The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 57

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

Chapter 57

The old man collapsed onto the sofa half a beat faster than I could react in surprise.

I reflexively rushed to him and checked his breathing. Fortunately, he wasn’t dead.

‘Right, he’s not dead, but…’

I kept my eyes on Lu.

He was calm. He stood in the exact same spot where he had first stepped into the drawing room, arms crossed.

If there was anything different from before, it was that his cold golden gaze—one I had never seen before—was fixed on a spot on the floor.

The mocking smile that habitually played at the corners of his mouth. His long eyes shadowed with melancholy. His nose, not just high but sharp. His eyebrows that didn’t even twitch slightly.

All these elements combined to create an expression.

I realized it immediately.

“Hmm.”

Lu was contemplating whether to kill this old man who had figured out his identity.

‘No.’

I hurriedly laid the old man and Renya on the sofa and blocked his path.

“That’s far enough. No approaching.”

Lu, who had been raising one eyebrow, looked at me and asked.

“Why?”

“He’s the grandfather who pays our wages. You can’t threaten him.”

Lu laughed lowly with a face that wasn’t particularly pleased.

“Oh my… Does our Miss Daisy have the heart to work even under garbage as long as she can earn money?”

Garbage? Was he talking about this old man?

The gaze that had been staring at me intently withdrew. Lu soon passed by me as if nothing had happened and headed toward the desk by the window.

A desk in the drawing room. It was an odd combination, but it wouldn’t be strange if the estate rarely had visitors.

The bookshelf was filled with small picture frames. Some of them contained familiar faces that I couldn’t look away from.

Lu boldly rummaged through the paper-covered desk and drawers as he spoke.

“Miss Daisy.”

“…”

“There cannot exist anyone in the Pen Rota Empire who would recognize my face.”

“…”

“Even if there were, they could never show the same reaction as these people. If you remember the attitude of the believers who treated me on the airship.”

The attitude of Rogue believers toward Lu would be…

“An attitude where licking your feet wouldn’t be strange?”

“Right. Therefore, when Miss Daisy encounters someone who knows me or recognizes my face, there’s only one attitude to take.”

“Killing them?”

Lu, who had been scanning the ledger with indifferent eyes, turned to me with a bright smile. It was a smile of affirmation.

What I had thought was a difficult and complex warning was only momentary.

I recalled the peculiarity of Lu’s status and had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

‘Kalerpa.’

One of only three religious leaders of Rogue.

Among Rogue believers, some apostates (South Rogue) who had moved south from the North Deusus Mountains joined Grand Sorcerer Mephistopheles’ army.

Mephistopheles’ army was completely rooted out in the 10-year Mage War, and all temples were burned down.

Afterward, Rogue was treated as nothing more or less than a distasteful foreign religion in the Pen Rota Empire and was quickly forgotten.

Therefore, there could be no one in the Empire who would recognize Kalerpa’s face.

Even if they existed, they wouldn’t faint in fear but would prostrate themselves flat with an attitude of licking his feet.

If there were beings who negated both these cases, they would probably be…

‘Remnants of Mephistopheles’ army.’

For a moment, my heart seemed to drop to the ground with a thud.

‘These two… were part of Mephistopheles’ army?’

The moments of the past 14 years flashed before my eyes like lightning.

The quarters trampled under the demon’s feet.

The temple basement stained red with blood from repeated biological experiments.

Dead comrades who had asked me to send letters to their families… to tell them not to wait anymore…

Boys who volunteered for the front lines to protect their younger siblings.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Heavy emotions that surprised even myself surged up.

My heart rate quickened and my head spun.

“Daisy.”

I looked up. I felt Lu’s shadow enveloping my shoulders and patting my back.

“Should I kill them?”

I looked up at Lu, who asked this while I gasped for breath.

“Or should I spare them?”

His whispered voice contained neither anger nor pity. It was only dry, as if asking about my well-being.

“If you don’t know the answer, leave this estate and get on a carriage heading to Westwintery Station. Wait for the train arriving there and count only to three. Then I’ll finish what I need to do and arrive by your side. After that, we’ll return to Midwintry.”

“…”

“Shall we do that?”

Lu’s kind consideration repeatedly painted my reason, which had been filled with black ink, with even blacker strokes.

…No, it wasn’t painting over but lighting a lamp.

“Would that make you feel better too? Now, in the future, always.”

Now, in the future, always.

“No, there’s no way I’d be satisfied.”

I can’t be swayed by the traces Mephistopheles left behind for such a long time.

I turned my head.

On the old bookshelf beside the desk, large and small picture frames were clustered together like barnacles.

In the largest frame, I could see two faces.

Yes, that frame.

Since entering the drawing room, I had never once completely severed my attention from that frame.

A young man and a boy. The boy was the old man’s childhood appearance, and the young man was definitely…

“I have more important business to attend to.”

Dian Ket.

The young man in the frame looked exactly like Dian Ket’s face from the materials the Assassin Butler had given me.

‘Whew.’

I exhaled very deeply.

As I breathed slowly, fresh air seemed to fill my mind. Reason pushed aside emotion and took its place.

‘Get it together. The idea that these two are from Mephistopheles’ army is just speculation.’

A maid’s duty, number one: Shorten the time spent on miscellaneous tasks through logical thinking.

“Wake up, old man.”

I turned around and looked at the old man lying on the sofa.

“If you don’t get up right now.”

In the end, I would have no choice but to hear the answer through their story.

Mephistopheles’ army, Dian Ket, and the relationship between them and the Weatherwax Family.

“Kalerpa will wake you up with a princess’s kiss.”

The old man’s eyes snapped open.

* * *

I slowly released my grip on the picture frame I had been clutching.

The fingerprints carved over the young man’s face were as clear as a drawing.

I lifted my fingertips and gently wiped away the white fingerprints. The man’s face, which had been faintly obscured, became clear again.

Dian Ket was a thin man.

‘And unexpectedly handsome. If he were a little shorter, I might have mistaken him for a woman.’

With his long hair covering his chest and sharp chin making an impression, he was tenderly embracing the boy standing in front of him.

Even though it was a black and white photograph, Dian Ket’s pale complexion stood out prominently.

The area under his eyes was dark and blurry, so if he had been lying on the ground with his eyes closed, he might have been mistaken for a corpse.

‘So this old man had connections to Dian Cecht. Then… was the egg at the Weatherwax family also brought there by this old man?’

I wanted to ask what kind of relationship he had with Dian Cecht, but questioning a newly awakened old man would only raise his guard.

I’m not Kalerpa, after all. I need to take my time and assess the situation.

“So then.”

I returned the frame to the bookshelf and looked at the old man.

The old man’s complexion was just as poor as Dian Ket’s in the photograph.

The old man who had fainted and then awakened was named Malicops. I briefly summarized the short story I had heard from him and asked back.

“Grandfather, you weren’t part of Mephisto’s army, but rather reported their evil deeds…”

“Army?! How dare you suggest that this Malicops was on the same side as those bastards! I’d rather bite my tongue and die!”

Cough, cough. The old man Malicops spat out dry coughs, his face turning red as he shouted.

“Those treacherous bastards! Heretics who went completely against the Order’s teachings! It’s my eternal regret that I couldn’t tear those bastards limb from limb with my own hands! They’re demons. They dragged away everyone – old people, women, children – and sacrificed them as offerings. Offerings for their filthy desires! Absolutely impossible desires that could never be fulfilled even in death!”

“I understand, so calm down. You’re spitting on my face.”

“Ahem, cough! Sorry about that. Whenever I talk about those damn bastards, I get excited without realizing…”

Renya quietly approached and offered a glass of water to the panting Malicops.

However, Malicops refused the glass of water extended toward him and crawled down from the sofa to kneel before Lu.

“I humbly beg your forgiveness, Kalerpa. Having directly beheld with my own eyes the Kalerpa I had only heard about in stories, I unknowingly committed a great discourtesy. If you permit it, I would like to offer my belated greetings.”

Lu, as always, simply skimmed through his ledger without saying much.

Malicops seemed to interpret Lu’s silence as acceptance.

“Thank you for your permission, Kalerpa.”

Soon, just like the other Loqwe Church believer I had met before, he began a long greeting in the Northern Continent’s language.

He must have been so moved by meeting Lu that his voice even trembled intermittently. Does Malicops know that Lu had tried to harm him?

‘Come to think of it. Who would have thought that an elder of the Weatherwax family would be a believer of Loqwe.’

“What? Mephisto’s army? Are you asking me right now if I’m in cahoots with those damn mongrel bastards? Haha. Good heavens. Dear God! This old fool has spent over 15 years trying to bury those vicious pieces of trash!”

At first, I thought it was a lie.

But listening to him explain one by one where and how he investigated and infiltrated the South Loqwe Church…

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