“Enough. My word is final. All I ask is that you remove yourself from the estate of the honorable Count Mirkwood, and I shall consider the matter closed.”
“B-But it truly wasn’t me...”
“Would you prefer to pay for the vase out of your meager salary? It was valued at three million gold.”
“I... I can’t afford that.”
“Then hurry up and gather your things. I want you gone today. And from this moment forth, I forbid you to speak with any of the other servants. Is that clear?” The housekeeper got to her feet as though to declare that the conversation was over. She opened the door out of the room, then stood imposingly to one side.
That was Nina’s cue to get out. Reeling from the shock, she rose heavily, then slowly made her way out into the corridor. Even so, she still bowed her head and said, “It was an honor to serve this household. I wish you all health and happine—”
SLAM.
The door shut. After regarding it silently, Nina walked back to her room, scarcely able to tell if her feet were moving at all.
Her room was located in a detached wing of Count Mirkwood’s estate that housed its various servants. Among them were all sorts of different maids, from ladies’ maids to kitchen and scullery maids to parlor and nursery maids—thirty of them, all told—not to mention the butler’s men, the footmen, the cook, and the boys. The sheer number of servants was a testament to Count Mirkwood’s wealth.
Nina reached her room at last. It was just large enough for a bed, a writing desk, and a wardrobe. Her own possessions were negligible, but for one: the travel bag she took out to pack with. Though scarcely used, it was well taken care of—this was the bag Nina had brought with her when she came to the house five years earlier.
I’d hoped to buy you a big travel bag for when you’re grown up, yet here you are, Nina, off to work before you could get any bigger. Well, there’s nothing else for it. Here, this was mine when I was young, but it’s got a lot of use in it yet. Take it with you.
The bag was a gift from Nina’s mentor, who had trained her to perfection in all a maid’s skills.
“I’m sorry, mistress...” Nina murmured. As she packed up her belongings, bitter tears spilled down her cheeks. “There... There was so much I could have done for this household. But now I have to leave...”
She had been three years old when she’d begun helping her mentor with housework, and five when her mentor had noted her gift for it and they’d begun to work together. When she was ten, Nina had received her mentor’s seal of approval and gone out on her own to the estate of Count Mirkwood.
Five years had passed since then, and Nina was now fifteen years old. Never had she imagined that she would be cast out like this—for a crime of which she had no recollection.
“Well, if leaving is to be my final duty,” she said to herself, “I’d better do it right.” She thought back on what her mentor had told her.
A maid completes every task to perfection. You must be inconspicuous. Standing out is the master’s job.
Nina checked her appearance in a little mirror. She quickly tucked loose strands of mousy brown hair back into her two braids. Behind her glasses, the eyelashes that framed her sky-blue eyes were wet with tears that she wiped away with a handkerchief, trying as best she could to return her face to normal.
She had no personal items of clothing. She could wear her maid’s uniform about town without anyone giving her a second glance, as maids hardly ever had time off. Some did take holidays, but never Nina, who couldn’t stand the idea of the house getting dirty or the other servants’ work falling behind because she’d taken a day off.
Nina put on a coat over her maid uniform, then she remembered.
“Oh! I need to hand over my duties—”
But the housekeeper’s words came back to her: I forbid you to speak with any of the other servants.
Of course. She couldn’t speak to anyone.
Nina fell silent. She would have to leave without seeing her duties properly handed over.
“But I can do this much at least.”
She took out a sheaf of notes in which she had recorded the names, descriptions, food preferences, and points of caution for each guest who called at the estate. It would surely be of use to someone.
Nina turned back to the room she had spent the past five years in and bowed. The bedsheets were pulled tight and there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere. It was perfectly taken care of.
Nina had taken pleasure in keeping the whole house in the same way.
“Look, over there.”
“Ooh. Isn’t that Nina, the one they fired today?”
Nina stepped out into the corridor to the sound of maids’ voices.
“I never understood how such an average girl got a job working for a man of great consequence like Count Mirkwood.”
“Shhh. She’ll hear you.”
“So what? She isn’t a part of this household anymore.” The other maids giggled.
They wore maid uniforms, but their hair was carefully coiffed and adorned with small accessories, all in the hopes of winning the attentions of the master of the house. The mistress of a noble, after all, could have whatever her heart desired.
Of course, one could guess how good such women were at their jobs. It had been down to Nina to pick up every bit of work they neglected.
Even so, she now went up to one of them.
The other maid turned her nose up and demanded, “What do you want?”
Nina held out her notes.
“I-I’m not talking to anyone, just to myself. This is a list of notes about the guests who have visited this household. I’m sure it will be useful.”