Chapter Five: A new maid

Kate took a few minutes to regain composure after opening up to us. "Kate, why was your ship heading here?" Since she is starting to open up, I might as well be direct. She looks at me and thinks for a bit. Her ears start to droop, and she begins to avoid eye contact. "Well... I..." She pauses for some time. I guess she doesn't know or may not want to discuss it.

"Do you not know?" I ask. She looks at me with teary eyes again. "We... we ran away from the emperor..." Well, I see why she was hesitant to talk. It would be a political nightmare if the Beastkin Empire were to find out that we have her. Wait, there aren't too many major ports on this side of the kingdom, so were they heading for the capital?

"Were you heading to the king?" She nods. "Yes..." I see, then, that maybe there was some secret deal going on in the background; however, that is absolutely the most foolish thing the king could do. Is he trying to start a war with the Beastkin Empire? Judging by my father's and Annabelle's shocked expression, I'm not the only one thinking that.

Well, it's not my problem right now, but having a beastkin around could be beneficial since I know very little about them. Additionally, she appears to be quite resilient and could be a loyal ally. Kate looked to be on the verge of tears again. I guess she doesn't want to go to the king. "It's okay. You can stay here and work as a maid," I claimed. Her face lit up, and I couldn't blame her. I don't know what their deal entailed, but I know that I won't want to meet with that foolish king. However, it seems like my father and Annabelle didn't like my choice.

"Lenka, are you sure we should do that?" Annabelle asked before my father could. "Yes. I don't think sending a beastkin child to the king would be a good idea." Father looked in deep thought about it for a second and then sighed. "I... think you may be right." I wasn't trying to insinuate that the king was like that, but by the way Father responded, I might have to reconsider. Really makes me question what kind of transaction was going on.

"My lord, you can't seriously be considering this?" Annabelle interjected. "If that's what Lenka thinks is best, then I should trust her judgment." "But my lord..." "Enough, Annabelle. We will take her in." With that, the conversation is over. Annabelle looked very annoyed with his quick judgment, but she could only begrudgingly accept his decision.

It was a long rest of the day for most of us. Father and the guards spent the evening checking on the town and clearing the beach of the washed-up bodies from the shipwreck. The maids spent the rest of the day cleaning up debris from the storm and mopping the wet, muddy floors. I spent the rest of the day reading in the study, and Kate spent the rest of the day resting in the spare room.

Kate quickly warmed up to us after that dumb little speech I gave her, as well as accepting her into our home. I tried to get Kate to talk more about the beastkin empire; however, she didn't want to go into complete detail about it. From what I could get out of her, it seemed to be some political struggle between her mother and the emperor. The sunset shines through the study windows. I was reading a book on history when my father walked in. He looks exhausted and sits down in one of the chairs.

"Lenka." "Yes, father." "Are you sure that we should take in Kate?" I guess he is scared that the king might do something if he finds out we took her in. "Yes, father. I believe taking in Kate would benefit us." I said us, but I mainly meant me. Kate seems willing to join us, and learning about beastkin and their unique abilities from her will be valuable information for the future. That, and I could also train Kate to be my assistant if she has the talent for it. He lets out a sigh. "And what do we do about the king? He will eventually figure out about her." "No need to worry about it because he won't find out."

He looks annoyed at me. "We can't hide the news of the shipwreck and its survivor." "I don't know what you're talking about. No one survived the wreck." He looks at me for a second and realizes what I meant. "And what will we tell the people about our new beastkin maid?" He asked.

"Kate is a noble's bastard child, and that noble will not be named for reasons we can't talk about. We were trying to keep her away from the public eye, but she ran out in the storm to try and save the people from the wreck." Father thinks for a while. "And if the king does find out?" "Then the beastkin emperor will also find out." He lay there in silence for a few minutes, then let out a sigh. "I understand. I will send out the letters tomorrow."

The bright morning light was shining through the windows. I move the curtains to a bright, sunny morning. It almost makes you forget that a big storm hit yesterday. There was a knock at the door. I guess breakfast is ready. Mary and Kate enter my bedroom. "Pardon me, but breakfast is ready." They both bow. Kate is wearing what looks to be one of Mary's old maid uniforms. Her tail seems to be sticking out from the back of the uniform. Maybe Annabelle or Mary refitted it last night.

"Understood, I will be down after I get dressed." They both bowed and left my room. I'm starting to get used to living here. It's so easy that I will admit that it is somewhat dull. I don't have to clean, cook, or fight. My days consist mainly of studying. I guess I shouldn't complain too much. After all, the world will be consumed by war at some point. There is still a lot of planning to do, but so far, the only thing I have managed to do is find out some information about this world.

Other than that, I haven't done many of the things that I need to do. After examining this city, it's clear that it won't survive a war. After all, this city doesn't even have a defensive wall or any siege equipment. Heck, the city barely has the basic necessities, such as water and sanitation. They only have basic wells and a simple garbage pit. I let out a sigh. The first thing I would do if I had the power to do so is fix the city's terrible infrastructure.

I finished getting dressed and headed downstairs to the dining room. The breakfast today consisted of eggs, meat, and biscuits. Kate is standing next to Mary, shadowing her work. I start eating, but I am interrupted by a loud grumbling. Both Mary and I look towards Kate. Kate's face lit up a bright red, matching her red hair.

"Mary, go and get Kate some breakfast." "Yes, my lady." My lady? That's odd. She usually just uses my name. Oh, I get it. She's trying to be a good example to Kate. Kate was just standing there with a face so bright red that I was starting to get worried that she might pass out. "Kate, go grab a pillow off of one of the sofas in the living room."

"Ye...Yes, my lady." She nearly trips as she quickly walks out of the dining room. A few seconds later, she comes back with a pillow. "Here... my lady." She offers the pillow to me while bowing. She's kind of a ditz, but she's also somewhat endearing. She reminds me of the stray cats that I used to play with in the past. I reach over and rub her head. Her hair was soft, and her fox ears felt silky smooth. "Fool, that pillow is for you. Put it on the chair next to me and take a seat."

She lifts her head to show her very bright red face, and it almost looks like she wants to cry. Odd she didn't cry over her dead mother, but me petting her and treating her nice nearly does. Kate, almost stumbling over herself, puts the pillow in the chair and takes a seat. Too embarrassed to say anything, Kate just sits there quietly and waits.

Mary walks into the dining room with a plate of food, but stops after a few feet and looks at Kate, then at me, giving me an annoyed look. I guess having a servant sitting at the table with a noble would be an odd thing to see. Oh well, I don't really care about class and noble elegance. I gesture over to Mary to give the food to Kate. Mary looks disappointed but understands and puts the plate of food in front of Kate. Kate looks at the food like a hungry predator, then looks at me for approval. "Go ahead and eat, Kate. You're going to need the energy for later." They both looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Mary, I want you to teach Kate to read and write." Mary again looked at me with disappointment. "Why Lenk..." She paused and gave a slight cough. "Why, my lady, would Kate need to know?" I think I get what she is thinking. Why would a servant need to read and write? Well, pot meet kettle, it is odd that you know Mary. It's almost like the made-up story for Kate about a noble's bastard child was about you. Well, whatever her indifferent mood is about, it doesn't change the fact that I need her to learn.

"Mary, I don't value my subordinates based on status. I value them based on potential, and I believe Kate has great potential. I have been thinking I need a lady-in-waiting, and if Kate shows promise, I would want her." What I said wasn't a complete lie. I will need an assistant in the future to help me, but I want Kate not for her potential but because it gives me an opportunity to learn more about beastkin.

Mary rolls her eyes at me and sighs. "Fine, I will teach Kate." Kate was busy devouring her food, and by how her ears and tail twitched, I could tell she was paying attention to our conversation. She's just like a stray cat, and I almost reached out to pet her again, but I stopped myself. Mary would scold me for being unladylike.

Since Mary took Kate to the study to teach her, I decided to go see Father and ask him some questions that have been on my mind for a while. When I walked into the office, that was right next to the study. The room had several sofas and chairs, as well as a large desk situated in the center of the room. Behind the desk was a window, and on the shelves were numerous documents and scrolls. My father wasn't in here, so I took the opportunity to snoop a little.

On the desk, several documents were scattered around. I grab one of them and look at it. At the bottom of the document was a large golden stamp with a crown-shaped design in the center. Wait, I've seen that stamp in one of the books. If I recall correctly, it is the king's stamp. I quickly started reading it.

The document from the king demands that we send more flour to the elves as tribute. Which is odd because none of the history books ever mentions a treaty or agreement that requires us to send them tributes. I glance over at the documents next to it, and they are financial ledgers; by the look of them, the tributes are costing our house a great deal of money. No wonder Father always seems so busy.

This is going to be a major issue in the future. Without any money, I won't be able to build up this city's defenses or build an army. I need to fix this, but I'm not sure how. Currently, we are providing nearly all of our flour to the elves by order of... The king! That's right, Kate mentioned that she was heading to the king and fleeing from the beastkin emperor. This would mean that I could exploit the king's secret deal.

I rummaged through the drawers and found some paper. Grabbing the quill, I began writing to the king. You will deliver us payment for all of our tributes to the elves, or else we will send the body of a certain beastkin back to the beastkin emperor, and we both know how the emperor will respond. Also, don't bother sending anyone to collect it. We have already taken steps to make sure that it's in a place far outside your reach.

I stamped the letter with our house's seal, then sealed it with a wax seal. Then I put it in a drawer with a bunch of other letters that will be sent out. I'm aware that blackmailing the king is a risky gamble, but so is doing nothing while our house slowly goes into debt. Granted, this could easily backfire, but I've already died once. So the hell with it.

I might as well take a risk and gain every possible advantage. Money is a necessity for war, and since it's impossible to predict when these wars will occur, it's better to take drastic measures now rather than pay for them later. Plus, I have a feeling that there's probably a good reason why the king was keeping this deal of his a secret.

I made sure to put everything away when I left the office. Since there is nothing for me to do right now, I might as well check up on Kate and Mary. After opening the door to the office, I met with Annabelle, who was waiting for me. She gave me a very forced smile that was clearly hiding her annoyance. "Pardon me, Lenka, but why don't we have a little chat?"