the maid continues to wallow in self-pity

By the time she dared leave the tea room, it was late enough that her co-workers had begun to work. Reem spotted three of them at the main hall, dusting, sweeping, mopping. Their maid outfits clashed with the region's aesthetic which, in turn, matched the castle. Was it a good or a bad thing that they were all attractive young women? That they all had four limbs? After she'd stared at them for an uncomfortably long time, one of them finally stopped. "Hello," she said. "Can I help you?"

"Hello."

"Hi."

"Hi?"

At this rate, she'd be awash in existential dread again. "Today's my first day. Here. Nice to meet you."

"Ah..." The maid trailed off, exchanging glances with the one next to her. "Let me guess: assassin?"

"No?"

"Bounty hunter."

"I'm not here to kill Sionn," Reem said, "Just wash his... house?"

This caused the three maids to stare at her. They were all prettier than her. Not that this was relevant in any shape or form, but it didn't stop Reem from thinking about it. It wasn't a bad thing or anything. Really. It made sense for Sionn to hire only pretty girls aside from her. These kinds of things happened all the time. Life wasn't sunshine and rainbows.

The mopper spoke first. "I've been working here for six months, and it's the first time I hear anyone call the demon by name."

"Aside from his pet," said the duster.

The sweeper's contribution was to nod.

Come to think of it, the only time Reem did not say Sionn's name was when she spoke to him directly. Why? Because. "Eh... what do you guys call him, then? Please don't say 'master'."

"Demon," said the mopper.

"Demon," said the duster.

The sweeper's contribution was to nod.

"And when you talk to him?"

The duster snorted. "I'm actually starting to think she ended up here by accident."

"Nah," said the mopper. "She's just a good actress. I know an artist when I see one."

"Do you now?"

The mopper flashed her non-Reem co-workers a very indecorous gesture. While the duster snickered and the sweeper cringed, the mopper told Reem, "If I were you, I'd quit while you still can. The last time an assassin infiltrated as a maid, the demon had her rip off her own leg, then cook it."

"And eat her toes," whispered the sweeper.

"Yeah! And that was him being nice to her, 'cuz he liked her."

"Very pretty girl," whispered the sweeper.

"For sure. That's why he liked her. But you..." The mopper gave Reem a once-over.

The duster smacked her ass. "Don't be rude to the newbie!"

The mopper smacked her back. On the arm. "Do that again and I'm ripping your leg off and feeding it to the demon."

"Anytime, bitch."

At least her co-workers got along. "I forgot," said the mopper. "You'll probably get paired up with Cai. Whatever you do, don't talk to him."

Reem blinked. "Him?"

"Yeah. Just don't. He's annoying."

"By 'paired up', she means roommate," said the duster.

"He? My roommate?"

The mopper nodded, eyebrows raised. "Talk to him and you won't hear from us again. You have been warned."

"Or Elial," whispered the sweeper.

"Right, I forgot about him. Basically, don't talk to any of the men in this house. We good?"

So it was either getting along with her co-workers or getting along with Sionn. These kinds of things happened everywhere, didn't they? "How about the old man demon?" Asked Reem.

"Who?"

"What?"

"What," Reem echoed. Could that have been Sionn, too, under another disguise? Or a dream? "So... the only demon here is Sionn?"

"As far as I'm aware, at least," said the duster, then smacker the mopper's ass again. "Anyway, ladies, let's get back to work! Girl, if you last for longer than a week, we'll do names."

The mopper mopped, the duster dusted, and the sweeper stared at Reem. Out of all four of them, she was arguably the prettiest, but it was hard to tell with how unkempt her hair was, wavy and tangled, falling down to her waist. The dark circles around her eyes made the leer even more ominous.

The sweeper shook her head.

Perplexed, Reem shook her head back.

Then the sweeper began to sweep.

Maybe she was the assassin. With the status of Girl among her peers, Reem continued on her way. She really should've taken a map. She'd been busy hyperventilating, but still. Reem said the words out loud before opening a door lest she end up in a void or the endless hallway by accident as well.

Since they'd skipped the kitchen last time, she tried accessing it, but it was locked. "Huh," she said. "Kitchen?"

It wouldn't budge.

"Sionn's room?"

The door opened. Reem let out a breath. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Adjusted her ribbon. Cleared her throat.

Having regained what little composure she could, Reem would walk into his office again with the map as an excuse. She'd greet him. Report her progress. Attempt some small talk. Apologize.

That would do.

She walked in...

...to a madman's lair. It wasn't just the numerous piles of scattered books on the floor or the sealed boxes gathering dust at the corner, or the sheer amount of magical artifacts hanging from the walls, or the shelves with half-empty potions, or the way one of the walls had splashes of yellow, hot pink and... red... or even the weapon case at the other corner—no. What tipped her over the edge was that the bed was unmade.

Needless to say, she should've said 'office' instead of 'room'. As Reem turned to flee, she bumped against someone. She hadn't even finished stumbling when she said, "Sionn, I'm so—" then stopped, because this wasn't him, either. (Unless it was another disguise.)

The person in front of her was just a bit taller, just a bit leaner, and way, way prettier than her. He, too, wore a maid's uniform. And a hat. "Uhh," he uhhed. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Was this Cai, The Scorned One? "I'm Reem. Today is my first day here. As a maid. Hi?"

"Why are you here, though?"

"Sionn told me to get familiarized with this place?"

"With his room?"

"In general." It could be the bias, but she was starting to see why he was a Scorned One. Reem continued, "I wanted to go to his office, but I ended up here. That's it. I'm not familiarized with his bed in general if that's what you're thinking. That's what you're thinking, right? No? Are you Sionn but disguised?"

"No," replied the Scorned one. "I'm Caoihme. But people here call me Cai, so you can call me Cai."

With such a name and such a shade of pink on both his hair and eyes, plus the square pupils, it was obvious that he, too, was a foreigner. "Nice to meet you, Kee... Caoihme. I'm—"

Cai slapping his palms together startled her. "You pronounced it correctly!"

"Y-yes?"

Cai taking out a wad of cash from his pocket startled and concerned her. When he handed it to her, Reem blinked. "Here," he said. "Take it."

"I'm sorry?"

"What, do you want another one?"

"No? W-why are you..." She pointed at the money.

Cai wiggled it. "It's a reward for pronouncing my name correctly, of course. Continue to please me and you will earn more."

On one hand, she could see now why the maid trio ostracized him, but on the other, why not 'please' him to get rich, then leave this castle forever? Did they feel as dirty as she did at the thought? "I'll pass," she mumbled. "See you, Cai."

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked.

"Nope. Absolutely nothing. Bye!"

Sionn's office was empty once she fled there. Reem sighed. This castle was full of crazy people. Since she was at a point where she feared nothing, Reem sat on Sionn's chair, which was still warm. His desk was packed with gibberish documents she didn't care about, but what caught her eye was a book of numerical puzzles where every single digit integer had a different color, every time. Not too long after, she found a multi-color pen.

On a blank paper, Reem drew a flower's petals with the pen's pink color, then leaves with its green color, then the center with yellow. In blue, she wrote:

Hello, Sionn.

I sincerely apologize for how I acted earlier. It won't happen again. 

...what else...

Should she lie?

Your demon self and human self are of little difference to me. I hope we continue to have a most cordial acquaintanceship. I will lend you the cowboy novel once I'm done with it.

"I don't read novels."

I also

Reem jumped so much she fell off the chair.