I will not die a Villainess's death

The maid could not help but curse her bad luck as she was picked out by Lord Dirac to look after his sister. It was akin to a death sentence for her.

Mary had initially joined the household to capture Lord Dirac's heart. He was handsome, rich, and single. He had been a perfect man in any girl's eyes.

Back then, the servant had been foolish enough to believe in the romance novels she had read. She had believed that if she crossed paths with Lord Lucas Dirac a few times then he would fall for Mary's charms.

All the romance books she had read about forbidden romance had said that the girl will be able to capture a cold master's heart with her sincere heart and charms.

Mary had tried hard to cultivate the same in her. She had believed herself to be the chosen one when she had passed the maid test.

But all her hopes and dreams had quickly come dashing down when she had stood in front of those cold eyes of Lord Dirac in a room full of other new maids.

She had been fifteen back then and Lord Dirac merely fourteen.

His cold eyes had looked over everyone in the room, not pausing at anyone for more than a second before looking away.

Mary had even looked up to catch Lord Dirac's eyes but she had to quickly look away once her eyes met Lord Dirac'. Those cold blue eyes had screamed death at Mary.

In the end, she had been assigned to the mansion in the capital and was only able to see Lord Dirac a few times a year.

She had not realized that it was not longing but relief she felt to be so far away from Lord Dirac until she had been called by him directly to serve his sister.

Mary's heart had stopped beating for a few seconds and her skin had broken out into a sweat.

At this second, she had wanted to exchange places with anyone. Even an optimistic and foolish maid would have done.

But here she was, walking behind Lord Dirac who only had one woman in his life - his sister.

People would have gossiped that Lucas Dirac was actually in love with his sister if not for the fact that he was not capable of it.

From his actions to his world, they were all too proper to cause any unnecessary rumor.

"Here, you look after her now. The doctor will be here to observe Elysia soon so make sure to invite him in. And needless to say, if anything happens to Elysia then you will pay the price."

Mary could see the care in Lucas Dirac's eyes when it came to his sister but it was not a romantic flame-like people thought it to be.

It was a protective flame of a mother looking at her child but hopeless to help the said child.

It should have been the worst comparison possible, Lucas Dirac, as a mother. But somehow it fitted perfectly at that moment.

"M-My lord, are you not going to stay?"

Mary wanted to smack herself in the face for asking that question. There was no need for her to risk her life by speaking back to Lord Dirac.

She had heard too many horror stories about what happened to people who talked back to Lord Dirac. Most of them were never heard from again.

So Mary was afraid that this would be the end for her as well.

"Know your place and do not question my actions."

In the end, Mary got extremely lucky when Lord Dirac did not outright kill her but chose to let her go. She let the breath she had been holding in go and turned toward Lady Elysia Dirac.

Her knees felt weak and Mary all but collapsed in relief as soon as Lord Dirac was gone.

"That was so stressful. I thought I would die at Lord Lucas's hand. How did I even manage to survive."

Mary moaned out as she leaned against the bed. She felt Elysia Dirac's body heat even from a small distance away and the situation seemed serious.

"D-Don't worry. Brother is k-kind."

Elysia's tired voice spoke in the barest of the voices. It seemed to have taken everything she had to utter those words because her eyes closed the very next seconds.

At that very moment, the rumored 'wild Dirac female' looked nothing more than a fragile and sick lady.

Looking at her, no one could ever say that she was the same person who was feared by everyone.

Mary sighed as she watched Elysia Dirac faint. She needed to bring Elysia's fever down as soon as possible or it would be bad for Elysia's body.

There was cold water in the kitchen that Mary carried over to the room and began to wet the towel with it.

It was going to be a long day. And Mary was sure her survival was based on whether Elysia Dirac managed to live or now.

__________________________

It took a long time for the doctor to arrive at the Dirac estate. Mary had seen Elysia's fever break temporarily a few times by now but it never lasted for more than a few hours.

She was afraid that Elysia would not be able to hang on when the doctor finally arrived with a fearful look on his face.

Mary was so busy with her task that she did not realize why the doctor was so terrified. But once she looked up she could not help her gasp.

"You better hope that Elysia lives or your whole family will die at my hands. How dare you try to ignore an order from Lucas Dirac just because you did not want to be involved with the 'sinner' of last night."

It was the Crown Prince, correction, the emperor who stood in front of Mary.

Adam Von Benefiel, the current emperor of the empire was inside the Dirac estate and his expression seemed to be seething.

Mary was afraid that she would also end up caught in that rage somehow when the doctor hurried past her and toward Elysia Dirac.

Mary tried to stop him, knowing that the doctor did not have stable hands right now. He might end up hurting Elysia instead of helping her out.

But before she could move, someone else walked past her with a calm rhythm and placed her hands on the Doctor's shoulders.

"You should calm down and work properly. We won't want any unfortunate incidents to happen to you now, right?"

It was the Saintess who spoke those words. The Saintess was someone Mary had never expected to see in her life.

Now, of course, Mary knew that the saintess was a kind person. She was polite and well-spoken. She was the kind of female everyone had a crush on.

And even Mary had admired her before this day. She had been sure that the saintess could never do anything wrong.

But that illusion had finally broken today. She had ended up seeing something she should not have.

The saintess had a pleasant smile on her face and her words also sounded calm. But there had been a chilling tone to her voice that had betrayed how pissed-odd she had been about the doctor's actions.

Mary was sure that the doctor would have ended up dead had he not been needed to cure Elysia. (But why the Saintess would not heal Elysia was still a mystery to Mary.)

"Y-Yes, I will examine Lady Dirac right now. C-Can I get some space?" the doctor asked, too nervous to continue working.

Saintess Eve did not back off but walked even closer until she was sitting in front of the doctor. Her face had a sinister smile on it as she made the doctor feel even more uncomfortable.

"You can go ahead and treat Elysia. I have seen a lot of doctors at work so I am sure I won't be a hindrance to you. But if you do end up doing something you are not supposed to, then I can't guarantee your safety."

Eve sounded serious and the doctor gulped down in nervousness. He seemed to have realized what kind of hellhole he had fallen into but he did not say anything.

He picked up his tools and begin to examine Elysia.

There was immense pressure on the doctor from all sides and even Mary felt fearful for his life.

But she was even more worried about what would happen if Elysia Dirac did not get better. For as many people that hated her, the ones who liked her were too important and powerful to be fighting against.

There was no point in being her enemy and Mary felt years added to her life when the doctor finally relieved that Elysia was not in any life-threatening situation.

It was so nice to see that Elysia would live and so would everyone else who was associated with her. They were all right now.