Living in a Rewrite of My Own Book World

Chapter 2 - The Rewrite in which I Become the Ultimate Overpowered Maid

I had multiple plans to improve Katrina's character.

The first, and the easiest was her personality. I wasn't very outgoing by nature, so keeping my head down and doing my work properly without mocking others or causing a scene was simple.

The first day after I had appeared in this world, I tried smiling and greeting everyone I worked with. The reaction was a little overdone, one butler literally backed away from me until he fell down a flight of stairs. I had never really specified in the book how awful Katrina was in her day to day life, but considering the astonishment and relief shown by the other house staff members at my changed personality, she must have been dreadful to work with. Now that I wasn't acting like an idiot bully, I naturally made friends with most of the people who worked there.

Second, I decided that if I was going to be a maid character, I wanted to be the super, cool type that could do anything. For that, I was going to need teachers, this turned out to be more difficult than I expected.

"Why?" Gertia, the head maid, stared at me with a stony face.

I took a deep breath to calm myself, it wouldn't do to bite the hand that could feed. "I am sorry that I have been lazy and useless before now. I wish to learn everything I need to know to be the best lady's maid." I looked up at her, but if anything, her gaze became more stern than before.

"You're not smart enough."

GRRR! I really want to punch her!

Burying my inner monologue deep inside me, I summoned a calm, polite smile.

"Please judge me after giving me a chance."

She seemed startled at my response, but in the end gave me a slow nod. "Very well. But if you waste my time, I'll kick you out without hesitation." Finally she smiled, "I should warn you, very few people have ever gained my approval."

Despite my poor first impression, I couldn't help but like her straightforward manner. I grinned at her. "Bring it on!"

She hadn't been lying, what followed was the maid training course from hell. Etiquette, fashion, household management, every second of my free time was taken with learning what she had to offer. Despite her grim appearance, she was a good teacher, easily explaining even complex subjects, but she definitely didn't hold back. The one time I had forgotten her lesson on cutlery placement will forever scar me.

I worked hard, and over time, she seemed to loosen up a bit. I swear I even caught her looking at my work with a half smile once. Of course, it might have just been a hallucination.

I branched out, learning from the chef how to cook, basic first aid from the local healer, different plants and poisons from the gardener. I never had enough time in the day, but as I continued to work hard, I started gaining a wide variety of useful skills.

Once I got a grasp on the behind the scenes work of high society, I moved on to fighting skills. Thinking back to all the fight scenes that would have to survive once the plot got going, I would definitely need to know how to protect myself. Why had I wanted this to be an action packed story?

I approached the captain of the Duke's personal guard, Alexander, a young man in his twenties with a serious expression, and asked to learn combat and weaponry. To his credit, he simply declined politely and didn't laugh in my face. I didn't give up though, I began the daily food campaign. Each day I brought the treats and snacks that I made for my cooking training, hoping to butter up the captain and his men. Although I was greeted with suspicion at first, the food was delicious, if I do say so myself, and soon the guards began to look forward to my visits. Of course, as they ate I made sure to talk up the benefits of having the lady's maid being trained in combat.