Chapter eight

Drop it or I'll drop you down the well!" A feisty little servant demands while standing toe to toe to a much taller servant.

"Is that a threat, shorty?" The taller servant sneered and raised an eyebrow.

"No, it's a bloody promise palm tree."

Yasmin watches amused as Franklin and Rosy have their daily squabbles. She had been in this world for about two weeks, including almost a week at the marquess mansion. She had quickly gotten used to everyone and even made some friends. Yasmin was currently bracing against her broom, her chore of sweeping the yard already completed.

"What's going on here?" I-da asks while she strolls up to yasmin.

"Oh, just the usual." She shrugs pointing towards the two arguing servants.

With a loud sigh I-da went over to the two to break them up. It took a little effort but she eventually managed to pull the two away from each other. "This is not the time to be going at each other's throats, especially not today. We have work to do!"

"What's going on today?" Nitta asked, her hand raised as if she were in a classroom.

"Lord Javier is visiting."

"What?!" Almost everyone exclaimed.

"The psycho duke is coming?"

"Why are we just hearing about this?!"

"Nope, I'm out of here."

Yasmin stood frozen for a few minutes, lost in her thoughts. 'Fucking shit! I completely forgot about that psycho.'

"Who's Lord Javier?" The question was asked by Isabelle who stood off to a corner looking completely lost.

"Only the most psychotic person you'll ever meet in your life." Franklin said while resting his arm on top of Rosey's head, only for her to slap it off the next moment.

"Why is someone like that a duke then?"

"He inherited the title from his late father, or should I say stepfather." I-da answered, "it's said that the former duke Augusta was travelling through the kingdom of Dahlia when he saw Javier's mother and took a liking to her to the point of bringing her back to wisteria so she could be his wife. Along with her came a young Javier and his older sister Amari Augusta , later in their teens their mother had died because of an accident–"

"Accident my ass," Franklin scoffed, "it's obvious the woman killed herself because of her adulterous husband."

"It's not against the law for a man to take multiple wives, in fact, many noblemen practise the act." Nitta said with a raised finger.

"Which is wrong, the goddess wisteria definitely frowns upon it. She valued trust and loyalty over everything else." Franklin said, crossing his arms with a frown.

"Anyways," I-da said before continuing with what she was saying, "we don't know the full story but that's what we heard happened to her. Later when Javier was at age, duke Augusta suddenly fell ill and passed away shortly after."

"He killed him, no questions asked." Franklin said with a resolute nod.

"Agreed," said Rosy, nodding too.

Nitta also nodded, "And that's how he inherited the duke's title. Which is weird since he never once let others address him by his last name, it's always Duke Javier or Lord Javier."

"Clearly he wanted nothing to do with the man… seeing that he killed him."

"Alright enough with the gossiping," I-da said, clapping to dispel the current atmosphere. "And you–" she pointed to Franklin, "what did I say about saying things with no proof?"

"Who says I don't have proof?"

I-da sighs exasperated, "I'm not doing this with you right now…, come on everyone! We need to get to work."

"Count me out," Franklin says, backing away, "I wanna stay far away from that psycho."

"You have no choice, we need the manpower."

"Ask Rosy, she's basically a man."

"Fuck you."

"Language!"

And so everyone began scurrying around to get things in order for Lord Javier's visit. Yasmin was on edge the whole time, she knew nothing major happened in this part of the book but she couldn't help but feel nervous. Her intuition kept telling her that something was going to go wrong. No one knew Lord Javier more than Yasmin, she was the one who created him after all but, if you were to ask her if she'd ever want to meet this specific creation she'd laugh in your face and ask if you were mad. Some characters were truly meant to stay fictional and lord Javier was one of them.

Since Yasmin and Isabelle were still fairly new to the work system of the mansion, they were told to stand aside and watch from the side lines so they wouldn't mess things up. After all, even though the duke was a renowned psychopath, he was still an important guest. One that was higher in status than their master.

"Alright I think everything's set!" Exclaimed I-da after looking over their stations again. A variety of tea were brewed and placed in tea pots and different kinds of cookies, snacks, biscuits and other baked goods were placed neatly upon trays.

"I'm exhausted."

"Me too."

"Don't get tired yet, we still have to serve these."

At the mention of serving the refreshments, everyone's demeanour changed immediately. They all started taking little steps backwards with paling expressions.

"I don't wanna serve this time…"

"Me too…"

"I'm scared."

"Please don't make me go!"

I-da heaved a heavy sigh, "if you all back out like chickens, who's gonna serve huh?"

Everyone got silent as they all looked down in thought, until one servant girl spoke up with a soft voice.

"Why don't they do it?" She said pointing over to the other side of the room. Everyone followed her line of sight where it stopped right on Yasmin and Isabelle.

"But they're new…"

"I think it's a good idea."

"But what if they mess up?"

"I mean it's just serving tea, how hard can it be?"

I-da felt like one of her blood vessels was going to pop from frustration. She really wondered if everyone's mind had degraded due to fear, it's the only explanation for their stupid idea. Just as I-da was about to scold the servants for their cowardice, Nitta spoke up from her spot between the tables where she was currently snacking on one of the many biscuits that was prepared for their esteemed guest.

"I don't think that's a bad idea," she said, nibbling on her biscuit. I-da was sure she felt her left eye twitch but kept quiet as she continued her statement. "They're new and haven't had the chance to serve master Williams yet. If they serve and make a few mistakes, I'm sure the master will pardon them since they're new and inexperienced."

"Which is exactly why we shouldn't let them serve!" I-da huffed out exasperated, "if we let inexperienced servants serve an esteemed guest, the master is sure to get upset with us– upset with me!"

"We don't have any other options right now, besides those cowards-" she said pointing at all the servants who refused to serve earlier. "-are more likely to mess up than those two over there. Besides, it's not like they're going alone, I'll also help serve."

I-da gave Nitta a long stare down before finally releasing a tired sigh. "Fine….let's do that." She then turned to Yasmin and Isabelle, "are you guys okay with this?"

Yasmin and Isabelle exchanged looks of confusion, everyone was talking about them as if they weren't there but they still kept quiet and let the decision be made for them. When I-da turned to them and asked about their opinion on the matter they could only nod their heads in agreement since the decision was already made for them.

"Alright, Lord Javier is already here and conversing with the master, I'm going to go out and stand by him. I'll return with instructions when they're given,"I-da said before brushing out the front of her uniform and walking out of the kitchen.

The servants looked after her in awe, "Mama I-da is truly the best."

I-da took a deep breath once she was alone in the halls, she had put up a brave face in front of everyone but honestly… She also feared the duke. She has served master Williams the closest and has gotten the opportunity to meet other Nobles, lords and ladies alike. She too wished she could refuse like everyone else but, she was the head servant, her duties and responsibilities barred her from cowering away. She stood in front of the door taking a deep breath before knocking.

"Come in."