THIEM 41

Chapter 41

“Evelyn’s personal maid… you say?”

Killian, who was standing beside us, asked with a puzzled expression.

“Why is Your Highness looking for a maid?”

“Ah, it’s nothing much… I think I found something that belongs to someone who lost it.”

Scratching his head, he pulled something out from inside his coat.

The moment I spotted it in Rakiel’s hand, my eyes widened, and I snatched it away in an instant.

“So this is—”

Snatch!

Rakiel suddenly found his hand empty and looked at me with a disbelieving laugh.

“…Young Lady, what exactly are you doing?”

Only then did I realize what I had just done and hurriedly changed my expression.

“Ah, w-well, this really does belong to my maid… yes! That’s right. I should give it back to her.”

The item I quickly hid in my palm was a blue hair ribbon.

The very ribbon I had received not long ago as an additional quest reward.

‘When did I even drop this?’

And how did Rakiel know that I was the owner of this ribbon?

Despite my excuse, Rakiel was still frowning slightly.

“I was planning to return it directly to its owner.”

“Ah, Eve is… out running an errand for me right now. She’ll probably be gone for quite a while.”

“…Did I ever say whose it was?”

A chill ran down my arms.

At the same time, Killian joined the conversation with a confused look.

“Evelyn, do you have another personal maid? As far as I know, you only have one.”

“Brother, that’s…”

The words caught in my throat, and my palms began to sweat.

I could feel the ribbon growing damp in my hand.

‘This is bad…’

I was just about to open my mouth and come up with another excuse.

“Young Lady.”

Jini suddenly cut in from behind me.

“I can deliver it to ‘Eve.’”

“…!”

Slowly, I turned to look at Jini.

‘Does she know…?’

This wasn’t a lie she was making up to help me out.

Her eyes clearly said that she knew who “Eve” was.

After staring into her eyes for a moment, I slowly spoke.

“…All right. Could you give it to her? And tell her to thank Second Prince Rakiel as well.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

Jini calmly accepted the ribbon from me and carefully tucked it away.

As if trying to escape the attention focused on her, she stepped back a pace or two.

I turned back and looked directly at Rakiel.

“I’ve seen her wearing it a few times before. I’ll thank her on your behalf.”

“Ah, is that so? Well, she did seem unusually close to you.”

But the oblivious Killian interrupted once again.

“Evelyn, what maid are you talking about? The only maid you brought is that girl.”

“No, Brother. You may not know it, but there’s another one. So could you please stop taking an interest in this?”

I answered through gritted teeth, and Killian finally closed his mouth with a dissatisfied expression.

He listens surprisingly well…

‘Seriously, why has he been acting like this lately?’

Unless he felt guilty about something, there was no way he’d suddenly become so attentive.

Even while glaring at him, I finished speaking to Rakiel.

“Then I’ll see you at the banquet, Your Highness. And could you please pass along my regards to the Crown Prince as well?”

Putting on a pitiful expression, I spoke softly.

Rakiel looked somewhat bewildered but nodded.

“I will.”

In any case, he soon boarded his carriage, and it departed.

It was a flawless farewell.

And then…

“Jini? Can I have a word with you?”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

There was still something I needed to discuss with Jini.

Facing Jini inside my room, I swallowed nervously.

‘Could she really know?’

I narrowed my eyes as I watched her quietly close the door and approach.

If Jini truly knew that I and “Eve” were the same person, then things would become troublesome.

Whenever I moved around as “Eve,” I would have to return as “Evelyn.”

Until now, I had managed by pretending to be a maid, speaking as little as possible, and avoiding face-to-face encounters whenever I could.

Still, it was worth trying to make an excuse first.

It might work.

After organizing my thoughts, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Jini, by any chance…”

“I’m sorry, Young Lady!”

The moment I started speaking, Jini suddenly bent ninety degrees at the waist and shouted.

‘…Huh?’

Sorry?

The unexpected turn left me momentarily stunned.

Before I could react, Jini launched into a rapid explanation.

“I-I met Eve after coming here. I heard about her while I was in town. They said she was your personal maid… At first, I got angry because I thought someone was impersonating me, so I followed her!”

…Who do you think you are?

Who would even bother impersonating a duke’s daughter’s maid?

The thought was absurd, but at the same time all the color drained from my face.

‘Wait. What exactly was I doing while I was out there?’

I hurriedly searched my memories.

Had I ever walked around without my robe? Had I slipped up somehow?

Still bent over, Jini continued speaking.

It looked like her eyes were tightly shut as well.

“But it wasn’t like that at all. I thought she might be using your name to do bad things, but… she was helping people. Taking care of the sick, playing with children… At first I suspected it was all an act, but the longer I watched, the more I realized it wasn’t!”

“…”

“I’m sorry for doubting her! So Eve… that girl named Eve…!”

Jini suddenly straightened up and shouted with wide eyes.

“She’s your secret maid, isn’t she?!”

“…What?”

W-What did you just say?

What secret maid?

Ding!

[You have obtained the title .]

[Fame +50 / Loyalty +50]

Good grief, that startled me.

This counts as a title too?

Startled, I instinctively dismissed the system window.

But another window immediately appeared.

[Congratulations! As a title reward, your has reached Lv. 5!]

[To celebrate reaching Lv. 5 in the stat, an additional <60 minutes> of daily free time has been unlocked.]

[Activate immediately?]

“…!”

It was as though a gift box had opened before my eyes.

Fireworks exploded everywhere, and a card labeled “60 Minutes” floated toward me.

‘For 60 minutes per day, Evelyn’s behavioral restrictions will not be applied…’

That was the description written underneath.

‘No way.’

This was insane.

It meant that for sixty minutes each day, I could act however I wanted even while in Evelyn’s form.

Only one hour, of course.

But with the imperial banquet approaching—a place where I would have to appear officially—there could not have been a sweeter reward.

While I was distracted by the system window, Jini suddenly leaned close to me with sparkling eyes.

“Right?”

“Uh… huh? What?”

When I finally focused on her face again, she cried out emotionally.

“You’re secretly helping people through her because you can’t do it yourself! That’s what this is, right?”

“Wait, no, that’s not—”

“You can’t personally go around helping people because your status would make them uncomfortable, so you sent someone in your place! Such kindness!”

[Activate immediately?]

The system window flashed insistently, urging me to choose.

“Yes— No! No, no!”

I accidentally answered out loud before frantically waving my hands.

I couldn’t activate it now!

I only got one hour a day. What would be the point of wasting it here?

I had clearly been responding to the system.

But Jini interpreted it as a response to her.

“I knew it! You don’t have to keep hiding it from me, Young Lady. I’ll take this secret to my grave.”

She snorted proudly.

But I was too distracted by the system window to pay close attention to her.

I could barely even process what misunderstanding she was operating under.

“Ah, I’m so moved! To think I only now understand your deep intentions…”

Tears even started forming in Jini’s eyes.

Panicking, I waved my hands.

“No, that’s not…”

“As expected of you, Young Lady! You’re the only person I’ll ever serve for the rest of my life!”

Critical Hit!

Ba-dam!

[Maid ‘Jini’ Loyalty +50]

[+50]

[+50]

…

…

[Congratulations! Maid ‘Jini’ has exceeded 1,000 Loyalty!]

[Reward: Jini’s Infinite Trust]

‘Aaaagh! How do I turn this thing off?!’

Fireworks started exploding wildly before my eyes.

The endless system windows and flashy effects were enough to make me dizzy.

‘Damn it, what did I even do to deserve this?!’

I was trapped between the clingy Jini and the noisy system notifications, unable to gather my thoughts.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Knock, knock.

“Young Lady, a message has arrived from the Duke.”

Maren handed me a letter with a solemn expression.

Stamped on the envelope was the seal of Duke Rosental.

The very letter I had been waiting for.