I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

The plan to kill Prince Machart was carried out secretly and cautiously.

In truth, Machart wasn’t that threatening as a person. Fundamentally, he had a timid personality and lacked composure, and being focused on enjoying a dissolute lifestyle, he wasn’t particularly strong either.

Comparing the time it took for him to awaken as a demon with other characters, one could be especially certain of his weakness.

In the original storyline, Caraham, who borrowed demonic power like Machart, completed his awakening as a demon in less than a year, while that idiot Machart took a total of 5 years to awaken.

That’s why it was often treated as a meme in the community. They’d say things like “the time it takes to pull one Machart is the time it takes to pull five Carahams”, and “yet the performance of five Macharts combined is only equal to one Caraham”.

In reality, looking at just the difficulty of the strategy, Machart as the boss of Part 4 was much easier than Ethan, the boss of Part 2, or Caraham, the boss of Part 3.

Moreover, at present, he hadn’t even awakened and remained a human borrowing demonic power. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

So Machart, who wasn’t even a demon yet, wouldn’t be particularly threatening when faced with a well-prepared party.

Even so, the reason we couldn’t kill him before he awakened as a demon was simple: he was a member of the Royal Family.

Although he wielded demonic power, he wasn’t a demon until he awakened, and if we killed him while he was still human, it would be regicide.

Therefore, there were two main preparatory tasks we needed to do to kill Machart.

One was to create an environment where we could somehow fight him by inducing him to let his guard down, and the other was to create evidence or means to prove that Machart had been in collusion with demons even after his death.

…And the strategy we came up with for the first task, “inducing carelessness”, was the Final Evaluation Duel between Agnes and me.

‘Currently, Machart must consider Agnes and me as close friends, so we need to make him believe otherwise somehow.’

There was only one reason why Machart couldn’t easily touch me inside the academy right now. It was because Agnes or Ethan was always by my side, keeping Machart in check.

Usually, Agnes would stick with me during my majors in the morning, and Ethan would accompany me on the way back in the afternoon.

Machart, being inherently cowardly, was cautious when it came to matters of his own life. He wouldn’t attempt to attack me unless he was certain he could win, like last time.

But he probably hadn’t given up his obsession with me, so he’d try to create an opening to get his hands on me somehow. Even in the game, there were quite a few descriptions of Machart’s strong obsession.

He’d know that Ethan was an unavoidable presence as my master and someone who even used the same dormitory, but Agnes was different.

The plan was to create a situation that clearly showed that she and I had grown apart, somehow make Machart let his guard down, and make him attack me again like before.

To start the first stage of this plan, Agnes and I had a normal conversation in front of the Central Hall of the academy a week before the evaluation duel.

We began the operation to induce Machart’s carelessness, pretending to move from the Magic Department Building to the Swordsmanship Department Building as usual.

“Shall we start, Agnes?”

“Are you sure? It seems like we don’t need to go this far.”

“If we don’t do this now, I might be under threat from Prince Machart throughout the second semester and even next year. As you said, we might not need to go this far, but I’d rather do everything I can and regret it later than regret not doing enough.”

“…Alright, then.”

With that conversation, Agnes and I sat side by side on a bench near the fountain in the Central Hall and started talking in a slightly louder voice than usual.

We wanted to ensure that people around us could hear our conversation and pay attention.

“You really worked hard this semester too, Agnes.”

“…You too, Lilith.” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“Agnes, you’re top of the class again this semester, right? I really can’t keep up with you at all.”

“…That’s not true, you did well too.”

Although we had practiced this a few times beforehand, the conversation content was quite natural even considering that.

Agnes’s tone was a bit awkward since she wasn’t a professional actor, but it wasn’t to the extent that someone listening would find it strange.

Originally, Agnes hardly even opened her mouth, let alone conversed, unless she was in front of me or Seraphine, so there probably wasn’t anyone who could notice anything odd by comparing it to Agnes’s usual way of speaking.

Feeling reassured that things could go according to plan at this rate, I continued the conversation nonchalantly. I deliberately spoke in a loud voice so that the students who were starting to gather around could sufficiently overhear our conversation.

“Now, all that’s left is the Final Evaluation Duel, right? Have you decided who your opponent will be, Agnes?”

“…!”

“……”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a strange sense of presence and focus of gazes from around us.

The gazes of students in the Magic Department, in particular, who were wearing large staffs or cloaks that enhanced magical sensitivity, were especially numerous. It made sense, as the Magic Department’s major subjects had just ended.

The Magic Department students were paying close attention, as this was a conversation where they could find out who Agnes’s opponent would be. Of course, most of them were probably praying internally, ‘Please, not me.’

Agnes seemed to have noticed the attention and gazes flying our way, just like me, but she continued with the practiced lines without getting flustered, maintaining her composure.

“Yes, I’ve decided.”

“Can you tell just me, perhaps?”

“Why? Didn’t you consider the possibility that I might have chosen you as my opponent?”

“There might be that possibility, but I don’t think you would have chosen me, Agnes.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, because I’m your friend, Agnes. If you wanted a duel, I could accept anytime, so there’s no reason for you to choose me as your opponent on an important event like the Evaluation Duel, right?”

“…Yes, you’re right. Actually, it’s not you, Lilith.”

“……”

“T-Then why only me…”

As soon as Agnes said she wouldn’t choose me as her opponent, there was another reaction of movement from around us.

For some reason, I thought I heard Isabel’s voice, who got beaten by Agnes in last year’s evaluation duel, but I didn’t have the leisure to track and confirm it.

Also, expecting our conversation to be lengthy, the Magic Department students loosely surrounding us started using their own methods to eavesdrop on our conversation.

They used wind magic for Wind’s Tale, arcane magic for Mana Communication, and various other wiretapping spells – it was certainly befitting of those in the Magic Department.

If they had done this during our usual conversations, we would have blocked the eavesdropping by disturbing the surrounding mana, but instead, Agnes and I continued our conversation without interfering with the eavesdropping, even suppressing the mana that naturally leaked from our bodies. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

After all, our conversation now wasn’t a secret to be hidden from someone, but needed to become a rumor that spread to as many people as possible.

“It’s not you, Lilith, I’m going with Karan.”

“Kyaa… mph?!”

“……”

“……”

I thought I heard Karan’s scream cut off, but I didn’t dare to check. I just mentally noted that she, the 3rd ranked in the Magic Department, was also eavesdropping on this conversation.

Judging by the sudden cut-off of the sound, it seemed other students had hurriedly covered her mouth. They didn’t want to cause a commotion that might reveal their eavesdropping spells.

“Do you mean Karan Iris Stormweaver, ranked 3rd in the Magic Department?”

“Yes. She’s the highest after you, Lilith.”

“Come to think of it, last year you faced Isabel, who was second, right? It’s really like you, Agnes.”

“What about you? Who’s your opponent?”

“Well, I haven’t decided yet. But I do have someone in mind.”

“…!”

“……”

“…?”

Following the reveal of Agnes’s chosen opponent for the evaluation duel, the intensity of mana flowing through the eavesdropping spells increased again at the thought of being able to find out my opponent as well.

While not as overwhelming as Agnes, who was the undisputed top student, I was also someone they didn’t want to face in the evaluation battle as the second-ranked student.

Moreover, among those who had seen my duel with Luke last year, some might even consider me more troublesome than Agnes. From the perspective of student-level opponents, having to consider close combat in addition to ranged attacks because I fought with a dagger made me quite a tricky opponent.

So, it was natural for them to be waiting for the next answer from my mouth, but I didn’t give them the answer they wanted. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

From the moment we started this conversation, there was only one thing I wanted.

The reason I deliberately drew the attention of the Magic Department students right after all of their major classes had ended, in front of the academy’s Central Hall where most people gathered, without even blocking eavesdropping spells, was to let them overhear this very conversation.

“Oh, by the way, Agnes.”

“Yes?”

“You know that curved magic circle you submitted for this semester’s final project?”

“…Yes.”

“To be honest, I’m only telling you this now, but do you know that when I saw it, I thought it was really terrible?”

“…?!”

“…!!!”

“……”

Simply spreading a rumor that we had a falling out wouldn’t add credibility to that rumor.

To act out that Agnes and I had a falling out, we needed to clearly show the cause of that falling out first.

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

See you in a bit for the bonus chapter!