HCV 04

Just as the chick had said, Felix had already boarded the flower path to success.
Dragging him back down wouldn’t be easy.

Not unless I caused some truly groundbreaking, creative chaos…

I clutched my head and agonized over it.

The chick was right. I really was a gullible, man-crazy pushover maid bootlicker.

Meaning I’d spent my entire life being passive, timid, spineless, and constantly worrying about what other people thought of me.

“But how exactly do you even cause chaos?”

Even if I came up with the perfect plan, the moment it became real, my voice would probably shake like a goat’s, my whole body would tremble, and I’d completely ruin everything…

That was when—

[Benefactor, are you troubled by something?]

The chick tilted its head and waddled closer.

“Chick.”

I spun around toward it.

“You said you could help me live more conveniently and efficiently, right?”

[That is correct!]

“Can you also help me cause trouble? You know, like a villain.”

[That is…]

For the first time, the chick looked troubled.

Its tiny wings shrank inward.

[I’m afraid that may be impossible…]

“Why?”

[I can do anything, but only things I have learned. And right now, the only thing I’ve learned is your memories…]

“So because I’m a hopeless pushover maniacally devoted to men, you can’t do it? The soil itself is trash, so no villainous fruit can grow?”

[As expected of my benefactor! You understand instantly!]

The chick flapped its tail feathers enthusiastically.

In other words, it couldn’t help with evil deeds because it had never learned anything about them.

Learning, huh.

“Well… should I go to the library and read biographies of famous villainesses or something…?”

[What a model student-like thought!]

The chick chimed in at my muttering.

Was that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?

[But vivid teaching materials are better than books. The best way is to learn beside a living, breathing person!]

A living person, huh.

Like… a mentor for causing chaos?

“That’s difficult.”

I currently had two urgent problems.

First. I needed money to survive immediately. My uncle had cut off not only my allowance but even my meals.

Second. I needed to find a human teaching material to learn villainy from before Felix’s flower path truly began unfolding.

The problem was that both were extremely urgent.

Was there any way to solve both at once?

Then suddenly, a memory struck me.

A few days ago, I’d overheard some maids whispering.

‘Did you see the recruitment notice from the Duchy of Kreuz this time?’

‘Yeah. Apparently there are no qualification requirements at all, and social status doesn’t matter either. Even commoners like us can apply. And the salary—wow. It’s insane.’

‘What’s the point? I heard the hiring exam is hard enough to slap the Imperial University entrance exam across the face.’

‘What? How are maids like us supposed to solve something like that? Ugh, what a disappointment.’

There it was! A way to catch two birds with one stone!

The position they’d mentioned was for the duke’s secretary, definitely.

And what kind of person was the Duke of Kreuz?

A genius among geniuses who inherited the historic Duchy of Kreuz at a young age while also leading the Mage Tower.

And above all—

“I heard his personality is absolutely horrible!”

The Mad Dog Duke.

The Calamity’s Boot.

The Craziest Bastard Among Bastards.

Despite his magnificent appearance and exalted status, people secretly called the Duke of Kreuz those names behind his back.

How awful did his personality have to be for that…?!

I shuddered.

I had once encountered the duke in passing myself.

He’d been mercilessly beating up a full-grown man with his boots.

Just recalling that demonic sight made my knees weaken.

At the same time, I became certain.

“It’s him.”

There could be no better teaching material than the Duke of Kreuz!

The problem was that the recruitment exam was supposedly so difficult it terrified everyone.

“Honestly, though, I’m confident when it comes to exams.”

Back at the academy, every time there was a test, the predicted questions and answer sheets I prepared for Felix were always frighteningly accurate.

I would stare proudly at the exam paper that came out exactly as expected, while intentionally ruining my own answers so they wouldn’t overlap with Felix’s.

Even if it was for my savior and fiancé, why had I gone that far…?!

Now that I’d come to my senses, my burning devotion felt so pathetic that tears threatened to pour out.

“No. I don’t even have time to regret it!”

Even at this very moment, Felix’s flower path was continuing smoothly.

I slapped both cheeks hard and organized my plan.

First. Become the secretary of the Duke of Kreuz. They said there were no qualification requirements, so my garbage grades wouldn’t matter.

Second. Solve my living expenses with the secretary salary.

Third. Observe the duke’s evil deeds right in front of me and absorb them like a sponge.

Perfect!

For the first time, hope shone into my heart, which had been torn to shreds by endless betrayal.

Currently, I had 0 gold to my name and a graduation GPA of D.

The road ahead was unbelievably long.

The old me—timid and weak—would’ve just trembled and collapsed in despair. But now—

A massive desire for revenge was blazing inside me, driving me forward.

I clenched my fists tightly.

“I’ll definitely reclaim my family and get revenge on Felix too!”

But first…

“Time to get employed.”

* * *

“You useless freeloading bastards.”

CRACK!

At the force of the ruthless kick, the desk caved in like it had been struck by a meteor.

The assistants lying flat on the floor trembled violently.

“We’re sorry! We’re sorry!”

“Sorry, my ass.”

The man grabbed one of them by the collar and yanked him up.

“You call this handling your work properly?”

“H-hiiiik!”

The assistant squeezed his eyes shut in terror.

“Even stray dogs would be more useful than you idiots. Did you all leave your brains in your mothers’ wombs? Are you incapable of thinking? Get out immediately. Looking at your faces makes me sick.”

At the brutal order to leave, the assistants wiped away tears as they fled.

“Damn parachute hires. I should just smash all their heads in.”

The man—Kaien Kreuz—let out a rough sigh as he dropped into his chair.

“Do they think the Mage Tower is some kind of daycare?”

The Mage Tower belonged to the Imperial Family.

The problem was that the Imperial Family was rotten to the core.

Corrupt officials constantly accepted bribes and forced useless connections into the Mage Tower.

Thanks to those shameless and idiotic nepotism hires, the man’s personality was deteriorating more and more by the day.

“Tch.”

Kaien clicked his tongue.

“This pathetic organization. I want to leave as soon as possible.”

But he couldn’t.

Not yet.

As he brushed back his hair and leaned against the chair, sunlight streaming through the window illuminated his face.

Thick brows and a sharply sculpted nose. The lips beneath were delicate and beautiful like a work of art, yet the words coming from between them were as vicious as those of a street thug.

“M-master.”

At that moment, his aide Aaron carefully spoke up.

“A new applicant for the secretary position has arrived.”

“Secretary?”

Kaien raised one eyebrow.

The position had remained vacant for two whole years.

After all, it was the secretary position for both the Master of the Mage Tower and the Duke of Kreuz.

At first, applicants flooded the reception room because of the incredible prestige and salary.

But thanks to the horrifyingly difficult hiring exam and the employer’s catastrophic personality, now not even flies bothered coming around.

“I’m not even asking for someone useful.”

Kaien rubbed between his brows tiredly.

“Just hire anyone who can read and understand what I’m saying before your master collapses from overwork.”

Then maybe lower the difficulty of the exam…

Aaron swallowed the complaint he could never dare say aloud.

It couldn’t be helped.

To the master, an exam of that level probably isn’t even a standard for talent—just the minimum qualification for being considered human.

Because Kaien’s standards for what counted as “human” were absurdly high, Aaron had failed to get a successor for two entire years.

I’m the one about to die from overwork here, seriously.

Sighing deeply, Aaron headed toward the reception room.

“I wonder if this applicant will last even ten minutes…”

He could already vividly picture himself receiving another blank answer sheet stained with tears.