The moment Iela returned to the main castle and saw the bedchamber in a far worse state than when she had left, she turned on her heel. Valentin, who had hurried after her, shouted at Anton to begin cleaning at once.

Iela’s maids were clever enough to know whose pocket their weekly wages came from, and so they turned a conveniently deaf ear to Anton’s instructions.

“I should check again whether I left anything behind at the annex.”

“Quite right. With these things, no matter how many times you check, there is always something you end up leaving behind.”

“To avoid making the trip multiple times for nothing, it would be best if we all went together. Having several pairs of eyes is bound to be more thorough than just one.”

Iela did not call the maids back as they chattered and made their escape.

Leaving behind the furniture coated in carelessly scattered cigarette ash and Anton along with it, she headed for the unoccupied office.

Valentin, of course, came along.

“The first person we need to hire is a head cook.”

Valentin did not answer. He still did not agree with Iela’s plan to increase the household staff.

But openly refusing and pleading for understanding had changed nothing, so silence was now his only form of protest.

“Anton Mivela tells me that all the food I have been eating up until now was brought in from a restaurant outside. My maids can prepare a few things for snacks, but they are not professional cooks, so I never asked that of them. No wonder every meal has been so dreadful there are no words for it.”

Iela walked on without hesitation, handling Valentin, who was clinging to the hem of her skirt like a small child, with little ceremony.

The building had been constructed according to a fashion long since passed, and the long corridor was narrow in width.

She vaguely recalled hearing something about nobles deliberately keeping their corridors narrow for security reasons.

The idea being that it prevented assassins or outside threats from rushing in great numbers, while also minimizing escape routes.

Nobles in other domains might genuinely face such threats, but it had no bearing on the lord of Valita.

The most threatening figure he had to contend with was a third-rate journalist without so much as a decent weapon to his name. So to Iela, this narrow corridor was nothing more than an aggravating relic of a bygone era.

It was all the more an eyesore given that she had just recently been denied an execution on the grounds that it was a bygone era practice.

“I suppose we should be grateful at least that I have not been eating cold food. Honestly, if it had come to that, even I could not have lived like this, and I would have parted ways with Lord Bahar.”

“You will not be parting ways.”

Valentin answered with one shoulder scraping against the wall. Iela glanced at his face, which did not change expression in the slightest as though it did not hurt at all, clicked her tongue, and subtly pushed him further into the wall.

It was not so narrow that two people could not walk side by side, so it was clearly deliberate mischief with full intent, yet Valentin silently accepted the ordeal.

“We will need several servants for the laundry as well. There is simply nothing usable in this castle apart from the sheets in Lord Bahar’s bedchamber. I should get at least a rough sense of how much rubbish there is in the castle. I would hope there are many things worth salvaging, but if not, we can simply buy new ones. Oh, should I ask permission for how far I am allowed to spend?”

“As long as you use the Bahar name, there is no upper limit.”

“Since I intend to make active use of that name starting immediately, that is welcome news.”

A smile settled on the face that was usually so sparing with expression. Iela turned her head the other way and stuck out her tongue in secret.

He was a man who seized every opportunity to ask whether she had come to like him a little more.

She supposed she could take his use of the Bahar name as an invitation to come under his wing.

In the end, Iela had done nothing more than receive a name from the man.

To put it the other way, Valentin could take back everything he had given her at any moment.

“I will not have rooms left to go to ruin simply because there are too many of them. I need a separate dressing room, and I would like a breakfast room and a formal dining room as well. It would be nice to have a separate tea room for sunny days and one for windy days. On the first day I arrived, Anton Mivela showed me a reception room, and the fireplace was not functioning properly. I suspect that is the main reception room. Am I right?”

“Likely so.”

Valentin answered briefly. Iela had privately suspected he would have no real knowledge of every corner of the castle, so she did not particularly mind the indifferent reply.

He had already proven himself to be a guide of absolutely no use when she had asked to look around the castle.

“Does it make any sense that the best-kept place in this entire castle is Anton Mivela’s office? A wretched squire who calls himself lord’s deputy and only sweeps and polishes the space he uses himself.”

“Mivela does have that tendency.”

Iela looked at Valentin, who had promptly added his own commentary to the criticism of his squire, with an undisguised look of exasperation this time.

It was certainly not out of any newfound sympathy for Anton’s situation. She herself did not like Anton, so whether Valentin thought poorly of him or not was of little concern to her.

What grated on her was that he gave nothing but listless answers to everything concerning Iela herself, as though one way or another was equally fine, yet showed a noticeably genuine reaction when it came to Anton.

It felt uncomfortably like it meant that to him, Iela was nothing more than a possession, while Anton was a being of greater importance than her, and she could not stand it.

Iela had been trying to suppress her rising irritation when she found herself wondering why she should have to suppress her anger at all, and she shook Valentin off with a sharp motion.

“Iela.”

Her name was called immediately in a warning tone. To liken it to the way one would call an unruly dog might suggest Iela’s mood was too twisted. But she did not think so.

Even if it were, feelings were what mattered to the person on the receiving end, Iela rationalized.

If Valentin had expressed a similar sentiment about her behavior, she would have brushed it off with a snort, but in any case Iela was a person who thought only of herself, and putting herself in another’s shoes was not something she kept in mind.

She was pretending to look at the dust on the tall narrow window as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world when she spotted a familiar figure.

“Mayer!”

She opened the window and called out. Valentin, who had also seen Mayer, forced their hands together. Iela raised their clasped hands as they were and waved.

The knight who looked up grimaced for a moment, but quickly composed himself into a good-natured expression and gave a slight nod.

“He has been lingering nearby ever since you returned from the annex.”

“Has he?”

“He was not given permission to come inside, so he has been wandering around the perimeter every day.”

“How strange. If he had come to see Anton Mivela, there would have been no need to linger.”

“He came to see you.”

“Without calling for me?”

“He has no particular business. He simply wishes to have a conversation with you, but such a small matter hardly seems worth disturbing your rest.”

Come to think of it, over the past few days, every time Iela went near the window, he had persistently drawn her attention elsewhere.

In the bedchamber at least, the persistent demands for contact had loosened somewhat, and Iela and Valentin had spent time sitting apart, she on the bed and he in the armchair. That was likely why she had been able to notice Mayer’s approach.

It was a proposition that held true only under the assumption that all of Iela’s suppositions were correct.

“If he has come to see me that many times, a conversation is no great difficulty.”

Without asking Valentin’s opinion, she gestured for Mayer to come inside.

He showed not the slightest sign of reading Valentin’s mood and broke into a wide grin as he ran toward the castle entrance.

Thanks to that, Iela’s mood improved as well. Just a little. By the tiniest fraction.

Continuing to grind Valentin’s shoulder against the wall, Iela arrived at Anton’s office and only then realized her oversight.

She had called for Mayer without telling him where to come.

But anyone with a head on their shoulders would know that the only place in this castle remotely suitable for conversation was the lord’s deputy’s office, so she decided to wait and see.

She rummaged through the desk drawers without ceremony and took out good quality paper and ink.

As she wrote the heading ‘Notice of Servant Recruitment’ in large letters, Valentin let out a quiet sigh.

“Must you really do this?”

“I am afraid so.”

“Having you here is enough for me.”

“I am flattered, but Lord Bahar alone is lacking in various respects.”

“Did you not say you were coming to like me a little more?”

“That is a separate matter.”

Without sparing a glance for Valentin, who sighed again, she wrote out the benefits to be offered.

Wages paid weekly, advance payment permitted up to twice, injuries sustained during work to be the employer’s responsibility, sick leave to be paid in cases of legitimate reason, and so on.

This was better than working for most noble households.

Having filled half the page with benefits, Iela set down her pen with satisfaction.

“With this, even a cursed lord’s castle ought to be worth trying.”

“You think too highly of ignorant people. I worry you will be disappointed.”

Valentin said it in a tone that conveyed he was not the least bit worried.

“I will not be disappointed. If this does not work, I will offer better terms, and if that still does not work, I will have people dragged in and put to work.”

It was the attitude of someone saying they should come while they were being treated well. Reluctant as he was, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the ink from her palm himself.

She was looking at that with a displeased eye when the door burst open.

“I have been looking all over…”

At the sight of the lord and his wife seated close together, Mayer rolled his eyes in a most undignified manner.

“I thought you were never going to come. Sit down.”

Only after observing once more that he showed no sign of hesitation did Mayer step inside.

He looked around the office and chose a chair placed at a considerable distance from the desk where the couple sat.

“Quite the picture you make.”

“That would be mostly Lord Bahar, I imagine.”

“I will not deny it, but my lady is not so lacking as to spoil the scenery either, so rest easy.”

Valentin, who had not so much as glanced at the grinning Mayer, opened his mouth.

“Iela is cute.”

A brief silence followed.

“Ah, yes.”

Mayer, who prided himself on his quick instincts honed through years of mercenary life, agreed promptly.

“Indeed. My lady is quite cute. Ha ha.”

Iela pressed her nails into Valentin’s palm with a look that seemed to ask whether he was satisfied now.

He did not flinch in the slightest, as though it did not hurt at all. He simply seemed puzzled as to why Iela was in a bad mood.

“I am not cute.”

“You are cute.”

“I am not cute.”

When she repeated it firmly, Valentin did not press the point further.

“If you say so.”

Even that was said in the manner of someone making a concession, and Iela gave serious thought to how she might get back at this man.

Of course, she already knew the best method. Without hesitation, she released his hand.

“Try again so it sounds like you mean it.”

At the punishment game that had begun without warning, Mayer decided it was best to occupy himself with counting the dust motes floating in the air.