I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

I felt quite surprised by Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s statement that he “hasn’t cleared it even once.”

Has he really never cleared Luminor Academy? But how did he progress this far without making any mistakes?

“You’ve never cleared it?!”

“Keep your voice down. They might hear us in the room.”

“Anyway, if you’ve never cleared it, how did you get this far?”

“Weren’t we supposed to take turns asking questions? I just answered, so it’s my turn now, right?”

“…Right. Ask quickly.”

With my head spinning from the Hero who had never cleared the game, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat posed his first question to me.

“What exactly happened with Ethan for him to change so drastically? Did you perhaps swap him with another boy? Or did you install some kind of mod to change Ethan’s modeling?”

“I don’t know much either. He just changed like that while I was doing various things to avoid being pounced on by him.” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“How am I supposed to understand from that? There must be something specific you did.”

“…I couldn’t stand watching his sexual harassment and disgusting behavior, so I cursed at him a few times, and he ended up like this. I don’t know exactly how or why he changed. I’m not even the protagonist, and this is my first time wandering around the game as Lilith, so how would I know?”

I didn’t bother mentioning that I had almost strangled him to death with laundry. If I carelessly blabbed about that outside, it might end up with my neck on the line instead.

“Even so, Ethan changed just from that? It doesn’t seem likely…”

“Enough, it’s my turn to ask the next question.”

“…Fine, whatever.”

“If you’ve never cleared the game until now, how did you manage to get this far? The subplot about Seriste being a fake Saint or Selena’s subplot are things you’d only know from a second playthrough, right?”

“I just haven’t cleared it, but I’ve played properly ‘according to the walkthrough’ up until now. I followed exactly what someone posted on the LuA Gallery as a 25th playthrough. I just haven’t seen the ending, but I’ve gone up to right before the Demon King Subjugation.”

“Oh, so you were following a walkthrough. Then I worried for nothing.”

…He should have said that from the beginning instead of confusing people.

I felt a bit annoyed, thinking I had wasted a question unnecessarily.

‘…Wait, didn’t he just say it was a 25th playthrough walkthrough…?’

“It’s my turn to ask now, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

Before I could dwell on the question that had suddenly popped into my mind, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat fired his next question without pause.

“Since you don’t know exactly how Ethan changed, then what do you think of Ethan himself now?”

“Huh? What do you mean by ‘what do I think’?”

“You’ve been by his side the most, so you should know. Can you somewhat predict whether he’ll become a villain or a hero in the upcoming story?”

“Ah, that… But what if he seems likely to become a villain?”

“It might be uncomfortable dealing with someone who knows about you… but as the protagonist, I’ll have to do what’s necessary if it’s needed for clearing the game.”

…Does that mean he won’t swing his sword if Ethan isn’t a villain?

I didn’t like his tone, which seemed to imply he’d deal with Ethan’s life clinically for the sake of clearing the game, but it also meant he was serious about clearing it.

A player trying to follow the standard route was better than one spouting half-baked ideals. If I had to choose, this route had fewer variables to consider.

“…I’m not sure if he’ll be a hero, but he definitely won’t be a villain.”

“Can you guarantee that?”

“Originally, Ethan was a villain in the game because he abused me… I mean, Lilith. If the abuse itself never happened, there’s no reason for him to become a villain. There wasn’t any storyline of Ethan getting involved with demons either.”

“…Well, you certainly don’t look abused. If anything, he seems to cherish you immensely.”

“Well, we are dating, after all.”

“W-What?!”

“Your voice is too loud. They’ll hear inside.”

The Hero looked at me with quite surprised eyes, seemingly taken aback by the words that suddenly came out of my mouth.

I had no particular reason to keep it a secret, so I revealed the truth casually.

Besides, directly telling him about my relationship with Ethan this way was more likely to help gain his trust, and it sounded much more plausible that Ethan had changed to protect his lover rather than just saying his personality had become nicer. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

In reality, Ethan’s actions stemming from his feelings for me were obvious enough without paying much attention, so it wouldn’t be difficult to make him believe.

“Wow… you possessed Lilith and are dating Ethan? You’re really skilled.”

“Just to be clear, it’s not like Ethan is my type or anything. I don’t particularly like men.”

“…Huh?”

“I’m dating him because Ethan likes me too much, and I owe him for various things. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Huh? Is there anything to misunderstand? It’s just a matter between a man and a woman, you date if you want to date.”

“…Ah, r-right. Yes, that’s true…”

…Come to think of it, he doesn’t know that I was a man in my previous life.

If he’s reacting like that thinking a woman possessed another woman, it would make sense for him to consider it normal.

Objectively speaking, the current Ethan was close to a perfect man – handsome, from a good family, and excellent in swordsmanship.

If he was misunderstanding me as a woman, it was easier to just let him keep that misunderstanding. Even though it was a temporary relationship, revealing that I was a man in my previous life and now dating a man felt like it would chip away at something in my heart.

“Anyway, it’s my turn now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“As the protagonist, what’s your goal? Is clearing the game itself your goal? After clearing, do you plan to marry Seraphine and ascend to the throne? Or gather girls to make a harem? Or something else?”

If nothing else, I had to be clear on this point.

I had somewhat guessed that his goal was to clear the game, but I had to see what purpose was attached to that.

In Luminor Academy, after defeating the Demon King, you could make a final wish to the goddess in the last episode and choose one of the ending branches.

It was possible to become a national hero and gain all wealth and honor, or if you found too much attention bothersome, living in a quiet village with your harem member(s) was also a decent ending.

I’ll say it again, I didn’t particularly care whether the Hero chose a harem or a monogamous ending. …As long as he didn’t think of including me in the Demon King subjugation party or adding me as a harem member.

“Defeat the Demon King and clear the game. …And then return to Earth.”

“Huh?”

“I know there’s no return option among the original game’s choices… but since it said any wish would be granted, it shouldn’t be impossible.”

“Really? You’re thinking of leaving and returning? Wouldn’t it be much more fun to live here than returning to reality after just defeating the Demon King? Plus, you already have three girls following you saying they like you…” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“…Some might think that way, but I’ve been playing with the intention of returning to my original world from the start. I got possessed before I could even properly clear the game once, only reading walkthrough posts. Isn’t it strange not to have any lingering attachment to the original world?”

“…When you put it that way, I can’t argue.”

Well, I couldn’t say I didn’t understand Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s words either.

In my case, since Luminor Academy was my life’s game, there was a time when I was excited about the fact of entering this world.

It got to the extent that I thought gender itself wouldn’t matter much if I could spend a second life in this world. …Although being possessed as Lilith was a bit much.

And in my case, since I had been possessed after clearly dying in my previous life, I couldn’t have lingering attachments even if I wanted to. But in this guy’s case, there might be a possibility that his physical body remained intact in reality.

If he had left a lot behind in reality, he would naturally have lingering attachments, and his words about wanting to return to his original world made sense.

“Well, if that’s your choice, it’s not for me to say anything.”

“From the way you’re talking, it seems you don’t have any lingering attachments to reality.”

“Well, I already died once in my previous life, and Luminor Academy was my favorite game in my past life. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to go back even if they sent me back for free.”

“I’ll respect your choice, too. Different people value different things.”

It was a moment when we confirmed the difference in our values regarding this world.

At the same time, I started to understand some of his actions that I couldn’t comprehend until now.

He probably chose a casual nickname because he wanted to clearly distinguish this world as a game world.

If he was thinking about returning to reality in the future, it would be better to draw a clear line rather than getting unnecessarily attached to this world.

I could now understand why he was trying to clear the game while following the standard play. The things he left behind in reality were that important to him.

It was truly a valuable conversation time in that I was able to confirm what I had only been guessing until now and clear up misunderstandings that had accumulated knowingly or unknowingly.

To think we spent nearly a year and a half to have this short conversation. It feels somewhat futile, but also fortunate in a way.

In any case, thanks to his quick thinking in creating this time, the possibility of a life-or-death battle between Ethan and the Hero was essentially eliminated. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

As we exchanged our backlog of questions, the 10 minutes flew by in the blink of an eye, and I quietly concluded that it would be safer to ask just one or two more questions before returning.

“We’re almost out of time, so let’s wrap up with your last question for today.”

“…Alright. We’ll have to work together for a while until the Machart issue is resolved anyway, so we’ll have more chances to talk about the rest.”

“Is there anything you’re curious about? I may not look it, but I played Luminor Academy like a demon in my past life. I’ve seen 24 endings and even wrote walkthrough posts in the gallery, so I can tell you pretty much anything.”

“Well. I’ve read almost all the walkthrough posts on the LuA Gallery too. By the way, clearing it 24 times, isn’t that almost on par with LilGirl’s level?”

“……”

Flinch.

“……Huh?”

My body momentarily froze in surprise at hearing my old community nickname after so long, and the Hero gave me a suspicious look, noticing my awkward movement.

No way, could the walkthrough post he said he saw in the LuA Gallery be the one I wrote…

“Hey, you.”

“…What.”

“Could it be… are you LilGirl…?”

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Bonus chapter out shortly!