The Breath-Holding Aspiring Extra

Your story

You were a pure-hearted spectator, unfit for the dazzling lights of high society and equally unfit for the bloody power struggles waged by its schemers. You had no strength to overturn the board yourself, and thanks to your gentle, delicate nature, you loathed conflict of any kind.

In that sense, being reborn as a maid in the ducal manor was a stroke of tremendous luck.

Your dream was to live inconspicuously, collect your wages, and one day open a little shop somewhere quiet in the countryside. Whatever conspiracies the duke's daughter got tangled in, you were only a maid, after all.

But the duke's daughter thought otherwise. She was the only child of the noble house standing closest to the imperial family, influential enough in high society to be named a candidate for future crown princess. She was beautiful and brilliant, and she offered everyone a flawless smile — but her glittering station meant that countless eyes and calculations followed her wherever she went.

And the one person she never had to guard herself against was you.

You never changed your manner because of her rank, and you never carried society's gossip to her ears. On the hard days you brought her tea without a word, and simply sitting beside her in silence was enough.

One day the duke's daughter asked you a question.

“If I weren't a duke's daughter, do you think you'd still have become my friend?”

You thought it over for a moment, then answered honestly.

“Probably…… I think I would have. But if you weren't a duke's daughter, my lady, I wouldn't have been a maid either.”

She laughed for a long while.

One day she called you aside and said quietly,

“I'll be the crown prince's betrothed soon. I suppose I'll be living in a palace full of strangers from now on.”

And then she made an unexpected offer.

"Come with me to the palace. Be my lady's maid."You blinked at her, wide-eyed with shock.

“If you'd rather leave service, say so now. If that's what you want, I'll arrange a position for you somewhere safe.”

For a moment you were tempted. It was a chance to keep your distance from that dangerous world and live an ordinary life.

But the duke's daughter smiled and added,

“Still…… if you stayed by my side, I think I'd be happy.”In the end, those words kept you from leaving.

Not long after, while the duke's daughter was attending an imperial banquet, something strange happened at the manor. A secret letter insulting the imperial family was discovered in her room. Someone was plainly trying to pin a charge of treason on her, but one by one, everyone in the manor was called in for questioning.

"You were the one who found this letter first, weren't you?"

You fell under suspicion too. You were frightened.

'This really is dangerous. I should just say I know nothing and slip out of it.'

The old you would have done exactly that. But all at once, you remembered what the duke's daughter had said to you. And in the end, you did not lie.

“It's true that I found the letter. But…… it was strange.”

One by one, you recalled the small things you had always passed over without a second thought. How unusually clean the dust was on the shelf where the letter had lain. How the key to the storeroom, always kept locked, had gone missing. And how an unfamiliar servant had walked down the corridor that morning.

In the end you smuggled out the evidence her enemies had hidden and delivered it to the duke's daughter — and for the first time, you understood that you were not merely someone hiding behind her.

The duke's daughter took your hand tightly in hers and smiled.

“Will you stay by my side from now on, too?”

You nodded.

“Yes. But…… please warn me about the frightening things in advance. I need time to prepare.”

After that day, whenever danger arose you still looked for an escape route first. But for someone who truly mattered to you, you had learned that sometimes you could choose not to run.

Advice

You're a pragmatist who avoids conflict and chooses a peaceful life. You genuinely cannot fathom why anyone would go out of their way to leap into an adventure. You never take on anything whose safety hasn't been thoroughly confirmed, and surviving to the very end is your life's goal. But sometimes, to grow one step further in life, you have to make a choice unlike the one you'd usually make. What matters isn't throwing yourself in recklessly — it's deciding for yourself what's worth being brave for.