'Have I done something strange?'
Seeing how the entire Dragonherz family reacted, Rina could feel sweat forming on her forehead. She knew from the few job interviews she had visited in her previous life that first impressions are very important. Of course, she couldn't just apply the rules of general etiquette from her former life here.
Fortunately (?) Rina had been a loner on Earth. That was why she had developed the habit of observing people's gestures in every possible detail and became very good at it. So she had used that skill, memorising Clara's every move and practising it as much as she could when the blonde was not with her. It certainly helped that Clara was proud of being a noblewoman and, thus, had already perfected the manners expected of a noblewoman.
But now, seeing the couple's strange behaviour, Rina thought that her introduction copying Clara was a mistake. So, just as she was about to bow her head in apology, Clara's father suddenly cleared his throat after being scolded by his wife and spoke up.
“Excuse me for the display earlier. As you've already said, I am Viscount Eric Dragonherz. Next to me is my dear wife Lauren Dragonherz. You already know my daughter... behind you is our guard captain Arland.”
“Thank you for the introduction Viscount Dragonherz,” Rina repeated her gesture of grabbing the hem of the dress and bowing.
“... You seem to have already mastered the manners necessary to serve an aristocratic house. I'm not one to brag, but were it not for my daughter, you would be the child with the most graceful movements I've ever met so far. You have my compliments.” Ignoring Clara, who was smugly puffing out her chest at his praise, Eric smiled at Rina. “Your parents have taught you well.”
He had expected the red-haired girl to be bashful, or at least to smile at his praise. After all, not every commoner had the chance to be complimented by a viscount. But the reaction he received instead shocked him so much that his brain stopped working for a moment.
Tears dripped down Rina's face for the first time since her rebirth in this world.
Seeing that Clara first panicked and then angrily turned to her father. “F-Father! She is an orphan.”
“... I didn't know that.” Eric didn't know how to react to that, which earned him a reproachful glare from his wife next to him
“Dear... I don't think this is the right reaction after hurting a child.”
Fortunately for Rina, the Dragonherz family had mistaken her tears for those of grief for having no parents after Eric had mentioned them. In fact, Rina herself didn't even know why she was crying. Perhaps these were the famous tears of joy that Rina had heard about in her past life? After all, in front of her were people, even though they were still strangers, who had seen the effort Rina had put in to achieve something. It had never happened before. Even in both lives combined, she had never ever been praised for anything she had done.
It was even the opposite. In her previous life, every time she did or tried to do something, people got angry with her.
When she brought snacks and tea to her father in order to help him relax... “Who asked you to that? Damn, now my day is ruined after seeing your ugly face.”... she was kicked and punched out of the room.
When she reported to her parents that she had graduated from high school as the top student in her year... “Did you take all the intelligence from Nina when you were both in the foetus? You shouldn't have existed in the first place.”... she was only met with disdain.
In the later years, when Rina gave her twin a hand-knitted scarf... “What do you want me to do with this shit?” … it was torn up and dumped into the trash bin instead.
At work, when she put in extra hours to exceed her targets... “Oh, nice. Then can you help me with this project, too? On second thought, you can do this alone... see you later!” … her colleagues only gave her more to do.
Even in her new life, during her time in the orphanage, when she had given away her share of food to the other starving kids... “Those eyes and hair are disgusting!”... she was bullied and isolated in return.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
So it was the first time she had ever been complimented. It was not that she wanted to be praised or the like for her action. No, she had already discarded the hope and expectation to get something since her rebirth. All Rina wanted, was to prove to herself that she existed and that the pain and horror she had gone through in her past life was not for naught.
Over the last few days, Rina had found it hard to process what was happening, with Clara's goodwill suddenly directed at her. In the end, she just chalked it up to 'good luck' and the fact that Clara was an especially nice and kind girl, who helped Rina in her time of need. All of that already made Rina unbelievingly happy. But now, with the sudden praise from Eric, and with Clara and Lauren chastising Eric for seemingly hurting her, her emotions exploded, causing her to cry. She had never felt anything so warm and fuzzy before.
“R-Rina, please stop crying, my father didn't know about your situation.” Clara took out a handkerchief and wiped away Rina's tears. Afterwards she led the crying girl to a chair and sat her down.
Only when the tears had finally stopped after five minutes, Rina got up from her seat and bowed to the people around her. “I apologise for my unsightly behaviour earlier. I hope you can overlook it and forgive me.”
At first, even after Rina had calmed down, Eric wanted to comfort her and postpone the talks. She was still a seven-year-old child, after all. He couldn't imagine the sadness a child must feel after being forced to remember her dead parents. But after her words, he discarded his idea. It would be unbecoming of him to wave off the girl's determination and maybe even hurt her pride in the process. “Alright, I won't mind it... Then, shall we begin our talks?”
Receiving a nod of confirmation from Rina, all of those who were still standing except for Arland (Lauren, Clara, and RIna) took their seats. Eric then asked Rina all sorts of questions about her life up to the present day, all of which she answered truthfully.
Luckily, none of his questions were about magic, so Rina didn't even have to lie. To her surprise, the Q&A session even went very smoothly. It seemed that her crying earlier had a very considerable impact on Eric.
“Fine, I'm willing to let you work as my daughter's maid... but I have one condition,” he spoke up when he had finished asking.
“Father! That's not what we have agreed on!” Instead of Rina, Clara complained to her father, jumping out of her seat. “You didn't mention any more conditions!”
“Of course, after all, I just came up with it.”
“Then you're breaking our deal!”
“Clara! I'm talking to the girl right now. Don't. Interrupt.”
Under her father's intense gaze, Clara flinched and sat back down in silence.
“What is your condition, Viscount Dragonherz?”
“I will employ you, for now. But I want you and Clara to take a test together in two years when Clara is twelve and you are nine. If you fail, you will be let go.”
Eric had shot a glare at his daughter before she could interfere again, so Rina asked the question both girls had on their minds instead. “What kind of test will it be?”
“It will be a test to see if you can work together to solve problems. That's all I can say for now.”
At these words, Rina glanced at Clara, who nodded her head in return. Afterwards she faced Eric again and answered, “I would like to agree to your terms.”
'Hooooh? She wasn't sure how to react, so she confided it with her future mistress first. Not bad.' Eric was, once again, impressed by Rina's actions.
With a satisfied look on his face, he took a sheet of paper out of his desk drawer and handed it to Rina. “This is the contract. Sign it if the conditions are fine for you.” Normally, he wouldn't give a seven-year-old a contract to read, because they usually - who would have thought - couldn't read. However, during their conversation, Rina mentioned that she had read many books to learn about the world when she was younger. Eric suspected that Rina might be even more intelligent than his cute princess, but immediately shook the thought out of his head. Impossible things were impossible after all!
Rina took the paper, checked it, signed it with the quill on the desk, and gave the contract back to her new employer.
“I have received it.” Accepting the signed contract, he smiled at the girl and held out his hand. “Please take care of my daughter in the future. Also, call me Eric from now on.”
Shaking Eric's hand, Rina smiled back at him. “Yes, Master Eric, I will also be in your care from now on.” She decided that it would be appropriate to call her employer as 'Master' instead of his title. And indeed, a nod from the person in question confirmed her thought.
“Your sword training will begin next week. Arland, the man behind you will be your instructor. As for your maid training... let's see... I will assign you a teacher in the next few days.”
“Thank you very much.”
“Hmm... Your etiquette and manners already seem to be passable for a maid, but I think it's a good idea to have someone oversee it first.” He conveniently ignored the muttering of his wife next to him, which sounded like, “Passable he says... if that was passable, then 99% of the nobles' manners are catastrophic at best”
“Yes, Master Eric. To be honest, I think I also need a teacher for that front, as I only copied Lady Clara's behaviour. I don't think, it is sufficient that I wouldn't embarrass her in the future.” Rina, not hearing Lauren's words, agreed to Eric's assessment.
“Ohh! I see! That's why all of your movements seem to be so graceful, after all, you had a perfect example right in front of you to observe!” Eric nodded in satisfaction.
At that reaction, Lauren and Arland had the same thought. 'Stupid doting father.'
Now that the conversation seemed to be over, Rina was visibly relieved that the subject of magic hadn't come up. After all, there was no way that she could hide her affinity for Dark magic from them, her benefactors. On the other hand, she had no way of knowing how they would react if they knew she could cast dark magic. So, in the end, this was the possible outcome for her.
However, as if to mock her thoughts, Eric sharpened his eyes and looked at the red-haired girl before she left the room. “I have one last question.”
“Yes?” Suddenly Rina had a bad feeling creeping up her spine.
“Is there anything else we need to know?”