...

At the same time, Alexander's (new) office

Two young women were walking inside an office. One of them looked around curiously and nervously, while the other was a little unkempt and had bags under her eyes.

Ocilia, who was at the front, was casually dressed in short linen pants that went to her calves, simple slippers, and a wide-open linen shirt. While it was too casual to wear it around the estate, she had only woken up around ten minutes ago, oversleeping the appointment because she had trained a new spell for half a night. So, when her Mother told her that Ariana had arrived at the estate, she quickly got up, used the cleaning spell, and met her.

Ariana, who was behind her, looked like she would go to a ball. She wore her best suit, which she specially tailored for this occasion, and bought the most expensive cravat she could. Her accessories, like cufflinks, earrings, and hair bow, were either silver and intricately crafted or tailored and woven with fine silk.

Ocilia told her that her Master didn't care about such things, but she insisted and made some artisans very happy. Even her bow alone was more costly than her whole attire, excluding the cloak she made for the underworld.

"Is this Mr. Alexander's office?"

"Yeah, but it's new, though."

"How come?"

"Let's say Master has a lot of needs..."

Ariana looked curiously around the office, especially at his desk, which was full of new things that were really helpful in organizing paperwork; at least, this was what Ocilia was told. There were some weirdly bent metal strings, a smaller file cabinet-like thing where one could sort papers, many smaller and colorful papers that were sticky on one side, many colorful and weird pencils, and much more.

Such things fascinated Ariana, but when Ocilia looked around, she became somewhat annoyed. When they moved to this larger mansion some time ago, she was forced to reorganize her Master's office, and she could tell why he never cared about her messy workplace: He wasn't much better. It was pure chaos; she needed days to sort through documents, research, blueprints, etc., and then rewrite and sort them accordingly.

Yes, they moved mansions, and Ocilia remembered vividly the shitshow that led to them moving. The short explanation was that it was getting cramped. The longer explanation was that Ocilia's Master and Mother had a massive fight, which went on for hours. They screamed at each other until her Master went to the Lady and argued for a bigger mansion, which he got the next day.

Ocilia agreed with her Mother, though. Since her Master lived with his siblings and his two new temporary retainers, they all needed servants, and those required a space where they could live. Usually, the Lady designated a special mansion for those, but her Master liked to have them around for the weird reason that he could become better acquainted with them.

However, while it sounded lovely, this quirk brought many more problems. Since Ocilia's Mother, who was also the head maid, liked to hire servants with families as they were usually much more loyal and diligent, they also needed more space.

As such, they moved into the new mansion, which was slowly getting fuller. How did Ocilia know this? Her Mother was annoying her day and night with the problems she needed to manage. Worse, it would get fuller in some months when Janina would move to them, and she would also require new servants who would tend to her needs. Fortunately, Lorient was gone with the Lord, so not much would change.

The smaller mansion, however, became her Master's giant laboratory and production site. Going inside without permission was almost impossible as it was guarded 24/8 inside and outside, with her Lady slowly shifting the paper production back there and starting to want to expand the estate with newer buildings that would tend to Alexander's needs.

For Ocilia, it sounded as if she would spoil him, but no. It was actually Salyna who argued with the Lady about this since her Master brought them a ton of tax revenue, and she wanted to accommodate the golden puppy as well as possible.

This whole management problem made her realize that She would never want to work as a maid, as this sounded like Outer Circle to her. All the management problems were too pedantic for her to care.

Ocilia's thoughts were interrupted when Ariana leaned slightly against the massive desk, looking annoyed at her. This made Ocilia flinch slightly, 'Urgh, please, not again.'

When Ocilia returned to Wolfsteeth and told Ariana the excellent news that she had gotten her an appointment with her Master, where she would be introduced as a probable retainer, Ocilia's very own Outer Circle started.

Her girlfriend became angry and fought with her because she abhorred nepotism, and Aurum screamed at her because she tried to poach the more competent worker away. It was a literal shit show, as all of her Master's warnings had happened.

"So, Mr. Alexander is talking with Quill right now?"

Ocilia nodded, "Yeah, Quill wished to first see Master for himself before deciding if he wanted to take more responsibility by becoming his retainer."

"Oh, I heard that he had a choice in this matter, right?"

Ocilia nodded, "Yeah..." but suddenly stopped, seeing that this was again going to lead to a fight, "...but not really. He is talented, so Master would poach him at some point either way."

Ariana patted the mahogany table and looked to the side, "It's nice to be acknowledged, right?"

Ocilia popped a vein, "Ari, enough with this nonsense! Do you know what I did for you to get you here?"

Ariana looked bored at Ocilia, raising an eyebrow, "Oh, should I thank you now? For bringing me to Mr. Alexander through your merits? I will be nothing more than a paper pusher, not taken seriously."

Ocilia smirked at her, her anger disappearing, "If you think that, talk to me after Master drowns you in work."

Ariana's tone became more sarcastic, "Yeah, who doesn't love a job without fulfillment, just to sit in some office and never ever change anything, as long as one is drowning in work, right?"

Ocilia sighed, "With your talent? Not gonna happen."

Ariana almost dripped with sarcasm, "Oh yeah? How does Mr. Alexander discover my talent if he pushes me into some dead-end position through nepotism then? Will you use your oh-so-great merits again?"

Ocilia frowned, "Can you just wait and see? I swear that you don't need to choose anything. It will even be all right if you decline all his offers after the meeting and return to Aurum."

Ariana walked around the table, glaring at her lover, "Aurum? You mean the retainer who worked his ass off to get into the position he is now?"

Ocilia shook her head, "He is the son of the head accountant. If there would be a perfect description of nepotism, he would be it."

For some reason, Ariana became visibly irritated but didn't say anything, "I see."

It was silent for some minutes, very awkward, till Ocilia broke it as she couldn't stand it, "Are you all right, Ari? You know you can tell me everything you are worried about, and I will try to solve it. Even if you are uncomfortable, we can cancel the meeting, and I take the blame on myself. Nothing will happen to you."

Ariana sighed, rubbing her temple, "Lia, I love you, but you are a control freak, and since you already made an appointment to meet Mr. Alexander, I must do so."

Ocilia raised an eyebrow, "No, you don't, and who are you calling a control freak? Aren't you the one who sorts socks alphabetically by color?"

Ariana popped a vein, "This means I am organizing things..." She glared at her, "...not like you understand it. You even ruined Mr. Alexander's present, the beautiful fountain pen I received, by using it to mix..." her voice became louder, "...your damn tea with honey!"

Ocilia held her hands up in peace and looked behind her, hoping her Master wouldn't be behind the door, "Ari, please calm down and don't scream. The pen isn't..." She shut up, cleverly, knowing that her following words would be wrongly understood. So she tried to de-escalate the situation, "...I am sorry, okay? Can we stop fighting?"

Ariana calmed down, "I am sorry, it's just..."

Ocilia turned back to her and smiled nervously, "I know, but trust me when I say you will get so much responsibility that you will drown in it."

Ariana rubbed her forehead, "Okay, fine, let's just see what will happen..." She looked around curiously, "...I like it here."

Ocilia nodded, now more relaxed, and came closer to Ariana, "You know, when we were in the previous mansion, Master taught me in his old office for hours every day for years, and when I came home, I was so exhausted, I just slept without eating till my parents forced food into me..." She chuckled, "...I felt like a goose who was fattening for some..." She gestured that she forgot how the food was called, looking at Ariana for help, who sighed and told her, "...foie gras."

Ocilia had zero clue about what rich people eat. She would be happy with the shashlick with the unidentified meat her favorite street vendor made. Yet, Ariana forced her to wear pretty clothes and visit well-established restaurants to eat things she couldn't pronounce or remember.

It was also always a drag for her to behave appropriately. While it was somewhat taught to her by her Mother and Master, there was always a premise: She should only use it when needed. However, she never needed it. Her Master didn't care, while his siblings were mostly the same and liked a casual but respectful tone. The Lady and Lord also cared little, and the only one who cared was Aro, the head butler of the estate, whom she saw only once every couple of months.

As such, Ocilia mostly forgot all the weird names, rules, and gestures she learned in what she would now call a crash course. Fortunately, nobody in Wolfsteeth looked at her weirdly since she was a member of the Leonandra household and a mage at that. For some reason, when the words mage or alchemist came up, a lot of her behavior was excused from the get-go, as they were usually a weird bunch, apparently.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Ariana interrupted Ocilia's thoughts, "Good. I already like Mr. Alexander..." She looked Ocilia up and down much more closely, "...the last thing I want from you is to lose your curves."

Ocilia smiled at the compliment. She always knew that she was attractive, but it was one thing getting complimented by someone she didn't like and another by someone she loved and respected.

"Thanks, I also love your..." The problem, though, was that she couldn't compliment, "...hair?"

Ariana looked at Ocilia dumbfounded and chuckled, "Was it a question?"

Ocilia blushed and became flustered, rubbing the back of her head, "Sorry, I try to be more romantic. I just don't know how to do this."

Ariana smiled back and came close, kissing her cheek, "Don't worry, don't change. I like the dense Lia who only knows how to do science and magic."

...

Sometime later, Alexander's office

"So, Quill is in, but he left to clarify something with Aurum. Let's see..." Alexander looked at a nervous lizard girl sitting on the couch opposite of him, with the tea table in between, which had some untouched pastries and tea on it, "...you are Ariana, am I right?"

She was very nervous, "Y... Yes Mr Alexander!"

He looked at Ocilia, "Is she always this nervous? Not like I am seen as some evil overlord, right?"

Ocilia sighed, "No, Master, she simply respects you greatly."

Alexander looked back at Ariana and needed to be much more sensitive to her than with Quill. While it was fun to fuck around, Alexander had correctly identified that the former thug could endure a little prank. At the same time, Ariana was so nervous that Ocilia needed to stay beside her for emotional support.

Alexander tried to be more amiable toward her as he feared she would cry the moment he said something wrong, "So..." He was interrupted by her, "Yes, Mr. Alexander?!"

He smirked, finding it quite cute, "How is Wolfsteeth? I heard that you came from some city called High-Town like Quill."

She fiddled with her fingers, trying to look into his eyes, but they wandered down to her hands or anywhere else, "I love it here, Mr. Alexander."

He leaned back and thought that easing her in with some small talk would be ideal so she could relax, "Hm, that's good. What is life like? Did you already rent or buy a house somewhere with Lia?"

She suddenly looked in panic towards Ocilia, who only sighed, sounding a little tired, "Ariana is not comfortable talking about our relationship because of her previous circumstances, Master."

Alexander nodded, "Well, I understand..." He looked at Ariana, whose pupils shook slightly. He shrugged, "...I don't care what you do in your private life; just do a good job, and we are all good."

He really didn't care, but since relationships were always a good topic for some casual small talk, he at least tried. Yet, since Ariana was from somewhere where homosexuality was seen as a negative, she was clearly distressed to even talk about it, even though in Moorgrel, nobody gave a fuck about such things if you were a commoner.

In Alexander's opinion, this was because Moorgrel was under constant and more severe threats than central Mal-Gil at their borders. As such, the Count and his Knightages mostly ignored discriminatory behavior, which was tried to push onto them from central Mal-Gil nobility.

However, they needed talent and loyalty more than anything else so they could push against their enemies. Fortunately, the Count identified that getting more people, never mind their private circumstances, was highly beneficial.

Ariana nodded, smiling slightly, "Thank you, Mr. Alexander."

Since small talk didn't work, he switched to the main topic and why she visited him, "So, I heard that you are an exceptional worker."

She nodded carefully, "Ye...s. However, I don't know if Ocilia really knows of my work and told you correctly, Mr. Alexander."

He shook his head, "Don't worry. Aurum wrote me an exceptionally long letter trying to tell me how Ocilia's behavior was unprofessional and that he begged me not to take you away, and the same is true for Quill, by the way."

What he described was the nice version. In truth, Aurum told him that he wanted Ocilia punished and thrown into prison. It was a multi-paged rant at how she should go fuck herself and die in a ditch for poaching his workers, 'Indeed, I have a functioning workforce.' He thought so sarcastically.

After replying and assuring him that Alexander could find a way to make everyone happy, an even longer letter reached him, trying to argue that he couldn't let go of her. After that came another, and after that, even without Alexander replying, half a dozen more, which showed to him how great of a talent Ariana was.

However, Alexander warned Ocilia first to talk it out thoroughly, but she didn't, and now he wanted to punish her for it but had no idea how. While he understood that she only wanted to be close to Ariana, she did it forcefully without knowing the structure, bringing friction between his people. Fortunately, he compromised with Aurum in the end.

Ariana slightly blushed while Ocilia glared at him, "Aurum said so, huh?"

Alexander looked at her, supporting his chin, "Remember what I told you? Don't try to forcefully poach someone, as it can create friction and, in the end, problems for everyone. You will be punished for this since you didn't listen to me and created conflict between my people..." He pointed with his head toward Ariana, "...look at her. She is clearly not ready to meet me, but you forced her because of your private regions."

Ariana flushed and became red like a tomato, "Mr. Ale..." Ocilia and Alexander interrupted her immediately, without even looking at her, "Silence." "Don't."

Ocilia sounded exasperated, "I understand that I was in the wrong, but it can't be that hard to replace her, no?!"

Alexander, though, smirked at her and turned toward Ariana, who stared daggers at Ocilia, "Excuse me?! Do you think I am that easily replaceable?! Do you have any idea how hard my work is?! For what do I even tell you what I did at work if you don't even take it seriously!"

Ocilia flinched and also looked at Ariana, "Wha... I mean..." She didn't know what to say and, from Alexander's experience, fucked up big time.

Ariana, though, suddenly remembered where she was and looked at Alexander. Panic was seen on her face, and tears started well up in her eyes. She started crying after a moment when she tried to hold them back, "I am... heuk... so sorry, Mr. Ale... heuk."

Alexander stood up, which made Ariana panic, but he gestured to calm down and sat beside her, pulling out a handkerchief and offering it to her, "Here you go, Ariana."

Ariana nodded, smiling slightly with her face full of snot, taking it, "Fank fou." She then cleaned her face with it.

Ocilia was about to say something, but Alexander gestured for her to stop, "Don't, let me..." She stopped, and Alexander turned to Ariana, "...listen, you are a great administrator, and Lia has no idea about such things. For her, probably everyone under Aurum is the same, but it is my fault since I only taught her magic, alchemy, and science, so I apologize..."

Ariana immediately interrupted him, "Mr. Alexander, don't! This is unbeco..." He though glared at her to be silent, which she did after looking into his eyes.

Alexander smiled at her and continued, "But you don't need Lia's recognition for your work. She may know that you are great but doesn't understand it truly, like how you don't understand what makes a mage great or different in that sense, right?"

Ariana nodded and calmed slightly down, "I... understand, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander leaned slightly back, putting one leg over the other, "Alrighty, let me be a little more direct to avoid misunderstandings: I want you to work for me directly, part-time and part-time for Aurum, continuing your job, but only under one condition."

She nodded carefully, slightly afraid, which showed she wasn't made for such interactions but was apparently a genius behind the desk, coordinating and making everything work, 'I need her.'

He knew some great people on Earth who just couldn't socialize well or have a good conversation, but their skills were true. Sometimes, managers or the relevant authority in the army would decide well on the position of such workers, seeing their weaknesses and trying to find a suitable position for them. Still, others sometimes wouldn't accept such shortcomings, putting them in leading positions, thinking that being good at one thing translated as easily into others. What happened was usually discontent in teams and sometimes worse.

Alexander wanted to show her first that she didn't need to be frightened about him and be more open about her problems, "If anything, it doesn't matter what concerns you. I want you to come immediately to me, and we will find a solution. Please don't be frightened and tell me how it is, okay?"

She nodded, now smiling widely, "I will, and thank you, Mr. Alexander!"

Ocilia also tried to say something, clearly not seeing that a better decision was just to shut up, "See? Everything is fine."

Ariana turned around and glared at Ocilia, full of hate, which made her flinch slightly. Alexander turned to Ocilia and spoke honestly, "About the problems you created, I don't want you to fight with Aurum and escalate the situation. Just accept that you made a mistake and do better next time..."

He turned back to Ariana, ignoring his moron of a disciple who looked down at her feet in shame, "You will work two days a week here with Anastasia, whom you will meet at some point. Through Aurum, I learned that you are already looking for a place to build a school and trying to work it out, so I want you both to work together and bring this project to life. Does that sound good?"

She smiled and bowed slightly down while sitting, "Thank you, Mr. Alexander!"

Alexander smiled back, but inwardly, he was angry and wanted to strangle Ocilia. Ariana was a great worker, which he loved to have, but Aurum clearly needed her, and it was too early to get her to the estate.

Even though Alexander had dozens of projects Ariana could work on, they all needed some refining and planning time. The day was only so long, and because it was a different world, copy-pasting his ideal solutions from Earth was impossible.

Now, he needed to rush some things somehow to include her efficiently. Telling her that she should come in half a year or so would only demoralize her and make him look bad since he had promised his disciple that he would take her on account of her merits.

So, for him to find a middle way, he would need to talk with Anastasia later and somehow bring her to his side, which he already predicted would be annoying.

Education was a big part of his charity, so he could somehow make everyone happy with this solution. She would still work in the charity while just being at the estate. Quill was, in that case, someone who decided by himself. Thus, there was barely any pushback from Aurum, and the situation didn't escalate.

"Good, I triple your wage, and you..." He looked at Ocilia, who flinched as she looked back at him, "...I will think of something. However, I need you to write me an essay on what you did wrong, got it? 20 pages."

Ocilia bowed down, "Of course, Master, and let me apologize again for my selfish behavior."

Alexander looked at her while rubbing his chin and suddenly got an idea, which made him smile, "Well, I know what your punishment will be."

...

Later that night, Servant's mansion, Bar, Leonandra Estate

Ocilia sat inside the bar, especially for servants, located in the mansion where most of the higher-ranked ones resided. She was drinking and looked annoyed, "I fucking hate it."

The barkeeper asked her, sounding surprised, "Why are you here in the first place?"

She glared at the barkeeper but only sighed in the end, "I fucked up big time and am now not allowed to see my girl, but worse, apparently, a seven-year-old, for some reason, has better skills to talk to women than me."

After the meeting ended, her Master forbade her to meet Ariana at night for the next month as punishment. While it annoyed her, she was happy it was only this light of a punishment. She actually thought that her Master would think of something worse.

While Ocilia was happy, she also thought that Ariana was over it, but she showed her the cold shoulder. It was depressing, and while she was a little jealous of her Master since he could miraculously understand her, which Ocilia couldn't, he gave her a small to-do list of what she needed to do to make Ariana happy.

For the next month, Ocilia needed to buy presents, write cringe-worthy love poems, ask her to talk about their emotions, and truly have a conversation. She usually saw their talks as pointless most of the time, but apparently, they were somewhat important.

She never did such things since all she learned from her parents was to shut up and listen to her Master, and he told her to learn science, magic, and alchemy. Sometimes, they studied something else, but it was relatively rare.

Now, he would teach her how to lead a happy relationship, which made her somewhat happy if she was honest. While her Master was never really cold to her, he felt distant. Yet, they would now meet often and not just talk about all the research but about her emotions and how she should act. It was heartwarming.

Even though it was punishment, she liked the outcome to some extent. The only problem was that when the sun began to set, she became restless without Ariana by her side. It was awful because she knew her girlfriend was only some minutes away in another room, 'This fucking sucks.'

Worse, this was one topic she couldn't talk about with her Master, and ask for some advice since he didn't know what it meant to have sex or feel horny. He was literally a hatchling who, should she bring the topic up, would only look at her dumbfounded.

She took a giant gulp of what felt like poison and felt slightly drunk, 'Not enough.'

However, Ocilia learned her lesson. She was selfish and wouldn't even argue against it. Her Master somehow performed a miracle by pleasing Aurum and Ariana. She was especially thankful that he found a way to give Ariana a great project, but he now needed to get Anastasia on his side somehow so it could start as quickly as possible. So, his anger was understandable, but he was nonetheless there for her, which gave her a warm feeling.

She promised herself that she would never act like that again. Was it horniness or just her desire to be as close as possible to a loved one? Probably this and that, but all could be resolved if she just waited a little bit longer and discussed it through, 'I am such a dumbass.'

Ocilia knocked on the counter, "Give me a bottle of this poison. I want to go to my room and get knocked out."