"..." I'm carefully cleaning a room when I hear the door open. I see Verena, and since she's the head maid, I quickly hurry over to her.

"Clarissa, good, you're here. I was looking for you," she says in that rigid, authoritative tone of hers.

"I-I didn't do anything wrong!" I've spent all my time since Evelyn left the castle tending to her room and then doing my other maid duties. There's no reason to complain to me! Especially since Evelyn has already returned to the castle.

"I know, you brat. Here." She tosses a small bag to me. I catch it and open it, my eyes immediately widening when I see the gold coins, but I'm suddenly shocked to spot a few Dadyon coins at the bottom.

"W-What..."

"That's your payment for the next five years. You are the only maid in service to... Lady Evelyn." Her voice turns downright awful when she forces out Evelyn's name with respect.

"Since she is now marrying Esther-sama, things have changed a bit. Therefore, you are now Esther's direct servant, and this is your pay for the next five years of service, paid in advance."

"There are 100 gold coins and 10 Dadyon coins, since you received your payment with a bonus for your services to... Lady Evelyn... even though you've been in her service for less than three months..." She says this with a tone of utter injustice.

'O-Oh my god!!! I really hit the jackpot!!! I've won at life!!' I've been so nervous every day, wondering if I made the right choice serving Evelyn.

My constant fear was that I had chosen the wrong person, but after everything that happened, I decided to truly become her maid and hold firm to that conviction.

And now... now with all this money, I can only feel that luck has smiled upon me. With all this money and me becoming Esther's direct maid, my life is literally made.

I can't contain the smile on my face, which seems to make Verena even more irritated, probably because she's been stagnant as head maid for so long.

"You are now to report directly to Esther-sama, and you must do so as soon as possible since you must pledge your loyalty to her, who is the superior party in the marriage..." When Verena says this, I understand she can't do anything to me anymore.

Because now that I'm a maid in service to both Esther and Evelyn, I've gained legal protection. Verena would never dare attack the servant of such an important candidate for the throne.

The main point is that since Esther is marrying Evelyn, I'm no longer a castle maid in service to a master; I am now a maid in the direct service of the family that Evelyn and Esther are forming.

For Verena or any other castle servant to do anything against me would be a direct attack on Esther and Evelyn, which could be punished with immediate execution or enslavement.

"Great, you bitch. Now get out of here, go on, shoo!" I say arrogantly, snapping my fingers to make her disappear. She looks at me with murderous intent, making me shiver.

"...Understood..." I watch her face contort in anger as she turns to leave.

"Clarissa, you'd better pray... pray that this marriage goes through... because if there's any change of plans and Esther-sama doesn't get married... I will make sure to kill you painfully for this insult... farewell, Clarissa Nacht." She says this while walking out the door, and I shiver, letting the money bag drop to the floor.

"..."

'T-That doesn't matter... noble weddings are almost never canceled, so it's fine...' I gather the coins back into the little bag and decide to run and store the money in my personal card right away, so I avoid getting robbed!!

...

...

...

"Heroine Grace, I've come to give you an important notice..." I hear someone knocking on the door while saying this. I put my sword aside, slightly annoyed.

'I was still polishing my sword... but if it's important, I can't just ignore it.' I get up from the bed, tossing the cloth onto the floor, and go to the door, opening it to see the head maid, Verena.

'That girl... ugh, she really is a nuisance...' I don't like her. I've heard horrible things about what this girl has done while I was exploring the castle and investigating the life of each candidate for the throne.

It just shows that my instincts at the beginning, telling me not to like her, were right. She is a horrible person.

"What do you need?" I ask politely, but in a distant manner, not wanting any connection with this awful person.

"I've come to inform you that the candidates for the throne will have a formal wedding event, and you have been officially invited. The date is yet to be chosen, so you will be notified soon."

"The Demon King has ordered that someone be assigned to assist you with whatever is necessary, be it obtaining suitable attire or practical lessons on the rules of the wedding." She speaks, and I'm surprised by the news.

"Really? Who is getting married?" I ask, confused.

"Esther Ashcroft and Evelyn Ashcroft. The marriage has already been discussed, and both families have approved this union, which will happen very soon. You, as an... illustrious guest, were naturally permitted to attend the wedding of the two." When she says this, things get even stranger.

"Aren't they... sisters? Like... daughters of the same father..." I'm confused about this.

"Demons do not use blood ties as a measure; the two are not real sisters; they share nothing in common."

"I've heard humans use blood relations as a measure of kinship to gauge the degree of incest... but demons share characteristics differently from humans."

"Therefore, their marital relationship is not incest. Besides that... forget it, I won't give my personal opinion. I just came to inform you of the invitation and to say that you are also permitted to choose a plus-one for the wedding." She returns to the subject.

'I see... Demons are confusing, but they are a different race, born largely from magic, so I guess it makes sense... I can bring a partner?... Let's see...' I don't know who to bring, so I need to think about it.

"Thank you for the notice." It's quite different from what I expected. Among the nobility of my kingdom, incest does exist within very influential families, but same-sex marriages are rarer.

That's why I'm confused. In my kingdom and where I was born, people aren't very fond of same-sex marriages. There are very rare exceptions where absurdly influential people can manage it, but it's still an uncommon rarity.

'This... is kind of complicated... I didn't want to get involved in a wedding since my goal is peace... but maybe this is good for learning more about demon culture!!' I get excited about learning more.

'However, this also means I can't hit on either Esther or Evelyn anymore... what a pity, they were both very beautiful.' I'm not a homewrecker!!! I might flirt with lots of different girls and guys, but I would never cross the line.

I'm not a slut or a cheater!! I would never do more than some light, suggestive flirting, and I would absolutely never flirt with people who are already in relationships; that's so wrong!

I honestly hate people who commit adultery and those who tempt others down that path.

'Well, I can still be friends with Esther and Evelyn... Now, I wonder if there will be some beauties and some cute guys to flirt with at this wedding?' I become interested in that.

The nobility in my kingdom is so boring at weddings; I hope the demons are more fun at theirs.

"By the way, Verena, why this marriage?" I ask, doubtful about this point. Evelyn and Esther didn't seem to be in love before.

"...It's personal. I'm sorry, but I cannot inform you..."

"...I see. You may leave then. When you have the wedding date, you can come and inform me." I say, waving my hand at her. She gives a slight bow and then leaves.

"Should I give them gifts?" I close the door, wondering how a demon wedding works and what I have to do as a guest.

I don't want to be disrespectful. I guess I'll have to ask for help to learn the rules and etiquette of the wedding.

"Uuugh, what a pain!! More etiquette lessons!! As if the lessons I had to take before coming to this continent weren't enough..." I throw myself onto the bed, thinking about the two of them.

"Hmmm.... both of them getting married, huh... ooh, how naughty..." I catch myself thinking about the two of them; they're quite... unique visually and in personality... Esther is like an incredibly elegant and noble beauty.

While Evelyn is a stunning beauty, like a rare flower, delicate and soft, something that shouldn't be touched. I must say, imagining the two of them on their first night really does seem naughty in many ways.

"Haaaa, I shouldn't be thinking that!! How profane of me!!..." If I said I didn't imagine the scene in detail, I'd be lying!! I can't help it! Those two are in the top 10 most beautiful girls I've ever seen!!

"Ah, damn, I'm so jealous… I wish I had a pretty girl to scratch spiders with… or make the slugs fight… I want a pretty girl to scissor with me too..." I bite my pillow thinking about it.

"Among the girls, only Marie is left for me to try flirting with... hmm, she's cute, but she's seriously lacking as a woman in both assets and personality..." It's not that I'm choosing solely by appearance!! But clearly, appearance is important!

'Damn, it feels so wrong for me, a heroine, to think so much about appearances... but I can't help it!! How can I not focus on appearances when there are so many gorgeous demons around!! Maybe I can make Marie less Tsundere, and she'll be great for scissoring with me!!' I decide to stop thinking about it.

I have to get back to cleaning my sword. I've had a lot of duels with Lucien lately, and in the last one, I even showed him my sword.

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