“That’s the outer palace.”

The man who had been walking silently for a while stopped and pointed somewhere. As I turned my gaze to where his chin was pointing, I saw a large palace and people walking around it.

“There’s high-level magic cast on the castle, so the geography changes every time. The palace people should receive notifications every morning, didn’t you know?”

“I didn’t know. Today’s my first day.”

I had visited Floria before going to the head maid, so I didn’t have time to hear about such things.

“Come to think of it, you’ve become a maid.”

The man who had been staring at me spoke with a puzzled expression.

“Aren’t you the daughter of a count?”

I wondered if he, as a servant working in the Second Prince’s Palace, hadn’t heard about it, but I just nodded silently.

“That’s how it turned out. Anyway, thank you for bringing me here. Thanks to you, I was able to arrive safely.”

I had suspected he might deliberately make me wander out of spite, but that didn’t happen.

‘He might be a bit better than I thought.’

Our first meeting was like that, but seeing him kindly explain things like this, he doesn’t seem like a bad person…

“With this, you owe me one.”

“…Pardon?”

“Surely you’re not going to pretend I didn’t save your life?”

“Save my life? You just showed me the way.”

“Didn’t you notice there wasn’t a single person walking around? If it weren’t for me, you might have died.”

“Aren’t you exaggerating too much?”

“You don’t seem to know yet, but in the castle, people sometimes lose their lives wandering around.”

“No, what nonsense is this…”

“Come to think of it, this is the second time I’ve saved you.”

“Wait a minute. If you’re talking about the day I was escaping through the window, it was only one story high. Even if I fell, I would have just gotten a little sprain. And if we’re talking about that time, I have a lot to say too.”

“You never know about these things. The world doesn’t always go as you think. More importantly, you said you came out to pick up your carrier, but it seems you were really trying to escape.”

“That, that’s…”

I was at a loss for words, having confessed to the escape with my own mouth.

Damn, why is he so eloquent when he looks so cool as if he should be saving every word? Feeling like I couldn’t win with words, I glared at him, and the man smiled leisurely.

“I’ll collect on this debt later.”

See you next time, then. The man turned his back without hesitation. His steps were so quick that he was already far away.

‘I take back what I said about him possibly being a decent person, you detestable human!’

What next? I shouted at his retreating back that we should never meet again for the rest of our lives.

* * *

When I returned to the Second Prince’s Palace with the royal physician, it was already well into the afternoon. The maids seemed to think I had deliberately brought the royal physician late, as they were frowning deeply. I refused Floria’s repeated offers to rest before leaving and headed towards the palace staff quarters.

The gazes of the maids I encountered on the way to the head maid’s room were, as expected, unfriendly. Moreover, as if someone had been giving a live broadcast, they all seemed to know about what had happened in Floria’s room.

“I heard you deliberately stepped on Lady Aileen’s foot? How wicked.”

“The condition was so serious that they even called for the royal physician. But she left first and didn’t return for a long time.”

“Oh my, did she do it on purpose? How can she cause such a commotion on her first day? She’s really something else.”

“His Highness is too soft-hearted. If it were me, I wouldn’t have let it slide.”

Here I’m the scapegoat, there I’m the scapegoat, I’m really the neighborhood punching bag.

But this much was as expected, so it didn’t even tickle me. When I showed no reaction to their whispered voices that seemed meant for me to hear, they started saying I had a bad personality and was cold-hearted. They wondered how shameless I must be to walk around with my head held so high. Well, should I walk looking only at the ground then?

“What time is it now? If you’re going to be late, you should notify us in advance!”

“I’m sorry.”

The head maid, who had been frowning and scolding me as soon as she saw me, clicked her tongue with a surprised expression when I obediently bowed my head.

“Be careful from now on. Three tardies will count as one absence, so keep that in mind.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Silvia.”

The head maid turned her head and called someone’s name.

“From now on, work with Silvia and learn the job.”

I looked at the maid approaching me. Silvia, with black hair and black eyes, quickly lowered her head when our eyes met.

After dumping me on Silvia with instructions to teach me well, the head maid sent us out of the room to go work.

Silvia kept glancing at me nervously, her lips quivering.

‘Is she acting like this because of the rumors about me?’

Unable to bear it any longer, I spoke first.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

Silvia quickly shook her head, not knowing what to do. Seeing the girl trembling like a herbivore in front of a predator, I felt my heart soften.

“I’m Reneola Violet. Nice to meet you.”

When I greeted her more gently, Silvia’s eyes darted around as if surprised. After hesitating, she slowly nodded. Belatedly, a small voice was heard introducing herself as ‘Silvia Man’.

Hmm, she’s a shy child. She’s cute, just like looking at a rabbit.

I immediately liked Silvia, who seemed the gentlest among all the people I had met since entering the castle.

“What should we do first?”

“Oh, today we need to clean the annex.”

“We seem to be about the same age, so let’s speak casually.”

“But, but you’re a noble…”

“What noble? We’re both maids. Which way is the annex?”

“This way.”

Following Silvia, who was carefully guiding me, I arrived at the annex and my mouth fell open at the unexpected situation.

‘Is there such a dirty place inside the Second Prince’s Palace?’

“It’s a bit old because it hasn’t been used for a long time…”

Silvia said in a small voice that seemed to want to crawl away. To say it was a bit old was an understatement; the annex was quite dirty. I looked around, thinking that it might not have been properly managed because it was quite far from the main palace, but I didn’t see any other maids besides us.

“Where is everyone else?”

“Oh, there’s no one else.”

“No one?”

When I asked again in surprise, Silvia nodded. Don’t tell me she’s been managing this place alone all this time? No matter how I looked at it, it was too much for just two maids to manage.

‘No wonder it’s in this state.’

In the main palace, there were two or three maids attached to each window, and it’s not like there’s a shortage of maids, so why is the work distribution like this?

“Isn’t there some mistake? Have you talked to the head maid?”

“It’s no use.”

Silvia hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“There’s a rumor that ghosts appear, so everyone refuses to come.”

“Ah, I see.”

I get it. So they’ve been dumping all the work that everyone avoids onto this timid child. Seeing how neglected and messy it is, it’s not just the maids who are spreading ghost stories; the higher-ups probably have an excuse to explain it away too.

‘Wait a minute. This could be good.’

If no one comes here, it means that even if I slack off, no one will know, right? Moreover, I won’t have to face those who look at me with hostile glares, so it’ll be easier on my mind too.

As I was about to exclaim with joy, I was a bit disappointed by Silvia’s next words.

“I try to manage it diligently, but after doing the work in the main palace, I’m too exhausted…”

Damn. So she still has to do all the work in the main palace too. Of course.

But my disappointment was short-lived as I rolled up my sleeves combatively.

“Shall we start cleaning?”

Silvia’s eyes widened at my enthusiastic voice.

“Why?”

“I thought you’d leave saying you couldn’t do it…”

“Do I look that irresponsible to you? Besides, I like this place.”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

My body might suffer a bit, but it’s like having a secret base. I was planning to clean quickly and enjoy it to my heart’s content.

But Silvia, unaware of my devious intentions, seemed touched by something.

“Actually, I like this place too. It’s very romantic.”

It was the brightest expression I had seen on Silvia’s face so far. Her voice was higher too, and I could really feel that she liked this place. Well, it’s messy now, but with the exotic landscaping surrounding the garden, it could become quite atmospheric with a little tidying up.

“The ghost story is so romantic.”

Huh?

Silvia, with her hands clasped together, continued with sparkling eyes.

“Everyone says it’s creepy, but I can’t understand that. It means there’s a mysterious presence here, right? I pray every day to be able to see the ghost.”

One thing was certainly clear. My concern that she might be being bullied was unfounded. Silvia was here because she liked it.

I played along with Silvia, whose eyes were sparkling with the hope of seeing a ghost.

“Haven’t you seen it yet?”

“No, unfortunately…”

Silvia’s expression became gloomy, as if she truly regretted it. I patted her back to comfort her.

“They say if you wish for something earnestly, it comes true. You’ll probably see it soon.”

“You’re the first person to say that to me. Everyone else just hated it, saying it was gloomy…”

Silvia’s eyes welled up. After hesitating for a moment, she continued.

“Lady Reneola, you seem different from the rumors. You seem like a good person.”

“Really? Thank you for seeing me in a good light.”

I thought, ‘Just for this?’ but seeing someone open their heart to me was quite a pleasant feeling. Perhaps because I had been receiving nothing but hostile glares since entering the castle, I even felt grateful.

I stroked Silvia, whose eyes were now filled with trust towards me, and entered the annex. The interior of the annex showed signs that Silvia had been trying her best to tidy up, but it was still a mess. I inwardly sighed.

‘It’s going to take ages to clean this up. Damn.’