Strongest Maid In Another World

The silene was thick and suffocating, the air in her lungs feeling like a crushing weight the more she held it. She felt the piercing gaze of Margret, a hot command that forbid her uttering a word.

Margret’s lips moved, but they made no sound, instead spelling out a "Do. Not. Speak." Command, a slow breath escaping Christine’s lips as she wondered how to maneuver through this situation.

She felt the eyes of everyone on her, and while she knew that Margret wouldn’t want her to speak, she couldn’t just take all the credit for everything that went down, her heart just couldn’t allow it.

’Damn it Loraine...’ Christine thought to herself, nervously biting her lip. While she knew that Margret would probably chew her out later for what she was about to do next, she still wanted to cover for Loraine, so she wouldn’t credit her in order to conceal her abilities.

"Well?" Kain asked, sensing the hesitation behind Christine’s gaze, an underlying tension he wasn’t unaware of. Something was going on, he couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but he wasn’t going to just ignore it.

"I did it, I was the one to lead the operation..." Christine spoke up, though her words didn’t come out as confident as she had hoped. The chefs and cooks around her glanced at her for a moment, surprised.

"Oh really? That’s wonderful!" Leon said, clapping his hands as he let out a boisterous laugh.

’Something’s going on here...’ Kain thought to himself, his eyes narrowing in suspicion for a moment. She was obviously lying.

Margret sighed in relief, happy to hear that she didn’t mention Loraine in the preparation of this meal. If everyone were to find out that a maid was involved in the preparation of the dishes, it would utterly humiliate the family, and she too would have a lot of that embarrassment directed to her.

She would never allow such a thing to happen to her, as she had an image to maintain, and she wouldn’t let her reputation be ruined so easily.

The two families began to shower the chefs with their amazing cooking, personally thanking them on the delicious delicacies they had prepared, with Leon even trying to convince Christine into leaving the Ashbournes and working for them, but of course he was denied that and they wouldn’t let a talent like her leave so easily.

"Well then, tonight was a lot more fun than I had initially expected, but it’s time for us to leave." Leon said, standing up from his chair as he straightened his clothes, a satisfied breath escaping his lips.

He turned his gaze to Christine, walking up to the cook as a faint glowing light emanated from his hands, as he was taking something out of his [Ring Of Storage].

"Here," Leon said, extending a hand to her as he handed her a pouch of coins. "There’s a few hundred silvers in this, and an [Experience Crystal] that will give you a decent amount of EXP if you need it, you could use it to level yourself up and your amazing skills along with it." He said, extending his hand once more for a handshake.

"Oh! Uhm, thank you!" Christine said with a flush on her face, the reward she had received was absolutely staggering, but the worst part was, that these rewards weren’t even hers! She had stolen them from someone else!

’Eugh! Finally!’ Marion thought to herself, glancing over at the playboy that was Valmont and standing up from her chair, ignoring his words of charisma and flirtation, a huge sense of joy blooming in her chest as she wouldn’t have to deal with being near that creep any longer.

But before she would’ve liked to leave, she turned her attention to Christine, walking up to the brown haired maiden as she stood just a few metres before the maid, startling her as the beautiful daughter of the Vincent family was in her presence.

"You weren’t really the one behind all of this, right?" Marion asked in a silent whisper, a knowing smile stretching on her lips as she watched Christine flinch in surprise.

"Uhm...well," Christine glanced over at Margret, signaling to Marion that she couldn’t talk as long Margret was in hearing distance, with Marion letting out a knowing nod as she understood the message of what she was trying to convey.

’I see, so I guess Margret wouldn’t let her name the person truly behind it all.’ Marion thought, a small smile blooming on her lips. ’If the chefs weren’t responsible, then I would like to meet the real person behind such a wonderful meal.’

"I see..." Marion replied in a hushed tone, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, I’ll just have to find out later. I’m not in a rush or anything, and more time away from Valmont would surely be useful too..." She whispered to herself.

"Well then, good day to you~" Marion excused herself, giving Christine a small nod as she proceeded to leave behind her family and the Ashbourne’s, the cruel family willing to grant them a proper escort.

"Hey-Wait!" Valmont whined, the young master standing up to pursue following after the woman.

The sounds of the two families conversing soon left the dining hall, the chefs already on their way to clean the table and take the dishes back to the kitchen. Christine made her way to the dining table, grabbing a few plates and stacking them onto her arms as she prepared to leave along side her colleagues.

But the peaceful resolution of the dinner was not about to last for long.

"Hold on a moment!" Margret commanded, her voice booming through the dining hall as she used [Magical Grasp] on Christine, the young cook feeling a tug on her arm as if someone was directly grabbing her, she looked back to see Margret was fiercely glaring at her.

The rest of the chefs and cooks immediately stopped packing up, the tension in the air immediately becoming fierce as neither one of them moved under the wrath Margret was exuding.

She turned her gaze to each and every one of the chefs and cooks present, eyes blazing with wrath and anger. "Who amongst you gave young mistress Lilith, a big slice of pie!" She questioned, pointing a finger across all of them to pick out the culprit.

"Young Lilith’s health was threatened in tonight’s dinner, and one of you did it! So spit it out before I get real physical!" Margret threatened, using [Magical Grasp] with her free hand to pull a knife to her, grabbing onto it as she pointed it’s sharp edge at them.

’What the hell!?’ Christine thought surprised, a mortified expression settling onto her features as she saw the knife in her hand. ’This woman’s a psycho!’ She thought, a frightened squeak escaping her lips.

The chefs began to mumble amongst themselves, swearing to Margret that none of them had hidden the slice of pie. Margret wasn’t convinced, she knew that no one here would be bold enough to sneak a slice of pie in Lilith’s diet, it was absolutely unforgivable.

Christine saw that the others weren’t getting through to Margret, and that their pleas looked too unconvincing, so she had to act fast if she didn’t want to witness a crime scene unfolding.

"I did it!" Christine said, still under the hold of Magret’s [Magical Grasp], the old woman’s control over the Skill surprisingly good as she struggled to break free from her hold after a few attempts, nearly knocking the whole table apart as she caught herself at it’s edge.

"I...was the one who sneaked that slice into Lilith’s pie." Christine said to Margret, the old woman’s eyes flashing with surprise and lingering wrath.

"You did it?" Margret asked, a bit suspicious. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because...." Christine started, thinking back to the moments in the kitchen with Loraine as she remembered the her slicing into the pie, a calm and contented smile on her face as she recalled Loraine’s words.

"Today was a happy occasion, and I wanted Lilith to remember it well over a nice slice of pie, instead of the boring vegetables she would always consume." Christine said, relaying Loraine’s over to Margret, but Margret wasn’t aware that it was Loraine’s words being laid out to her, as she took them for Christine saying it.

"You...!!!" Margret grit her teeth, walking up to the young maiden as she began to indiscriminately shout at the young cook, berating her on how big of a mistake she made and just how important Lilith’s health was to the family.

Christine felt hurt by some of the things she was saying, a nervous sweat breaking at the side of her head as she forced herself to endure the brutal verbal abuse.

"Don’t you ever dare try this ever again, if I find out one of you dared try this stunt, then I will personally rain down hell upon you all!" Margret said, a saddened Christine nodding solemnly as she responded.

"Yes Ma’am."

’Sigh...’ Christine sighed, finally finishing packing up the dining table as Margret finally let her off, shaking her head in disappointment as she walked out of the dining hall. ’This is all worth it, right?’