place she never expected, so of course he would feel like some unknown guy.

Based on the conversation we had about 1-2 weeks ago, it seemed they didn’t have a particularly deep relationship. It even seemed like Antonio had heard Agnes’s name for the first time today.

I couldn’t help but be curious about what kind of relationship they had, and thinking it might help solve her worries, I asked about the whole story first.

“What kind of relationship do you have with Prince Antonio?”

“…No relationship at all. We’re just acquaintances who know each other’s faces.”

“Prince Antonio doesn’t seem to think so. You said you met once before, right? When was that?”

“…Remember that day two years ago? The day when the Serpent King attacked the palace.”

“Ah, yes.”

“…Antonio was the one I fought with at the Eastern Gate then.”

…Somehow, it seemed likely.

Well, considering the story of the original game, it made sense.

The reason the Northern and Western Gates of the palace weren’t breached during the incident of the Attack of the King Serpent was because reliable main characters were in charge of the defense.

In Luminor Academy, it was a fact you naturally learned as you progressed through the story that Orion defended the Northern Gate, and Agnes and Seraphine defended the Western Gate where the boss monster appeared.

The south gate was breached due to a lack of defensive forces, resulting in Lizzy’s death.

However, for the Eastern Gate, I only knew that it wasn’t breached after many sacrifices, which was somewhat unnatural if you thought about it closely.

If it was a level of monster wave that could be repelled by the Palace Guards, it was strange that the Southern Gate, which was farther from the lake, was breached while the Eastern Gate held.

But if Antonio had been involved in that defense, it was a different story.

No matter how mediocre his abilities were, as a potential companion, he must have had quite useful skills.

Of course, Antonio would have been only about 15 at the time, so he probably couldn’t have been as active as other characters and there were many casualties.

“At first, I didn’t even know he was a prince. I just thought he was a young knight among the guards.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. As soon as I arrived, about two people looked in danger, so I provided magical support from the rear. The prince also looked tired, so I pulled him back for a moment, and after that, we took turns defending with the remaining personnel. That’s all.”

“It’s a more mundane story than I expected.” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“…Did you expect some fairytale about a prince on a white horse saving me from crisis? That was really all there was to it.”

…Well, Agnes probably didn’t find it too difficult because she’s basically not a physical fighter. Antonio and the other guards who had been holding the Eastern Gate until Agnes arrived would naturally think differently.

There’s also the possibility that he mistook his racing heart for love in the midst of a life-threatening situation.

Also, it’s a clear fact that casualties were reduced after Agnes came to support. Thinking about the original story, Prince Antonio would have survived somehow, but many of the remaining guards would have lost their lives.

“So, did you exchange names then?”

“Huh? No, we didn’t exchange names.”

“What?”

“By the time the battle ended, he had collapsed, and I just heard the guards saying something like ‘thank you for saving the prince.’ That’s when I learned his name.”

“Ah, I see…”

“After that, there was no particular occasion to meet, so that was the end of it. …That’s why I don’t understand why he’s suddenly saying strange things to me.”

…So, it’s like this?

For Antonio, Agnes suddenly appeared when his life was in danger and saved the lives of the guards.

She came to the frontlines with him and engaged in battle against the monsters.

In the midst of that, he developed a strange feeling for Agnes due to the suspension bridge effect and then collapsed from fatigue.

When he woke up, the woman who had saved him had disappeared without even telling him her name… something like that?

‘I can understand why he got excited and rushed in as soon as he saw her.’

…Though making a public confession at his own birthday banquet seems to have crossed the line a bit too much.

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!