Chapter 6 : Are You Mistaken That The Person Currently Broadcasting Is Really A Maid?

Today is September 21.

That’s right.

The long-awaited day has finally arrived:

the monumental debut stream of the Third Princess as a VTuber.

On such a significant day, what am I doing?

“Oh, great god of VTubers, please, please don’t let anything go wrong. Don’t let any unexpected incidents happen. Please let Her Highness the Princess safely complete her debut stream. It’d be even better if it’s a massive success.”

I had a bowl of water set out and was clasping my hands in a desperate prayer.

Am I nervous?

Of course, I’m nervous.

It couldn’t be helped.

The preparation time had been woefully inadequate.

All we managed to do was brainstorm what to do during the debut stream and throw together some content ideas.

That was the extent of the preparations.

It would’ve been great if we at least had a reference stream to use as an example.

What a shame.

At that moment,

“… Are you, by chance, a heretic?”

“No, I’m a follower of the Goddess, actually.”

“… I see.”

The conversation ended there.

That’s right.

I wasn’t alone right now.

Currently, I was monitoring the debut stream alongside Anna, the Third Princess’s exclusive maid.

For the record, the Third Princess was waiting alone until the stream started.

The moment either my voice or Anna’s voice gets picked up during the Princess’s broadcast, it would be a complete disaster.

The Third Princess must be nervous too, right?

Being all alone, she’s probably so nervous she can hear her own heartbeat, isn’t she?

But then again, on second thought, would the Third Princess even get that nervous over a debut stream?

Maybe not.

I’m not really sure.

As royalty, she’s probably been through things far more intense than this.

It was then.

“Rei Volkan.”

Anna called out to me again.

“Yes, what is it?”

I responded formally right away.

Truth be told, though Anna was called an exclusive maid, the fact that she followed the Princess even to the academy meant she was practically a close confidant.

In fact, she was widely recognized as the Princess’s closest aide.

Even as the second son of a count, I wasn’t in a position to casually speak to her informally or treat her disrespectfully.

And since I would be continuing to support the Third Princess in her VTuber activities, I’d inevitably have to see Anna frequently.

Getting on good terms with her quickly was necessary, and being rude or overly casual wouldn’t be a good choice.

By the way, time was crawling unbelievably slowly.

Why does every second feel so damn long—

“… I look forward to working with you.”

—Out of nowhere?

Did I do something wrong?

Anna is the Third Princess’s exclusive maid and closest confidant.

As such, Anna knows quite a lot about the Third Princess.

From her food preferences to physical features that she can’t share with others, Anna is well-acquainted with her.

For someone like Anna, it was impossible not to know about the Princess’s personal relationships, even if she wanted to avoid it.

The Third Princess doesn’t have many close acquaintances.

To be precise, she doesn’t make an effort to form close bonds.

If anyone tries to approach her, she naturally keeps her distance.

If the Princess gives Anna a signal, Anna steps in and lies, saying there’s a schedule conflict and further conversation isn’t possible.

This is the Third Princess’s way of navigating social interactions.

She didn’t want to be caught up in the throne’s succession battle.

This was her way of survival.

One day, she told Anna:

“I can see right through what everyone wants when they approach me.”

The scraps of privilege that come with being a princess, or perhaps her appearance, often referred to as the jewel of the empire.

The Third Princess claimed that the people who approached her could be neatly divided into these two categories.

“If I accept the former, it’ll eventually lead to forming my own faction. Do you think people with ambition and greed will be satisfied with just a few scraps from a princess who has withdrawn from the competition for the throne? As for the latter… I just don’t want to be close to them, that’s all.”

For this reason, Anna also thought that Rei Volkan wouldn’t stick around for long.

After all, Rei Volkan hadn’t approached the Third Princess in a typical manner.

Hadn’t he approached her after finding her weakness and using it as leverage to coerce her?

By comparison, he was worse than those who sought scraps of power or those captivated by her beauty.

And yet, Rei Volkan was different.

The Third Princess didn’t push him away.

On the contrary, she continued to meet with him.

It was the first time.

It was the first time the Third Princess had continued to meet with someone for days, maintaining a connection.

How would this relationship affect her master?

Would it have a positive impact or a negative one?

Anna couldn’t make any guesses.

But one thing was certain.

For better or worse, she would be seeing him for a long time to come.

“… I look forward to working with you,”

Anna said.

And the Third Princess, who had once seemed lonely and distant, now looked far better than she had in the past.

Rei Volkan and Anna’s conversation didn’t continue.

Because the debut stream of the world’s first VTuber, Lily, had just begun.

The debut stream started without an opening sequence.

It couldn’t be helped.

With only two days to prepare, creating an opening was physically impossible.

Honestly, it was a miracle that they even managed to make BGM for the stream on time.

If there hadn’t been any BGM…

Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it.

[“Nice to meet you, Master. I’m Lily, a maid VTuber looking for the Master I’m meant to serve.”]

“Wow, her voice is serious…”

It was as expected—beautiful.

Clear and pure, calm and soothing, bright and full of life.

It was quite different from the voice the Third Princess usually spoke with, yet it was incredibly captivating.

“BS hogu has arrived lololol”

“So when are you handing out sandwiches? I’m in a hurry here.”

“Nyeomgle ticket has arrived lololol.”

“A maid who doesn’t bow while greeting? The discipline is lacking, seriously.”

“Is she really a maid?”

“No joke, she’s really streaming as an avatar.”

“Self-esteem restoration artifact incoming lol.”

“All of those watching BS hogu’s stream just to speed-write for free nyeomgle content.”

“So when’s the story about how much money was spent on the avatar?”

But the viewers who had tuned in for the stream didn’t seem particularly interested in her voice.

“Look at this chat…”

“Those disrespectful fools…”

Well, this was expected.

The gallery is the only existing community, and it’s impossible not to be influenced by it, even if you try to resist.

Plus, it even made it to the “highlighted posts” once.

If the chat were calm, that would’ve been a stranger outcome.

To be honest, this wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

Apparently, the fantasy world hasn’t truly experienced the depths of the abyss from just a year of exposure to the gallery.

What would the worst-case scenario look like?

It would include explicit ASCII art in the chat, messages about the imperial throne succession, spam advertisements…

that kind of chaos.

Fixing the chat’s atmosphere could only be done gradually.

[“Please be mindful that inappropriate comments may be deleted. This is my stream, after all.”]

Frequent reminders like this and consistent moderation would do the trick.

For the record, Anna was going to handle chat moderation.

“May I delete this comment?”

“Let’s leave it for now. If they keep posting similar comments after we officially start the introduction, then delete it.”

I’d help with moderation too.

To be honest, leaving Anna to handle chat moderation on her own right now would probably result in about 30% of the comments getting wiped.

So we had no choice but to manage it together.

Even with verbal warnings, the chat’s tone didn’t change much.

But it didn’t matter.

I’d already told the Third Princess to ignore the chat completely and just focus on what she wanted to say.

That way, she wouldn’t get swayed by it.

This was possible because the debut stream followed a basic predetermined structure.

Then it happened.

[“Some of you are commenting about my attitude, saying I’m unfit to be a maid. Well, it just so happens that I was planning to address something related to this.”]

The Third Princess picked up on a toxic comment in the chat.

It was an unexpected move.

Did she snap after seeing those comments piling up?

Or was it something else?

[“As you might have gathered from my introduction earlier, I’m a maid who has yet to find a master to serve.”]

“…Ha!”

I clapped once, impressed.

[“So while I’m calling all of you ‘Master,’ to be precise, none of you are truly my master. You’re more like candidates for the position. I’m just calling you ‘Master’ for convenience, so don’t get the wrong idea.”]

Hmm… so, basically, she’s unemployed, huh?

“I feel like I now understand why she doesn’t have a master.”

“A maid who tests her masters? That’s new.”

“Self-proclaimed maid, can you even cook?”

She skillfully used her roleplay (RP) to respond to the comments and steer the conversation in a better direction.

Soon, the chat naturally became filled with comments discussing the stream.

For a streaming beginner to avoid getting flustered or tongue-tied while seeing rapid-fire comments?

That alone put her in the top 10%.

But to go further and use her RP on the spot to shift the tone of the broadcast?

This wasn’t just impressive—it was genius-level talent, the kind you find in the top 1%.

[“Can I cook? …Why would I need to cook?”]

Seriously?

LOL.

“Is this ‘maid cosplayer’ for real? LOL.”

“No wonder no one took her in as a maid.”

“She’s not a BS hogu; she’s just a crazy lunatic LOL.”

“This isn’t a maid—this is just a random person stealing a maid outfit.”

And yet, she even left gaps for humor, deliberately creating entertaining moments.

This wasn’t the typical give-and-take of a beginner streamer.

A natural talent.

There was no other way to describe it.

“…But, seriously, does she really not know how to cook?”

“…Do you honestly think the person currently streaming is an actual maid?”

Hmm.

The Third Princess can’t cook.

I should make a mental note of that—it might come in handy someday.