Mira had the habit of waking up early. As Lucius’s personal maid, it was her duty to rise before her master in order to attend to him throughout the day. Other maids would find it troublesome that Lucius woke so early, complaining that it meant extra work.

  But for Mira, it wasn’t really a problem. Although she was Lucius’s personal maid—an interesting matter, how she had ended up with that position—her job consisted, for the most part, of simply following Lucius around. In other words, there was hardly any real work involved.

  Of course, the other maids would still insist that this was exhausting work, something only trained professionals like them could handle.

  Mira disagreed, using her own experience as proof. Her original occupation had not been that of a maid, but of a knight. And despite that, with only a little training, she had been able to perform all the duties of a maid without any difficulty. More importantly, she had managed to do so without Lucius—an extremely perceptive person—discovering her true identity.

  Well, now the young master already knows…

  She pouted. After the incident at that fat pig’s mansion, there had been no way to maintain the disguise.

  But what else could I have done?

  Maintain the disguise until the very end and let Lucius be killed by that fat pig? Obviously, that had never been an option.

  Mira felt like crying.

  He must be angry.

  Yes, her young master was certainly someone who disliked being deceived. Mira could already imagine him looking at her with those eyes of his.

  Terrifying.

  She rubbed her shoulders. Just thinking about it gave her chills. At times, her young master’s gaze was so frightening that it could paralyze even her—a trained knight who had already awakened her Aura.

  How absurd.

  Just another testament to how incredible her young master was.

  If it hadn’t been for him…

  She ran her hand over her maid uniform, feeling along her torso. She had already been healed with divine power, so there was no wound there anymore, but the sensation of the cut lingered like phantom pain. If she had faced that opponent alone, she would certainly have died.

  No, I must have come very close to it.

  That last attack the mercenary landed on her—at that moment, she had no doubt she had felt Death’s embrace. It was a miracle she had survived long enough to receive medical treatment.

  It’s a good thing the young master managed to deal with him.

  As for that, she would have to ask him about the details later.

  Although, I doubt he’ll tell me.

  Trying to maintain a long conversation with the young master was like drawing water from stone. No exaggeration—he was so stingy with his words that sometimes Mira wondered if he thought they cost money.

  Hm? Now that I think about it…

  Mira noticed something strange. The ceiling above her head was not the ceiling of her room. Now that she was working as a maid, she had her own small room in the servants’ wing, located in the western part of the estate. It was simple and modest, with a plain wooden ceiling. Not this high, decorated ceiling with an opulent crystal chandelier hanging from it.

  And also…

  Unlike her usual nightclothes, why was she still wearing her maid uniform?

  Come to think of it…

  She didn’t remember returning to her room the previous night. Her last memory was being in a church with the young master and others who seemed to be clerics.

  But this ceiling is strangely familiar.

  It took only an instant for Mira to realize where she was.

  Don’t tell me this is…

  Her gaze shifted to the side. Sitting in a chair in the corner of the room was Lucius, legs crossed, arms folded, watching her with an unreadable expression.

  How long has he been there?!

  Had he been watching her in silence this entire time while she tossed and turned in bed like an idiot?

  How embarrassing!

  Mira pulled the blanket over her entire body. But that did nothing to cool the heat in her face. Slowly, she lowered it just enough for her eyes to remain visible.

  “Young master… how long have you been there?”

  “I live here,” Lucius replied expressionlessly.

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  Yes, of course he would answer like that.

  “What I mean is, how long have you been sitting there watching me?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “An hour.”

  “Why?!”

  Why hadn’t he woken her up? Why hadn’t he said he was there? Why had he simply watched in silence that humiliating display? Mira wanted to dig a hole and bury herself.

  “How is your body?” Lucius asked, changing the subject.

  Somehow, his lack of reaction eased her embarrassment slightly, allowing her to regain control of her expression.

  “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

  Lucius nodded without speaking.

  A brief silence filled the room—one that made Mira deeply uncomfortable.

  “Young master…”

  She bit her lip.

  Mira had been born in Andes, a small city in the southern part of the Empire. Her family had been quite poor, and seeing the talent she displayed with the sword from a young age, they had enrolled her in the city’s training center, hoping she could use that talent to give them a better life. She had not disappointed them. When she turned eighteen, she was invited to join the Imperial Academy—the greatest warrior training center in the entire Empire, no, on the entire continent.

  Despite her talent with the sword, it wasn’t as if Mira was particularly passionate about fighting. For her, it was simply a means of making a living—the method that suited her best, since she didn’t seem to have any special talent in any other field. With that mindset, she graduated as one of the top students in her class.

  After graduating, she was recruited by the Aster family and granted the title of family knight.

  To outsiders, it might have sounded grand. But in truth, despite being a family knight, Mira had had virtually no interaction with the main family members—except for Cédric, and only on the day of her knighting. From then on, she had spent most of her time in the most remote regions of the territory, hunting monsters and dealing with bandits.

  That was, until the incident.

  Although she rarely interacted with the family, rumors about their lives inevitably reached the subordinates of the family. Among them were comments about Lucius, the eldest son—how he was quiet and distant, and unlike his siblings, lacked real talent for martial arts.

  But such rumors hadn’t mattered much to Mira. She had only been concerned with doing her job and getting paid. Until the day Cédric summoned her to the estate.

  It was the second time she had stood before him. And this time, it was just the two of them. Needless to say, she was extremely nervous. His cold expression, sharp gaze, suffocating pressure—everything about the duke’s presence made her wish she were anywhere else.

  Fortunately, he hadn’t summoned her to reprimand her, but to assign her a new mission: he wanted her to accompany his eldest son, who had recently suffered a psychotic episode, and prevent him from harming himself again.

  Aside from the shocking revelation that the duke’s eldest son had attempted to take his own life, Mira had wondered why the duke had chosen her instead of one of the knights closer to the family. She assumed that, given Lucius’s unstable mental state, Cédric believed it would be better to have an outsider supervise him. Perhaps that was also why she had to pretend to be a maid—so Lucius wouldn’t suspect anything and wouldn’t feel as though he were being watched.

  Receiving the same pay as before without having to risk her life hunting bandits and monsters? She accepted the job without hesitation, and had followed Lucius ever since. That is, except for the time the young master argued with the duke, and she ended up punished alongside him—forced by the estate’s maids to work like a mule for several days. Just remembering that time made her want to cry.

  After finishing speaking, Mira let out a sigh of relief, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders now that she had revealed the whole truth to Lucius.

  Lucius, who had heard her entire story, remained silent, wearing his usual unreadable expression.

  “P-please say something, young master,” Mira said dejectedly, covering her face with the blanket.

  “What do you want me to say?” he asked with a faint smile.

  “A-anything. That you’re angry. That you feel betrayed. That you’re disappointed.” She couldn’t stop her voice from trembling. “That you never want to see me again. Just… just say something…”

  Anything would do. Anything was better than that cold, indifferent gaze of his.

  “You disappoint me,” Lucius finally said.

  “Ugh…”

  Beneath the blankets, Mira clenched the hem of her dress tightly. She had steeled herself, told herself she was prepared for any insult he might hurl at her. She would even accept being dismissed. But then… why? Why did it hurt so much? Why did hearing those words from him make her feel like this?

  “You are a disappointment,” Lucius repeated.

  Mira groaned. Those words, spoken in that indifferent tone, cut deeper than any blade.

  It was ironic. At first, she had accepted this job without much thought. To her, it had just been an easy way to earn money.

  But over time, she had genuinely come to enjoy the role.

  Following the young master every day, watching him give his all in training, seeing his effort and passion—it had ignited something within her. For the first time in a long while, she had felt the desire to wield a sword. Not for her family. Not for the duchy. But for herself—to do justice to her talent. So that next time, perhaps, she wouldn’t be dead weight to the young master.

  Next time…

  She felt like laughing. Would there even be a next time?

  “You deceived me.”

  “Yes…”

  Tears began streaming down her face. She tried to wipe them away, but it was futile. If anything, it only revealed her tear-streaked face to the young master.

  She wanted to beg for forgiveness. To say she was sorry, that it was her fault, that she didn’t want to be dismissed. But the words wouldn’t come.

  I don’t have the right.

  Even if she had been following orders, the truth was that she had deceived him, stayed by his side pretending to be something she wasn’t—and would have continued doing so if not for the incident the previous night. As such, she couldn’t ask for forgiveness. She could only accept the consequences.

  And then, the young master delivered his verdict.

  “Stupid girl.”

  “Hm?”

  From beneath the covers, Mira looked at him in confusion. There was a trace of… amusement in his voice?

  He wasn’t angry?

  She peeked at his expression, but it might as well have been a blank mask—there was nothing to read. Even so, she had the impression… that he was… smiling?

  “Do you think,” the young master said slowly, “that your clumsy little performance was enough to fool anyone?”

  “Hm?!”

  Mira’s eyes widened. She was actually quite good at acting. But putting aside her bruised pride, what he meant was—

  “It was obvious you weren’t a maid.”

  “That’s a lie!” Mira shouted. “Ugh, no, I mean—”

  Lucius’s cold gaze silenced her. Best not to pursue that line of argument.

  “So… you’re not angry with me?” she asked hesitantly, only the corners of her eyes visible.

  The young master clicked his tongue.

  “Tell me,” he said, “from the moment you saw me, your objective—setting aside whether you were capable of it—was to deceive me by pretending to be just a maid, wasn’t it?”

  She shifted uncomfortably.

  “That’s right…”

  “Then why would I be angry?”

  He spoke as if it were obvious, but she honestly didn’t understand. Even so…

  “Then… I can still continue as your personal maid, young master?”

  “Obviously,” he replied with a hint of irritation, as if forced to restate the obvious. “And now that this farce of pretending to be just a maid is over, you’ll have much more to do.”

  Knowing he wasn’t angry should have made her immensely happy. But looking at the cold smile on his face, Mira had the strange feeling that her life had just become much more difficult.

  And somehow, she didn’t hate that.

  “Let’s go,” the young master said, standing up.

  “Where to, young master?”

  “To train, obviously.”