"You dumped the job on a lunatic, so what does that make you?"
Viga scoffed.
After helping out in the kitchen, she had finally learned what "lunatic" ant—and it only made her more annoyed as she cleaned Cruello’s room.
She had entered this room many tis before.
Yet now, it felt different.
She couldn’t pinpoint the exact change, but sohow...
"It feels barren."
The mont she muttered those words to herself, the door burst open.
Without knocking!
She turned her head, ready to snap at whoever was so rude—
But when she saw who it was, she held her tongue.
Well, of course. Why would he knock before entering his own room?
"Good afternoon, Young Lord," she greeted with a polite smile.
Cruello stared at her for a mont.
Then, without a word, he turned on his heel and walked right back out.
The door slamd shut behind him.
Viga’s smile faded.
"I want to see Roy. Not Cruello."
Perhaps this was karma.
Perhaps this was what she deserved.
***
For a while after Viga switched to cleaning Cruello’s quarters, her days went by without incident.
Cruello refused to talk to her, but he also didn’t go on the infamous rampages that the rumors claid.
Were the rumors exaggerated?
Maybe I could try rehabilitating him after all?
Just as she was beginning to entertain that thought—
She saw the rumors co to life before her very eyes.
It happened one day while she was fluffing a sofa cushion, knocking off the dust.
"AAAAAAAHH!"
A piercing scream rang out.
Viga instantly grabbed the cushion like a weapon and ran toward the sound.
It ca from the hallway, where a crowd had already gathered.
At the center of it—
Johns, a servant, was curled up on the floor, shaking.
Diana was on her knees beside him, trembling.
And in front of them—
Cruello stood, sword in hand.
"Oh, shit."
Viga swallowed dryly.
“This is strange,” Cruello muttered. “I know my symptoms are getting worse, but even I don’t lose control while I’m fully conscious.”
"I-I’m sorry! Please, forgive , Young Lord!"
"Was it hallucination magic? Or did soone drug the food?"
"P-Please... just this once..."
Johns pleaded for his life, but the surrounding servants only looked at him with pity.
None of them believed Cruello.
Viga hesitated for a mont—then whispered a spell.
—Second Order, Sensory Expansion.
The truth was revealed at once.
"Johns was a dark mage."
Cruello wasn’t tornting an innocent man.
The boy who had grown up wasn’t the naïve, oblivious child he had once been.
He knew when he was being watched.
He could tell which eyes were genuine and which ears were listening for sothing else.
It was just that...
No one ever believed him.
Any lingering hesitation Viga had vanished.
"You damn rats," Cruello spat, dragging the tip of his sword across the floor as he stepped forward.
But the killing intent he radiated wasn’t just aid at Johns—
It was directed at Diana, too.
"One of you tried to disrupt my mind. The other planted a listening device in my room. I’d say that’s enough to justify taking your lives."
"N-no! I-I only went into your room to find Viga! I saw the listening device, so I ca to tell you—"
"And I happened to walk in that exact mont, so now you're just making excuses?"
Just from that brief exchange, Viga could piece together the situation.
If she let this continue, sothing terrible was going to happen.
But what should I do?
Before she could decide, Cruello’s lips curled into a chilling smile.
Viga’s mind froze.
"He looks like a different person."
Without thinking, she moved.
She stepped in front of him.
The action was so sudden that even the others had no ti to stop her.
She hadn’t planned it.
And yet, she didn’t regret it.
Once again, their eyes t.
His burning red gaze.
Viga had once thought that was the only thing about him that remained unchanged from childhood.
But now—
They looked like the eyes of an entirely different person.
"The Book of Fate... wasn’t lying."
Of course.
If Cruello had truly grown up as pure-hearted as before, that prophecy wouldn’t have existed.
Her chest ached.
The boy she had known spoke coldly.
"You must have sothing to say."
"Diana might be telling the truth. Give her a chance to explain."
"And if I refuse? Will you pretend to be Amy to stop ?"
"...What?"
His words seed completely out of place—
Until she rembered her conversation with Diana.
How does he know about that?
The answer ca straight from his lips.
"What? There are plenty of eyes in this estate watching . Am I not allowed to plant my own?"
His gaze darkened.
And this ti—
That hostility was clearly directed at her.
"Go on, then."
"...Huh?"
"Do whatever you need to survive."
Viga parted her lips to protest—
But she swallowed the words.
"Even if I say it was a joke, he won’t believe anyway."
She could tell, just from the way he had treated Diana.
There was no convincing him now.
Neither an explanation—nor rehabilitating him.
She pressed her lips together, then let out a breath.
“...Is that a promise?”
This life was dood anyway.
If she died, she’d just move on to the next one.
If that was the case, then she might as well get this over with now—
And if she could absorb his rage before he ended up killing an innocent person, that wouldn’t be so bad either.
Though, truthfully, it wasn’t logic driving her decision.
It was her emotions.
"Then, I have your permission?"
"I raised you... how could you turn out like this?!"
She was frustrated.
She was furious.
So she hurled the cushion at his face.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
She felt no guilt throwing a cushion at the boy who had grown so tall.
Thwack!
The object hit Cruello square in the face.
Then—
Thud.
The cushion fell to the floor.
A silence so thick it smothered even the sound of breathing filled the room.
Only Viga remained defiant, grinning smugly.
“If it were Lady Amy, she would have told you to get a grip.”
Cruello didn’t react.
His eyes rely moved, scanning the frozen servants, the fallen cushion—then finally, locking onto Viga.
She braced herself.
Surely, now was the mont he would swing his sword.
"Well, great. Guess I’m about to die by the very swordsmanship I taught him."
It was absurd.
But it was her fault for underestimating Fate.
She resigned herself to reality.
Maybe Pebula was watching this unfold and would reward her with a better body in the next life.
And then—
Cruello spoke.
"You're fired."
"Huh?"
The boy turned away.
As if that was the only punishnt he had intended to give.
Viga stared, stunned.
"Wait... Was he never planning to use his sword in the first place?"
If that was true, then she was the only one looking like a fool.
And then—
Sothing even more unexpected happened.
“No, you can’t, Young Lord!”
The head maid had burst onto the scene, throwing herself at Cruello’s feet.
The boy flinched, clearly startled.
He may have been ruthless, but he still wasn’t cruel enough to outright kick away soone who had served the household for years.
Even if he had no real attachnt to them.
"Let go!"
"You cannot fire this girl!"
“Hah. And why not?”
Good question.
Viga thought the exact sa thing.
She was touched by the head maid’s unexpected display of loyalty—
But she couldn’t understand it.
"Do I seriously have to keep a maid who threw a cushion at ?"
“Do you have any idea how much work this girl does?!”
“...What?”
“We are already on the brink of collapse because the servants keep quitting every day! But ever since this girl’s skills miraculously improved—”
The head maid took a breath before continuing.
“I guarantee you. If we lose her, this entire household will fall apart.”
“What a ridiculous—”
“When was the last ti you saw a single speck of dust in your quarters? Do you rember when simply running your finger along the window fras used to turn them black?”
Well, that’s just because I cleaned those more thoroughly.
Cruello opened his mouth—
But he couldn’t refute the truth.
“It’s her doing. And just when things are finally stabilizing, you want to get rid of her? Then fire instead! Fire !”
The words sounded like sothing out of a cody,
But the head maid spoke with genuine desperation.
And so of the other servants, inspired by her boldness, chid in as well.
“M-Miss Viga has made life so much easier since she got her act together.”
“I was on the verge of developing lung disease—but now I can breathe again.”
“Three people quit every month, and we barely get one new hire! Firing soone like her is just—”
“Please reconsider, Young Lord! Viga is indispensable to this household!”
They were speaking up for her.
And yet, sohow, Viga felt miserable.
She had read this kind of scene in plenty of novels before.
But sothing was different.
“Usually, this is where they praise the person’s character, not their labor.”
Regardless—
The first rebellion in White Desert history...
Ended in the servants’ victory.
***
Cruello rescinded his dismissal.
Viga gained a new kind of power.
But she wasn’t happy.
"That’s not Roy."
The sheer shock of the situation drove her into denial.
And ultimately—
It changed her course of action entirely.
Rehabilitation won’t work.
Viga made her decision.
She would track down Morion and destroy it.
She had searched for it in her life as Amy as well, but now—
She had more ti.
More freedom.
And since her priorities had shifted—
There was no need to ever see Cruello again.
She deliberately avoided him at all costs.
Then—
One day—
She overheard a golden piece of information.
“The Grand Elder is visiting today?”
“Yeah, he’s finally coming to see the Young Lord again. I think it’s at five o’clock?”
Viga’s ears perked up.
She imdiately sped through her chores, finishing her work faster than usual.
She had never t the Grand Elder before.
Not even in her life as Amy.
"Jackpot!"
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