The sun slowly slides behind the horizon in a glittering crimson glow, Groooooooooowl!
“This is enough for today. The others should be returning soon so let’s get ready for dinner,” Cain told Miko who was still concentrating on learning the spell, she quietly spoke without opening her eyes or turning back. “We don’t have time, you’re getting worse by the minute!”
“You’re right that I’m getting worse. But it will be an even bigger disaster if you failed to learn the spell from overwork. Resting is an important part of improving.”
“I guess you’re right…” Miko slowly opened her eyes as she stood up, stretching her stiff shoulders. “Then I will go first.” She bowed slightly before quietly leaving the room.
Cain stared at the empty cup of mint tea on the side table, Gracie staring at his face with her ahoge twitching left and right.
“Gracie, bring him a change of clothing. I’m sure he doesn’t want to keep laying down.” Sofia, smiled as she stood up to bring him a pair of slippers.
Gracie silently nodded and walked to the wardrobe, taking a clean set that Cain didn’t recognize he owned. “Where did we get that?” Cain asked as he sat on the bed.
“Sebas ordered them after you left for the quest.” She replied without even turning back as she was focused on digging inside the wardrobe.
“How did he get Cain’s measurements and how much did he get?” Alice asked as she rolled the blanket at the bed’s foot.
“Using the clothes you left as a reference, he got a couple of sets for each of you.” Gracie brought the set and put it beside Cain.
“What? I don’t think I appreciate him digging into my clothes after I left!” Sofia objected and Alice agreed with her, “If we were in my father’s mansion he will have his hand cut off for that!”
“You don’t have to worry about that, he assigned me to the job. Sebas didn’t interfere personally.”
Cain sighed in relief as well did the two girls.
“Master, please lift your leg,” Gracie said as she tried to help Cain wear his clothes, “I can do it on my own!” Cain cried seeing her opening a pair of linen shorts for him.
“No can do!” Alice said from behind him. Pulling a shirt atop his head.
“Get used to it.” Sofia gently put the slippers in front of him.
Cain had to give up, he couldn’t think of a comeback quickly and didn’t have the energy to think further as his stomach growled.
Quickly they dressed him in a brown tunic and long white pants. Cain looked at himself in the mirror, he looked like a squire who had just been promoted to nobility.
“This doesn’t match my white hair, I would have preferred something black or white,” Cain complained.
“It’s all set and done, I think they look nice on you!” Sofia and the other two agreed, Cain didn’t have anything else to say so they walked downstairs for dinner.
Sofia kept smiling, she seemed to be anticipating something. “What’s the matter?” Cain asked as he was getting curious.
It didn’t take him long to catch the smell, he took a second deep breath as he rushed toward the kitchen. Alice and Sofia were caught off guard and couldn’t catch him, Gracie, on the other hand, jogged beside him with an unchanging expression.
“They are fast!” Sofia exclaimed as she couldn’t run that was in the tight corridors.
“Damn she is just like Stepmother!” Alice said, catching Sofia’s interest.
“How nimble they are, also the fact that they can show up from nowhere.” Alice breathed heavily as they tried to catch Cain and Gracie.
…
Cain quickly jumped into the kitchen, surprising all the maids who were working hard to prepare the dinner.
“Master?!” One of the maids gasped as she saw Cain land beside her, “Gracie!?” She added when Gracie landed just by his side without breaking a sweat.
Cain’s eyes were focused on one shriveled lady that was wrestling a dough at the corner.
“It’s been a while, young lad!” Mabel replied as she sat the dough to rest with a hard slap!
“What brought you here?” Cain asked, he couldn’t be more delightful to have here.
“You’re butler said that you were sick and asked if I could bake for you!” She replied, “Want some, It’s fresh from the oven!”
She slowly pulled a piping-hot round loaf of crispy bread, the golden glow it had made it look like it was baked by a god. “We have fresh cow-milk butter as well, care to give it a try?”
Cain didn’t answer, he was already sitting beside her alongside Gracie. A maid quickly brought the butter to them and Gracie prepared a portion for Cain, he was already munching on a loaf of bread so Gracie had to pull it from his hand.
After making sure he had ample bread and butter, she prepared some for herself and for Alice and Sofia who just pulled up.
Mabel looked at them with a smile thinking…’She is wearing a maid uniform yet she is acting differently than the other. Did maids sit and ate beside their master on their own as she did?’ After a few seconds, Mable just decided that the relationship between Cain and Gracie was complicated and returned to baking.
“Gracie…or is it time we call you something else?” A fairly tall maid with long golden hair and sharp green eyes, her nails stood out as they were painted black contrasting her pale skin. She looked down at them, her name was Klara Clark.
“Gracie is enough,” Gracie replied, Sofia stopped eating and looked at the maid in confusion at what she meant.
“Dinner is ready,” Klara said pointing with her thumbs at the plates lined on a table behind her.
Gracie just nodded and turned back toward Cain and the other.
“Master, dinner is ready so let’s head to the dining hall,” Gracie said to Cain who was in his world munching on the loaf of bread.
Seeing that he didn’t hear her, Gracie pulled the loaf from his hand. A deed that made Klara flinch, for a moment she expected Gracie to get smacked in the face.
Cain instead kept following the loaf of bread in her hand like a dog following a bone, “Cain she is right, bread alone won’t help you recover!” Alice said as she looked at them.
Sofia stood up and helped Cain up, “Get the table ready quickly.” Gracie said while guiding Cain with the bread.
Klara giggled as she looked at them, “We’ll get it ready ma’am!” The other maids smiled as well, quickly rushing to fill the table at the dining hall.
Alice noticed the maid chatting with each other, she heard them say something interesting about Gracie.
“Cain, could you leave the bread for a moment?” Hearing Alice’s words he stooped fooling around and looked at her.
“Not me, the maids seem to have something to say!” Cain looked at them, not one of them dared to be the first one to open her mouth.
“You were so lively before, just speak up,” Cain said looking at them, “I promise that I won’t bite you!” he smiled, bearing his teeth out.
“Well…master this might be rude as it’s not our place to speak in the management…” Klara hesitated to speak.
“They want you to make Gracie the Headmaid. Having will make their job easier as they could have someone to report to other than Sebas!”
Alice briefly explained the role of a Headmaid.
The Headmaid is the maid who leads the others and directs them around. In the house’s hierarchy, she is considered to be above all other maids and some even put her directly under the master’s mistresses if he had. She is excluded from all the jobs a maid usually does like cooking and cleaning and instead focuses on the direct service of their master.
Right now the maids are directed by Sebas, the problem is that he is always busy with financial and directorial problems. He can’t just walk to Cain and ask him what he wants for dinner or if they should stop the work earlier as the master want to sleep early.
The Headmaid will stay by the master’s side as long as he doesn’t mind her and tends to all his needs.
“For example, it’s the Headmaid job to convince you to get out of the kitchen like now!” Alice said as she looked at him.
“I see…” Cain said he did know beforehand that there exists a maid that is above the other maids and does her maid job better. They were all called maids in his head.
“Well, the job also comes with significant drawbacks and a bad side that made some maids hate the position!” Alice explained the rest.
The Headmaid, being this close to the master, is usually the first one to get yelled at when something happens. If a maid for example set the garden on fire, she will get punished, what people don’t know is that the Headmaid had already taken most of the master’s rage.
Her being that close to him also creates perfect satiation for unwanted ‘relation’ as most Headmaids end up in the master bed, whether they like it or not.
But there were also hidden benefits that most people would want. A great example is her mother-in-law Lisa, she took her role as the Headmaid to the extreme and reached the point of marrying her father. The number of Headmaid who became queens isn’t small the country they live in is ruled by a queen who took the throne after he died in the war, she was the Royal-Headmaid.
“Then it depends on if Gracie wants to take the roll.” Cain looked at her.
“I don’t mind.” She replied without any reaction.