I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

“The banquet hall is probably full of commotion right now, and they haven’t noticed the call signal you sent. My brother’s obsession with that mage girl seems stronger than I thought. By now, I wonder if he’s swinging his sword at her partner, the Hero, out of anger.”

“To use your brother so cowardly…”

“Cowardly? To hear the word ‘cowardly’ from your mouth, who tried to kill me by seducing the Hero and the Saint to trap me, it seems this was indeed the right choice.”

“……”

“You probably asked that Hero and that mage for help, didn’t you? There’s no way you would have attended a noble exchange meeting with such an odd combination otherwise. In that situation, it would be impossible for the Hero or that mage to arrive here avoiding others’ gazes, and if they’re not here, I have no reason to be afraid of you. Right?”

…It was frustrating but true. Even if Machart hadn’t awakened as a demon yet, he wasn’t an opponent I could win against without the protagonist’s buff.

Even if Seriste appeared alone to help amidst the commotion, it would only buy time. Of course, that would still be better than buying time alone.

As I said earlier, Ethan would have a hard time leaving his seat easily because of the attention I drew at the end.

“By the way… Didn’t you think things were going too smoothly?”

“What…” [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Guests we’ve never seen before are suddenly participating in large numbers in this indecent noble exchange meeting that you’ve never attended before.

Did you think I wouldn’t realize it was a trap when I saw you, who was so scared you kept guards around you 24 hours a day at the academy, suddenly creating conflicts with others and trying to be alone?”

“……”

“But if I missed this opportunity, you would stick to that annoying young master and mage girl again and avoid me. So, I just decided to use it as a good opportunity. Of course, I didn’t expect you to go as far as distancing yourself from even that noble young master who’s dying for you, on top of pretending to create discord with that short female mage to provoke me.”

Machart sneered as he uttered the last words.

“Thanks to that, I had less work to do.”

I felt like giving that face a vertical sword slash. The problem was that I didn’t have the ability to do so.

As I realized through his mouth how sloppy my plan was, belated regret began to flood in.

‘That idiot couldn’t have doubted and thought of countermeasures on his own. It must have been Evelyn’s meddling.’

Evelyn wasn’t at the level of a strategist either, but the fact that she could manipulate Machart meant she was at least smarter than him.

In the end, it was the sloppiness of my plan that tried to deceive just one prince that caused my defeat, so there was no room for excuses. If I had considered Evelyn’s existence, a much more elaborate plan, or even a frontal assault, might have had a much better chance.

My downfall was adding uncertain elements by trying to analyze just Machart’s psychology to somehow lure him into a trap. Not only was the trap sloppy, but I should have created a more certain safety measure.

Even if I had gotten help from just one or two more people, the current situation would have flowed differently. Although I couldn’t convey the message because it involved doubting a fellow royal, if I had known it would turn out like this, it might have been better to ask Seraphine for help, too…

Zoom!

“…!”

Machart, who had been pretending to chat leisurely, approached me again with a magic leap. Although I avoided his approach with instinctive reflexes, I was reaching my limit.

Avoiding him with just stamina and without magic had its limits, and I could feel my strength fading in both legs. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

…Along with the intuition that at this rate, I would soon be caught by him and dragged into his mental domain again.

‘Maybe I should have joined Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s Hero’s party from the beginning.’

I should have acted together with him at least until the last part of Part 4 where we deal with Machart. If I had done that, I wouldn’t have met such a futile end in a place like this.

As a result, I might have dragged Agnes and Seriste into troublesome matters unnecessarily. If I end up in such a bad state here, the two of them probably won’t be able to shake off the guilt about me for quite a long time.

…Especially to Ethan, I had done something quite sorry. I had created a scene of having a love triangle fight with him, saying I would create the situation. If something goes wrong with me, how much will he blame himself for not being by my side…

All sorts of thoughts came to mind amidst the sense of crisis as the chase in the garden continued, and my stamina was almost at its limit from the continuous battles.

“What’s this, why have you slowed down so much? You’ll be caught soon at this rate, you know?!”

“Huff, huff, huff…”

“Are you starting to feel like giving up at the thought that no one will come to save you? If that’s the case, you can give up as much as you want!”

…Even if I die, I should at least leave one sword slash on that fucking face before I die.

If I don’t do at least that much, I feel like I won’t be able to close my eyes in peace, I thought, and then I turned my fleeing steps around in place and attempted a counter-charge in the direction Machart was chasing.

Whoosh!

“What…?!”

Machart was surprised by my dagger suddenly changing direction and with my lunging at him in mid-air, and for a moment, his body, caught off guard, entered the range of my dagger.

‘Please, go down in one hit!’

The razor-sharp blade, enhanced with a sharpness buff, flew towards Machart’s brow, and just as my blade was about to make the boundary between his left and right brain more distinct.

Crack!

“…Huh?”

Grab.

“Finally, I caught you.”

Machart, who avoided my blade by bending his neck in a bizarre way that didn’t seem like human movement, grabbed my hand holding the dagger instead.

‘Fuck, has part of his body already demonized…?!’

As soon as Machart grabbed me, my surroundings rapidly darkened. It was like changing from a color TV to a black-and-white TV, consuming the colors around.

Along with that ominous sensation, Machart was dragging me into his mental domain, and once he grabbed my arm, I could hardly pull it out anymore. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

…This time, I probably won’t be able to escape alive. Last time, I escaped only because I was lucky against him when he was off guard, but such an opportunity probably won’t come twice.

‘So, is this as far as I go…?’

Yes. I lived quite tenaciously.

It had been seven years since I possessed Lilith, somehow struggling and enduring for a long time without being forcibly taken by Ethan. I guess I can say I’ve done everything I could to this extent.

Well, I gave Agnes a fire spirit, prevented Ethan and Caraham from falling as minibosses in the future, and even created a justification to subjugate Machart before he demonized, so I guess I’ve helped quite a bit with the story progression.

Even if I exit in the middle, it probably won’t be much of a problem for that salvation-obsessed guy to clear the game.

The Hero will subjugate the Demon King and return to the real world, Agnes will become the Archmage of the Crimson Tower, Seraphine will succeed to the throne, and Seriste will awaken as a true Saint… Well, in a few years, they will each reach their happy endings in that way.

Also, Ethan has lost weight and become much more handsome compared to the original work, so, if I die, from then on, he’ll shake off his lingering feelings for me and marry a proper fiancée to continue the Blackwood family line.

After years of expedition to subjugate the Demon King, and in each of their lives, it would be enough if just a handful of memories about me remained in their minds.

‘If I had known it would turn out like this, should I have at least made sure to take Ethan’s virginity?’

If I had known in advance that I wouldn’t be able to catch Machart, I could have done at least that much as a final act of loyalty, sheesh. There was no use regretting past events now, as all that was left for me was hell, so I could only cover it up with slightly happier imaginations.

No. If I’m going to be used as he wishes in this damn mental world, maybe committing suicide now would be the way to deviate from his intentions…

“LILITH……!!!”

As the last handful of light became turbid and Machart’s power was about to completely envelop me in darkness, I thought I heard Ethan’s voice calling me.

It was such a clear voice that I wondered if I had started seeing some kind of near-death experience, and soon, Ethan’s voice extended from mere auditory to tactile sensation, giving it a sense of reality.

Grab.

“Lilith!! Are you okay?!”

“…Ethan?”

In a small hole, about a hand span, that Machart’s unique magic hadn’t yet enveloped…

A familiar hand that popped out of that small hole grabbed my wrist, and then tried to pull my entire body out to the outside world.

…Or more precisely, attempted to pull.

Yank!

“Lilith! You’re Lilith, right?! Answer me!”

“W-wait, wait!! My arm!! You’re going to pull my arm off!!”

“Ah.”

His intention to pull me out of Machart’s mental domain was admirable, but that crude method was about to rip off my left arm.

At the moment when my mind was filled with a different kind of fear at the premonition that I might become Lilimbs instead of Lilith if something went wrong, a sharp blade appeared before my eyes, tearing through space.

…Not as a figurative expression, but literally right in front of my eyes.

Stab!

“Kyaaaaaah?!”

A chilling fear of death, different from before, came over me sharply as a razor-sharp blade popped out right in front of my face, so close that I thought it might have stabbed the side of my head had it been slightly misaligned.

It was a realistic fear on a different level from being sucked into Machart’s mental domain. While I could ask Seriste to heal me if I became one-armed, if I became a dullahan *1, I would have to seek out not a doctor but a suspiciously behaving mortician. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

However, as if there was no room to care about my fear, Ethan’s blade, which appeared before my eyes, began to cut through Machart’s mental domain along my body line. Through the gap thus created, light that I thought I would never see again began to seep in little by little.

‘Wait, could this be…’

A blade with blue energy flowed endlessly with the power to cut through a world connected to another dimension.

It didn’t take long to realize that the owner of this sword had shown signs of awakening as a Sword Expert.

Rip, riiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

Ethan cut through about half of the space surrounding me in an instant, and tore through the rest of the barrier roughly, pulling me out of Machart’s mental domain.

When I came to my senses from this impossible situation that felt like a dream, my body was being carried in his arms in a princess carry position.

“Lilith, are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”

“Y-yes, I-I’m okay…”

…I never thought Ethan would arrive before the Hero; even awakening as a Sword Expert at that.

For a moment, I felt that Ethan was more reliable than the Hero, but for now, I quietly buried that thought in my heart.

T/N

In Irish folklore, a dullahan is a headless rider on a black horse who carries his own head. In pop culture, however, such as in anime, dullahans are simply people who carry their own head around with flames or something similar replacing where their head would normally be, like that one orange-haired girl from that one anime. 

Hello! Axiomatic here.

See you in a bit for the bonus chapter!