MFGLT 01

Chapter 01

I’m New to Being a Lady, So I’m Going to Cause a Little Trouble

One day, I woke up to discover that I, a mere maid, had become a lady.

It wasn’t some kind of possession like the ones you read about in novels.

Nor was it a case of a secret birthright being revealed, where I discovered that I was actually a noblewoman despite having believed myself to be a commoner.

No, this was an accident—or perhaps not quite an accident—that had come about entirely because of the schemes of the young lady I had served.

When I was a maid, I thought that becoming a lady would mean living comfortably in a fine house and eating whatever I pleased for the rest of my life.

But once I actually became a lady, I discovered that reality was vastly different from what I had imagined.

Before I could even get used to high society, a flood of utterly disillusioning incidents came crashing down on me.

As a result, I occasionally caused trouble despite myself, but I had never committed a crime out of malice.

“This is unfair! I didn’t commit murder, nor did I plot a rebellion!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs, desperately proclaiming my innocence.

But not a single person agreed with me.

How could the world be so unjust?!

This was all wrong!

It was all that young lady’s fault.

That was right. The reason I had been dragged into a courtroom under a terrible false accusation was entirely her fault.

If she hadn’t switched our bodies, I would never have gotten caught up in a case like this!

If only I had never become a lady…!

Regret came rushing over me like a flood, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

As the charges and deeds I had never committed were listed one after another, cold stares pierced me like daggers.

A moment later, the judge spoke in a solemn voice.

“The defendant is hereby sentenced to death.”

It had been five years since I started working as a maid for the Nezer family.

“Ulpina!”

“I said I don’t want to!”

Once again, our young lady was being chased.

She was well past puberty, yet she still spent every single day arguing with the Viscount and his wife.

Lady Ulpina was the sole heir to the House of Nezer.

However, she hated the idea of inheriting the title or expanding her connections in high society, and she was forever running away from social gatherings. Thanks to that, she had no friends—not even anyone with whom she exchanged the obligatory New Year’s cards.

Facing her parents, who were scolding her, the young lady shouted,

“I don’t want to spend my entire life cooped up in this place like you two! I want to live freely!”

L-Look at that! What an immature brat, saying things that would drive a nail straight through her own parents’ hearts!

They had done their very best to feed her, clothe her, and raise her, only for her to say something like that. She had been born into a family with money, status, and prestige. What on earth was there for her to complain about?

“Live freely? Haven’t you already spent your entire life doing whatever you please?!”

The Viscount was absolutely right.

“Don’t tell me I’ve been free! You’ve stopped me every single time I’ve tried to do something!”

“Of course we have! What parent would stand by and watch their child head down the wrong path without doing anything?!”

Those were truly wise words.

If my master hadn’t stopped her, the young lady would have been living on the streets long ago.

In fact, the young lady had nearly fallen victim to scams several times because she acted entirely according to her whims.

Having no answer to the Viscount’s perfectly reasonable, fact-based arguments, the young lady’s face turned red and then pale with frustration.

“Just leave me alone!”

With that, she stormed out of the study and slammed the door behind her.

She’ll probably come whining to me about her troubles later.

She would complain about how nothing was more exhausting than making her debut in high society.

And, sure enough…

When I cautiously slipped into her room, I found the young lady sitting carelessly, having thrown every last bit of dignity out the window.

And how much had she managed to drink in such a short time? She looked less like a noble lady and more like a hopeless drunk, slurring her words.

“My lady, where on earth did you get all this alcohol? And who do you think is going to clean up this mess?!”

Who else? I was, of course!

Clicking my tongue, I dragged her over to a nearby sofa and sat her down.

She could barely keep herself upright and slipped off several times. I was sorely tempted to throw her right out the window, but unlike the young lady, I was a person with common sense, so I refrained.

“Aida… You have no idea how miserable I am…”

“Are you planning to be even more miserable than me, the one who has to clean up this disaster right now?”

I snapped back irritably, but she was already drunk on alcohol and self-pity. Shaking her head, she mumbled,

“I’m miserable… You have no idea how hard it is to live as a lady…”

“What?”

Was that really something you should say to someone who spent all day doing menial chores without even having a chance to straighten her back?!

But she wasn’t finished.

“I want to live freely. I don’t want to spend my entire life worrying about what society thinks of me.”

It seemed the young lady had troubles of her own. It wasn’t as though nobles had nothing to worry about. Just because their bodies were comfortable, did that mean their hearts were at ease, too?

I suppose I do feel a little sorry for her.

Seeing her in such a vulnerable state softened my heart a little.

“If you don’t want to be a viscountess, then what do you want to be?”

“I want to be a pirate. A pirate who can sail freely across the vast blue sea…”

She must have been so spoiled by her good fortune that she’d finally lost her mind.

My softened heart instantly hardened into something tougher than steel.

“It’s ridiculous to say you aren’t free, my lady. I doubt there’s anyone in the world who gets to do as much as they please as you do.”

“But…”

“If I were you, I’d be so happy I could die.”

It was obvious that being a noblewoman was far better than being a maid who earned a pittance for doing menial labor.

“Oh, really? Then would you like to switch places with me?”

After saying that, the young lady sprang to her feet as if she were suddenly delighted. You’d never have guessed she had been drinking at all. She opened a drawer.

What she took out was a set of tea leaves and tea-making utensils.

She brewed the tea with such steady, precise movements that it was hard to believe she was drunk. She looked like some kind of eccentric genius.

“Drink.”

The young lady handed me a teacup. It was a pretty one decorated with flowers and a gold rim, the kind she usually treasured so much that she rarely even used it.

Her sudden kindness made me suspect she had some sort of ulterior motive, but…

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

I decided to drink the tea first and think about it afterward.

As a maid, getting to drink high-quality tea was about as likely as plucking a star from the sky. Besides, even if I was suspicious, there wasn’t much I could do about it.

Wow!

The characteristic bitterness of black tea lightly brushed my tongue before transforming into a delicate sweetness that filled my mouth with warmth.

The warmth spread from my chest throughout my entire body, making me feel as though all my fatigue had melted away. It was on a completely different level from the tea I usually drank.

I was just thinking that the tea leaves must have been incredibly expensive when the young lady, who was drinking her tea across from me, quietly looked up.

“How is it?”

“It’s deliciou—”

Just as I was about to say it was delicious—

Eeeeeee!

A sharp ringing filled my ears, and my vision darkened.

My stomach churned. An intense wave of dizziness swept over me, as though I had drunk an enormous amount of alcohol.

The teacup slipped from my hand and fell to the floor, splashing tea across my instep and the carpet.

“Ugh…”

I tried to say something, anything, but my body refused to obey me.

Through my fading vision, I saw a blonde woman.

It was me.

What is this?

I was right here, so how could I be looking at myself? It made no sense.

Is this what they call an out-of-body experience?

But wasn’t that supposed to happen when you were asleep? And besides, the version of me sitting across from myself was moving around of her own accord!

The woman in my body examined herself from every angle as if fascinated, then spun around on the spot as though dancing.

“I did it!”

After shouting those words, I approached me with a radiant smile.

Seeing my own face from someone else’s perspective sent a shiver down my spine.

“I’m sorry, Aida.”

Aida is you. No, is it me? But you’re Aida, too.

I tried to think it through properly, but my head was spinning so badly that I couldn’t form a coherent thought.

Regardless, the version of me sitting in front of me continued saying the strangest things.

“If I ran away in my own body, my parents would raise a huge fuss and search everywhere for me, and our family’s reputation in high society would be ruined. A noblewoman running away from home because she wants to become a pirate? That’s ridiculous.”

What’s ridiculous is this whole situation!

Apparently, the young lady had taken over my body.

“Ugh…”

I desperately wanted to protest, but the body I was now trapped in refused to move, and all that escaped my lips was a groan.

The young lady—no, me—gently brushed my fallen bangs aside with her fingers and smiled affectionately.

“I know that just as I envied you, you envied me, too. That’s why I came up with this idea.”

With that, she walked toward the door with light, carefree steps.

“So let’s call it even.”

Those were the last words I heard before my consciousness faded away.