I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

After the Magic Department’s evaluation duel ended, Agnes and I were confin— no, admitted to a two-person hospital room side by side.

Normally, when the Death Prevention Magic activates, it’s standard for each person to have a private room. After all, the spell is a miracle that revives someone who nearly died, so absolute rest is necessary during the recovery period.

However, no matter how important absolute rest is, the patient rooms in the academy’s church are limited in number. It wouldn’t be reasonable to demand that the one room allocated per match be increased to two.

In other words, the room prepared for Agnes and me was just one private room, so we ended up recovering in a hastily arranged two-person room with an extra bed added.

“How are you feeling, Miss Agnes?”

“…It hurts. It’s throbbing.”

“Well, who told you to use an explosion spell at such close range? Of course you’d get caught up in it too if you use such a self-destructive technique.”

“It’s not your explosion spell that hurts, it’s where you stabbed my heart, Lilith.”

“……”

What am I supposed to say to that? It just makes me feel guilty again.

Well, anyway, neither Agnes nor I held back.

If I hadn’t fought so fiercely that day, I probably would have been lying in this hospital room alone. …And I would have been thoroughly roasted, trapped in Agnes’s closing Flame Fortress.

An explosion was slightly better than full-body burns in terms of momentary pain. …Even if the recovery period might be a bit longer. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“Still, it might be fortunate that we both collapsed in a double down.”

“…What do you mean?”

“If I were to visit your hospital room at this time, Miss Agnes, wouldn’t it spark strange rumors? People would gossip about how we seemed to be fighting to the death but ended up reconciling in the end. After going through all the trouble of having an evaluation duel to avoid Prince Machart’s eyes, wouldn’t it be frustrating for you if we nullified the rumors we spread?”

Anyway, I needed to meet and talk with Agnes one more time to explain the plan to deceive Machart, and by sharing a hospital room due to our double down, that part was naturally resolved.

Moreover, gathering Ethan, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, and Seriste would be much easier in this hospital room. Ethan and Gyeongmwajogyegigwat could enter under the pretext of visiting me and Agnes respectively, and Seriste, being a Theology Department student, wouldn’t look out of place frequenting the patient rooms.

“…I can’t agree with that opinion.”

“Pardon?”

“Why would you come to visit me? Are you implying you would have won if it wasn’t a simultaneous death?”

“Well, you were stabbed by my dagger first, weren’t you? It was a self-destructive spell used in a situation where you were forced to either collapse or cause a double down, so it’s my technical victory. Let’s acknowledge what we should.”

“No, by judgment, it’s my victory. The cause of death for both of us was my explosion spell, right? So since you, Lilith, who was closer to it, died first, I won.”

“But it was my dagger that forced you into that choice in the first place…”

Slide!

“Lilith! Agnes! Didn’t I tell you two to stay calm and rest?”

“…We’re sorry.”

“……”

The heated debate about the judgment of the outcome of the match was quickly suppressed by Seriste, who entered from outside the room.

Seeing how even the stubborn Agnes became docile in front of the priestess healing her, it seemed that even in this fantasy world, doctors were still doctors.

“Please remember that you both were transported to the church by the Death Prevention Magic. Especially you, Lilith. You were hit by the explosion spell at a closer range, so you absolutely need to rest properly.” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“See, the fact that you’re more severely injured means I won…”

“Agnes, what are you saying when you were also caught in the explosion spell?! And Agnes, your case is just as complicated to treat because you have a combination of explosion and stab wounds!”

“…I understand.”

Who told you to act cheeky in front of a doctor? If you’ve done something wrong, you should just shut up and behave like me.

After I flashed a slightly mocking smile at Agnes, who got scolded for unnecessarily saying one more thing, the hospital room door opened again, and a familiar face entered.

Slide.

“Lilith, how are you feeling?”

“You’ve come, Young Master Ethan.”

It was Ethan entering our hospital room, trying to look calm despite giving off an atmosphere of having rushed here.

Judging by the sweat covering his body, it seemed like he had just finished his evaluation duel.

“Did you just finish your evaluation duel?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t watch, Young Master Ethan.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re a patient right now, Lilith. It would be more embarrassing for me to ask you to come watch.”

“Still, I knew you would win. Congratulations, Young Master Ethan.”

“Thank you, Lilith.”

With those words, Ethan naturally approached my bedside.

He placed a fruit basket there, and casually took out an apple, starting to peel it with a fruit knife.

“Ah, I’ll do that, Young Master Ethan.”

“Lilith, you’re a patient. Just rest.”

“You might hurt yourself. I can peel an apple even in this state…”

“Don’t argue and just stay still. Besides, I’ve been wielding a sword for years. Surely I can handle peeling fruit with a small knife.”

“…Understood.”

Even so, the weight in hand between the longsword he usually carries and a fruit knife must be quite different.

As I expected, Ethan brought the knife the top part of the apple and struggled to peel it, but the light weight of the fruit knife seemed quite unfamiliar to Ethan, who had been handling longswords for years.

Scrape, scrape.

“……”

“Just a moment, Young Master Ethan. Aren’t you moving your hand too ‘flat’?”

“…You’re right. I didn’t intend to cut the cross-section so ‘rigidly’.”

“The cross-section seems to be slicing too ‘flat’, Young Master Ethan. If you peel like this, you’ll waste the flesh by separating it from the skin.”

“I thought I had handled swords for quite some years, but it seems I’m still a ‘novice’ when it comes to fruit knives. I’ll try again, so watch carefully how it’s done, Lilith.”

“Ah, wait a moment. If you peel it so ‘flat’ here…” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“…Phew, this is harder than I thought. It looked so easy when you usually do it, Lilith. I’ve peeled too much, and the apple pieces have become completely ‘stumpy’.”

“I still appreciate it, Young Master Ethan. It’s because you thought of me and cut it. Even if the apple pieces became a bit ‘short’, the taste hasn’t changed.”

“…Are you two doing this on purpose?”

“Pardon?”

“What do you mean?”

For some reason, Agnes, who had been listening to our conversation, glared at Ethan and me with a slightly irritated voice. In the meantime, the door to the hospital room opened once again, and a new visitor entered.

Slide.

“Agnes, Lilth… Lilith, how are you feeling?”

It was Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, entering the hospital room with a fruit basket, just like Ethan. Well, if Ethan’s duel had ended, it meant Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s duel, which was scheduled earlier, must have finished as well.

“…Just fine. Seriste said I’ll get better if I rest well.”

“Both Agnes and Lilith’s injuries are severe, but their recovery shouldn’t be too difficult. After all, both of them were mainly injured in vital areas, so we just need to focus on treating those parts.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief. I thought the recovery would take longer since Agnes used an explosion spell.”

“The initial response was good when they were first transported to the church by Death Prevention Magic. Maybe because they had experience treating Luke last year, after she was hit by a full-body mana bomb in the Final Evaluation Duel, everyone said this injury didn’t seem that serious in comparison.”

“……”

Hearing the unexpected mention of Luke and my evaluation duel from last year, I couldn’t help but avert my gaze.

Back then, I had no choice but to use Mana Blast as it was the only way to win, but it seems the injury was more severe than I thought.

As expected, Mana Blast wasn’t meant for use against people. It’s probably more suited for large monsters or large-scale monster subjugation.

“But why are you later than Blackwood? Weren’t we supposed to have a meeting after your evaluation duels today? You, the Hero, should have finished your duel before Blackwood, right? Your rank is higher, too.” [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

“That’s true, but I had something to check quickly.”

“Something to check?”

“I heard the results of Agnes and Lil…ith’s evaluation duel were out. I thought you might be curious, so I checked and came to tell you.”

“I won, right?!”

“I won, didn’t I?!”

Seriste shook her head quietly with a pitying expression at Agnes and me, who had blurted out almost simultaneously, but what mattered to us right now was the result of my duel with Agnes.

“Agnes won. They said Lilith’s death was judged about 0.04 seconds earlier.”

“See? I told you I won.”

“No, you can’t judge it like that. The one who inflicted the fatal wound first wasn’t Agnes, but me…”

“There’s no point arguing with me. And in case of simultaneous death, they always judge based on who died first. You should know that if you’re a student who passed Luminor Academy’s entrance exam, Lil…ith.”

…Well, I do know. At least, I’m aware of the judging method for ties at Luminor Academy.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling wronged. If it had been a real battle to the death instead of a duel with set distances, I would have essentially won.

“Let’s face each other again in next year’s evaluation duel, Miss Agnes.”

“Huh? Why should I? You’re weak, Lilith.”

“Because I can win if we face each other again!”

“Okay. I’m going to choose someone else next time. If you’re that frustrated, try taking the top spot and choosing me.”

“Urrrgh!”

“L-Lilith! I told you that you needed to rest for a while!”

…If the starting distance had been just 5 meters (T/N: approx. 16 ft.) closer, I definitely would have won.

It was a moment when I felt newly wronged by the Magic Department’s final evaluation duel rules, which were unfavorable only to me.

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Subtle references here and there make their delivery pretty clever; I love that detail.

See you in a bit for the bonus chapter!