The day flew by at a dizzying pace.
The mercenary captain wanted breakfast, so Nina went to prepare it. It also turned out to be the day that Pearly Cloud and Morning Star made an appearance at the training grounds, and it was their habit to take a bath together in private afterward. Nina would have liked to watch them train, but between getting things ready for them, running the bath, and tidying up when they were done, she didn’t get so much as a glimpse. She only heard the roar of cheering voices from outside.
Later, she tended to the captain again. He’d told her he was going out around noon with the woman he’d brought back last night, so she saw he was properly dressed and saw him off, and before she knew it, it was lunchtime.
The cook, obstinate as he was, respected Nina’s skill in the kitchen and stood by with his arms crossed, watching her as she prepared her own variations on his recipes. It was as though he were surveilling her...or rather, studying her.
Pearly Cloud and Morning Star emerged from the bath looking like different people, their hair and fur sleek and shiny. They ate lunch, then declared they were sleepy and went to take a nap. There was no time to mention Tien.
Nina was sweeping the hall when the mercenary captain returned home—with a different woman on his arm. For a sixty-year-old, he had the strapping build of a much younger man and was in excellent health in more ways than one.
“I’ve got a business meeting! Bring wine!” he demanded, leaving Nina to puzzle out what “business meeting” and “wine” had to do with each other. Once she’d seen to that, the butler summoned her to inform her that an envoy from a noble was out at the front of the mansion demanding to see Pearly Cloud and Morning Star, and she was to handle the matter.
Nina thought to herself that handling nobles wasn’t really a maid’s job, but presumably the housekeeper always dealt with such things. So she went down to the front gate, where there waited a man wearing fine clothes and a look of irritation.
Nina explained to him that she couldn’t let him in to see the lupalune couple. It was the Dark Frost Mercenaries’ rule, one that they had permission from Her Majesty the Empress to enforce. This was true—the previous captain had gone to the empress to negotiate for this right.
Unfortunately, thinking mercenaries were beneath him, the noble’s servant didn’t listen and kicked up a huge stink.
“Refusal of an audience will be taken as an act of defiance against Baron Hitbalt!” he bellowed.
“I’m terribly sorry, sir. Those are the rules of this household...”
“Are you mocking me, girl?!”
“I beg your pardon, sir.”
“Enough! I demand that you open this gate!”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the authority to do that.” Nina bowed repeatedly, hoping against hope that he would give up and leave.
Just then, the old man who ran errands emerged from the mansion.
“What’s all this then?” he said.
“Who are you supposed to be? I serve Baron Hitbalt!”
“Do you really? I’m told these folk have the right to refuse summons even from nobles—the empress herself granted it to them.”
“Stuff and nonsense!” the servant snapped. “You will bring those lupalunes out at once or make an enemy of the Hitbalt house!”
“Oh? Well, I see nothing wrong with that.”
“Y-You...?!”
“What?!”
Both Nina and the noble’s servant stared at the old man in shock.
“The Dark Frost Mercenaries are among the greatest in the Yupiter Empire,” the old man said. “They’ve got nothing to fear from a mere baron.”
The servant gaped, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. “I’ll hold you to those words, old man!” he cried, then he mounted his horse and rode away. He could have argued more, but perhaps he knew the old man was right.
Nina knew no such thing, however.
“Oh dear, this is terrible! You can’t just say things like that to a noble!”
“Can’t I?” the old man said, nonplussed. “I’ve been coming here a long time, miss. They won’t give two figs what some baron thinks.”
“That’s not what I mean! Speaking out of turn like that could get you sacked!”
The old man blinked. “Well I’ll be. Are you worried about me, miss?”
“How could I not be?!”
He chuckled. “It’s nice to still be worried about even at my age.”
“I really mean it!” Nina insisted.
The old man looked up at the mansion. It was still and silent. “Even after all that commotion, no one came to see what it was about.”
“Well, it’s the maids’ job to attend to visitors...”
“Is it? Shouldn’t the butler or the master of the house come out to see nobles?”
“E-Erm... I’ve only just arrived in the Yupiter Empire, so I wasn’t sure what the custom was...”
“There, there. It’s not you I’m angry at, miss.”
Now that he mentioned it, Nina realized that he really was angry. But she couldn’t figure out why.
“But never mind. I’m old. I doubt I’ve got much more work in me. Still, it’s been a pleasure to meet a sweet girl like you right at the end.”
“Let me make you some tea to say thank you.”
“No, no. You needn’t bother with an old man like me. You’re busy, aren’t you? Off you hop.” With that, the old man tottered away. Rather than go inside, he walked around the outside of the building toward the back entrance.
“Goodbye!” Nina called after him. The old man gave her a little wave.
After he was gone, she put herself back on track. “He’s right,” she said. “I’ve still got work to finish.” She went back to the mansion, opened the front door, and stepped inside—
“There she is! That’s the maid! Nina!”
It was the blue-haired maid. She and several other maids stood in the entrance. At the sound of shouting, a few mercenaries appeared to see what the fuss was about.
What was the fuss about?
Nina stared in confusion as Morning Star and Pearly Cloud emerged from the third floor of the atrium and descended the stairs. The blue-haired maid stood waiting at the bottom of the staircase.
Morning Star’s face was hard, and fury burned in her eyes.
“I am disappointed,” she said. “You seemed like such an excellent maid.”
“M-Ma’am...?”
“Oh, you’ve got some nerve. You must have known what’d happen if you were caught stealing my necklace!”
Morning Star was so incandescent with rage that Nina trembled before her. The other maids shot her looks of utter contempt.
When the mercenaries realized that Nina was the subject of Morning Star’s anger, they advanced on her, growling, “You forget your place, maid!” and “You’re dead meat!”
“This necklace is my pride and joy,” Morning Star hissed at her. “Not a day goes by that I don’t check on it, so I knew right away that it was gone.”
The blue-haired maid produced a silver tray upon which lay a necklace set with a great emerald. Morning Star picked it up. The gemstone glittered brilliantly in the light.
“S-Steal...? I don’t understand...” Nina stammered.
“Don’t play the fool with me! This maid found it and brought it to me. She found it in your bag!”
“What?!”
“Everyone in this house knows how much I love this necklace. But you just got here—you had no idea. So when I discovered it was missing, this maid knew just where to look. And sure enough, she found it!”
Nina had no idea what was going on, but she had to defend herself. At this rate, everyone would believe this false accusation.
But something was wrong.
Nina tried to open her mouth but couldn’t. It was as though she’d been turned to stone. She knew this feeling. It was just like last time—back when the housekeeper at the Mirkwood estate had framed her for breaking the vase.
There was no one who’d believe her, no matter what she said.
No one to stand up and testify to her innocence.
Her job as a maid—the job she was so proud of—snatched away from her...
“Lock the doors! She mustn’t escape!” shouted Pearly Cloud. At his order, a line of mercenaries formed behind Nina and slammed the front door shut. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, Nina was completely alone.