“Black Tide” was set in a world resembling the Victorian era. In this age, curtains had yet to be developed with black blackout coatings, so as soon as the sun rose, light streamed inside and woke Simon from his single bed.
Simon sat up and drew back the curtains. The sunlight didn’t come in, but tactfully stopped just outside.
It wasn’t because Simon had some special status. His room simply faced away from the sun, leaving the sunlight willing but unable to reach him.
He was only an ordinary male servant earning an annual salary of 16 pounds. On the estate, only the senior servants were allowed rooms facing the morning sun.
His status was still too low.
After quickly making his bed, he went out to wash up before heading to the servants’ dining room.
The maids had already prepared breakfast. It was oatmeal porridge, bread, bacon, and tea.
Simon was glad he was a male servant. He might not be able to sleep in, but at least he didn’t have to get up before dawn and start working like the maids did.
The busiest among them were Elisa’s head maid and personal maid. They had to prepare everything in advance so that it could be presented promptly the moment the young lady woke up.
It had only been a little over ten days since Elisa purchased the estate and hired her team of servants. None of them, including the head maid, had yet figured out the young lady’s temperament or daily routine, so they were all rather nervous.
In the royal capital, many young ladies were notoriously irritable upon waking. The slightest mistake or negligence early in the morning could result in severe punishment or even dismissal.
The working conditions at the estate were quite good, above average in fact, and none of the maids wanted to lose their jobs. As a result, every morning they went about their duties with trembling caution, as though facing a formidable enemy.
Their worries were entirely unnecessary. Elisa was a tolerant and kind person. As long as it wasn’t a serious mistake, she wouldn’t get angry.
At the same time, Elisa wouldn’t tolerate servants being careless or malicious. She certainly didn’t lack authority, considering she had once been the daughter of a duke.
Elisa Scarlet. That was Lady Elisa’s true name.
Fifteen years ago, the Scarlet Duchy was one of the most influential noble families in the kingdom. The king at the time had no children, and Duke Scarlet was first in the line of succession. The king himself also intended for him to inherit the throne.
Everyone believed that Duke Scarlet would become the next king.
Then, as fate would have it, disaster struck. Elisa’s father Duke Scarlet suddenly died of illness; her elder sister was assassinated, her mother was committed to an asylum, and their residence burned to the ground.
Elisa was rescued by her teacher, and with that, Duke Scarlet’s bloodline faded into history.
Now, having become a Transcendent, Elisa had returned to the royal capital that should rightfully have belonged to her family. Taking on a different surname, she intended to uncover the truth behind what happened fifteen years ago and personally take revenge on the enemies responsible.
That was the backstory of Elisa’s character in “Black Tide”.
According to the original storyline, Elisa would have to endure much and lose much, making several choices between life and death, good and evil, before she could finally achieve her goal.
That storyline was a long one, and the plot was only just beginning. Lady Elisa had recently arrived in the royal capital, posing as the daughter of a wealthy overseas merchant and helping her father establish his business interests.
The story during this period was relatively lighthearted. Elisa’s goal was to break into the royal capital’s circle of elites, so she bought an estate, hired servants, and constantly threw money around.
No matter what the era was, getting into the upper echelons of society required throwing around ridiculous amounts of money.
The money wasn’t a family inheritance, either. Elisa had spent the past few years working hard as an adventurer, robbing the rich to help the poor and completing commissions to earn it, so every penny she spent hurt that much more.
At that thought, Simon felt a small pang of guilt.
The maids were gossiping that young lady Elisa had been practicing with a rapier in her bedroom yesterday and damaged several pieces of furniture. That seemed to have been the fault of his [Ultimate Male Servant Training Plan].
Who could have expected Elisa’s first reaction to the screen would be to unleash a barrage of attacks? Then again, it was perfectly in character for an adventurer like her.
After finishing the last bite of bread, Simon wiped his mouth and drained his black tea in one gulp, nodding in satisfaction. The staff meals here were really quite good.
He opened the backend of [The Ultimate Male Servant Training Plan] and left a five-star review.
***
[Simon enjoyed a hearty breakfast and feels satisfied. Intimacy +2]
After washing up, Elisa opened the screen, and the first thing she noticed was the increase in Intimacy.
It could even go up for free? His Intimacy was already at 3!
She couldn’t help smiling, and even her steps toward the dining room grew a little lighter.
Wait, why am I so happy about this? It’s just a male servant’s Intimacy going up!
Lady Elisa realized something was wrong. She wasn’t the sort of person who cared about what others thought of her. With her personality, there was no way something like this should have made her happy.
It’s all because this screen puts everything into numbers! Whenever I see a number go up, it somehow feels like I’ve gained something, like finding 2 gold pounds lying in the street!
Elisa, oh Elisa. What you need to be worrying about right now isn’t some male servant, but this screen itself. Just what in the world is this thing?1
She had spent half the night studying it without figuring anything out. The only things she’d managed to work out were how to dismiss and summon the screen. She simply had to call for it with her mind.
She arrived at the dining room. A maid opened the door for her, and Elisa gave a reserved nod before walking inside.
Beside the dining table, the maids lifted the covers from the warming dishes and served breakfast on fine porcelain: pancakes, ham, fried eggs, smoked fish, roast lamb chops, roasted mushrooms, black tea, butter, jam, and hot cocoa.
How extravagant.
Elisa sat down at the table and asked with feigned indifference, “What do the ordinary servants eat every day?”
She wanted to see just what sort of breakfast had made that male servant so satisfied that his Intimacy had risen by 2 points.
The head maid Maria replied, “Bread, oatmeal porridge, tea, and bacon. All thanks to your benevolence.”
That’s not much of a feast. Is that male servant really so easy to please?
As Elisa ate a pancake with jam, she couldn’t help feeling that those Intimacy points had come at quite a bargain.
After finishing her meal, she set down her knife and fork and suddenly remembered what her life had been like before coming to the royal capital. Back then, breakfast had consisted of nothing but bread. She hadn’t even had butter.
That realization hit her surprisingly hard. She used to live worse than an ordinary male servant!
After leaving the dining room, she glanced at the screen again.
[Status: Slacking Off While on Guard Duty… (Mood —, Energy —)]
Slacking off while standing guard, so his Mood and Energy stayed unchanged?
There weren’t many places on the estate that required someone to stand guard, so Elisa quickly deduced that the male servant was stationed in the entrance hall.
Pretending that she was going out for a stroll, she passed through the entrance hall and saw Simon standing beside the door.
Black hair, tall, and fairly handsome. No wonder they’d assigned him to guard the entrance hall.
Before she even arrived, Simon had sensed something was amiss through his [Best Employee] ability. He stopped slacking off and switched to working diligently.
[Status: Standing Guard Diligently… (Mood ↓, Energy ↓)]
He glanced at Elisa out of the corner of his eye. Her long hair shimmered a brilliant pale gold, her mysterious eyes were a deep crimson, and her delicate features were as exquisite as a doll’s. She truly deserved to be one of the seven heroines of “Black Tide”.
Too bad she didn’t have silver hair. Silver hair and red eyes were the most romantic character design of all!
Simon straightened up and lowered his head, respectfully seeing Elisa out of the entrance hall before changing his status again. He had to adjust all these attributes manually.
[Status: Slacking Off While on Guard Duty… (Mood —, Energy —)]
He had only just relaxed and started letting his mind wander when footsteps sounded in the distance again. Elisa was back.
[Status: Standing Guard Diligently…]
[Status: Slacking Off…]
Lady Elisa went in and out, back and forth, forcing Simon to switch repeatedly between the two statuses until he finally realized what was going on.
The young lady was having fun with this!
Although that was a good thing, constantly switching back and forth was a real hassle, and it was getting in the way of his slacking off.
Simon made an adjustment in the setting.
[Intimacy -1]
Elisa was happily pacing back and forth when a small screen suddenly popped up before her, freezing the smile on her face.
I only walked back and forth four times! Give me back my Intimacy point!
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