“My whole life was dedicated to my people. I believed that my body was there to watch over them, and my intellect was there to protect them. But looking back now, I think it was only my illusion.”

The complaints are long. What will you give to yourself? What will you get for yourself?】

“I will give myself a trim and fatten myself. That alone will get me what I want.”

I pray for you. This time, I hope you put down a heavy and golden seat* and enjoy a trivial life. 】

***

Whoo~

At the sound of the kettle boiling, I quickly grabbed a thick dishcloth and removed it from the fire.

It was quite heavy for a ten-year-old child to lift, but humans are animals that adapt quickly, they have learned some tricks.

After pouring the thin, steamy tea into a crude cup, I added more tea leaves to the kettle and boiled it. The richly brewed tea was poured into a beautiful porcelain cup covered with gold lining. I put it in a tray and hurriedly carried it to the servant’s dining room.

“It’s cold, so please warm up with tea.”

“Oh, Betty. Thank you.”

“Suu, suu.”

Those who had been eating already to some extent welcomed the hot tea.

The front of the table which had been noisy for a while became quiet again with the sight of the strict maid. That maid doesn’t like hearing gossips during meals.

The butler, who had a light breakfast as to not burden his stomach, was reading the newspaper. I pretended to be carrying tea and glanced at the newspaper he was reading.

Even in a black and white picture, I could witness the dazzling beauty of a young princess.

Judging from a quick glance, there must have been an accident during the coronation. I met the ‘female lead’, ‘male lead’, and ‘villain’ of this world easily.

The ‘original plot’ is going smoothly regardless of me.

“Oh, the tea is a little cold.”

While heading to the end of the table where my reserved seat is, the maid, Anne, who was in charge of serving guests, gave me a pint glass.

She was a chef who wouldn’t miss out on nagging, she cleared her throat with a cough and talked to me in a solemn voice.

“Betty, on a cold winter day like this, you have to brew more tea before bringing them out. It all cooled down on your way here, you should try that.”

I took a sip with Meg’s permission from the seat next to me.

“Haha, it really is. I’m sorry, Chef Anne.”

“You boiled it like this, but it’s very cold, isn’t it? How would you feel from a recipient’s view if you were served with cold tea like this?”

I nodded my head as if to sympathize without any rebuke.

“I would be surprised at how cold the tea is. I will be more careful next time.”

“Yeah, it’s your first winter here, so you might have not known. Be careful next time.”

“Yes.”

Usually, the chef would pull out verses 2, 3, and 4, but it ended here because the strict maid seemed to notice.

I quickly glanced over the table. The castle owners almost neglected all the guests, and the servants of the castle had an overly luxurious meal.

Even if there is a lot of expensive food to offer to the nobles, the superiors don’t look for them, so it’s all ours. No, to be precise, it is the responsibility of the servants except me.

Only a few slices of bread and fruit jam were all that was left on the table, as if all the food had been eaten already during my brief tea brewing period.

The bread was so crumbly that I didn’t know when it was baked, but I had to eat it all in a hurry. Because I need to eat well to survive the afternoon.

“Just throw it away. It looks like everyone already ate enough.”

It had not been a while since I put my butt on the chair, but I had no choice but to stand up again.

I was about to go out with a tower of plates that were left stacked on the table, but Meg, who works in the kitchen, was putting all kinds of fruits, desserts, and coffee on a large tray. We cautiously passed each other, familiar with the work.

I went down to the kitchen and headed outside to fetch water from the well for washing dishes. This is a well-developed world with water and sewage facilities comparable to the modern world, but I still have to draw water from the well always.

This is because when the chef was still in charge of washing the dishes like me, she had to draw water from the well. So no matter how good the years had passed, I still have to draw water from the well to wash dishes.

If I had just been a regular ten-year-old, I might have secretly wiped my tears out of shame. But in my previous life, I was a person who learned the way of a small citizen to deal with injustice.

When something like this happens, it is important to keep your mind as light and positive as possible.

Even if I think about it, I might just suddenly burst out, and my blood pressure would rise.

It’s just like, ‘Oh, my professor is talking nonsense again.’ It can’t really be helped.

“Betty, are you going to carry that water? Give it to me.”

“Oh, it’s okay.”

“How would you carry it? Give it.”

I was carefully walking up the stairs when Gilbert, the footman in charge of servicing the guests, appeared and took my kettle.

Assisting in the work of other workers was a violation of the discipline of the mansion, and it is strictly forbidden in any mansion.

But Gilbert would always help me with my work while avoiding the eyes of others. It may be because I just feel sorry for the others, but I am still afraid of the other finding out because I’m still new.

Besides, Gilbert is a footman, so he wears an expensive uniform. On a day that he would need to go out for work then help me before that and get blemishes on his uniform… I don’t even want to imagine.

I said in a panicky voice.

“Well, then, leave it in front of the back door.”

“Are you going to carry it from there?”

“Yes, it’s not too far from the well anyway. Hurry up and eat some desserts.”

“Yes, Betty. Thanks for your effort.”

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being tall and strong.

If I was alone, I would have climbed a few steps and rested, then climbed a few steps and rested while going up to the back door, but Gilbert went up the stairs in just a few steps even with that large tin kettle.

I dazedly admired it, then hurried to say thanks.

As Gilbert was about to go upstairs, he poked his face through the railing of the stairs and smiled broadly.

Gilbert is the most handsome of the Duke’s footmen. Anne said that Tony with thick lines is more handsome than Gilbert, but in my opinion, Gilbert is the most handsome.

How desperate I am just to see him smile like that sometimes. If I were 10 years older, I would have already attacked him.

‘Oh, wake up! Right now I’m 10 years old!’

As I was salivating, I quickly woke up from my thoughts, climbed the stairs, picked up the kettle, and headed towards the well.

The extras are even that pretty. How pretty are the main characters in the original story? Even from afar, I want to see their faces in person. I sighed deeply at the thought.

No matter how much other people are reincarnated as extras, they hopefully get along with the original characters, but the only thing I did, was using my knowledge of the ‘original story’, was to find a job.

Bernhardt Lirie Janus, who later grew up to be the darkest villain of this world, inherited the title of Duke at the young age of twelve. After that, he only went out and paid no attention to household duties.

As the servants who had connections with the vassals were purged in large numbers, the Duke’s Castle, which was filled with only high-quality employees, suffered from an unprecedented lack of manpower.

Even if the castle was left unattended, it still needs enough basic manpower. However, to hire numerous servants, the budget for it has to be increased and to increase the budget, you need to get the owner’s permission.

Taking advantage of such circumstances, I manage to become a duke’s maid without any recommendation letter at such a young age.

At the orphanage, I got involved with children in their mid to late teens, so I lied that I was 14 without changing a single expression on my face, but the maid closed her eyes as I was nimble and quick to move, and I only need to receive a small salary.

‘Once I build my career here, I will get a recommendation letter and work somewhere else.’

Even if I survive for just 1 year, I can still work as a ‘duke’s maid’. And even if the scale is small, I may be able to try to become a chef if I could find a more proper kitchen job and then build up my career there step by step.

If I got married on the way, I might be able to find a nanny position. Then, while working as a nanny, I can study in my spare time and consider a job as a tutor.

I had a simple but healthy plan for the future, so I didn’t hesitate to wash the dishes even though my hands were full of eczema.*

Look, didn’t I reach the well already?

I didn’t even know that my hands were sore as I came up with a plan for the future that would be beneficial. I gathered my sore hands and blew hot winds with my mouth to warm them.

And a wooden bucket is connected to a pulley to draw water into the kettle.

“Hey.”

In an instant, a human hand protruded out of the well, like a scene from that one horror movie. Then a whitish figure appeared.

Surprised, I accidentally threw the wooden bucket into the well. The boy who had been hit with it straight on the face fell down again.

It was only after hearing the sound of splashing that I came to my senses.

That white-haired boy I just dropped back into the well, obviously, obviously…

‘Duke Janus, the owner of this estate, and the villain of the original story.’

In short, “SLV”*(1) was a fictional novel in which the protagonist, who was an ordinary Korean citizen, accidentally became a villain named “Christine.”

It has such a development that after transmigrating into the sub-villain’s body, she struggled around to survive, and unexpectedly got entangled one after another with the female protagonist, male protagonist, and the grand duke of the original work.

It has a good plot, but the people online said that the only flaw the story has is the age range.

Here’s a brief description of the story before the protagonist became Christine.

Catherine (the original heroine), the imperial princess of Noah, who was born for the first time after 500 years, has a coronation ceremony at the age of 10. Christine (before the transmigration) and the main characters who gathered together at that time are caught up in an unexpected incident.

The temple guide, who was ordered by someone during the banquet, deliberately refluxed the mana of the young Duke Janus (the original villain) causing an explosion.

It could have turned into a serious accident, but the case was closed with the arrival of a powerful knightess, Count McEuena’s daughter, Lady Christine McEuena (the original secondary villain).

Afterward, Christine became a knightess to the Duke of Janus, condescendingly stacking and stacking karma, and a month before becoming an adult, suddenly committed suicide, saying she wanted to get the Duke’s attention.

Then, she really died, and the protagonist of “SLV” came to transmigrate into her body.

‘No, but why would the lord be here when he’s supposed to be at the Imperial Palace!’

Thirty seconds after dropping the duke into the well, my mind spun faster than ever.

The man that Christine should have saved is in a well.

I couldn’t understand how the original work, which I believed would flow completely unrelated to me, went wrong, but now it wasn’t important.

‘I, is the lord dead?’

There was no way that the great Duke Janus would have died after being hit by an empty wooden pail.

Looking into the dark well, I swallowed my saliva.

The gray thing in the well seemed to move slowly.

‘Even if he didn’t die, he would have gotten hurt somewhere.’

I knew an old man who was imprisoned for giving a small scratch to a Baron’s arm when I was living in my hometown village.

He was tortured in a horrific way and died for injuring the body of a noble by a commoner.

If he were alive, he would somehow crawl up from the well and try to find me.

‘For you to never find me… I have to kill you.’

I held the large iron kettle and carefully tried to weigh it.

‘Ah, my simple but sound plan for the future, goodbye…’

I was worried about a moment.

In novels with villains and extras like this, it is the norm to help the female lead, the male protagonist, or the villain.

I know the original, too. Since this happened, let’s help and seduce the villain like the protagonist after transmigrating into the body of Christine.

Even if I can’t completely accomplish it, he might let his guard down for a while until I run away.

‘Well, the Christine after the transmigration said something to this guy.’

「 I like the Duke the way he is. 」

Thanks to those words, this crazy duke appeared in the middle of the night.

「 You said you like me the way I am. I love you, too. You will never leave my side,

right? 」

Phew, he’s hopeless.

Just die.

I closed my eyes and threw the heavy iron kettle into the well.

“Urg!”

I ran fast, leaving behind the heavy sound from the well.

Now I’ll run away and never come back here again.

It’s a common name that is so common that about ten people would look back if you shouted ‘Betty!’ from behind, but I’ll change the name.

Meghna Ann. Something like that.

I headed to the servant’s passage through the back door and went straight up to the attic, the dormitory of the lower maids.

It was a busy time, so no one paid attention to me.

In the empty room, there were bedding and clothes that were not organized by the lazy maids.

Foremost, I packed the envelopes of my salary that I had saved up so far.

And I searched through the clothes one by one that are scattered.

You may be surprised at how I could steal other people’s things, but I had to start my life again at the age of ten without any connection.

I wasn’t in a position to build a good sense of morality.

‘There is a risk that jewelry will be traced later, so I should mainly take cash.’

While I was taking every single coin.

“You’re a kid with no blood or tears.”

Somewhere, a large hand grabbed my head by the chin and pressed it.

I shouted reflexively.

“Argh! I’m sorry!”

In an instant, an arm popped between my armpits, and my feet lift off of the ground. And his red eyes met mine.

The red eyes facing him in a darkened room where the lights weren’t properly turned on were already creepy, but he looked even more vicious as he was bleeding dark red blood from his head.

‘You monstrous bastard, I should have killed him more definitely.’

I was shivering, swallowing lines like a rogue villain inside, and he asked me as he looked closely at me.

“How old are you?”

I swallowed my saliva and replied with a calm voice as much as possible.

“14…”

It was a lie that wouldn’t work.

But there was a reason why I stuck to the number of 14 even if I died soon.

According to imperial law, no matter how commoners were, children who could not exceed 14 were unable to work.

The law was made with the aim of saving children from labor exploitation in its own way, but most of them were nominal laws to deceive their age and find jobs like me.

However, there was no way that a noble like Duke Janus would know this situation.

“You’re 14?”

When he asked back sadly, I corrected it with a crawling voice.

“No, thi, thirteen…”

“……”

“12…?”

“……”

“Ele…ven.”

“……”

“Ten…”

“Who told you to count backward? Say it right.”

Even though I went down to my real age, he couldn’t stop doubting. I protested with a little loud voice.

“I’m, I’m 10 years old!”

“You’re as big as a rat. What do you mean 10 years old?”

Then Meg opened the door and nagged out of nowhere.

“Betty! I got scolded by the chef because of you! I sent you to bring water and this is real…”

Meg’s face, which was full of doubts, quickly turned blue as the boy turned his head, wiping his white hair that was clogged with blood. It had been a long time since she had seen the lord, but the situation was quickly understood.

Meg quickly bowed her head. He put me on his side as if I were a pimp and walked out.

While clinging to the air and struggling, I could see Meg quietly stepping back to one place and nodding.

“Bring the butler.”

“Ye, yes!”

The man, who was only 15 years old, growled like a beast.

‘It was okay to see the main characters from afar, but that’s canceled.’

I was so scared that I couldn’t even see how pretty the main character was.

With tears in my eyes, I rummaged through my pockets and pulled out my paycheck. And, in case of emergency, I quickly put the dried poisonous herb in my mouth and chewed it hard.

According to the only pharmacist in my hometown, I could die as if I were just sleeping. It was better than being beaten until I died because of injuring a noble.

“Hey! What are you chewing? Spit it out, quickly!”

The duke, who I thought had his visions narrowed because of anger, found me mumbling on his side and quickly put his fingers inside my mouth.

“Why won’t you spit it out! Spit it out when I’m still asking nicely. Aren’t you going to spit it out?”

“No!”

Uwehh.

His fingers went deep and stimulated my tender throat, causing me to retch repeatedly.

I wanted to bite the hand of the duke who came into my mouth, but it was not easy to close my mouth when the boy held both of my cheeks and forcibly opened my mouth. After enduring in tears, I finally sat down on the floor and vomited what I ate.

Except for the dried poisonous herb, I only ate a piece of bread, so only gastric juices came out.

If this disastrous life ends, I will go to the end of hell and kill the person who reincarnated me.

I didn’t have anything more to spit out, so I eventually hit my head next to my vomit and fainted.

My name is Betty, a commoner, so I don’t have a family name.

It’s just Betty.

It was only around the time when I was starting to learn how to walk that I realized that this was my second life.

There was a time when I was excited, saying that I was going through something similar to the

“an unfamiliar ceiling when I opened my eyes” trope.

—Director, what name should I give this child?

—What, just call her Betty. I’m too lazy to name it.

When I heard that my name is ‘Betty’, I thought that even a thunderbolt would hit the dry sky.

I’m Betty. Betty.

I don’t know which novel it came from, but there was only one name I could guess.

It was clear that I would be nothing more than a maid 1, 2 or maid 1 and maid 2.

Born with such a lame fate, I grew up in such an orphanage in the Dukedom of Janus. It was an orphanage with a pretty good curriculum compared to the circumstances.

I learned all the basic skills to get a job as a maid, such as cleaning, sewing, and cooking, there. No one taught me letters and I didn’t even have time to learn them.

From the time I can walk properly, I work when the sun rises and sleep when the sun goes down. As the hard days continued, the excitement I felt at first gradually dried up.

When I found out that this land I was stepping on was “the celestial continent, the Noah Empire,” I remembered the transmigration novel “SLV,” but what does that have to do with me?

Now, even the memories of my previous life were fading.

I remember what country I was from in the past, what gender I was, and what job I was in, but I quickly lost my memories of what I liked and what I hated, or who was my close friend.

The only thing that I remember in detail as time goes by is .

I remembered it very clearly as if it was the only important thing.

「This time, I pray you to enjoy a good and trivial life.」

***

“Gasp.”

My eyes lit up as if I had received some revelation.

The bed that I was always crouching to overcome the early morning cold is replaced by soft yet fluffy bedding and a ray of sunshine gently wrapping my body.

I slowly got up and looked around.

A bedroom that is a little smaller than the room where six lower-level maidservants sleep together.

A large, clean glass window that faces south and lets in warm sunlight.

The feel of the carpet, touching the feet that got out of bed involuntarily.

‘This is a guest room.’

I was locked in the kitchen and was doing the dishes, but I could tell. This was the Duke’s castle’s guest room, which had not been used for a long time.

As soon as I found out, I quickly looked at the expensive things around me. Famous paintings in front, small statues, and ceramics adorning the fireplace and tabletop.

I shouldn’t touch anything.

In the cucumber field, do not even change your shoes, and you may wander around expensive items for nothing.*

‘What is that fluttering thing?’

A white ribbon-like thing moved above me and then I saw my reflection in the mirror when I turned around.

A small freckled child, as if sprinkled brown sugar on a pale face, was wearing an expensive children’s robe, which must have cost several times of my annual income.

‘This is obviously… …the duke’s doing.’

Even when I’ve read the book, I couldn’t understand what that nutcase was thinking, but when I actually experienced it, it was even harder to understand what was going on in his head.

I looked out the window to infer the atmosphere of the castle.

And my body suddenly hardened.

“30 minutes left. Everyone, cheer up.”

The brightly smiling boy had a hunting rifle on his shoulder, and scared servants sometimes appeared and moved quickly throughout the beautifully maintained garden.

No matter how much I looked at it, I could only see it in the form of a hunter and its prey.

The butler, who was always sitting in the upper seat and replacing the owner’s vacant seat, was already lying in the corner as if he had been caught already, but he did not look alive.

Crazy bastard, he’s such a nutcase.

“Betty…! Y, you’re awake.”

I got startled by the sudden voice that my body, which was tense from the chilling sight, was able to move. I looked back and saw Anne.

The rich blonde hair she was proud of was unruly and above all, she was barefoot. Looking around, Anne crawled under my bed.

Looking at her with curious eyes, Anne put her finger to her mouth and forced her lips to smile. It couldn’t have been so bizarre as she tried to smile with a frightened face.

‘She’s asking me to hide her.’

I wondered if I could get more information about the outside, so I lowered my body and made eye contact with Anne under the bed.

“Anne, how long has it been since I collapsed?”

“Are you crazy? If you do this, I’ll get caught!”

As I approached her, she freaked out and suddenly became angry.

“Are you hiding from the duke?”

“Can’t you see? Betty, you filthy orphan girl… Quickly get on the bed and lie down.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, do what you’re told to.”

“Why should I do that?”

Heuum.

As I watched Anne trembling under the bed, I got lost in thought.

As I looked at her with a confused expression on my face, she seemed to be nervous, but she quickly put on a smile and soothed me.

“Betty, you’re a good kid, aren’t you? Can you help me? We don’t see each other often, but I like you the most out of all the kids who work in the kitchen. You’re a nice girl, right? Go up to the bed and lie down.”

At that, I couldn’t help but smile.

Anne must have misunderstood something. I wasn’t good, I was weak.

“Why should I lie on the bed and be the bait? I don’t understand at all.”

***

“You two are not good enough.”

It didn’t take long to notice the presence of the escaped prey. The young Duke Janus was instantly offended.

Nothing beats the fun more than breaking the rules of the game. He was a generous lord, so he gave opportunities to his negligent subordinates.

He said he would let it slide if they could hide anywhere and avoid him as much as they could. However, don’t go into the castle. That one constraint was placed.

He was a nobleman. He’s not the pimp who shoots in his own house.

He kindly explained the circumstances and told them not to enter, but one of the prey had crawled into the castle.

While chasing the traces, he was very displeased when he tried to pick up a pair of shoes near the back door where the servants came in and out. Thinking of going inside the house and shooting, he was already feeling a little queasy.

It was the time when the boy’s face, which had seemed quite easy-going so far, became scary.

“Ugh!”

A groan was heard above his head, clenching his teeth and trying to contain the scream. He looked up and saw the prey he had missed hanging by the window.

At the same time, the horses of the stable on the other side jumped out startled by something and sprinted across the central garden. Some of the users who had been hiding in various places in the sudden commotion raised their heads towards the running horses without realizing it.

The boy’s mouth widened as he pondered what had happened.

He looked so happy that no one could tell that he just had his face hardened a short while ago.

***

Seeing the disturbance of the central garden, Gilbert seemed to have moved as planned.

And Anne, hanging outside the window by now, must be confessing to where I ran to live.

She thinks I escaped on Molly, the smallest and weakest of all the horses released from the stable. Because that’s what I told Gilbert as well.

But even if Gilbert was captured, there would be no problem.

Because I have no plans to run away from the Duke’s Castle within today.

As expected, I could hear Anne speaking urgently to the duke who had caught her.

“I’ll tell you the truth! Betty, the little girl is scared and wants to run away, so I was trying to catch her…”

“Did Betty wake up?”

“What? Yeah, she just woke up…”

Anne’s bare feet could be seen through the cracks on the board wall. Gilbert didn’t seem to have been caught.

“…I think she rode Molly! Don’t you think it’ll be easy to handle because Molly is the smallest and gentlest?”

“Aren’t you dizzy?”

The Duke, who was listening to Anne, said suddenly. Anne asked back as if embarrassed.

“What?”

“I’m talking about Betty. Dried twin grasses take a long time to detoxify, so you can feel dizzy even after you recover, your daily life becomes impossible. It means there’s brain damage.”

Listening to that, I think I’m a little dizzy.

However, it seemed that I would last a few days in this narrow and cozy place.

The Duke won’t be in the castle for long anyway, and it’s ridiculous to run away while he’s around. No matter how small and gentle a horse is, it is impossible to climb on top of it with a 10-year-old body and run until it escapes from the duchy.

For this time, I had looked at the right space in advance. In the corner of the kitchen, there is a hole roughly blocked by a board (I don’t know why it was blocked. I think it can be used as a cupboard.) The board that blocked the entrance was so sloppy that if you crumpled your body well, a small child like me could enter.

Besides, the place beyond the board was originally drilled as a ventilation window, so you could look outside through the cracks in the board.

As if he had no idea I was hiding, the duke continued.

“It’s also a good way to eat decoction of Wing flowers and Temi tree fruit for a week or so. Both are easily available.”

Eat the fruit of Wing flowers and the fruit of Temi trees.

As a person who ate dried twin grass, it was very useful information, so I was listening without realizing it.

But when I thought about it a little more, it was strange.

‘You must have been quite angry about Anne, so why are you suddenly bragging your knowledge?’

As if to make someone listen on purpose…

“So it would be great to just lie down in bed and get some rest. Wouldn’t it?”

I felt something unusual and tried to look through the cracks in the boards, but I just stiffened.

It was because I met his red eyes through the gaps.