“Such a clumsy fool!”
In a small pavilion within the Count’s Manor garden, a finely dressed young lady frowned as she glared at the tea spilling over the cup’s brim, scolding the maid beside her.
The young lady was Eleanor Cohen, the count’s daughter, beautiful and graceful, her long silver hair shimmering under the sunlight.
The maid being reprimanded was Lilian Elvard, with long dark green hair and a slightly chubby face, her ill-fitting maid uniform looking both awkward and endearing.
It was understandable that the maid uniform didn’t fit well—after all, Lilian had only become a maid due to an accident half a month ago.
Hearing Eleanor’s scolding, Lilian mechanically set down the teapot and habitually said, “I’m sorry.”
Her eyes were full of confusion.
Seeing Lilian’s reaction, Eleanor, seated on a chair, felt increasingly annoyed, her slender legs trembling uncontrollably beneath the table.
Still like this? Still like this!
This was not the Lilian she had known in her previous life at all!
And today, she was even more absent-minded than before.
They used to be so close…
No, I must make her hate me!
Eleanor hardened her heart, grabbed the cup filled with scalding tea.
But then she hesitated, magical energy surging in her hand, before she suddenly poured a cup of cold water over Lilian.
“Splash.”
Lilian’s face and upper body were instantly soaked, but she showed no reaction at all.
“You—” Eleanor was about to say something.
But Lilian fainted on the spot.
Eleanor had no choice but to catch her, holding her in her arms to prevent her from falling to the ground.
Looking down at Lilian in her arms, Eleanor gritted her teeth in frustration.
She regretted involuntarily holding Lilian like this.
She should have just let her fall and hit the ground hard—maybe even crack her head open!
Suddenly, Lilian’s brow furrowed tightly, as if enduring some pain.
Eleanor exhaled sharply.
“Someone, take her back to rest properly.”
Li Lian rubbed his groggy head as he propped himself up from bed.
His mind was still somewhat foggy.
But thankfully, he had a clear understanding of his situation.
He had transmigrated—or rather, had just recalled memories from his previous life, giving him the sensation of just crossing over.
Li Lian, male, twenty years old, a university student from the Celestial Empire, an ordinary person with ordinary family background, ordinary upbringing, and ordinary school life.
The one extraordinary thing was that, following the trend, he had been sent by great fortune to another world.
Oh, now it was her—not Li Lian but Lilian.
Lilian Elvard, born into a physician’s family.
Although her parents had suddenly passed away years ago, thanks to an inheritance and the medical skills she had inherited, her life was fairly comfortable.
A few days ago, she was specially hired at the Count’s Manor but accidentally broke an antique, incurring a huge debt of several hundred gold coins and forced to sign a contract to work off the debt in the manor.
But all this was just small stuff.
If she knew nothing, Lilian might have used her knowledge from her previous life to start some easy monopoly business, diligently pay off her debts, and eventually travel around to see the world.
But…
“Empire of Dawn…”
“Dawn Goddess Aurora…”
“Imperial Capital Losauga…”
“And… the Demon King—Eleanor Cohen.”
Lilian inexplicably felt a dull ache in her teeth, her temples throbbing uncontrollably.
Combining memories from both lives, Lilian confirmed that she had transmigrated into a Hero Game.
She couldn’t quite remember the name, but it was one of those games with an overly long and complicated title filled with punctuation marks like “Some Hero? Some Defeated Demon King!? Something Something”.
She recalled being excited to buy and download it because of the flavor, only to be thoroughly confused by the gameplay.
Early on, you’d date heroines at an academy, building up your and the heroines’ stats—very much fitting the stereotypical galgame experience.
But later, the game suddenly turned into a turn-based strategy map with territory control and block-filling to unlock storylines?
The late game’s depth rivaled games from Paradox Interactive.
If you weren’t careful, your territories would erupt into noble rebellions, evil gods would descend, demons would invade, and these events could even lead to the deaths of heroines!
Lilian still remembered how miserable she was, endlessly save-loading through the story.
If she were to rate it now, it would be a total mess—torturous gameplay disguised under a pretty façade, a demon king-hero story that ended up as a slow, steady territory management sim culminating in battling the Demon Race?
Still, if asked whether she would play it again if she could return to the past—
Lilian would answer: “Yes!”
Top-notch music, art, modeling, and optimization; and most importantly, all the female characters, including the Demon King, were undeniably attractive!
The Lower House’s Strict Selection Committee would agree.
Sigh, speaking of the Demon King, Lilian thought of the silver-haired girl.
Eleanor Cohen.
The final boss throughout the game.
Racing for resources with the protagonist group at the academy—losing meant no upgrades, sometimes even stat loss.
Later, always plotting rebellions and disasters in her territory, with her shadow lurking behind every noble rebellion, evil god arrival, and demon invasion.
She was the love-hate figure of the game.
Why love her?
Who doesn’t like white hair and red eyes?
Plus, her backstory was truly tragic: on the way to school, her father was suddenly killed; after returning home, the Count’s Manor was sacrificed to an evil god, she was slandered for consorting with demons, imprisoned, barely escaped to the Demon Race’s lands with nothing, clawed her way up to become the Demon King, then launched a revenge campaign.
A perfect story for a triumphant protagonist. Unfortunately, she encountered the protagonist group—monsters themselves—and lost half her territory, dying bitterly under their siege.
Lilian had even asked why there was no Demon King route; the developers replied it was in production and would be selectable later.
Too bad Lilian wouldn’t get to play it.
“Sigh…” After sorting through the information, Lilian couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on.
Most of what she knew was about the protagonist group, and that was from some time ago, so it was basically useless.
Her character never even appeared in the game—it was just some background NPC.
The only useful information was that the Count’s Manor was sacrificed to an evil god.
According to her contract as a maid, if she stayed in the manor and took a salary to slowly pay off her debts, Lilian was pretty sure she would become one of the sacrifices at that point in time.
So she needed to find a way to repay the debt quickly and get away from this troublesome place.
As for the protagonist group and the Demon King—whatever happens, happens.
She was nothing more than a powerless, helpless physician and maid with no magical talent.
No strength, no ability to interfere in this grand drama.
But what could she do?
Lilian bit her fingertip.
Making money wasn’t a problem.
Her modern knowledge was enough to carve out a place in this era.
But the contract clearly stated that all her activities had to be reported to Eleanor, and without Eleanor’s permission, she could not leave the manor freely.
The contract could not be violated lightly—it was witnessed by the Dawn Goddess Aurora herself.
The bigger problem was Eleanor’s attitude towards her, which seemed far from friendly.
Oh dear, what should I do now?!
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