PCS 7

Chapter 7

Eugene thought for a moment before shaking her head.

‘Well. Whatever.’

It wasn’t as if she had done this with any grand plan in mind. She didn’t want to overthink it anymore.

Splash. Splash.

The maids surrounding the bathtub carried out their duties with strict professionalism. Aside from the sounds of water splashing and bathing tools scraping across the floor, not a single word was exchanged in the room.

As she sat in the quiet silence, the excitement she’d felt from meeting the characters of her favorite game—and experiencing its world as though it were reality—gradually faded away.

Giving in to the pleasant drowsiness washing over her body, Eugene quietly closed her eyes.

Now that she had entered this palace, she would have plenty of time to think about everything later.

Regarding the ragged child His Highness had suddenly brought back, the loyal head attendant waited until his master returned from his outing and was helping him change before asking how the girl should be handled.

Then he went to relay the prince’s instructions to the head maid.

“What did His Highness say?”

The head attendant knitted his neatly groomed brows together in the middle of his forehead and answered with a troubled expression.

Hearing his reply, the head maid widened her eyes in surprise before quickly regaining her composure.

She called over a young errand runner nearby and instructed the maids to bring the girl to her once she had finished bathing.

‘So this is the child…’

When the girl was finally brought before her, the head maid fell into thought for a moment.

“His Highness gave no further instructions. He simply said, ‘Let her stay in the palace.’”

That was completely unlike Prince Michael.

The prince despised things that existed without purpose. He looked down on the incompetent and never allowed anyone he deemed useless to remain in his palace.

As a result, the servants who remained in the Prince’s Palace were all twice as capable as those serving elsewhere.

‘The only unusual thing about her is her white hair, which doesn’t suit her age.’

Other than that, she couldn’t tell what the girl was capable of. She looked somewhat thin and utterly ordinary. There wasn’t the slightest clue as to why His Highness had personally brought her back from outside the palace.

“Haa…”

The head maid let out a long sigh and raised her head.

‘I simply can’t figure it out with my own head.’

Giving up on her pointless speculation, she finally spoke.

“I asked His Highness about you.”

The girl looked at her.

Her eyes, set beneath that striking white hair, were incredibly… incredibly black.

Somehow, they seemed detached from this place, as though they were gazing at somewhere far beyond the room. Feeling an inexplicable chill from those unsettling eyes, the head maid pressed her slightly trembling fingertips against the desk and continued.

“However, His Highness made no mention of what role you are to fulfill.”

Even though the girl was looking directly at her, it still felt as though she were staring past her into the distance.

Suppressing the trembling in her hands for no apparent reason, the head maid finished her question.

“So tell me yourself. For what purpose did His Highness bring you here?”

What are you?

At that question, the girl lowered her gaze with the dazed expression of someone lost in a dream.

‘Purpose, huh…’

Eugene quietly reflected on the current situation.

Originally, this was where the protagonist, Kanis, would introduce herself.

‘Then she’d ask the head maid to give her some work she could do in the palace.’

During the opening prologue of Golden Cage, although Prince Michael initially showed interest in the heroine, he neglected her for several years afterward.

It was probably a setup for the romance events that would begin once both the protagonist and Prince Michael became adults.

During those years—which the game simply glossed over with a convenient “a few years later”—Prince Michael grew into a ruthless ruler devoid of humanity, while the diligent protagonist voluntarily found work for herself and naturally became part of the palace staff.

That’s right.

No one even told her to.

She voluntarily searched for work!

Eugene had absolutely no intention of doing that.

“Me?”

So she firmly declared the position she desired, making her intentions perfectly clear.

“I’m Master’s dog.”

Silence instantly fell over the room.

Eugene introduced herself without the slightest trace of shame, as though she had nothing to hide before heaven itself.

Everyone around her could only stare in stunned disbelief.

‘The one who called me a stray dog was your prince, remember?’

She had nothing to feel guilty about.

He had brought her here as a dog, so she would faithfully fulfill the role of a dog.

Have you ever seen a dog working?

It was her firm declaration that she intended to laze around forever.

Then, in the very next moment, Eugene found herself left alone inside the prince’s room.

‘Huh?’

“…If you’re a dog, then you should stay by your master’s side.”

With silence hanging heavily in the room, the head maid, after a brief pause, said those words to Eugene.

Then, as though that had been her plan all along, she calmly directed the maids to tidy the prince’s room as usual before instructing them to leave Eugene in His Highness’s study.

As a result, Eugene was carried by the palace maids—along with a bundle of fresh white bedding—to Michael’s room.

“…”

Standing quietly beside the doorway where the maids had set her down, Eugene blankly watched as the capable palace maids swiftly replaced the bedding, changed the water in the flower vase, and straightened up the room.

In no time at all, they finished cleaning.

Leaving Eugene behind, they gathered their cleaning supplies and left.

Click.

The door closed softly.

Now Eugene was alone.

“Ha.”

Perhaps she had been more nervous than she’d realized.

She let out a refreshing sigh before beginning to look around the room as though she had just checked into a luxury hotel suite.

‘Ooh.’

Everything covering the furniture was made of pure gold and genuine gemstones. Every inch of the furniture was decorated with beautiful carvings and paintings, making it impossible to grow bored while looking around.

The dressers against the wall.

The fireplace.

The chaise lounge on the carpet.

The table tucked away in the corner.

After carefully admiring every single piece, her gaze traveled upward along a pillar carved with winding vines.

“Wow.”

A magnificent ceiling mural stretched across the entire ceiling.

Tilting her head far back, Eugene followed the direction one of the painted angels was pointing, admiring each figure in the artwork.

Then—

Thump.

She felt her leg bump into something.

Lowering her head, she realized she had wandered over to an enormous bed larger than her entire room back on Earth.

“They really use a nice bed.”

Muttering enviously, Eugene pressed both hands into the soft mattress.

After thinking for a moment, she immediately climbed onto it and flopped down as though it were her own bed.

Feeling the thick bedding comfortably support her entire body, she folded her hands over her chest, ended her exploration of the room, and sank into thought.

Far too much had happened in a single day.

‘The Earth can go ahead and end.’

She thought bitterly.

No matter how hard she had worked, she had accomplished nothing.

The meaningless ending to her life on Earth had completely changed her outlook.

‘I’m never going to work so hard again.’

No matter how desperately she struggled, the reward she received was tiny—and even that vanished like a mirage.

‘Here…’

If that was the case, then she simply wouldn’t do anything from the very beginning.

As though rewarding herself for all the years she had spent running without ever taking a break, she made a solemn vow.

‘From now on, I’m not doing anything.’

She would stretch out, relax, and devote herself completely to living a lazy life.

‘Just like a dog.’

She wouldn’t trouble herself with reason anymore.

There was no point in using her human intelligence to solve difficult problems or acting responsibly and thoughtfully as a well-educated member of society when all that accomplished was letting people take advantage of her.

She would never become a useful human being again.

Instead, she would become nothing more than a pet—something with not even the tiniest shred of usefulness.

Humans were animals before they were even human.

So she would live like one, surrendering herself entirely to instinct and simply drifting wherever life carried her.

‘People say you twist your own fate.’

Then couldn’t you untwist it yourself as well?

Resolving to wholeheartedly embrace the carefree life of a pampered dog, Eugene closed her eyes.

“……”

After lying there silently for a long while, her thoughts eventually returned to her current situation.

‘The reason the head maid left me here…’

Had the head maid really trusted Eugene’s words despite knowing absolutely nothing about her?

‘No.’