It was a wretched life.
I lost my parents at a young age and drifted from one distant relative’s home to another.
To gain independence as quickly as possible, I dropped out of high school.
After that, unable to find a proper job, I kept doing nothing but part-time work—until one day, on my usual way home, I was hit by a traffic accident.
‘I thought I’d lived pretty hard, in my own way.’
To think my life could be summed up in just three lines.
It felt hollow and unfair. If I’d known it would end like this, I should have just lived carelessly!
But regret is always too late, no matter how fast it comes. A massive truck was already barreling toward me, and I died right there—
“Oh my, you!”
Died—
“You’re finally awake!”
……What is going on here?
I just blinked foolishly.
* * *
Her name was Lilian.
Her occupation was maid.
Two days ago, while cleaning the stairs, she slipped on her own, struck her head, and lost consciousness.
This was the record of the body I had possessed.
‘At first, you weren’t even breathing—do you have any idea how shocked we were? And what was with you not waking up for two whole days!’
The girl who had been beside me when I first opened my eyes chattered on by herself without my even asking anything.
Thanks to that, I could roughly piece together the situation without any particular effort.
‘The owner of this body…… must have died then, right?’
I supposed the “real Lilian” must have died at the moment she stopped breathing. After all, it seemed I, too, had possessed this body the moment I died in my original world.
‘Oh, wait a moment. I’ll go bring the head maid!’
The girl, who had been chattering away by herself for quite a while, seemed to realize something and hurried out of the room.
Soon, the person called the head maid entered. The middle-aged woman, who looked strict at a glance, checked my condition roughly and tossed out a single remark.
‘You may come back starting tomorrow.’
At those words, I unconsciously nodded. It felt as if that was what I was supposed to do.
And so, the present.
“Heave-ho!”
I was working hard at the laundry.
Scrub, scrub—
‘Is this right……?’
To think that after finally possessing someone in another world, the job I’d be doing would be laundry!
According to the younger coworker I worked with, it was an unwritten rule that when you opened your eyes in another world, someone would call you “Milady!” and that was how it began. Far from being a young lady, I was a maid doing laundry the moment I came to my senses.
Apparently, this whole possession thing picks and chooses its people.
‘Tch.’
It was a little unfair, but this too had its own advantages.
“Huh? Lilian, you mean?”
Because I could naturally dig up information about the Lilian I had possessed.
‘It would be strange if a person changed too much overnight.’
Currently, I knew nothing at all about Lilian. At least, thanks to the routines ingrained in the original body, I could wear a maid’s uniform and blend in here, but that would only last a day or two. I couldn’t keep relying on Lilian’s habits forever.
‘Should I just say I don’t remember anything?’
It wasn’t that I hadn’t considered it.
But the image of the head maid looking indifferently at Lilian, who had woken after two days, made me give up on that idea immediately. There was a 99% chance I’d be thrown out, with them saying they couldn’t keep a girl who wasn’t in her right mind.
‘It’s already an unfamiliar world; it would be trouble if I got kicked out of here.’
Therefore, for now, I judged that the best course was to be as cautious as possible here. It’s absolutely not because I’m scared of the head maid. Really!
“W-well, ever since I collapsed once, I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind? I even wonder what kind of presence I’ve been to others until now…….”
“Ahh—”
“Actually, ever since I hit my head, my memories seem to have gotten a bit fuzzy. Of course! It’s not serious, though.”
“Oh, dear……!”
Thankfully, the other maids deeply sympathized with my clumsy excuse. Then, one by one, they began to speak.
“Honestly…… you were a bit clumsy at maid work.”
“It felt like you’d learned it half-heartedly somewhere.”
“But you were diligent! You were a bit shy, but you quietly helped others well.”
“Right! You had good stamina, and you were strong, too.”
“It’s because you’ve only been here three months. If you stay a little longer, you’ll definitely get skilled!”
What began as rather frank remarks had somehow turned into words of encouragement for Lilian. But I put only the information I needed from among them into my head.
Quiet and shy, but still diligent and kind—Lilian the maid. For someone whose work skills were bad, it was a pretty decent reputation. And strangely, her personality seemed similar to mine…….
“By the way, Lilian, your laundry skills have improved a lot, haven’t they?”
“Oh my, they have, haven’t they?”
“Before, it was either nothing came out at all, or you scrubbed until the fabric was worn out. It was always one of the two!”
“I-is that so? Haha…….”
Lilian, you really were bad at work.
I smiled awkwardly and sent a silent thank-you to the owner of the laundry shop where I’d once worked part-time.
‘Thank you, owner of Evergreen Laundry! Thanks to you, it looks like I won’t be fired right away.’
After the laundry ended like that.
We set off again to find the next task. This time it was cleaning, and after that, dishwashing was scheduled.
‘So the size of the house really is proportional to the amount of housework, huh?’
Still, break times and meal times in between were thoroughly guaranteed.
I didn’t miss this opportunity and pricked up my ears. After all, the juiciest information tends to pop out during this kind of hard labor!
“Still, the Pellium Grand Ducal estate is better than other places. The place I was at before, they told four people to clean that huge mansion, you know?”
“Good heavens, four people is too cruel!”
“It’s always places like that that are ridiculously picky about cleanliness.”
“Ugh, it’s horrifying just to think about.”
While the maids shuddered, I filed away another piece of information.
‘The Pellium Grand Ducal estate…….’
This place seemed similar to the romance-fantasy world the younger coworker I worked with often talked about. They had also gone on about a northern grand duke or something.
“When will he return this time, I wonder.”
“His Highness the Grand Duke? Who knows…….”
“He’ll return soon, I suppose.”
“Sigh, around then, the head maid will get incredibly sensitive again.”
From the looks of it, the Grand Duke was currently absent from the estate. No wonder—even after wandering around all day, I hadn’t caught even a glimpse of the master of the house.
Just then, a baby-faced maid cautiously spoke up.
“By the way…… isn’t our Grand Duke far too handsome?”
No sooner had she spoken than the senior maids shook their heads in unison, as if they’d planned it. Then they began to add a word each.
“Tsk, tsk, you still haven’t seen His Highness’s true nature.”
“Be careful, you. There’s more than one girl who tried to approach His Highness and was thrown out without even a farewell.”
“You know Karen from the other day? They say she got kicked out because of that too.”
“After all, a rose is most beautiful when seen from a distance.”
Hmm, I’d better be careful.
It seemed the master of this house was as scary as he was handsome. At times like this, the best policy was simply not to stand out.
“Lilian, if you’re done there, let’s take a short break too.”
“Ah, okay!”
I answered half a beat late and hurriedly gathered the cleaning tools. And as I walked, I thought.
‘All things considered…… this isn’t bad, is it?’
No, honestly speaking, it was a pretty good life.
Compared to my previous life, where every interview I applied to ended in rejection and I juggled three or four part-time jobs, being a maid here was practically a full-time position.
And didn’t they say this estate had better treatment than others? That was true from my own experience as well.
‘They provide room and board, make sure we get proper rest time, and the people I work with seem kind too.’
And the most important fact.
‘They said the Pellium Grand Ducal estate pays well!’
When I casually asked the maids with me, they said the pay was more than double that of other places.
‘If I work diligently for a few years, I can even achieve my dream of owning a home?’
All right, I’ve decided!
I clenched my fist firmly. I wasn’t sure exactly where this was, or how I’d ended up possessing Lilian’s body, but…….
‘Since it’s come to this, I’m going to start a new life here!’
—That is what I resolved exactly two days and seven hours ago.
[ For the time being, report, without omission, with whom the Grand Duke speaks and what is said. ]
Until I found this utterly suspicious secret letter.
“This is…….”
A sequence of sentences written in ordinary handwriting, seemingly playful on the surface. As soon as I reflexively decoded the code hidden inside, I realized.
Lilian, were you a spy……?
