Unworthy

In the early morning, on the way to the kitchen, Flora encountered the old butler waiting for her in the corridor.

“I’m really very sorry about what happened last night.”

The old butler bowed deeply.

Honestly, it was very common for nobles to lay hands on maids.

Most of the time, maids who lost their virginity would only get a little preferential treatment, and wouldn’t even be able to become mistresses.

It was only because the old butler’s moral standards were too high that he felt guilty about this, and apologized on behalf of his master.

In fact, Flora could guess that the old butler must have tried to stop it beforehand.

After all, when the old butler came to inform her to go to the chambers last night, he had a gloomy look on his face, and hesitated several times…

All she could do was pretend to be naive, thinking that the Crown Prince had forgiven her.

It was no exception now—

“It’s okay, Mr. Charlton, Crown Prince Ryan didn’t do anything to me.”

Flora quickly waved her hand, indicating that she didn’t care.

The old butler obviously didn’t have a better way to make up for it, and could only inform Flora of the new work arrangement—she didn’t have to be responsible for the outbuilding work anymore.

She still had to do kitchen work, but in her spare time, she could normally take on the work of ordinary maids.

“That’s great.”

Flora showed a happy smile, as if she was satisfied as long as she was forgiven by the Crown Prince.

But in her heart, she didn’t think there was anything good about this at all.

Whether as compensation or as a reward, this treatment seemed a bit mean and stingy.

This wasn’t to say that Flora herself denied the previous relationship between maids and noble masters.

But everything depended on the person.

The Crown Prince was obviously not that kind of rotten person, but he was very suspicious, and would treat others with harsh tests that other nobles wouldn’t use.

As a result, after passing the test, he didn’t give others rewards and compensation corresponding to the difficulty of the test…

It wasn’t hard to guess that this was the Crown Prince’s pride at work, feeling that if he slapped himself in the face like this, his authority would be lost.

In other words, it was still as Flora had analyzed before, that the Crown Prince only wanted to use prestige to manage his subordinates.

Little did he know that clear rewards and punishments and strict discipline were the only way to establish true authority.

At least… the old butler’s current sadness and guilt shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

“Good luck with your work.”

“I will… See you later, Mr. Charlton.”

The blonde girl smiled and bowed, and left cheerfully.

Charlton wanted to say something to encourage her, but the words wouldn’t come out.

In the past, the Crown Prince would only use the Guardian Deity’s ability on villains who had solid evidence but were still clinging to their luck and wanted to deny it to the end.

This was the first time he had treated a servant who had passed several tests in this way.

Logically speaking, after doing this, the Crown Prince shouldn’t just give some big reward, but should also restore the blonde girl to the position of personal maid.

But the Crown Prince didn’t do this, contrary to his usual behavior.

He was still full of suspicion towards the blonde girl.

(Alas.)

Honestly, considering the blonde girl’s obviously fabricated but unclear origins, and the relationships she had used to enter the mansion, Charlton was also full of vigilance at first.

He even secretly treated her as a criminal.

The reason why he didn’t take action immediately was only because the Crown Prince couldn’t openly tear his face with “that person” yet.

And because the Crown Prince said he wanted to see what “that person” was planning.

Therefore, the task of observing fell on Charlton.

At first, he thought the blonde girl’s clumsiness was just an act to gain sympathy.

As for the blonde girl’s naivety and liveliness, he didn’t believe it at all, and just felt disgusted when he looked at it.

But soon, he discovered it.

The blonde girl was indeed clumsy, but she was trying to improve, and was clearly progressing day by day, and when she fell, she would rather fall harder and hurt more than affect others or the work.

And the blonde girl’s naivety and liveliness was indeed an act.

“I’m okay, don’t worry.”

“This little thing can’t stop me at all!”

But the purpose of the blonde girl doing this wasn’t to make others like her, but to prevent others from worrying about her.

“Thank you, Mr. Charlton!”

Her bright smile was also more of a heartfelt gratitude.

Charlton’s every reprimand, and the tolerance and pardon he gave only according to the Crown Prince’s orders, would make her feel deeply guilty and self-reproachful.

Of course, it could still be acted out.

The mysteries and suspicious things about her still hadn’t been solved.

But—

“Can I check the list of all the servants in the mansion?”

“Are you sure you want to see it?”

Charlton asked in a bad tone, wanting to imply that this was a very suspicious act.

“Yes… Thank you, Mr. Charlton.”

The blonde girl clearly saw it, but still didn’t back down, and just silently remembered his kindness.

Not only that, but this group of maids had formed factions early on, and a small group led by Yara Sack was suppressing others.

But the blonde girl, who was originally just a marginal person, took the initiative to provoke the other party, making herself the other party’s primary target of suppression.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Charlton, but don’t worry, running away is my forte!”

The blonde girl still had a naive and bright expression.

Charlton thought that the blonde girl might be retreating in order to advance, deliberately doing something out of line to reduce her suspiciousness.

But soon, Charlton realized that he was wrong.

“Mr. Charlton, this place has a lot of people coming and going.

It’s too dangerous to put valuables here!”

“Mr. Charlton, the work in the kitchen is too tiring and dirty.

I noticed that after everyone is done, they don’t have the mood and energy to do anything else.

Can the intensity of the other work they are responsible for in their spare time be reduced a little?”

The blonde girl would actively bring up any place she encountered that could be improved or improved.

And unlike those who worked enthusiastically and went crazy with internal competition, she considered others and the group more.

It was as if she was taking care of this place like her own home.

At this point, Charlton finally understood.

The blonde girl was the kind of person who sincerely hoped that the environment she was in would become better, no matter where she went.

The subsequent greeting to the Crown Prince, protecting the maid Polina, and confronting the Crown Prince to test Yara… were all based on this reason.

Indeed, he still couldn’t know what the blonde girl was hiding.

But Charlton believed that she would never harm the Crown Prince.

Rather, with her here, this place would definitely get better and better.

That’s why Charlton had been helping the blonde girl, pushing her to have more contact with the Crown Prince.

Hoping that the Crown Prince could change because of this and regain his passion for this world.

However…

Even the blonde girl was now showing signs of fatigue.

Charlton didn’t have the courage and confidence to continue persuading her to persevere.

(Your Highness… have you forgotten how to treat others kindly?)

Thinking of what the Crown Prince was like when he was a child, Charlton felt more and more sad and regretful.

Unfortunately, everything was already impossible to redo.

(I can’t let this continue.)

Charlton decided to find a time later to persuade the blonde girl to leave.

So that the Crown Prince wouldn’t continue to hurt her.

Such a good child who thought so much about the group… they didn’t deserve to have her.

But what he didn’t know was that after Flora left, she didn’t go straight to the kitchen, but went to the servants’ restroom.

“Seriously… what am I doing?”

Looking at the look of dejection on her face in the mirror, Flora patted her cheeks, throwing those random thoughts to the back of her mind.

Now that the plan was going so smoothly, she should be happy.

“Okay, today is another energetic day!”

Waiting for the blonde girl in the mirror to adjust to her usual naive and bright self, she smiled firmly.

Ending everything early and destroying the engagement… was the only thing she could do now.