The Male Lead’s Attached Maid Is Too Competent - Chapter 40

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Male Lead’s Devoted Maid is Too Competent Episode 040

Chase fell into deep thought.

The fact that people were satisfied. It meant more than simply filling their stomachs. Chase continued walking, this time heading toward the village outskirts.

There, he could see the castle walls. They were high and sturdy walls. Those walls served to protect Acrasia from external threats.

‘Monster defense is also perfectly maintained.’

Roella’s last words came to mind.

As he approached the castle walls, he could see knights standing guard. Somehow, he was even getting excited now. He had traveled all over the country, but this was the first territory like this. The knights greeted him.

“Excuse me.”

Chase approached one of the knights.

“Have there been any recent monster attacks?”

“Yes, there was one a month ago. But we repelled it without major damage.”

“How so?”

“His Grace the Grand Duke strengthened the defense system. Moreover, thanks to the increased Knight Order budget, we have many more knight applicants. All equipment has been newly fitted, and the castle walls are currently under continuous repair. With increased guard personnel, the security system has also improved. Thanks to this, the monsters couldn’t penetrate into the village.”

There was pride in the knight’s voice.

Chase looked up at the castle walls.

Solid, systematic, and perfect defensive lines.

Roella’s words were correct.

The Northern Territory was stable. The economy was growing, the people were satisfied, and monster defense was being handled well. He had never seen such a territory. What was even more surprising was that all of this had been accomplished in a short period of time.

It was evidence of what an excellent ruler Christen was. Or perhaps he had gained an excellent collaborator. Somehow, he had a strong premonition that the protagonist would be Roella.

Chase looked toward the Grand Duke’s Castle.

In the distance, the magnificent Grand Duke’s Castle was sparkling in the sunlight.

‘Bloodline is important, but ability is more important.’

Roella’s voice echoed in his ears once again. It was also the first time he had seen a noble say such things. Noble rights are inherited through bloodline, and they regard it as a badge of honor. High-ranking nobles were doing their best not to let go of that power.

Certainly, Rentro might have inherited Acrasia’s blood, but he didn’t have the ability to govern like this.

But Christen was different.

He had actually transformed the Northern Territory. He had made the people happy. He had made the Northern Territory strong.

But no matter how excellent Christen was, he couldn’t live forever.

Someday, a successor would be needed.

And as long as that problem remained unsolved, the Imperial Family’s anxiety would surely continue. Then wouldn’t it be enough to just remove that anxiety? Chase smiled coldly.

“Your Highness, it’s time to return.”

The attendant spoke carefully.

Chase nodded and began retracing his steps back to the Grand Duke’s Castle. His mind was complicated, making him want to walk naturally.

Chase thought of Roella.

She was not simply an aide.

She appeared to be someone who supported Christen by his side, advised him, and sometimes served as his shield. If such a person were by one’s side, wouldn’t anyone be bound to change? What if such an excellent person were by the Emperor’s side?

The Northern Territory was far more interesting than he had thought.

Chase was also beginning to wonder what would have changed by the time they left this place.

* * *

Late at night, Elisha’s room in the Grand Duke’s Castle.

Elisha sat in the windowless room, relying on a single candle for light. Her hand moved slowly over an old cloth piece spread across the bed. A map of the Northern Territory was drawn on it.

It was a map that Elisha had created by giving money to the maids, giving money to the coachman, and also giving money to those who came and went as errand boys. The locations of major wells, the flow of rivers, and places where people frequently gathered were marked.

Elisha had been quietly gathering information all this time. Her hand trembled as she examined the map, pointing at various locations.

Elisha had decided to reclaim everything that should rightfully be hers. All of it should have belonged to Elisha.

‘I need a turning point.’

Elisha’s eyes gleamed coldly in the darkness.

In the current peaceful situation, there was no opportunity for her to step forward. Roella had already succeeded in improving the Northern Territory’s sanitation, revitalizing the economy, and developing the city. Everything was running smoothly and Roella was establishing herself in the north.

There was no room for her to interfere.

‘Then I’ll have to create an opening.’

When she lived in the slums, she had witnessed it firsthand. People who caught and ate rats living in the sewers would suffer from high fever days later, cough up blood, and eventually die.

At the time, she didn’t know why it happened, but she learned later. That rats carried disease. Still, when there was nothing else to eat, there was no choice. Elisha had caught rats for a week to fill her starving stomach.

And she had contracted that disease too.

Days later, her body became hot like a fireball and she lost consciousness. She thought she would die. In fact, a friend who had eaten rats with her did die.

But Elisha survived.

It was because of a piece of bread she had accidentally found in a garbage pile. It was bread covered with blue mold, reeking with a disgusting smell, but she had nothing to eat and was so hungry that she put even that in her mouth. Even if she died right away, she wanted to fill her stomach before dying. And surprisingly, days later her fever broke and her cough stopped.

‘That’s the cure.’

Elisha was certain of it.

Blue mold. With just that, she could cure the disease that rats carried.

A cold smile spread across Elisha’s lips.

There was a way for her to become a hero. By revealing the cure that could treat the disease and saving people. People would come to look up to Elisha.

Elisha had finished preparing to become heaven. She had already figured out the guards’ patrol patterns, so by using the maids’ passages, she could leave the castle without being detected by anyone.

Elisha quietly opened the door.

* * *

The slums of the Northern Territory were still dark and gloomy.

The business that Roella had started hadn’t reached this place yet. Garbage was piled up in the narrow alleyways, and foul odors vibrated from the sewers. Between the crumbling buildings, people with hungry eyes crouched.

Elisha walked deep into the alley with familiar steps.

This was where she had spent her childhood. The place where she fell asleep every night listening to the sound of rats rummaging through garbage. The place where she would cry from hunger until she fell asleep from exhaustion.

Elisha stopped in front of an old sewer entrance.

Beyond the iron grate, darkness gaped open. The faint sound of flowing water could be heard, and mixed in between was the sound of something moving.

It was rats.

Elisha put on gloves. Then she carefully opened the iron grate. The rusted metal creaked as it slowly opened.

Elisha entered into the darkness.

Inside the sewer was more horrible than she had imagined. Filth rising to her ankles, a stench that pierced her nose, slimy substances flowing down the walls. And dozens of rats scurrying around between them.

Elisha entered expressionlessly. She was someone accustomed to such things.

Elisha spread open the sack and grabbed the tail of a dead rat, lifting it up. Its large black body glistened with filth.

Just collecting the corpses of dead rats was enough. The slums naturally had more rats and cockroaches than people. Elisha moved diligently, gathering rat corpses. Some of them might have still been alive, as the sack wriggled.

These filthy rats were Elisha’s hope.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————