The Viscount’s Maid and the Bookstore

Seated within the carriage, Ruila began to recount tales of the Silverbloom Sword Princess, stories she had heard from her own parents.

Lilith listened with rapt attention, her eyes alight with fascination.

Meanwhile, Aelin merely leaned her head against the seat, her eyelids heavy with drowsiness.

‘Heroes are the enemies of the demon race,’ she thought. ‘Tales of such valor would only provoke her disdain.’

****

As another story concluded, Lilith clapped her hands together, praising with a bright smile, “The Silverbloom Sword Princess is truly incredible!”

“Indeed she is! She was once humanity’s strongest hero, and her experiences can only be described as legendary!”

Shared idols always bridge distances between people. If Ruila had initially been somewhat timid in the presence of Miss Lilith, she now felt completely at ease.

In her eyes, this high-and-mighty noble young lady seemed no different from a commoner’s daughter, equally filled with admiration and longing for heroic figures.

It was Aelin, seated farthest away, who let out a soft huff while gazing out the window, upon hearing Lilith praise the hero so highly.

Yet, even that faint sound was keenly caught by Ruila.

“Miss Aelin, do you perhaps dislike Senior Silverbloom?”

“Ugh!”

Just as Aelin was about to retort, Lilith playfully pinched her chin, turning her head back around. “Don’t mind her,” Lilith told Ruila. “She’s just in a bad mood today.”

“Oh.”

Imagining herself in a similar foul mood, Ruila looked at Aelin and suddenly understood. “Is it… that time of the month?”

Upon her question, a sudden silence fell over the carriage.

All present were young women, and they naturally understood her meaning. Girls, after all, always had *those* few days each month.

Red flushed Aelin’s pale cheeks. She covered her face, her pupils trembling as she exclaimed, “Huh?! What are you talking about?! Who’s having *that* time?!”

“I’m sorry, I misunderstood…”

Seeing her reaction, Ruila quickly apologized, yet she was even more convinced of the reason behind Aelin’s mood. Lilith, meanwhile, offered no explanation, merely covering her mouth to hide a mischievous chuckle.

With her arms crossed, Aelin feigned anger, turning to stare out the window, refusing to engage with Ruila. Eventually, Lilith had to offer a few comforting words to coax her back into good spirits.

Afterward, Ruila continued to spin tales of Silverbloom, though this time, she spoke of the connection between herself and the Silverbloom Sword Princess.

“Senior Silverbloom is actually a lifesaver for both my sister and me. If it weren’t for her, my parents would have perished long ago, and my sister and I might not even have been born.”

“She indirectly saved you all?”

“Yes, but the person I’m most grateful for now is… Mrs. Lena.”

Ruila touched her cheek, recalling the recent events, which still felt somewhat surreal. Since her encounter with Senior Silverbloom, various nobles and heroes had sought her out.

While they occasionally offered assistance, it was truly Mrs. Lena alone who had rescued her from a life of desperation.

Only those who have experienced true hardship can truly cherish their current lives. Ruila’s gratitude toward Mrs. Lena far surpassed that for the Silverbloom Sword Princess.

“Of course, there’s also Miss Lilith and Miss Aelin.”

She hadn’t forgotten the two young ladies. Having spent time with them, she found they lacked the pride and arrogance typically attributed to noble daughters in legends.

On the contrary, they were gentle and approachable. Perhaps this was the true demeanor of a noble lady, whose upbringing far exceeded that of ordinary aristocrats.

****

The carriage rumbled gently through the streets, the small wind chimes hanging on its side occasionally letting out a clear jingle. After listening to stories for a while, Lilith gazed out the window in a daze, until a bookstore appeared before her.

“Stop the carriage.”

*Ding-a-ling-ling*—

The wind chimes jingled as the carriage slowly pulled over to the roadside. Lilith lifted her skirt, stepping onto the small platform, just as she was about to alight.

Aelin, looking puzzled, held her back.

“Miss, we haven’t reached our destination yet.”

“My mother’s birthday is approaching. I need to prepare a gift for her.”

Her words only deepened Aelin’s confusion. Lilith, seizing the moment of her maid’s bewilderment, stepped down from the carriage and elegantly walked towards the bookstore.

Only then did Aelin snap back to reality. She quickly dismounted and hurried after the young lady, asking, “Huh? That’s not right, Your Majes— uh, Miss, your mother’s birthday isn’t for a while, is it?”

After the two had left the carriage, Ruila also stepped down. However, her steps faltered for a moment when she saw the name ‘Charlie’ written on the bookstore’s sign.

‘Isn’t this where I used to work?’ she wondered.

‘Yesterday, I was fired by the boss, and today, I’ve become a viscount’s maid. Life truly is unpredictable…’

Sighing, she entered the shop.

Lilith, dressed in a noble lady’s typical gown, immediately drew the gaze of everyone inside the bookstore. Especially when they noticed the viscount’s carriage parked outside, their stares became filled with surprise and envy.

As she walked towards the bookshelves, the clerks tidying the books instinctively made way for her. After all, true nobles were not like common folk; an accidental quarrel with them could cost one their job.

Aelin still couldn’t fathom why they were at a bookstore. The noble banquet a week later hardly required books, she thought.

Lilith reached out, took a book from the shelf, flipped through a few pages, and then returned it. “She enjoys reading travelogues and such,” she said.

Aelin paused. After a long moment of thought, she hesitantly asked, “Your Majes— Miss, does the mother you speak of truly have such a hobby?”

“She does not.”

“…Then, the mother you speak of is *that* person?”

“Yes.”

Aelin’s mind felt as if it had been struck hard, leaving her momentarily bewildered.

The mother Lilith spoke of was not the Demon Lord, but the mysterious Queen Consort.

When Aelin had entered the palace to serve the princess, the Queen Consort had already been absent for a long time. All that remained of her was an air of mystery; even the older maids in the palace who had seen her would simply fall silent when her name was mentioned.

No one in the Demon Lord’s City knew who the Queen Consort truly was, nor what her personality was like, and Aelin was no exception. The Lilith of the past had never prepared birthday gifts for the Queen Consort. Doing so now could only mean…

‘She’s going to meet the Queen Consort soon?’

Aelin’s heart skipped a beat. While happy for Lilith, Aelin also felt immense pressure. The Queen Consort’s status was equal to that of the Demon Lord.

As the princess’s personal maid, Aelin would likely be scrutinized by the Queen Consort to see if she was qualified. Aelin swallowed hard, clasping her hands together.

She prayed internally that the Queen Consort’s personality would lean towards gentleness, and not be too strict, otherwise, she would most likely fail.

After her silent prayer, she followed Lilith, beginning to browse the books on the shelves, wondering if she should try to learn more about the Queen Consort from the princess.

“Miss, do you prefer travelogues published in recent years, or older ones?”

Lilith casually picked up two books and placed them before Aelin, but to her surprise, the young lady seemed to be lost in thought by the question.

“Miss?”

Aelin waved her hand, and Lilith finally stirred.

“Hmm? Older ones, I suppose.”

“Oh.”

Putting the newly published travelogue back on the shelf, Aelin scanned a row of books.

Then, her eyes lit up.

“Oh, *Tracing Tanas*! And it’s the second volume!”

Pulling it from the shelf, she excitedly brought it over to Lilith, presenting it to her.

“Miss, this is supposedly the travelogue you loved most as a child, isn’t it? The other maids even said you sometimes slept with it.”

Aelin couldn’t be mistaken. Soon after she had entered the palace as a maid, she had heard many of the older maids speak of Lilith’s profound love for *Tracing Tanas*.

Lilith even used to hug it while she slept.

“But it’s true, this travelogue is truly captivating. The protagonist, despite being an ordinary person without magic, dared to cross the ocean alone to search for the legendary Tanas Empire, and the ending…”

“I never finished it.”

Lilith coolly interrupted Aelin, causing the latter’s eyes to widen and her mouth to unconsciously gape open.

“Huh? Miss loved this book so much, and you never finished it?”

“I only read a little over half of it.”

Hugging the book to her chest, Lilith spoke with a hint of nostalgia. “She liked it, so I read it. After she left the palace, I never picked it up again…”

“Miss…”

Aelin saw her spirits were low and didn’t know what to say. Although Aelin had also entered the palace at a young age, she still had a few days each year to see her parents.

Thus, she couldn’t truly comprehend how much pain Lilith had endured as a child.

“Back then, I didn’t understand what separation meant. I thought she would return soon. I never expected to wait for over a decade. I only slept with it because I liked the story.”

Lilith gently tapped Aelin’s forehead, and as she spoke, she began to smile.

Aelin rubbed her forehead, not understanding why Lilith was smiling, but as long as Miss’s mood was no longer low, she felt happy too.

“So, Miss, are you buying it?”

Aelin thought that since the Queen Consort enjoyed this travelogue, it would make an excellent birthday gift. However, to her surprise, Lilith shook her head, saying in a distant voice,

“So many years have passed. She probably doesn’t enjoy travelogues anymore.”

“No way? A person’s hobbies shouldn’t change that easily, right?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

‘Once a canary breaks free from its cage and flies into the wider world, it naturally sheds some of its old cherished possessions. A travelogue was merely a token of her mother’s yearning for the outside world.’

However, these were things Lilith couldn’t tell Aelin, so she offered no further explanation.

“Then we’re not buying it.”

“Buy it.”

“Huh? Why is that?”

Aelin scratched her hair, suspecting that Miss was deliberately toying with her. Whether to buy the book or not had become a perplexing riddle.

“Just because she no longer enjoys travelogues doesn’t mean she wouldn’t appreciate seeing this book. *Tracing Tanas* is more than just a simple travelogue.”

“Miss, your words are so hard to understand.”

“Hard to understand? To put it simply, I used it to miss her when I was a child. Perhaps she, too, will be reminded of the past by it…”

“Ah, I see.”

****

Meanwhile, when Ruila entered Charlie’s bookstore, the clerks nearly popped their eyeballs out. ‘Is that Ruila? Or just someone who looks like her?’

They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The once extremely thin girl had walked into the store today wearing a luxurious maid’s uniform.

Most vivid in memory was Charlie himself. Upon seeing Ruila, he deliberately put on his glasses, scrutinizing her from head to toe.

The more closely he looked, the more he found himself unable to believe the girl before him. Ruila’s exquisite makeup and attire were nothing like what the Ruila of old could have afforded.

Only when the young woman drew closer did he move his lips, asking tentatively, “Isn’t this Ruila? Why are you dressed like this…?”

“Boss.”

Having no desire to engage with him, Ruila simply nodded and kept her gaze fixed on Lilith and Aelin, her eyes never leaving them.

The boss, noting that her maid’s uniform was nearly identical to Aelin’s, shivered slightly, then asked, “You… you came down from the Viscount’s carriage?”

“Yes.”

“Are you a maid in the Viscount’s household now?”

“Yes.”

“How did you manage that? I remember the Viscount’s requirements for maids were quite strict, weren’t they?”

“Mrs. Lena took a liking to me.”

“Mrs. Lena? The new Viscount’s elder?”

“Yes.”

Ruila’s answers were exceptionally perfunctory, clearly indicating her reluctance to speak with her former boss. Yet, the boss feigned ignorance, incessantly asking more questions.

After all, becoming a maid in a viscount’s household was something money couldn’t buy.

“What’s wrong?”

Hearing the voices, Lilith emerged from behind a bookshelf, hugging the travelogue, her gaze flickering between Ruila and the boss.

“You’re Miss Lilith?”

Upon hearing ‘Viscount Joiy,’ the boss suddenly realized that the noble young lady who had entered earlier was none other than Miss Lilith, the Viscount’s daughter!

He knew perfectly well what had transpired in the city yesterday: a level six, several-story-tall monster had been cruelly dismembered by the Grim Reaper before him. Pure white cotton had blanketed the streets at the time!

Furthermore, if this Grim Reaper were to be treated even slightly poorly, and the bookstore were to be demolished, he would have nowhere to cry.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, forcing a business-like smile at Lilith, which caused her to tilt her head, not quite understanding his behavior. Seeing Lilith inquire, Ruila then told her about her previous job here.

However, she omitted the detail of being fired, as this job had, after all, helped her quite a bit in the past. This made the boss let out a sigh of relief, his gaze towards Ruila now mixed with complexity and gratitude.

Lilith gave the boss a few extra glances. She naturally knew Ruila was concealing some other details, but she didn’t press further. Instead, she handed the book she held to the boss.

“Check out, please.”

“No, no need. This book is on me.”

“Unnecessary. I’m not short on a few coins.”

“Alright, alright.”

After the transaction, Lilith quietly said, “Let’s go,” and led Aelin and Ruila out of the bookstore. The boss let out a long breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Becoming a viscount’s maid, Ruila’s future life would undoubtedly be much better. In a few more years, she might even be considered wealthy among commoners.

And with her money problems solved, she might even begin to train her magic, perhaps becoming a hero. If he hadn’t fired her yesterday, he might have felt some gratitude towards her.

Then, if he ever encountered difficulties in the future, she might have been able to help… Alas, all of it had turned into smoke.

He shook his head, knowing that from the moment he fired her yesterday, he had severed all ties with Ruila.