the girl is a maid at an evil demon lord's castle

This happened every time Reem forgot that she wasn't meant to get comfy around anyone. She was used to it, so it was fine, but it'd also be useful to reflect for the future. Where had it all gone wrong? The obvious response was 'after dipping one's arms into a demon lord's bathwater', but sometimes one had to look deeper into things.

Was he annoyed when Reem yapped about the novel? Maybe. 

Was he annoyed after she failed to wake him up at the train? Yes. That was probably it. It'd all gone downhill from there. To be fair, the normal thing would've been to scream the moment he landed on her side, but even though it'd startled her, since he'd fallen asleep, she figured that it hadn't really been his fault, and it kind of didn't bother her anyway. 

Out of sight, out of mind? How differently would she have reacted had he lacked a human's appearance? 

Just like she did when Sionn opened the door Reem had exited just minutes ago; by flinching.

Right.

He was...

Right.

Now back to his demon self, with his hollow voice, and as he gazed at her with that glacial expression, Sionn said, "Pardon the digression. You can proceed to sign the contract... or have you perhaps changed your mind?"

To which Reem wanted to reply with 'nah, the pay is too good', but all that came out was, "Nfffhhh..."

Given her hands trembled, Reem cut her finger a bit too deep with the blade, so what fell on the contract was less a drop and more a splash. It wasn't anything a bandage couldn't heal. It hurt, though. Like a lot. Hopefully, he hadn't noticed.

The moment she splattered the page, a black ring materialized on the hand that still had five fingers (slight exaggeration), to which Sionn the demon said, "You have access to the entire castle now. Open any door, and wherever you yearn to go, the ring will take you. As an example, I reached this room by thinking about it. Mouthing the word also works. I would advise taking a map for better visualization. There are several of them on the coffee table."

Reem wanted to say 'I know how it works', but what came out was, "Aiiieee..."

"Given it is your first day and you chose to wear unwieldy clothes, you can spend the rest of the night familiarizing yourself with the castle. Feel free to steal and see what happens."

Reem wanted to say 'I know how enchanted castles work. How stupid do you think I am? This place is less a luxurious manor and more a hoarding madman's lair anyway. You think I don't see the stitches on your cape? You did them yourself, didn't you? Because it SHOWS. Why are you scary now? Are you? Or do I just have to get used to this you again because—' "Ghhaaa..."

"Any questions?"

Reem shook her head.

"None?"

"Nffhh..."

"Nothing bothering you?"

She'd hidden her hand behind her back, but come to think of it, he could probably smell the blood dripping from her finger anyway. Reem swallowed. "All good."

"You look pale," he said, "And your speech is nonsensical even by your standards."

"B-banana."

There was a pause. It took Sionn looking at her for Reem to realize they'd avoided eye contact from the moment she'd walked into the room. Her, because she was stupid. Him, because...? "I see. Well, you are dismissed. A maid might seek you later to get you better acquainted with, um, with everyone else." Another pause. "Is it truly so hard to say 'I almost tore my finger off, can you please help'?"

Reem nodded.

"But it would be easy if I still were disguised, would it not?"

"Nnnff... hh... bye."

Once Reem left the room, she let out a breath so long she feared her lungs could collapse. She had neither thought nor mouthed anything as she fled out the door, so what lay ahead of her was a gray hallway with torches that were more decoration than utility, no carpet, no windows, just an endless path that vanished into a shadow at the horizon.

She still had the door behind her, and now she had the magical access key ring thing, so Reem wasn't too bothered by that.

'But it'd be easy if I were still disguised, would it not?'

No.

Or yes?

If he'd napped on top of her earlier as a demon, would she not have screamed? Or if he'd rested on the same hospital bed as her? Would she even have dared start the failed innuendo?

Reem sat with her back to the door and idly watched her bloody finger. It wasn't that deep a cut. It could get infected, though. 

Her insurance would find a way to not cover the expenses of this. Since she'd have to use her fingers for both jobs—as a maid and waitress—this could quickly get out of hand. No pun intended. 

But she couldn't just ask for a sick leave, could she? Not for her first day. On both jobs. The intelligent solution would be to bandage it. With what, though? Would she really have to go back and ask for help, after...

Reem rested her head on her knees for a while.

It was all good. All good. Worse things happened all the time. She'd just have to walk in. Fail to excuse her behavior. Get healing supplies. Treat her finger. 'Familiarize herself with the castle'. Talk to her new co-workers. Fail to get comfy. Finish her shift. Leave the castle. Go to her other job. Finish her shift. Leave the coffee shop... get ready for her second day as a maid? She also had to either ask for or buy a uniform or two. Probably buy. She'd figure out how to sleep for longer than three hours a day later...

...oh, right, and she'd also told the boy in black to meet at the coffee shop...

Reem stood up. "I'm good now," she mumbled. "It's all good."

She knocked on the door. Her hand jerked when Sionn responded, "Come in."

Reem stared at the door for a long time, remembered to breathe, then breathed. She would've died otherwise.

"Yes?" He urged.

As she opened the door, she thought of the tea room and, sure enough, she found herself walking inside it. Lots of tea, lots of books, lots of... fabric? So she tore a scrap from one of them and wrapped the injury with it. Once she returned to the town, she'd get it disinfected at a clinic.

She sat in the same spot that she had a few days ago. "I'm stupid," Reem told the tea room. "I don't know why. I shouldn't have accepted this job. It's good pay, but it takes too long to travel here, then back home, then to the coffee shop... when am I supposed to anything?"

She lay on the couch. "At least I'll be able to save money this time. Let's see... five...? Years...? And then I can go back if I save all my salary from this job. Yay! That's assuming I don't die. I left home to have a better life and now I'm working as a maid and a waitress to go back home to have a better life... yay... and—kweh!"

Someone walked in. Reem quickly draped a piece of fabric over her, but it was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes or ears or a nose that there was someone on one of the couches.

Of course, the intruder walked over to her.

The intruder placed something on the table. Tea? Some kind of pastry on a tray?

As the intruder left, Reem scrambled up, blabbering, "Wait! Sionn, I'm so..." to then trail off, because the intruder, while also a demon, was notably smaller, far less pompous, and... smiled? "...oh. Hello?"

After nodding once, the intruder walked out the door.

Reem turned back to the tray of goodies on the table. They could be poisoned.

Naturally, she swallowed them.