The Head Maid’s Harsh Lesson

With the solution to the enigma now clear, Seraphina darted away, her steps quickening as she rushed outwards.

“Cardo! I know how to…!”

“Cardo?”

Just then, she collided with a white-haired figure who had been walking towards her.

“While… Lady Cardo certainly graced this place with her presence… she has now departed for the tranquil slumber of heaven.”

Her distinctive white hair, striking crimson eyes… and remarkably fair skin.

Combined with her instantly recognizable maid uniform, the figure before Seraphina was unmistakably a vampire maid from the Scarlett Estate.

“Therefore… Miss Seraphina… might I inquire why you uttered her name?”

Amidst her striking appearance, perhaps her most unique trait was the exceptionally prominent streak of black highlighting her hair.

“Ah, it’s nothing, really. I was merely searching for an item in Miss Cardo’s room and intended to summon Iqiyah… Mmph!?”

Before she could finish her sentence, the maid extended a finger, firmly pressing it against Seraphina’s lips.

“Miss Seraphina… as a retainer, you must surely be aware of basic etiquette, correct?”

“It should be ‘Lady Iqiyah,’ if you please!”

A hum resonated.

With a magical hum, Seraphina’s mouth abruptly opened the next instant, her throat seizing with an uncontrollable itch.

“Yes, I was wrong, Lady Iqiyah, Lady Iqiyah, Lady Iqiyah…”

Unable to resist, Seraphina found herself relentlessly intoning Iqiyah’s name and honorific, with no indication of stopping.

“Given that this is Miss Seraphina’s initial transgression, your punishment shall be to recite it a thousand times.”

From her superior position, the maid cast a disdainful glance at Seraphina.

“Next time… the punishment won’t be this lenient…!”

“Reflect deeply during your punishment, Miss Seraphina.”

‘Huh?’

Completely unable to cease her chanting or even shift her position, Seraphina remained rooted at Cardo’s doorway, repeating the name endlessly.

‘Just who is this person? They just show up and forcibly restrain me here?’

Ignoring Seraphina’s gaze, the maid turned and walked towards Godia’s room.

“Miss Levian? I have something to discuss with you.”

As the maid stepped into the room and closed the door, Seraphina found herself abruptly alone in the corridor.

“Lady Iqiyah, Lady Iqiyah, Lady Iqiyah…”

‘Am I really going to chant this a thousand times?’

She had no idea how many repetitions she had already uttered, but Seraphina’s throat was already painfully dry.

‘Damn it… at this rate, my voice will be completely shot by the time I finish a thousand chants!’

‘What can I do?’

Just as Seraphina resigned herself to the destruction of her voice, a sudden flash erupted from her throat, a burst of golden light.

The next second, Seraphina regained control of her body and throat.

“I truly hadn’t anticipated… that after so long, Fulkarn would still be employed at the estate.”

Emerging from the guest room, Cardo slowly approached Seraphina.

“No, seriously, who is she?”

Seraphina shot a venomous glare at the tightly shut door behind her, her heart brimming with resentment.

“How dare she do that? Not even Iqiyah has ever punished me like this!”

“Oh, really?” Cardo leaned close to Seraphina’s shoulder, playfully poking her soft cheek. “Didn’t she thoroughly ‘educate’ you before?”

“Guh!? You… you saw all that!?”

“Every single bit~”

“Good grief…” A wave of profound discomfort washed over Seraphina at the revelation. “If you’re always spying on me, how can I ever truly let loose again…?”

“What’s the big deal? Just do what you do~”

“Oh, screw you. That’s utterly chilling, no, makes my very insides freeze…”

“Ah, but we’ve drifted off topic,” Cardo interjected, swiftly changing the subject. “Let’s ignore her for now and focus on the task at hand. Why exactly were you calling me?”

“Oh, right! I found the correct solution!”

Extending her hand, Seraphina showed Cardo the photograph.

“This photo was found inside your family portrait frame.”

Seraphina recounted the entire decryption and deduction process to Cardo.

“Therefore… I surmise that in Iqiyah’s room, on your portrait, there must be a mechanism identical to the one in your own chamber.”

“As long as we embed this photo into it…”

“What nonsense are you prattling on about?”

With utterly no movement, no sound, no discernible presence, a chilling aura drew near Seraphina’s side.

‘A strong one? When did she arrive!?’

She spun around, only to be met with a resounding slap.

“You wretch… Did I not instruct you to meekly endure your punishment!? How could you presume to break free from the spell?”

Before Seraphina could even react, another heavy slap landed on the other side of her face.

The powerful blow sent Seraphina spinning three and a half times in the air before she crashed to the ground.

“It seems… I must teach you a lesson.”

With a fierce kick, the maid named Fulkarn drove the tip of her high heel directly into Seraphina’s lower abdomen.

“Ugh!”

“Fulkarn…!”

Witnessing Seraphina’s agony, as she clutched her stomach and curled into a ball, Cardo swiftly moved to interpose herself, attempting to physically halt Fulkarn’s relentless assault.

A whoosh—

Alas… with a peculiar, wind-like whisper, Fulkarn passed straight through Cardo’s ethereal form, planting a foot firmly on Seraphina’s prone body.

“Well, well, I hadn’t realized your stomach offered such a pleasant sensation to the hand—no, to the foot~”

“Hiss… Ah!”

Fulkarn rotated the pointed tip of her black high heel on Seraphina’s stomach, the excruciating pain causing tears to stream uncontrollably from Seraphina’s eyes.

“Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Fulkarn Scarlett, personally appointed by Master Godia as the Head Maid, and I am charged with upholding all cleanliness and order within this estate.”

With a crimson gleam in her eyes, Fulkarn’s malice towards Seraphina was unmistakable.

“My sacred duty is to purge filth such as yourself, who hold no regard for regulations.”

“Are you ready to receive your punishment?”

“…Can I say no?”

Enduring the intense pain, Seraphina tried to lighten the mood.

“Glibness? An additional transgression.”

Releasing her foot, Fulkarn bent low and lifted Seraphina’s garments, exposing her tender belly, smooth as polished lacquer and as pristine as freshly scrubbed soap.

“In times past… when the Master was still among us, he would employ this very method to punish any maid who dared violate the estate’s strictures.”

Extending a finger, Fulkarn began to inscribe symbols upon Seraphina’s abdomen, with streaks of rosy light emanating from each point of contact.

“Just as Yin yearns for Yang… without a counterpart, any creature is destined to suffer the torments of desire…”

‘Huh!?’

With immense effort, Seraphina lifted her head to gaze at her abdomen, where something alarmingly familiar from her past life was slowly taking shape.

‘This isn’t going to be English, is it?’

Speculation was useless.

Because the truth would soon reveal itself.

The next instant, as Fulkarn completed her intricate strokes, a sudden surge of heat enveloped Seraphina’s abdomen.

‘Holy hell, holy hell, holy hell, she’s actually doing it!’

While Seraphina, in her past life, harbored a particular fondness for “English tags”—gaining critical hit chance and attack speed from characters bearing English inscriptions—she had never, not once, desired to become the heroine marked with English herself!

Emitting a pink glow, the emblem penetrated Seraphina’s skin, affecting her subcutaneous organs… and her brain.

‘Ah… damn it, my head’s spinning…’

Simultaneously, and quite against her will, her gaze instinctively drifted towards the elegant pair of black high heels poised before her.

More precisely, it was the slender, pointed heel itself…

“Heh heh… it’s working, isn’t it?”

Gazing down at the writhing, softly moaning, black-haired vampire beneath her foot, Fulkarn’s lips curved into a sly, triumphant smile.

Then… just as Seraphina’s desperate reach neared the black high heel… Fulkarn ruthlessly withdrew her foot, crushing Seraphina’s ephemeral hope.

“Therefore… endure agony, in a hell of insatiable craving!”

However… just as Fulkarn was at the peak of her excitement…

“No… what is going on?”

A new variable had emerged.

Behind Fulkarn, at the now-open door to Godia’s room, Levian stood in utter astonishment, gazing at the unforeseen chaos unfolding before her.

“Can someone tell me what exactly happened?”