I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince - Chapter 273 [Witch Lara (1)]

As a result, Prince Antonio’s suspicion about Lara’s mother was dispelled shortly after.

Right after introducing the accommodations where we would stay during our time in the Witch’s Forest, the reaction Lara’s mother showed me did not seem like someone wary of unfamiliar outsiders to anyone.

Grab.

“Huh?”

“…Take… …care.”

“Pardon?”

“…Please, take good care, of our daughter….”

Everyone’s attention was focused on the sight of a woman suddenly grabbing my hand and mumbling with her head down.

Her words were mumbled in a voice smaller than an ant’s crawl, but the voice that came out of her mouth was a voice that definitely felt favorable toward me. 

Thanks to everyone focusing on Lara’s mother, the surroundings became temporarily quiet, so it was sufficiently understandable.

The others probably roughly understood as well. Then, at least the misunderstanding that Lara’s mother did not welcome us would have been resolved.

“Ah, yes. You don’t need to worry.”

Nod.

As if she had said everything she wanted to say, Lara’s mother nodded and turned around with difficulty.

Even if it weren’t me, anyone could see that her back was trembling with anxiety, so with this, the others would have also roughly grasped what kind of people the witches living in the Witch’s Forest were.

“Hmm. Perhaps all the witches living here are similarly….”

“Ah, should we first divide the rooms and unpack our luggage before gathering again? Lara Medichilling’s mother gave us two rooms, so I think we can divide them into a men’s room and a women’s room. What do you think?”

I hurriedly cut off Prince Antonio’s words before he could ruin the atmosphere in front of Lara and naturally sorted out the situation.

“Hmm. Alright. Let’s do that.”

“Then, how about we all gather in the men’s room in about 30 minutes? Since Master Ethan and I are men, we can’t enter the room used by the women.”

“…Well, whatever.”

“Yes, understood.”

“What about you, Miss Lara? Can you gather in the men’s room in about 30 minutes?”

“Ah, uh, um…. 30 minutes might be cutting it close… M-Maybe….”

By the way, for Lara, “cutting it close” meant time to prepare her heart.

For her, who had a communication disorder, facing five unfamiliar people at once required considerable resolution.

When facing it in the game, I skipped it after viewing it only once at first, so I didn’t know it well, but looking at it like this, it was indeed a very frustrating personality to work with.

“Then, see you all in 30 minutes.”

With that, Ethan and Prince Antonio went to the room at the very end of the corridor, Agnes, Knight Colt, and I went to the room next to it, and Lara hurriedly entered her own room at the opposite end of the corridor. 

Watching Lara, I quietly thought.

Although I said with my own mouth to gather in 30 minutes, it would probably be difficult to actually gather on time in 30 minutes.

As expected, after watching Lara disappear into her room as if running away, Lara did not show up at the promised place at the appointed time.

There was a high probability that she hadn’t even realized that the promised time had already passed. Perhaps she was delayed because she was writing a new “script” to stand in front of many people.

Although the protagonist of the event did not show her face, I did not go to the room at the opposite end of the corridor to fetch her. I also had some things I wanted to discuss with just us, without Lara.

“Miss Agnes, you mentioned before that you had visited the Witch’s Forest in the past.”

“Yeah. And don’t call me Agnes. Call me Blaze.”

“I’m asking just in case, but when you visited the Witch’s Forest before, was the atmosphere like this?”

“What kind of atmosphere?”

“Well, both Miss Lara and her mother seem to have a certain atmosphere where communication doesn’t go well if you try to continue the conversation, don’t you think?”

“…It’s roughly similar.”

If categorized by MBTI, it was a sight of people who belonged to the extreme I forming a community and living together. *1 

Among such people, that kind of personality was inherited, and growing up among people with such personalities, it was inevitable to develop such a personality in that living environment.

The witches, who had already converged and evolved in a bad direction over several decades, had reached the point where they extremely disliked talking to outsiders, except for conversations among themselves.

At least they had a common interest in being witches among themselves, so they could converse and their society could function, which was fortunate.

“It was like this even when I came as a child. Even when I tried to ask for directions, everyone ran away when I approached them to talk, and even when I tried to ask for directions, they either stayed still or spoke in a crawling voice. Even when I somehow found the house where the witch Natia lived, I had to visit three times before they finally opened the door.”

“Hmm, listening to Miss Agnes’s words, it does seem that most of the people living in this Witch’s Forest are very shy.”

“That happened 10 years ago. At that time, it wasn’t like today where many people visited. I came alone with a single female guard sent from the main house of the Elizabeth family, but I didn’t expect it to still be the same even after 10 years.”

“Witches generally have longer lifespans than other people. If they were the same people living here 10 years ago, they’re probably still living here now.”

“That’s why it’s even more incomprehensible. Why are even the elderly witches so flustered just by outsiders talking to them? Moreover, when I visited 10 years ago, I was just a kid.”

“….”

I almost blurted out that she still had the appearance of a child even now, not just 10 years ago. I need to be careful.

Anyway, for the witches living in this forest, whether someone was a child or not was not an important factor in distinguishing people. 

In the first place, almost everyone living here had the ultimate communication disorder, so countless women were shy even toward newborn babies.

For these people, the most important factor in dividing people was whether they were their colleagues who grew up in the Witch’s Forest from a young age or not. It was similar to the case where quiet kids at school suddenly become talkative when discussing stories only they know.

“I think I now understand to some extent why Her Highness Princess Seraphine was the only one who visited the Witch’s Forest whenever a regular delegation was sent every 1-2 years. If not for Her Highness’s level of friendliness, it would be difficult to even have a conversation with other witches here.”

“I don’t think you need to be too concerned, Your Highness Prince Antonio. In the first place, the reason we visited here is also to help Miss Lara with her witch exam. If they see us actively helping Miss Lara, won’t the others gradually open up to us as well?”

“What is this witch exam in the first place? Isn’t an exam with that name usually taken to test whether someone has the qualifications to be a witch or not? Is it okay for us to help?”

“It will probably be fine. I think our role won’t be to directly assist Lara during the actual exam, but rather to support her in preparing for it and help with the overall examination process.”

“How do you know that, Lilith? Did Lara tell you separately?”

“…It just feels that way. If it was really a problem for us to get involved in the exam, they wouldn’t have requested help in the first place. Lara’s mother wouldn’t have let us in so easily either.”

“…True.”

In fact, I knew everything about what we had to do and the contents of the exam, but I was just making appropriate guesses.

I could confidently tell Agnes and Ethan since I had already revealed to them that I was the Saint, but I hadn’t revealed to Prince Antonio and Knight Colt that I was the Saint yet, so I had to keep my ability to see the future a secret.

While waiting for Lara to come, we talked among ourselves for about 10 minutes. Along with the sound of hurried footsteps echoing in the corridor, the door to the men’s room suddenly opened, and the last visitor to this gathering appeared.

Bang!

“S-Sorry I’m late…! S-Sorry…! I-I’m really sorry for k-k-keeping you waiting….”

“It’s okay, come in, Miss Lara Medichilling. We didn’t wait long, and we were talking among ourselves anyway, so we didn’t even notice the time passing.”

“Ah, y-you were talking…? T-Then I’ll step out for a bit so you can comfortably continue talking….”

“…We don’t have time to waste, so hurry up and explain. And don’t think about leaving again.”

“Eeeek…! I-I-I’m sorry…!! I’m sorry for wasting your precious time, e-everyone…. Ah, ah, ahhh….”

“…Miss Agnes.”

“…I got it. I just need to keep my mouth shut.”

Agnes, who unnecessarily said things that only heightened Lara’s tension, quietly turned her head with her lips pouted out, and I carefully approached Lara, who was now prostrating on the floor.

“I-I’m sorry… I-I got nervous when I suddenly had to talk in front of so many people… I-I’m really sorry for being late because I was preparing myself….”

“It’s okay, Miss Lara Medichilling. No one here is particularly angry anyway.”

“B-But just now, that red-haired young lady reprimanded me for being late…. I-I really need to apologize properly….”

“Miss Agnes isn’t really angry, it’s just her usual personality. She may look angry, but she’s not actually angry. Right, Miss Agnes?”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

“I-I see… T-That’s a relief….”

If this situation were during the playthrough of Luminor Academy, it would have been frustrating enough to long-press the X button and skip the scene, but in order to proceed with the event as smoothly as possible, I also suppressed my emotions and calmed Lara down.

Although I ended up coming all the way to the Witch’s Forest due to that Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s trolling, as a hardcore player of Luminor Academy, I didn’t want to half-heartedly pass the event I was in charge of.

…If I remember correctly, this is how I calmed Lara’s emotions in the game.

Slide.

“H-Huh?!”

“I’ll hold your hand, Miss Lara. Slowly take deep breaths and calm your emotions.”

“M-My emotions…?”

“Yes, try to follow along. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.”

“Hah-huh! Hah-huh! Hah-huh! Ha, ha, haa…”

Who would have thought that Lilith, who got into trouble with Machart, would end up taking care of the gloomy girl’s personality in the Witch’s Forest during summer vacation?

I was newly realizing that gloomy girls may be cute when seen in creative works, but when they actually become your acquaintance in reality, they are extremely bothersome characters.

T/N

1. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is a personality test that yields one of 16 four-letter combinations representing the following four categories: introversion/extraversion (I/E), sensing/intuition (S/N), thinking/feeling (T/F), and judging/perceiving (J/P). Examples are INTJs and ENTPs (take the test yourself if you’re interested). Those with types beginning with an I are on the introverted side. Note, however, that all personality tests don’t necessarily result in accurate representations of the person typed.