It was about half an hour after Rina, Fran, and Clara had finished their conversation. Now, Clara was on her way to her father's office, with Fran following close behind. Usually, this was Rina's position, but Clara had sent her maid into town to run some errands. After all, Clara was about to interrogate her father and she absolutely did not want Rina to be there to hear it, because she was sure that her maid would definitely come to some stupid conclusions. Clara wanted to avoid that at all costs.

Arriving at the office, Clara opened the door without knocking and burst in. Inside the room, her father sat at his desk, doing paperwork, with Arland, his guard captain, assistant, and friend standing beside him. Apart from them, there were also several servants helping Eric with his work.

“Ohh! Clara, my beloved daught-...” Eric was just about to enter his doting parent mode when he saw Clara, but when he saw her serious facial expression, he changed his tone. “Ahem... Clara, where are your manners? Why do you enter a room without knocking?”

Clara, on the other hand, just ignored Eric's scolding and came straight to the point. “What are you planning to do with Rina?”

Hearing his daughter's question, Eric heaved out a sigh. Then he motioned with his hand for his servants to leave the room until only Clara, Fran, Arland, and Eric himself remained. “Clara, your maid's existence, no, your maid's abilities, are a secret. So I hope that you stop shouting out her name like that and make her seem special when other people are present, even if they are our staff.”

Only then did Clara realise the mistake she had made. No, Fran had even warned her before about a possible mole among her staff, but at the time Clara had only been furious with her teacher for that unfounded suspicion. And now, even her father was being secretive about Rina in front of his own servants.

True, as far as Clara could tell, Rina hadn't seemed to have had any close contact with anyone else in the mansion for the last two years, but Clara didn't know that it was because of her maid being secretive.

“So, Clara? What about Rina?”

Pulled from her thoughts by Eric's question, Clara replied, “I heard that you invited the Lumiéres to my Social Debut.”

“That's right. You know that I invited them out of formality.”

“Furthermore, I have heard that Duke Lumiére himself will be attending.”

“That seems to be the case.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Who knows?”

Slowly getting annoyed by her father's short and evasive answers, Clara stomped over to Eric's desk and slammed both hands on it. “Father! Please stop dodging my questions! Have you told them about Rina's Dark magic affinities?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you want to sell Rina off to them, so you can be on friendly terms with them.”

Hearing this, Eric took a deep breath before continuing. “Clara, why can't you understand that being friends with them can tremendously increase chances of survival?”

“I would rather die fighting with my friends than sell them out for my own survival.”

At his daughter's statement, Eric's eyes opened widely as he stared at his soon-to-be adult daughter. Then, a few seconds later, he leaned back on his chair and relaxed his body. “Friends, huh? I see...”

On the other hand, Clara just remained silent because she couldn't understand her father's gestures or actions at all. She could only hope that he would finish his thoughts soon and answer her question. Luckily, Clara didn't have to wait long.

“I didn't tell the Duke about your maid's existence or capabilities... Actually, I am also wondering why the Prime Minister suddenly announced that he would be attending. Your guess is as good as mine... so I cannot answer your question.”

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Hearing Eric's response, Clara let out a sigh of relief. Even though she was still displeased with the way things were, it was at least clear that her father didn't intend to let go of Rina. But it also meant that they were back to square one again as to why the Lumiéres had announced their presence. So, Clara turned to her teacher. “Lady Fran, it appears your assumption that my father might be the one who leaked the information about Rina is wrong.”

At this, Fran just shrugged her shoulders. “So it seems.”

At this point, when everyone present was wondering about the Duke's motives, Clara couldn't help but remember her maid's words, which Clara had previously dismissed as naivety. “It can't be that they just want to celebrate my coming of age with me, can it?”

“Clara, my dear daughter... I know that I have taught you well enough that you are not stupid enough to truly believe that. So I'm really intrigued to know who put that bug in your ear. I would like to have a word with that person.” Eric smiled kindly, his eyes, however, didn't reflect that smile at all.

“Ahahaha...” Seeing her father's expression, Clara couldn't possibly tell, that it was Rina's idea. After all, she could already see how Rina would be scolded by her father if he were to learn about it, so all Clara could do was laugh it off and hope that Eric would forget about her stupid remark.

Unfortunately, the world was a cruel place. When Rina had made that naïve remark, there had been a third person present. And that person was known to be very mischievous.

And indeed. “Ah, Lord Eric, it was your daughter's maid-”

“Forgive me, Father! It was my stupid idea! I hope you can forget it!” So, in order to protect her precious maid from Eric's scolding, Clara voluntarily took the bullet and prepared herself for a long scolding session.

But deep down she vowed that one day she would pay Fran back.

***

While Clara and Fran were in Eric's office, Rina was on her way to one of the many market streets of the Royal Capital, Valhale. The reason? Clara had asked her to go to the blacksmith to pick up the weapons they had ordered for Rina a few weeks prior. And that even though Clara had insisted to go together to get them at that time.

But well, Rina wasn't stupid. She understood that Clara had just used this fetch quest as an excuse to send her away. It was obvious to Rina that her mistress wanted to confront Eric after Fran had expressed her thoughts about Eric possibly giving Rina to the Lumiére for a connection. And Rina's presence at the confrontation might be inconvenient for her mistress, though she couldn't quite wrap her head around why it would be the case.

But whatever the reason was, Clara had asked her for something so Rina just had to follow her crush's wishes. It was just a little unusual because, in the past, Clara had never allowed her to leave the mansion alone. In fact, the blonde girl had always accompanied Rina when she went into town. And since Clara was the daughter of a viscount, they had always had a guard with them. So this was actually the first time Rina had gone out alone after being employed by the Dragonherz family.

An approximately ten-minute walk after Rina had left the mansion, she finally arrived at the high-class shopping street that was clearly meant for the rich population, namely the aristocrats. Usually, this was a place where she would never have set foot in, but as a maid of an aristocratic house, this had changed. After all, she had accompanied Clara here on several occasions already.

Fortunately, now even without a noble at her side, Rina was not out of place here. Looking around, several maids or butlers were walking along this street, shopping for their masters. So even though Rina was a nine-year-old child, who might even look younger than that, no one had spoken to her or sent her away, because she was wearing a maid uniform with the Dragonherz emblem sewn on it.

On her way to the blacksmith where her weapons were ordered, Rina noticed a small stall by the side of the road. As this street was a shopping street for the rich, all the shops were usually inside buildings. So this stall stood out a little in a bad way. But this was not what drew Rina's attention, it was the products on display. Therefore, she approached to get a closer look.

“Oh, young Lady, welcome,” an old woman who seemed to be the stall owner spoke up as Rina closed in.

“Good day, Ma'am. Did you make these accessories?”

“No, I did not make them, my family did.”

“I see.” Rina looked around the stall, then turned back to the old lady. “They're all so well made... I really wonder why no one else is browsing.” These were her true thoughts, not just some flattery as the items displayed were actually really of high quality.

“Fufufu, thank you, little miss. My great-granddaughter will be happy to hear your praise.”

At the old woman's words, Rina smiled back and returned to scanning the merchandise on display. From rings to earrings to necklaces, everything that could be considered an accessory was laid out on the table stall. Roughly counting, Rina estimated that there were easily over fifty items placed on the table. Additionally, even an untrained eye like Rina's could see that they were all individually handcrafted, each with its own design and theme. She couldn't help but be impressed by the person who made them. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to attract anyone's attention here.

Among all these displayed items, there was one that especially stood out to Rina. It was a small oval brooch. It had a red socket as a base, that was about 7 centimetres long and 4 centimetres wide. A small blue and yellow crystal was perfectly embedded in the socket. Seeing the colour combination of the entire brooch, Rina could feel her face getting hot. Of course, it did not take her long to realise that this was an accessory that mixed her trademark colour with those of her crush's.

When she looked at the price tag of the brooch, Rina couldn't contain her surprise. “Is this the price of this brooch?” She had to confirm the price first, as it seemed to be too low for the quality of the brooch.

“Yes.”

At that response, Rina immediately took out her purse and placed the exact amount of money for the brooch on the table. “I'd like to take this brooch.”

After the exchange, the girl took the brooch she had just bought with the money she earned as a maid and put it in her bag. Then, after bidding farewell to the old woman, Rina walked, no, skipped happily from just making a good purchase to the actual destination of her outing, the blacksmith.

'I hope Clara will like it.'