Meia could not believe it, but they did really go back upstairs. They walked back to the carved door.

"Where are we going?"

"Well, to your room, of course. We had to get the key first, didn't we?"

"We didn't get the key, did we?"

"Yes, but now I know where it is," Lijeux mumbled.

~She's eating again, isn't she?

Just as Meia was about to ask, Lijeux stretched on her own accord her hand out to her. A mini spring roll lay in it.

"Do you want one?"

~When did she take that?~

The butler certainly did not know about it.

"You stole it?"

Lijeux stared at her as if it were a completely outlandish insinuation.

"Um, I work here."

~If you want to call it that.~

Meia thought about it for a moment, but she had already taken the spring roll anyway, and besides, Meia was a guest. In principle, they were for her anyway. At least presumably.

"I'll take it." Meia decided and happily accepted the stolen goods.

As soon as Lijeux had freed her hand again, she pulled the next one out of her pocket.

~Does she have the shoulder waist bag just to swipe stuff?~

"Aren't you afraid of being sacked if you make the butler so angry?"

"Nonsense, I can't be sacked at all. My contract will last until the end of the year."

"It's a fixed term contract?"

"Yes, exactly." she replied with a grin.

~I don't think she knows what that means.~

While the two were snacking on spring rolls and talking, they passed the carving door again. Meia was slightly distracted, but this one was not to be missed.

"I can't be fired anyway. We have a staff shortage."

"Have you? But there were super many people in the kitchen?"

"Yes, true. But they're almost all temps. We only have two real cooks and two kitchen helpers. The rest will be gone next week. All in all, there are only eleven people working here. Me, Rujell, a butler, a gardener, a handyman, two cooks, two kitchen helpers, another handyman and a servant boy. That's all."

"Don't you have a masseur?"

"No, why a masseur? We don't have one."

"The other-well, Rujell had said the masseur would not be present today?"

"Is that what she said? We don't have a masseur. She just said that because she was teasing you. She always does that sort of thing. Did she say anything else?"

"No, she just said the masseur wasn't there."

Lijeux nodded several times.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Mhm, Mhm, Did she also suggest that she could massage you?"

"Yes, she did?"

"Ah, that makes sense. She often offers that to women who are our guests. That Mr Monet tolerates that..."

Meia was undecided about this. Sure it was not good to lie, but in the end she probably just wanted to make her master look better. Meia did not think it was such a bad thing to do.

"How did you get the job here?"

"That's an unexpected question? One moment, um, well I was a street artist before and then one day Mr Monet was there and found it so impressive that he hired me."

"Oh, what can you do?"

"Well I can juggle."

Meia waited for the sentence to continue ... but nothing more came.

"So juggling?"

"Mhm."

"How does that help you as a maid?"

"Well, for example, if you have to carry a lot of plates, it helps."

In Meia's mind, she juggled three plates and all three fell down.

"Mr. Monet hired you because of that?" asked Meia, irritated.

"Um, I just remembered that I was forbidden to talk about this. I have a retroactive confidentiality agreement. There are massive contractual consequences. So I'm not allowed to talk about it. Personally, I don't want to talk about it either. It's been a hard time for me. It was very difficult. As the second oldest sister, you are attacked from all sides, from below, from above, from all kinds of strangers who don't even know who I am. They never found out. Except for Mr Monet. Mr Monet grabbed me by the hand and pulled me off the street, and then I pulled my sisters along, and my buddy who coincidentally had experience with plants. Mr Monet was super enthusiastic about him and immediately hired him as a gardener without me even having to ask. Of course, he also has a brother. At the moment, he is still self-employed in the distribution of agricultural end products, similar to Mr. Monet, but there are always new restrictions lately and... Yes, that's basically all there is to say about it."

Meia nodded and listened until the end, when Lijeux unexpectedly pressed another spring roll into her hand.

"I'll give you this one."

"Oh, thank you."

Meia accepted the spring roll. Just as she was about to take a bite, Lijeux suddenly yanked her aside.

"Shit, Rujell!"

Meia's food almost flew out of her hand. Only with the greatest difficulty did she manage to keep it on her.

The second after that she was against the wall and in front of her Lijeux ducked behind a column with a vase of flowers.

"What are you doing!"

"Keep it down!" scolded Lijeux loudly as she spied through the flowers into the hallway. "Why is she still here? Looks like she's got nothing to do again."

"Why are we hiding behind a column?"

"Rujell is over there." she explained, pointing her finger past the column.

As Meia leaned to the side, she saw the trolley from earlier a little further down. The glasses were no longer on it. The trolley was empty. Off to the side, Rujell came out of a door and was on his way to the trolley. "That's the last of them." she said as she walked with an empty tray in her hand.

"She's talking to herself?"

"Pshh!", Lijeux demanded with her finger in front of her mouth, then she bit off another spring roll and chewed smackingly.

~How many of these things does she have?~ This was her third. That made five in total. How had she stolen five from him when he had the plates right in front of him?

Meanwhile, Meia also still did not understand why they were supposed to be hiding here.

"She's over there, so?"

"Isn't it obvious? If she sees you here, she'll get angry, that's why we'll wait until she's gone."

"But why would she get angry?"

"Because you're still here."

"Wouldn't she scold you then?"

"Do you think when she gets angry she cares who might be at fault? She couldn't care less. Everyone becomes a victim. It's always like that."

Meia could imagine that. She really had no desire to make Rujell angry. Waiting for a moment was probably fine.

Crouched behind the column, the two ate their spring rolls and continued to watch surreptitiously.

When Rujell arrived at the trolley, she gently lowered herself to her knees. It was as graceful as a feather. However, the final position was such that her feet diverged and her bottom touched down on the carpet. The sitting posture did not match her usual elegance. She looked like a child who was about to play in a sandbox.

Next she lifted the blanket from the trolley and stuck it under the top of the tray, then stuck her hands inside and to do something there.

"What is she doing?"

"Huh? How should I know? Maybe she wants to pack something to take home?"

Rujell pulled her hands back to lift something out. Meanwhile, she got a smile that grew stronger with each passing moment.

One might think she was lifting a bar of gold out of it.

In the end, it was a creature with light brown fur and black beady eyes. Simply put, it was a guinea pig. But not quite, either. Meia had seen guinea pigs before and this one seemed different from others. It seemed different, but most of all it was more cute. The fur was very long and therefore it had an excellent fluffiness. In addition, it also had a white spot on its eye, which made it instantly recognisable. Meia would guess that it was easily a 3 on the cuteness scale. (A 3 was impressive).

"What is this doing here?"

"It's her pet."

"No, I mean, why is it in the trolley?"

"It's always somewhere. She carries it all day with her because she's a nutcase."

"Isn't that a bit harsh?"

"You say that now, but just wait and see."

.../ End Part