TYMC 04

Chapter 04

When I arrived near the forest, I wandered around while keeping my guard up.

Of course, this place was far too close to the Duke’s estate for magical beasts to appear, but you never know.

Contrary to my expectations, no matter how much I looked around, nothing particularly remarkable caught my eye.

“Ail, whatever you see or experience there, report every single detail without leaving anything out. No matter what it is, it’ll definitely be top-grade information.”

For a moment, Death’s repeated warning flashed through my mind.

Unfortunately, the forest seemed rather ordinary, so handing over a map of the Duke’s estate would probably be enough.

“I’ve roughly figured out where all the buildings are, so this should be…”

Just as I was sitting casually on a cut tree stump, organizing what I would report to Death—

Rustle!

Shuffle, shuffle!

A strange presence suddenly made itself known from somewhere nearby.

‘What is that?’

It was far too quick to be a person, yet far too small and insignificant to be a magical beast.

With trees surrounding me on all sides, it was impossible to tell where something might jump out from.

The moment I instinctively reached for the sword at my waist—

Grrrr!

A fluffy white ball of fur suddenly leaped out in front of me, baring its teeth threateningly.

“…A pig?”

I stopped dead, doubting my own eyes as I identified the creature I had almost attacked.

“No, a fox?”

The source of the strange presence was a pig—no, a white fox making odd noises.

The fox was so fluffy and round that I could have mistaken it for a pig. Its characteristic pointed ears were nearly hidden beneath all that fur.

…Was that too harsh? Let’s just say it was chubby.

Grrr… Whine…

But something seemed off about the fox. It held one front paw in the air and whimpered as if it were injured.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”

Grrr.

As I cautiously approached after sensing something was wrong, the fox raised its ruby-red eyes and growled warily.

Still, it didn’t run away, so its paw must really have been bothering it.

“I’ll help you. I won’t hurt you.”

Gently soothing the fox, I crouched in front of it and carefully examined the small paw it was holding up.

Sure enough, a long wooden splinter was lodged right in the center of its paw pad.

“So that’s why you were crying.”

Pop.

The thorn came out with a satisfying sound.

After checking the wound, I tore a small strip from the hem of my maid uniform and wrapped its paw.

Grrr. Grrr.

Once the simple first aid was finished, the fox began circling around me repeatedly as though it were thanking me.

‘Come to think of it, it looks pretty unusual. A fox with snow-white fur and blood-red eyes.’

Now that I had relaxed a little, I finally noticed just how peculiar its appearance was.

“Does Duke Cassio keep it as a pet? That’s one more thing to report.”

There were nobles who enjoyed keeping animals with mystical appearances. It wasn’t especially strange or noteworthy.

Still, since I had been told that absolutely everything counted as top-grade information…

I had no choice but to report it.

“Del!”

While I was gently petting the fox’s head as it rubbed affectionately against my skirt, someone’s voice called out from nearby.

Perk!

At the sound, the fox’s ears immediately stood upright.

My head naturally turned toward the source of the voice as well.

“…Huh?”

The moment I spotted someone approaching, I froze completely as though time had stopped.

Grrr!

The fox in my arms vigorously wagged its long tail and dashed forward.

“Huh!”

Only then did I snap out of it and rise to my feet with a sharp intake of breath.

“Del, where did you go?”

A boy with pitch-black hair like the darkest night and violet eyes was stroking the fox that had leaped into his arms, calling it “Del.”

As I stared at him, my mouth slowly fell open.

‘Wait, isn’t that the sickly little kid I saw in the Black Forest a few days ago? The one I rescued from those evil assassins…!’

The sudden situation left my mind completely blank.

‘Why are you here?!’

As I struggled to comprehend what was happening, I suddenly remembered the target’s portrait that I had carelessly stuffed into my clothes earlier.

“N-No way…”

Hurriedly pulling out the paper, I alternated between the boy’s face and the absurd portrait, swallowing nervously.

Illustration

I had a very bad feeling about this.

The portrait Death had given me definitely wasn’t this handsome.

And yet, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to doubt that the boy in the portrait and the one standing before me were the same person.

Which meant the boy in front of me was none other than the target, Lis Cassio.

Looking closely, maybe he resembled the portrait a little…

No, was that portrait simply insulting his face?

“Did you do this?”

Suddenly, ten million gold—no, Lis—spoke.

Still trapped in confusion, I quickly crumpled the portrait and shoved it away before meeting his gaze.

Lis was pointing at the makeshift bandage wrapped around Del’s paw.

“Yes. A thorn was stuck in his paw, so I treated it.”

“You…”

His tone sounded oddly displeased.

Was he angry because a mere maid had touched something that belonged to him without permission?

That would be understandable. Nobles were notoriously proud.

But I couldn’t exactly argue with my precious ten million gold—no, the target.

I’d better apologize no matter what.

“Are you an angel?”

“…What?”

The completely unexpected question escaped his lips, and I instinctively repeated it back.

An angel? What kind of nonsense was that?

Though, if I had to choose, I was probably closer to an angel than anything else.

At that moment, Del wriggled out of Lis’s arms and ran back to me.

The fox nestled comfortably against me, swishing its long tail and making happy little noises.

Grrr, grrr.

As Del happily purred, Lis stared at the sight with visible surprise.

“Del is following someone else…”

Lis let out a brief, dry remark, saying that he had never seen such a thing before.

Now that I thought about it, Del wasn’t the Duke’s pet at all. He belonged to the young master.

“But who are you? Judging by your clothes, you’re a maid, but I’ve never seen you before.”

The fact that he immediately realized I was someone new was honestly surprising.

Most nobles paid little attention to their servants.

Many couldn’t even remember their names, much less their faces.

‘This young master must be a very observant person.’

I should add that to the report too.

“My name is Ail. I started working here today.”

Smiling as politely as possible, I bowed respectfully.

No matter what, there was nothing to gain from making the target dislike me.

My mission wasn’t only to eliminate the target—it also involved uncovering the secrets of the Cassio family.

Even if a low-ranking maid like me could never become close to a noble, perhaps I could at least remain in his memory as “Servant Number One.”

‘Let’s keep the distance between the target and me right here. Not too close, not too far.’

That way, conducting my investigation would be easier, and I wouldn’t grow attached to the target.

It would make dealing with things afterward much simpler.

“…Ail.”

Quietly repeating my name, Lis seemed lost in thought for a moment.

Then he looked at Del, who was still nestled in my arms, and slowly spoke.

“I happened to need a maid to take care of Del… Ail, you’ll do. Work by my side from now on.”

A completely incomprehensible statement struck me out of nowhere.

What did that ten-million-gold boy just say?

Work by his side? Me?

“M-Me?”

“Yes, you. I’ll inform the head maid, so start today.”

Here’s a basic fact.

An ordinary maid could never work directly beside her master.

Which means what he was saying was…

“You’ll be my personal maid. It’ll be the first time I’ve had one. I’m counting on you.”

A personal maid?

Before I could even respond to this thunderbolt of an announcement, Lis turned around and walked away.

Del, who had been in my arms moments ago, immediately ran after him.

“Ah, so this is what people call a promotion in social status…”

…As if!

I’m doomed!

If I’m his personal maid, that means I’ll be stuck beside the target every single day!

Then when am I supposed to investigate? And when am I supposed to make my reports?!

That damned ten-million-gold brat!

I never should’ve saved him back then…!