[Vol. 7] Chapter 120: Will All Justice… Be Rewarded?
After hearing Mia and Selna’s brief yet distinct introductions, Yulia nodded in satisfaction and turned back with a smile to add more details.
"Lady Violet, both Mia and Selna were top graduates from the Maid Program at Sainz Academy. Out of the thousands of students in their class, their grades and abilities placed them among the very best. More importantly, their backgrounds are completely clean, and they are absolutely loyal, meaning there’s no risk of them being bribed or manipulated by outside forces. In other words, they are rare, unpolished gems."
"They've been graduates for a while now, but neither has found a suitable master. So when the Headmaster mentioned selecting reliable maids for you, I personally recommended them. Their skills have been professionally evaluated, and they will certainly—"
"Stop! Stop! Stop! STOP!"
Seeing that Yulia was going on and on, sounding as if she was proudly advertising a prized product, Violet, now with a head full of question marks, quickly interrupted her. She then gave Yulia a strange, almost suspicious look.
"Wait a second… Are you serious about all this? I never said I needed maids to serve me. And besides… their race..."
She claimed their backgrounds were clean, saying they could be trusted completely. But let’s be real, if two highly trained maids were suddenly assigned to someone out of nowhere, wouldn’t any normal person find that suspicious?
They might have taken special measures to conceal their nature, and the fact that they could stand in direct sunlight without any issue was definitely strange. But that kind of trickery was pointless against a certain priestess, Violet could see right through it the moment they met.
The truth was crystal clear: whether it was Yulia, the so-called Head Maid and Personal Secretary, or Mia and Selna…
They were all vampires, just like Lucine.
Hearing the doubt and irritation in Violet’s voice, Yulia visibly paused, her expression briefly stiffening before she instinctively asked in response:
"You never explicitly requested this, but… is there a problem? For a noble higher existence, isn't having attendants just as natural as wearing fine clothing, a symbol of status, an essential companion for assistance? That’s just common sense, isn’t it?"
"?"
"…?"
The two maids exchanged confused glances several times, their silent questions hanging in the air. In the end, it was Violet who gave up first.
…This woman… she’s actually serious?!
It wasn’t that Yulia was trying to plant spies of her own kind, test Violet’s abilities, or provoke them in any way. No, she had genuinely handed over these two maids as casually as giving away a house or some fancy clothes. It was as if she were saying:
[Why do you look so poor? Here, I picked out a few nice things for you. Just take them and use them for now.]
Her expression made it painfully obvious that this was her exact thought process.
Just like how a normal person might give food and clothing to a starving, shivering person when they had more than enough to spare, Yulia saw gifting Violet two maids as a simple act of generosity and etiquette, a refined noble’s way of showing goodwill. Poisoning the food? Tampering with the clothing? Why would anyone do that?
To Yulia and, most likely, Lucine Constantius, the vampire Princess and possibly the Headmistress of Sainz Academy, this was simply a natural gesture. Even Mia and Selna, who were being "gifted," didn’t seem particularly surprised, almost as if they were used to it.
And if that loli vampire princess really had no ill intentions, as she had claimed, and had only brought Xiao Guang here for protection, then… this action did make a certain kind of sense.
But still…!
These were living, breathing maids! Not things! And they were their own kind! How could she just hand them over like objects?!
Help! The vampire’s sense of values is way too weird!
Violet instinctively wanted to refuse, but just as she was about to speak, her peripheral vision caught something. A tiny flicker of anxious anticipation buried deep in the two young maids’ gazes.
And then she remembered their introductions, as well as Yulia’s explanation.
They were fresh graduates. This was their first job.
Something feels… off.
"Violet, don’t underestimate the work of a maid."
"A true professional maid starts training from a young age. It takes over ten, sometimes even more than twenty years of rigorous training before they can officially take on their role. To them, choosing a master isn’t necessarily a once-in-a-lifetime decision… but each time they do, they take it extremely seriously."
“For a truly exceptional maid, it’s not about being chosen. It’s about choosing their master themselves. That’s why, if a master ever abandons them, the emotional blow is far worse than you might think. It can even affect them for the rest of their lives. Because of that, even I wouldn’t casually dismiss a maid who serves me.”
These words, once spoken by a certain queen during a casual conversation about palace maids’ uniforms and other trivial matters, suddenly resurfaced in Violet’s mind.
At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it. But now…
Something felt off.
Yulia was deliberately hiding something. Or rather… she was waiting for something or evaluating something.
In the past, Violet would have probably rejected this situation outright, simply to avoid unnecessary trouble. But after her journey through the Ancient Spirit Realm, she had started to notice…
She had changed, just a little.
She was becoming a bit more… sentimental?
Maybe it was because of Dawn’s lingering influence, but Violet didn’t hate this change. In fact, it made her feel more connected to reality, more alive. And she didn’t want to lose that.
So, after a brief hesitation, she followed her instincts. Even though something about this still felt like a huge hassle waiting to happen.
“…Can I ask why you chose me?”
"?!"
Mia and Selna exchanged shocked glances.
They probably hadn’t expected Violet to be so sharp, or so direct.
After a brief moment of hesitation, their eyes flickered toward Yulia, who seemed to offer them a subtle look of encouragement.
Finally, Mia gritted her teeth and spoke up.
“Well… actually, the reason is quite simple. Lady Violet, you may not remember us, but we’ve met before. And for both Selna and me, serving you has been our lifelong goal. We’ve been working toward this moment for years!”
“…Huh?”
Wait. Hold on. Now that she mentioned it… Mia did look a little familiar.
But that didn’t make any sense. How could Violet possibly know two vampire maids?
And in Sainz City, within the Austre Empire, no less?
She had never even been here before!
Seeing the confused look on the black-haired girl’s face, Mia simply smiled gently and shook her head, unfazed by Violet’s apparent “forgetfulness.” Instead, she offered another hint.
“Lady Violet, do you remember that time, back in the Human United Kingdom, when you used your holy magic to save a group of dying people in the dungeon of the Iris Orphanage in Courage City?”
“…Huh? …Huh?!”
The moment Mia pinpointed the exact event, memories from years ago surged back into Violet’s mind like a lightning bolt.
Following that familiar yet slightly changed face, she finally recalled who this maid standing before her was.
“It’s me! My name is Mia. I never got the chance to tell you my name before… but Lady Violet, we—we’ve finally found you again! We finally have a chance to repay you! Selna and I… we’ve been waiting for this day for so long!”
Mia’s impeccable maid training kept her voice as calm as possible, but the pure joy in her smile, combined with the burning gaze from the other maid beside her, made Violet’s scalp tingle with unease.
This is bad… really bad.
Years have passed, how is this boomerang still coming back to hit me?!
She really had met this girl before!
If Violet remembered correctly, this “ancient boomerang”. No, wait, Miss Mia, was originally a personal maid to Princess Menna, the Sixth Princess of the Human United Kingdom.
Back when Violet first arrived in Courage City, she had accidentally entered the wrong palace and witnessed something she shouldn’t have. Mia had been captured after stumbling upon a secret meeting between an Eternal Throne spy and a traitorous maid from Princess Menna’s court.
The spy had knocked Mia out and dragged her to their hideout dungeon, which turned out to be the underground base of the Eternal Throne, right beneath Iris Orphanage, one of their strongholds in the capital.
Later, when Princess Lilya led her army to purge the Eternal Throne, their leader, Leopold, had tried to take everyone down with him. He forcibly drained the souls of all the prisoners in the dungeon, leaving them on the brink of death.
And then…
A certain priestess just so happened to show up. And casually threw out a 10th-tier healing spell.
…Right in front of them.