*Knock* *Knock*

“Rina? Are you already awake?”

“Lady Clara? Yes, I'm awake. Please wait a moment, I'll open the door.” With that Rina was about to jump out of the bed and head for the door, but was stopped by the voice on the other side.

“No need. Coming in.”

The door opened and the girl with the blonde, curly hair entered the room.

“Good morning Rina, did you sleep well?”

“Good morning Lady Clara, yes, thank you.”

“Does your body still hurt?”

At the question, Rina stood up and moved her body to check whether her body was still sore from touching the dark cloud four days ago. “No Lady Clara, the pain is almost gone. Once again, thank you for your help. From now on I will serve you as best as I can!” Rina bowed to Clara and pumped her fists in determination.

“Good to hear.” The blonde gestured to the maids who then promptly pushed a cart with food inside into the room and left it afterwards again. “Well then, let's eat breakfast together. Please get ready, Rina, in the meantime I'll set the table.”

The day after Rina had touched the black cloud, she had agreed to become Clara's maid and assistant, so she was reluctant at first to let her master prepare the table. But as she was still recovering, Clara insisted on doing it instead, so Rina didn't say anything further. Since then, Clara visited the red-haired girl every day and they had all their meals together.

After Rina had finished washing herself up, she walked over to the prepared table, sat down across from Clara, and enjoyed her breakfast with her. Usually, it was unheard of for a commoner and a noble to eat together at the same table. Even Rina, who had never had any contact with aristocrats before, knew that. But since the blonde had visited her practically every day over the last three days, they had spent about ninety percent of their time together, apart from sleeping, of course. From an outsider's point of view, these girls already seemed to be like friends (although it would still take a while for Rina to agree with that). So, at Clara's behest, Rina didn't mind their difference in social standings when they were alone. Of course, in the presence of others, she still had to behave like a maid. What that entailed she would learn later.

When they had both finished eating, Clara spoke up. “Rina, are you nervous?”

Of course, they didn't spend their time together in silence. During Clara's visits, Rina had told Clara everything about herself, well except for the fact that she was reincarnated and capable of casting Dark magic. She had told her about how she had lived in an orphanage until the age of four, how she had left it to protect herself from harm, how she had lived alone in the house of her deceased parents afterwards, how she had left the village of Mousa and how she had met the men who were going to rape her when Clara appeared.

On the other hand, Clara had also disclosed her information to Rina. After all, at that time, she was hell-bent on keeping the redhead on her side for as long as possible. Was there any better method, than to tell the other party about herself, too? So she had explained to Rina how she admired her grandfather, how her family had been demoted as a result of the failed hero summoning ritual, and how her father wanted her to marry into the Lumiére family. When she had mentioned the last point, Clara could have sworn she saw the younger girl's face twitch for a split second, but she quickly dismissed it as a hallucination. Surely it was just her hopeful mind playing a trick on her!

Anyway, for her father to accept Rina as her maid, she had agreed to certain terms during her negotiation with him on the first day after Rina was brought to the mansion. One of those terms was that her father wanted to talk to Rina first. Though, he hadn't told his daughter, what this 'talk' would entail. Clara feared that the girl in front of her, who didn't seem to be used to nobles, was nervous about talking to Eric today.

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But contrary to her concern, Rina shook her head and smiled. “No, I'm not nervous, Lady Clara.”

“I see. Well, it's not like he's going to bite you.” The blonde hesitated for a few seconds before continuing. “I've already talked to him... so I'm pretty sure that he will accept you as my maid as long as you're yourself, but still...” She looked at Rina with serious eyes. “... please answer my father's questions honestly later.”

Seeing the gentle Clara with those eyes, Rina couldn't help but feel a little complicated. She still didn't know whether she should tell them about her Dark magic affinity or not. Even though she had told herself over and over again, that she wouldn't hope or expect her love for Clara to bear fruit, she was still afraid of being discarded, especially when she had become so attached to the blonde over the past few days. So all she could do was nod weakly with her eyes downcast at the words of her would-be master.

Unaware of Rina's inner turmoil – Clara just took the weak nod as confirmation – she continued, “And also, I'm sorry for the other condition.”

The blonde's words, however, made Rina look at her again. “What do you mean?”

“I've promised you that I would protect, but...”

“Ah no, it's fine Lady Clara.” Rina shook her head and waved her hands frantically in front of her. “Please don't mind it. In fact, I'm quite happy with that condition.”

Another term for Clara's father to accept Rina as a maid was for her to learn how to protect her mistress from harm, especially with the impending demon invasion. Although it seemed to her that the blonde was rather unhappy with that, considering that Clara had promised the other way around, Rina welcomed it. After all, her original goal in going to the capital was to learn weapon masteries to be useful during the invasion. And now, the opportunity for that had presented itself.

“I see, now then, I'll come back in half an hour to fetch you. Then we'll go to Father's office, is that all right with you?”

After receiving a nod from Rina, Clara left the room.

***

As the blonde had announced, exactly thirty minutes later Clara came to the guest room where Rina had been staying over the last few days and they both went to Eric's study. After knocking on the door, a voice from the other side told them to come in, so they did.

Upon entering the office Rina saw a blonde man in his mid to late twenties sitting in a chair behind a desk and a blonde woman of about the same age, Clara's mother, standing next to him.

*Clack*

Hearing the door close behind her, Rina turned around to see a man in a knight uniform standing behind them. On a closer look, she recognised him as the one who had given Clara the cape to cover her four days ago. Apparently, he was some sort of captain of the Dragonherz' private army.

Rina couldn't help but chuckle inside her head at the scene in front of her as it seemed to be very similar to a hiring process of a company in her former life. Well, that thought wasn't wrong though as it was technically a hiring process. So, under the mustering glare of the blonde man who was Clara's father, Rina stepped forward, grabbed the hem of the skirt of the dress Clara had lent her, pulled it up slightly, and bowed deeply.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to meet Viscount Dragonherz. My name is Rina. Please forgive me that I can't tell you my surname as both of my parents were commoners.”

At the sight of Rina's actions Clara nearly opened her mouth in shock. At first, she had intended to teach the red-haired girl noble manners and etiquette when she had learned that her father wanted to talk to Rina. After all, first impressions on manners and graceful movements were very important to aristocrats, including her father. But she had changed her mind, as it had taken her years of practice to reach her level of noble etiquette, so it was impossible to drill its basics into a girl, who had previously lived on the streets in just three days.

And now said girl had performed a greeting expected from a noblewoman. It was clear to Clara that Rina had copied her movements when she had introduced herself three days ago. But was it possible to recreate it, just by seeing it once? Not to mention, it all happened while Rina was being glared at by an intimidating noble like her father. She herself would even flinch under such pressure. Nevertheless, Clara was very pleased with the positive surprise.

Meanwhile, Eric's mind wasn't in an any better shape than that of his daughter's. He had not expected the greeting and did not know how to react to a commoner introducing herself like a noblewoman who had the noble etiquette down to the T. She spoke in a soft voice as if she was singing a lullaby, her bow was deep enough to show that she was of a much lower status than the other party, her bright-red and crystal-clear eyes showed that she was not to be underestimated, and her gestures were without any wasted movements. In his eyes, the girl, no, the child in front of him carried out everything perfectly. All that resulted in him staring at the girl unconsciously until his wife next to him pulled him out of his daze.

“Dear, I know what is happening to you right now. I'm also quite surprised, but can we move on? Your gaze can still be intimidating after all.”

“Eh? Ah! *cough* Yes, of course. I don't know what just happened.”

Hearing such an answer from her father, which was quite usual for him, Clara couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

Seeing how the family reacted, Rina could only look up and tilt her head in confusion. The blonde man, who had been staring at her, was somehow scolded by his wife, which prompted Clara to chuckle. When she turned around, she saw the knight with his mouth wide open as if he was waiting for birds to build a nest in it. It didn't seem that he would close it soon. Why?

'Have I done something strange?'