Chapter 4
"Young Duke, please wait!"
"Don't worry about the money. I'll give you plenty."
"No, that's not what I mean!"
"Just hurry up and take it off!"
Damn it, at this rate, he's really going to strip me naked.
I had to get him off me somehow, but I couldn't just beat him senseless.
If I hit the young duke, I'd lose my head.
He shook off my hands as I struggled and began stripping me piece by piece.
Watching him grope the lump of fat on my chest with one hand while taking off my clothes made my anger boil over.
To be forced into my first experience—which I hadn't even managed to have when I was a man—after becoming a woman...
What kind of fucked-up situation was this?
Right. I'll just knock him out and insist it never happened.
Or I could say he suddenly passed out while we were drinking.
There weren't any witnesses anyway.
I steeled myself, clenched my fist, and was just about to swing at his head when—
-BANG!
"What are you doing this time?!"
"Tch."
The closed door flew open with a loud bang, and a middle-aged man with silver hair came in, shouting.
Judging by his hair and eyes, he had to be the duke.
I gathered up my clothes, which were more than halfway off, covered my private parts, and bowed my head.
A mere maid couldn't keep her head raised in front of the duke.
At least I avoided knocking him out.
The duke had arrived at just the right moment, dragged Rael away, and disappeared outside.
He hadn't shown any interest in me, but that was actually a good thing.
No matter what the duke thought of me, there was clearly nothing to gain by drawing his attention.
But what was I supposed to do now?
It was bad enough I'd been jumped and stripped, but was I getting the abandonment treatment, too?
Apparently, abandonment play was a tradition in this ducal household.
-Creak.
Shion appeared through the slightly open door.
But even as he approached me, he kept his gaze turned toward empty space.
I wondered why he was approaching in such an uncomfortable pose, even for anyone watching, and then I figured out why.
'Oh, right. I'm not wearing any clothes.'
Only then did I realize why he was desperately turning his head away, and hurriedly got dressed.
Anyway, this maid uniform sure was easy to put on, no matter how many times I wore it.
Well, that also meant it was incredibly easy to take off.
Now I'm getting pissed all over again.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. It's not like he managed to get it in."
"What... Ahem. In any case, I'll escort you to the infirmary."
"But I'm not hurt anywhere?"
When I didn't understand why he was suddenly taking me to the infirmary, Shion pointed to my cheek.
"You're bleeding. If you leave it as it is, it could scar, so let's go to the infirmary."
"Oh, you're right."
I touched the back of my hand to my cheek, and blood came away on it.
I must have gotten cut while struggling with Rael, and when I looked in the room's mirror, the cut was worse than I'd expected.
'How did I not feel any pain when it was this bad?'
Maybe the situation had gotten me so worked up that my sense of pain had gone numb.
"Let's hurry."
"All right."
I got up from the bed and followed Shion out of the room.
Maids and servants like me were gathered outside.
With the gazes of more than twenty people fixed on me, the back of my head felt hot enough to catch fire.
"He did it again."
"No wonder no one wants to become his maid."
"Wasn't that girl brought over from the annex?"
"Anyone who knows what the young duke is like would rather quit than do it, so they must've brought in some girl from the annex who didn't know anything."
"We won't see her after today."
From the onlookers' words, I gathered that I wasn't the first or second person to become his maid, and that most of them had gone through what I just had.
After walking down the long corridor for quite a while, we arrived in front of the infirmary.
Why did this house have to be so pointlessly huge?
"What brings you here?"
"We've come for treatment."
"Oh, then please come this way."
Inside the infirmary, there was a healer with a kindly smile.
"I haven't seen you before. Are you new here?"
"Yes. I look forward to working with you."
"Of course. Now, could you bring your face over here?"
The healer put a hand to my face and began chanting something.
Could the healer be a priest?
Healing powers weren't something that manifested as an ordinary talent.
They were a rare talent found only among those who belonged to a religious order and believed in a god, so priests in this world held a status incomparable to that of doctors.
Of course, if they lost their faith, they lost that talent as well and fell back to being ordinary people.
As a warm, green light enveloped my face, the wound vanished in an instant.
It felt as if I'd been taken back to the moment before I'd been hurt—not even a scar remained.
"The wound was quite recent, so I was able to heal it perfectly."
"Thank you for treating me."
"Haha, think nothing of it."
After thanking the healer, I left the infirmary and began following Shion wherever he went.
He reached the top floor of the mansion and stopped.
"Where are we?"
"Please wait a moment."
He left me standing there, opened the door, and disappeared inside.
Only then could I be sure.
'Ah, so this is a place where I'm definitely going to get abandoned.'
I'd been abandoned three times in a single day now. That told me everything, didn't it?
After being left there, a long time passed.
Just as my patience was reaching its limit and I was about to snap, Shion opened the door and came out.
"Go in here."
"Could you at least tell me where this is?"
"You'll find out when you go in."
No, how could he say I'd find out once I went in when I had no idea what was going to happen?
If Rael suddenly appeared inside that room, I'd be confident I could punch his lights out on the spot.
I could just beat the hell out of him and die afterward, couldn't I?
I steeled myself, took hold of the doorknob, and opened it.
But at the time, I didn't know.
That it would be the worst decision of my life.
********
My name is Lucille.
I was in charge of training every maid who entered this mansion.
And now, there was a girl in this room whom I'd even been ordered to train personally.
The girl known as Smiling Serena in the annex, who had become the young duke's personal maid today.
She clearly had no idea what a personal maid was supposed to do.
She's walking right into hell of her own accord.
But Shion just left, so she should be coming in any moment now.
-Creeeak.
As expected, the door opened a crack, and black hair appeared in the gap.
"Hurry up and come in."
"Y-Yes, understood."
She scampered over and sat in the chair in front of me. No matter how generously I estimated her age, she looked like a tiny child who hadn't even had her coming-of-age ceremony yet.
I checked the mansion's employment records, and, as expected, she hadn't yet had her coming-of-age ceremony.
Appointing a kid like this as that wastrel's personal maid? Had they lost their minds?
But after looking at her performance reviews and basic training evaluations, I could somewhat understand.
It said she handled every task she was given perfectly and without complaint, and had endured all of the grueling training as well.
"My name is Lucille. What's your name?
"I'm Serena."
"I'm asking just in case, but do you know what a personal maid does?"
"No, I don't really know."
"Then you'll find out now."
****
When I went into the room, a woman was sitting in front of a desk.
As I poked my head in and looked around, the woman spoke.
"Hurry up and come in."
"Y-Yes, understood."
Inside the empty space were a desk and a chair.
There were only two things in the room.
It was so empty it felt frightening.
The moment I sat in the chair across from her, the woman continued with her questions.
"My name is Lucille. What's your name?
"I'm Serena."
"I'm asking just in case, but do you know what a personal maid does?"
"No, I don't really know."
"Then you'll find out now."
The woman who introduced herself as Lucille gave me a meaningful look, then took out a sheet of paper and held it out to me.
It was a completely blank sheet of paper with nothing written on it.
"Write your name there."
"I just have to write my name here?"
"That's right. Just write your name, and you're done."
I figured nothing could happen from writing my name, so I scribbled it on the paper without a second thought.
"I'm done."
Lucille took the paper with my name on it and began writing something on it.
Something feels off. Why did she ask me to write my name on that?
-Click.
The door behind me suddenly opened, and Shion came back in, even though I thought he'd left to take care of something else.
If Shion had come in alone, I wouldn't have paid him much attention, but the person behind him caught my eye.
"You've arrived, Lord Rael."
"So this is the one who's going to be my personal maid from now on?"
The person following Shion inside was none other than Rael.
He strode toward me, grabbed my chin, and brought his face close to mine.
He stared at me so intently it was uncomfortable.
What was he trying to do? Was he telling me to hit him?
Rael slowly lowered the hand holding my chin, then grabbed my chest tightly again.
He squeezed so hard that a slight moan slipped through my lips.
"Oh? Looks like you like it."
And at that moment, this thought came to mind.
'Has this bastard gone nuts?'