This Maniac Is Fond Of Me

Chp 2: Who's The Queen Again?

"You're finally here, dog."

"Good morning, Master. Sorry for being late; there were some errands I had to take care of."

Rio smiled brightly as he spoke, while I gaped at who Rio was talking to, completely zoned out.

Sariel, the minister of this country, and the one who chose the MC as the Belle of this country.

Wait, speaking of which, where's the MC—

"And you, young lady." I flinched when Sariel's gaze turned to me.

"Y-yes, sir!!" I saluted him without thinking. Then froze when I saw them both staring at me like I had just stepped on something unpleasant.

"Both of you, hurry up and follow the others into the main ballroom to get it sparkling clean before this evening. Today is a very important day." Sariel sighed in defeat as he said that.

"Yes, Master!" Rio bowed his head as Sariel walked away, leaving the two of us alone.

I poked Rio's shoulder, and he turned to look at me, tilting his head slightly to meet my eyes.

I was stunned by his reaction for a moment, but I quickly snapped myself out of it.

"Rio, what did he mean by today being a very important day? Is there some kind of celebration or something?" I questioned, still clueless about everything.

Why am I here? How did I become a maid? (Yes, I'm even wearing the sky-blue and white maid outfit.) And where is the MC? Has she already appeared to the princes as the Belle, or—goodness, I have so many questions, but everything is happening so fast, I barely have time to process it all.

"Hm? Don't you know?" Rio looked at me, baffled.

"If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked you, dude," I sighed.

"Oh, right..." Rio let out a soft laugh.

Yo, stop doing that thing—

"Well, today is the celebration for the announcement of the new Queen." Rio's voice lowered as he reached the last word.

...

HUH??

WHAT QUEEN???

I thought the King and Queen had passed away, otherwise, how could the MC, as Belle, choose the next ruler among the princes?

Judging by my expression, Rio could tell I was even more confused by what he had just blurted out. He suddenly placed both of his hands on my shoulders.

"Y/N, are you really okay? Do you want to take a day off?" He looked straight into my eyes with concern.

"I—w-who is the Queen?" I stuttered, trying to grasp the whole situation—no, the whole story.

Rio looked at me, dumbfounded. Then he let go of my shoulders, still keeping his gaze on me, but this time his expression changed from concern to surprise.

"It's Queen MC, the former Belle of Rhodolite." He said, and for a second, I thought I saw sadness in his eyes, or maybe I was just imagining it.

"WHAT?! MC BECAME THE QUEEN?! THEN, WHO IS THE KING—I MEAN, THE RULER NOW?! IS IT LEON?!" I screamed.

"NO, NO, NO, OF COURSE NOT!! IT'S KING CHEVALIER!! ALSO, Y/N, YOU CAN’T CALL PRINCE LEON BY HIS NAME ONLY. WHAT IF YOU GET CAUGHT AND PUNISHED FOR IT?" Rio whispered urgently as he placed his fingertip over my mouth to signal me to be quiet.

"WHAT?! CHEVALIER IS THE—" Before I could say anything, a deep voice echoed beside us.

"What are the two of you still doing here?!"

Shoot, it's Sariel.

And he looked like fire was coming out of his ears.

Oopsie, not good.

Before I could say something, Rio immediately pulled me into the palace.

"Don't worry, Master, we'll make sure the ballroom is ready before the guests arrive!" Rio's voice echoed through the hallway as we both ran as fast as cheetahs.

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