The First Meeting

"..."

Just as the woman faced Charlotte, she went stiff. The woman turned around and walked towards her.

*click clack*

*click clack*

*click clack*

The sound of her shoes can be heard throughout the room they were in. Charlotte was silent. She held her breath when Lady Kierra stopped three steps in front of her. Looking closely at her mentor, her eyes widen slightly and dazed. The woman facing her has fair and radiant skin, and smooth, long raven hair as dark as the night. Her lashes were long and lovely, the scarlet eyes shining like rubies, were mysterious and seem to know everything, her lovely nose complimented her red plump lips. A beauty benefiting of an empress. No, not an empress, but a goddess! Are the people in the capital really look this extraordinary? Lady Kierra couldn't even be compared to the daughter of the village chief of Hillfar where she was born and grew up at.

The flustered Charlotte immediately bowed her head and stuttered, "N-nice to meet you too, Lady Kierra. I'll be on your care from now on, please take care of me my lady."

"I've been waiting for you for so long." the woman stared down at Charlotte, she was a head taller than Charlotte and was wearing high heels.

"I-I'm very sorry for my rudeness! I-I didn't know you were wai-"

"I see you haven't settle down your luggage. Go to your quarters and settle down first, then go back here and clean this room."

"Huh?" Charlotte looked around the room and saw it was a mess. Documents and papers were scattered everywhere. Used tea cups were on the floor compiled. It was like a tornado dropped by the room. Charlotte grimaced. Just what in the world happened in this place? Looking at her mentor, she saw her smiling, although the woman was lovely, it was a great contrast to the room's state.

"I understand. I'll be going now. Thank you master." with that Charlotte left the room. She gave deep sigh. Great, it was just the first day of her admission but her mentor already gave some cleaning task, Charlotte wondered about if her mentor only have a pretty face, is she the type of lady who couldn't keep her room tidy? How about Charlotte? Would she be cleaning her mentor's room throughout her whole apprenticeship?!

Oh dear.

She shook her thoughts and went to her quarters.

--------

After going to her quarters, she immediately went to her mentor's office. She thought earlier that it was a storage room but it was an office. It was barely recognizable as an office because of the clutter everywhere.

When Charlotte entered the room, Lady Kierra was nowhere to be found. She must have gone out and do some other stuff. Charlotte looked at the room and sighed. It will be a very long day.

-----

It was beginning to dark when Charlotte neared cleaning and arranging all the stuff in the room. "It's almost evening huh. Goodness, I'm so tired. Until when will she come back." Charlotte groaned. She sat on a chair in front of a tea table. She looked around the room and smiled. The office looks recognizable now. The papers and documents were neatly piled and everything was in place. She glanced at her right where the drawers are and noticed a paper slipped under it. She stood up and went to grab the paper.

"This is..."

"A missing person?"

*click*

The door suddenly opened.

"Ah there you are Miss Reinheld. I see you've found the report." Lady Kierra held up her right hand towards Charlotte, asking to hand over the paper.

Charlotte gave the paper to Lady Kierra and looked at her. "Uhm..."

"Hmm." Lady Kierra went to sit on the velvet chair in front of her desk and scanned the whole room. "You did a good job. The room looks clean and organized. You can rest now and I'll meet you tomorrow."

"But my lady... M-may I ask something?" Charlotte hesitated.

"You may." Lady Kierra looked at Charlotte, as she clasped her hands together and put it on the desk.

"That report..."

"And what about it?"

"It's filed two days ago and labeled as priority as of the moment. S-shouldn't you handle it now?"

"Ahh. You're right." Lady Kierra beamed. "But I can't do that right now."

"But... It's.. ! Why not, my lady?" Charlotte was confused. Does her mentor not like to get things done?

"Because..."

"The body will show up in three days." Lady Kierra stared at Charlotte and grinned.

--------

Charlotte closed the door in a daze. What just happened? She couldn't understand why Lady Kierra had to wait three days. She really doesn't know what her mentor was thinking. It was confusing.

Charlotte went ahead and was about to go downstairs when someone called her.

"Miss."

"Lady Reinheld." Charlotte came to a stop. She turned around and saw a young man waving at her. It was that handsome man earlier. The one where she asked direction from.

"Are you heading out now?" the young man with silver hair took a step closer to her.

"Umm. Yes sir..." This man, called her name first without even introducing himself. Maybe he is one of the higher ups, Charlotte wondered.

"Pardon me for my rudeness, my name is Theodore Lettleton, from earldom of Lettleton, third son of the previous earl."

Charlotte lifted her navy blue dress, bowed and introduced her self gracefully, "I'm Charlotte Reinheld, daughter of Baron Reinheld."

"What a lovely name Lady Reinheld." Theodore smiled. This man sure is handsome.

"Thank you, my lord." of course Charlotte knew it was just a lip service.

"How was your first day? Would you mind if I accompany you for a while?"

"Ah well, alright."

-------

The first floor of the department was rather lively. People were coming in and out of the building.

"That doesn't seem so bad, rather you are lucky." Theodore said while walking beside Charlotte at the hallway.

"How come you say that, my lord? I think cleaning is rather not a fun thing to do." Charlotte folded her arms.

"On my first day of apprenticeship, Lord Howard made me think of fifty different recipes of raspberry tea then asked me to brew it. He also made me drink it to help him find the best one for his taste. I started to hate raspberries till then." Theodore reminisced the time it happened and got chills.

"Oh dear. You are also an apprentice, my lord? How long have you been here?" Charlotte was slightly surprised. "For about... A month or so." Theodore put his forefinger on his chin as if thinking.

They both reached the main entrance of the building. Charlotte was about to bid farewell to Theodore, when he asked if she would like him to escort her to her living quarters.

"I can take you to my carriage and bring you right there Lady Reinheld, if you would let me." Theodore asked Charlotte with expectant eyes. With that type of face, no one could resist his boyish charm. But it's been a while when Charlotte felt the silent glares of other young ladies on the whole floor while she was walking with Theodore. She didn't want anymore trouble today.

"The living quarters I'm staying at is a few blocks away from this department building. It's not that far away, my lord. I don't want to trouble you of escorting someone like me."

"..."

Theodore was silent. It seems that it was time go.

"Well then I'll get going now. Thank you for today, my-"

"Theodore."

"Huh?"

What is this? Charlotte stilled. Was he asking her to call him by his first name? Is he crazy? She could get trouble for being so bold as to call him his first name. Another thing is that she could really feel the burning glare of the other ladies, or the fan girls of Theodore.

Charlotte panicked and said, "My lord, I can't possibly do tha-"

"Call me Theodore or I'll ask you to address me as Theo." moving closer to Charlotte, Theodore was grinning.

"B-but my lord, this is jus-"

"Theodore."

"My Lord." Charlotte insisted, she really don't want to catch the attention of his fan girls.

"..."

"Ah. I see, so you prefer to call me Theo. Shall I address you as Lotti-"

"Theodore."

"..."

Hah! That sneaky man is grinning. His eyes were sparkling, like a child who had gotten a piece of candy. Look at that face, a face destined to break a lot of hearts, Charlotte thought this man brings nothing but danger.

"Goodnight Charlotte. Let's treat each other well from now on." Theodore gave a charming smile.

"Goodnight." Charlotte quickly opened the main door and went outside. She took a deep breath.

This has been a really long day.

-------

It's been two days since Annelize found the dead body of Marielle, a fellow maid, at the bed of the duchess, and the duchess was still nowhere to be found. Jane looked at Annelize sitting on her own bed in a daze. Annelize was traumatized, seeing a dead body with her own two eyes and her beloved master gone missing, she could barely talk to Jane without her having a panic attack.

'Poor Annelize.' Jane thought, it was best to leave her alone and give her some space. She'll be talking in no time and Jane will be there to listen. Jane put the lights off the lamp and went to sleep.

"..."

Annelize was silent. Gazing up at the moon shinning through the window of their room, she whispered, "Where are you Lady Abeline? Please, just come back my lady." She closed her eyes and thought of a silent prayer.