* * *
Sunlight tickled my face. I squirmed away from the light and groggily opened my eyes.
Ah, what’s this…? Have I returned to the real world?
I lay there for a moment, recalling the night.
The dim mansion, the call of the night, scattered blood and screams, meeting Isaac after a long time. Isaac, who cried and laughed when he saw me.
Isaac… Fifteen years had passed, and though he had changed a lot, the expression he showed toward me remained the same. In the original game, he was just a cold-blooded psychopath, but to think he could make such expressions…
It wasn’t just his expressions that were different from the original game. Isaac wasn’t supposed to appear in the beginning at all. And, of course, the cat named Mia didn’t exist either.
Something was slightly different from the original game, but I still couldn’t tell whether it was a good or bad thing. Everything was so uncertain.
And why did I come back to life? Where am I now?
Looking around, it didn’t seem like the Dias mansion… I thought I should check my surroundings, so I staggered as I got out of bed, but something felt off. My body’s sensations were different. And something that should be there, and also shouldn’t be there, existed.
“…Hands?”
I looked at my hands. It wasn’t soft, fluffy cat paws but human hands.
“Uh?”
On top of that, a human voice came from my mouth.
What the… what is going on…?
Instinctively, I tried to place my hands on the ground on all fours, but realizing it wasn’t right, I forced myself to stand on two legs. After walking on all fours for so long, switching to bipedal walking was quite challenging.
Wow, the world looks so different from this height…
What on earth happened? I staggered to a nearby mirror and looked at my reflection.
“…I’m a human.”
It was a face that looked very much like mine, yet different. Long black hair and golden eyes that shimmered like the sun. The age seemed to be in the early twenties. The height was about 165 cm, with delicate and pretty features. It was also a face I had never seen before.
The situation was hard to understand in many ways. Why had I turned from a cat into a human?
“Mia! Get up quickly!”
Just then, the door burst open, and a woman dressed in a maid’s uniform entered.
W-What is this? A face I’ve never seen before?
She smiled at me as if feeling familiar with it. “Gosh, you sleepyhead. It’s your first day, and you’re already late?”
“L-Late…? For what?”
“Of course for your morning duties. Hurry up and change into your maid’s uniform and come out!” The woman in the maid’s uniform said cheerfully before leaving the room.
What is going on? A maid…? I should try to figure out what’s happening.
Opening the wardrobe, I found a maid’s uniform inside and hurriedly put it on before stepping outside.
There were several people in maid uniforms, just like me. They were all busily moving around, but I had no idea what to do.
At that moment, an older maid approached me.
“Mia. Go and clean the window sills and windows. Start from the third floor.”
“The window sills…?”
“Yes. Use the bucket and rags over there. Get to work quickly.” She left as abruptly as she had appeared.
Looking around, everyone seemed too busy for me to ask any questions. Since I appeared to be a maid, I figured it would be best to at least pretend to clean.
I grabbed a rag and bucket and slipped outside. As I made my way up to the third floor, I looked around, but this wasn’t the Dias mansion. Then where could this place be?
When I reached the third floor, I was greeted by rows of windows. So I’m supposed to clean all of these…? The overwhelming amount of work made me sigh. Well, I’d better get started.
As I steeled myself and vigorously scrubbed one of the windows, a notification appeared.
[You have completed window cleaning. Bonus +1 copper.]
1 copper? Was there a money-earning system in this game?
I didn’t think there was any currency system in the original game. This must be another element that was different from the original game.
How much of the game had changed? As I was scrubbing the windows while pondering this, I heard faint footsteps and instinctively turned toward the sound. And then I froze. It was because I saw a familiar face.
“Isaac?”
It was Isaac. The Isaac I had seen at night was here as well. His face, illuminated by the sunlight, was dazzling. I felt as if I were in a dream, but something felt off, making it hard to believe it was just a dream.
Isaac’s gaze toward me was merely cold. He usually looked at me with eyes that seemed to melt. Was this a nightmare of sorts? He looked at me as if I were an insect.
“A maid who casually uses her employer’s name, I see.”
The cold voice snapped me back to reality.
Ah, right, I’m a maid now. That’s probably why Isaac didn’t recognize me.
As Isaac slowly approached me, his steps felt menacing. He stood in front of me and looked down at me with those cold, silver-gray eyes. He was so much taller than me that his face cast a shadow over mine.
“Seems like you need to be re-educated. Or do you wish to be fired?”
Fired? I parted my lips. I didn’t want to be kicked out like this. I had so much I wanted to talk about with Isaac. I wanted to ask him how he had been. I wanted to ask if he was okay.
As I struggled to figure out how to handle the situation, I thought it might be better to reveal that I was his cat, Mia. He’d find it ridiculous, of course… but if I mentioned our childhood, he might believe me. Even if he didn’t, I’d probably just be treated as a crazy person.
After some hesitation, I finally spoke. “…Milord, do you remember the cat you raised when you were young?”
I saw Isaac freeze at my words. The trembling in his eyes showed he had some reaction. I cautiously continued.
“It’s hard to believe, but… I’m that cat.”
“What?”
Isaac frowned at my words. Well, it’s a hard story to believe. I hurried to add more.
“I don’t know how I turned into a human either. I know it’s hard to believe. But my memories are clear. You can test me. I remember everything from our childhood.”
Our secret stories. Our secret nights. Just as I was wondering whether to bring them up, Isaac, who had been silent for a moment, turned around and said,
“…Come to my room after your work is done. Around 10 PM.”
“Yes, understood.”
Phew, it seemed to have worked to some extent. For now, I decided to go back to work and finish my duties.
After cleaning all the windows in the house, it was almost 10 PM. How could they make someone work for more than 12 hours? Is it because this is a Korean game? I just wanted to collapse and sleep, but I had something I needed to do.
I headed to Isaac’s room. “Milord, it’s Mia.”
“Come in.”
When I opened the door and entered, I saw a luxurious office. Seeing Isaac sitting at the table gave me a strange feeling.
Wow, he looks so impressive up close. That little boy had grown up like this…
Now that I think about it, I hadn’t seen the Marquis Dias all day. Had Isaac inherited the title? Then what happened to the Marquis? As I pondered these thoughts, Isaac stood up and said,
“It seems we have a lot to discuss. Sit down first.”
Isaac looked much calmer than he had in the morning. As I sat down, I heard the clinking of utensils. Turning around, I saw Isaac pouring water from a teapot in the corner of the room.
He spoke in a nonchalant voice. “Would you like some tea?”
I wondered if it was okay to let him do this, considering I was a maid. Since I didn’t know how to brew tea, I decided to just sit quietly. A moment later, Isaac brought over a cup of warm tea. It seemed to be herbal tea.
“Go ahead, drink.”
“Yes.”
I slowly picked up the cup. As I sipped, a pleasant aroma wafted through the air. While I was savoring the scent, I heard Isaac’s voice.
“So, you say you remember your childhood?”
“Yes. Ask me anything only the two of us would know. I can answer…”
[Isaac’s affection has decreased by 100.]
[Isaac’s affection level: -100]
…Huh? Ah, right, this game has an affection system. But what did I do to drop it to -100?
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