Prologue

She had always been useless since she was a child, there was nothing that she could do better than the others.

‘She’s a nice kid, but why is she like that? She’s not good at anything at all.’

That’s how people view her in general. And it remained that way after her mother passed away and when she was brought into the palace as a princess by her father, the King of Cloyan Kingdom, of whom belatedly discovered her identity.

‘Is it because you are of low blood? Why are you so useless?’

That was also her reputation at the palace. Her stepmother, the Queen, and her two half older brothers, looked down on her.

She tried to remain positive and live with perseverance. There was no one on her side at the palace anyway, so she had to be, in order to survive. Though, of course, her optimism doesn’t erase the fact that she’s still useless. She’s always been the shunned useless girl, and it persisted even after the kingdom fell and she had become a maid.

“Marie!”

“Yes?”

She scuttled off to the voice calling out to her. When she arrived, a woman with a sour expression was glaring at her. It was Susan, the head maid.

“Did you even do any cleaning? What the hell is this dust?”

When the kingdom was overthrown by the Empire, she disguised as a maid to survive. Despite how useless and low-blooded she was, the imperial army could not allow anyone from the royal bloodline to live. 

Thanks to this, she was able to save her life and was brought to the Imperial Palace to become a low-ranking maid.

“Do it right!”

She bowed her head.

“I’m sorry.”

Even though she changed from a princess to a low-ranking maid, nothing had changed.  She was still useless, and everyone still bullied her.

‘Still, let’s do our best and work hard!’

The only advantage she had was that she never lose her enthusiasm in any situation.

‘If you do your best wholeheartedly, the Lord will bless you.’

‘Me too?’

‘Of course. The Lord loves us all.’

Because she believed in what her mom said a long time ago, even during such an importune time, she had faith in God.

‘Please bless me too someday.’

Was it because of her prayers?

One day, something unbelievable happened to her.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・

It happened one summer when she was 17.

“I have to take care of a sick prisoner?”

“Yes. Who else?” 

The duties of the low ranking maids of the Imperial Palace were diverse. From simple chores such as cleaning, dishwashing, and laundry, to countless arduous tasks. When a prisoner in the imperial palace becomes ill, they aren’t usually treated, but when it becomes so severe to the point that they cannot be left in prison, they are to be taken care of. And in that case, the responsibility lies on the lower-class maids. It’s usually assigned to her though, because nobody else would want to do it.

“Are you complaining? Will you not do it?”

To be honest, she didn’t want to. Who would want to? But, of course, she had no choise.

‘It’s just giving a handful of meals, it won’t be much. I can do it.’

With that thought in mind, she cheered herself up and headed to the makeshift hospital room in the prison.

“This is it.”

As she entered the room, she was struck by a foul stench.

‘Urgh.’

She covered her nose.

Ah, what a familiar smell. It was the stench of decay, similar to that of her dying mother.

“He’s going to die soon anyway. He’s not that important, so you can take care of him however you want.”

She understood what the guard was trying to say. It meant that there was no need to take care of him, that even if she bail, he wouldn’t bat an eye.

In fact, countless of maids had already run off from this kind of task. It’s because nobody cares, they’re just prisoners. 

‘But.’

She shook her head. It wouldn’t be a problem if she just go back, but she didn’t want to. It reminded her of her mother, who died when she was young. But also because she saw loneliness from the prisoner’s eyes.

‘I don’t know what kind of crime he’s guilty of.’

If she leaves, this man will have to die a pitiful death alone. She didn’t want that.

‘Mom wants me to be someone who can help others, no matter what.’

Although she’s useless, she figured she could still help him a little. With that in mind, she started her ministrations.

“He’s going to die soon anyway, so you don’t have to bother. It’s useless.”

The guard clicked his tongue from behind.  She ignored his comments and cared for the prisoner diligently. She used a spoon to feed him porridge, cooled him down with a cold towel, and washed his dirty body.  

“Tsk, it’s no use.” 

A few days passed like that. Although she took care of him, as the guard said, the prisoner’s condition continued to deteriorate.

She had a gut feeling that the prisoner’s life was numbered. It’s because her mother went through a similar process where her life was eventually cut short.

‘Mom, I miss you.’

When she saw the dying prisoner, she suddenly thought of her mother, which made her heart ache. They were the happiest even when they were poor. She wanted to go back in time and be in her mother’s arms again.

She secretly wiped the tears with the back of her hand. Then the unexpected happened.

“Thank you.”

“…!” 

Her eyes widened. She thought she heard it wrong, but she didn’t. The dying prisoner had spoken.

“Oh, thank you. Really…”

The prisoner, who tried his best to speak, turned his head and looked at her with hazy eyes. She was embarrassed for not knowing what to say to the prisoner who was about to die. The prisoner repeated his gratitude.

“Thank you dear… Really.”

“Oh, no. I’m just doing my job.”

“No, you could have just left me alone, but thank you so much. Thanks to you, I wouldn’t have to die alone.”

The more he spoke, the more lively his voice become. She noticed that it was a symptom of a temporary rejuvenating glow right before dying. 

“What’s your name?”

“Marie. It’s Marie.” She responded eagerly.

“I want to pray for you. Do you have any wishes?”

She pondered over the question. What did she want?

“Anything is fine. I will pray for you.”

At that, she hesitated and opened her mouth. It didn’t seem like it would mean much anyway, just a way to talk to each other.

“I wish I could be a capable person.”

“Capable?”

“Yeah, I’m very incompetent. That’s why I want to do my job well and become a capable person.”

She could feel him smiling wide at her words. Her wish must have sounded childish, but she was serious. She’s been useless all her life, so she wanted to be recognized for her skills someday.

“What kind of ability? There are several types of abilities. Please be specific.”

“Well…”

She felt shy.

“First of all, I want to do a very good job as a maid.”

“That’s all?”

The only wish she had was to do excellent in her job. The prisoner seemed to think that her wish was too simple.  

So she added quickly, “Of course, I want to be good at other things as well. I want to be good at art, I want to be good at music, I want to be good at crafts, and I want to be good at cooking.”

“Really? And?”

She became excited and continued to speak. Was it because she grew up being so useless? She had a lot of things she wanted to excel in.

“I want to be good at bows, I want to be good at dancing, and I want to be good at card games. Oh, I also wish I could cure people like doctors and be able to catch bad criminals…”

After talking for a while, she shut her mouth.

“…I want too much, don’t I?”

“Yeah, you’re very ambitious.”

She blushed at the prisoner’s words.

“Well, I’m just saying. Anyone can make a wish.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

The prisoner nodded and looked straight into her eyes.

“If, uh,”

“…?”

“If you had that ability, what would you do with it?”

She was speechless for a moment. It was a lot of fun talking about it, but it’s not like they’re going to happen. Was it because his eyes looked earnest? She answered what she had always in mind.

“I want to live a meaningful life.”  

“A meaningful life?”  

“Yeah.”

“What is a meaningful life?”

“That, uh…”

She was stumped.

‘Meaningful Life’. The answer to this will vary from person to person. Some will value success, some will value money, some will value honor, and some will value self-discipline. If there were 100 people, all 100 people would give a different answer. And well—

“If I can, I want to live a life that makes other people happy. That’s my wish.”

In response, the prisoner was silent for a moment.

“You’re a good kid.”

“Oh, no. I was just saying….”

She blushed a little as his voice carried great admiration. 

“What’s your name?”

“As I said before, I’m Marie.”

“No.”

The man shook his head.

“I’m asking for your real name.”

“…!”

She gulped without realizing it.

‘My true name?’

‘Marie’ was not her real name. She had another name that no one else knew, even she had forgotten about it already.

‘Don’t tell me he knows who I am?’

She looked into the man’s eyes. His blue eyes were transparent and clear. She could not believe that he was imprisoned for a crime.

‘No. No one knows who I am.  I guess he was just asking. However…’

Then he said, “I want to pray your wish to God. Please tell me your true name.”

After hesitating for a while, she opened her mouth. It was a name that should never have been brought out, but somehow, for reasons that she could not understand, there was an irresistible force to the man’s voice.

“Morina de Brande La Cloyan.”

Part of the Cloyan Kingdom’s noble bloodline, Morina. That was her true name. After saying that, she looked into the man’s eyes. If he reveals her identity to the guard, she will be arrested immediately. Fortunately, he seemed to have no intention at all. 

“Morina, that’s a pretty name.”

He put his hands on her head as if he were a priest. 

She was startled, but she did not avoid the touch. Somehow she just felt like she shouldn’t. He prayed briefly.

“I beseech you Lord, thy servant. Please grant this girl what she wants. I earnestly pray to my Lord to make it come true.”

After finishing his prayer, he immediately closed his eyes, with a relaxed looked as if he had accomplished what he had to do. She looked at him silently for a moment and then covered him with a blanket. She probably won’t see him again once she return. 

“May you rest in peace.”

When she left the hospital room, the guard who was waiting outside said, “You worked hard, good job. You don’t have to come now.” 

Although he had always been a stern guard, he eventually started to be kind due to her consistent attitude.

“No. You did a great job too.”

She shook her head and went back to her room to sleep. 

Was it because of how the prisoner looked? For some unknown reason, she couldn’t sleep.  

‘Come on, Marie. Go to bed early so you can get up early and work hard.’

Now that it was over, she had to go back to the palace and work hard all day, starting with the early morning cleaning.  

‘I’m going to be scolded all day again tomorrow.’

She let out a small sigh. Rather than having a hard time, she was more worried about being scolded all day.

‘I wish I could do my job similar to how I told that man earlier’ 

She fell asleep with that in mind.

That day, she had a strange dream. She had a dream of becoming a maid in a large mansion in another country, but the woman in the dream was different from her. She wasn’t an incompetent maid like her, but rather she’s the best skilled maid who was loved by everyone. The dream was so vivid, it felt like she was ‘her’ in the dream.

Note: I’m sorry loves, but I have no intention of fully translating this. Consider this a promo, if you will. I translated this to prompt other translators to pick this up. This novel is good, I was so confused as to why this hasn’t been translated yet. Um chile… anyways so. Please continue this 

01/2023: edited cause i used a lot of ableist words