The devil in her dreams

That night when Sylvia went to bed, she had one horrible nightmare after another.

She even dreamed of her lying on some sacrificial altar and the devil stabbing right through her heart.

When she woke up the next morning her entire back was covered by a layer of sweat.

"Syl, are you awake yet?" She heard Jane's pleasant voice and quickly got out of bed.

"Here are some change of clothes." She then paused and shoved a bundle of clothes onto Sylvia's hands.

"Ah. Thank you." Sylvia gratefully nodded. This was something she direly needed.

Jane, however, weirdly kept smiling at her.

Huh? Sylvia blinked. Why is she looking at me like that?

"His highness personally ordered me to fetch some for you," Jane explained with her eyes twinkling.

Ah~ Sylvia was speechless.

Just yesterday, the man had terrified her, even ruining her night's sleep and today he was gifting her clothes?

Sylvia couldn't understand the man's actions at all. She sighed and didn't think too much about it.

She looked at the clothes in her hand and some of them were simply too luxurious.

How could a slave like her accept things like this? Then won't the other maids in the castle feel animosity towards her?

This was a recipe for disaster.

She quickly took out the top half of the stack of clothes that looked very luxurious and gave it to Jane.

"This is too much, Mrs. Jane. Please take some of them."

Jane immediately backed away as if the clothes were hot potatoes.

"Eh? No. No. Dear! His highness personally instructed me to hand you these. You should keep them." She shook her head resolutely.

Jane had a soft corner for the young girl because she was always polite and well-mannered and never acted impatiently.

So she genuinely advised her. "Listen, dear. I am already an old widow. Why do I need these clothes for?"

"You should keep them and wear them for nice occasions. You are very pretty."

"I am sure you will catch the eyes of a fine young man in no time."

"Don't think that you will forever be a slave and a maid. His highness is very kind and generous."

"If someone fancies you and asks him for your hand, I am sure that he wouldn't mind blessing your marriage."

"Anna's elder sister also got married in this exact same way. Aha Ha Ha. She even married a court official."

"So don't look so gloomy all the time and be cheerful, girl!" Jane patted her and chuckled.

Sylvia gulped. Again with the terms 'kind' and 'generous'! Blessing my marriage? Will that devil really agree to that?

"Ok. Ok. Now don't dawdle anymore and get ready quickly. We are expecting some guests in the castle today."

"Lend me a hand in the kitchen and wear one of the good dresses." Jane winked and walked away briskly.

Ummm… Sylvia could only stare at her back dazedly.

She then chuckled lightly and went back inside her room to change.

She was truly grateful for Jane and her kind words.

Sylvia looked at the stack of new clothes in front of her and gasped lightly.

Some were even better than the dresses she used to wear. How are these supposed to be casual?

Wouldn't it be ridiculous for a maid to wear such fine clothes?

Sylvia didn't want to invite any more unnecessary trouble her way.

So she selected the simplest dress from the stack, a pale violet-colored one, and quickly changed into it.

It had a really pretty bow that magnified the look of the entire dress, but Sylvia decided to not wear it.

She then hurried over to the kitchen and washed her face in a pail of conjured water.

It was very convenient that Jane, Jenny, and Ana were able to do chore magic.

So unlike the other households, where the maids had to painfully lug around pails and pails of water from the well, the water here was simply conjured out of thin air.

Chore magic was not too difficult so even people with very less magic affinity were easily able to do it.

Conjuring water, small spirals of wind for cleaning surfaces, a few sparks of fire to ignite the wooden branches, these sort of small magic spells were relatively easy to cast.

But that being said, not everyone can afford such magically talented house help.

They were often in high demand and only the royal families and noble families were able to afford such costly house help.

After washing her face, Sylvia quickly started kneading the dough for pastries.

A pot of tea was steaming next to her and Jane as well was flitting about here and there in a hurry.

"Who is this special guest, Mrs. Jane?" Sylvia couldn't help herself and she asked curiously. Commoners like them never had a chance to meet the royalty.