There’s No Way My Maid Is a Villain

You Awful Geniuses

One early morning in Class 1-A at Baiying Academy, Xiya's overly astonished voice pierced through the tranquil sky.

"You mean you've never learned any magic at all?"

"Quiet, you're speaking too loudly!"

Seeing that the surrounding classmates were now all looking their way, Xiya hurriedly lowered her voice and said, "Then what did you even do when you were little?"

"There were always some teachers instructing me on etiquette, daily manners, the importance of the princess's role, and so on. Occasionally, a teacher would come to teach me swordsmanship,"

Yinhua replied, with a troubled frown.

"Swordsmanship? What's the use of swordsmanship in this era dominated by magic? Oh my, if you don't start learning something soon, you'll just become a tool for royal marriage alliances and end up as little more than a pretty vase!"

Xiya sounded even more worried on Yinhua's behalf than Yinhua herself.

Yinhua knew Xiya wasn't wrong.

"I probably don't even need to worry about things like that—no one is going to want to marry me for a royal alliance in this country."

"I'm not worried about that at all. I mean, is it really alright for you to not know any magic at all?"

"What can I do about it? The teachers have already said that my sensitivity to magic is zero percent; I have literally zero hope of ever learning magic."

Yinhua spread her hands, as if she had already accepted it.

"What I really can't accept, though, is the exercises in this book. Could you teach me? Just telling me the answers would be fine."

Yinhua picked up her workbook.

"But..."

"What, are you saying even you can't do these problems?"

Yinhua played with her pencil, looking puzzled.

"I don't even know which parts of these problems are supposed to be difficult..."

In an instant, the pencil in Yinhua's hand snapped, and she clicked her tongue.

"You awful geniuses."

"As long as you pay attention in class, it shouldn't be too hard."

"I can't do that. To me, listening to the teacher's lecture is like experiencing world-class hypnosis; I'm surprised the teacher hasn't put herself to sleep halfway through."

Yinhua collapsed lifelessly onto her desk. During this period, she'd probably killed off quite a few brain cells.

Looking at how completely unconfident Yinhua appeared, Xiya said helplessly, "Come on, cheer up. Seriously, how can you get so discouraged before you even start? I'll help ask around to see if there's a teacher who might be better suited for you."

"It's useless. My Aili at home is ten times better than any outside teacher. Oh, by the way, Aili is my maid. I'll have to introduce you sometime."

"With such a capable maid in your house, why are you still like this?"

"It's very simple, actually."

Yinhua put on a very serious and solemn expression.

"Because, I'm lazy!"

"Huh?! What does 'lazy' mean?"

Xiya looked utterly baffled.

"It means I just don't want to do it—I can't be bothered. You don't even know what 'lazy' means?"

"I... I know what it means, it's just that my brain refuses to process the concept."

Xiya really couldn't understand how a princess from Wanhua, known for their elegance and grace, could unabashedly declare, "I'm lazy," so frankly.

Yinhua let her head fall back onto her desk and drifted off into dreamland once more.

As time ticked away, the sun set, and the sound of the end-of-school bell jolted Yinhua from her dreams.

"Mm... Is it morning already?"

Thud—a book slammed onto Yinhua's face. As it slid off, she saw Xiya's terrifying expression.

Yinhua knew that look all too well.

It was the same look Aili wore when she'd finally run out of patience.

"I think I need to help you redefine the meanings of 'morning' and 'afternoon.'"

"I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please forgive me!"

Sensing that Xiya was truly angry, Yinhua immediately bowed her head and tried her best at a cute apology.

"Honestly, why can't you just listen in class? What the teachers are teaching is critically important."

"It's no use."

Yinhua dropped her playful smile and spoke flatly, almost emotionless.

"Huh?"

"I'm a magicless body—a child abandoned by the gods. Forget affinity, I don't even have a trace of compatibility. Even if you handed me a nation-destroying forbidden spell, it would be nothing but a string of meaningless numbers to me; give me a high-level magic tool, and it's nothing but junk in my hands—because I've been forsaken by the gods."

"If my compatibility was even one percent, I'd work hard to learn magic. If I couldn't do it in a day, I'd give it ten days; if I couldn't do it in ten days, a year. At least then I'd have a goal to work toward."

"But the gods didn't even leave me the tiniest sliver of hope."

Xiya stood by the window, her rose-red lips beautiful, and her flowing black hair gleamed with the luster of velvet. She radiated a vitality like the morning sun. The afterglow of sunset bathed Xiya's face in splendor, as if she were adorned with jewels of darkness, tears welling in her eyes and falling one by one.

"Sorry—I had no idea what you were going through, and yet I judged you."

"No, no, really, you weren't wrong at all—hey, don't cry!"

Yinhua wiped away Xiya's tears with a handkerchief, then folded it up and tucked it into her pocket.

"Tears aren't meant to be your ornaments."

"Hm, I'm not sure whether tears suit her or not, but they're about to be your ornament instead."

A heavy voice came from behind them.

That voice sent chills down Yinhua's spine.

Their homeroom teacher was standing right behind them, with a lit cigarette in hand. Then, with a soft click, it fell to the ground and broke in two.

'Oh, it's candy.'

That was Yinhua's last thought before being dragged to the office.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Nothing's happening yet.
Xiya is at least interesting...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】