Side Story: Ivy (1)

[Ivy POV]

I remember my first meeting with the young mistress.

It had only been a few months since the attack on the Whiteheart household when I joined them. With the lord and his son still nowhere to be found, the lord's younger brother was temporarily bestowed with the title of Marquis of Eskor. The investigation kept going but as the months passed, people slowly stopped hoping for the lord's return and the investigation efforts dropped. Commoners like me had no real interest in the nobles' affairs. The assassination attempt merely served as a new subject of gossip, but without any real progress in the investigation, people quickly lost interest in it. While this case was never officially closed, it soon became completely forgotten by the general population.

As a lot of servants were killed during the attack, when things finally calmed down, the Marquis hired new employees. I was one of them. I was never familiar with high nobility, but when the opportunity to work for such an esteemed house came to me, I took it without a second thought.

The Marquis was always busy. Strangely enough, his family never moved in. In nobility, only the heir was allowed to stay in the main residence. Once they reached the age of seven, the other sons either joined an order of knighthood or were left in the care of a branch family as an apprentice. In either case, they permanently left the house once they got married. Perhaps it was because he expected his older brother and his son to return anytime, but even after he became the new head of the house, the Marquis' family never moved in with him. For us, employees, it was only beneficial. With less nobles in the residence to look after, the life in the Whiteheart household as a servant was not so bad. The working conditions were good and the income was high. The only downsides were the occasional whims of the lord's younger sister, Lady Nora. But it wasn't my first time working with nobles, so overall, this job was pretty peaceful. However, with no family to support or to return to during days off, my life at the Whiteheart estate was also pretty dull and boring. But it all changed when the young mistress arrived.

It was twelve years ago.

Although it was a summer day, the weather wasn't particularly good. The morning had been sunny, but in the afternoon, a thick layer of clouds suddenly appeared, scattering showers in the capital in a rumbling thunder. An ominous sign. After leaving the estate for a couple of months, the Marquis and the Lady had finally returned. But they hadn't returned alone. I was on kitchen duty that day, so I didn't see the carriage arrive, but it didn't take long for the news to spread around the estate.

◊◊◊◊◊◊

"Guys! Guys! They're here!" A valet suddenly barged in the kitchen.

At his announcement, several servants sighed.

"Looks like the peaceful days are over…"

"We can't slack off anymore, huh?"

"I just hope the Lady is in a good mood."

The head cook loudly cleared his throat.

"Alright, alright! This does not change anything for us. Keep working!" He ordered before turning his attention to the valet. "And you, don't you have anything better to do than disturbing my kitchen?"

"You'll never guess who's back!" The valet declared, ignoring the head cook's remark.

"What? The Lord and the Lady, obviously."

"The young master!"

"Huh?"

Silence fell upon the room as we all exchanged doubtful gazes.

"The young master… Is he talking about the young master Aoban?"

"It can't be…"

"Didn't he die during the attack on the mansion two years ago?"

"It's true!" The valet insisted. "I saw it with my own two eyes! He grew quite a bit, but it was definitely him!"

The news caused a sudden commotion in the kitchen. Even the head cook stopped working to join the gossip. The lost heir had been found. Not only the Marquis returned safely from his business trip, but he also returned with the heir.

"T-Then! Does that mean Lord Lloyd is also back?" Someone abruptly asked.

"Ah, no." The valet replied with a much quieter voice than before. "They only found the young master. There is still no news about Lord Lloyd."

The enthusiastic ambiance suddenly died at his answer.

"Oh… Then he's still missing."

"He's probably dead already, isn't he?"

"Ah, but! That's not it!" The valet then exclaimed with an eager voice, trying to bounce back from the heavy mood. "That woman has also returned! The elven slave!"

A new commotion arose in the kitchen. This time, people exchanged looks of disbelief and soon started to voice their discontentment.

"For real? Then the young master was with her all this time?"

"Did she kidnap him?"

"After everything the Lord did for her…"

"She has some guts to come back."

A little confused by the sudden protest, I leaned forward to whisper in the ears of a fellow maid. I hadn't been here for too long, but as far as I knew, there shouldn't have been an elven slave here.

"Hey, what is this all about?" I asked.

"Oh, right, you're new Ivy so you probably don't know." She replied as she glanced back at me. "Well, there used to be an elven slave here. It was said that she was in an intimate relationship with Lord Lloyd."

"Oh, really?"

I guess those kind of things happen quite frequently among noble houses.

"Yeah, and ultimately she disappeared during that incident two years ago," she added. "Along with the young master and the Lord."

"Guys!" The loud voice of the valet called us out. "That's not it!"

"There's still more?!"

A confident smile drew on his face as we were all eager to hear what he had to add.

"She returned with another child! A half! Apparently, she's Lord Lloyd's daughter!"

A brief silence settled in as we were all doubting what we just heard.

"What?"

"U-uh… That's a joke, right?"

A half. There was a lot of rumors circulating about them. None of them were positive. Deformed and ugly, most halves did not make it to adulthood. They were a symbol of aberration. A deviancy that needed to be corrected. Thus, they were considered an ominous sign. Thinking about it, I then remembered the sudden thunder of this afternoon. An ominous sign. A feeling of uneasiness grew in my heart, and I could tell we all felt the same.

"They're not… planing to keep it here, right?"

"There is no way! Wouldn't that bring the fall of the house?"

"You might as well condemn us all right now!"

As all the eyes turned to the valet, expecting an answer, he brought his palm to his neck and adverted his gaze.

"Well, the thing is… She's also a Chosen One," he tried to explain.

"Huh?!"

"Oh, and by the way, the Lady is also bald now."

"HUUUUUUUUUH?!"

◊◊◊◊◊◊

A few days had passed since the Marquis and the Lady returned and that half was still the main subject of all our gossips. Since then, it had been confirmed that she was indeed Lord Lloyd's daughter so the Marquis personally ordered that she should be treated as such. A half as a young mistress. What a joke. At least, this is what we all thought. Nevertheless, that was the lord's order and we were only employees so we had to comply.

It was the beginning of the week, still early in the morning. All the employees had been gathered in the servants' quarters to receive our schedule for the week. I had been on kitchen duty the past week so I would most likely change department this time. I was only hoping not to find myself with the Lady. I unfolded the paper that had been handed to me holding onto that hope, but I soon found myself sighing in disappointment.

"Lady Nora…"

Those who had heard me looked at me, full of sympathy. Some even muttered words of encouragements.

"Good luck."

"May the Goddess be with you."

They all knew I was going to suffer this week. But as I was starting to think that I was the unluckiest of the servants, the cries of another maid soon retorted that idea.

"Noooo!! I don't want to! Why me?!"

"Come on Tia, it's just for a week."

Tia was one of the maids who joined the household at the same time as me. She was usually always high in spirits, but this time, she was collapsed on the ground, shaking her head in denial.

"What is it?" I asked while approaching to comfort her.

"She was assigned to the half-breed," a fellow maid explained.

No wonder.

Tia looked up at me with teary eyes.

"W-What about you, Ivy?" She asked with a small voice. "Where were you assigned to?"

"Uhm… To Lady Nora's chambers."

Tia suddenly pounced on me to grab my clothes.

"Switch with me!!" She demanded with an almost threatening tone. "Please!"

"I-I just told you I was assigned to Lady Nora's chambers!" I responded a little confused, as I never saw anyone so eager to serve the Lady.

"Yes, I heard! I'd rather serve that witch than the half-breed!"

In a swift movement, I put my hand over her mouth to shut her up.

"Keep your voice down!" I cautioned her. "What if someone heard you? Do you want to be whipped?!"

Around us, a few servants gave her understanding looks. No one liked the Lady, but no one was also brave enough to defame her openly like that. While most employees would not report that, with the ever-present temptation of earning the Lady's favors, the solidarity between servants remained poised on a knife-edge.

"B-but…!" She managed to mutter through my hand. "I don't want to serve that half!"

Tia collapsed again on the floor in a dramatic fall, sobbing.

"Don't you know? Halves carry all sorts of disease!" She lamented. "What if I catch something?!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," I tried to comfort her. "It's just for a week!"

"Switch with me!" She asked once again.

While I understood her fears, I didn't want to catch something either. But as I adverted my gaze, she became even more insistent.

"I'm begging you, Ivy! I'm getting married in three weeks, I can't die before that!"

I don't want to die either!

"I'll give you all my days off!"

"Uh…"

"I'll cover for you whenever you want to!"

"No, I…"

"I'll massage your shoulders!!"

Ultimately, I accepted. I didn't want to and I wasn't really interesting in what she had to offer, but I always had issues when it comes to refusing favors. Moreover, I'm weak to sobbing maidens -although I'm sure Tia is aware of that and took advantage of it.

So here I was, one hour later, standing in front of the door of this infamous 'young mistress'.

Despite being reluctant to enter, the fact that I would only be on morning duties already cheered me up a little. I only had to wake her up, make the bed, dress her and feed her breakfast. And that was it. Other maids would take over for the rest of the day while I would return to my own duties.

'May the Goddess protect me.'

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Young mistress, it's morning!" I loudly exclaimed to announce my presence. "I'm coming in!"

Gathering my courage, I opened the door and entered the room.

The first thing I noticed was that the young mistress was nowhere to be seen. It was only seven in the morning, yet, the bed was empty. And not only it was empty, but it was also all made -although a bit unevenly.

And then I saw her.

As I started to survey my surroundings, my eyes fell upon a small child, standing by the window.

She was nothing like I expected her to be. In fact, she was the opposite of everything I expected her to be. Who said halves were monstrous? She was the most beautiful child I had ever seen. Pretty, lovely, angelic, but above all, surreal. I still don't know what struck me the most. Was it her doll-like face? Or maybe her stunning golden eyes. She was too perfect. She simply didn't seem human. For a moment, I thought that it couldn't be her, that I had the wrong room. But as I lost myself in her gaze, I remembered the valet saying that she was a Chosen One. Those golden eyes were the very proof of that. It was really her. At least, it didn't seem like she was carrying any disease. In fact, she seemed quite healthy. Maybe it was because of the Goddess' blessings? In any cases, that was a relief.

As I realized that I was staring at her for a while now, I came back to my senses and cleared my voice.

"Good morning young mistress! My name is Ivy, I'll be taking care on you every morning this week," I introduced myself with the friendliest possible smile.

I didn't expect to receive an answer from such a young child, but I was at least expecting some kind of reaction. Yet, she didn't move at all. She was just silently staring at me -assessing me.

"I see that you are already awake, and… all dressed." I finally noticed."W-Well then, I'll return with your breakfast."

With still no reaction from the toddler, I politely lowered my head as I exited the room. Did someone already come? It was only seven in the morning, yet, the young mistress was already up. Then again, she was only two. At that age, children have lighter sleep in the early morning hours, so it wouldn't be surprising if she had woken up on her own. But since she was all dressed up and since the bed was made, I'm guessing that another maid came by to do my job. But then again… Looking at how messily the bed was made, it's hard to think that this is the work of a maid.

I stopped by the kitchen to retrieve the young mistress' meal. There were cereal dishes, a serving of grapes and some peanut butter toasts. I could tell those were some of the leftovers of yesterday's breakfast. I wasn't sure these were appropriate for a toddler to eat, but that wasn't up for me to decide, so I simply put the plates on a trolley. From my point of view, it was still a generous meal.

"Young mistress, this is Ivy," I announced through the door upon returning. Since once again, I received no answer, I entered the bedroom, pushing the laden trolley in.

The young mistress hadn't moved. She was still standing at the same place I left her a few moments ago. As I was starting to think that maybe she was a doll after all, the young mistress came to sit at the table, patiently waiting for me to unload the trolley. And once the plates were all neatly displayed in front of her, she started eating. All by herself.

Confused, I blinked several times to make sure I didn't see it wrong. I thought she was quite well behaved to come to sit at the table on her own when she saw me bringing her her breakfast, but I definitely didn't expect her to eat by herself. I had taken care of toddlers before, but I had never seen one feed themselves. Not like that. Most of the time, they would just dig in their meal with their bare hands, and the times they had been taught to eat with a spoon, it would get messy in a hurry. Yet, the young mistress was not only sitting, but also eating properly. Actually, she was even better behaved than the young master, even though the young master was four years older and received a strict education as the heir of the house. Maybe… it's because she's a Chosen One?

Once she was done, she simply looked up at me. She didn't leave the table until I was done reloading the trolley.

The following days, the same things happened. Each time I went to wake her up, she already up, dressed, and the bed was made. And when I brought her her breakfast, she ate by herself. Ultimately, I was forced to realize something: no one came in before me. To begin with, no one wanted to -she was a half after all. No, the young mistress woke up on her own. She dressed and made her bed all by herself. While the idea would have never crossed my mind before, ever since I witnessed her table manners, it didn't seem that far-fetched anymore. She was a Chosen One after all. The Goddess' blessings probably made her brighter than other children.