Calix felt a sense of dizziness he hadn’t experienced in a long time upon seeing Rose collapse in front of him like a corpse.
In fact, the plan to attack the illegal slave trading facility of the third prince had been in the works for a long time.
Outside the party venue, knights led by Ruel and loyal to Calix were already positioned.
All he needed was to secure evidence proving that Ash Posman, the third prince, was the only one who had been in contact with the slave traders.
He had taken it upon himself due to the lack of trustworthy people, but he hadn’t anticipated things would go awry to this extent.
He thought he had the plan entirely in the palm of his hand.
That’s why he’d taken it lightly and brought along a maid who seemed oddly out of place.
Purely for amusement.
“Your Highness!”
“Why are you only coming now, damn it! Hey, snap out of it!”
Information had leaked.
Where?
Was the problem starting when he ordered a mere maid to obtain an invitation? No.
The real issue began with the chambermaid he had recently killed.
She was a servant of a duke, whose name he couldn’t even remember. She had sneaked into Calix’s room, stolen important documents, and the plans written on those documents…
‘Huh?’
Calix groaned lowly.
It was a mistake.
The former chambermaid, whom he thought was the duke’s spy, was actually a spy for the third prince.
The stolen documents must have been about the black market.
Given the limited manpower, the security had been too lax.
He thought he had already destroyed the related documents, but it was an unexpected mistake.
“Are you alright, Your Highness?”
At Ruel’s question, Calix commanded in a suppressed voice, clenching his fist tightly.
“……Kill them right now.”
Calix pressed the maid’s injured area with his slightly trembling hand.
The red blood flowed stickily on his hand.
Pink hair flowed down his arm with the blood.
He thought he was numb to this kind of thing now.
The knights led by Ruel swarmed around Calix, wielding their swords noisily.
But in that chaos, he was surrounded by silence alone.
It was ridiculous, but it was the first time someone had thrown themselves to save him.
No matter how numb he had become to the disgusting reality, he couldn’t help but be shaken by the emotions triggered by a situation he was experiencing for the first time.
She had saved him twice.
He had no idea how she did it.
That’s why he was even more concerned.
She was merely a maid who had been forcibly pushed onto him to fill a void.
Moreover, she was known as the worst worker in the palace, whose disappearance would cause no issue.
In fact, when he thought about it, Calix couldn’t help but frown every time he saw her.
When her blue and transparent pupils reflected his gloomy face, he felt very uncomfortable.
A gaze that seemed to see through everything.
Was it really that hard to bear?
* * *
When I came to my senses, I saw the ceiling of the room that had become a little familiar after a few days.
As I looked at the dull-colored ceiling for a while, I suddenly felt very agitated.
The memories of that night were so vivid, I thought I might go crazy.
My body moved on its own, against my will.
The woman with brown hair I saw as I fell.
I thought the pain of experiencing something like this for the first time would be my main concern, but it wasn’t.
The intense hallucination-like thing I saw as I fell floated around in my head the whole time I was awake.
In that hallucination, I was arguing with the woman, and she was rebutting.
Why on earth did I have to have such a bizarre dream, especially at that time?
‘Ah sh*t, it seems like there’s something significant.’
It was incredibly unsettling.
Anyway, I was very thankful for the fact that I was alive.
I hadn’t died, nor had I been sent back to Earth after being hit by an arrow.
‘Not waking up at home’ ending was a bit bitter, but well.
‘I guess I’ll just have to be happy with the way things are now.’
I barely managed to get up. My body felt heavy and sore.
Fortunately, it seemed like I wouldn’t have to serve the damn male lead, which was a relief.
Honestly, I was even a bit excited now.
Surely,
,0he wouldn’t dare exploit a patient who took an arrow for him, right?
“Read.”
That was it.
The male lead was not human.
He carelessly threw a stack of documents at me and went on his way.
In the end, I couldn’t hold back and spilled out all the Korean swear words I knew.
Since nobody understood, no one could accuse me of insulting the royal family.
“Ah! One day, you blockhead, I’ll shave your head and turn you into Anpanman!”
Of course, the ones who heard this were my few connections, Milla and Aaron.
“Rose, have you finally gone mad?”
I hardly had any trust in that orange head, but I couldn’t outright ask if he had snitched on the prince’s auction visit to the third prince, so I held my tongue.
“Unfortunately, my head is still intact in its place, so could you leave me alone?”
“Why?”
Aaron’s “why?” attack made Milla glare at him and then turn to me.
Then, sighing, she handed me a bowl of thin soup and said.
“Still, it’s lucky, Rose. You’re the first maid of the crown prince to survive this long! It’s already been a month! Congratulations!”
I received the soup Milla handed me with a rotten smile.
There wasn’t much to celebrate.
“Haha, a month. Hahaha.”
I laughed almost like a mad person. An unexpected extension of my life because of an arrow.
I was on fire with curiosity about this incredibly interesting situation.
“Oh, Rose! I heard from the doctor yesterday that the prince used nine potions on you!”
Potions.
No wonder I’d been lying down for two weeks and yet my body was in such good condition.
‘But just one arrow and nine potions?’
Perhaps the effects of potions weren’t as dramatic as I thought.
Anyway, no matter what, how can you just throw your schedule at a patient who’s been lying down all this time? Am I a chambermaid or your secretary?
“Oh.”
“It’s not ‘oh’, Rose! Do you have any idea how expensive that potion is?”
“…Wow?”
Well, the situation was somewhat positive. It meant that the male lead started to trust me enough to give me more important tasks than just cleaning the room.
Of course, on the flip side, it meant my workload increased and if I didn’t handle my tasks properly, the likelihood of dying went up.
“Rose, nine potions are equivalent to our annual salary!”
“If you want to exploit someone, you have to spend that much.”
“Huh?”
Oops. My true feelings slipped out.
I hurriedly waved my hands and shook my head.
I was starting to get a headache.
“It’s nothing. But Milla, since I’m a patient, I think I need some time alone now.”
“Huh? I haven’t even talked with Rose for 10 minutes,”
As Aaron was about to spout nonsense, Milla abruptly stood up, grabbed his wrist powerfully, and dragged him out.
“Yeah! Rose! Take care of yourself!”
“Hey, I’m not done yet, Rose!”
Bang!
The door closed with force, and I finally had the chance to think calmly.
The male lead had given me just one week of sick leave.
Technically, there wasn’t much to call sick leave since I was perfectly healthy, but anyway.
“Dammit…”
There was a festival called the Feast of Birth taking place at the temple in a week.
What is the Feast of Birth?
In Earthly terms, it’s like Christmas or Buddha’s birthday.
It’s the day when this world’s deity, Kamesis or whatever, appeared and split the earth. It was pointless yet realistic.
Since this world is a fantasy world, I wondered if gods actually existed.
If they really did, I felt like I should grab them by the collar and fight.
It would be a relief if I didn’t cause a scene when I went to the temple with the male lead.
I wonder if I could restrain myself.
I regained my mental peace by flipping the middle finger towards the sky with a smile.
So, what should I do now?
I had already finished organizing the male lead’s schedule.
That means I have a week of free time.
“Hahahaha!”
I laughed like a madman.
And I admired my perfect plan alone.
During this week, I will dispose of the trash I diligently stole from the male lead to raise funds.
What a brilliant future plan.
Tears came to my eyes thinking about my pitiful situation of not being able to return to Earth, but what’s wrong with being thorough?
It’s probably about three years until the female lead appears, right?
Anyway, let’s leave this country first.
And then, with the funds I’ve saved, I’ll start a small hotel.
Since there are wizards and swordsmen here, there must be many adventurers, right? In that case, there will surely be people passing by who know a lot about various things. And among those people, there might be someone who knows how to return to Earth!
While I was lost in such optimistic dreams about the future, the schedule file of the male lead, which was on my desk, caught my eye.
I had organized the chaotic documents into a chart by hand and sorted them out all night right after I woke up.
“Ah, the tears.”
It was a moment to once again feel the brilliance of modern civilization.
My mood suddenly dropped.
I wanted to throw that cursed thing away, but alas, such is the life of a regrettable servant.
I quickly came back to reality and checked the male lead’s schedule for the following week.
Raising funds my foot.
After the birthday celebration, I had to prepare what the esteemed male lead would wear for the upcoming third prince’s execution.
Just the thought gave me goosebumps.
An execution.
I sighed deeply and slumped back in my chair, quietly staring at the sky.
And I kept whispering to myself.
Let’s be strong.
Let’s not let such a trivial thing shake our mental state!
“I am a Korean with willpower!”
I clenched my fist, reinforced my will, and in the spirit of that, I jumped up from the chair and struck a victory pose. At that moment, the door suddenly opened.
“Rose …….”
And what entered my sight was a man with a beauty not inferior to the male lead and noticeable silver hair.
It was the second male lead.