Chapter 01
I’m screwed.
That was the conclusion I came to after careful consideration…
Careful consideration, my foot. I didn’t even need that to know.
I’m completely screwed.
“I didn’t expect a rat like you to sneak into my mansion.”
A handsome face observed me with a mix of amusement and disbelief. He looked like an angel straight out of a painting—but I knew full well that if things went wrong, he could kill me without hesitation.
Meanwhile, my hand holding the gun trembled violently. It was a mana bullet, powered by magic—the only weakness of Eden Croydon. My heart pounded like it was about to burst.
The moment he recognized the mana bullet, Eden Croydon’s face twisted into something like a smile. Locking eyes with him, I instinctively staggered backward.
“Don’t come any closer. If you do, I’ll shoot!”
“Go ahead. If you can—”
Bang!!
“…Huh?”
“……”
“U-Um… Master?”
Exactly one year since I transmigrated into this world.
I ended up killing the hidden villain of the novel…
The story of how I ended up in this novel world is, frankly, cliché and overdone.
“A college student gets hit by a truck from another world and wakes up inside the novel they were reading the night before.”
Yeah. That kind of story.
The problem is this:
The person I possessed was a maid working in the mansion of the novel’s hidden villain.
And that villain? A textbook antagonist whose life goal was world destruction, the kind who thinks, “Everyone except me should just die.”
The first thought I had upon waking up in this massive, tomb-like, eerie mansion—so silent it didn’t even have the sound of a mouse—
‘I’m so screwed…’
And the thought that followed?
‘No, seriously, I’m really screwed…’
I couldn’t stay in this mansion. The owner didn’t just lack a sense of responsibility—he actively wished for everyone, including his own servants, to disappear from this world.
On top of that, a few years later, the protagonist of the original story would come to defeat the villain. There was no reason for me to remain in a place that would soon become a battlefield.
So after several days of serious deliberation…
I came up with a rather ambitious plan:
‘Rob the villain’s safe, make a fortune, and get the hell out of here!’
To do that, I needed access to the master’s bedroom, where the safe was located. And the maids assigned to that room were carefully handpicked by the head maid.
So first, I had to earn her trust.
One year later.
I worked harder than ever before, pouring in effort and dedication to gain the head maid’s trust. I volunteered before being asked, took on tasks everyone else avoided, and gave it everything I had.
My coworkers would whisper, “Luana’s really gone all out,” but I didn’t care. Once I looted that safe full of gold and treasures, I’d disappear from this world without a trace.
And finally, after exactly one year, my efforts paid off.
The head maid acknowledged me and gave me the title of “Maid of the Month.” Amazing me! Well done, me!
Not long after, I achieved the ultimate goal:
I was assigned to clean the bedroom of Eden Croydon.
At last.
Today.
“Today, you’ll be in charge of cleaning the Marquis’s bedroom.”
“Yes, I won’t disappoint you!”
Heh heh heh. The day of reckoning has arrived.
After tonight, I’ll empty that villain’s safe and spend the rest of my life relaxing by a warm southern beach.
‘To be fair, he pays well and even offers benefits you can’t find elsewhere… but his personality is trash…’
And that’s not all. He’s also harboring the grand ambition of destroying the world.
As I carried an armful of cleaning tools down the hallway leading to Eden Croydon’s bedroom, I kept justifying my plan in my head.
Eden Croydon, the hidden villain, was a marquis of the Julthan Empire, holding countless titles and positions. Needless to say, he was incredibly wealthy.
So why would someone like him want to destroy the world?
‘Hmm… deep-rooted misanthropy since birth?’
This world ran on mana. Every human was born with it, though in varying amounts.
Naturally, powerful noble families were composed of those with strong mana. The Croydon family, where I worked, was one of them.
But for some reason, Eden Croydon—the eldest son—was born without a single drop of mana.
He was what people called a “mana incompatible.”
And even among them, his case was severe. His body couldn’t even tolerate the ambient mana that others naturally absorbed. If exposed to high concentrations, his body would malfunction uncontrollably.
‘So did people ever treat him like a human being?’
Though the rightful heir of a marquisate, Eden lived a life where he was never truly acknowledged as a noble.
Even after inheriting the title upon his father’s death, he remained an outcast in noble society.
Because of his condition, the mansion was a mana-free zone. All servants working there were also mana-incompatible, though to a lesser degree.
‘Though the original owner of this body, Luana Polly, was definitely mana-incompatible when she was hired…’
But things changed after I possessed her.
For some reason, I could sense mana more clearly—and even control it.
Maybe it was because the soul had changed. That was my best guess.
Well, whatever.
All I needed to focus on was looting Eden Croydon’s safe tonight and living the rest of my life in comfort.
The protagonists could handle stopping the world’s destruction.
‘God, please forgive me for becoming a righteous thief today!’
And so—
Taking advantage of the master’s absence, I snuck into his bedroom under the pretense of cleaning.
Using my keen observation, I unlocked the safe just as I had memorized before.
Inside, I expected to find piles upon piles of gold—
“…Huh? Where did all the money go?”
The gold that should have been stacked like a mountain was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, all I found were old, worn pieces of paper.
Confused and disappointed, I reached out.
“What is this… just a bunch of docu—”
“Since when did a rat like you start hiding in my bedroom?”
At that moment, a cold voice came from behind me.
My entire body froze as if struck by lightning.
‘My plan was supposed to be perfect…!’
Until just now.
“What are you?”
The chilling voice echoed through the room, making my whole body tremble.
Without thinking, I pulled out the gun hidden beneath my skirt.
As I turned and aimed it, our eyes met.
A face so beautiful it seemed divine, as if it had stepped out of a sacred painting.
A faint smile playing on his lips as he looked at me with interest.
The hidden villain of this novel.
The master of this mansion.
Eden Croydon.
