The Young Lady Has Disappeared

Seeing the buildings that she had only seen in the game was truly a fascinating experience. At least for Lillian, it was. 

Catherine’s expression, holding her forehead and looking pained at her asking about the cafeteria first, was a bit amusing.

How did she end up going with Catherine? Would she be unable to avoid the original story at this rate? Such thoughts did cross her mind, but after riding in the carriage alone with her, those thoughts completely disappeared.

‘If I can keep seeing this face, it might be okay even if I can’t avoid the original story.’

Lillian truly, sincerely ended up thinking that way. That’s because she was a terrible face-con. That’s why she liked Lillian more than the protagonist even in the original story.

‘Because Lillian is prettier.’

The original protagonist was beautiful too, but being too pure and innocent wasn’t to her taste. Rather than her sun-like beauty with slightly drooping eyes and always smiling brightly, Lillian, who was calm and always wore a noble smile, was more to her taste.

Her hair, almost silver-white, and her contrasting lake-like blue eyes put the finishing touch on Lillian’s beautiful appearance.

‘Come to think of it, she’s completely contrasting colors with Catherine.’

Lillian glanced at Catherine’s neatly tied hair in front of her. Her ascetic black hair and crimson eyes, as if soaked in blood, gave a dangerous yet mysterious sensation. Additionally, her snow-white skin that seemed to have never done any harsh labor made her feel like a flower petal that would helplessly wither away.

That’s why when Catherine held her hand, she was quite surprised. Not a vampiric cold temperature, but a warm touch like a human’s. It was natural, but for Lillian, it came as a small shock. 

The sound of her heart beating, thump, thump, echoed in her ears.

‘No way, surely not, right?’

No matter how much of a face-con she was, there’s no way she could like this maid who was like a doll with dead facial muscles. Lillian shook her head inwardly. Yes, this was just surprise at the fact that even Catherine, who was pale and expressionless like a vampire, was ultimately human.

She, at least, thought so.

* * *

Lillian, who had enjoyed some light snacks in the cafeteria, hummed a tune while patting her belly. Fortunately, no one was in the cafeteria as the entrance ceremony was about to begin, but I swallowed a sigh at her very undignified behavior.

“…Young lady.”

“Oh come on. There’s no one here.”

“Am I no one then?”

“Catherine is Catherine.”

Lillian grinned and looked at me as if she trusted me. I subtly avoided her gaze and handed her a handkerchief.

“Ah, thank you-“

“…What is ‘thank you’?”

“Huh? Ah. It means I’m grateful.”

What on earth is this woman thinking? There’s no way words like ‘thank you’ exist in this world. 

Though I was momentarily flustered, I handled it calmly and swallowed another sigh. Of all people, it had to be such a scatterbrained woman who took over Lillian’s body. 

At least I could tell which world she came from. Earth. The place where I spent my previous life.

After quietly observing her completely untrustworthy appearance, I took her to the main hall.

The main hall wasn’t very far. Lillian looked at me with surprised eyes as I confidently walked towards it, and smiled slightly as she looked up at me.

“Catherine. Do you know all the paths?”

“Yes. I just memorized them all.”

“…Really? Then, where is the dormitory?”

“Go straight that way and turn right.”

I didn’t understand why she suddenly asked this, but when I answered straightforwardly, Lillian’s eyes widened. Though not as much as me, my young lady originally didn’t show much change in expression, so watching these rapidly changing expressions was a bit interesting. Of course, it immediately became uninteresting when I remembered that the person in front of me wasn’t the young lady.

“Shouldn’t Catherine be the one enrolling in the academy?”

“…Stop saying such nonsense and go in. I can’t go in any further.”

When I pointed to the huge door, Lillian let out an “Ah” in exclamation.

“Huh? What? We’ve already arrived?”

“Yes, young lady. Please, maintain your dignity.”

“Alright. I’ll do well so Catherine doesn’t worry.”

Lillian, who muttered that she was planning to do so anyway, entered the main hall. 

As I watched Lillian’s back through the slowly closing door, I quietly picked up the luggage Lillian had been carrying. It wasn’t that heavy. Thanks to the body that had received some training.

Dormitory. The young lady’s dormitory was certainly… Room 303, right? Third floor. The young lady who hated physical exertion probably wouldn’t have liked that.

Since it wasn’t Lillian’s concern, I slowly made my way to the dormitory. The entrance ceremony lasts about an hour. I planned to finish unpacking within that hour.

* * *

“Lillian von Fortus… Room 303. Here’s the layout of the dormitory. If you can’t find your way properly, come find me.”

“Yes.”

The maid who seemed to be the dormitory supervisor winked at me. I gave her a slight bow and quickly climbed the stairs.

Room 303, Room 303… Is this it? I opened the door with the key I received from the dormitory supervisor. Befitting a place where the highest nobles enroll, the dormitory was extremely luxurious. 

After briefly looking around the room that was no less than a high-class hotel, I started unpacking.

The luggage brought from the Fortus household consisted of only the young lady’s dresses, two or three spare maid uniforms for me, and underwear for each of us. We didn’t bring much luggage as we could buy the rest nearby anyway.

I quickly organized the underwear first, then put the young lady’s dresses in the dressing room. Then I looked for a separate room to put my maid uniforms. 

But no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find a separate room.

What’s this? Strange. It’s a place where they definitely bring servants, but they wouldn’t make us sleep together, and there doesn’t seem to be separate servant quarters either. 

After pondering for a moment, I roughly hung up the maid uniforms and went downstairs.

“Supervisor.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Where are the servant quarters?”

When I asked this question after looking at the layout for a long time and not seeing any servant bedrooms, the supervisor grinned.

“Shouldn’t it be attached to the room? Ah. Was 303 not like that?”

“…What do you mean?”

“Well, Room 303 was recently renovated. They converted what was originally a separate room into a dressing room. Instead, there should be two beds, right?”

“Are you saying I’m to sleep in the same room as the young lady? No matter what, that’s…”

As I spoke hesitantly, the supervisor smiled gently.

“Hmm, I can change the room for you. But the Fortus family’s young lady and the expressionless maid serving beside her were quite famous. Is it too much to sleep together?”

“I don’t mind, but the young lady…”

The young lady was someone who disliked sleeping together even when I was working as a nanny. This became even more so as she grew up. 

It’s a bit inconvenient that I can’t express my difficulty at times like this because my facial muscles are all dead.

“Then discuss it with the young lady. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll change it for you. Honestly, we don’t have many spare rooms in the dormitory, so if you don’t use that room, another noble will be kicked out.”

Swallowing the sigh rising from within, I replied that I understood and headed back to the main hall. Lillian seemed to be wary of me anyway, so she’d probably refuse.

“Huh? I’m okay with it.”

“…Young lady? Didn’t you say you disliked sleeping with me?”

“Hmm? Huh? Ah, um… Ah! Right. It would be a bit much if another noble couldn’t use the dormitory, wouldn’t it?”

The words “Since when were you such a kind person?” rose to the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t spit out such words to the young lady I serve, so I swallowed a sigh and nodded.

“How did it go?”

“The young lady says she will use that room.”

“Hmph, I thought so.”

“Wow, so this is the dormitory.”

I lightly pulled the young lady who was looking around behind me and went straight up to Room 303. It was unavoidable as other nobles would whisper about her lack of dignity if they saw her behavior.

“Ooh- It’s like a 5-star hotel-“

Intentionally pretending not to hear Lillian’s muttering, I organized the maid uniforms in the dressing room and then asked her.

“Young lady. Did the entrance ceremony go well?”

“Yes. Nothing happened that would worry Catherine, okay?”

“That’s fortunate then.”

“Ah, they said the entrance party will be tonight. Catherine needs to come along this time, so help me a bit.”

“Yes. I understand. By the way, did you see your fiancé?”

When the word fiancé came out, Lillian’s body flinched. Then her neck slowly turned towards me.

“Fiancé?”

“Yes. Your fiancé.”

Belrus Jack Endain, Lillian’s – the young lady’s fiancé. As a prince of the Endain Grand Duchy, he was pushing for a political marriage with her. The young lady didn’t seem to like this engagement very much, but she would nod with a fleeting smile as if it were her fate.

Although there had only been a few letters exchanged so far, Prince Belrus was relatively gentlemanly.

“Umm, about that fiancé…”

“Yes. About that fiancé.”

“I didn’t see him!”

“…I see.”

Well, it’s a problem that can be dealt with slowly. After all, it would be dangerous to present Lillian in this state to that prince. 

When I nodded willingly, Lillian let out a sigh of relief. Although her state seemed a bit strange, I grabbed Lillian as it was time to prepare for the evening party.

“Young lady.”

“Huh? Huh? Catherine. Your eyes look scary…”

“You remember how to dance, right?”

“Huh? Yes. Of course. I could dance with Catherine right now if you want?”

That’s fortunate. If I had to teach dance from the beginning, there wouldn’t have been enough time.

“Then we should start getting you ready. Since there are no other maids, it will take some time.”

“Huh? Already? We still have about 5 hours left, don’t we?”

“Only 5 hours, young lady.”

“Huh? Huh?”

I grabbed the clothes of the thoroughly confused Lillian and quietly urged her.

“First, let’s get you undressed.”

“Huh?”

Frustrated by her unusually slow reactions today, I quickly stripped off her clothes. In an instant, Lillian was revealed wearing only a corset and underwear. Lillian’s face turned bright red.

“Huh?!”

“Why are you so surprised? Let’s get ready quickly.”

Like a carnivore preparing to swallow a herbivore in one bite, I approached her.