Young Girl’s First Failure
“Mom, I want to be a maid. Teach me!”
*Clang.*
Lucia’s mom dropped her knife and fork onto her plate. She looked at her daughter’s serious expression before her feeling dumbfounded. She then looked at her husband beside her with a confused look. Echte, too, was completely baffled. Neither of them knew why the first thing their daughter said upon returning home from the palace was that she wanted to be a maid. Children may have lots of dreams, but they had no idea why she was so eager to be a maid.
If Lucia wanted to be a maid, she would’ve had the idea long ago. Her mom was a maid, but Lucia had no interest in cute maid uniforms previously. She urgently wanted to become a maid out the blue.
“Could she have developed a respect for some maid? That makes Mommy very jealous and sad,” thought Lucia’s mother.
Ecthe laughed, and then stroked Lucia’s head. He asked, “Lucia, why do you want to be a maid all of a sudden?”
“Because I’ll be able to go into the palace and stay there all the time. Troy tried to ask Her Highness to let me stay, but Her Highness refused. That’s why I want to become a maid. Then, I’ll always be able to be by Troy’s side.”
Lucia’s naïve and pure voice almost knocked Ecthe and his wife out of their chairs.
Ecthe thought that it would be very nice if Lucia and His Highness could become friends. However, he never thought about leveraging their friendship to try and fish for things from Her Highness. Ecthe thought things in the adult world wouldn’t be a part of children’s world. The children’s friendship steered in a bizarre direction, apparently. If Lucia stayed in the palace, it meant Queen Vyvyan wanted to make her Troy’s Princess.
“If Troy understood that and still asked Vyvyan, then does that mean that they were planning to get married?!”wondered Echte.
“Listen to me, Dear. Listen.” Echte had to calm down his mind that went blank from shock. He threw his food down and clasped Lucia’s face. In a serious tone, he asked, “Child, don’t be nervous. Tell me, what did Prince Troy say to you? Did you two talk about marriage or something of the sort?”
Lucia thought about it for a bit. She then shook her head: “No. What’s marriage…? We didn’t say anything of the sort… Dad. But I sincerely want to go into the palace. I sincerely want to work and live in the palace. That way, I can be by Troy’s side. I genuinely want to.”
Seeing Lucia’s coquettish behaviour, Ecthe’s heart froze cold. By the sounds of it, it wasn’t Troy who was head over heels for Lucia, but his daughter who fell for Troy. The two of them didn’t know what love was yet, but surely they’d love each other in the future, right?!
Troy supposedly didn’t hate his daughter. The two could be considered a couple. Elves didn’t mind backgrounds, but Echte knew there was no way Lucia could match up with someone as high up as Troy due to their backgrounds and statuses. Actually, it was because of their status. Lucia’s mana wasn’t of superior grade. The proud Galadriel Tribe would never allow a young girl with ordinary mana to marry into their tribe.
“All right. As that is what you want, you should prepare for maid training, as there will be a new maid training even in these upcoming days.”
Lucia’s mother thought the idea was nice. She rubbed her daughter’s head: “You need to be mentally prepared, though. Being a maid isn’t a relaxing job. It’s a very busy job, so you must be mentally prepared.”
“That’s fine, Mom!! As long as I can be a maid and always stay by Troy’s side, then it’s fine!”
Lucia looked at her mom with resolute look. Despite still being just a child, her conviction and gaze could astonish people. Echte blankly looked at his daughter before him. He let out a heavy sigh. He didn’t know if he should tell his daughter that her love wouldn’t ever come true.
Perhaps it wasn’t love, yet. Ecthe knew that it would turn into love, though. When their love began there’d be a trace of love when they hold hands. He glanced over to his wife. Back then, he felt the same way his daughter felt when he wanted to become an imperial guard in the palace…
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“Head Maid! Head Maid!”
“Your Highness, what are your orders?”
Vyvyan stood at the entrance of the room. She was supposed was to be happily sleeping with her son after they had a bath together at this time, yet she left her son, who was deep asleep, so it was bound to be for something important. Therefore, the Head Maid mentally prepared herself. Vyvyan took in a deep breath, and then carefully checked inside the room to ensure that Troy wasn’t awake. She whispered, “Is there a new maid recruitment coming up soon?”
The maid, puzzled, replied, “Your Highness, do you have any plans or a candidate? I shall make arrangements.”
“No. No.” Vyvyan shook her head. As if a fearsome enemy had arrived, she asked, “Is there a girl called Lucia Echte who registered?”
The maid contemplated it for a while. Though the registration period hasn’t ended, she hadn’t seen the name yet: “No.”
The maids had mentioned Lucia’s name for quite some time already. Some claimed she was the fiancée Vyvyan prepared for Troy, because she kept appearing in the palace and they saw Troy look at her affectionately. It was basically single girls watching with envy. That was why the Head Maid would never reveal the name. However, she was bewildered. Why would Lucia be a maid if she was Troy’s fiancée?
Vyvyan seemed to be relieved: “The registrations haven’t ended, right?”
“That is correct.”
“In that case, remember to never ever let that Lucia Echte be a maid, understood? Eliminate her right from the start, understood?!”
“Your Highness, we cannot refuse registrations…”
“I said to eliminate her in the first round!!” Vyvyan scrubbed her blonde hair. That was an action she performed whenever she was frustrated: “Whatever the case, don’t let her become a maid, understood? Never!”
“Understood,” responded the maid, bewildered.
The head maid didn’t know the reason, but for Her Highness, who was busy daily to concern herself with the recruitment of a maid, it proved how important the matter was to her. Still, the Head Maid had no idea what happened. If Lucia was supposed to be Troy’s fiancée, couldn’t she have just entered the palace? If she wasn’t and Vyvyan didn’t intend to allow her to stay by Troy’s side, then she could’ve just had her leave.
So the question remained: “ Just what was Lucia’s significance?”
The Head Maid didn’t have the foggiest idea, but she did know Lucia’s mom.
Her mom is but an ordinary maid. So how was a young girl able to get Vyvyan to leave her sleeping son and specifically go after Lucia?” wondered the head maid.
The head maid didn’t know the reasons behind Vyvyan’s decision, but her instincts told her that she might lose her life if she dealt with it carelessly… The risk of losing her life was real…
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Ten years later, Lucia placed her cup of tea down. She watched the busy maid. She clasped her own face and seemed to reminisce the past. She said, “I actually wanted to be a maid, too. I wore a maid uniform back then and took part in the maid selections.”
“Why did you join the Shadow Squad afterwards, then?”
I imagined Lucia in a maid uniform, smiling brightly in front of me and saying, “Welcome home, Your Highness. Did you want to have dinner first… or…”
I quickly pulled the plug in my mind: “Stop. Stop. That’s not what I meant.”
I think Lucia would look as becoming in a maid uniform as Luna was thanks to her petite physique.
“Because I was eliminated in the first round,” answered Lucia. She scratched her head: “Did you forget, Your Highness? I cried sadly in your arms that time. I thought I was done for. I thought I couldn’t be by your side in this lifetime, so you went to see Her Highness and begged her to let me stay. In the end, she allowed me to stay. That’s why I always say that Her Highness is very supportive of us since way back then.”
In my mind, I thought, “Support my foot. I may not have had the memories of the past, but based on Vyvyan’s extremely serious possessive tendencies as I knew them, there was no way in hell she wanted to let you stay by Troy’s side. She just couldn’t refuse when Troy begged her.”
Lucia looked at the flower garden in front with a hint of disappointment. She rocked her chair, and then pouted: “To be honest, I don’t know what exactly I did wrong, either. I thought I was perfect, but I was still eliminated in the end. I thought about it for a long time, but till don’t know where I went wrong. I guess maids don’t have it easy.”
“Question. I don’t remember too well, but did Mommy Vyvyan know that you were participating in the maid selections?”
“Mm, she did.”
“And you still don’t know?! It was rigged! It was obviously rigged!! Mommy Vyvyan has severe possessive tendencies, yet that idiot, Troy, told her that he liked you, so there was no way she’d let you stay by his side! You should be celebrating that Troy was waiting for you every day. Otherwise, what would’ve been rigged might’ve been your life!” was what I wanted to shout. I didn’t want to tell Lucia, though…
“It doesn’t matter, though. Although I didn’t successfully become a maid, I managed to become a member of the Shadow Squad in the end and your bodyguard at night. Being able to see your sleeping face is a truly blissful experience.”
Lucia looked at me with a blissful smile. She reached for my hand and giggled: “Do you still remember when we got engaged? That was the first time you told me you loved me… I was truly so happy, and so blissful I wanted to marry you immediately. At the time, we had our first kiss…Your lips were very warm, at the time… Of course, they’re still very warm!”
“Ah… Mm… I do…”
What I actually thought: “Remember my foot… I don’t remember anything, but if I said I didn’t, I’d probably have to spend a long time consoling her, wouldn’t I…?”
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