Mornings at the manor were slowly starting to feel like a proper home again.
The windows in the hall were open, the damp smell was fading, and steaming tea was now a regular sight in the dining room. The old candelabras had been polished, and the dust that had once piled up in the corners of the corridors was gone. Not everything had been fully restored, of course. Stains remained on the walls, the chair legs still creaked, and the straw in the mattresses was far from fresh. Still, the manor had been revitalized enough that today felt better than yesterday.
At the center of it all was Mylene, the maid with the white bob cut.
In the morning light, her hair wasn't silver, but a pure, snowy white. Though her features were well-defined, she still averted her gaze whenever I praised her. However, the way she walked with a ring of keys hanging from her waist had changed. At first, she had been too frightened to even touch them, but now she moved down the hallway, holding them with her fingers to keep them from jingling, and inserted the correct key without hesitation only when necessary. Her grey eyes were still timid, yet a quiet, focused light dwelled in them whenever she inspected the shelves.
I watched her while drinking tea in the dining room.
Not bad.
She was easy on the eyes, brewed a good cup of tea, and could keep track of the pantry inventory. If the manor could run itself while I slept, then I was one step closer to my ideal life of exploitation. In my previous life, I spent from morning till night cleaning up after other people. Now, it was the reverse. Someone else worked in my stead while I sat in a chair and drank tea. This was it. This was exactly what I wanted.
"Master, I've added a few herbs to this morning's barley porridge. Since we have some of yesterday's beans left over, I can make flatbreads for lunch."
"Fine. Anything is fine as long as it's not harder than yesterday's bread."
"I will boil the hard bread; I won't give it to the birds, but use it after I've tasted it myself. If it does not suit your palate, I will dispose of it."
"Just don't eat it all yourself. It would be a problem if you emptied the pantry under the guise of 'taste-testing.'"
Mylene's eyes widened slightly, and then she gave a small smile. It was only for an instant, but she definitely smiled. At the market, she had been a girl trembling under the weight of insults. That same girl was now taking a joke as a joke in front of me.
It was a good trend.
Those who are constantly terrified hide their mistakes. If she had enough breathing room to smile, her reports would reach me sooner. If that happened, it reduced my own workload. I didn't want to be a "good" master; I wanted to be a comfortable one.
"Master, regarding the pantry ledger, I have finished transcribing it up to this morning. The oil is depleting a little faster than planned. If I cut the light in my room by half—"
"I told you not to reduce it, didn't I?"
"But we should save enough for what you use in your study, Master."
"If you make a mistake in the ledger because you're working in a dark room, I'm the one who'll end up having to fix it. I value my time more than the oil."
Mylene hugged the ledger to her chest, a slightly troubled look on her face.
"Master, you always speak in a way that ensures you do not suffer a loss."
"Yeah. I hate losses."
"In that case, I shall become a maid who never allows you to suffer a loss."
The way she said it was strangely straightforward, and I stopped the hand moving the tea to my lips.
A maid who wouldn't let me suffer a loss.
On paper, it was incredibly convenient. A worker was volunteering herself so that I could take it easy. However, Mylene's face was no longer that of someone being used until they broke. It was the face of a girl who had been entrusted with keys, eaten from the same pot, and learned she didn't have to hide her injuries. She seemed to stand a little taller than before.
I cleared my throat.
"Then, first of all, don't forget to count yourself. If you leave out your own portions of food, oil, and cloth, the ledger will be wrong. And I'm the one who has to look at the ledger you messed up."
"Yes. I will count myself as part of the manor's needs."
Mylene said this and softly stroked the edge of the ledger.
◇
That peace was shattered before noon.
Three mud-caked wooden crates had been placed in front of the gate. They were stuffed with notes sent from the villages. Reports of poor barley harvests, petitions about fallen planks on a bridge, a village where the well rope had snapped, and pleas to delay tax collection. In every case, the paper was cheap and the handwriting was crude. But there was an overwhelming amount of it.
I stood silently in front of the wooden crates for a long time.
I wanted to pretend I hadn't seen them.
The manor had begun to get organized. Tea was served. Food was served. The bed wasn't damp. It should have been about time to start a life where I slept until noon, drank wine, and was looked after by a beautiful maid. And yet, this time, a surge of paperwork had come from the domain.
"Master... these are..."
"Petitions from the domain. You can tell just by looking. Not that I want to."
"I will help as well. If it is just transcribing words, I can still move my hands."
"No."
Mylene looked up.
"Why not? I have been entrusted with the keys to the manor. If I can be of even the slightest use to you, Master..."
"You keep the manor running. The pantry, the kitchen, the lights, the cleaning, my tea. If you take on the petitions from the domain on top of that, you'll start working before dawn again. If that happens, you'll collapse. If you collapse, the manor stops, and I'll be the one in trouble."
Mylene started to say something, then bit her lip.
Don't look so happy.
I wasn't being considerate. I simply didn't want to lose the hands that kept the manor functional. If I let Mylene shoulder the domain ledgers too, the same thing that happened at her previous workplace would happen here. She would take it all on without realizing it and eventually break. I'm the one who would suffer the consequences.
"So, you would be troubled, Master."
"Yeah. Greatly."
"Then, I will not let the manor stop. In exchange, please do not push yourself alone, Master."
"Don't speak as if it's a given that I'll push myself. I won't. I'll hire someone for that."
The moment I said it, it felt strangely right.
That was it. I had Mylene for the manor. In that case, I needed someone to work in my stead for the domain as well. Someone to read the ledgers, sort the petitions, track the flow of money, and handle the troublesome matters while I drank tea. If possible, someone competent, attractive, and cheap to hire would be ideal.
"...I need an aide."
"An aide, Master?"
"Someone to look after the domain. I can't stand staring down these wooden crates. I'll look for some eccentric person who actually likes numbers and petitions."
"I wonder if such a person would happen to be available so conveniently."
"They are. If they aren't, I'll find them. Someone who has fallen on hard times, someone driven from their home, or someone with talent but a bad reputation. Those kinds of people are cheap."
Mylene made a slightly complicated expression.
She likely remembered that she had been hired in a similar way. However, she was no longer the girl who had been trembling at the employment agency. The ring of keys chimed at her waist. That sound indicated exactly where she stood now.
"If it is someone you've chosen, Master... I am sure that person will be able to work as well."
"I'm not 'choosing' them. I'm using them."
"Yes. So that you may take it easy, Master."
There it was again.
I looked down at the wooden crates and let out a deep sigh. There was a mountain of problems in the domain, but there was no need for me to shoulder them all. I was a villainous noble. I was a man who had decided to be on the side that used people, not the side that worked.
First, I would go to town.
I would look for an aide who was competent, beautiful, and hopefully, affordable.
For some reason, my dreams of a life of luxury and debauchery seemed to keep starting with a talent search.