1 Romanoff Dukedom: The Valk League

"You foolish harlot! Didn't I tell you to wipe the plates until there are no more specks of dust! Why do you always make me repeat myself?! Am I that difficult to understand?! Do we even speak the same language?!"

Drowned by the obnoxious screaming of a senior middle-aged maid was a young lady's ceaseless sighing. She couldn't even take a moment to draw enough breath to retain her patience.

The lady had been enduring the very same loud reprimanding every single day of her life. It had all begun from the moment she was hired as a maid in the Romanoff Dukedom.

"And what did you break again this time?! Seriously, I don't even know why you're still here when you've done nothing but mess up! Mess up, I say!" The senior maid hysterically hollered.

Her mouth was wide open, letting droplets of spit rain down on the head of the poor girl.

Sans a second of interruption, the episode went on for a while.

When the clacking of several heels was heard from the corridor did the senior maid stop her hysteria.

As the footsteps came near the parlor of the servants, the young lady's exhaustion just heightened. She was certain that the approaching individuals were the peers of her senior maid in front of her.

'Do their salaries increase every time they intimidate someone?' The young lady asked herself, heaving another exasperated sigh.

The door soon opened with the entrance of four other maids. Different from the young lady, they were the maids assigned to attend to the needs of the masters directly. They were the so-called Chamber Maids.

"Oh Helga, you're bullying the fledgling again. What did dear Zarya do this time?" The youngest of the four teasingly said as she pointed her finger at the young lady who was named Zarya.

The other maids, on the other hand, took a seat on the benches located inside the room. It was a room especially created for the servants to have a place to rest during their shifts. Obviously enough, it shouldn't be a room where hazing should be prevalent.

As opposed to the mansion proper that was decorated with polished marble tiles, the floor of the staff room was made of coarse asphalt. Surely enough, Zarya was made to kneel on the center of the bumpy flooring without any piece of clothing to cover her legs.

"Same old foolishness! She broke the pitcher in the lounge this morning. This wench is a big joke, a big joke, I say! She never did her job properly yet she's favored by the Head Maid. Why can't they fire her instead of paying her to make a mistake?!" The senior maid screamed on top of her lungs, her mouth unstoppable from spewing insults after insults.

While listening to her superior's rants, Zarya had the urge to wince in pain. Her knees were now filled with wounds, the asphalt rubbing them open. Still, she made it a point not to make the slightest of sound. She bit the flesh of her inner cheeks, wary of garnering the attention of the other maids.

Albeit appearing as if she had surrendered to the maltreatment, the young lady's eyes were the model of being composed.

'Helga is not worthy of your anger. She's merely a person who only knows how to lay the blame on another. Remember this, Zarya. The instant that you lose your sanity, you will be driven out of this place. Outside of the capital is a hell that's not worth returning to.' The lady assured herself, closing her eyes as she repeated the mantra in her head.

Thereafter, she tried to shift her position to lessen the burden on the wounded parts of her body. Withal, it did not go unnoticed by Helga's keen eyes. After all, the senior maid was insistent on finding faults in every action that Zarya made.

"Did I tell you to move? I didn't, right? You haven't apologized, so why should you move?" Helga uttered, putting her hands on her chest as if she couldn't believe what she just witnessed.

Having had enough of her superior's rubbish, Zarya rolled her eyes. Usually, the Head Maid would be there to save her day, but the old woman was nowhere in sight. Hence, the young lady stood up and patted her uniform to get rid of the dirt.

She then wore the most gracious smile she could plaster on her face and said, "Helga, do you mind if I go back to work? I still have to clean up the pitcher that you have claimed I broke when you're the one at fault."

Granting that she earned the snickering of the four Chamber Maids, Helga, who was left with her mouth agape, glared at the young lady.

"Y- You! How dare you!" The senior maid shouted, raising her hand as she was ready to hit Zarya.

The middle-aged woman then swung her arms towards Zarya. But her right hand wasn't able to land on its destination. It was too late when she realized that her wrist was in Zarya's grip that was slowly tightening by the second.

"How dare me? What are you saying? You were the one who always accused me of making slip-ups when they were your doing. Can you just please let me go back to work?" Zarya spoke in a tone as if she was cajoling a baby to sleep.

That statement infuriated Helga even more, urging her to pull her arm back with force. Lamentably for the maid, the young lady did not budge an inch even after she exerted all of her energy.

"Let go of me! I said, let go of me!"

Rather than begging, Helga chose to yell in front of Zarya's face. The young lady simply jerked her head to the side, still wearing a hospitable smile on her visage.

"Why? You haven't apologized yet, have you?" Zarya queried, replicating the way Helga had asked her the very same question.