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Chapter 4
I suddenly opened my eyes wide.
Good thing I had pulled the curtains back, afraid I might oversleep.
But the light coming through the window wasn’t sunlight.
It was a bird?
No—it was way too big, big enough to cover the whole window. The giant bird stared at me, then let out a deafening scream.
“Kyaaaargh—!”
The sound was sharp enough to tear my ears. Then it flew far away.
‘What the heck…?’
I frowned. The events of yesterday slowly came back to me.
‘So, everything I saw yesterday… was real.’
I checked the servant’s clock. The time was 4:59 a.m.
Tick—
The second hand hit 12.
Then a horrible alarm rang.
“Grrrrueeekkkk—!!!”
‘……That’s the alarm sound? Not someone dying?’
I forced myself to stay calm and pressed the button to stop it.
Anyway, today was my first day of work.
The contract said I had to work for at least six months, so backing out now wasn’t an option.
I sighed in despair, but then looked at the bed beside mine.
There, Eki was still sleeping soundly, hugging her doll tightly.
Even the alarm hadn’t woken her. She must have been here a long time.
‘Well, at least I have Eki.’
That thought alone was a relief.
I woke her up, got ready quickly, and stepped outside.
Work started at 6:30 a.m.
Everyone was supposed to gather on the first floor by 6:00.
But when I arrived, no one was there.
“…….”
I held Eki’s arm, waiting patiently.
6:10. 6:20. 6:30… 7:00.
Finally, the monsters began to stroll in, yawning and dragging their feet.
They only whispered curiously when they saw me standing there, even though my face clearly showed I wasn’t happy.
I clapped my hands.
“Good morning, everyone!”
All eyes turned to me. Their stares were still uncomfortable, but I told myself—
‘You’ll be here for at least half a year. Be confident.’
One monster stretched out a long arm. In seconds, it was right in front of my nose. An eyeball blinked at me from its palm.
‘…….’
Creepy, yes. But I had no time to be scared. My plan was already behind schedule.
I needed to get things moving.
Yesterday, while walking through the mansion, I had already thought of what kind of tasks I would assign.
“Let’s start dividing up the work.”
Cleaning duties were something I had done in my past life as naturally as breathing.
I split the monsters into teams of three, remembering Rule Number 2.
My team was assigned to clean the first-floor hallway: me, Eki, and one other servant.
Honestly, I kept Eki with me because if she was paired with other monsters, she’d probably just cry.
‘Well, I’m the head maid. I can do that.’
Surprisingly, everything went smoothly.
At least… until the other servant spoke up.
“Head Maid, I object to this task.”
The servant hadn’t touched the mop I had carefully prepared.
“Didn’t I say? You just need to mop after the sweeping is done.”
“I don’t have hands to hold a mop.”
“…….”
The servant looked like a brown octopus. His shiny round head puffed up like he was upset, while his arms were nothing but wriggling tentacles.
He sounded annoyed, but when I thought about it—he was right.
‘How could he even hold a mop with those?’
Maybe he wasn’t mocking me. Maybe he really was frustrated about being told to do something impossible.
I realized my mistake too late.
And the others were watching. Some of them chuckled in the shadows.
Their gazes were all fixed on the octopus servant’s shiny bald head.
‘Wait… are they bullying him?’
Because of me, it now looked like I was encouraging the bullying.
If this continued, he’d hate himself more and more, hide his tentacles, and eventually resent me.
‘No way. Not happening.’
I looked closer at his tentacles.
And then an idea hit me.
“!!!”
Without hesitation, I shoved his tentacles into the water bucket.
Splaaash—! The tentacles soaked up water and wrung themselves out like a mop.
‘Wait a second… this is perfect for cleaning floors!’
Yes, it was just like a mop—except even better! Flexible, soft, and already able to wring itself out.
I couldn’t contain my excitement.
“This is amazing… The highest quality mop I’ve ever seen!”
I used to run a cleaning company in my past life—I knew what I was talking about!
The octopus servant froze, his once-puffed face now wrinkled and dry.
Maybe because I squeezed the water out?
“Anyway, with this you can mop, right?”
“……Yes. Yes.”
He moved his tentacles to the floor.
Swoosh, swoosh.
The hallway sparkled instantly.
I almost cried with guilt.
‘How could I almost bully such a hardworking… monster?’
I whispered quietly to him.
“If anyone bothers you, tell me, okay?”
He flinched and quickly backed away.
‘…Oops. Now he probably thinks I was trying to dominate him on my first day.’
I would have to be nicer from now on.
Still, when I turned, the other monsters were suddenly gone—busily pretending to work.
‘Good. That should stop the bullying.’
Satisfied, I picked up my rags and started cleaning the windows.
At the far end of the hallway, in the shadows—
A pale hand stroked the marble windowsill.
The Duke lowered his eyes, long lashes covering his hollow red gaze.
His fingertip slid across the surface. No dust clung to it.
A thin smile curved across his lips.
Or maybe it split his face all the way to his ears.
Then, silently, he vanished into the shadows.
That night, back in the dormitory, I scribbled into my diary.
[First Day Review:
There’s a lot to clean, which is great. But these monsters are terrible at it, so there’s too much to teach.
Still, their effort and improvement are beautiful! (Not their looks.)
Oh, and the food is delicious.]
I tucked the diary into my desk drawer and leaned back with a smile.
‘The food really was good.’
I heard the chef was human.
I hadn’t seen him yet, but the meals for servants were unbelievably tasty.
At lunch, I was too excited to eat properly, but at dinner I finally asked Eki:
“Hey, is this because today was my first day?”
“No, we always eat like this. If we didn’t… something bad would happen.”
“……I see.”
So it wasn’t a trick.
They said to judge a master’s true nature by how they treat their servants.
‘The Duke must be a truly kind man.’
Yes, he might have strange tastes—employing monsters as servants. But maybe it was because no one else would take them in.
‘He’s an amazing person.’
Then I suddenly remembered something I had put off.
“Eki.”
“Yes?”
She startled and sat up, dropping her doll on the bed.
“Can I borrow your doll for a moment?”
“……Why?”
Her eyes grew sharp, clutching it tighter.
She really cherished it.
I smiled and pulled out a small sewing box from my luggage.
“Because… I think I can fix it.”
“……What?”
Inside were needles, thread, and cotton.
I grinned at her.
“Let me repair it for you.”
