“Anyway, the plan to take revenge is already well underway! Please, go home without causing us any trouble.”
“Fine...”
“I am glad we could come to an understanding.”
“In exchange, would you mind if I decapitated that easygoing old man I saw feeding the birds?”
“Go home!”
Some days later, Sofia stumbled into Rachel’s office and collapsed on one of the sofas in the reception area. Using her mistress’s property without permission like this was punishable, but today she felt like she deserved an exception.
“I’m exhausted...” Sofia moaned.
“You must be,” Lisa said with a nod before preparing some tea. The sound of water pouring from teapot to cup echoed in the quiet room.
The Black Cats of the Dark Night had been working at full operational capacity, monitoring the highly dissatisfied grand duchess and her people from the moment she agreed to withdraw until the moment the cultural delegation they’d been masquerading as returned home. When one of the grand duchess’s people went into town on an errand, they’d let them catch glimpses of the knights and the hoodlums The Black Cats of the Dark Night controlled in town in order to say, “We’re watching your every move.” They had tripled their watch on Elliott at night too.
It seemed the grand duchess had a hard time giving up. When it was dark out, women in black clothes would appear out of the shadows or on the rooftops and get into standoffs with the watchers. They both knew who the other side was, so no weapons were drawn, but it was a touch-and-go situation. The stress was getting to Meia and the other field commanders’ stomachs, so they couldn’t eat much. Fortunately, they all had a separate stomach for sweets, so their caloric intake still worked out just fine.
Luckily, just moments ago, Sofia had received a report from the spies tailing them, relating that the group had crossed the border. You couldn’t blame Sofia for going weak with relief.
“That time there were twenty of us from each side, all on the roof above the prince’s room. I was worried we would have to draw weapons any moment,” Sofia said.
“When I thought that he was right beneath us, fast asleep and without a clue, even though we were in the middle of a showdown, it felt stupid to keep stopping them,” Lisa complained. “Why did we have to go through so much effort to protect that blockhead?”
“It feels so contradictory.”
“We do all that for him, and he’s snoring through it. I’m not like the grand duchess, but even I want to tear that idiot apart.”
“You said it.”
Lisa set Sofia’s cup down on the table and began pouring one for herself. After a sip, she let out a long sigh.
“Still, I can’t help but feel the grand duchess has gotten the ends and the means backwards.”
“She must still not be over what happened to her,” Sofia guessed. “I am not sure that helping others vent her frustration is the best thing to do, though.”
I understand how she must feel, but this doesn’t involve her, so I wish she wouldn’t do things that cause trouble for the people it does.
Just as Sofia, who’d been using the armrest as a pillow, was thinking of sitting up, there came the sound of indecorous footsteps running in the hallway, and then someone flung the door open. Sofia and Lisa’s eyes widened as Mimosa, whose footsteps were uncharacteristically loud for her, came in.
“Miss Sofia, we have trouble!” Mimosa blurted.
“What now?” Sofia asked with a sigh.
“An international feminist organization called the Lunatic Ladies, in which the young mistress has friends, has sent their unlawful operations unit, Saint Rose, to infiltrate the capital. We believe Princess Zofie of the Kingdom of Rhodesia is commanding them.”
Lisa dropped the tea cozy she’d been folding. “Princess Zofie... You mean the one who finally snapped and had her husband crucified after he constantly cheated on her, and who has been working hard for women’s rights ever since?”
“Yes, her. When she heard about the ‘tragedy’ that’s befallen our young mistress, she rounded up a group of capable people and came here personally.”
Too exhausted to even sit up at this point, Sofia lay there and shouted, “For the love of God, give me a break already!!!”
Rachel was in the middle of reading when Sofia showed up to make the regularly scheduled report.
“Young mistress, I have a request for you...” she started.
“What is it?” Rachel asked.
Sofia held out what appeared to be a ticket of some sort. “You see, I was hoping we could provide more types of compensation for your subordinates.”
“That sounds good to me. What’s this? Massage tickets?”
“Yes. One ticket entitles us to thirty minutes of massaging you.”
Rachel laid her book down on the side table and considered this for a moment.
“Massaging me, not being massaged by me?”
“Correct. Have no worries. This will be limited to the women working in the manor.”
“I understand that, but...they want to massage me in order to relax?”
“Of course.” Sofia raised both her hands and wiggled her fingers. “I will massage you with all my might to relieve stress.”
Seeing that Rachel had gone silent, Sofia kept on pressing the issue, her face even more expressionless than usual.
“Thanks to your far too many friends, we have been dealing with all sorts of stressors lately. When this incident is over and you are able to return, we would very much appreciate your help in resolving that stress.”
“Can we do something else?” Rachel asked hesitantly.
“I have already begun distributing the tickets based on performance. Everyone is really looking forward to it.”
“This isn’t a request, is it? We’re already past the point of me being able to refuse, aren’t we?”
“I’m especially looking forward to it,” Sofia said with a dreamy sigh. “Incidentally, I already have thirty tickets saved up myself.”
Sofia, who was known for her poker face, cracked a grin. Rachel couldn’t help but grin too. Neither was smiling with their eyes.
“Oh, I’m starting to want to stay in here forever.”
As Rachel tried to hide, Sofia smiled broadly. “No, no, we could never let our precious young mistress stay buried in a dungeon like this! We will work ourselves to the bone to have you out as soon as possible. I really am looking forward to it, you know?”
“Sofia, you flatterer. Hee hee.”
“It’s only natural. Hee hee hee.”
The all-too-similar master and servant smiled at each other from opposite sides of the metal bars.