3rd person POV:
The next day, Charlotte got up early and left the room, closing the door softly so as not to wake her older brother, who was sleeping peacefully in bed. She took a deep breath and walked away from the room, her footsteps the only sound for a while. When she was certain that no one was present, she called up her shadow servant, who had been Charlotte's accomplice when she was the villain in the game; however, she was no heroine.
"Alea." Charlotte said, rummaging through her distant memories. Alea's role was minor, so she had trouble pronouncing her name.
"Yes, young lady." The woman who had blocked Nathaniel's path the first time he tried to sneak into Charlotte's room appeared quickly, ready to take orders.
Alea was a woman with brown hair cropped short on her shoulders, and her deep black eyes met Charlotte's red eyes. Alea's face was lovely but still sagged compared to the heroines. However, by Charlotte's standards, she was a potential threat. She couldn't decide whether to be happy or frustrated that Alea wasn't a heroine; on the one hand, it meant less competition for her, but on the other, it meant valuable store points were being squandered.
'Maybe she's a hidden heroine or something,' Charlotte thought, but quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and returned her attention to the topic at hand.
"Tell the maid in charge of Aria to increase the number of her lessons; Aria needs to be ready to serve my big brother as soon as possible." She said with a smile, and an aura of confusion surrounded Alea that was visible thanks to Charlotte's skill.
'Does Lady Lilia know about this?' Alea thought, and her thoughts were visible to Charlotte, who quickly cleared her doubts.
"My mom put me in charge of Aria, but I'm worried that my brother will become impatient and choose someone for her position before she's ready." Charlotte said, with a worried and sad expression.
The doubts that were forming in Alea's mind were blown away like leaves in the autumn wind, and Charlotte was grateful to have such a useful skill. Alea's pink lips moved to confirm that the order had been received, her voice almost as monotone as Novem's.
"As you direct." She then vanished into the shadows to deliver the message.
'All right, if everything goes as planned, this should suffice. Besides, I have to ask my mother for custody of Aria, which is very inconvenient.' Charlotte sighed and returned to her room, where her brother was soundly sleeping, and laid on top of him as if he were a bed.
On the other hand, Alea moved through the shadow dimension, looking for the head maid, navigating through this grayish and distorted world but somehow warm and comforting for those who grew up learning this art. She walked through most of the mansion but did not enter Lady Lilia's master bedroom because she respected her privacy; Lilia had some trusted shadow servants to protect her, so there was no need to intrude.
She moved quickly and arrived at the auxiliary kitchen, where some muffled and muffled voices caught her attention. Alea walked through the door without actually opening it or being detected because of her bloodline, and while the sound of food being cooked could be heard, no particular smell reached her nostrils; breathing was stunted in the shadow dimension, where nothing existed but the remnants of a lived world.
She scanned the room with her eyes, looking for her target, but she couldn't find it; however, Aria was present, so she decided to wait and contact her handler when she entered the room. Aria stood in an agitated corner of the room, isolated like some kind of pest, her hands moving robotically as she washed dishes in a sink with a mountain of dirty dishes. The other maids in the room, on the other hand, laughed as they washed, their workload clearly insufficient.
Alea's fine brows furrowed as she realized what was going on; however, she did nothing and had no plans to do anything; she was Charlotte's servant, not Aria's nanny. However, she couldn't help but sympathize with the girl while also rejoicing that she had a master like Charlotte who was compassionate in expediting her lessons to get her out of this situation. Of course, she didn't think a heavier workload for a girl her age was unreasonable, and she even thought Charlotte was being generous. Alea had been hard-trained since she was a child; a few lessons in etiquette or making tea were nothing to an experienced assassin.
Aria wore a sombre expression on her face. Her hands, which did not use to having contact with the rudimentary soap with which washed the dishes, were chapped and irritated. She felt like crying, but her noble lessons prevented her from lowering herself to such a pitiful level she simply continued with her duty.
Some young maids, about fifteen years old, stopped what they were doing and walked towards Aria, holding dishes. Their features were average at best, their hair wasn't as shiny or silky as Aria's, and they walked toward her with a jealous expression. With mocking smiles on their faces, they grabbed their dishes and threw them all into Aria's sink.
"here, Lady Aria." One of them scoffed as she nudged Aria with her shoulder as she walked away to her unoccupied workstation.
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Despite this, Aria kept going without looking up, simply rubbing her shoulder and sighing sadly. The more experienced maids shook their heads but did nothing; it was natural for some plebeians to dislike the nobles, and they didn't want to cause a scene or trouble.
Alea simply looked at the scene, exasperated; if she had been in Aria's shoes, she would have taken only her dagger and decapitated those poor girls who did not understand the consequences of their actions. However, she remained motionless, with no signs of interfering; this was not her clan, where only the strongest survived, so she realized that killing them was not the best option. She just waited for the main maid to arrive.
Footsteps echoed in the distance, sending vibrations to the shadow dimension; she quickly exited the room, leaving behind a sad Aria, and intercepted the head maid, materializing in front of her. Ruth, the head maid, did not flinch when a shadow servant suddenly appeared in front of her; all of this had happened to her so many times that she had developed immunity to it.
"Do you need anything, Alea?" Ruth expressed herself politely.
"The young lady has said to speed up Aria's training process." She said, her face emotionless.
"That... That's fine." Ruth sighed resignedly, without reply. She knew it wasn't a good idea to overload a girl with work, but if it was an order, there was nothing she could do.
"All right, that's it." Alea simply nodded and blended into the shadows, quickly making her way through the mansion to Charlotte's room.
Novem was keeping a close eye on the situation in the room, and when Alea entered, she nodded in acknowledgement. Alea bowed in respect and took the opposite side of Novem's post. Alea was standing right in front of Charlotte's bed, who was sleeping on top of her brother; she observed this with a strange look, but until now, she had said nothing; it was none of her business to meddle in her masters' personal lives, but curiosity got the better of her this time.
"Chief Novem, don't you think our young masters are getting too close?" Alea inquired cautiously, and Novem turned her gaze to the two siblings.
"I don't see anything strange, my sister used to sleep with me until I was sixteen." She shrugged.
Alea grimaced, recalling Novem's strange way of guiding her when she couldn't entirely control her magical power when she was younger. That strange way of climbing on her back and groping her tits bothered her. She knew that Novem's older sister was the one who twisted Novem's perspective into believing that this was the proper way to feel magical power when she could simply do it from the front by placing your hand on your breastbone, but Alea was too afraid of Novem and her sister to correct her.
'Her sister is a pervert.' Alea sighed and shook her head, deciding to ignore the two siblings who were particularly close.
While this was going on, Ruth's presence in the auxiliary kitchen silenced all the maids; even the sound of the food being cooked stopped, leaving only the smell of bacon lingering in the air. Ruth scanned the room with a severe expression on her face, her serious expression causing all the maids to straighten their backs, their eyes to be serious, and their atmosphere to be elegant. Ruth nodded, pleased; these were maids fit for a marquis's home. They were all as elegant and respectful as minor nobles, excluding the more inexperienced ones.
"Aria, your lessons will begin right now; come with me." Ruth commanded as her gaze fell on the distraught girl, her voice powerful and solemn, unlike that of a maid.
"Yes..." Aria replied weakly, earning her a reprimand.
"It's 'yes ma'am,' you must understand your position, you cannot casually address the nobles, do you know what would happen if you offended any of them?" Ruth scowled.
Aria visibly trembled, but responded. "Yes, ma'am."