Princess’s Struggle for Survival

"You mean, actual combat will greatly speed up my strength and understanding of combat skills?"

There is indeed a significant difference between life and death and mere training, something Lyra, who has just experienced a life-and-death crisis, now fully understands.

"Well, it's not as obvious as with mental power, but it does exist, and it's essential for melee knights."

Elise paused for a moment, then added.

"Staying on the battlefield often will keep your attention highly concentrated. It's difficult to empty your mind for meditation in a complex and ever-changing environment. The advantage is that, after a long period of habituation, it becomes easier for you to enter a deep meditative state, and the speed of your mental power's growth will accelerate."

"The acceleration of mental power's rotation means that the process from consumption to use of mental power will also speed up simultaneously. If you exercise enough, you can hold more mental power."

It took Elise only a year to rise from a Knight to a Grand Knight.

Later, she survived the horrific Battle of the Frontier Grinder, rising all the way to a Master Knight, and today she is a Peak Master Knight.

After listening to Elise's patient explanation, Lyra lay down, leaned on the quilt at her lower abdomen with her hands folded, and muttered.

"I see... No wonder Miss Elise was able to become a Master Knight at such a young age, and her combat skills are impeccable..."

There is no one who can walk away from the battlefield without having faced the test of life and death, and Lyra admires Elise from the bottom of her heart.

"Miss Elise is a very good person."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lyra remembered the purpose of asking Elise how to get stronger quickly, and her slender calves hidden under the quilt straightened slightly.

If that day comes, will she have the courage to step onto the battlefield to become stronger?

Thinking of her aging parents, as well as her relatives and friends back home, Lyra suddenly hesitated, and her gaze blurred as she looked at the ceiling.

If she dies, she will never see them again, never rub the furry heads of kittens and dogs, and never eat the familiar food from her memories.

Will she truly have the courage to risk everything and face life and death without fear...

Lyra fell into a brief period of self-doubt.

In the original book, the twenty-three-year-old Knight of Light, who had experienced the baptism of battle, had already answered this question with her actions.

Elise did not speak again but continued to close her eyes, her expression as calm as that of an old monk.

Just when Lyra thought their conversation for the night had ended, Elise suddenly spoke.

"By the way, Miss Lyra, you can receive your payment for this month tomorrow."

"Huh?!"

Lyra was stunned for a moment, her tone quickly revealing surprise.

"Has it been a month?"

During this time, she had been so busy practicing her skills and learning magic every day that she had almost forgotten about her reward.

It's really easy to be a maid for Princess Astrid.

She eats and lives comfortably every day, and her duties are minimal.

Most of her time is spent studying.

Lyra sometimes feels that even without an honorarium, the daily access to magic class, Princess Astrid as teacher for questions and one-on-one guidance from a Grand Knight like Elise is already a huge advantage.

According to Princess Astrid's previous promise, her monthly reward is ten gold coins. For a poor girl like Lyra, ten gold coins is an enormous fortune.

She plans to send nine gold coins to her family and keep the remaining one for herself.

Even with just one gold coin, it's still a significant amount of money for Lyra, especially since she doesn't have to worry about food or shelter.

Shopping for clothes? She wears the same maid's outfit every day, so there's no need to buy new clothes.

As for jewelry and other luxuries, Lyra isn't particularly interested.

Just as Lyra was pondering what to do with the money she was about to receive, she suddenly thought of something else.

Her eyes grew slightly distant, and after half a minute, she spoke.

"Miss Elise... Do you remember the group of maids who were fired some time ago..."

"Yes."

"Do you know where they are now or where their homes are?"

Thinking of the maids who lost their jobs because of Astrid's anger, Lyra couldn't help but want to help them.

She could send six gold coins to her family this month and exchange the remaining four for silver coins to send to the dismissed maids.

It might not be much to share, but it would at least give them more time to survive and find another decent job.

"I don't know," Elise responded coldly, immediately understanding what Lyra was planning.

"You're going to send them money?"

Hearing this, Lyra didn't deny it: "Hmm... That's the idea..."

She didn't have the ability or the right to persuade Astrid to keep them, so she could only do what little she could to help.

Listening to Lyra's answer, Elise initially didn't want to explain further. ..But recalling Astrid's behavior tonight, it was clear that Lyra had earned her trust.

After a moment of hesitation, Elise's lips parted slightly.

"You don't have to worry too much about them."

"When these people left, I had already paid them a one-time severance package equivalent to nearly half a year's salary. That amount is enough for them to live comfortably in the imperial capital for a long time."

Lyra's mouth opened slightly in surprise, her tone tinged with confusion: "Severance pay... That much?"

Regarding severance pay, there's no such clause in the master-servant agreement Lyra signed.

Based on her previous work experience, no matter how generous the employer, severance pay rarely exceeds two months' worth of salary.

In fact, given Elise's usual unsmiling demeanor, Lyra was already very surprised to have been able to say so much to her tonight.

She hadn't expected the other party to continue answering her question.

Unexpectedly, the dark-haired beauty beside her only fluttered her eyelashes a few times upon hearing this.

Yet, within two or three seconds, her cherry-pink lips parted and moved up and down.

"Severance pay can be explained casually for a royal princess of noble status like Her Royal Highness Astrid. It depends on her mood whether she gives more or less."

Although the original contract clearly stipulated that if Princess Astrid dismissed the maids unconditionally, she would need to pay two full months of severance pay to the servants who lost their jobs as compensation.

But aristocrats are aristocrats after all.

They operate under a set of independent rules separate from the commoner class, rules that belong to their own circle.

With treaties like this, Astrid could refuse to pay severance pay on grounds such as the maids covering up for each other or similar lapses in supervision.

Even if she were compelled to do so, ordinary maids lacking the support of powerful backgrounds could only grit their teeth and bear it.

As a vulnerable group under the feudal system, no one would care about their lives or deaths, and no one would speak up for them.

Lyra bit her lip lightly, her tone unconsciously lowering.

"In other words, this severance pay was actually given to them at Princess Astrid's discretion?"

Lyra clearly remembered that Astrid had been so angered by the bowl of seafood soup of unknown origin that she not only fired all the maids in a fit of rage but even threatened to deduct two months' wages afterward.

"Hmm." Elise nodded, affirming Lyra's words.

After a moment, Lyra asked, "How much money should they have been given according to the treaty..."

"Two months' salary," Elise replied.

"..."

After a short silence, Lyra raised a slender, jade-white hand, gently pressing her palm against her forehead. She moistened her throat and spoke.

"So... all the money over the past six months was sent to them by Princess Astrid on her own initiative?"

There was an imperceptible tremor in Lyra's voice, and her delicate body under the covers tensed slightly.

Elise hesitated for a moment before replying softly, "It was Princess Astrid's decision."

Regarding this generous severance pay, to mislead Prince Lucas, Astrid had publicly stated that it was paid by Elise personally.

Initially, Elise had been prepared to explain this to Lyra.

However, after considering tonight's meeting, where Astrid and Charlotte had revealed so many private plans, it became clear that Lyra, who had listened to everything, was not the so-called "outsider" they had referred to.

Although Elise never understood why Astrid trusted a pink-haired girl who had only been known to her for a month and whose background was unclear, since her master had already placed such trust in Lyra, it was only natural for Elise, as a maid, to align her attitude accordingly.

After listening to Elise's explanation, Lyra fell silent for a long time.

She lowered her head, her long, straight eyelashes like a thick brush, veiling her clear blue eyes.

The moonlight spilled in, and the patterns on the curtains cast a layer of shadows across the girl's cheeks.

She remembered what Astrid had said that night when she left her room.

"Lyra, you'll understand what I'm doing in the future."