Chapter 39

About a month has passed since the “Attempted Murder of Ethan Incident”…

What can I say…These days, I’m spending the most comfortable days of my daily life so far.

Ethan’s changed attitude naturally played a big part in this change.

If I just look at the most noticeable change… I’d say he’s become a bit more obedient.

Whether it was firmly etched into him that I tried to kill him that day, Ethan hasn’t played any mischievous pranks on me, nor has he called for me every hour.

‘They say the stick is the cure for a mad dog… Could it be…?’

Could it really be that the experience of nearly getting killed instilled some manners into that pig?

Could I have a knack for child-rearing?

…But in any case, it was a good thing. Even if I really did have a knack for it, I have no intention of doing it.

As I’ve said countless times, I don’t care how that brat grows up at all.

It would be good if he quickly grew up and left for the academy. As long as he doesn’t cause me any trouble.@@novelbin@@

My workload noticeably decreased after Ethan stopped calling me seven days a week, every hour, every minute, every second *1.

Every day and every night, I tidy his bed, clean his room, and gather his laundry to pass to the laundry maid, then retrieve and return it when dry.

Aside from that, most of my remaining time is essentially free time.

‘It’s so damn comfortable, really.’

After regaining the memories of my past life, there were only a handful of times I could work so leisurely like this.

Of course, during my lowly maid days, when work was constantly piling up, I would often wake up from nightmares even before becoming an exclusive maid.

Now, though, it’s different.

The only times I encountered Ethan during the day were his morning wake-up and the three mealtimes, at most.

Certainly, I still had to witness that filthy slob eating no better than the pig he is day after day, but whatever.

For me, who had already steeled myself for possible death due to his past sexual harassment, this was no longer a time when I’d get upset over such trifles.

SCHLURP!

“Low-class, low-class…“

…No, honestly, it was still difficult to watch.

It’s just that my threshold for disgust had risen, relatively making it more bearable. Objectively speaking, Ethan’s beastly table manners had not improved at all.

Well, the only thing that stopped was him causing trouble for me. His actual behavior around the mansion remained unchanged, as expected.

The head maid’s etiquette lessons were as utterly ineffective as always.

For a noble household of this size, it’s typical to have tutors who rotate by day of the week to provide lessons. However, I’ve never seen a private tutor visit this mansion to teach Ethan.

Not that he receives martial arts guidance from his father, Harold, either.

Ethan stopped his antics with me, but he’s still very much Ethan.

Ah, by the way, as for why Ethan, the noble son of the Blackwoods, learns swordsmanship instead of magic – it’s because the magic of the Blackwoods’ bloodline specializes in enhancing physical abilities.

As I mentioned before, in this world, “swordsmanship“ naturally refers to something on an entirely different level from the original world.

In fact, “swordsmanship” is just a title. When reaching the ultimate heights, the power attainable is practically no different from magic.

It holds limitless potential as a weapon capable of flattening small hills into plains, cleaving massive glaciers in half, or even splitting the Earth itself.

Of course, weapons other than swords receive similar power scalings. Still, since the protagonist’s primary weapon is a sword, it’s unavoidable that the “hype“ gets amplified in the direction of swordsmanship.

The Blackwood family that Ethan belongs to specializes in magic that pushes one’s physical abilities to the extreme. Naturally, they are more suited to wielding weapons than standard elemental magic.

To properly utilize the family’s bloodline magic, it’s a common custom to build up swordsmanship fundamentals from a young age, like it or not.

‘That custom is currently broken because of the idiot, Ethan, and his fool of a father, Harold.’

It’s probably a setting to establish Ethan as an early antagonist in the game.

If the protagonist defeats an incompetent noble villain early on, it naturally builds more protagonist hype.

If Ethan had understood Harold’s swordsmanship lessons and studied the family magic, he should obviously be far beyond what a newly enrolled protagonist at the academy could handle.

In this world where simply reaching the “swordsmanship“ realm of Sword Master allows flattening hills, what if a Sword Master could also wield “body strengthening magic”?

There are reasons the Blackwood family received Duchy status from the Empire.

Looking at Harold, one of only three Sword Masters in the Empire, one can see that his approach was entirely different from that of other nobles.

Looking back, it was practically a miracle that Ariana and Alicia survived that day’s incident.

Since they were commoners, Harold restrained himself as much as possible to barely keep them alive. Their organs would have burst from the first punch if he had struck in earnest.

Of course, since Luminor Academy wasn’t a gory game, they probably didn’t depict such realistic visuals. But the fact that he didn’t break a few bones or cave in their faces meant Harold restrained his rage to the utmost.

In any case, for Ethan to inherit the Blackwood family, he naturally had to learn swordsmanship and wield body-strengthening magic as well.

More than anything, he’d need to trim down that bulky mass of flesh through exercise or whatever.

But seeing the slob in front of me devour his food like a pig, it seems unlikely such a future will come to pass.

SCHLURRRRRP!

“Low-classsss, low-classssss…”

“……”

This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen someone grab a chunk of steak with their hands and tear it apart with their teeth.

The fork and knife might be used to pick his nose later.

As I carefully observed this piggish feeding display, Ethan’s gaze suddenly shifted towards me standing beside him.

Our eyes met quietly as I watched over him, as is an exclusive maid’s duty.

“What is it you require, young master?”

“…….”

I waited, thinking he might ask me to bring him water or something, but Ethan just silently looked at me.

He began ominously alternating his gaze between the chunk of steak in his hand and my face.

“…Young Master Ethan?“

“……“

“If you require anything, please tell me…“

“…Does the maid like meat?“

“…Pardon?”

What an abrupt, nonsensical question.

“Meat, I mean meat. Do you like it too, maid?“

“…I don’t dislike it.”

Who in this world dislikes meat, anyway?

This isn’t the 21st century – vegans wouldn’t exist in a medieval fantasy world.

It was just a straightforward answer to a foolish question, but Ethan smiled an uneasy, somewhat pleased smile for some reason.

That unpleasant hunch soon became a reality.

Thwack!

“Maid, here!“

“…Yes?“

“Here, catch this!”

“……”

Ethan stabbed the meat he had been mauling with his mouth and hands onto a fork and shoved it towards me.

At first, I thought he meant his meal was finished, so I naturally responded accordingly.

“If you have finished your meal, you may leave it and rise from the table, Young Master Ethan. I or another maid will take care of the remaining food…“

“No, not that!“

“Pardon?“

“Eat this, maid!“

“…Pardon me?”

…What kind of bullshit is this?

Thinking I may have misheard, I met Ethan’s gaze and asked again, but this brat still didn’t seem to understand what he was saying.

“Young Master Ethan. As a servant, I cannot share a meal with you. Please, focus on your dining without concerning yourself with me.“

“I said eat it! You said you like meat!“

“No, I cannot eat it. For a Blackwood servant to take food from the young master’s meal is utterly preposterous…“

“I’m giving it to you! So eat it!”

…Ah, shit.

I thought he had been behaving for a while, but here he goes, causing trouble again after so long.

Part of me wanted to shoot a mouthful of curses at him. Still, unfortunately, there were other servants present in the dining hall besides me.

I couldn’t cause the same ruckus as in Ethan’s chambers last time.

‘Shit, how should I react to this?’

Obviously, if I accepted and ate what Ethan was giving me now, several issues would arise.

In the first place, an employee forgetting their duties during meal times and putting food in their mouth would be the biggest problem.

Not only would I be starting my meal before the master finished his, but I’d become an utterly disgraced maid stealing food from their master’s plate.

Of course, refusing is also the crime of disobeying orders, so if I have to split hairs, eating is the slightly less harmful option…

…But honestly, I just found it biologically repulsive.

‘How can I eat that chunk covered in this pig’s handprints and saliva?’

I had to refuse to put that lump of a biohazard in my mouth at all costs lest I catch some disease.

Not that I was worried about something idiotic like an indirect kiss, but I genuinely felt I could get sick from ingesting such filth.

Yet I couldn’t keep choking and cursing at this pig whenever he pulled stunts like this…

‘…Wait a minute.’

If Ethan has become even slightly more perceptive because of that incident last time,

Could I not somehow talk my way out of this again?

Unable to muster the courage to eat the steak shoved in my face with bite marks, I quietly called Ethan’s name.

I’ll try that disciplinary tactic from last time on the off chance it might work again.

“…Young Master Ethan.“

“I said eat it! You said you like it!“

“May I have your ear for a moment?“

“Huh?”

Looking puzzled, Ethan quietly sat and lent me his ear.

I brought my face close to his ear and whispered softly enough that the other servants couldn’t hear.

“…I said I won’t eat it, you damn brat Ethan.“

“…Eh?“

“Who told you to shove a meat chunk covered in your saliva and handprints into my mouth? Just where did you learn such beastly table manners?“

“…!“

“Please, I’m begging you, just eat your own food. And please stop disgustingly biting with your mouth, groping with your hands, and slobbering all over when you eat. It’s making me want to vomit just looking at it. If you don’t even know this basic etiquette, get some lessons from the head maid.“

“……”

Startled momentarily by my words, Ethan looked at me with an uneasy gaze.

I continued the conversation with him while steeling my expression as if nothing had happened.

“Have you regained your appetite to continue dining, Young Master Ethan?“

“……”

After a quiet nod, Ethan obediently bowed his head and began putting the remaining food into his mouth.

Though his dreadful eating manners continued, it didn’t really matter to me anymore.

As long as I kept that filthy chunk of meat from entering my mouth, the rest didn’t concern me.

…I really can’t let my guard down for even a moment around this damn brat.

T/N

Jungkook. (I added the lines myself; it wasn’t part of the original.)

Thanks for reading, see you in the next one!