My Maid is Cute Chapter 47 : A Wavering Existence (Patreon)

—Juliet Lionfall.

It was a name she didn't want to remember. The second daughter of the Viscount Lionfall family. In terms of appearance, she was the most beautiful of the sisters. Because of that beauty, she was their mother’s favorite. However, her personality was the worst. Strong-willed, selfish, arrogant, and self-centered. She wouldn't be satisfied unless she got everything she wanted. In the past, whenever something displeased her, she would hit or pinch Rebecca as if taking her anger out on her.

That very Juliet was currently standing in front of her.

"W-Why..."

"Hide-and-seek is over, you slowpoke. Do you have any idea how much trouble it was to find you—"

Suddenly, the sharp sound of thwack rang out. At the same time she felt the impact, her eyes squeezed shut, and she toppled over. She immediately realized Juliet had slapped her across the cheek.

"Sneaking around and hiding for years...! You really are like a filthy little rat!!"

Juliet proceeded to kick her body hard. The pain was so intense that she kept her eyes closed. A voice leaked out involuntarily.

"...Ugh."

At that moment, a small voice spoke up.

"Lady Juliet, please calm down..."

"Shut up, Coco!"

Rebecca opened her eyes slightly. Before she knew it, someone was standing next to Juliet. Dark skin, short black hair; a small boy, probably about the same age as Wendy. Seeing him, she remembered. This was the boy who had knocked her unconscious in the Caldwell garden.

Juliet screamed again.

"You stay out of this!!"

"Um, but... it's about time to—"

Just as the boy named Coco started to say something, another voice cut in.

"He's right, Julie."

Two figures entered the room.

One was a tall young man with black hair slicked back. He had a pale complexion and cold eyes, but his face was frozen, devoid of any emotion.

Standing behind the young man, as if in waiting, was a woman in a gray one-piece dress with black hair reaching down to her waist. She looked at Rebecca with a timid, frightened expression.

Both of them had the same reddish-brown eyes as Juliet.

"—Brother Samuel... Sister Blanca..."

The man was the eldest son of the Lionfall family, Samuel Lionfall. And the other was the fifth daughter, Blanca Lionfall.

Samuel ignored Rebecca and addressed Juliet.

"Don't touch her, Julie."

"But, Brother!"

"...Don't damage her face. She still has a use."

At Samuel's words, Juliet looked at Rebecca with hatred. Then, she delivered a heavy kick to Rebecca's stomach.

"...Gh!"

Unable to voice her pain, Rebecca closed her eyes. Next, her hair was grabbed roughly, and her face was forced upward as if being dragged.

"We searched for you for a long time, Carol."

Desperately holding back tears of pain, she opened her eyes. Right in front of her, Samuel stared at her with cold eyes while gripping her hair tight.

"I couldn't stand a shabby girl like you carrying our name, but to think you would actually run away."

Trembling, Rebecca desperately squeezed out her voice.

"...H-How did you find me...?"

It was Juliet who answered.

"Earl Caldwell got engaged recently, didn't he? A relative of ours happens to be friends with his fiancée. They were invited to a party at the Earl's mansion and told us they saw you dressed as a maid."

Hearing that, Rebecca bit her lip.

"I looked into it. To think you changed your hair and eye color and were working as a maid under a fake name. We sent Coco to infiltrate the mansion to bring you back. The kid is an idiot, but he's useful."

The boy named Coco twitched his shoulders.

Rebecca strained to get the words out.

"...Why, after all this time..."

"It's not 'after all this time.' We need you. If we have you, our family can be restored."

Samuel slowly released his grip on Rebecca's hair. Then, he continued.

" Aren't you happy? The homely, shabby youngest child whose only redeeming quality is magic can finally be of use to our family."

Chilled to the bone by those words, Rebecca shouted reflexively.

"...I refuse!!"

Desperately sitting up, she continued.

"You're just after my magic, aren't you!? Absolutely not!! I'm going home!!"

"Going home? You idiot, your home is here."

At Juliet's words, Rebecca furrowed her brow.

"Huh?"

At that moment, Blanca, the fifth daughter, spoke for the first time.

"...This is the Lionfall house, Carol. We brought you here using 'Transfer' magic. The mansion, or rather, to be precise... the mansion's warehouse, though..."

Her mumbling, hard-to-hear voice echoed, causing Rebecca to frown.

"W-Warehouse...?"

"The second floor of the warehouse in the corner of the estate... though, since we sold most of the things that were in here, it doesn't really function as a warehouse anymore..."

"Don't say unnecessary things, Blanca."

At Samuel's sharp remark, Blanca immediately shut her mouth.

Rebecca quickly looked around. She searched her memories from several years ago, but couldn't recall the existence of this warehouse.

Samuel sighed slightly.

"...Well, fine. Your will doesn't matter. No matter what you say, we'll have you fulfill your proper role. As a daughter of Lionfall."

Saying that, he turned his back on her.

"Let's go, Julie, Blanca."

At his words, the two sisters stood up as well. They followed Samuel out of the room.

"W-Wait—"

Just as Rebecca tried to scramble to her feet, Blanca turned back.

"...You shouldn't defy Brother and Sister, Carol. That collar... it's a powerful magic tool that seals your magic. So, trying to escape is useless."

She whispered in a small voice, glancing at the collar. Then, before Rebecca could try to stop her, she quickly slammed the door shut.

***

Around the same time, at the Caldwell mansion, Wendy was in an uproar over Rebecca's disappearance.

"Becca, Becca? Where are you!?"

She ran around the mansion, calling Rebecca's name loudly. Other servants and maids searched every nook and cranny with her, but Rebecca was nowhere to be found.

"Brother, Brother!! Becca is gone!!"

Wendy appealed to Christopher with a face that looked ready to burst into tears. Christopher stroked Wendy's head consolingly.

"—It's okay, Wendy. Maybe something urgent came up and she had to go out..."

Despite his words, Christopher looked pale. It was unthinkable for Rebecca to leave the mansion without telling anyone. While comforting the anxious Wendy, he felt a sense of dread.

"—Master Christopher."

At that moment, Reed spoke to him in a low voice from behind.

"Could I have a moment?"

Hearing that, Christopher smiled at Wendy.

"Wait here a bit. I'll go look for Rebecca right after this."

Leaving her with those words, he exited the room with Reed.

"What is it, Reed?"

"—Rebecca was reportedly cleaning the garden this evening... upon checking the mansion's security, it seems there are traces of something intruding."

Christopher started and asked Reed back.

"Is that true?"

"Yes... indistinct and truly faint traces of magic... apparently, the magic was so sophisticated that no one noticed."

Christopher's face grew grim.

"—This is bad. Very bad."

"Master Christopher?"

Reed called out, but Christopher, whose face had gone completely pale, gave no answer.

***

Meanwhile, left behind on the second floor of the warehouse, Rebecca was desperately trying to remove the collar.

"Ggggh...!"

She tried to tear it off with brute force, but the collar wouldn't budge. Just as Blanca had said, she couldn't use magic at all.

"...Ughhh."

Frustrated, a groan escaped her lips. Giving up on removing the collar, she tried to escape the warehouse somehow. However, the door and window were locked, and there were no tools in the room she could use. No matter how much she banged on the window, it wouldn't break.

Incidentally, she hadn't noticed earlier, but there was another small door in the corner of the room leading to a toilet.

"...What should I do?"

Rebecca muttered anxiously.

If things continued like this, her brother and sisters would use her until there was nothing left. Samuel hadn't been specific earlier, but there was a high probability she would be forced to marry a powerful noble, selling her strong magic power as an asset. Just imagining it made her skin crawl.

I have to escape from here quickly—

At that moment, the door opened a crack. Through the gap, a bottle of water and a small piece of bread were thrown in.

"Ah, h-hey, wait...!"

Visible through the gap was neither her brother nor her sisters, but the boy named Coco. Their eyes met, and Coco trembled with a start. Before Rebecca could rush over, the door closed.

"Please, let me out of here!!"

She approached the door, banging on it and pleading, but the only response from outside was...

"—I'm sorry."

Just a faint voice.

Without touching the thrown bread or water, Rebecca thought desperately. If she waited, would someone from the Caldwell family come? No, impossible. Rebecca bit her lip. No one knew Rebecca's true identity. No one knew she was here. As she wondered if there was any way to call for help, the image of a pure white dragon floated into her mind.

"T-That's it!"

Rebecca pulled the pendant with the blue stone out from under her clothes.

—Wear this. If anything happens, call my name anytime. For you, I will rush to your side, whenever and wherever.

The dragon's words revived in her mind. Rebecca immediately called out to the stone.

"R-Riesie!"

She waited for a while, but there was no reaction.

"Hu-huh? Riesie!! Riesie!? Mr. Rieserago—!?"

No matter how many times she called, nothing appeared. Realizing that this collar seemed to seal even the magic of Rieserago's stone, Rebecca slumped her shoulders in defeat.

At that moment, a voice came from outside the door.

"—Hey."

Reacting to the voice, Rebecca hurriedly looked up.

"Did you eat your food properly?"

She approached the door. The owner of the voice was the fifth daughter, Blanca.

"Sister Blanca..."

"You should eat..."

Her small, mumbling voice echoed.

"—I feel bad about this. Really. But you're the only one we can rely on now."

At that voice, unable to endure it, Rebecca shouted loudly.

"Why... after all this time... I wanted you to just leave me alone! Since you and Brother and everyone hate me anyway...!"

"It's not that simple, Carol. ...Our family is on the verge of ruin right now. In various ways."

"Huh?"

In a small voice, Blanca told her what had happened since Rebecca left home.

Their parents, the Viscount and his wife, had died a few years ago, and her brother Samuel had succeeded the Viscountcy. Rebecca didn't react much upon hearing her parents had died.

After Samuel took over, the second brother married into a distant noble family. The other sisters had seemingly married as well. However—

"Sister Juliet and I got divorced and came back."

"...Can I ask why?"

" knowing Sister Juliet's personality, you can guess, right?"

At those words, Rebecca nodded involuntarily to herself. Presumably, she had been selfish and demanding at her husband's home as well and was abandoned.

"As for me... well, various things happened..."

Blanca seemed reluctant to talk about her own marriage and mumbled vaguely.

Around the time Juliet and Blanca returned home after being divorced, almost simultaneously, a problem arose with Samuel as well.

"...Brother Samuel got addicted to gambling. He went into debt because of it... our financial situation is in tatters now. We sold everything of value. Still, it's not enough. That's when we were informed that you had been spotted. We investigated various things... and used Coco to bring you here."

"Who is this Coco child...?"

"Our servant. The only one, actually. But since things got this bad, we couldn't afford to keep most servants, so we fired them and kicked them out... That boy, his mother was originally a maid here, but she died of sickness, and he had nowhere else to go... Even though he's so small, he's oddly good at magic, so Brother and Sister are using him conveniently."

So that's how they were able to take me out of that mansion, she realized with conviction.

"—What are you going to do with me now?"

Blanca didn't answer Rebecca's question.

"Sister Blanca, answer me. What is Brother thinking?"

She asked again. After a while, Blanca's small voice returned.

"I don't know. He said if we have you, he can work something out. ...I do feel bad, though."

Irritated by that answer, Rebecca banged loudly on the door.

"If you feel that way, let me out! Let me go back to the Caldwell house!!"

"...Impossible. I can't go against Brother and Sister."

Rebecca almost clicked her tongue.

Blanca, the fifth daughter, was always like this. When they were at home, Blanca didn't actively harass Carol. However, even if the other family members did terrible things to Carol, she would never stop them. Since long ago, she had an introverted, gloomy, timid personality, always nervously gauging people's reactions. She never disobeyed those in superior positions and rarely voiced her own will. Just as Rebecca was thinking she was as quiet and servile as ever—

"...I envy you, Carol."

Blanca added words like a whisper.

"You always get the best parts, Carol... It's truly enviable how lucky you always are..."

"Sister Blanca?"

"...I didn't say it earlier, but you see, I was thrown away by my husband."

"..."

Rebecca fell silent, not knowing how to respond, but Blanca continued, ignoring the silence.

"...It was a political marriage... but I thought it would go well at first. My husband was a good person. But... I was hated by my in-laws... every time I made a mistake, I was scolded, told sarcastic things... it was painful and hard. I thought my husband would help me, I was waiting for him... but in the end, he didn't do anything. Finally, I was treated like trash and thrown out... I'm still waiting for my husband to come pick me up. If that person apologizes and begs for forgiveness, I'd go back anytime... but my husband keeps ignoring me... It's cruel. I've been waiting all this time..."

"..."

"Brother Samuel says... if we have you, surely everything will go well... surely, my husband will come to get me soon. Then, surely this time we can build a good relationship... So, do as you're told... absolutely do not resist... As long as you endure it, I can become happy..."

Rebecca was stunned by those words.

"What is that...?"

Her whole body trembled with overwhelming anger. Before she could let out any more words, Blanca's voice continued.

"It's only natural, isn't it? You've had it easy all this time... I truly envy you. You've always, always been unpleasant and infuriating, Carol."

There was unmistakable hatred lodged in that voice. Rebecca scowled involuntarily.

"Excuse me?"

"—I have nothing. Always the leftovers of the family..."

Blanca's words were mumbled and hard to hear, so Rebecca brought her ear close to the door.

"...The true leftover should have been you, the youngest. But you had strong magic. And... you were excellent from a young age, Carol. Even though you were born from that kind of mother..."

At those words, Rebecca called out toward the door in confusion.

"Wait a second... what do you mean 'that kind of mother'?"

"Ah."

Blanca made a sound as if remembering something.

"That's right... Carol, you yourself didn't know anything... Father forbid us from speaking of it."

"W-What?"

"—Among us siblings, you are the only one with a different mother."

Rebecca silently took a step back from the door. Blanca's voice continued.

"Didn't you wonder why you were the only one in the family with blue eyes? Didn't you think it strange that you were neglected from birth and hated by the family? —You are a child Father fathered with a maid. Well, your mother died immediately after giving birth to you, though."

"..."

"Until we knew you had strong magic, Father found you very much a nuisance. Of course, Mother did too. She often said, 'It would have been better if she hadn't been born.' Your existence is the shame of our family itself... Carol. When you were born and taken into our house, Father ordered everyone to keep silent. To never speak of your mother again... Well, it doesn't matter anymore. Father is gone, too."

"..."

"To think that lowly-born you are working as a maid now. Blood will tell... You really are just a base maid's daughter after all."

Even hearing this fact for the first time, Rebecca's heart remained calm. Is that so, she accepted it coolly in her mind.

"—Anyway, if you don't want to get hurt, do as Brother says, Carol. Understood?"

Rebecca didn't answer Blanca's words. Before she knew it, Blanca seemed to have left, and nothing could be heard from beyond the door anymore. In the quiet space, Rebecca sank to the floor.

Inside Rebecca, the existence known as Carol Lionfall flickered waveringly.

***

*Simple Background Settings*

The protagonist has two older brothers and five older sisters.

*Eldest Son: Samuel (Current Viscount Lionfall)*

Was engaged to a noble lady from a reasonably good family, but the engagement was broken off when his gambling and debts were exposed.

*Second Son: Cormac*

Married into a noble family (adopted son-in-law).

*Eldest Daughter: Aurora*

Married a Baron's son. However, unable to conceive, she is on the verge of divorce.

*Second Daughter: Juliet (Returned/Divorced)*

Has a child, but custody was taken by her ex-husband.

*Third Daughter: Annette (Married)*

Juliet's twin sister, but they don't look much alike. On bad terms with Juliet; they fight fiercely whenever they meet.

*Fourth Daughter: Gracie (Married)*

Refused a political marriage and eloped with her lover. Currently estranged from her parents' home.

*Fifth Daughter: Blanca (Returned/Divorced)*