It’s been a week since I realized I’d been reincarnated in the game “Luminor Academy.”
Surprisingly, my days at the Blackwood Manor went by without incident, contrary to what I had feared…
…except that I’ve had my hands full these past few days with the Blackwoods’ only child. He’s just awakened from a five-year curse.
It wasn’t because he was bothering me; he was still a little woozy from the curse.
The number of visitors to Blackwood Manor had grown exponentially since he’d awakened.
On regular days, the Blackwoods were a laid-back family. I had little to do but prepare and serve three meals a day and do some light cleaning and laundry.
Now, with the awakening of Ethan Richard Blackwood, the Blackwoods were overwhelmed by the influx of visitors to the manor.
In addition to the daily arrival and departure of guests, meals and accommodation for all of them needed to be ready, not to mention an increase in housekeeping and laundry.
The maids, who usually do a little bit of everything, worked in a strict division of labor during this emergency.
One maid did the laundry, another did the housekeeping, and so on.
My job was the most tiring of many jobs, the “hospitality” job.
Evidently, the senior maids gave Isabel and me the tasks they most dreaded.
“Haha…. I’m so tired….”
Harold Richard Blackwood. Patriarch, and the Duke of Blackwood.
A hero of House Blackwood, a venerable swordsmanship family dating back five centuries, nobles everywhere sought to gain even the slightest acquaintance with him.
It was his only son, Ethan, who was said to have no desire for status or riches.
He used to love his entire family and his wife, Thanasia. After the death of his only companion, however, he became even more attached to Ethan.
How does a lowly maid know about Thanasia’s existence when she’s dead before she even walks in the door?
After 2,000 hours of playtime, you get to know the backstories of these extras.
Especially since taking the Lilith route would inevitably bring me into contact with House Blackwood and, with it, Harold, the patriarch of the family.
…Of course, in this context, Harold wasn’t just an extra from Luminor Academy but the master who held my life in his hands.
“Lilith, it’s time for your shift.”
Isabelle walks into the maid’s waiting room; she’s just in time for my shift after an hour’s break.
My body reacted to her voice, and I slowly rose from my seat like a zombie.
“Oh, yeah…. You’re resting….”
“…If you ever get too tired, I can do another hour. Maybe you and I can switch after that?”
“No, thanks, I’ll do what I must.”
If I pushed Isabelle too hard and she collapsed, I would feel like absolute shit.
I didn’t want to owe her any more than that.
“Okay, good luck!”
“Yeah, thanks….”
“If you get tired, you can always come back for a shift!”
“Yeah….”
Isabel’s cheerful response was the only consolation to this merciless emotional labor.
In the game, she was an old friend of Lilith’s that I often encountered as I traveled her route, and her voice sounded familiar to me, if only because of that.
With that, I bid her farewell and trudged out of the occupied waiting room to return to my shift.
To return to the story, the news of Duke Harold’s only child, Ethan, being awakened from the curse had spread across the Empire in just three days.
Since then, the Blackwood estate has been visited one by one by nobles from estates close to the Blackwoods.
They thought they might somehow win him over if they pretended to genuinely celebrate Ethan’s triumphs, rumored to be the only ones Duke Harold cared about.
Some nobles even brought their own daughters to visit, hoping to arrange a betrothal with the man who had only just broken free of the curse.
…Okay, I’ll give him a pass; it’s understandable that he’d be tired from being so busy and having to greet guests daily.
No matter who I was in my previous life, I was now a maid of the Blackwood family, and I would have to work diligently as a maid for the next seven years to be free of the Blackwood family.
Unfortunately, there were other problems to keep my already tired mind occupied.
Most of them were caused by male visitors to the manor.
“Welcome, Count Cassus Vanderbilt. My lord is in his office on the third floor, so I can show you there myself if you need to.”
“Thank you for that. …By the way, what is your name?”
“Lilith Rosewood.”
“A name as pretty as your face. How many years do you have left on your contract with House Blackwood?”
“I have about seven years left.”
“…Hmm, a shame; I would have made you my third concubine in a year or so.”
“… I’ll take your word for it.”
“Welcome, Margrave Arthur Mondrake. My master is in his office on the third floor, so I can show you there myself if you need to.”
“… That’s fine. I’ve been here before.”
“I see.”
“Rather than that, I’ll stay the night, so have my room prepared. …And if you want, you can come to my room tonight.”
“…I would be grateful for the offer.”
“…A voluptuous ass for a member of the Blackwood family.”
“Welcome, Viscount Oscar Piermont. My lord is out of town at the moment, so I can speak to him later if necessary….”
“Wow, the Blackwoods are no slouches when it comes to maids. How much do you get paid per month? With a face like yours, I’d say almost five gold coins.”
“… I’m afraid I can’t tell you my salary, as that information is limited to the Blackwood family.”
“Duke Harold says he can’t get over his dead wife, but behind his back, he’s been holding a woman like this every day! How much do you charge for a session with the Duke? For a price, I’d be happy to….”
“My lord does not spend private time with his maids, and as a servant of House Blackwood, I do not entrust my body to outsiders….”
“You’re acting like this is so damn expensive; you think I’m just a viscount now when I’m the one who fought in the Great War ten years ago, and I’m Harold’s brother-in-law, huh?!”
“… That’s the first time ever I’ve heard that I’m half-brother to someone like you.”
“Is that so, Brother Harold?”
“I’ll deal with him myself, but you can go to my office and wait for me. I need to speak to him for a moment.”
“Very well, my lord.”
“My brother, ah, no, Harold…. it was just a brief misunderstanding….”
Roughly speaking, this was my daily routine. With these visitors coming in several times a day, each day felt so taxing and exhausting.
I’ve said it before, but there is not a single person in this Blackwood manor with a lower status than me. That includes all the guests who visit this manor.
The only commoners allowed to pass through the front doors of a duke’s manor were, at best, its maids.
Beyond that, it was safe to say that it was rare for a non-noble commoner to be granted access to a manor like this.
The number of guests I had to deal with and the number of people giving me dirty looks was doubly exasperating when I realized there was nothing I could do about it.
Of course, some customers didn’t try to do anything weird with me. However, since the character I possessed was the main heroine of the game, her appearance further attracted the attention of other men.
Looking back at my memories of being Lilith, it seems like quite a few men looked at this body with sinister eyes, some “developments.”
At the time, before I remembered my previous life, I hadn’t quite grasped the identity of that gaze.
The outfit, which exposed nearly half of her chest and thighs, was also malicious in more ways than one.
Granted, it’s an adult-rated SRPG, so that kind of maid’s clothing is typical.
As for her other outfits in the release, which are available as late-game events… it’s better not to think about it.
As a player, choosing the heroine’s outfits was always fun. Now, though, I am unnecessarily uncomfortable at the thought of having to wear them.
Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, the state of the characters in this release is so unfortunate that I can only assume they were created with malice in mind.
She’d been tutored by Ethan for nearly five years before being accepted into the Academy, and once she WAS there, she’d be abused to the point where she’d lose her mind.
It’s pretty self-explanatory how the production team chose to put those types of costumes on the characters.
Anyway, with her striking looks and outfit, she was bound to attract attention, whether she liked it or not.
After all, Lilith Rosewood was one of the main heroines of Luminor Academy, so she’d definitely have an advantage over the average girl.
The only men I’d met since I’d regained my memories who hadn’t given my body a lustful glance were young noblemen, no more than five years old at most.
The kids still recognized that I was pretty, but at least they didn’t send blatant glances to my breasts or thighs like the adults did.
…Aside from the children who had no concept of sex in that way, there was only one other person.
A great man in many aspects who never once looked at me with lustful eyes.
“… I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”
The door to Blackwood Manor’s executive office opened, and a long-haired man entered the room.
I reflexively bowed to him as I recognized my master before me.
“Welcome, my lord.”
Harold Richard Blackwood.
My current employer and the father of that disgusting abomination.
Also, the only man in the manor who never gave me those atrocious looks.