I Became a Tyrant’s Maid - Chapter 34

If we were to summarize the male lead’s actions during the birthday celebration in one word, it would be:

‘Tattling.’

By roundaboutly driving home the point to the Emperor, “I got hurt. I’m the victim, boo-hoo!” he was barely able to exclude himself from the list of suspects who caused the monsters in the Hamel Mountains to run wild.

However, separately from that, it seemed that the method to send the 2nd Prince to his doom had become more distant.

“Count Alkas’s testimony alone isn’t enough to prove that all of this was the 2nd Prince’s doing. Have you found out anything more?”

“I apologize, Your Highness. As expected, there were spies in the palace, but due to a binding curse, they committed suicide by biting their tongues as soon as we captured them.”

At Ruel’s words, the male lead openly frowned and said,

“Oh, that’s great news.”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

“…You may go now. I feel like my head is about to split.”

The male lead pressed his forehead and slumped down on the lavish couch in the room.

I quickly handed him the peppermint tea I had prepared in advance.

“Your Highness, here’s some peppermint tea. I prepared it beforehand, thinking it might help with your headache.”

The male lead glanced at me, then sighed deeply and took the teacup.

“From now on, you should also visit my office with Ruel. Discreetly, that is.”

“Yes, Your High… What?”

Normally, by this point, I shouldn’t be surprised, but this man always managed to shock me.

No matter how much I’m supposed to be a maid, I’m primarily a bedchamber maid. But isn’t he too casually using me for various tasks?

“But Your Highness, if I may speak out of turn, I have to tidy up your bed-chamber,”

“A mere maid dares to talk back when I say I’ll use my maid as I see fit?”

The male lead looked up at me with a playful expression and said,

“Don’t worry. You’ll continue to manage my bedroom as well.”

My expression involuntarily hardened.

So he’s saying he’ll give me twice the work?

Continuously from now on?

“Your expression doesn’t look too good?”

“Ah, hahaha. How could that be, Your Highness.”

The male lead glared at me sharply, then twisted his lips into a smile as if finding it amusing.

“You’ve already been exposed too much. For the time being, act quietly, according to my instructions.”

His hand that tapped my head soon pointed to the bookshelf.

“From now on, this is what you need to do as my bedchamber maid.”

“Your, Your Highness. I don’t quite understand…”

“Why are you asking when you already know?”

Following the male lead’s finger, I saw that there were more books than usual on the bookshelf.

“I personally selected them with careful consideration, so read them all and engrave them in your mind.”

I gaped.

It seems this person is determined to evolve me into something like his spy.

I had an ominous feeling.

I hope I won’t end up unable to quit this job, right?

But I couldn’t refuse the male lead’s orders either.

“Then, the cleaning of Your Highness’s bedroom…”

“That sort of thing ran smoothly even when you weren’t around, so don’t worry about it and just do what you’re told.”

A groan escaped through my clenched teeth.

I understood the male lead’s feelings.

Yes, a 21st-century hospitality major was too competent for this era.

It would be too wasteful to just have me clean rooms with my talents.

Right, right.

I should blame my competence, who else could I blame?

Damn it.

“I’ll raise your salary.”

What? Money?

My eyes automatically widened.

It was too powerful a word to ignore.

“I thought you were good at managing your expressions, but I guess not?”

The male lead giggled, even covering his mouth as if genuinely amused.

Then he suddenly hardened his expression and reached out to open the lid of a small box on the table in front.

Putting on a serious face must be his hobby.

He has a talent for making people nervous.

“From now on, I’ll give you your salary directly.”

With a jingle, a pearl accessory fell, caught between the male lead’s index and middle fingers.

As soon as I saw the jewel dangling from the male lead’s hand, my head started spinning like a computer’s CPU.

‘How much would pearls of that quality cost?’

Moreover, the gem in the center looked expensive too.

“How about it? Is this satisfactory?”

Money and knowledge were essential to find a way back home.

After all, whether it’s a magician or an information broker, what you need to hire someone is ultimately money.

Therefore, the male lead’s offer was a no-loss deal for me.

“I am overwhelmed by your grace! Your Highness!”

“Yes, my grace… How very thoughtful of you.”

* * *

After the birthday celebration, my schedule became almost the worst, close to miserable.

It wasn’t particularly physically demanding, but it was mentally exhausting.

I was, well, immersed in various thoughts.

“Here, Rose. I swiped one from the kitchen.”

Aaron placed a chicken leg on my tray as he sat down in front of me.

“Where’s Milla?”

“Why are you looking for Milla first when I’m right in front of you?”

My brow furrowed at Aaron’s unexpected response.

I was already struggling to look good but is this guy planning to drive me crazy until I break down?

I sighed deeply and replied with a smile, holding the chicken leg that Aaron had sneaked away from Teiron.

“Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”

The primary thing I needed to understand was the distribution of power within the imperial palace.

Among the current living empresses, the most powerful was the First Empress, mother of the 1st and 3rd Princes.

Perhaps that’s why His Highness the 3rd Prince, that cocky middle schooler, was so terrified of the male lead that he hid completely behind his older brother’s back.

As a result, the task of exposing the 3rd Prince’s collusion with black market dealers and dealing with him had become a distant possibility.

We couldn’t carelessly provoke the 1st Prince, who had the largest faction, lest we face a backlash.

“Rose, I sneaked this out secretly, you know? For you?”

“Mmm, it’s delicious. Haha.”

I clutched my head as my thoughts became more complicated.

But if things go according to the original story, the male lead will become emperor anyway, so is there a need to try this hard?

“Rose.”

No, the male lead became emperor after killing all his siblings, and that’s what drove him mad and turned him into a tyrant.

His temperament seems to have run away from the start, but no matter how I look at it, the male lead doesn’t seem crazy yet.

So, if I guide the male lead onto the right path like the female leads in other possession stories, maybe the male lead will repent and…

‘Don’t think about running away from me.’ 

‘If you’ve made me like this, you should take responsibility.’

‘Do I really have to go this far?’

Suddenly, the male lead’s lines from the original story flashed through my mind.

Ugh, I quickly discarded the thought I just had.

Repentance my foot.

It’s highly unlikely, but if I somehow end up taking on the female lead’s role incorrectly, I’m just done for.

“Roose!”

“Huh, what?”

Only when Aaron slammed the table did I manage to look at him.

“Have you finally gone deaf, Rose?”

Aaron asked as if he was genuinely worried, and I lightly tapped his shin with my foot in disbelief.

“Ouch! Rose, that hurts!”

“I’m not deaf, orange head.”

At my words, Aaron’s eyes widened as he clutched his head and asked accusingly.

“H-head? I even sneaked out meat for you! You’re ungrateful, Rose.”

“Look who’s talking about being ungrateful. Just eat your food. Stop talking nonsense.”

I sighed deeply as I stirred the thin soup with my spoon.

“Aaron.”

“What. The orange head doesn’t want to talk to the ungrateful pink head. What.”

“Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

“What are you talking about? Did you eat something weird, Rose?”

Honestly, I was confused.

Is the male lead becoming emperor already set in stone because that’s what I read in the book?

Or did everything go awry from the moment I possessed Rose’s body?

You know, like a time paradox or something.

“Then, is fate predetermined?”

A thought that started simply from not wanting to work hard had snowballed into something complex.

Honestly, I was anxious.

During the birthday celebration, the male lead almost died from a poisoned arrow shot by one of the princes.

If it had been Ruel instead of me who went with him, would there have been no risk of being hit by the arrow?

“Fate? Rose, have you been reading philosophy books lately?”

Aaron looked at me as if I was crazy.

“Never mind. Why am I even asking you? Ah, forget it, forget it.”

I ruffled my hair and quickly shoved the remaining food into my mouth.

That’s when it happened.

“Fate is absolute.”

Aaron answered the question that had been scattered in the air with a very serious face.

“Huh?”

A bit taken aback, I put down the spoon I was holding and asked again.

As expected of an information broker’s grandson, does he know something?

“You can’t change predetermined fate.”