Is This the World of the Second Girl Game? ！

Something’s wrong… very, very wrong.

Logically speaking, the rumors should have been spread by the wicked maid duo; they had the motive…

But since the investigation concluded they didn’t do it, then how exactly were the rumors against the Young Miss spread?

Since the rumors were spreading among the maids, the culprit must be one of the maids.

However, the other maids have almost no interaction with the Young Miss.

Because of the previous dismissals, they are reluctant to get close to her.

They don’t know the first thing about her, let alone enough to spread rumors…

It seems no one is a likely suspect.

…No, wait.

There should be one other person.

Isn’t there someone who has been constantly asking me about the Young Miss?

Thinking about it carefully, there are quite a few suspicious things about her.

But… I don’t want to… I’m unwilling to suspect her.

Yet if I connect all the pieces, it all makes perfect sense.

I remembered the night I encountered Vladimir.

Although he spoke as if he had thoroughly investigated me and the ducal estate, on second thought, that wasn’t the case at all.

It’s true that I usually go to sleep at eleven, but occasionally I stay up late due to the Young Miss’s whims… and the day of Vladimir’s attack was one such occasion.

He did indeed express surprise that I was still awake at the time.

…And I had only told one person that I go to bed at eleven o’clock.

Furthermore, the timing of his attack was too coincidental… Why did he have to wait until Young Master Claude had left to attack?

Someone had probably told him that a farewell banquet had been held that day, that the servants were exhausted, and that infiltration would be much smoother.

Following this line of thought, if there was a mole, Vladimir could have learned from them where the defenses were weak, allowing him to sneak in silently… and why he was so familiar with the layout of the ducal estate.

By the same token… that mole could also be the culprit who spread the rumors and incited the maids.

I just don’t quite understand; the former has a clear motive, but what is the point of the latter?

The only thing I can think of for now is to mentally break the Young Miss with verbal abuse while she is in a vulnerable state.

But what’s the need for such a roundabout method?

It was Vladimir himself who came that night, after all.

‘Villainess.’

Suddenly, that word flashed through my mind—the word spoken by the wicked maid duo.

Connecting it with recent events…

The demon invasion, the Duchess’s critical illness, the Young Miss being slandered with malicious words, and a demon mole within the household…

A sense of familiarity washed over me.

—Once, at my younger sister’s strong insistence, I had reluctantly played an otome game.

The name of that otome game was The Ordinary Saintess of Light ~The Dawn’s Rosy Glow Will Pierce Through Despair~.

…Alright, the name isn’t important.

What’s important is the description of a certain family in it.

“Because her mother died of illness and her father was tragically killed in an attack by a powerful demon, the young son of the duke had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of reviving the family, while the duke’s daughter, at her most vulnerable, was bewitched by a maid under the demons’ command, believing every word the maid said… After entering the academy, she bullied the commoner protagonist at every turn.

Later, when the truth was exposed, her engagement was broken by the Second Prince, who was her fiancé.

Ultimately unable to accept reality, she fell to the path of demons, transforming into a powerful dragon monster, only to be vanquished by the protagonist’s party…”

And the name of that duke’s daughter…

—Was precisely Katarina Anist.

…Why did I forget something so important?

It’s likely because I had lived in this world for several years before regaining my memories, so I could no longer perceive it as a game world.

And that was the truth; this world is so real, completely different from a cold game world.

But whether it’s real or not is irrelevant… The fact is, events are now unfolding exactly as they did in the game.

This would also explain why the mole was spreading rumors…

And it also means that the Young Miss… is in danger!

This is no time to be dawdling and wasting time in this dark room!

I placed my hand on the iron door, confirming its mass was such that my magic could blast through it.

And then…

“BOOM!!!”

With a massive explosion, the iron door came crashing down.

“What’s going on!?”

The huge commotion drew the other guards, but I had no time to explain…

Well, no one would believe me even if I did.

Anyway… I’m sorry!

I flashed behind them and delivered a chop to the back of their necks… and they fell into a peaceful sleep.

Punishment… will probably be unavoidable.

But now is not the time to think about that!

I sprinted toward the Young Miss’s room at full speed.

‘Please be safe!

Young Miss!’

(Katarina’s POV)

“Young Miss, I will be taking care of your daily needs during this time.”

After my meeting with Ailena, a maid calling herself Aina entered my room without permission.

…At the end of the family meeting, Father had arranged for her to serve me while Ailena was in confinement.

“Oh.”

I responded coldly.

Perhaps for the rest of my life, any maid other than Ailena will be met with nothing but a cold face from me.

To be honest, I don’t need her to take care of me; I can manage my own affairs… It’s just that my hair might be a bit messy and my clothes a little crooked.

“It is dinnertime.

Please enjoy your meal.”

Even though the plating was the same, I would have felt happy if Ailena had done it, but with this random maid, I felt nothing at all.

The food too… Ailena’s cooking was far superior in color, aroma, and taste.

Looking at the food placed before me, I felt a bit troubled.

I really don’t want to take a bite…

But if I don’t eat, Ailena will worry, and it will affect my own mental state, which is bad for both my daily life and my training.

Haah…

With an internal sigh, I picked up my knife and fork and cut a small piece of steak.

…I could feel this random maid’s gaze fixed intently upon me.

What’s so interesting about watching someone eat?

But considering Ailena would also stand by and watch me with a smile while I ate, perhaps it was part of a maid’s duty, like making sure I didn’t secretly discard any food I disliked.

Actually, there’s no need for that.

I simply won’t eat ingredients I don’t like, and not even Ailena can persuade me… so in the end, she had to give up and replace them with other ingredients I liked.

As I was thinking about this and that, I was about to put the piece of meat into my mouth…

“BANG!”

The door was thrown open violently, and the loud noise startled the piece of meat right off my fork.

“Young Miss!”

Standing in the doorway was a panting Ailena.

“Ailena?

What are you doing here?”

Probably because she was locked in the dark room, she hadn’t had a chance to fix her hair.

So instead of her usual ponytail, it was just hanging loose.

She must have run all the way here, so her untamed silver strands were stuck to her face with sweat, looking all messy.

…This look has its own unique charm.

The moment she saw me, she didn’t immediately answer my question, but instead shouted at me:

“Young Miss!

Whatever you do, don’t eat that food!”