When he left, I slumped to the floor and looked out the window.
The sun had fully risen, shining brightly at odds with my situation.
When I read Ropan these days, everyone is always possessing someone in a peaceful reverse harem world, so why the hell did I end up like this?
“Damn it…….”
I wonder if I was too nervous.
My whole body relaxed and my fingertips trembled.
I barely got up from my spot, wobbling like a newborn reindeer.
Ha, sh*t. I don’t know what the hell is going on.
I thought, tugging at my pink hair.
To be honest, I had a vague idea of why the male lead had become a tyrant.
How could he have only one handmaid, despite being a crown prince?
Moreover, it was clear that he was not comfortable with my presence.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to think with common sense.
He was clearly wary of me.
Why?
The obvious.
The reason the people who had previously served him had died.
And Rose’s diary.
How could one not be a tyrant in this environment, with enemies on all sides?
‘Kill or be killed.’
Amazingly, the world of the novel I was entrapped in was building plausibly.
I swiftly rose to my feet and began to tidy up his bedroom.
I sighed heavily. It was followed by an involuntary curse.
Damn it, this is so unfair.
Even if I was possessing someone, why the hell would I be possessing this person?
The crown prince’s bedroom was, unsurprisingly, poorly maintained.
It was basically tidy and organized, but the way it looked, it was as if he had done it himself.
I took a deep breath and relaxed.
A sound of ticking echoed through the room.
‘Quick.’
I’d done housework like a champ during my first internship.
Only problem was, there were no vacuum cleaners or washing machines here.
Unfortunately, the palace didn’t have a division of labor system for laundry or supplies. I had to do it all myself.
The good news was that the previous maid had washed the bedding.
So I quickly started to make the bed.
This bed is way too big.
And what about cleaning the bathroom!
Tears blurred my vision.
I never realized how precious a vacuum cleaner was.
After about an hour of wrestling with the broom, I felt like I had a rough outline of this huge suite-like bedroom.
I pulled out a piece of paper from my pocket and started scribbling down simple things.
I started with a room checklist.
I really didn’t like having to do this by hand, but what the heck.
First, I made sure not to touch any of the documents on the table near the couch.
I didn’t want to accidentally touch them and get caught.
I made sure the ink was filled, and that he had all the blank paper he would need.
The trash can was emptied, and the bed was made.
Window done, bathroom done.
Dressing room done.
The male lead returns home around 7pm, after dinner.
And by the time I finished cleaning, it was around 1pm.
“I want to quit!”
I stomped my foot, making a monstrous noise.
Damn it!
I started at 8 o’clock, how can it be that I just finished cleaning at 1 o’clock?
“I’m supposed to do this every day? This is crazy.”
I wanted to run away.
But then I saw the giant sword hanging on the wall across from me, and I quickly stopped thinking about it.
My life is precious.
I made my way to the door, picking up whatever I came across in his room.
I planned to pick up what I could and hopefully turn it into funds.
It was a backup plan in case I couldn’t return to my original body.
Truth be told, I was a little nervous.
Because the last memories I had were quite unpleasant.
Ugh, I quickly got out of that hellish room and headed down the hall.
What happened to the original Rose, by the way?
As time went on, memories of Rose began to become clearer, as if I had somehow adapted to this body.
Her quiet personality and unusually striking appearance.
As a result, her social circle was very narrow.
She was the daughter of a fallen noble, and her parents had died from illness.
It was hard not to sigh, even if I didn’t want to.
A girl with no distinctive features except her hair.
It sucked, but there was nothing I could do about it right now.
I thought about what I was about to do with my free time and narrowed it down.
One, lay the groundwork for surviving the crown prince for now.
Two, figure out my physical condition and how to return to my own homeworld.
After about three minutes of deliberation, I chose the former.
My memories of this world were becoming increasingly clear.
There was only one thing to do now.
Make enough connections to survive the lawless crown prince’s palace and get to the bottom of the crown prince’s murder order in that damn diary.
My insides seethed with anger and irritation.
* * *
The canteen was abuzz with people.
“Rose!”
A familiar face appeared.
It was Milla, the only person who had spoken a word to Rose yesterday.
She seemed to feel sorry for Rose, who wasn’t particularly close to anyone, and helped her out a lot.
“Hi, Milla.”
I smiled and walked over to her, and she suddenly burst into tears and grabbed my hand.
“Did something go wrong?”
“No! Everything was fine.”
Milla patted her chest as if she was genuinely relieved, then handed me a plate.
“The Head Maid is being too hard on you; how can she make you…….”
“Huh?”
The watery soup and a moderately hard piece of bread fell onto the plate.
I frowned slightly upon seeing it and moved to the seat Mila held.
“Forgive me for saying so, but of all the maids in the crown prince’s palace, you seem…… to be doing the worst job.”
At that, I frowned.
Is she picking on me in a subtle way? Seeing my stern look, Milla waved a hand in the air and added.
“I don’t mean it in a bad way, but you’re the least experienced, and also…….”
“Then why was it assigned to me?”
At my words, Mila put on a sullen expression and let her stiff shoulders hang down.
Her eyes darted around the room searchingly, then she leaned in close and whispered.
“Don’t you remember? You broke one of the expensive bowls the other day and caught the attention of the head maid!”
Mila’s words triggered a fragmentary memory.
A middle-aged woman, and a scowling face.
It didn’t seem like Mila was lying.
“Oh, was that ……?”
“Anyway, I’m so glad you’re alive! You know, once you become a handmaiden of His Highness the Crown Prince…….”
Milla pursed her lips and spoke with sadness in her eyes.
“There were rumors that you wouldn’t make it out alive.”
I frowned at her words and stirred the soup with my spoon.
According to Milla, I had become the crown prince’s bedchamber maid simply because I couldn’t handle my job and was disliked by the head maid.
And my common sense told me that being the crown prince’s chambermaid was a very important position.
So why would they assign me to it when I was terrible at this job?
Was it just to screw the crown prince over?
But unless the prince was an idiot, there was no way he was going to enjoy it.
Then why……?
“Hey, Milla, can I ask you something?”
“What?”
I recalled the contents of the diary.
[I’ve been ordered to kill the crown prince. If I fail to do so, I will be killed.
I’m just a maid, so how am I supposed to kill the crown prince. They’re telling me to just die.]
Clearly, Rose was ordered to kill the Prince by someone called the Duke.
It was only a guess, but I thought I had a glimmer of an idea of why the previous chamber maid had died, why the duke had ordered me to do this, and why the head maid had put Rose, an unskilled maid, in charge of the bedchamber.
I went back through my memories.
The previous bedchamber maid had been killed simply for being a nuisance.
Could it be, then, that just as the duke had given me the order to kill the crown prince, the former maid had also been given that order?
“Have you heard any rumors of a new maid coming in?”
“I saw the head maid come into the palace with a woman this morning. Did you not see her, Rose? I didn’t get a good impression of her.”
My mind raced. I hope I’m wrong about this.
“Rose?”
“Eh? Oh, it seemed like that.”
My hypothesis went like this.
One.
The Crown Prince, aka male lead, is not a ruthless killer.
All of the servants who have died at his hands have been those who have tried to kill him.
Therefore, Emily, his former bedchamber maid, was killed because she was caught trying to kill him.
Two.
The Duke and the Head Maid are working together.
Actually, this didn’t make much sense to me.
Is the original duke I know and the current duke a different person?
Certainly, the Duke appeared as a villain in the novel. As the father of the heroine.
He tries to make the heroine’s sister the empress.
‘Then why does he want to kill the male lead?’
The hand holding the fork trembled.
I couldn’t figure it out.
The most important thing was that the current duke wanted to kill the male lead.
As calmly as I could, I formulated my final hypothesis.
The reason why I was selected as a maid in the bedroom, the closest servant to the crown prince, was obvious.
Besides, the information I’d just gotten strengthened my theory.
They couldn’t find a suitable assassin to replace Emily, the former handmaiden, immediately after she was killed by the male lead.
Instead, they blackmailed an innocent lamb to fill the position for a short time, ordered her to kill him, and then waited for her to be discovered and killed.
Once the lamb is dead, they plan to put their “real assassin” in the crown prince’s bedchamber to assassinate the prince.
And if my guess is correct, the maid who came in today…….
Might be that assassin.
“But what about it?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just curious.”
I smiled awkwardly in response to Milla’s question.
My mind was racing.
This was all just my theory.
But if my hypothesis fits perfectly…….
So far, this is all just my hypothesis.
But if my hypothesis turns out to be true…….
I will die today.
I will fail in my assassination attempt on the crown prince, so the crown prince will not be killed.
Instead, the Duke will try to kill me, because I know he wants to kill the Crown Prince, and I’m still alive.
I let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Damn.
I’m doomed from day one of this possession.