The Devil's Disciple

Chapter 8: Princess, I Have A Solution

Chapter 8

Midas was starting to grow impatient as his lady set her quill down for the umpteenth time to take a short tea break. Short equated to fifteen minutes.

"I will take a tea break." The dreaded words came out of her mouth.

"Princess, I will go get the tea," Wendy volunteered.

Midas' forehead crinkled. If he had known it would be like this from the start, he wouldn't have bothered to even give the paperwork to his lady. What could he expect from a twelve year old?

"My lady, I suggest you take an hour break. You will come back refreshed," Midas suggested. Forget it. He was going to take this paperwork into his hands. Working at this snail's pace wouldn't get them anywhere. Besides, he was already used to doing this work.

"Thank you for giving me the advice, Midas. I will gladly take you up on that offer," Ildra smiled. She walked out of the study with Victoria following behind her. Though, as soon as the door to her room closed behind her, her smile slipped.

"What a disaster," Ildra murmured to herself. Victoria showed no reaction upon seeing her mistress talk to herself.

"Princess, if I may say so, I believe Midas is disappointed by your performance," Victoria spoke up.

"I am not a complete blockhead. I know that. Anyone would be disappointed by my performance. Even I am disappointed by my performance. I must fix this problem soon before Midas completely hates me."

"Princess, I have a solution."

"Let's hear it."

Ildra would not be opposed to any idea that Victoria could provide. Although, she did not trust the maid, she knew that she was in desperate need of a solution.

She really did not trust her.

Although, it had only been a day since Victoria had become her maid, her resolve was already wavering.

Why? Because when Ildra had given all the important tasks to Wendy, when Victoria was clearly better at them, Victoria had not said a thing. Because when fellow maids who recognized Victoria's plight had given her a chance to vent her frustrations, Victoria had not said a single word.

Ildra had used some of her free time to puzzle Victoria's actions. Not only had Victoria not spoken against her, but she had also defended her. What did she do that warranted her protection? Was Victoria acting when she defended her? No. There was a very less chance of Victoria actually realizing her mistress was eavesdropping on the conversation. No servant would ever be able to fathom his/her master taking a tryst to the servants' quarters.

Or could it be that Victoria had just been following her master's orders on protecting her? Did protection mean emotional protection as well? Ildra frowned. That was a very unique way of interpreting the meaning of the word 'protection'. Whatever the case may be, this possibility could not be crossed off her list.

She should have trusted Victoria from the start as she was a maid of Duke Castiel. And Ildra did very much trust Duke Castiel. However, she could not trust others so easily, no matter how much she wanted to.

Victoria did not waste any time and immediately dived into her idea, pulling Ildra from her thoughts to focus on the present situation.

"This is surprisingly very simple," Ildra commented.

"Yes, it is," Victoriatia agreed. "But this idea will only work for today. I'm sorry to say that I'm helpless for the rest of the days. You'll have to come up with a permanent solution yourself, princess. Hopefully, this trip will spark an idea," Victoria comforted while helplessly smiling.

"It's okay. This is more than enough."

A sudden knock interrupted their conversation.

"Come in."

Wendy pushed open the door with one hand while balancing a tray with another hand. The tea set on the tray started to slide to the other end of tray. The tea set definitely would have fallen off if not for Victoria quickly taking the tray into her hands.

"Thank you so much!" Wendy thanked. Wendy was not completely unaware of her actions. She knew that if Victoria had not helped, she would have shattered another tea set.

"Princess, you should have sent someone to tell me you went back to your room. I wasted my time going back to the study. Midas seemed unhappy, princess," Wendy informed.

"I know. I'm sorry, Wendy. Ah, it seems you've turned brave again, scaredy cat," Ildra smiled.

Wendy's face turned red yet again. Why did her mistress love teasing her so much? If she had known before...No, if she had known before, she would still follow her mistress. Teasing is nothing and enjoyable compared to abuse. She shuddered. She still remembered the day the queen murdered one of her maids in front of her daughter.

"Penny for your thoughts, scaredy cat?" the princess asked bringing Wendy out of her morbid thoughts.

Wendy shook her head.

"They're about nothing important," she brushed off, showing off a bright smile. She didn't want to remind princess of that event.

The princess seemed changed after that event.

"Great. Lets go implement the plan right now. We need to do this immediately. We need to do this at least before the sun sets," Ildra ordered, her smile growing wider on her face. Not only did she find relief for finally finding a solution, but she also felt very excited for the adventure that awaited her.

"Wait! Princess, at least have some tea before you go! I spent so much effort on making this new flavor!" Wendy pleaded.

"Princess, I'll go call for a carriage to be arranged," Victoria informed while bowing before leaving the room after Ildra's nod.

Ildra could not tear herself from this room before having some of Wendy's tea. One thing Wendy was an expert at was making tea. So, she wouldn't miss Wendy's tea for the world.

"Lets have some tea."

Dear Readers,

Even I was surprised by Wendy's secret tea-making talent. Looks like I'll soon have to do some more research on tea in general. That's the only hint I'm giving you.

Please read, vote, and comment!

Sincerely,

Ms. Author