Princess's Struggle for Survival-Chapter 539: Maid’s Duty

If previously Lyra had only perceived the uniqueness of Astrid’s maid outfit on a visual level, at this very moment, feeling the smooth touch against her back, that uniqueness instantly shifted from sight to sensation.

An indescribably exquisite softness clung to her back, as if covered by a continuous, plump layer of cotton candy, or as if enveloped by two warm, rippling pools of water. Even through the fabric, Lyra could directly feel the tender, alluring the figure of the maid behind her.

Astrid seemed oblivious to it all, continuing to lean forward and comb Lyra’s hair. Her pale, delicate fingers slipped into the tresses, gently tying the black ribbon into place.

"Lyra’s hair is beautiful, and the texture is excellent too."

The pure black ribbon accentuated the ocean of cherry blossoms, the stark contrast of colors especially radiant under the sunlight.

Hearing Astrid’s words and feeling the other woman’s proximity, whether intentional or not, Lyra struggled to ignore this type of "service" from a personal maid, which in noble circles was more than enough to be considered suggestive. She spoke softly.

"Because I’ve been paying attention."

Including avoiding water that’s too hot or too cold, and trying to limit how often she washes her hair. Sometimes, even during baths, Lyra made sure not to keep her hair wet for too long.

When she was a maid before, Astrid had told her that washing hair too often wasn’t necessarily good; Rinsing it every day can easily damage the hair’s quality.

"Miss Lyra truly takes great care of her body," Astrid said softly, continuing her movements.

Working in the borderlands, waking early and returning late, under constant mental stress, for Lyra to remain so youthful and radiant, it must have been due to attention to her diet and her Master Knight-level physical constitution.

Hearing Astrid’s words, Lyra continued gazing at the mirror, watching a few silver strands fall beside her shoulders. She bit her lip and summoned the courage to speak.

"Because... someone once said... my hair feels nice to touch..."

"So I... became more mindful...."

During a field practical exam, Astrid had once complimented her like that. Lyra had remembered it ever since, sometimes even unconsciously touching her own hair.

Hearing her, Astrid didn’t pause her movements, her fingertips making small circles through the strands.

"Was it someone very important to you?"

"..."

After the woman’s words, the room fell briefly silent. Lyra looked at her reflection, the silver-haired princess, head slightly lowered, resembling a perfectly obedient maid serving her mistress, and gently bit her pink lips.

Wasn’t that question deliberately obvious? Couldn’t she tell how she felt...?

And from the conversation alone, couldn’t one understand it clearly?!

Indeed, even though Astrid had promised to play the role of a maid, she remained full of cunning thoughts, a truly wicked, wicked maid.

After a while, Lyra spoke with an effort to keep her voice steady.

"Yes. Someone is very important to me."

Saying this directly in front of the person in question was admittedly a bit embarrassing, but as the other party involved, Astrid certainly couldn’t be completely unaffected either.

With serious blue eyes fixed on the reflection in the mirror, Lyra only saw the silver-haired maid’s long, upside down eyelashes tremble slightly. Then, she straightened her body. Her beautiful face rose above the mirror’s surface, leaving behind only the proud, snow-white expanse that had pressed against Lyra’s back. The crossed X-shaped shoulder straps tightened with her movement, nearly unable to support the ample beneath curves.

The next second, Astrid’s voice echoed through the room.

"I’m sure she must be extremely happy to be treated so well by Miss Lyra."

Her gloved hand gently touched Lyra’s shoulder, pushing aside a few strands of pink hair. Astrid looked at the young pink-haired girl sitting tensely in her seat and spoke softly.

"Your hair is all fixed."

Lyra, startled, snapped her thoughts away from Astrid’s words.

"Oh."

She said... extremely happy...

"Please give me your next instruction, Miss Lyra."

"Your maid Astrid is always at your service."

"...Let’s have breakfast together first."

"As you wish."

An hour later, in the mansion’s noble dining hall, Astrid carried a tray and placed the freshly baked pie onto the table. She poured orange juice for her mistress, then stood upright with legs together, hands clasped around the tray, standing directly behind Lyra.

Serving the master breakfast was also part of a maid’s duties, and Astrid was naturally no exception.

Looking at the abundant dishes, the poured juice, and smelling the faint perfume lingering in the air, Lyra lightly braced her hands on her knees. Her legs, wrapped in delicate white stockings, instinctively pressed together.

Her calves, slightly parted, had the sides of her small leather shoes gently touching the table leg. The deep black leather contrasted beautifully with the pure white stockings, set against the morning light beneath the table, resembling a creamy ice cream cone coated in chocolate.

Although she still didn’t understand Astrid’s exact reason for doing all this, from this morning’s series of events, it seemed as if the other woman had truly immersed herself into the role of a personal maid.

Could it be... another form of flirtation?

Thinking about how Astrid, even as a maid, still overshadowed her as the "mistress" in words and actions, Lyra took a sip of juice to moisten her lips, her heartbeat still refusing to calm.

No matter what Astrid had in mind, whether it was a special kind of teasing, or a mindset similar to an emperor traveling incognito to understand the people’s lives, or simply playing the role of a maid.

Since Astrid wanted to do this, she would try her best to cooperate. She couldn’t remain a pitiful, bullied victim just because she was the mistress.

Lyra... must not be looking down upon...

"Astrid, have breakfast with me."

"As you wish, Miss Lyra."

Glancing back at Astrid with a look, the Regent Princess dressed as a maid properly performed a maid’s curtsy. Then, she stepped forward with her two elegant, white-stockinged legs, wearing loafers, pulled out a chair, and sat beside Lyra.

Before, when she wore a maid dress and performed a curtsy for Astrid, she hadn’t thought much of it. But now, from this new perspective, seeing someone bow face-to-face like this, the delicate fork-shaped shoulder straps and gemstone pendant naturally drooped. The thin fabric failed to fully serve its purpose, revealing half of a beautiful, breasts, truly too embarrassing.

Recalling that fleeting glimpse, then looking at Astrid now sitting upright and ready to eat beside her, Lyra’s gaze lingered for a moment on the woman’s delicate collarbone before quickly looking away.

No, no... this situation was clearly different from hers back then...

The curtsy was the same, but Astrid’s outfit and figure were definitely unsuitable for such a gesture.

Besides the fact that the Regent Princess portraying a maid was already a heavyweight piece of news, likely to cause unnecessary misunderstandings and lower royal dignity, just the style of this outfit made Lyra reluctant to let Astrid leave the mansion.

Who... who would perform a maid’s curtsy like that directly towards her master...?

With a complicated heart, Lyra finished breakfast. Astrid rose first, preparing mouth-rinsing tools for Lyra, then personally wiping her lips with a silk handkerchief. Every movement truly resembled that of a professionally trained maid, having grown up surrounded by maids, Astrid had naturally absorbed their ways.

After breakfast ended, Astrid returned to Lyra’s side and spoke softly.

"What would you like me to do next, Miss Lyra?"

Normally, at this time, maids will start clearing the dishes, then go together to have their own breakfast or prepare for the next task. But Astrid had already dined with Lyra, so she was relatively free.

Besides, the role she was playing was that of a personal maid serving the master closely. A personal maid’s duties didn’t actually include laundry, dishwashing, or cleaning up leftovers, that was work for lower-ranking maids. Their responsibility was to serve tea and water to the master, handling intimate, close-range tasks.

Of course, just as Lyra had once misunderstood, in most circles of the Valeria Empire’s nobility, a personal maid often implied that she needed to help the master relieve certain desires to some extent. Some nobles could even form an entire personal maid squad just to satisfy their constant carnal urges.

"..."

"Let’s return to the first room."

Not having experienced being served by a maid before, Lyra didn’t know what to have Astrid do. She could only return together with her to the bedroom where she’d woken up earlier.

Hearing this, Astrid nodded.

"As you wish, Miss Lyra."

..............

2:20 PM. Nap time ended.

After pouring Lyra a cup of black tea, Astrid stood properly beside her, waiting for orders. Her crimson eyes watched the pink-haired girl seated at the desk, constantly writing. During a pause when the girl stretched her body, Astrid proactively stepped forward.

The ink bottle was nearly empty. This writing ink bottle was something Lyra had brought from Liya Tower Fortress and hadn’t had time to refill.

Astrid retrieved an ink stick and matching grinding tools from her ruby. Standing beside Lyra, she gathered water magic to moisten the stone base. Her fingers grasped the ink stick against the stone, gently grinding to produce delicate streaks of ink.

Hearing the faint sound, Lyra turned her head to look at Astrid. The silver-haired, red-eyed maid in white stockings stood straight, the tip of her white silk gloves slightly grayed from touching the ink stick, yet still not affecting the naturally exuding elegance surrounding her.

In the past few days, Astrid had been busy with official duties and barely had time to rest. The time she could spend in the room was actually very short, leaving even less opportunity to spend with Lyra.

Meanwhile, Lyra, as Knight Captain, though holding a relatively high rank in the military, still wasn’t qualified to participate in strategic planning meetings with dukes and princes. Therefore, during this period, she truly was resting, with absolutely no trivial matters bothering her.

But precisely because she had rested long enough, Lyra, having relaxed from her previously tense state, inevitably felt a trace of loneliness.

In the unfamiliar city of Losterling, she barely knew anyone. All she could do every day was practice magic in her room or sleep under the covers.

In the past, she might still have the energy and mood to read knightly novels, and when tired, go for a walk alone.

But now it is different. Far from the noisy battlefield, the sweet air no longer carried the strong scent of blood. Everything had returned to sunlight, yet Lyra’s mind felt an indescribable oppression.

She didn’t seem to find happiness easily anymore. No matter what she did, a huge stone weighed on her heart. Sometimes, even hearing the clink of dinnerware, her body would instinctively react defensively, as if another arrow had just shot into the floor tiles beside her boots, as if she hadn’t left that cold, wind-swept black fortress.

To this day, Lyra still remembered the splash of blood blooming at her sword’s tip. Even though the Sword of Light instantly vaporized the crimson, that vivid color amidst the snow still lingered on her retina.

It was a life quickly fading away. In elemental vision, the lush green vitality dissipated like smoke, replaced by night-like blackness.

Something had changed.

Lyra understood this clearly, yet didn’t know where to begin. She could subjectively these negative emotions, but that was merely suppressed.

Suppressing unease and anxiety was not the same as naturally feeling happy or satisfied.

The ground ink was poured into the ink bottle. Lyra slightly dipped her pen tip, then wrote the final line and her signature on the parchment.

This was a letter to her family. Ever since becoming an Imperial Baron, Lyra had enough money to pay the Imperial Post Office, so she often reported home her safety.

"Would you like me to help revise it?" Astrid asked.

Regardless of whether she was a personal maid or not, refraining from reading others’ letters was a fundamental moral requirement. Therefore, Astrid didn’t know what Lyra was writing; she simply spoke out of duty.

She had some confidence in writing and should be able to help Lyra improve her phrasing.

Hearing Astrid’s words, Lyra hesitated for a moment, realizing that the other, having received noble education from childhood, indeed had much higher literature than her. She spoke softly.

"Yes."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Lyra immediately regretted it, but by then, Astrid had already picked up the letter and was reading from the beginning.

"To my dear Father and Mother."

A family letter?

Crimson eyes reveal a hint of surprise. Astrid carefully read the content, making sure the clumsy knight Lyra didn’t reveal anything alarming that might worry her family too much.

"..."

Ten minutes later, Astrid put down the letter, speaking gently.

"The logic is relatively coherent, and there’s nothing obviously worrisome for your parents."

After all, joining the military wasn’t a safe job. Even if Lyra wrote a few sentences about the battlefield, it would likely keep her parents back home worried and sleepless.

Lyra nodded, softly replying.

"That’s good."

In the letter, she had specifically informed her parents to send future letters to Losterling City instead of Liya Tower Fortress.

"Then..."

Astrid hesitated, her bare fingers lightly pinching the paper.

"The frequency with which Her Highness the Regent Princess’s name appears... is rather unexpected..."

It appears in almost every paragraph. Astrid was starting to feel like she didn’t even recognize the name "Astrid" anymore.

It was supposed to be a family letter, but it was practically turning into an introduction letter about yourself.