Nana Toki drifted through the market like a swallow skimming dusk, bought everything for dinner, then came back to the Si Family villa.

She stepped inside, and Liu Yiyi slid over like a shadow around a column, whispering, “Tongtong, I heard the Master sent a bodyguard from headquarters for the young lady.”

“What, you want one too?”

Nana shot Liu Yiyi a speechless look, her mood flat as a pond. That “bodyguard,” odds were eight or nine out of ten it was the Protagonist Lord.

“I can only dream. I’m no heiress born under lucky stars. How about you protect me instead?”

She tugged Nana’s arm with a grin, as bright as a kite in spring. “Uncle Chen said your skills beat those outside bodyguards hands down.”

“That’s all hot air. I’m not that good.”

Nana slipped her hand free like a fish from a net and handed over the groceries. “If I were that tough, would I still be stuck here as a tiny maid?”

“Fair point.”

Liu Yiyi nodded, basking in the truth like a cat in sunlight.

“Eh—Tongtong, why not tell me what happened that day? We’ve got a stretch before dinner. You get breaks, right?”

“No such luck. I still need to tidy the young lady’s room. If you want a story, go bug Uncle Chen.”

She hadn’t finished today’s work; the to-do list hung over her like low clouds.

“You’re the lead of that story. Hearing you would be thrilling.” Liu Yiyi puffed her cheeks like a sulky sparrow, then relented. “Fine, next time.”

She winked and left, humming, joy trailing her like a ribbon.

Watching her go, Nana felt a wry breeze in her chest. Women’s minds were mist over a lake—pretty, and impossible to see through.

Same as her ghost of a main quest.

Not something normal folks could parse.

System: “...”

So the host keeps finding new ways to call me names.

Going by the hint for stage three, Nana guessed this task had to be about cleaning.

She grabbed the tools and gave Qingyu Si’s room a full sweep, from corners to light fixtures, until everything shone like frost on glass—carpet included, not a dust mote left.

Even then, no System chime.

Did it glitch?

Nana sat on the carpet in the young lady’s room and stared at the ceiling like a sailor charting stars. Maybe she hadn’t misread it.

If “clean and tidy” wasn’t about cleaning, then what?

Ding-dong!

Mid-thought, the doorbell chimed, a silver drop rippling the quiet.

One glance at the wall clock—almost noon.

With the villa’s only master being Qingyu Si, if the young lady wasn’t home, the other staff handled lunch on their own.

Nana hated hassle; she usually relied on instant noodles pulled from her hidden space.

She slurped them on the room’s carpet, image-free as a stray dog. The System started to wonder if its host had stolen a certain blue robot cat’s cartoon pocket and was using it at will.

How could she pull out anything from nowhere?

After lunch—quote-unquote—Nana went back to hunting the main quest’s scent in Qingyu Si’s room.

Even by four, when school let out, “clean and tidy” hadn’t revealed a second meaning.

Tsk... maybe it means me?

She remembered the first two stages were tied to being a maid. If she wasn’t wrong, “clean and tidy” should be about herself too.

Hmm...

She looked into the mirror and went a little still, like a deer catching moonlight.

It was a fine shell, no question. Urban novel grade.

Any woman the male lead noticed never lacked in looks.

Nana unfastened her maid uniform. Too lazy to go downstairs to her own room, she chose to bathe here in Qingyu’s bathroom.

Qingyu had bathed in this room; once wouldn’t hurt, right?

With that thought, Nana drew fresh underwear from her hidden space and stepped into the bathroom.

Hiss, hiss.

Hiss, hiss.

Warm water stroked her skin like rain on bamboo. She closed her eyes, and the mist wrapped her like a white, translucent feathered robe.

The temperature was perfect, as if sinking into clouds.

[Ding! Main Quest Stage Three: Clean and Tidy — Completed!]

[Unlocking Main Quest Stage Four: God-tier Self-Cultivation of the Perfect Maid (IV) — Absolute Loyalty to the Master]

With the next stage blooming in her mind, Nana let out a long breath, steam and relief mingling.

Looks like every stage really is about me.

As for stage four... hmm... it smells like a trap.

Click.

Sudden.

Nana’s ear twitched; beyond the bathroom, the room door opened with a clean snap.

Was Qingyu back?

She shut off the shower and, heart taut as a bowstring, pulled a towel around herself.

School let out at five. Her phone read five-twenty.

Her young lady wouldn’t walk home that fast.

Besides, they’d agreed Nana would pick her up.

So who was out there?

Wrapped in a towel, Nana remembered a bodyguard was due this afternoon. In novels, the male lead’s arrival always dragged in some fanservice—

Her face darkened like storm glass.

Great. The heroine’s out, and a side girl gets shoved into giving the male lead “benefits”?

She slipped into fresh underwear, ready to grab clothes.

But the person outside was already close.

Click.

Bang!

The instant the handle moved, Nana drew a pistol from her clothing pile and fired at the bathroom door without blinking.

Outside came a panicked, “Holy—!”

Nana used the gap to yank on pants and a shirt. The male lead in this world had guts like a boar in rut—peeping at her shower?

Give it a few months and would he try worse?

“What’s… what’s happening!”

Hearing the shot downstairs, Liu Yiyi rushed up. She froze at the doorway to Qingyu Si’s room: Nana stood at the bathroom entrance, face cold as iron, a silver pistol leveled at the man sprawled on the floor.

“Tong—Tongtong! What are you doing! He’s the bodyguard sent by the Master!”

She thought Nana had mistaken Yiwei Yang for an intruder and hurried to explain.

But—

“He tried to peek at my bath.”

Nana slanted her eyes, voice frosted, the pistol steady as a glacier.

Her mood was black to the roots. That blind shot should’ve taken the Protagonist Lord’s head, at least on paper.

But thanks to Plot Armor, her attack got force-bent off target; the Protagonist Lord escaped with a mere scrape.

A cockroach reborn, seriously.

“Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding!”

Yiwei Yang stared down the pistol’s dark muzzle, sweat trickling like a summer stream. He’d gotten the order after school—move in with Qingyu Si and bodyguard her. He’d just wanted to shower so he’d greet her at his best. Then this happened.

“I wouldn’t—no way I’d peek at girls’ baths on day one!”

He scrambled to defend himself.

Nana tilted her chin, a small, cutting curve at her mouth. Her expression turned cold enough to keep people ten miles away.

“You think I’ll buy that?”

Just for killing the original owner, she felt nothing good for Yiwei Yang.

Her pupils were black still-water, a deep pool ready to pull you under. Yiwei Yang shuddered, his body trembling like a reed in wind.

“Tongtong… Tongtong, listen to me—”

Bang.

He tried to stand. Nana squeezed the trigger. The silver muzzle spat flame like a snake.

The bullet punched the floor a few centimeters below his crotch, smoke curling up in thin white threads.

Other maids who’d arrived gasped, fear flaring like startled birds.

“Ah… my bad. Stress’s heavy lately. My nerves go off.”

Her smile cut like a blade’s edge. “You’d better keep talking to me like this. Otherwise, I might do something more… extreme.”

Silence.

Pin-drop silence.

At the door, Liu Yiyi and the others were stunned.

Shutong An, in their eyes, had always been gentle and warm, a soft spring breeze.

This style—pulling a gun and ‘reasoning’—they’d never seen.

Maybe she really was under pressure, like she’d said. After all, she’d been swept into a chase days ago. Pressure made sense. The way she vented—less so.

“What are you all crowding here for?”

A familiar voice cut in from behind, cool as frost. The crowd shifted, revealing Qingyu Si with arms folded, face blank.

Her eyes fell on Yiwei Yang, cold as if she’d spotted a maggot on trash.

“Why are you here?”