Entering Clara's bedroom, Rina headed for the upholstered chair, which the blonde had ordered for Rina over a year ago.

“You will spend most of your free time here. At least I want you to be able to sit and rest comfortably,” was what Rina had received as an answer from Clara. Back then, Rina had said that a wooden chair or even standing would be enough, but her beloved mistress was too insistent.

Even Rina couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside at the memory of Clara's kind gesture. So the maid sat down on her chair, which was more like a single-seated couch, and indulged in its softness.

Little did Rina know, that Clara had had ulterior motives for giving the chair to her in the past. Clara's main goal back then, had been to get Rina getting addicted to the chair so that her maid would visit her even on days off. And it worked. Even though Rina hadn't had many free days, she had spent all of them together with Clara. Surely this had played at least some role in it.

Back to Rina, after resting for about five minutes, she heard footsteps outside the room, so she got up and prepared her heart. After all, it was Clara's birthday. She still had a present to give.

“I'm baaaack...” A tired voice came from the blonde who had just entered the room.

“Welcome back, Clara~. You sound tired.”

“Well, I am... ah, sorry Rina can you step outside for a bit? I want to change out of this dress.”

Rina complied and left the room.

Five minutes later, when she re-entered the room after being called, she saw Clara in a nightgown sitting in front of a mirror. This prompted Rina to step behind Clara and start combing her blonde hair.

“Are you going to sleep right away?” Rina asked.

“Well, yes. I'm dead tired from conversing with self-important, young lords, today. So I'll skip my bath today.”

“Is talking to them hard?”

“Well, yes. Now that I've officially entered the noble society, I have to make myself known. Unfortunately, this has led to me receiving an unimaginable number of marriage proposals.” Having said that, Clara subtly glanced at Rina through the mirror.

“M-m-marriage? D-did you accept any of them?” Rina's hands stopped and her eyes darted suspiciously around the room.

“Of course not.” Satisfied with her maid's reaction, Clara shook her head and then, changed the topic. “I know I said I would skip my bath, but do I smell?”

Inwardly pleased with the answer, Rina drew her nose closer to her mistress's neck, until her forehead touched Clara's cheek. “*sniff* *sniff*”

“Huee?! R-Rina!? W-w-what are you doing?”

After smelling her mistress, Rina returned to her normal posture and continued combing the blonde hair. “You asked if you smell. The answer is that you don't. In fact, your scent is very alluring.”

“W-w-what are you saying!?!? *mumbles* P-pervert... *mumbles*”

“Hmm?” Rina wasn't able to hear Clara muttering so she looked in the mirror. When she saw, that her mistress's face was bright red, she grinned. “Heehee, Clara, are you embarrassed? I said that you smell fine, no point in being conscious about it.”

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“... Rina, do you remember the last time you tried to tease me? I advise you to stop.”

“... I-I'm sorry.” At the blonde's threat, Rina immediately raised the white flag. After all, Clara had always repaid Rina's teasing attempts tenfold. Sometimes, it was better to know when to withdraw.

Seeing her maid do a wonderful U-turn, Clara couldn't help but chuckle a little. But seconds later she changed her tone and became serious. “Did anything noteworthy happen while I was at the party?”

“Yes,” Rina replied nonchalantly, still preparing Clara's hair for sleep.

“What!?” The seriousness on the blonde's face intensified. She couldn't help but fear that Duke Lumiére might be involved. She remembered that he had gone missing for about two hours after the start of the party. Fortunately for her, Rina's next words eased her worry for a bit.

“Nothing bad and nothing too important. I think what has happened is very beneficial to you. But it might be important enough for me to report it to Lord Eric tomorrow, so how about I tell you both about it after breakfast?”

“Are you sure, that it's nothing to worry about?”

“Yes!”

Clara looked at Rina's face to see if she was hiding anything. 'Rina is telling the truth...Am I too paranoid? Was the Duke just out for a stroll?' Clara thought when she couldn't read any lies on her maid's face. “Well, if you say that much, then I won't mind.”

“Mhm... Your hair is done!”

“Thank you.” Clara looked in the mirror again to check her hair, but noticed that Rina was acting strangely. The red-haired girl was flushed for some reason and was fidgeting with her fingers. So Clara asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Um...”

Clara got up, turned around to face her maid, and tilted her head. “Yes?”

After avoiding eye contact with the blonde for tens of seconds and playing around with her own fingers, Rina finally managed to gather her courage and pulled a small, wrapped box out of her skirt pocket. With both hands, she then held the small box out. “H-h-h-h-h-happy b-b-b-b-b-bithd-d-d-day a-a-and c-c-c-congrat-t-t-tulation on b-b-b-becoming an ad-d-d-dult!”

“...” Not expecting this at all, Clara grabbed the box without thinking and looked at it. After a few seconds, she looked up again to see that her maid's head resembled a tomato in its colour. “Can I open it?”

Rina nodded weakly.

Having been permitted to open her present, Clara carefully pulled at the strings that held the wrapping together. Afterwards, she slowly removed the wrapping. What remained was a small brown chest that was usually used to preserve accessories. So with great anticipation, Clara opened the lid of the box.

What she saw inside, took her breath away. It was a small brooch. Although Clara could immediately see that the materials used were cheap, the craftsmanship was of high quality. But that was not what surprised her.

It was the colours of the brooch. The brooch had a blue and yellow crystal, which was firmly embedded in a red socket, which simultaneously served as the foundation of the brooch.

Clara, unlike her rather slow and dense maid, instantly realised that this item had hers and Rina's trademark colours mixed together. She immediately understood the significance of this gift, even if the giver herself didn't.

For another time, Clara looked up at her cute maid's face, this time with an astonished, more vivid expression. Unfortunately, Rina couldn't handle the situation any longer.

“I'll g-g-go help the others c-c-clean up. G-g-good night!” Shouting this out loud, Rina turned around and stormed out of the room.

Even after Clara was left alone in her room, she remained motionless. It was only a few minutes later that she came to again. Placing the box on the table, Clara took out the brooch, walked to her bed, laid down,... and rolled around.

“Heheheheheheheheheheh” The one laughing like a madwoman was, naturally, Clara.

A few minutes later, however, Clara stopped, jumped out of her bed, and put the brooch back in the box.

'Nono, stupid Clara, it's not the time for this! It's one of the rare chances when Rina is not in her room!'

For some time already, whenever Rina was working late into the night, Clara would always sneak into her maid's room and lay down on her bed to do... whatever. Unfortunately for Clara, these opportunities didn't come along often, if at all. So now was one of those extremely rare occasions when she could indulge in her maid's scent on her maid's bed.

So Clara skipped to the door that connected their rooms together and opened it slowly.

“Excuse my intrusion,” Clara muttered, even though nobody should be present to hear it, as if to ease her conscience a least for a small degree.

However, when the blonde entered Rina's room, she blacked out after seeing a stranger sitting on Rina's bed. It was a girl with brown hair, who wore a maid uniform. Said uniform, however, didn't belong to her family.

“...”

“...”

“U-um...” The girl on Rina's bed spoke up hesitantly as she realised she was on a tightrope and tried to defuse the situation before it could get complicated.

However, Clara was clearly having none of it, as her usually kind face morphed into one that resembled the devil himself.

“Who the f*ck are you!?”