Chapter 5 – Meeting my Mistress (Letica’s POV)

Wow, this was the first time I slept on a bed which isn’t cardboard pieces. And now I can’t imagine ever falling asleep without a bed. It feels so heavenly, to think I have this entire room to myself.

Following Livia yesterday was the best decision I ever made.

The maid who introduced herself as ‘Mili’ showed me around the mansion before stopping by the baron’s office.

As I entered, I saw a middle-aged man with blonde hair, with some white hair sprinkled in between. He was going through some sort of file.

“Good morning, Letica. I hope you had a good night”

“Good morning Mister. I had a wonderful sleep on the bed, it’s very comfortable. How about you?”

“That’s good, I had an uninterrupted sleep. So, I suppose the maids told you about the work you would be expected to perform”

"They said I'd have to train for a while before being assigned to the Lady," I said.

He held the file in his hand,

“Of course, I hope you don’t mind me prying into your past. I asked one of my knights to run a background check on you. It seems you really were a homeless orphan. I’m impressed you survived all alone”

“It’s okay, I did what I had to in order to survive. I would have given up, if not for the system revealing a high talent”

“You won’t need to worry about that now that you are my employee. I treat my employees very well. Moreover, you said you didn’t even want any salary. That’s the reason I assigned you a slightly better room compared to other maids" He continued,

"However, if you decide to leave, I will reward you with enough money to live happily ever after"

I just need a place to stay and food to eat. Why would I want to leave?

“Thank you for your generosity”

“And one last thing before you leave. I partly hired you to be a friend to my daughter. It always worries me that she’s never had any friends her age. Seeing that you are so close to her age, please be a good friend to my daughter. I am asking you, not as the Baron, but as Aria’s Father.”

“un, I will”

I left the room, and so my life living at the Baron’s mansion began. I still can’t believe so much has changed in a mere day.

Over the course of the next three months, I was taught various things about nobles and etiquette.

It was a tedious process, but the kind maids patiently taught me everything that was required of me.

The maids are so nice to me, I started to think of them as sisters. They taught me how to style my hair, and I looked marginally different from what I looked a few months ago.

They even ate these things called ‘deserts’ from my plate, which we were given once a week. These things supposedly tasted horrible. Ha, they are so nice.

Anyway, so the point is, these past few months were the happiest moments of my life. I hope things stay this way.

Today was the last day of my training. Mili said that I am ready to become a full-fledged maid.

I slept merrily, and woke up early. I was very excited and nervous to meet my possible mistress. What if she doesn’t like me? Such doubts ran through my mind.

I gathered all the courage and stared at the mirror while doing my hair. Before my eyes was a tad bit thin 10-year-old kid, who was wearing short hair and had dark black eyes. I looked kind of cute, not gonna lie.

If you told me this was me three months ago, I would have laughed at your bad joke.

These past months have changed my life for the better.

I waited for until I was called to the Baron's office.

The Baron introduced me to my Lady 'Aria Ernius'.

She looked like what I imagined her to be. A beautiful, elegant yet playful-looking young girl. She had golden blonde hair, much like the Baron’s. Her eyes were deep blue colored. Her face was quite different from the Baron’s, she must have gotten it from her mother.

She had this confident / mature aura around her.

Overall, she looked very cute, and I could tell she will be a beauty when she grows up.

She gracefully introduced herself, and I replied as well as I could.

She showed me her room and asked if I liked it? I was taken aback as to why she would ask a mere maid’s opinion.

Then she did what I never expected her to do in the past three months that I’ve been training to be a dutiful maid. She dragged me to her bed and asked me to be her friend.

She told me to drop the mannerisms and etiquettes when it’s just the two of us around.

Furthermore, she genuinely wanted to be my friend. I’ve never had a friend in the past, so I was very happy to hear her words.

At this moment, as I was lost in my thoughts, something touched my head on the side above my ears.

Honestly, this feeling was heavenly. I can see myself getting addicted to it.

Then I realized I was in front of Aria, just to see her smug face as she patted her hand around my head.

At this moment, my face must have been as red as a tomato.

Imagine having a kid, 2 years younger than me, treat you like that. More embarrassingly, I liked the feeling. Oh god!

“A...Aria, I am older than you, so you should not treat me like that!”

My tone, which was supposed to be intimidating, had the complete inverse effect due to stuttering.

How is she able to melt me, with just a single touch?

She eventually let go. A part of me was disappointed, but I didn’t let it show on my face.

We chatted for a long time. She showed me various new things, such as her clothes and magic tools.

I noticed that she had a very passionate look in her eyes when she talked about magic tools.

For someone younger than me, she is so much more mature than me. She is such a gentle and caring person, I’ll give it my all to be her best friend I can be.

I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. I saw Aria trying to wake me up. I immediately put the pieces together and realized my mistake. Whaa…How can I fall asleep on my Lady’s bed? On our very first meeting at that!

I immediately started apologizing, but she reassured me again that it’s fine to act like this with just the two of us.

Hehe… ‘Just the two of us’, I felt kinda special.

Later on the next day, I prepared water for her bath and tried to wake her up, as it’s one of my duties as her personal maid.

After failing to wake her up, I turned towards the door to ask Mili what to do?

As I walked, I felt a sudden push from behind, which made me fall face first. My hands shielded most of the impact.

I turned behind me, to see what had just happened. Only to find the panicked face of Aria.

Oh, I see. She wanted to prank me, but it got out of hand. Haha, who would have guessed she had this childish side to her.

I remembered, that she might get late for breakfast because of this.

She noticed my wrist was strained and bandaged me herself.

When I reminded her about the breakfast again, she got mad at me and left.

Hah, why is she being so difficult?

After having breakfast, I waited for her by her room.

After a while, she asked me if I knew how to write? To which I truthfully replied.

She pulled out a bunch of sheets of paper and had me learn to write. I was going to try to learn how to write anyway, so this makes my life easier.

As she watched me struggle, she had this brilliant idea of teasing me again. She promised to reward me with more headpats, if I completed all the alphabets neatly.

As much as I hated to admit it, this promise ignited something inside me. I was much more focused and completed the task quicker than expected. I inwardly enjoyed her pats, but I can't let that show.

I can’t believe I did that. You know what, they say that the system changes your personality.

That must be it. I would never do such a thing on my own.

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Rest assured, Letica. The system had nothing to do with this. In fact, your system can’t perform any of the usual activities before you select a master.

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You’ve got to be kidding me!