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Chapter 1
Grace thought to herself. About why she had become the maid of Livanu.
“Grace.”
The young master of the duke’s household, Livanu—afflicted with severe pockmarks and a skin disease that no one wanted to be near.
“Where did you go?”
“I just went to tidy up for a bit.”
“…Without saying anything?”
“I’m sorry. I thought it was work hours, so I didn’t think to mention it. From now on, should I let you know whenever I go somewhere?”
“…Yes. I’d like that.”
He reeked of foul odors and looked grotesque. But Grace didn’t dislike him.
In fact, she saw him as nothing less than a winning lottery ticket. That said it all.
“Understood.”
“…Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. Whatever the young master wishes is my duty. If there’s anything you need or anything that troubles you, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”
“I do have something…”
“Yes? What is it?”
That was why Grace wanted to indulge most of his requests.
She wanted to maintain a good relationship with him.
“Um, Grace… do you… have any friends?”
“…Friends?”
“The other time, it didn’t seem like cleaning hours, but you weren’t around…”
“Ah! My apologies!”
“No, I wasn’t asking you to apologize. I was just curious.”
“Well, it wasn’t during work hours—it was a short break. Lunchtime. Anyway, yes, I do have friends, and I went to meet them.”
“…Oh.”
Had he asked for something outrageous, that would be different. But asking where she had gone, what she had done, or who she had seen on her own time—such things were harmless.
Most likely, since Grace was the first person he’d ever allowed close, Livanu was curious about everything.
“S-so, who do you like better… me or your friend?”
“…Pardon?”
“…Just curious. Is that kind of question uncomfortable?”
“No.”
Apparently, Livanu was lonelier than Grace had thought.
Even better.
If she slipped in through that vulnerability, wouldn’t he be all the more grateful to her later?
“Of course, I like you, young master.”
“Really?”
Livanu’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit.
Pus dripped from his diseased skin whenever his mouth moved, but Grace smiled at him as if she didn’t find it disgusting at all.
“Of course. I really think you’re a good person.”
Behind her bright smile, her eyes were completely empty of sincerity.
Still, Livanu was by far the easiest young master she’d ever served.
At least, for now, he was meek.
“I like you, young master.”
…Though in the future, he would become a villain like no other. She’d have to raise him carefully so he didn’t stray down that path.
Whether this turned out to be a true lottery win, a dud, or something else entirely—something she couldn’t even imagine yet—remained to be seen.
Grace entered her tenth lifetime upon her death.
Most people lived only once.
But Grace was living her tenth life.
She didn’t know exactly why.
There was only one thing that set her apart from others.
She had once been a test subject of a mad magician.
So she suspected that some special experiment back then had given her the ability to regress.
And today, in her tenth life, Grace had chosen a new path.
“Young master Livanu, I am Grace Bulet, your newly assigned maid.”
“….”
“I look forward to serving you.”
No matter how hard she tried, she had never found a way to stop her regressions.
She had lived plenty of ordinary—well, not so ordinary, but normal enough—lives. She was sick of it.
This time, her goal was to enjoy wealth and splendor at least once.
“Young master…?”
“….”
“Is there anything you’d like me to do?”
There was a reason Grace had set her ambitious sights on none other than the Foret ducal family, and in particular, their eldest son, Livanu Foret.
First: she knew his future success.
One advantage of regression was knowing how people’s futures would turn out.
Though branded a villain, Livanu would rise to fame as the youngest ever Swordmaster.
Second: he was easy to approach.
Although he was the eldest son of a high-ranking noble family, at this time he was suffering from a severe skin disease and looked horrifying.
Grace had never seen him at this stage before. When he slightly lowered his head, the shape of his jaw was not something a normal human should have.
“Young master…”
When she called again softly, he finally lifted his head a little. His appearance was so dreadful it was hard to describe.
His skin was swollen with pus, and the stench was overwhelming.
Naturally, no one wanted to serve as his personal maid.
For Grace, that meant a goldmine.
Most would find his face nightmare-inducing, but Grace looked directly at him and smiled kindly.
Livanu, however, said nothing.
“Are you perhaps unable to speak?”
“…Don’t mind me. Just get by however you want.”
So that wasn’t the case.
“Excuse me?”
She understood him, but asked reflexively anyway.
But after that, Livanu clamped his mouth shut again.
Well, she hadn’t expected this to be easy. That was fine.
Grace silently reaffirmed her goal for this life.
A little difficulty was to be expected.
She recalled her third reason.
In her first life, she had been tormented endlessly by Baron Grino Egpara. Blocking his path was her new objective.
With his brilliant mind, overwhelming strength, and rising status as a new noble star, Livanu would one day lead the charge against a monster wave and become a hero.
But after that, all sorts of disasters would follow—until even mutated monsters appeared.
And those mutated monsters… had been victims of the same experiments Grace had once endured.
Known by the ancient magical term “Chimera.”
Only Grace knew this, having suffered such experiments herself.
Sometimes they didn’t appear, but in her last two lifetimes, they always had.
And behind it all was Egpara, kidnapping, imprisoning, trafficking, and conducting vile human experiments amidst the chaos of war.
He became a villain among villains.
Grace hadn’t cared if her reputation suffered.
But now—what if she were the one to awaken Livanu’s talent early, treating him like a human being?
Even if I can’t stop the experiments entirely, without Livanu, they won’t progress as quickly as before.
She couldn’t intervene directly, but she wanted to at least throw a wrench into the works.
After all, if the experiments ended too quickly and the horrors were unleashed, the empire’s downfall would come sooner—and her own plans to live in comfort would be ruined.
So she had thought carefully and chosen this path.
That was why she volunteered to become Livanu’s maid, a role everyone else avoided.
“Forgive me, but I’d like to pay you some attention.”
“…Ugh.”
“I have no intention of just ‘getting by.’”
Her words were almost a declaration. Grace stared unwaveringly at Livanu.
“…Ha.”
Livanu let out a hollow laugh, as if in disbelief.
“Ugh… ngh…”
But soon he groaned in pain, writhing with discomfort.
At just fifteen years old, Livanu was still only a boy, suffering in agony from pain and itching.
He had no idea yet that his illness was caused by mana, so no matter what treatments were tried, his condition would only worsen.
The ducal family, using one excuse after another, shut him away in a separate building, barely sparing him a glance.
They couldn’t abandon him outright, so they did only the bare minimum.
The worse his treatment, the better for Grace.
“I’ll serve you with all my heart.”
Her determination brimmed over.
No matter how he reacted, Grace didn’t care.
After saying this, she reflexively shut her eyes tight—but nothing came flying at her.
“…Hmm.”
Most nobles threw things when they were angry or in pain. But since all was quiet, she cracked one eye open.
“…Ugh.”
It seemed Livanu wasn’t refraining from throwing things—he simply couldn’t.
He was in too much pain to spare any energy for her, groaning and writhing without rest.
That made her wonder.
What would Livanu become if she raised him properly, taught him well, and cured his skin disease?
She found herself looking forward to it.
