“Next.” Maria flinched when she heard the dreaded words from the dragon’s lair in front of her. No matter how much she told herself that it was the old Duke’s study it still felt like it would be her doom if she walked through the door. She was one of the last servants that the new lord had called in to talk to. And by the numbers her chances were not good. From what she could tell a majority of the servants had not passed whatever requirements the lord had set. At least breaking down crying after they left the room gave that impression.

“Next!” The female voice called a second time, with what sounded like irritation this time. Maria paled. Whatever chances she had were all but dashed now. She had left a bad impression before they had even seen her face. Not wanting to test her luck any more, she hurried into the study, quietly closing the door behind her. Maria knew that she was not as brave as everyone else, she would likely be crying before she left the study rather than after.

“And you are?” It was the lord who spoke this time. If a man could look more bored, Maria had not met them. It was a stark contrast to the perfectly sitting lady next to him, one that she recognised as the voice that she had just annoyed. Though she could not tell that from the polite smile that greeted her. Maria was almost certain that the lady would be the scarier of the two if she could hide her feelings so well. At least she knew what the lord was feeling.

“m-Maria, my lord.” The moment she heard herself stutter, Maria felt like the world was over. First she had annoyed the lady and now she could not even speak clearly when answering a simple question.

“Nervous?” The lord asked again, this time with a slight curiosity in his voice. Not that she could tell if that was a good or a bad thing. Though from the sigh that came from the lady sitting next to him, she was inclined to think it was at least not great.

“No need to answer that. How many do we have left?” The lord dismissed her answer before she could muster any, turning to look at the lady.

“Only a few more, even light entertainment bores you after a while?” The lady finally broke from her polite smile and perfect posture, much to Maria’s surprise. She had thought that the lady was going to be one of those stick in the mud types who did everything by the book, this was definitely not the kind of thing that such a person would do.

“You should have known the answer to that after the 20th time. I was wondering how long we could spend on this one. She clearly hasn’t worked here long.” The lord merely rolled his eyes in response before looking back at her, having sat properly in his chair for the first time since she had entered the room.

“And this is the 54th. It is not like I am the earl between us, these are your servants. And no she clearly hasn’t.” Maria felt like she had stepped into a different world. This was the first time that she had ever heard such casual parlance being used by any noble be that baron or duke. Though before she could think any further about it, a side glance came from the lady when she commented on her lack of experience. Another bad point for her.

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“Then we will spend longer. Hopefully I will at least get some different responses.” Maria didn’t know what he expected from her but that did not sound like good news. Even if she kept her job, she doubted that it would be for long if she became the lord’s new toy.

“First difference, we are probably going to see tears before she leaves this time.” The lady quipped, getting a small chuckle from the lord. Not words that helped her from crying.

“Well then, for the Duke to have hired you, he must have at least seen something in you beyond your lack of experience. I doubt that he was the kind of man to hire somebody with little experience to work at one of his most important properties. Far too serious a man. So care to tell?” That was definitely the look a cat gave a mouse, Maria was sure of it. Not a look she had thought that she would see after becoming the servant of a powerful duke. But here she was. The cat expected her to answer.

“I-I was hired by one of the Duke’s s-servants, my lord. It was after th-the war started.” When she had got the job, Maria thought that she was beyond lucky. For anyone living in the capital, it was no secret that any time Duke Ryder hired servants for his manor, he at least met them personally before they were hired. Instead, when she had gone to test her luck there had been no meeting with the Duke, merely an important looking butler. One that she had seen bawling not an hour before her own meeting with their new lord.

“Oh? He wanted somebody to work at a manor that he would not be using again if he won and was already fully staffed to begin with? Are you sure? Even then, I am sure that a senior servant would not hire you without any particular reason. He was probably told what to do by the Duke, no?” Whilst the lord’s question had been one of curiosity, the lady had gone through her answer with a fine toothed comb. Paired with the intense stair whilst she was asked a flurry of questions, Maria was starting to understand why most of those before her had cried. If even veterans of the job were in tears, how could somebody like her, who had only ever helped out at her father’s shop before, deal with it any better?

*sniff*

“I don’t know, I wasn’t told.” She could feel the tears blurring her vision before they started pouring down her cheeks. There was one thing that she knew for certain, she was not going to be keeping her job.

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“Had your fun now?” Braydon asked, looking at the snivelling wreck in front of him. He knew that Nela had gone slightly harsher than she would have on the girl because he had expressed curiosity in her.

“You wanted to spend longer on this one, now it will take a while.” Nela chucked before walking towards the girl that she had just reduced to tears in a matter of minutes. ‘But not like that.’ Braydon was certain that Nela was doing this to yank his chain as much as she had to get a different reaction out of one of the servants. There was one thing that could be said of most of the Duke’s servants, they were all very well trained. At least until they were out of sight.

“Don’t worry it’s alright. We aren’t going to hurt you.” Nela cajoled softly whilst putting her arms around the girl. Braydon was almost sure that she had turned to stone with how rigid she had gone the moment Nela hugged her. She was right, this one was going to take longer than the rest.