THE MAID.

In the morning, Yvette woke up to the sound of someone unlocking the door.

Strange. Her punishment of being locked in the cellar shouldn't be over yet.

Yvette cracked an eye open and saw two men in uniforms throw a maid into the room before closing and locking the door again. The maid started crying and banging on the door, screaming to be let out, that she was innocent, that she didn't steal anything.

Yvette was fully awake now. It seemed her schemes from yesterday had gotten very quick effects?

After she was done with threatening the kitchen staff, Yvette then returned all the items she had 'borrowed' from Adele Decaux. She, of course, did not return those items to where they were originally, Adele's room, but instead planted it in one of the maid's rooms. Everything save for the perfume, of course. That, she kept for herself.

She didn't think Adele would notice that any of her dresses were missing until a few days later, but Yvette also didn't bother to put things back in the same place, so Adele more than likely noticed in the morning when she went to pick out a new dress to wear for the day that some of her things were misplaced.

And now, the maid who slept in the room where Adele's missing things were found, was now locked in the cellar with Yvette.

Just as she wanted.

"Hey," Yvette called out as she stood up to stretch, "could you shut up? You're being really loud."

The maid seemed to have forgotten Yvette was there, because she turned around with wide, wet eyes.

Yvette had previously had an altercation with this maid. She was one of Genevieve's favoured maids, and so whenever Genevieve wanted someone to pick on Yvette but was too lazy to do it herself, she sent her favourite maid, Danielle, to do it for her.

Danielle went a bit above what she was asked, though, and seemed to actually enjoy tormenting Yvette. She often splashed Yvette with dirty water, or would put tiny bits of glass in her shoes so that Yvette would cut her feet whenever she put them on. Danielle actually didn't even need Genevieve to ask if she wanted to pick on Yvette, she would just do it on her own anyway.

"You... how dare you say that to me?!"

Danielle always felt a sense of superiority when it came to Yvette. Danielle was just a maid and yet she seemed to stand higher than Yvette. She always enjoyed the feeling of seeing Yvette's sad, defeated eyes looking up at her.

Yvette was looking down on her now, though, and there was an unholy kind of glee in the smile she was wearing.

A hesitant, unsure expression crossed Danielle's face, but before she could realise that the Yvette she was now looking at was not the Yvette she loved to torment, Yvette had pulled a hammer out from behind her back and swung it down onto Danielle's ankle.

The shock prevented Danielle from screaming out immediately, and by the time the pain fully hit her, Yvette had already covered Danielle's mouth with her hand.

Danielle could only tremble in pain and in fear, her screams coming out muffled against Yvette's hand.

"I'm serious. Shut up, or else I'll shatter your other ankle, okay?"

Danielle shook, but managed a jerky nod.

Yvette then pulled away and stood back up. Looking down at the way Danielle was shaking in uncontrolled fear and pain, Yvette smiled again.

"Now, do you know why I've done this to you?" Yvette asked.

There was a moment of hesitation, before Danielle nodded again.

"So then you'll also understand why I can't just stop here, right?"

Danielle understood the implication in Yvette's words and started to sob earnestly.

For the moment, Yvette left Danielle to her own devices and turned back, eyes darting across the room as if she was looking for something. Eventually, Yvette found what she was looking forward and moved to the corner of the cellar, where all the aged wine was kept. Yvette placed her hammer down before breaking one of the bottles in half, grinning when the end she had in her hand now had sharp pointed edges.

The cellar really had a surprising amount of items Yvette didn't know she needed.

"D-Don't! Please! I'm so sorry!" Danielle started begging for her life as Yvette approached with the broken wine bottle, seemingly no longer aware of the pain from her ankle.

Yvette hummed, as if considering. "Hm.... it's a bit too late for that, isn't it?"

As Yvette approached slowly, Danielle started sobbing loudly again. Yvette wasn't worried about anyone overhearing. It was unlikely Adele would bother stationing knights outside the door, and anyone who managed to catch the sounds of Danielle crying from upstairs would likely only disregard it. She was guilty of theft, after all.

When Yvette reached Danielle again, she knelt down and picked up Danielle's chin, forcing the maid to look up at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?"

Then, before Danielle could even blink, Yvette had slashed her throat with the sharp edge of the wine bottle.

Danielle fell backwards against the door, clutching at her bleeding throat desperately, wanting to scream but being unable to.

Yvette watched coldly as the last of Danielle's life was drained out of her.

Once Danielle was motionless, eyes open but unseeing, Yvette placed the broken wine bottle in one of Danielle's hands, and then screamed at the top of her lungs.