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Chapter 2
Claire was born in a cabin deep within the mountains.
The child born from the love between the frail youngest son of a count’s family and the mercenary assigned as his guard after they ran away together in the middle of the night—that was Claire.
‘Baby! Shall we make apple pie today?’
‘Yeah! I like the apple pie Dad makes.’
‘Your wrist will hurt. I’ll carry Claire instead.’
A gentle and warm father, and a steadfast and strong mother.
Even if the beginning of their story had been somewhat chaotic, they were undoubtedly a happy family in the end.
After all, her parents loved each other more than anything else in the world.
But perhaps that love became poison.
‘Claire, stay home until Mom comes back. I’ll return soon.’
Around the time Claire turned ten, her weak father finally passed away.
Veronica spent several days wandering around like a broken person with an empty expression. Then, as soon as her husband’s funeral ended, she packed her belongings and prepared to leave the cabin.
‘Can’t I come with you too?’
‘…I’m sorry. This is something Mom has to finish herself. I’ll be back soon.’
On a day when heavy rain poured from the sky, Veronica left like that.
From that day on, Claire spent every day waiting by the window for her mother to return.
But a week later, the only thing that came back to the cabin was news of Veronica’s death, delivered by Angela.
‘Why?’
She wondered that.
But Angela explained nothing.
She only said it had been a terrible accident, and that Veronica wished for Claire to live happily.
That was all.
Realizing Angela would never say more no matter how much she asked, Claire eventually fell silent.
In the cabin where happiness had disappeared, Claire endured alone in order to become happy, just as her mother wished.
It was a cruel situation for a ten-year-old child, but she could not move down to a village where people lived together.
Even though Claire was only a quarter beastman, the concentration of the beastman power known as “Wildness” inside her was extremely high.
Beastmen with strong “Wildness” possessed physical abilities far beyond ordinary humans.
Young Claire could not yet control that power.
So instead, she chose to train her “Wildness” so she could live like a normal person.
Several years passed like that.
Other than Angela, who regularly visited to bring supplies, Claire spent her peaceful mountain life with almost no interaction with people.
When the same environment continued long enough, it naturally became a pattern.
‘Do I really need to go to a village? I feel like I could just keep living like this forever.’
Right when those thoughts began to appear, a problem arose.
“We’re out of money.”
Living in the mountains did not mean she could survive without daily necessities.
There was a limit to how humanely someone could live through hunting and gathering alone.
Of course, if she had told Angela—the woman who bought things for her anyway—Angela would have gladly supported her. In the first place, Claire was the one who insisted on giving money to Angela even when Angela refused to take it.
But Claire no longer wanted to burden her.
‘I’m already eighteen now. I can’t rely on Angela forever.’
That was why Claire decided to go down the mountain.
Let’s go to town, earn a huge amount of money, and come back. I’m becoming an adult soon anyway, so it’s time to learn independence.
And the first step toward that goal was suppressing—no, serving—the wildcat-like young master in front of her.
“Can’t you hear me?”
As if throwing the candlestick had not been enough, Theodore gritted his teeth and staggered toward her.
Standing in front of the furious Theodore, Claire’s expression remained calm.
It was the complete opposite of Theodore, who trembled in rage with the face of a demon.
“I said get out!”
Dry gray hair. Clouded blue eyes. A thin face and body.
Objectively speaking, he was handsome, but his haggard appearance and savage expression made him look like a monster from ghost stories.
Claire quietly watched the man approach her.
‘He’s pretty tall, but he’s way too skinny for a nineteen-year-old. Do they starve this young master here?’
Dirty and sharp-tempered, he reminded her exactly of a baby raccoon she once saw.
‘That white raccoon near the rocky mountain before. It was really cute.’
Theodore stopped right in front of Claire and stared directly at her.
His bloodshot eyes looked terrifying, but to Claire, he only seemed like an arrogant raccoon baring tiny front teeth while growling.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. But are you perhaps in more urgent need of a bathroom than washing your face?”
At that question, Theodore—or rather, the raccoon—suddenly screamed and lunged at her as if utterly dumbfounded.
‘Ah, the raccoon bites.’
Claire, who had been absentmindedly lost in thought without any tension, panicked and swung her fist.
Bang.
“Ah.”
I messed up.
She had not even punched that hard, yet Theodore flew through the air like a sheet of paper before crashing into the wall and falling down.
‘I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about that young master. Do you know how serious the crime of injuring a noble is?!’
Angela’s shout echoed in Claire’s head like a hallucination.
“Y-Young master?”
How was she supposed to fix this?
Claire hurried over to the unconscious Theodore.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—there were no signs of bleeding or visible injuries.
“Did he faint just from shock?”
How could a human be this weak?
Inside Claire’s mind, Theodore’s durability rating dropped sharply.
While scratching her cheek and looking down at the collapsed Theodore, Claire suddenly clapped her hands softly.
She had thought of a good idea.
“Ugh.”
Theodore groaned as he opened his eyes.
Because of the headaches that constantly squeezed his skull, waking up peacefully was extremely rare for him. But today, strangely enough, even his back and waist hurt.
Pushing away the soft blanket, he sat up and turned his head.
Someone was inside the room.
“Good morning, young master.”
Claire, who had been preparing water for washing beside the bed, politely bowed her head.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Claire, and I’ll be serving you starting today.”
The brilliant plan Claire came up with to deal with punching Theodore away—
Was pretending nothing happened.
“…First time meeting me?”
“Yes. This is our first meeting.”
Her round eyes looked at him as if asking, “Is there a problem?”
A chill suddenly ran down Theodore’s spine, making him unconsciously avoid her gaze and turn his head away.
“It seems I was mistaken.”
Claire looked at Theodore’s exhausted side profile and thought,
‘Hmm, after exploding once, he suddenly came back to his senses.’
That seemed like useful information for serving the young master in the future.
“Shall I prepare your meal?”
At those words, Theodore shook his head.
“My head hurts. Forget the meal and leave immediately.”
Then he flopped back onto the bed and pulled the blanket over his head.
This time, Claire obediently left the bedroom.
‘He’s so skinny. He really should eat something.’
Although she failed to make him eat, she still felt she had done a successful job overall.
She felt proud of herself.
‘Working life. It’s not that hard after all. Maybe Angela just worries too much because she’s getting older.’
At this rate, earning the amount she wanted within a few months seemed easy.
Feeling pleased, Claire entered the break room beside the storage room used by the servants.
The servants chatting together in groups suddenly froze like they had seen a ghost the moment she walked in.
“You really went and woke the young master?”
The maid named Alice, who had guided her earlier, asked suspiciously.
Claire shrugged.
“Yes. You saw me enter the bedroom yourself. He woke up, said he wanted to sleep a bit more, so I just came back out.”
Alice narrowed her eyes.
She definitely saw it.
And she had clearly heard sounds of things breaking and crashing too.
‘Then how is she completely fine?’
Anyone who entered Theodore’s bedroom usually came out with at least one injury.
“Looks like you were lucky.”
Even as she said that, Alice could not completely hide her discomfort.
‘Is she unhappy that I came out safely? Why?’
A feeling of confusion rose in Claire’s mind, but annoyance outweighed curiosity, so she chose silence instead.
‘Did they make some kind of bet?’
Whatever the reason behind it, all Claire cared about was getting paid.
“Nothing happened?”
As Alice carefully probed for information, Claire shook her head.
“No. He expresses himself very clearly, and he doesn’t ask for much, so there really wasn’t much to do.”
He definitely expressed himself clearly.
A candlestick had flown directly at her head.
Could there be a clearer way to tell someone to leave?
That huffing white raccoon.
He was fierce, but not enough to make the job impossible.
“I-I see.”
As if she had just heard something unbelievable, Alice stiffened before quickly leaving the room.
Claire watched her retreating figure for a moment before heading toward the dining hall.
‘I should prepare the young master’s meal beforehand.’
At this rate, she was clearly an extremely capable maid.
Even though it was her first job ever, it had been quite a good first day at work.
