Chapter 75: The Girl Idol in a Maid Outfit

The dining hall of Shadowmoon Manor gleamed with opulence, its grandeur reserved solely for the estate’s master.

Su Nian, led by the maid Emma, stepped into the exclusive chamber, her footsteps soft against the polished floor.

At the head of a lavish, elongated table sat only two figures: Su Nian and Chu Tian, sharing a meal in a space that seemed to dwarf them with its magnificence.

A line of maids stood at attention along the wall, their movements precise as they served the pair with silent grace.

Su Nian’s gaze burned with barely concealed indignation as she glared at the horned devil across from her.

Chu Tian, oblivious or indifferent to her ire, smiled warmly.

“My dear sister, eat up. You’ve grown so thin lately,” he said, his tone dripping with the false affection of a doting brother.

He cut his steak with refined elegance, occasionally sliding morsels of food onto her plate, as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

In private, this so-called “Mr. Moyuan” was a scoundrel and a deviant, devoid of any trace of decorum or morality.

Yet, in the presence of others—even the maids—he transformed into a paragon of courtesy and gentlemanly charm.

But it was all a facade.

A disgusting, hypocritical act.

Su Nian cursed him silently, branding him a sanctimonious horned beast.

She didn’t dare expose his true nature, though.

Not here, in Shadowmoon Manor, where every soul answered to him.

What good would it do to unmask him?

Besides, maintaining this veneer of civility before the maids and the magical crystal preserved a shred of her dignity.

If they ever learned that she, the magical girl idol, was forced to visit his chambers daily, the humiliation would be unbearable.

Reluctantly, she ate the steak he’d cut for her, her heart a tangle of disdain and resignation.

“Ding! Absorbing contemptuous emotions. Annoyance value +105.”

The chime rang in Chu Tian’s ears, and he knew exactly who it came from.

Another wave of her loathing.

He smirked inwardly.

No matter.

He rather looked forward to the sight of this exquisite girl, her face twisted with disgust, forced to don a collar and serve him.

The contrast thrilled him.

Dinner concluded, and Su Nian excused herself, claiming a need for rest.

She fled the table, her steps hurried as she retreated to her room.

Locking the door behind her, she dove into the notes she’d gathered from the Magic Academy’s library—complex texts on dark magic and arcane arrays.

Though dense and challenging, her system-granted knowledge, fused with modern mathematics, began to unravel their secrets.

Meanwhile, Chu Tian returned to his own chambers.

Settling at his desk, he sifted through reports from the Monster Forest Castle.

Under the stewardship of Finn, the castle’s overseer, the fortress had expanded fivefold, dwarfing even Shadowmoon Manor in scale.

Housing thousands of magical beasts and creatures required such grandeur, after all.

But with expansion came headaches—ledgers of expenses, intelligence operatives’ fees, and the costs of maintaining Shadowmoon Manor itself.

This world lacked calculators, and its grasp of mathematics was rudimentary at best.

Managing accounts for both the castle and the manor would require a small army of clerks, and Chu Tian loathed the thought.

Numbers were his enemy.

He rubbed his temples, frustration mounting.

Combat was his domain, not this tedious arithmetic.

His rudimentary mathematical knowledge, carried from another life, still surpassed this world’s standards, but it wasn’t enough.

Worse, hiring a team to handle the accounts risked leaks.

The ledgers held secrets—sensitive details about the castle and manor.

A single traitor could unravel everything.

If only he had someone skilled in mathematics to shoulder the burden.

He leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

Then, like a spark in the dark, an idea struck.

Why not Su Nian?

She, like him, was a transmigrator.

Her mathematical prowess was likely formidable.

Entrusting his financial secrets to a girl who despised him was dangerous, yes, but keeping her close was already a gamble.

What was one more risk?

He was confident he could control her.

Decision made, Chu Tian tossed the ledger aside and leaned back with a grin.

There was a saying, wasn’t there?

“Delegate to the secretary when there’s work to be done, and when there’s none…”

Well, this world didn’t have secretaries, only maids of every variety.

His thoughts wandered to Su Nian in a maid outfit, collar around her neck, begrudgingly calculating his accounts.

The image was… enticing.

Her disdainful expression at dinner only fueled his desire to dominate her.

A collared Su Nian in a maid outfit would feel like a conquest, a victory over her defiance.

He recalled their first meeting in Flash Town, when she’d worn a full maid ensemble—a fleeting glimpse that had sparked their tangled connection.

The memory of that maid outfit lingered, vivid and alluring.

Seizing his magical communication tablet, he sent her a message.

[Lord Horned Devil]: “Nine o’clock tonight. My room. Don’t keep me waiting.”

[Lord Horned Devil]: “Oh, and wear a full maid outfit. You know what happens if you disobey.”

In the next room, Su Nian was hunched over her magical texts, frantically calculating and studying in hopes of finding a way to outmaneuver Chu Tian.

The chime of her magical phone interrupted her focus.

Reading his message, her heart sank, a mix of helplessness and fury bubbling within her.

But she had no choice.

A maid outfit?

She’d worn one before.

After all the humiliations she’d endured at the hands of this wretched horned devil, this was hardly the worst.

[Miss Su Nian]: “Understood.”

[Miss Su Nian]: “Wait, I don’t even have a maid outfit. Where am I supposed to get one?”

[Lord Horned Devil]: “Ask any maid for one. As the lady of Shadowmoon Manor, you have that authority.”

Chu Tian’s message was a subtle test.

Though he tormented her now, he knew that amassing enough annoyance points could elevate his power and help defeat the demon clans.

When the truth came out, he didn’t want Su Nian hunting him down in vengeance.

Ideally, she’d see the bigger picture and fall into his arms.

Or, better yet, submit to him now and willingly become the lady of Shadowmoon Manor.

He’d welcome that with open arms.

But Su Nian wasn’t so easily swayed.

‘Perverted horned devil,’ she cursed silently.

Ask a maid for an outfit?

And say what, exactly?

That she had some bizarre fetish?

The thought was mortifying