The Villainess Hid Her Identity, and Now Everyone is Misunderstanding - Chapter 39

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

The Villainess Hides Her Identity, and Everyone Misunderstands
Chapter 39

“Close? What do you mean close?”
I asked back in bewilderment.
I’d never thought of it that way before.
But Rakiel looked at me as if I’d said something absurd.
“Weren’t we?”
“No, I never thought of it that way at all.”
Close, my foot. We’d only exchanged a few words.
As I answered with obvious distaste, Rakiel’s eyes widened as if he’d been struck. For a moment, I found myself at a loss for words.
He then pouted his lips with an expression of profound sadness.
“That’s truly hurtful. Especially that expression!”
“…Can you see my face?”
“No, I don’t need to see it. I’m certain you’re making a look of disgust right now.”
How did he know?
I spoke firmly, as if making an excuse.
“Your Highness is Your Highness! How could I possibly become close with you?”
“What does social status have to do with friendship! Friends are friends. So how exactly do you plan to explain this relationship?”
“A prince and a maid! Superior and inferior! Let’s keep the boundaries clear!”
“Wrong. This is precisely what it means to be friends who transcend social status.”
“So that’s…”
Just then, there came a sharp crash as something shattered.
Startled, we both quickly pressed ourselves against the wall. Peeking around the corner with only our eyes, I saw Genie and three other maids standing there.
Instead, the drinking glass they’d been holding had fallen to the floor and shattered into pieces, and Genie stood with vacant eyes, her head turned away.
As if she’d been slapped across the face.
“You! Loose-tongued wretch! Do you think everything that spills from that open mouth of yours counts as speech?!”
One of the maids shrieked indignantly. Her face was flushed red with anger.
‘What’s going on?’
I furrowed my brow and focused on their conversation.
“Did I say something wrong?”
Genie asked calmly. Unlike usual, her voice carried a sharp edge.
“Say something wrong? You dared call us vulgar!”
“If something is vulgar, I call it vulgar. So is there a more vulgar expression than ‘vulgar’ to describe you vulgar people?”
She… she used the word ‘vulgar’ five times in one sentence…
Realizing this, the indignant maid raised her hand to strike again.
‘Is that really….’
The anger I’d suppressed surged up again.
I was about to dash forward without thinking, forgetting the situation entirely, when Rakiel quickly grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
He whispered.
“Watch a bit longer. Your friend seems stronger than expected.”
Just as Rakiel said, Genie stood her ground against the maid who had raised her hand, meeting her gaze directly.
“If you’re going to hit me, then hit me. But I don’t regret what I said. Rather than let our lady suffer such humiliation because of vulgar, base people like you, I’ll endure it all.”
“O-our lady? What nonsense! Everyone in the Noble Family knows that the Rosenthal lady is a notorious madwoman!”
“What does that have to do with me?”
Genie’s gaze sharpened as she glared at her. Thanks to Genie’s unwavering stance, the maid actually faltered.
She had lost the battle of wills.
As Genie stepped forward, the maid flinched and trembled.
“I intend to serve our lady to the best of my ability until she returns to the Capital City, and even after that, so whether you torment me or not is irrelevant. But I won’t tolerate anyone insulting our lady.”
“….”
“So go ahead and say it again. What about our lady?”
Genie’s voice rang out, cold and sharp.
The maid slowly lowered her hand, her lips trembling as she bit them.
“Tch…. J-just you wait! Your life will be hell from now on!”
“Oh, let’s go!”
They hurriedly fled the scene.
Left alone, Genie wiped the sweat from her forehead with trembling hands, then resumed cleaning as if nothing had happened.
‘…That was impressive.’
Her spirit was no joke. Truly, Evelyn’s maid indeed.
I nodded in admiration. She seemed to be handling things well on her own… but that didn’t mean I could do nothing.
Just as I turned my head to leave the scene.
‘…!’
Black hair swayed as a nape came into view right before my eyes. Rakiel was right in front of me. Literally, right in front.
While I froze momentarily, his elegant neck moved, and his voice came from just above.
“Your lady has quite an excellent person serving her.”
“…Y-yes.”
I barely managed to respond, and he nodded.
Had I not noticed because I was watching Genie?
“It’s curious. The feeling is completely different from the person I knew. Certainly, when I saw your lady at the banquet before… it was….”
Suddenly Rakiel trailed off. His body went rigid, and it seemed he’d just realized how close we were standing.
His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed.
“….”
“….”
A brief silence fell between us.
“…Would you mind stepping back?”
I barely managed to speak, and he flinched visibly.
“…My apologies.”
Rakiel withdrew his arm that had been braced beside me and stepped back, both hands raised as if he’d done nothing at all.
He wore an embarrassed smile.
‘…Phew.’
I brushed my clothes lightly and adjusted my hood back into place. From what I could tell, he hadn’t actually seen my face.
He watched me straighten my garments for a moment before speaking awkwardly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were so close.”
“No, I didn’t know either.”
Perhaps because my identity had nearly been exposed, my words came out stiff and clipped. His eyes widened slightly, and his lips moved soundlessly.
“…I’m truly sorry. This won’t happen again. I promise.”
“…?”
Why was he apologizing so profusely?
“No, it’s really fine.”
I shrugged, but he continued to seem self-reproachful.
I tilted my head in confusion and simply left him to it. Well, he could sort himself out.
As we exchanged this pointless conversation, Genie finished cleaning and moved to change locations. I watched her covertly while organizing my thoughts.
‘In any case, Genie is the problem right now.’
But in that moment, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
Come to think of it, couldn’t this be resolved far more simply?

* * *

Strange occurrences began at Rosenthal Castle starting on Tuesday.
The first victim was Roni.
She began her day as usual, encountering a maid on the stairs. Without thinking much, she nodded in greeting and passed by—in that very moment….
“Kyaaaah!”
The maid’s skirt hem caught under Roni’s foot, sending her tumbling down the stairs.
There were only three steps remaining, but what did that matter? The problem was that the Duke witnessed the entire scene.
“Evelyn!”
Roni was arrested on charges of assaulting a noble.
“What kind of bad luck is this because of a careless maid?!”
“Goodness, misfortune is one thing, but why did the Duke have to appear at that exact moment? In such a sensitive time!”
The maids huddled together and whispered among themselves, but they could never have known that this day was merely the beginning of a nightmare.
The second was Lena.
A knife that had been on the dining table she was organizing fell onto the maid.
Thunk!
The knife embedded itself smoothly into the floor beside the maid’s foot. Had it been an ordinary knife, such a thing would never have happened, but it was sharp as if someone had deliberately honed it to a razor’s edge.
“Gasp, m-maid! A-are you alright…!”
“Kyaaaah! You were trying to kill me! You were trying to kill me!”
The Duke rose abruptly, his face drained of all color.
“Seize her at once!”
Soon the castle fell into chaos. Led by Roni and Lena, servants and maids began disappearing one after another, either dragged away or arrested.
The corridor that Zella had cleaned was so immaculate and slippery, as if oil had been applied. Yet the maid’s slip on that corridor, which resulted in a sprained ankle, was surely not her intention.
“I-I’m sorry! P-please spare me!”
Nevertheless, Zella was dismissed that very day.
That evening, Nay was dragged from the maid’s bedchamber with a terror-stricken expression.
On the day when Genie happened to be occupied and she took over tidying the bedroom, a venomous insect emerged from the bedding. A glossy black beetle, no larger than a fingertip.
“Kyaaaah! You were trying to poison me!”
“I-I didn’t know! I really didn’t know!”
Nay’s screams echoed all the way down the corridor.
“They’re dropping like flies, one by one!”
“The manor must be haunted…. There’s no other way so many people could disappear one after another!”
“Gasp, now that you mention it, I heard rumors of a ghost! Someone walking around the castle in a hood, and no one knows who they are….”
Terror enveloped the castle.
Impossible accidents occurred in succession, and someone disappeared nearly every day. As if a curse had been cast upon them.
And when five days had passed, no one dared ask questions anymore. Everyone had come to realize that whenever an ‘accident’ befell the maid, whoever caused it would vanish by the next day.
All the maids held their breath, trembling at the mere shadow of the maid passing through the corridors.
As if an invisible hand were slowly strangling each of them one by one….
….
….
“Hmm, hmm—”
A soft humming echoed through the cold corridor.
It was a sound that should never have been heard within the frozen Rosenthal Castle, as though it had fallen into the depths of some haunting legend.
The owner of that voice was none other than Genie, the personal maid of the Rosenthal noblewoman.

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