SPTTF 03

Chapter 3

“Undine, I’m going to call someone. What are you going to do?”

—I’ll go back to the spirit realm! The King is curious about how you’re doing.

“Okay.”

Only after Undine disappeared did I pull the long bell cord hanging beside the head of the bed.

A maid or attendant would come soon.

Thanks to my experience in Part One, this wasn’t unfamiliar to me.

After a short while, the door opened, and a maid quietly entered.

“Master, did you have a good night?”

Master? That’s a little embarrassing.

I hid my embarrassment behind my expression.

“I need to get ready.”

“Yes. I’ve prepared the bathwater.”

The maid glanced at my feet, brought over a pair of slippers, and neatly placed them in front of me.

Then she knelt on the floor and bowed her head.

Her posture was so natural that it seemed like she had done it hundreds of times.

“Master, if I may, could you lift your foot?”

Did maids normally go this far?

Even when I thought of Leonhart, the Crown Prince who was the biggest trust-fund baby among my companions, I didn’t remember things being this excessive.

I wanted to refuse, but I couldn’t.

The instruction had clearly said as usual.

“……Fine.”

When I lifted one foot, she slipped the slipper onto it.

The moment I lowered my foot, the maid’s rapidly moving fingertips scraped across the top of my foot.

“Hmm?”

She hadn’t hit me particularly hard, yet a red scratch appeared on my snow-white skin.

I guess this body bruises pretty easily.

I was casually looking down at the red mark when the maid suddenly collapsed backward.

“Ah…… ah……”

“Hm?”

“Ah…… s-s-sorry…… I-I’m…… sorry……”

She was completely terrified.

So terrified that she could barely even speak.

Why is she so scared over something like this?

I was just about to tell her it was okay when—

[Stage 2: (Slapping the maid across the cheek) From today onward, you will be in charge of cleaning the laboratory.]

“……”

Why would I slap her? What did she even do wrong?

Isn’t this way too nonsensical, even for a story with no logic?

This is exactly why it flopped!

Stage 2 instructions granted 50% freedom.

I only had to follow about half of the instruction.

Instead of slapping the maid, I patted the top of her head.

“From today onward, you will be in charge of cleaning the laboratory.”

The maid’s face immediately turned deathly pale.

That’s strange…….

I definitely said it gently with a smile. Why does she seem even more frightened?

“D-Do you mean…… the sealed laboratory?”

“Is there another laboratory besides that one?”

“Eek! M-M-Master! Please spare me!”

“……Huh?”

“I-I’m sorry! I-I-I won’t make another mistake, I swear……. P-Please, please, anything but the laboratory! I-I beg you! Please forgive me just this once!”

W-What is going on?

I stared down at the maid in bewilderment.

She was clinging to my legs and even kissing the tops of my feet.

She’s scared of the laboratory.

I had no idea what they researched in there, but if merely being ordered to clean it terrified her this much, it certainly wasn’t an ordinary place.

Do they raise monsters in there or something?

I clicked my tongue inwardly at my pointless thoughts.

How badly must she normally treat people for this to happen? The poor girl is absolutely terrified.

I could more or less guess what was going on.

Unfortunately, the personality of the body I had possessed seemed to be extremely aristocratic.

Meaning arrogant, authoritative, and completely self-centered.

She must have been so proud of her bloodline that she considered herself inherently superior, while everyone else was beneath her.

Ugh, why did I have to possess a character like this?!

I was about to help the maid up when I hesitated.

From now on, I needed to act as much like Adrian as possible.

I had to hide my identity until the story ended if I wanted to return to my original world.

Of course, behaving slightly differently from Adrian wouldn’t immediately make anyone suspect possession, but there was no telling what might happen.

It was better not to give that sly Trash Author anything he could nitpick about in the first place.

Instead of helping the maid up, I stepped back.

What would Adrian have done in a situation like this?

She definitely wouldn’t have comforted her.

“What are you dawdling for? Didn’t you hear my order?”

My actions and tone were different from the instruction and didn’t sound particularly natural either, but fortunately, there was no penalty.

So this counts as 50%?

The judgment isn’t that strict.

“M-Master, please forgive me just this once……”

Tears dripped from the maid’s wide-open eyes.

Even though I felt sorry for her, there was nothing I could do.

I would just have her clean the laboratory for today.

I could call her back at night and have her return the key.

[Stage 3: Adrian took the laboratory keys from the small drawer beside the bed and handed them to the maid.]

[Stage 3: (With a sinister smile) Try to endure for fifteen days. Then I’ll forgive you.]

……One day won’t be enough, huh?

Just as the instruction said, there were two keys sitting alone inside the bedside drawer.

I took one and handed it to the maid.

“Try to endure for fifteen days. Then I’ll forgive you.”

The maid staggered to her feet as though she had given up.

“……I-I’ll…… call another maid for you.”

She bowed deeply before leaving.

Another maid entered the room.

She was a red-haired girl with cute freckles across the bridge of her nose.

“M-M-Master, d-d-did you c-call me?”

Her thin body was trembling so badly that it looked pitiful.

She’s way too scared.

The previous maid had at least been calm when she first entered.

Adrian must have terrorized her employees quite severely.

“I need to get ready. Prepare everything.”

“Yes, Master.”

After my bath, several maids were brought in to dress me up.

For a full two hours.

“Master, it’s finished.”

I stared blankly at myself in the mirror.

Heavy smoky makeup.

My hair had been perfectly arranged without a single strand out of place.

A diamond hairpiece adorned my head, while large diamond earrings matching it hung from my ears.

The pitch-black dress clung tightly to my body.

It was embroidered with golden patterns, making it elegant and beautiful, but even that was far from ordinary.

It looks like someone stuck a fan behind my neck. Is that made of feathers?

Everything I was wearing was extravagant and beautiful.

So luxurious that I could probably buy an entire house just by selling the diamonds attached to the hairpiece.

“Am I attending a party today?”

I asked with a slightly tired feeling.

The maid, who had been standing there with her head lowered, politely answered.

“Shall I ask the butler about your schedule?”

“……No.”

So she dresses up like this even on ordinary days.

Every individual piece is genuinely beautiful. It’s beautiful, but…… why do I look more like a witch than a duke?

There was a saying that status made the person.

Having the dignity befitting a duke was certainly appropriate, but this was a little excessive.

I look way too evil. Who would even dare talk to me?

I shook my head.

Overloaded settings are a trademark of terrible novels.

Honestly, wasn’t the title terrible too?

<I’ve Become the Saintess Who Saves the World>.

It was exactly the same as Part One.

The story flopped that badly, and the author still hasn’t learned anything.

Judging by the title, the genre seemed similar to Part One—a fantasy story where the protagonist became a saintess and defeated the Demon King.

And I was the cold female duke who supported the protagonist.

Wait.

Then who is the saintess?

You damn author! At least tell me who the protagonist is!

“Sigh……”

Damn it.

I needed to find the protagonist first.

Adrian’s mansion was truly magnificent.

The interior was grand, the furniture elegant, and the decorations extravagant.

Apparently, this was Adrian’s taste.

When I arrived at the dining room, the attendants opened both doors wide for me.

As soon as I entered, the child I had seen that morning was already sitting there.

“D-Duke! Y-You came?”

The child, who looked about four or five years old, immediately stood up and bowed.

Her pink hair, tied into two pigtails, swayed back and forth.

Oh my, she’s so cute with her hair tied like that.

I resisted the urge to bounce my feet excitedly and sat down.

“Sit.”

“Yes!”

Once the child sat down, the meal began to be served.

There were so many things I wanted to ask.

Had she slept well last night?

What kind of food did she like?

But I knew absolutely nothing about the child, so I couldn’t even open my mouth.

What is my relationship with her?

D-Don’t tell me she’s my daughter?

No way.

No matter how terrible Adrian’s personality was, she wouldn’t make her own daughter call her “Duke.”

……Right?

If you’re going to possess me into a novel, at least give me some information about the people around me, you damn author.

I had no choice but to stare at the table.

Then the child cautiously asked,

“But, Duke……”

“Speak.”

“D-Does it not hurt anymore?”

“……Was I hurt?”

“I-I heard that you kept saying you w-were sick lately. L-Last time……”

“Ah……”

So that’s why she came into my bedroom this morning.

She was worried because she heard I was sick.

What a sweet child.

The child really seemed to like Adrian.

Even though Adrian probably hadn’t treated her warmly at all.

“You……”

Your heart is really beautiful.

Before I could say it, an instruction appeared.

[Stage 1: (With a cold expression) Piache.]

Her name is Piache? Oh, cute……

[Stage 2: (Firmly) Are you bragging about eavesdropping just now? Go back to your bedroom immediately and reflect on your actions.]

You crazy bastard! At least let the kid eat breakfast!

This is child abuse!