I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by James B. (7/14). 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.

With a thud, Machart’s head fell to the ground, and immediately after, a non-apology apology followed from the one who had swung the sword.

“I apologize for swinging the sword without permission, Princess Seraphine. As it became certain that Prince Machart had colluded with demons, I quickly disposed of him, thinking he might do something unpredictable.”

“…No, it was unavoidable. Even if you hadn’t done it, Young Master Ethan, it was something that had to be done soon, anyway. Rather, I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you, Young Master Ethan.”

In reality, it was closer to preventing Machart from revealing that I was the Saint, but Seraphine didn’t seem to have any sympathy left for Machart and didn’t make an issue of Ethan’s sudden action.

“It’s still shocking to think that Brother Machart borrowed demonic power to change his appearance and even manipulated his image in others’ memories.”

“……”

“I knew that Brother Machart lacked confidence in his appearance since childhood. Perhaps it was the illusion of what he couldn’t have that made him like this.”

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

“But even so, it’s unforgivable that he not only toyed with women and led a dissolute life with his changed appearance, but even threatened Miss Lilith.”

With those words, Seraphine gestured to the annex guard knights, and they hurriedly began to clean up Machart’s corpse.

As the knights wrapped up Machart’s body with its head separated and exited, Seraphine quietly looked up at the night sky and muttered.

“Five years ago, Brother Phillipson’s death was probably also Brother Machart’s doing. Until then, I thought he was in seclusion, fearing he might become an assassination target like Brother Phillipson, but I didn’t know he was preparing such a large-scale perception manipulation magic. Although only about half of our blood is mixed, it might be a bit difficult to accept calmly, no matter what.”

“That’s only natural, Princess Seraphine.”

“Thanks to my brother’s passing, I feel somewhat relieved. Many of the questions I had about Brother Machart in my heart have been answered. When recalling past experiences with the original Brother Machart as memories changed, I always felt a sense of discomfort, but now I understand everything without exception. Like how new maids or butlers would fail to recognize Brother Machart and commit rudeness despite him being royalty, or how his fiancée changed three times due to circumstances with the women. It must have been the accumulation of such incidents that led Brother Machart to choose to borrow demonic power.”

“……”

“I’m a really useless sister, too. I should have understood at least a little of the pain my brother must have been feeling…”

…Even if Seraphine could see the future, it was only an intermittent ability, and she wasn’t given the power to choose a specific point in the future she wanted to see or to see important futures.

Yet, she wore a bitter smile as if the current situation was her fault, simply because that’s the kind of person Seraphine is.

Well, regardless of what feelings Seraphine had for Machart, I was just genuinely happy that the only being threatening my life had finally disappeared.

It was the moment when Machart’s head, who had tormented me for the longest time since I possessed this world (strictly speaking, Ethan had been around longer, but he hadn’t really threatened my life), finally fell. Honestly, I felt like dancing with joy.

Of course, if I did such a thing in this atmosphere, my humanity would be questioned, so I’m just quietly holding it in.

‘That really took forever.’

What kind of hardships did I go through just to catch this one guy?

I experienced life-threatening situations a couple of times, and there were many other minor crises during this subjugation.

From the start, it didn’t make sense to launch a subjugation against a Part 4 miniboss when Part 2 hadn’t even ended, whether it was easy or not. It was a subjugation operation that could barely proceed because there were two people who knew the story, including that Hero guy.

It was also a battle with more variables to consider than necessary, such as the fact that the opponent was royalty, that he hadn’t yet awakened as a demon, and that the Saint hadn’t appeared yet. Even at the end, this guy almost blurted out the truth that I was the Saint before he fell. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

The one fortunate thing is that even if he had blurted it out, it wouldn’t have mattered much.

If we just silenced the annex guards, the rest of the people already knew that I was the Saint, so even if Machart’s final death throes had properly continued, not much would have changed.

“……”

Seeing Seraphine sending suspicious glances my way since earlier, she must have already noticed that I was the Saint. The situation itself was one that she couldn’t help but notice.

I’ll have to go through the trouble of explaining again. I wonder how many times I have to confess that I’m the Saint.

‘By the way, where on earth are the Hero and Agnes, and what are they doing?’

Without them, I have to take all of Seraphine’s attention.

They must be doing something important to be operating separately, but there should be a good reason for ignoring even my summons.

‘If I find out later that they skipped out for nothing…’

It was a life-or-death matter for me, so honestly, I should be allowed to complain a bit.

Evelyn Bridget Steiner.

It was now a name she no longer needed.

The main reason she had been using that name to blend in among the humans had just disappeared before her eyes.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!’

Even when Evelyn informed the young ladies at the banquet about Machart’s disappearance and naturally guided them to the backyard, she hadn’t anticipated things would turn out like this.

Just in case, considering the possibility that he might not be able to defeat that woman called Lilith, her goal was to create as many witnesses as possible. Although, with his skills, he should have been able to easily handle a mediocre swordsman with sealing magic, the late emergence of a Sword Expert level swordsman was a variable Evelyn hadn’t anticipated.

That’s why she gathered people and intended to protect Machart somehow. Although it would have been more certain to frame him after his death, Machart still had value to be used.

Evelyn had judged that it would be a waste to discard him now, as he still had his royal status and, limited to women, an appearance that could manipulate them at will, despite babbling about true love just for a few kisses given to him when he was a terribly ugly man.

That judgment turned into a misjudgment that drove her into a corner.

Evelyn thought things were going well until the ‘Mirror of Truth’ created by the Saint was used. It was already common knowledge among demons that Seriste was a fake Saint, and it was none other than her who had conveyed this fact to Machart.

There was no way the dark magic engraved on Machart’s body would disappear with the Mirror of Truth created by such a person, and she thought that perhaps, in addition to that, they could reignite suspicions about Seriste being a fake Saint and finally separate the Hero and that annoying woman. [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

However, contrary to Evelyn’s expectations, the Mirror of Truth activated with the correct incantation, and only then did she finally realize that something was going wrong.

‘Could it be, I never imagined the ‘real Saint’ was also hiding in plain sight…!’

Although others didn’t seem to notice, in that confusion, Evelyn clearly recognized it.

The Mirror of Truth was already completed before Seriste’s final incantation was recited, and that the final trigger word was uttered by the woman whispering in her ear from behind.

It was that wench who was unusually full of yin energy and whom Machart had taken a liking to, so she had intended to use her as a yin energy supplement for a while.

The fact that the woman she and Machart had targeted was actually the real Saint who hadn’t revealed herself yet was not a welcome situation for Evelyn.

‘I need to hurry and inform the higher-ups. If the Demon King were to revive while that woman is still around…’

Evelyn fled without looking back as soon as she confirmed that Machart’s dark magic was being undone. She had to convey such important information to her fellow Demon Army comrades as quickly as possible.

If the Demon King were to revive while the Saint was still around, the ‘prophecy’ would also be realized.

To prevent this from happening, the Demon Army had deliberately sold the child destined to become the Saint to an inconspicuous place, and spread the responsibility to the Saint Search Party in the church, pressuring them to create a fake Saint.

Originally, they had intended to kill the destined child outright, but since that didn’t work out well, that was the best they could do.

They had thought she might have lost her qualification as a Saint by being sold to some brothel with her decent face, or died after being sold to some harsh labor site, but who would have thought she would still be clinging to that insect-like tenacious life?

Although she had the impression that she had an unusually high amount of yin energy for a Saint *1, what was important to Evelyn now wasn’t that.

What was important to her now was to inform the other members of the Demon Army that the Saint was still alive, and this time, to finish her off for sure…

Stab!

“Ugh, guh?!”

As Evelyn was trying to escape outside the annex to join the temporary base of the demons, a cold blade pierced through her back, causing an excruciating pain as it stabbed her heart.

She felt an intense amount of Holy Power from the blade that had penetrated her body.

Even without turning around, Evelyn had a feeling as to who had stabbed her.

“How…”

“I found her, Agnes! Over here!”

“…I told you not to call me by name as if we’re close.”

Gyeongmwajogyegigwat Volt.

Agnes Elizabeth Blaze.

Even in her fading consciousness, Evelyn could recognize the voices of the Hero, who was always being watched as someone to be cautious of in the Demon Army, and the mage who was a member of his party.

“Wow, as expected of a candidate for the Archmage of the Crimson Tower. Your magic detection spell is no joke, finding even a demon using invisibility magic.”

“…It’s a piece of cake. Don’t try to flatter me with such trivial things.”

“Anyway, I’m glad. If we had messed up and lost her, rumors about Lilith and Ethan being dangerous people would have probably spread among the demons. Thanks to you, Agnes, we were able to handle it without losing her.” [Only on DarkStar Translations! / Axiomatic]

“…Tell that to Lilith clearly. If she gets angry because we didn’t keep her promise to gather on her signal, then it’s all your responsibility.”

“Come on, no way.”

“…By the way, how did you know she was a demon? I could barely be certain just a moment ago.”

“…Ah, that, well… You see, when you become a Hero, you sometimes receive revelations, and it just so happened that this time…”

‘I need to, convey this, quickly…’

…Feeling an absurd emotion towards the two people who had stabbed her and were now chatting among themselves as if they had just taken care of a chore, a nameless demon quietly crumbled on the back mountain of the annex.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong, Lilith?”

“Why did you suddenly react like that, Miss Lilith?”

“…Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

…Somehow, I feel like the ‘purity level’ of this area has risen a bit.

Is this some kind of side effect of becoming the Saint as Lilith at this point? 

Maybe it’s just my imagination.

T/N

Between yin and yang, yin is associated with the negative principle in nature while yang is associated with the positive.