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Chapter 2
“Haa……”
In the end, I couldn’t sleep a wink.
Rubbing at the deep shadows beneath my eyes, I let out a heavy sigh. That was when Anna, who had been standing beside me, stepped closer.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Anna—the very one who had been by my side the moment I first opened my eyes in Lillian’s body—still seemed to be worried about her.
“No, I just… couldn’t sleep well.”
I trailed off, waving a hand as though it were nothing. Even though it wasn’t “nothing” at all.
‘N-no, right? Please tell me it’s not true, Lillian!’
Last night.
Because of a single letter placed in Lillian’s room, my brand-new life plan had been shattered to pieces.
A spy? Lillian, the girl I thought was just an ordinary maid, is actually a spy?
Which meant that I, now inside her body, was also a spy!
Unable to accept such a ridiculous reality, I clung to denial.
‘No way. It can’t be…’
With that innocent face—the kind that couldn’t even harm an ant? Impossible.
Other maids had even vouched for her, hadn’t they? That although she was shy, she was a kind friend who always lent a helping hand.
‘Right! Just because she had a suspicious slip of paper doesn’t automatically make her a spy!’
Yet, while my rational mind struggled to spin comforting theories, my body—driven by instinct—was already tearing through Lillian’s room.
And what did I find?
Two finely sharpened daggers. A vial of ominous violet liquid that could only be poison. An assortment of throwing weapons. Even a length of black cloth for disguises.
Spy tools. No matter how you looked at them.
‘I want to cry… I really do.’
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.
Hadn’t I suffered enough in my past life? Why must I work a second job here too? And not just any job—espionage of all things!
This was far too cruel for someone with a heart as fragile as mine. In mafia games, I had always prayed to be a good-natured civilian.
As if to drive the truth home, the letter’s ink faded away by dawn, erased as though it had never existed. Special ink. Too spy-like. Too painful a confirmation.
“Lillian!”
Anna’s voice snapped me from my thoughts. She snatched the broom from my hands.
“Good grief. You’re hopeless. Go wash your face already.”
Though her tone was grumbling, I knew it was her way of caring for me.
“Thanks! I’ll be right back.”
Honestly, I needed the break. My head was far too full.
I hurried off in the direction Anna had indicated—a shortcut that would let me avoid running into the head maid.
Click, clack.
My shoes echoed down the quiet hallway. Everyone else was busy at work; the passage to the west wing was empty.
‘Was it right at this corner?’
The Pellium Grand Duke’s estate was vast, made up of the main building, two annexes, and sprawling gardens.
The main building was where the Duke himself resided—the very place Anna and I had been cleaning earlier.
The east annex housed the knights. The west annex, servants like us.
‘For someone like me with no sense of direction, this job is a nightmare.’
The place was enormous. More palace than mansion.
‘Still… who left that letter in Lillian’s room?’
Naturally, my thoughts circled back. This was, after all, a matter of my identity—of my survival.
‘Was it someone from outside? Another spy hiding here, like Lillian? Or… maybe even an animal? In movies, they use birds or rats for that sort of thing…’
But before any of that, a more fundamental question gnawed at me:
‘Just who sent Lillian here as a spy in the first place?’
She knows… but I don’t!
My head throbbed. Was I doomed to live under the orders of some nameless master, forced into a profession I had no talent for?
‘Maybe I should search her room again. Slowly, carefully this time… I might find a clue.’
Resolved, I clenched my fists and quickened my steps. Poor Anna was still cleaning alone—I had to get back soon.
That was when it happened.
‘Hm?’
Lillian’s heightened senses picked up a presence. Instinctively, I turned my head.
“Ah…”
The first thing I saw was golden hair. It gleamed under the sunlight, like molten gold poured from a crucible.
His face was a masterpiece—sharp eyes, a straight nose, lips pressed together. A living painting.
But above all, it was his eyes that stole my breath.
‘Red…’
Blazing, crimson red eyes that pinned me in place.
As I gaped at him, the man regarded me with an unreadable expression before finally speaking.
“When do you plan to stop staring?”
The words jolted me back to reality.
Flustered, I bowed my head.
‘If my guess is right… this man is…’
The master of this estate. Raymond Pellium, the Grand Duke himself.
The other maids had said he was young, handsome, and at his most breathtaking when admired from afar.
That last detail left no doubt in my mind.
‘Terrifying…!’
Beautiful like a statue carved by the gods—yet precisely because of that beauty, he was all the more frightening. His piercing gaze and cool tone only deepened the chill.
I hurried to speak, desperate not to offend him.
“G-greetings, Your Grace.”
…Why. Why did my tongue choose this exact moment to trip?
Heat flooded my face, and I thanked heaven that my head was bowed.
“……”
“……”
Five seconds stretched into fifty. Finally, as though remembering something, he spoke again.
“I heard there was an accident recently.”
An accident?
The sudden remark made me glance up.
Was he talking about the fainting incident? Or some other mishap I didn’t know of?
As I faltered, he added,
“You. I meant you.”
Ah. So it was about Lillian.
I was surprised he remembered. Would the Grand Duke really recall a mere maid of only three months? He had only just returned after being away, yet already knew.
His speed in gathering information was impressive.
“It wasn’t serious. I recovered quickly.”
Though in truth, I had been unconscious for two days straight before awakening here. That part I kept to myself.
Head bowed, I prayed silently.
‘Please leave soon…’
No matter how handsome he was, a one-on-one with the master was unbearably awkward. And time was slipping away—I needed to return to Anna.
Just then, he leaned slightly closer and asked,
“Are you all right now?”
I blinked, startled.
The Duke—renowned for his coldness—was… worried about me? Unexpected. But strangely, not unpleasant.
“Yes! I’m perfectly fine.”
I nodded briskly to show my health.
At that, the corner of his mouth curved upward ever so slightly.
For a fleeting second, I thought—
‘So our Duke has a considerate side after all—’
Then came the rest of his words.
“Good. It would have been bothersome to hire another new maid again.”
