“Afraid of ghosts, you say?”
A smirk played on the Young Master’s lips.
“Aren’t you afraid of them, Young Master?”
“Of a mere ghost?”
Wow, the Young Master is really brave!
As I sent him an admiring gaze, he let out a huff through his nose.
“Anyway, so?”
“Ah, yes! As I was saying, my mind changed after meeting you.”
“It’s probably because of the meal.”
“Hehe, well, that too. But even though you were angry because I was rude, you didn’t resort to violence.”
Of course, I couldn’t deny that the delicious meal played a very high percentage in my decision.
“All the nobles I met outside, except for Priscilla, were scary people… Priscilla is the Lord’s daughter I mentioned earlier. But even Priscilla never shared a meal with me.”
That was only natural. This was a class-based society. The idea of a noble and a servant sitting together at the same table was an unthinkable breach of common sense.
But the Young Master was different. I pondered over which words to use and slowly continued.
“You’re the first person to treat me like this… um, like a normal person? Like a human being. So, if you’ll allow it, I’d like to stay here for a long time.”
The Young Master remained silent for a moment before snapping at me.
“In the end, you’re just staying because it makes your own life easier.”
“D-does it sound like that?”
Now that I heard it put that way, it sounded true, so I gave an awkward laugh. Just then, the Young Master’s gaze turned toward the window.
“It seems the delivery has arrived.”
“I’ll be right back! Please continue your meal.”
As I headed down to the first floor, I suddenly glanced back at the Young Master’s room.
“There wasn’t even a notification that it arrived, so how did the Young Master know the delivery was here?”
Was there some kind of sign that appeared that I didn’t know about?
Reaching the first floor, I opened the door leading to the manor’s backyard. When the food was delivered, it had been placed here in a basket, so I assumed it would be the same this time.
However, an entirely new room had appeared.
“Wh-what is this?”
Startled, I looked around. A completely new space had unfolded before my eyes.
“It’s magic!”
I was in awe. A world where magic could actually create a space that didn’t exist before! Inside, the items I had listed in the <Emergency Request> were perfectly displayed. The maid uniforms I had ordered in various sizes—just in case—were hanging on a magnificent golden rack. On the shelf next to it were shoes with pointed or rounded toes, and beside those, various types of women’s underwear were on display.
“I never ordered lace underwear like this…!”
Furthermore, it was a single layer of lace so sheer it was almost embarrassing. The bottoms were even “T-back” style made of thin strings.
“I’m so glad the Young Master didn’t see this.”
Just then, a single letter placed on a shelf inside the room caught my eye.
「Since I do not know your preference, I have sent a variety. Please leave any unnecessary items in the room. This space will disappear at sunset.」
I don’t know what exactly it says, but thank you for the delivery.
‘I wish I could use magic, too.’
I had tried several things to see what I could do in Liliata’s body after falling into this strange world, but I didn’t seem to have any particularly extraordinary abilities. As I looked around the room, I stood in front of a full-length mirror.
Light gray hair without a hint of a curl, and light violet eyes mixed with gray. A stranger’s face was reflected in the mirror.
‘It looks a bit like my original face, but then again, it doesn’t.’
Because the colors had changed, the image looked completely different.
‘Why does it have to be such a hazy color? Just like a ghost.’
I furrowed my brows in dissatisfaction.
‘Let’s just get changed.’
I tossed off the duvet I had been wrapped in.
“I cannot enter the manor personally, but this way, I can check the status of the new servant.”
Immediately after submitting his report, Marcissus, the Vice-Captain of the Imperial Mages, left the Captain’s office and ordered his subordinates to prepare the items to be sent to the manor. Then, a good idea struck him. He decided to include a magical item among the goods to be delivered.
What he sent was a type of surveillance mirror that allowed one to check the appearance of the other party from a distance. By the rules, this was a unilateral action he shouldn’t have taken without permission from his superiors, but he felt this verification was absolutely necessary. Judging by the contents of the <Emergency Request> alone, the mental state of the servant who wrote it seemed very unstable.
It was a bizarre phenomenon that hadn’t been witnessed for years. He felt the need to understand this clearly for the sake of the future. Moreover, there was no mage in the Empire who could match his long-distance magic, so there was no way a servant from a serf background would notice.
“They should have checked it by now.”
Leaning back in his chair in his private office, he snapped his fingers toward the mirror hanging on the wall. The surface of the mirror shimmered like water, and soon, the scenery on the other side began to appear.
“Now, let’s see what state this new servant is in—”
As he was leisurely staring at the mirror, he was suddenly startled by a woman’s face filling the frame. Ash-gray hair that was a bit too dull to be called silver, a white face without the tan expected of a serf, and eyes that were a blend of light purple and gray. The woman gave off a mysterious aura as hazy as her colors.
“I-I thought it was a ghost…”
He clutched his pounding chest.
“The new servant was a woman?”
He didn’t know the personal details of the servants working at the manor. He would have known if he had seen the contents of the second <Emergency Request>, but he had been busy with an outside schedule, so he simply ordered the mirror to be included and let his team handle the rest.
‘I thought it would be a man again this time.’
The woman in the mirror looked much younger than him, and he was in his late twenties. They usually selected male servants to increase the survival rate even by a small margin, but it seemed it had been truly difficult to find anyone this time.
“Looking at her, she’ll be lucky to last a week, let alone a month…”
I wonder if she’ll hold out until the next volunteer is found? Just as he clicked his tongue, the woman—who had been pressing her face close to the mirror—moved away.
“What is she wrapped in?”
As if his mistake in thinking she was a ghost wasn’t entirely a mistake, the woman was wrapped in a white duvet with only her face peeking out.
“Why is she wrapped in a duvet?”
His brow furrowed sharply. Perhaps that, too, was one of the abnormal symptoms. Quickly grabbing a pen, he recorded the symptoms in a notebook he had already laid out.
[Abnormal Symptoms of the 616th Servant]
Wrapped in a duvet with only the face showing.
“Wait, isn’t that a sealing formula engraved on that duvet?”
Catching a glimpse of something on the duvet, he leaped up from his chair. The magic circle embroidered in gold thread on the duvet the woman was wearing was distinct. It was a formula used to forcibly control mana.
“There shouldn’t be a duvet like that in the servant’s room?”
Then where on earth did that duvet come from…? Just as his expression grew serious, the woman in the mirror tossed off the duvet. What was revealed beneath was a bathrobe.
“What?!”
Marcissus let out a scream of shock and fell back from the mirror, his face turning beet red.
“Wh-wh-wh-what! Why is she walking around like that…?!”
Stuttering in his panic, he regained his composure, wondering if this, too, was one of the abnormal symptoms. He quickly recorded it in the notebook.
[Abnormal Symptoms of the 616th Servant]
Wrapped in a duvet with only the face showing.
Wearing only a bathrobe inside the duvet.
“Just what kind of curse has she fallen under?”
