Zeroad Plotted

“Tch.”

Still irritated, I slammed the door to my room shut and sat down in a chair.

Perhaps because I had spoken to a maid beforehand, a knock soon sounded at the door.

“You called for me, Zeroad-sama?”

“You’re late! Hurry up!”

“Y-Yes!”

The slow-witted maid hurriedly entered the room.

They really were all uselessly sluggish. It reminded me of that damn brat.

“Bring me some alcohol. And prepare a separate room for Cecilia.”

“Y-Yes! Excuse me!”

The maid bowed and left the room.

I leaned back against the chair and relaxed, but that only made my irritation boil up even more.

“Damn it…”

Every last one of them pissed me off.

That woman, Nova getting full of himself because of her, Father turning spineless, my irritating fiancée—every single one of them pissed me off.

Until now, there had hardly been anything that did not go the way I wanted.

But lately, one irritating bastard after another kept appearing.

“E-Excuse me.”

“Huh?”

I frowned at how quickly the maid had returned.

“You’re back awfully fast.”

“I-I prepared it in advance.”

“Hmph… Good thinking.”

Not bad. This one was actually a fairly competent maid…

“…………”

“Um… Zeroad-sama?”

“Hey. Do you know a small gray-haired maid who works in this manor?”

“D-Do you mean Sonia? If so, yes, I know her…”

Though still trembling, the maid steadily poured alcohol into my cup, and I finally learned that damn brat’s name.

“Her family name?”

“I-I believe it was Gardi?”

“Never heard of it. What family is that? Is she a commoner?”

“Most likely…”

She was so small that I had briefly wondered, but there was no way she came from a noble family after all.

Still, if that was the case, maybe I could have a little fun with this.

“Hey, tell me a little more about this maid Sonia.”

“U-Um… I don’t know that much about her… Only that she seemed to start working here before I realized it…”

“Useless.”

“I-I’m sorry!”

“…Well, she didn’t look like she could do her job properly anyway.”

“Um… well…”

When I muttered that while recalling the sight of that irritating brat, the maid timidly began to say something.

“About Sonia… There was a period when, because of how clumsy she was and because of her personality, people used to dump their work on her. She was so young that some even suspected she might be Master’s illegitimate child.”

Idiots. There was no way my strict father would father an illegitimate child and then make her work as a maid.

Besides, that damn brat did not look anything like us.

Not a single physical feature matched either.

As I listened in exasperation, the maid continued.

“But Rowen-san warned everyone, so that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore.”

“Huh? And what the hell does that matter?”

It was nothing more than some petty trouble between maids, and it was already over, so I had no idea why she was bringing it up.

When I asked, the maid answered awkwardly.

“Apparently that failure… Nova told Rowen-san about it. And then Rowen-san stepped in.”

“…What?”

Nova? That failure… did?

So what did that mean? Did he have some kind of connection to this maid called Sonia?

“What’s the relationship between that damn brat and the failure?”

“They only met recently, so I don’t think they’re acquaintances or anything…”

“…………”

I did not really understand it, but apparently that failure was concerned about the little runt?

Ha. This was hilarious.

“…I see.”

Interesting. This was getting interesting.

“U-Um… Zeroad-sama?”

“Hey, you… You get along pretty well with the other servants, don’t you?”

“Huh? W-Well enough…”

“Then tell as many of them as you can. Tell them to start bullying Sonia again like they used to.”

“…B-But…”

The maid hesitated, probably thinking about Rowen.

But there was no need to worry about that.

“It’s fine. I’ll deal with Rowen myself. If he says anything to you, send me a letter or something.”

“…………”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. That was a poor choice of words. We shouldn’t use a word like bullying, should we? Even I can misspeak sometimes.”

I stood from the chair and placed a hand on the maid’s shoulder.

“Give her some strict guidance. That’s the duty of a kind and caring senior, isn’t it?”

“…Heh… hehehe… Is that really all right?”

After I sweetened my words a little, the maid stopped trembling and broke into a pleasant smile.

Now that was the kind of smile I liked.

“Yeah… But a senior’s thoughtfulness and kindness, and Sonia’s hard work, aren’t exactly things that need to be shown off, right? Keep it hidden from Father and Mother, and teach her quietly… but thoroughly. Got it, senior?”

“Understood, Zeroad-sama.”

The maid bowed deeply and quickly left my room.

What an opportunistic woman. When she came in, she had been trembling and dragging her feet, but now she looked so pleased that she might as well have skipped out.

“After being forced to hold back for so long, she might go a little overboard… Heh… What a dedicated senior.”

Just thinking about what was going to happen made me unable to stop laughing.

I was a little disappointed that I would not get to watch from up close, but judging by her reaction, she would thoroughly put that damn brat through the wringer.

“All right, guess I’ll go handle the final bit of work too.”

Feeling far more refreshed than when I had entered the room, I headed off to put the finishing touch on my plan.