Meia was standing by her bed in a bathrobe. It wasn't her own bathrobe. It was part of the bathroom equipment. In the meantime, someone had put her suitcases in her room. Luckily, someone had done it, since there were no clean clothes in her backpack. Meia had five suitcases. One contained only books. The other four suitcases were almost all clothes. She had put two of the clothes suitcases on the bed to pick some out. The dirty clothes were in the laundry basket in the bathroom, except for her boots and cape. She had rinsed them both in the shower. She had hung the cloak on a hanger on the window handle so that it could dry. She wanted to wear the boots again straight away.

Meia rummaged in one of the suitcases. She quickly found a pair of pants. Her alarm clock was also in this suitcase. It was almost three o'clock, but the time would easily be enough.

Meia took a white T-shirt from the other suitcase. She held it up in front of her and imagined wearing it. ~Is this too boring?~ Unfortunately, Meia didn't have much variety in her wardrobe. Cora was wearing a sleeveless summer shirt earlier. Meia wouldn't wear a shirt with such a low neckline, but it certainly wasn't boring.

Meia took a different white T-shirt from the suitcase and looked at it. This T-shirt had a print of a cute cat in black. It was definitely fashionable, but ~Isn't this too provocative?~ The T-shirt was relatively tight-fitting. The print was right on the left breast. Man had no choice but to look there.

~Hmm...~ Minister Schoppe had business appointments in the city. He was her master, if only for today. He was older than her and she was his company. He was married and she was his company. Each point alone made it inappropriate, but all together made it super inappropriate. The housemaid would certainly make the same judgment.

Maybe that wasn't understood. Clothes had their purpose. The wrong clothes for the wrong occasion could lead the wrong people to the wrong conclusions or support them in deliberately drawing such conclusions. Later it would be said that the Minster had employed his young mistress as a maid in order to have a pretext for infidelity with his wife. Who else was she supposed to beguile if she was with her master? There were certainly answers to this question, but they were even less desirable than the first rumor.

Meia put the T-shirt back together. It was more a piece for the beach. There was a beach in Kiras. Meia had bought it for the summer, but that was no longer happening. There was no beach in Aoka. Meia folded the shirt back up. When she thought of Minister Schoppe. ~Isn't a T-shirt too casual anyway?~ Something more professional was certainly better.

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Meia pulled a snow-white blouse from the bottom of her suitcase. It was a blouse with a collar that could be tied into a bow at the neck. It was certainly the most elegant piece of clothing Meia had that somehow looked office-like. Like the T-shirt with the kitten, Meia had never worn the blouse before. This was the perfect opportunity to do so. The bow was certainly a matching counterpart to the minister's neckerchief. Meia also had a black pleated skirt and patent leather shoes, but she didn't want to overdo it. After all, Minister Schoppe wanted her to wear everyday clothes, so she stuck with the brown trousers and boots.

All Meia still needed was underwear. She grabbed some socks and quickly found a white bra, but ~Where are the panties?

Meia searched through the whole suitcase but found none. She dumped everything out on the bed, but the suitcase only contained her pants, bras, socks and the alarm clock.

Meia felt sick to her stomach. She was sure she hadn't packed wrong. She had packed a suitcase with pants and underwear and a suitcase with jackets and tops. She hadn't seen any underwear in the suitcase with the tops, but she looked through everything anyway. When she found nothing, she dumped this suitcase on the bed too. She saw tops and her pyjamas. But, as expected, there were no panties in this suitcase either. Not a single pair was in any of the suitcases.

Had she left the panties in Kira's? Meia was starting to panic. Perhaps she had packed wrong after all...

Meia went to her other three suitcases by the door. One contained only dresses. The other contained only shoes and small items. The last suitcase contained only books.

Meia briefly thought that someone had stolen the underwear. But the suitcases had been guarded at all times. The only people who could have done it were her colleagues and the servants from here. It was rather unlikely. Even Cora and Innes wouldn't do something like that. The servants certainly wouldn't either. That would have harsher consequences than just dismissal. Meia might not be from an important family, but she was still a maid to the queen.

Perhaps she had left the panties in Kira's after all? That was more likely. In any case, she needed one because she had to go soon. Meia could get one from the bathroom, but today would be the third day. Instead, she went to the window to her backpack. In the backpack was her laundry bag, where she had put her dirty clothes during the journey. Even if she couldn't find the other panties, there were some in the laundry bag that were still reasonably clean. Meia hadn't known they would be traveling for so long, so she had been too wasteful the first few days of the journey. Meia opens the bag over the drawstring. She found a T-shirt and lots of socks and... Nothing.

Meia stumbled backwards and landed on her bottom on the bed. She could no longer stand. The panties weren't in the bag. Someone had stolen them. There was no other explanation.

Meia had taken the backpack out of the wagon herself. There were only two people who could have done it...

.../ End Part