New Servant

Austria, December 21st

6:44 AM

Lukas woke up earlier than usual. He wasn't able to sleep a lot that night.

'Damn... apparently what I found out yesterday affected me more than I could imagine. Perhaps because it's something nobody seems to know and I was overjoyed to be the first one to discover it?' Lukas wondered. 'Anyway, I'm hearing those screams at night once again as well. What can they be?'

Lukas sat up and sighed. 'I'm thirsty. I'd better go to the kitchen and get myself some water. Then I'm going back to sleep.'

Lukas stood up and headed to the kitchen. Some people could already be heard wandering and chatting in the mansion, however, it was pretty normal, since the servants always woke up quite early.

As Lukas approached the kitchen, he could hear Olivia saying something that seemed important. 'Hmmm... I guess it'd be okay to listen to her a bit.'

"I believe you have already noticed that we have a new co-worker here," Olivia started. "Well, this is Klara. I hope all of you will get along with her."

All servants said hello to Klara and introduced themselves to her. Klara also introduced herself to them and greeted her co-workers with a smile.

After that, Klara and Olivia started talking while the rest of the servants went back to work. "Thank you very much for this opportunity, Olivia," Klara said, smiling.

Olivia nodded her head with a calm expression. "Just show me that you deserve it. And you should thank Mrs. Von Neumann for this, she was the one who insisted a lot to hire you."

Lukas frowned. 'Mother? She doesn't even leave her room anymore. How did she ask Olivia to do it? Perhaps at night, when nobody is hearing?' he wondered.

Klara looked impressed. "Really? She insisted to hire an ex-servant of the Hügel house?"

Lukas raised his brow. 'This is weird. I got a hunch why she must have insisted for her to be hired.

Perhaps because she feels guilty? And somehow she wants Father and Uncle Karl to feel a bit more at home?' Lukas wondered. 'Anyway, it doesn't make much sense, but it's how mother thinks, so whatever. Actually, I guess Father will get even angrier when he finds out about this.'

Olivia shrugged her shoulders. "We should not question her decisions. You probably will not meet Mrs. Von Neumann in the breakfast, but when you see her, you can ask her yourself."

Klara raised her brow. "Why will I not meet Mrs. Von Neumann in the breakfast?"

"Well... it's complicated. Everything you need to know is that you probably will need to serve the breakfast only to her three-year-old son. His name is Lukas."

Klara showed a sad expression. "Oh, such a young child is eating without her family? Poor thing."

Olivia sighed. "You are right. He's trying to play strong, but I can see that's affecting him," she answered.

Lukas puffed his cheeks in annoyance. 'Hey! That's not affecting me!'

Klara sighed. "Yes. It's normal. He's still pretty young," she made a short break and then smiled, showing a slight blush on her face. "What is he like? Mr. Elias's son."

Olivia chuckled. "Well... I can't describe him in just one word. You'll understand better when you see him yourself, but, in short, he's quite... eccentric."

'Hey!' Lukas internally complained.

Klara laughed. "I can't wait to meet him."

"Young master! What are you doing here?!" a servant said loudly as she found Lukas in the corridor.

'Shit! I was caught!' Lukas looked up at the servant and showed her an awkward smile. "Heh... good morning."

Klara and Olivia looked towards Lukas and each one of them had a very different reaction about the situation.

Olivia just rolled her eyes and sighed. On the other hand, Klara laughed lightly.

"Now I see what you meant by "eccentric", Olivia," Klara said, smiling. 'Somehow, he reminds me of Mr. Elias when he was younger.'

"No, you haven't seen what I meant by "eccentric" yet," Olivia answered.

Then, Lukas approached Olivia and Klara, so now he could see the new servant in a closer distance. Both her eyes and her hair were brown and she had young features. She seemed to be a bit younger than Frida.

"Oh, I have never seen you here. Are you new?" Lukas asked Klara.

Klara nodded her head. "Yes. My name is Klara. It's quite nice to meet you, young master."

'Well, they apparently didn't notice I was spying on them. That's good,' Lukas thought.

"What do you need, young master? I have never seen you waking up this early before," Olivia asked.

"Oh, I'd like some water, please," Lukas answered.

"Oh, I see," Olivia said as she nodded her head. "I will be right back, then," she turned to Klara.

"Please, Klara, look after young master for a second, will you?" Olivia asked.

Klara nodded her head with a smile. "Yes. Do not worry, Olivia."

Olivia nodded her head. "Thank you, Klara," after that, she walked away.

Klara looked at Lukas and crouched down, so she could be at his height. Now that Lukas could see her face clearly, he noticed that she was very beautiful. 'Well, the Hügel house apparently knew how to choose servants,' Lukas thought.

Klara smiled kindly. "I heard that you have military training already. It's very early for someone to start it at three years old," she said, trying to start a conversation with Lukas.

'Yeah, you probably know that my father is a bit crazy... even though that was something I actually liked him to do, at least I don't get bored so easily anymore,' Lukas thought.

The blonde boy nodded his head. "Yes, I like having such training all the same. Makes me feel good after that," Lukas answered.

Klara chuckled as she nodded her head. "I see."

At that moment, Olivia arrived with a glass of water and handed it to Lukas. The blonde boy promptly drank all the water and gave the glass back to Olivia.

"Thank you," Lukas said.

Olivia nodded her head. "You are welcome. Now go back to sleep, it's too early for a boy your age to be wandering around."

"I'm not sleepy."

"Lukas..."

"I'm serious!" Lukas said. "Can't I stay with you? Just today! I'd love to see how a servant does... stuff."

Olivia raised her brow and then sighed, meanwhile, Klara laughed at Lukas's statement.

"Olivia, if you allow me to speak, I believe it would be good for young master to see us working, so he could have the insight of both a servant's and a noble's life," Klara said.

Lukas was truly impressed with Klara's

explanation. 'Wow, she's sharp,' he thought. "Yes, yes. That's right. It's important for anyone to have deep insights in each and every aspect of life," the blonde boy said.

Olivia sighed. "Just today," she said.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes. And I would like to help you in your chores too," he said.

"Out of question," Olivia promptly answered.

Lukas puffed his cheeks in frustration. 'It was expected, but it doesn't mean I liked hearing her answer,' he thought. "Come on, nobody will know!"

Olivia sighed. 'Lukas can be so annoying sometimes...' she crossed her arms. "That's not the only point, young master. Helping us with our chores would mean that we could be late to serve the breakfast."

Lukas rolled his eyes. "Pfft. Yeah, I mean, there are lot of people in this mansion for you to serve breakfast," he sarcastically said.

'I hate that he's got a good point,' Olivia thought.

Then, the young servant crouched down once again in front of Lukas and started tapping his head. "Young master, I believe it would be better for you to just watch us working. We are very busy, so trying to teach you how to do the chores would only make us even busier, besides, the best way to learn is by watching, right?" Klara explained.

Lukas gave it some thought and ended up accepting it. "Fine," Lukas said with a slight nod.

Olivia was truly dumbfounded. Klara was able to convince Lukas not to do something!

'That's quite a deed! Lukas is simply the most stubborn boy I ever had to take care of!' Olivia thought.

Then, Lukas started watching the servants doing their chores. He accompanied mainly Klara in her chores, since Olivia was only supervising all the other servants.

All the servants liked Lukas a lot, so they had no reason to complain about Olivia's decision.

Actually, they even liked Lukas's company.

At some point, Klara was cleaning a nightstand in one of the many rooms of the mansion and Lukas was sitting at the bed nearby, as he watched her doing her chore.

"So..." Lukas started. Klara turned her head to him and smiled sweetly. "Yes, young master?" she asked.

"I heard that you used to work in the Hügel house," he said. This actually was the main reason why he asked to watch the servants doing their chores. He wanted to make Klara give him some information about the Hügel house, and mainly, about his father and uncle.

"Did you work in the house my father lived in?" Lukas asked.

Klara nodded her head with a slight blush. "Yes, I did," she started. "Mr. Elias and I are the same age, so we kinda of grew up together," she said as she placed her hair behind her ear.

'Well, good to know,' Lukas thought. "What was my father like?" Lukas asked.

Klara chuckled and her blush only got deeper. "Your father was... awesome," she said. "He was... strong, brave and smart. His whole family loved him and so did the servants. He was very good to all of them."

Lukas raised his brow. 'Are we talking about the same person? He was good to the servants? I already noticed this Klara has some kind of crush on him, but still...' he put his hand under his chin.

'Stopping to think about it, I never saw my father being particularly rude to the servants here, only to mom... this is so weird. Actually, father always treated the servants here very cordially.'

Lukas nodded his head in understanding. "Huh... I see... what about my uncle Karl? He lived in the same house as my father, right?" he asked.

Klara nodded her head. "Yes, he had a very good relationship with your father. Of course they used to end up in some fights," she laughed. "But they had a great relationship. Once, Mr. Karl broke a very expensive jar in the mansion and Mr. Elias took the guilt. He truly was a great brother."

'Huh... I'm so confused. Fine, people can change, but what the actual... what happened with these two?!' Lukas wondered.

"You remind me a lot of Mr. Elias when he was a child, young master. Of course, you still are very different from him when he was your age. He was more of a calm boy. He liked to stay in his room alone and only left when he was supposed to train, actually, he only started training when he was about 9 years old. On the other hand, you are... more eccentric," Klara laughed.

Lukas raised his brow. "What do you mean?"

Klara waved her hand in front of her face. "I am sorry, I don't mean to offend you, it's just that... you are different from the other children. I can see it in your eyes, young master. It is obvious that you are more proactive. Besides, it looks like you have a... deeper awareness of what's happening in your surroundings," she said, looking straight into his eyes.

Lukas watched her looking into his eyes and he started blushing, when he noticed, he looked away and cleared his throat. "Huh... what do you mean?" he asked. 'What's this? What's wrong with me?' he wondered.

Klara chuckled. "Come on, young master, you know what I mean! How many children your age ask about what their parents were like when they were younger? Perhaps six-year-old children, but never when they are three years old," she said.

Lukas slowly nodded his head. "Huh... I guess you are right."

Klara chuckled. "You are very similar to Mr. Elias in a physical way as well," she said.

Lukas raised his brow. "What?"

Klara nodded her head. "Yes, your features, and the expressions the both of you usually show are... identical sometimes," she said.

"Oh... I see," Lukas said.

Klara checked her watch. "Oh! It's already time for your breakfast! You'd better hurry!"

Lukas nodded his head. "O-Okay..." he stood up and headed to the kitchen, where the breakfast was already being served. 'What happened? What was that that I felt when she was looking at me? I blushed and I felt weird! Not physical attraction... right? It had to be another thing,' the blonde boy thought.

When Lukas arrived to the kitchen and sat on the chair, he remembered something very important.

'Damn it! I forgot to ask what happened for them to end up like this! I can't believe it!' he internally complained.