The Villainess That Was Once A VRMMO player-Chapter 8，Part2

T/L Note: I somehow missed translating a paragraph in the last chapter. Thanks Saisou for pointing it out. I have fixed the last chapter. That missing paragraph was:

After decades of war with the three demon nations, the human nations defeated the two demon nations, and the war ended when the last demon nation retreated with the remaining demons. But the demon nations, not wanting to lose their territory, released monsters into the territory they had occupied, turning it into a dangerous territory that not only humans but even demons could not easily enter.

Side Story: Maia’s Perspective on the Young Lady [Part 2]

There was a time when the old gardener who tended the greenhouse once told Maia that for generations, the previous ladies of the Arceides house residing in the castle grew medicinal plants and herbs for their beauty and health benefits. When the nobles from the Caenista capital arrived, the ladies gradually started to stop paying visits to the greenhouse. In the end when the current lord married the current lady, the now, lady of the castle didn’t bother to visit it anymore.

Even though the greenhouse garden was no longer in use, it could not be neglected. However, Dirk, the legitimate son of the castle owner had already set his eyes on the place making other ordinary servants hesitant to enter the greenhouse due to his bad behavior.

Maia was not fond of Dirk despite him being eight years old, a good two years younger than Maia. Dirk was big-bodied, physically strong, and often played pranks on Maia who was close to his age.

Having a convenient greenhouse as a playground, Dirk typically played pranks on the servants by putting herbs with strong flavors and aromas in their meals and beds.

It was a relief that there were no poisonous herbs in the greenhouse, but Maia was frustrated to the point of tears to witness him put herbs into the commoners’ food, which was already suffering from inferior quality compared to the food for the senior ranked servants.

One day, while Maia and Carol were approaching the greenhouse, they discovered Dirk approaching the place. Maia wanted to quickly leave the area near the greenhouse, but unfortunately, Dirk spotted the duo as he approached the greenhouse.

Dirk scorned Carol as a matter of course and mocked Maia as a commoner. Most of the commoners could only use non-attribute life magic. Yet in the eyes of the nobility who can cast magic with elemental attributes, in these nobility’s eyes; it was the same as not being able to use ‘proper’ magic. Thus, Dirk naturally grew up learning to despise and look down on commoners with contempt for their lack of ability to cast elemental attribute magic, claiming it was due to their ‘dirty’ blood.

Maia’s father and mother were also human in appearance, but they had a sliver of beast blood running in their lineage. Maia had no choice but to bite her lip and endure Dirk’s scorn for Maia’s low magic power, but when Dirk was about to leave them, he suddenly twisted his ankle on a pebble.

Maia was surprised to notice that it was Carol discreetly flinging a small stone to strike Dirk’s legs.

Maia couldn’t stop the tears flowing down her cheeks as she realized that this little one, the young lady, was trying to protect Maia as her “Lord”.

As Maia cried while being pulled by the little hand, she vowed herself that she would serve Carol until the end, no matter what her position was, be it high or low. Maia vowed that she would believe and put her trust in her young lady, no matter what the circumstances were.

But more trials would soon follow. The wife of the Lord and the nasty head maid Ilaria was very terrible with the food treatment.

The elves do not consume animal flesh. To be more precise, they reject dead carcasses, be they cooked or processed, as impurities to themselves.

So even if they do consume meat, it would have to be something like a small amount of processed meat like a slice of bacon or ham. In other cases, the meat would have to be carefully cooked for a long period to carefully remove the scum and fat.

Thus, even if Carol is born half-elf, which is ‘technically’ better than an elf (inability to consume meat), there was no way she could eat a full rare steak still dripping with blood.

But Maia and her family were told that if they complained about it, they would be kicked out of the castle.

Both Maia and her mother, Meiya, wanted to raise objections and prevent this from happening. However, Maia’s father and Meiya’s husband, who was a chef, reasoned with them that should they be kicked out of the castle, then there would be nobody left who would protect Lady Carol. Thus, the mother-daughter duo had no choice but to endure the foul treatment of the Young Lady, with both of them almost bursting into tears every time.

Still, even at a tender young age, young Carol was no ordinary girl. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠

As narrated in fairy tales, in this country (Arceides Kingdom) it is once said that those who possess multiple magical attributes are more likely to be loved by spirits.

The spirits are especially fond of girls with pure and innocent hearts, and if someone they like is harmed, they will grant them a blessing and even retaliate on their behalf.

Thus, when the Young Lady was about to be forced to eat meat, something black appeared at her side, and with a roar, it tore off Ilaria’s hair.

Ilaria continually screamed the word “curse” and fled away, but Maia was convinced that it was a blessing from the Spirit of Darkness and made small guts pose behind her stunned and surprised mother.

(Editor’s note: the “guts pose” referred to is a fist pump or double fist pump, but it is referred to such in Japan)

The Spirit of Darkness is rare and is almost avoided by every nobility just because of the impression it gives, but from a commoner’s point of view, all spirits are equally respected, and the Spirit of Darkness is an important spirit that grants them peace at night by protecting them.

The elf race was on good terms with the spirits, and the sleepy vibe that Maia sensed from Carol was probably because Carol was loved by the Spirit of Darkness.

.

It would be such a loss to the world if such a lovely, wonderful, and very pretty young lady Carol was abused and hated by the nobility.

Maia continued to write about the young lady’s incredible loveliness in the diary she had been given as a gift for becoming a maid’s apprentice, and went to sleep to dream about Carol, thinking that she would tell everyone about the Young Lady tomorrow.