I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by Ruminas (7/8). If you enjoy reading and are willing to help me catch up to the latest chapters faster by sponsoring bonus chapters, see my Ko-fi.

Three days had passed since I collapsed in the dining room due to lack of sleep, and finally, the morning of the Noble Exchange Meeting, the day of the long-awaited operation to subjugate Machart, dawned.

“Ah, uuuuggghhh…”

My body naturally woke up as the morning sunlight entered through the window. It was a regular morning wake-up habit gained from years of being a servant.

In fact, until three days ago, I had been suffering day by day unable to sleep at night, but recently, perhaps thanks to sleeping well, fortunately, my eyes opened naturally without any particular problems even on the day of the operation. 

My condition, which had been momentarily ruined, had ultimately returned to normal.

Rustle, rustle.

As I was casually taking off the sleeping maid uniform I was wearing to change clothes, just as I used to do when returning to the Blackwood Mansion, not being at Luminor Academy, my mind slowly started to clear as I noticed something familiar yet out of place.

‘Wait a minute, come to think of it…’

This isn’t my room.

Realizing that I had woken up in Ethan’s room instead of my own, a moment of confusion arose in my mind, but fortunately, that flustered feeling soon calmed down as my head transitioned to a waking state.

‘Right. I told Ethan I’d sleep here for a while.’

Recently, I hadn’t been able to fall into a deep sleep due to nightmares and insomnia, so we had discussed three days ago that I would sleep in Ethan’s room until the day of the operation to regulate my condition.

Although I didn’t know the exact reason, at least I didn’t have nightmares when Ethan’s warmth was next to me. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

It wasn’t a desire to share the same bed with Ethan, but a thorough preparation for the final battle with Machart. If my physical condition deteriorated on the day of the operation and caused problems with the subjugation plan, it could put not only myself but others in danger as well.

‘Fortunately, Ethan seems to still be asleep.’

I almost became a perverted maid trying to do something silly in her underwear while her master was sleeping. Luckily, my wake-up time was earlier than Ethan’s.

To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings with Ethan, I slowly retrieved the clothes I had thrown off.

Rustle.

After climbing onto the bed to pick up the clothes that had flown off, I carefully moved my body to grab the top that had flown to the opposite side of Ethan’s body.

Slowly, carefully, so as not to wake him up…

“Yaaaawn. Lilith, are you awa-“

…However, contrary to my wishes, Ethan woke up not long after I did, and unfortunately, the timing and position of my body were not good.

Squish.

“Eep?!”

As I was lying on top of his body, reaching out my arm to pick up the clothes, Ethan’s face ended up buried in my chest as he sat up upon waking.

“Nngh?!”

Thud.

I lost my balance in surprise at that sensation and fell forward, ending up in a position where I buried Ethan’s face in my chest first thing in the morning.

“Mmph, mmph?!”

“I-I’m sorry! Excuse me!”

“Lilith?! What just happened…”

After hurriedly picking up and putting on the clothes I had taken off, I quickly returned to my room right next to his.

Throughout breakfast, Ethan and I could hardly make eye contact.

Inside the carriage heading to the Imperial Palace Annex, the venue for the Noble Exchange Meeting, with Ethan…

Perhaps because it had been a long time since we rode in a carriage alone together, the atmosphere inside was quite awkward.

In fact, rather than being awkward because we were alone in the carriage, Ethan and I had just been continuously awkward lately. Including what happened this morning, awkward situations had been continuing recently. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

Like the incident where I lost consciousness and collapsed during a meal in the dining room, and when I opened my eyes again, I was embracing Ethan’s body. Or when that night, I couldn’t sleep alone, so I went to Ethan’s room and asked him to sleep together.

And then the next morning, I woke up clinging tightly to Ethan’s body again. I almost habitually kissed Ethan’s lips while half-asleep. As this kind of daily life kept repeating recently, Ethan and I naturally ended up in this state.

So, to be honest, although the current atmosphere is suffocatingly awkward…

‘Considering the strategy we’re about to implement, this awkward atmosphere might actually be beneficial.’

After all, Machart needs to see that Ethan and I are not on good terms so that he’ll feel safe approaching to attack me. If we’re going to set a trap anyway, adding a bit of authenticity to it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Of course, if we looked too awkward, there was a possibility that our act would be exposed, so we needed to relax a little.

“Ed.”

“……”

“…Ed?”

“Ah, yes. What is it, Lilith?”

“Lilith…?”

“Li-Lilith….”

Is he not nervous at all? Or is he making such mistakes because he’s too nervous?

Thinking that this wouldn’t do, I deliberately brought up the topic of what was about to happen soon to ease Ethan’s stiff reaction.

“If you’re already this awkward, what are we going to do? Do you think Prince Machart will really fall for it like this?”

“…Sorry, Lilith.”

“……”

“Li-Lilith….”

“We prepared for this for a long time with everyone, didn’t we? Agnes even pretended to fight with me to help remove Prince Machart’s suspicions, and Saint Seriste gave me her blessing even though it could put her in danger. Since it’s a plan we’ve prepared together with everyone over a long time, we should approach it properly.”

“…Don’t worry, I’ll do it properly when it comes to the real thing, Lili.”

Of course, since Ethan is a man who can do it when he says he will, he’ll probably do better than now when it comes to the actual situation.

I wasn’t particularly denying Ethan’s confidence, but I still wanted to take out a bit more insurance to prevent mistakes, such as him revealing his anger as soon as he faces Prince Machart, or being noticed by Machart while lurking around me as I act as bait to lure him out.

If he made a problematic move in the real deal, the operation to subjugate Machart would essentially be over. We had to assume that Machart, once he saw through the trap, wouldn’t fall for the same trap again.

If that happened, I would have to ask Gyeongmwajogyegigwat to put me in the Hero’s party instead. Staying affiliated with the Blackwood Estate even after Machart evolved into a true demon would mean putting the numerous people and servants of the Blackwood family in danger. [Only on Galaxy Translations! / Axiomatic]

If we dragged out the subjugation battle into a long-term fight, it would be me, not Machart, who would become more devastated, so we had to end it and settle it within this summer vacation somehow. I had to reclaim my peaceful daily life at Luminor Academy from the next semester.

Even if I didn’t say this, Ethan probably wouldn’t deliberately put me in danger, but for now, I was in a situation where I was receiving help from Ethan for free.

As a way of repaying him after this was over, it wouldn’t be bad to say something that might motivate him a bit.

“Ed.”

“Yes, Lili.”

“If this goes well and I’m no longer in danger of losing my life to Prince Machart, I’ll grant you one wish then.”

“Okay, Lili… What?!”

“A wish, a wish.”

…Ah, wait. Come to think of it, maybe I was too hasty.

I quickly added another condition that I thought of to prevent Ethan from making an unreasonable request to me.

“Oh, of course, asking for 10,000 gold coins or something like that is obviously not allowed. Only wishes that I can grant within my capabilities.”

“……”

“Your reaction is lukewarm. Did you want something other than a wish, Ed?”

“Ah, no! I-I didn’t mean that I didn’t like your proposal, Lili.”

“Then?”

“I-I was just wondering if any wish is possible, as long as it’s something you can grant…”

“……”

Geez, how lewd.

It seems he quite liked what I did with my mouth a week ago, judging by how he can’t hide his true intentions like that.

If we could safely subjugate Machart, there was nothing to stop me from doing that again. My mouth and throat might suffer a bit, but honestly, it was a much better deal compared to my life.

Also, unlike the Hero or the others, Ethan was risking his life for me without any self-interest, so if he wanted that as a reward, I could grant him that much anytime.

“Do as you please. Of course, this is assuming I’m still alive after this operation is over.”

“…I’ll definitely protect you, so don’t worry.”

“I’m counting on you, Ed.”

At that time, I was just thinking that I could easily grant a request like doing it with my mouth again.

I didn’t anticipate what Ethan would demand from me as a reward for subjugating Machart.

T/N

Hello! Axiomatic here.

Just wanted to mention that we have somehow reached 250 total reactions on the GalaxyTL Discord server! That is insane! No other novel has that many reactions and I’m grateful to all of you that got the role. As I mentioned in the global announcement, I also post sudden announcements there via the discussion thread: novel-discussions>I Became … Lout Prince. It’s useful to join that thread to be updated in case of delays as I explain the reasons for them there.

Also, I will announce ahead of time that there will be no chapters tomorrow as I have a test on Saturday to prepare for. I’ll be posting four chapters then to compensate for the delay.

Thanks for reading, see you then!