Ultimately, I was demoted from my position.

  It was an entirely predictable conclusion, but from the Majordomo's perspective, my bust size was completely unsuitable for waiting on Kang Jiesu in the Emerald Room. In the Kingdom of Galuterica, it was commonpce for maids to service their guests in multiple different ways. From the perspective of Zhang Guiyu, it was an utterly despicable and barbaric practice, but the Galuterican sense of royal hospitality included satisfying VIP guests from every direction possible. Ordinarily, this involved sending professional courtesans to the visitors' bedrooms every night, so sexual services technically weren't part of a maid's official job description. However, it is easy to imagine how a noble or aristocrat might fancy an attractive servant and consequently take them to bed. The maid was always expected to oblige.

  It was sort of an occupational hazard.

  Every year, there was always a dozen-or-so maidens who would mysteriously end up pregnant.

  To be totally honest, many young women came to the royal pace seeking this precise outcome. From a commoner's perspective, it was utterly impossible to marry an aristocrat or wealthy businessman through ordinary courtship. However, becoming a mistress or paramour was entirely possible for a woman of low birth. Officially, the Kingdom of Galuterica was a monogamous country, but nearly all aristocratic families secretly took concubines to ensure that a male heir was birthed to inherit the lineage's wealth. This concept wasn't exactly alien to Zhang Guiyu, who knew from her history lessons how Henry VIII of Engnd took six wives and fathered numerous illegitimate children in his efforts to produce a son. In Galuterica, there was no such concept as "illegitimate" children. Sons and daughters born out of wedlock were considered "legitimate" heirs as long as they were recognized by the father, but the order-of-succession always favored the children of the main wife before moving to the children of concubines and mistresses.

  In either case, most impoverished young maids dreamt of being swept off of their feet by a rich and powerful visiting noble — the typical Cinderel story of this universe.

  As for Hana... well, she honestly did not care how it happened so long as she had enough money to send home to her family... which was a shockingly realistic attitude to hold towards something as important as love, sex, and marriage. In contrast, Guiyu's psyche simply could not tolerate this kind of cold-hearted pragmatism, especially when it involved her own cssmates.

  Isn't this incredibly lucky? I'm not stuck with Kang Jiesu! This is the best possible outcome! — I thought gleefully to myself.

  + + +

  I resisted the urge to dance through the hallways out of pure joy.

  The tasks for the day had already been distributed and assigned by my managers, so technically there wasn't anything for me to do now that I had been relieved of my duties in the Emerald Room. It wouldn't be until tomorrow that I would be reassigned to a different task, so my current status was something akin to "free time." No one expected to me to be anywhere, and none of the supervisors would notice if I was missing. The best part was that I was still being paid 40/hour for doing absolutely nothing, which is unquestionably the best way to make money.

  Somehow, I (just barely) managed to keep my job.

  I was extremely grateful.

  To be honest, I probably couldn't afford to attract any more attention to myself. I didn't want to bump into the Majordomo again, and ideally we wouldn't cross paths even once in the next month. Preferably, I would even like it if he forgot that I existed.

  It was best for me to continue pretending that I was doing something useful, so I decided to head towards the garden. Incidentally, the garden of the royal pace was an enormous facility with an indoor arboretum and a small waterfall, so it was basically a giant maze. The botanical garden was attached to the main pace, so there was constantly dirt and leaves tracking into the hallway.

  I stopped by a supply closet and acquired a rge broom.

  I could probably sweep the same spot on the floor for an entire day and nobody would think anything was amiss.

  This kind of peaceful NPC lifestyle is exactly what I wanted, right?

  I didn't want anything to do with my cssmates and saving the world.

  ?