There was a editing mistake in chapter 2. Updated version of mistake:
The heroine is too much of an attraction, which made the bad endings more common and pure love routes more difficult to achieve in this game.
(Editor’s note: She is just too beautiful that men throw themselves at her!? Something like a ‘man killer’)
Side Story: Maia’s Perspective on the Young Lady
The Caenista Kingdom, which was a medium-sized nation on the continent until a hundred years ago, is now one of the largest nations on the continent after uniting the surrounding small nations in a war with the demon race.
After several decades of waging war with three demon nations, the human nations united under the Caenista Kingdom banner eventually defeated the two demon nations, and the war ended when the last demon nation retreated with the remaining demons. The human nations had prevailed and won.
The human nations won a pyrrhic victory for they were unable to physically reclaim any of the previously lost territories. Neither could they obtain any form of reparations from the demon nations, so they almost slumped into an era of decline.
Other nations once suspected that the former Caenista Kingdom had been reluctant to provide troops and funds for war, for more insidious reasons. However, because so many generations had passed since the end of the war, this rumor and suspicion were gradually forgotten along with time.
One such country was Arceides, a frontier county located in the east of Caenista Kingdom. It used to be a small independent country since then but lost half of its territory due to its proximity to one of the demon nations. Later it became a part of the Caenista Kingdom to receive reinforcement troops and obtain logistics support.
Before the assimilation, the lands of Arceides had a lot of sub-humans mingling in the society. With the arrival of the nobles of the Kingdom, the landscape has changed considerably. Ever since then, the Human Supremacy ideology has already taken root among the nobles living here.
In the past, there existed the royalty of the Duchy of Arceides. In the present, however, they are now part of the senior nobility of Caenista, having married off their heir princess to the Caenista Kingdom of the previous generation.
A half-elf [Abominable Child], a [Changeling], was thus born into the Arceides frontier family.
The baby’s biological mother refused to raise the child from the moment it was born. The poor child who was not even afforded a noble nanny was wet-nursed by hired commoner women and raised by other commoner servants.
Maia was a commoner girl who was hired by the young lady’s family to do menial work at the feudal house ever since she was five years old. She later became an apprentice maid at the age of ten and became the maid and nanny to the Abominable Child–Carol.
Maia’s mother; Meiya, had been taking care of Carol for a while now. Maia, who had heard about the young lady from her mother, took pleasure in personally babysitting the young lady.
The aristocracy of the Caenista Kingdom had been subjected to [Human Supremacy] ideology due to the damage caused by the demon tribe, but this was not the case amongst the common folk.
The commoners outside the capital accepted sub-humans as normal because sub-human mercenaries and adventurers hunted many demons during the war. Even though, it was not common to see them roaming around the old capital of the kingdom (of Arceides).
Therefore Maia harbored no such racial prejudice. On the contrary, she even admired the young lady who was a half-elf since elves, called forest people were rarely present in human cities except for those who were adventurers by profession.
“Mother, I’m so looking forward to serving the Young Lady together with you”
“Maia, don’t call me mother when you’re working, okay? Also, Miss Carol is a bit of a pitiable person…”
Maia was very surprised when she saw Carol for the first time.
It was true that all half-elves were good-looking, and many of them had beautiful faces, but their beauty was a byproduct of their mixed blood.
Carol, on the other hand, seemed more beautiful than any other elf Maia had previously seen in the city, even though Carol was only a half-elf.
Her black hair shimmered like the night sky of a new moon without a cloud. She had a beautiful face with no distortions.
In this continent where there is no such thing as a pure-blooded elf, a high elf, and a half-elf born of a pure-blooded human being, it was almost impossible for such beauty to be found.
(…But…)
The child, who was only three years old, did not smile. She neither cried in pain nor smiled in delight. She did not show any emotion. It was as if she was a cold “doll”.
Maia finally understood the meaning of what her mother had said.
A child who was not loved by her family nor her mother. A child who was shunned by all the nobles.
A child who was mistreated by the high-ranking maids who were children of other nobility households. A child who behaved like a doll, who did not raise her voice in rejection even when she was blatantly belittled.
Her appearance was so well-groomed that it made Maia feel very sad.
But then one day, things changed. It was only a subtle change, but Maia, who had been staring at the young lady every day until she could bore holes in her young lady’s face, definitely noticed it.
The Young Lady’s glassy eyes, which she had thought to be amber, became golden, and she stared at everything, including Meiya and Maia, with great interest.
Ilaria, one of the senior maids, didn’t even look after Carol as much as she should have. However, Maia felt a sense of superiority over the mean Ilaria when Maia realized that if she took care of her young lady properly, she would one day bear the privilege to hear that cute voice of her Young Lady.
The young lady only made a slight movement, but the gesture was agonizingly cute. It took a lot of effort for Maia to resist the urge to drop everything she was working on and hug the Young Lady.
Maia felt sorry for Carol, who commented that the food tasted good even when it was cold, and almost cried on her behalf. At the same time, Maia clenched fists shook, wishing that Ilaria hadn’t started chatting with the other senior maids while she was bringing the food to be served.
(editor’s note: chatting [especially as a maid] while serving the aristocracy is basically beyond rude, as in contempt, which is punishable)
As a routine, when it came time to clean the room, Maia’s mother, Meiya, would be tasked to bathe the young lady while Maia shouldered the other responsibility of cleaning and making up the room. Still, when Maia discharged her duties, by which when she and the Young Lady would go out for a stroll together, Maia’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat every time.
Carol’s maple leaf-like hands felt smaller than a normal three-year-old’s, but they were plump and smooth, and Maia had to resist screaming with cuteness at the warmth of the little hands that gripped her fingers as she glanced up and down at Maia.
The young lady was surprisingly curious and wanted to know the names of the flowers and plants.
Perhaps it was because the young lady was a half-elf that she was so fond of plants, trees, and everything green. Although she didn’t speak much, Maia was very happy to be able to hear the young lady’s voice. The young lady seemed to be interested in the greenhouse, but it pained Maia so much on the fact that she couldn’t take the Young Lady there.