I Became the Maid of the Lout Prince

Fifth Prince of the Argentian Empire. Antonio Robert Valtoria.

A moment ago, he had entered the bathroom alone and began preparing for his bath with somewhat awkward movements as he undressed.    

“Indeed, this is rather inconvenient…”    

To be honest, he wasn’t in a particularly good mood.

He was physically experiencing just how difficult it was to undress with one arm tightly bound and immobilized in a splint.     

Of course, Antonio was also a Royal Prince who had trained in swordsmanship and magic since childhood, and among the injuries he had sustained during his recent increased training spars, there had been worse injuries than this. 

However, this was the first time as a royal that he had to undress without the help of other servants while having one arm injured like this.

“Nngh…! Ah, haaa…”

“Prince Antonio, wouldn’t it be better if I helped you, after all?”

“I-I’m fine, Knight Colt. How could I call myself a member of the Royal Family if I can’t even manage to undress myself properly?”

“But you’re in no condition to move one of your arms. Since Lady Blaze is still having her meal, perhaps I could at least help you with bathing…”

“If Agnes were to discover that, she would surely be angry. She’d say something like, ‘Am I so untrustworthy that you need to assign someone else when I said I would take care of you?'”

“But…”  

“I don’t want to be hated by her anymore. To be honest, I think things are already a bit precarious with everything that’s happened so far.”

He had thought he could somehow make up for mistaking Agnes for his junior and treating her like a child during their first meeting.

However, after that, Antonio’s feelings toward Agnes kept going in strange directions and only ended up hurting her feelings, which even the prince had come to realize by now.

If he made any more mistakes here, even the slight possibility of things working out with Agnes would completely disappear.

At the crisis where Lady Lilith’s life, her precious friend, was nearly endangered, he had unfortunately held both her and the Hero back. 

When he tried to be considerate of Agnes by not giving her any tasks, he only ended up offending her. 

Also, even though he had followed her all the way to the Witch’s Forest, instead of showing his manly side, he kept revealing his inadequate side.

If only he could have coolly cut off one of the three-headed hydra’s heads in today’s battle, he wouldn’t have been injured in such an unsightly way. Antonio felt pathetic and worthless for not being able to wield his sword properly and ending up sacrificing one arm, so it was inevitable that he’d act more reserved and passive.

“It’s not something that requires borrowing your hands, so you need not worry, Knight Colt. After all, you’re accompanying me as a coachman and guard knight, not as a lady-in-waiting or maid.”

“…That’s true.”

“If you understand, then you may go now. If you stay here, Agnes might catch you. I can manage washing myself without requiring someone else’s assistance.”

“…Understood, Prince Antonio.”     

Antonio continued preparing for his bath while listening to Knight Colt’s footsteps moving away from the bathroom door.     

It was somewhat fortunate for Antonio that things became less inconvenient after removing his top, even with one arm being uncomfortable. Of course, the process of getting dressed again after bathing would be troublesome once more.

Originally, all of these tasks were also things Agnes would have to assist with. After all, taking care of a patient who couldn’t use one arm meant helping with these kinds of things more than with meals.     

Of course, such service was only possible if Prince Antonio could confidently request such things from Agnes.

If it were someone clearly his subordinate like Colt, there would be no difficulty in commanding them, but Agnes was different. 

Even making such small requests of her made him feel somehow guilty, especially because he held special feelings.

Among them, asking for help with bathing was the kind of service he could hardly request. Even though it was to take care of him as a patient, it was essentially the same as showing his naked body to the person he loved.

The prince was embarrassed, and above all, he deliberately didn’t ask because he thought Agnes would dislike seeing his naked body.

Splash!

“Indeed, trying to do this with one arm… It’s not so easy…”

Though the wet splint could be dried with magic, it was quite troublesome for him to wash while being unable to use his dominant arm from the start.

It took more than twice the usual time just to wash his hair, and there were many areas he couldn’t reach with just one hand.

Still, thinking that he only had to live like this for three days, Prince Antonio was trying his best to soap his body with one hand when two light knocks were heard from outside the bathroom door.

Knock, knock.

“Is that you, Knight Colt? As I said before, I’m fine. It’s not so difficult that I need to borrow your hands.”     

“…”     

“And if you help me bathe, won’t Agnes misunderstand again? You should go rest first before she catches you here.”

“…”

There was no answer from beyond the door. Perhaps it was drowned out by the sound of water in the bathroom.

Prince Antonio, assuming it had to be Knight Colt, just focused on washing himself with one hand. 

After all, he didn’t think it would be good if Agnes caught him washing himself without her help, either.

As he turned his head back trying to somehow rub the towel against his hard-to-reach back, Prince Antonio witnessed a woman entering the bathroom as the door opened.

Creeak.  

“I said bathing assistance isn’t neces…”    

“…Really, it’s not necessary?”

“…Huh?”    

“…I’m asking if you really don’t need help bathing.”

“Ah, Lady Agnes…?”

Prince Antonio’s thoughts momentarily froze as he watched her calmly enter the bathroom.

In fact, if Agnes had just come in to help him bathe, he might not have been so flustered.

After all, Antonio’s reason for not accepting Agnes’s help with bathing was more about the fear that she might find his body unpleasant rather than being embarrassed about showing his naked body.

While he felt relieved that she seemed to show no particular emotion about his body in the current situation, what made Antonio’s heart race even more was Agnes’s attire as she opened the bathroom door and entered.     

Well, it’s because she was in the same state of dress as him… that is, she had entered the bathroom completely naked.

Moreover, Agnes’s appearance, as she entered confidently without even attempting to cover herself with a towel, made such a strong impression that it turned Antonio’s mind completely blank.

When he finally came to his senses, he barely managed to turn his gaze away from the heart-pounding sight.

“W-What are you doing, Lady Agnes?! We, We’re not even en-engaged yet! Of-Of course, I would be happy to accept such feelings from you, but, but these things should come after we spend enough time getting to know each other…!”

“…What are you talking about? I came in to help you bathe.”

“…Pardon?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I told you I’d take care of all your needs for three days. That naturally includes helping you bathe.”

“Bu-but that…”     

“And isn’t it a servant’s rule that the one helping should also be naked since the one receiving care might feel embarrassed? I came knowing all that.”    

“Eh, eh…?”     

Wait, was there, was there such a rule?     

No, at least, as far as he knew, there was absolutely no such rule. Countless maids had helped Antonio bathe as he grew up in the Royal Family, but none of them had ever entered the bathroom showing their naked bodies.

This meant that Agnes had entered the bathroom in such a state due to some strange misunderstanding. Though he couldn’t know who had planted this strange misunderstanding.

“W-Who told you such a…”

“…Lilith did.”

“Miss Lilith…?”     

“Yeah, since she was originally a Blackwood maid. She taught me various things, saying it’s different when someone of the same gender helps versus when a woman helps a man.”

“…”

What in the world was this about?    

Could it be that the Blackwood family was the kind of house that toyed with their servants in this way?

As far as he knew, Harold, the head of the Blackwood family, still hadn’t taken a second wife, unable to forget his deceased wife, and his son, Ethan, also appeared to be completely devoted only to Lilith at present.

Could it be that they were able to maintain such attitudes because they had actually been satisfying their sexual desires in such a sinister way behind the scenes?

To think he would discover the ducal family’s dark secret in such a way…

‘No, no. That can’t be right.’

He shouldn’t jump to strange conclusions. Hadn’t he just recently angered Agnes by jumping to wrong conclusions about her? 

And if such things were commonplace, there would surely have been rumors disparaging the Blackwood family as sexually depraved.

After all, Young Master Ethan had tried to avert his gaze just like Antonio when Lady Lara and Lady Auguste were naked on the altar. 

It was impossible to imagine that such a person would actually take turns receiving such borderline harassing service from the maids of his mansion.    

In other words, this notion of ‘naked service’ was just an idea that came from Miss Lilith’s mind.

Perhaps she had played this prank to tease her friend Lady Agnes… or she had deliberately arranged this to help him.

However, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why she would do such a thing. What benefit would she gain from supporting his relationship with Agnes…

“…Isn’t this right?”

“P-Pardon?”     

“Don’t tell me this isn’t right… Was I supposed to come in dressed like when someone of the same gender helps?”

Agnes’s voice reached Antonio’s ears with a hint of anger about to surface.     

If he were to say here, ‘No, you don’t enter naked even when helping with bathing,’ the consequences would be obvious.

Not only would she be angry at Lilith for deceiving her, but she would also feel shame for this act that she had done without thinking, believing it was just ‘providing assistance,’ and her relationship with him would become even more distant. Therefore, there was only one answer Prince Antonio could give in this situation.     

…After all, it wasn’t like Prince Antonio disliked this situation either.     

“Y-You’re not wrong, Lady Agnes.”

“…Really?”

“Y-Yes… When a female servant helps a male employer bathe, it’s correct for the servant to be naked themselves so the employer won’t feel embarrassed… Of-Of course, Lady Agnes, being a noble, you didn’t necessarily need to follow this, but, but it’s not wrong, so you don’t need to feel embarrassed or angry.”

“…That’s fine, then. If I have to do it anyway, it’s better to do it by the rules.”     

“And this is a better way to repay my debt to you.”

As Agnes whispered these words behind his back, Antonio’s heart began to race wildly.

“I’ll just help wash the parts you can’t reach. That’s good enough, right? You wouldn’t want more than that either, I assume.”

“O-Of course, Lady Agnes…”     

‘Endure it. Endure it. Endure it, somehow. Endure…’

He had to act as if this situation was perfectly normal, as if this was just bathing assistance, and that he wasn’t having any inappropriate thoughts at all.     

Prince Antonio focused on Agnes’s hands as they began to wash his back while desperately trying to suppress his rising desires that threatened to surface.    

In his head, he repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Miss Lilith for creating this situation.