Chapter 13

Catherine Lane.

One of the senior maids who began working at Blackwood Manor a year before Isabelle and I.

In other words, she was one of the three bitch-ass seniors who had been fooling me, leaving me to handle the kitchen chores alone.

“…….”

“Hehehehe…!”

She freaked out, tears streaming down her face as soon as she made eye contact with me.

Why on earth do I keep getting unwanted guests in the kitchen today?

I never thought she’d come out this early to spy on me.

“Senior Catherine, right?”

“Yes, yes…. That’s right, miss…”

“…miss…?”

“Oh, no…. So sorry, miss…. I’m sorry….”

“……?”

I was surprised to hear her talk to me respectfully out of the blue, but she apologized to me, bowing even lower.

Even though she seemed timid, I didn’t think she was the kind of person who would be respectful to a junior maid.

Then again, until yesterday, she spoke to me both casually and semi-formally. I can’t help but be puzzled by her sudden change in demeanor.

Catherine Lane.

To be honest, she was a non-existent character in the original game.

It wasn’t until I started working in the kitchen that I realized she existed in the first place.

She had never appeared in the main story of Luminor Academy, not even in the sub-story, not even in Lilith’s exclusive route, and not even in any of the other releases or aggregates of the game.

She was, most likely, never even depicted in the official illustrations.

If there is any trace of her there, it’s probably with her as a background character in a cutscene somewhere with no face.

So when I saw that there was a character like this next to Ariana and Alicia, I was a bit surprised.

Unlike Catherine, at least the first two characters were people you’d encounter along the Lilith route.

In Luminor Academy, these bitches were maids who sympathized with Ethan to harass Lilith and to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn’t escape.

Now, while I’ve seen Lilith’s ending dozens of times, and their names and likenesses were familiar to me, I never noticed that Catherine was ever around the two.

Perhaps she left just before the main plot for various reasons or something.

Whatever the case may have been in the original, from the impression I have of her now, she’s a character I honestly don’t care for.

To me, she was one of the three senior maids who had slapped me to do their work.

In the long run, the two would likely prove to be more of a nuisance to me. In any case, she wasn’t much different from the other two.

…Or, in a sense, maybe she was a little worse.

Especially in that, she’d been snooping around behind my back as she doubted that I’d done a perfect kitchen job for two days straight.

“Senior Catherine.”

“Yes!”

“What brings you to the kitchen at this time? If I recall correctly, isn’t the seniors’ start time six in the morning?”

“I apologize…. I apologize, Ms. Lilith….”

“…Ms. Lilith?”

“Oh, no…. Li, Ms. Lilith….”

…I can’t seem to get any sort of conversation going.

Every time she says something, she’s wringing her hands as if she’s some sort of mortal sinner, and I can’t get the conversation going.

I think the first thing I need to do is find out why this senior maid is placing herself below me.

I thought it would be best to clear up the misunderstandings one by one.

“I’d like to ask you something first, Senior Catherine.”

“Oh, don’t say it, Miss….”

“What on earth are you doing? Besides, you’ve been talking politely to me since a while ago, and you weren’t until yesterday, were you?”

“Uh, until yesterday…. because I hadn’t realized that Miss Lilith was a noblewoman….”

…Me? Nobility?

The senior maid’s remarks sent a chill down my spine.

Wondering what she would say with her open mouth, I listened for a while longer.

Depending on the content of the words coming out of Catherine’s mouth, it might be necessary to force her to shut up.

“…Could you tell me why you think I’m a noble, Catherine?”

“Look, I saw it….”

“…What?”@@novelbin@@

“I saw you, using, um, magic….”

“Magic?”

“The way you organize the dining room with Clean, and the way you trim potato skins with magic in the kitchen, ma’am…. Ma-magic is a blessing that can only be used by nobles, so of course Lady Lilith is a noble….”

…Awww.

So you just assumed I was a noble because you saw me using magic even though I’m nothing of the sort.

Not that she had any legitimate proof that I was a noble.

If anything, it was a good thing. At least I didn’t have to “force” her to shut up.

Still, I didn’t particularly like the idea of being caught using magic.

“Senior Catherine.”

“Now, I’ve done wrong, Miss Lilith… Please forgive me for my sins….”

“That’s not what I want to talk about, so just calm down.”

“I really didn’t know… and I didn’t do it because I wanted to either…. I’ll be doing all the kitchen work for the rest of the year….”

“Okay, well, you’re going to have to hear my side of the story first, senior, because there’s no way that’s going to work….”

“Ehhhh? Unlike Ariana and Alicia…. I…. there will definitely be a punishment for me…! The moment my master realizes that I left things to Master Ethan and Lady Lilith…”

“Alright, just shut up and listen to me first!”

“Hmph, hmph…!!!”

I HAD to yell. I was frustrated that she wasn’t listening to anything I said and was only talking about herself.

Only then did Catherine stop talking and shut her mouth tightly.

To put it nicely, she doesn’t always understand at once.

“I understand what you’re talking about, Senior Catherine.”

“…….”

“First of all, since I’m busy preparing the ingredients for today’s meal, why don’t we talk about it in detail later tonight? I can clear up any misconceptions Senior Catherine has about me by then….”

Pssshhhhh.

…The sound of water?

I listened carefully to see if it was a leak in the kitchen, but it seemed to be coming from inside the prep room, not the kitchen.

To add insult to injury, as soon as I realized it was closer than I thought, an expletive escaped my mouth.

“Oh, fuck.”

“Sorry…. I’m so sorry…!”

Catherine’s maid’s uniform was soaking wet from the center as she slumped to the floor, making a yellow circle on the prep room floor.

…What a fucking baby.

I used Clean to wipe away the traces of the asshole maid who pissed on the floor in frustration. I could barely get a word in.

Catherine, who was now dressed in a slightly cleaner maid’s outfit than when she first put it on, spoke in a deliberately nervous voice.

“…Next time, don’t make a mess.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry….”

“..and stop apologizing while constantly avoiding my eyes, it’s only making me feel more uncomfortable.”

“…….”

Catherine, who was told not to apologize, had kept her mouth shut and remained silent.

I didn’t have a very good impression of her to begin with, but that incident just now has lowered my opinion of her considerably.

It’s bad enough that she’s leaving a child behind, but now, she’s watching a junior maid clean up a senior maid’s piss on the floor.

Mind you, this is a kitchen maid and a babysitter.

It’s a good thing I had Clean. Without it, I would have had to mop up the stinking liquid myself.

Washing a pee-soaked maid’s uniform would have been impossible.

It was a generous gesture on my part to wash the maid’s clothes. I had a vague sense of guilt that I’d made her break down by yelling at her.

“Senior Catherine.”

“Please stop talking to me….”

“We’ll talk about it later, after work, and don’t awkwardly call me some weird title like “Miss”.”

“How dare I do such a thing to a noble lady….”

“…If you don’t want to do it, then don’t do it.”

“……!”

Catherine nodded her head urgently as she finally understood what was being said.

I think I finally have a better idea of how to handle this timid maid.

I now realize that she never gets anything the first time, so the most effective way to communicate with her is to speak firmly and forcefully from the start.

There are two main misconceptions she has about me right now.

One is that she thinks I’m not a maid, rather, that I’m some noble lady from somewhere posing as a maid.

The other was that she thought that Ethan and I had taken care of the work she had left behind.

It didn’t really matter if the second misconception was correct or not, but the first was better left unsolved.

I’ve already been caught using magic, and there’s no point in glossing over that part.

It would be more effective to keep the misconception of my nobility alive and use that as leverage to shut them up.

“First of all, the fact that I’m a noble isn’t something that should be known to others, so don’t let them know, Senior Catherine.”

“You’re ……?”

“Don’t ask why. If you’re not careful about it, the next time information about me being a noble leaks out somewhere, I’ll naturally be the first to suspect you. …I’m sure it wouldn’t be very pleasant for a mere maid to go head-to-head with a noble.”

“I’ll never tell anyone, Lady Lilith, I swear!”

“If you really care about hiding it, you should drop the title, and revert to your normal manner of speech immediately.”

“Uh, how…how could I….”

“…Do it.”

“Hmph!”

Catherine reflexively grabs herself between the thighs in surprise.

Still, her straight-faced style of speaking had worked to some extent, and the next words that came out of her mouth weren’t a bunch of titles and honorifics.

“Oh, okay…. Lilith….”

“Well done, Senior Catherine.”

“…….”

I’m a little uneasy about that, but that should be enough to keep her quiet for now.

I’ll have to pull her aside after work today to discuss the details.

Right now, I’ve got today’s worth of veggies to chop, so I don’t have time to waste on a leisurely chat with Catherine like this…

“…………ah.”

An involuntary sigh escaped my lips as soon as I saw the time on the hourglass.

The number 5 was already clearly visible, and the number 6 was starting to become semi-transparent.

With the sound of footsteps outside in the hallway, I could tell that the maids were getting ready for an early breakfast.

I’d spent too much time thinking about Ethan’s hunger, and then Catherine popped in, and now I’d lost track of time.

The time on the hourglass indicated that it was less than half an hour before the other two senior maids were due to arrive…

…and I hadn’t even started on the vegetables that needed to be prepped.

“Oh, this is going to be crazy….”

30 minutes until Aria and Alicia got to work.

I somehow had to get all the vegetables prepped in that time without raising suspicion…

…and with only this one sorry-looking maid to help.