Lily wanted to hire a personal maid as soon as possible, so she immediately contacted the agency. The agency staff gladly replied that they would visit with resumes in the afternoon, and came in person around 3 PM.

“Here are the resumes you requested.”

Lily examined the resumes given by the staff. While maid experience was important, what mattered more was the salary. Since Samantha said she couldn’t give more than 10 shillings, it was difficult to match the average salary of a personal maid. There was also a limit to what could be provided separately.

So she needed a maid who would work hard while receiving little pay. Thinking it sounded unreasonable even to herself, Lily chuckled softly as she looked through the resumes. She checked carefully just in case, but there was no one who met her desired conditions.

“Is there no maid to your liking?”

When Lily kept silently flipping through the papers, the staff asked worriedly.

“No. There are many I like, but the salary requirements are too high.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but if you want a personal maid, you’ll have to pay that much, my lady.”

Instead of saying she knew, Lily handed back the papers and asked:

“Could I see resumes of maids requesting lower salaries than these?”

“It’s possible, but… then it would be difficult to use them as personal maids. Lower pay means they’re that much more inexperienced in their duties.”

“That’s alright.”

Skills can be developed gradually anyway. And right now, she needed a trustworthy maid more than one with excellent skills. A reliable maid who wouldn’t fall for Fredrick and Samantha’s tricks.

“Please wait a moment.”

The staff rummaged through their bag, seemingly looking for resumes that met the conditions. At a glance, there was a stack of papers as thick as an encyclopedia in the bag.

“Not this one…”

Lily briefly skimmed through the resumes the staff had sorted out as unsuitable. They were resumes of those with no experience or less than 6 months. As their experience was short, their ages were also young. Seeing a resume of a child only 10 years old, Lily clicked her tongue.

Curious about what kind of children applied to be maids, and bored with waiting, she continued to examine the resumes.

“Hm?”

Then there was one resume that caught her eye, which she looked at carefully. It was the resume of a 15-year-old child with 3 years of maid experience who only wanted 10 shillings in salary. Usually, maids with over 3 years of experience demand at least 20 shillings, but there was a reason she only asked for 10 shillings.

With such a condition, it’s understandable to receive less money. Most employers don’t like having extra mouths to feed. Except for the special note, the experience wasn’t bad, and the age was suitable. While carefully examining the child’s resume, Lily asked the staff who was still diligently searching for resumes.

“How about this child?”

“Pardon? Which… Ah, you mean Emily.”

Confirming the name written at the top of the resume, the staff spoke as if they had been waiting.

“For someone so young, her experience is decent and she works diligently. Her personality is also gentle, making her pleasant to have around, but… the problem is that there’s a special condition if you want to hire her.”

“You mean wanting to live with her younger sibling?”

“Yes, that’s right. She’s living alone with her young brother without parents, and says she wants to live together because her brother would be left alone if she leaves.”

To take care of an even younger sibling at such a young age when it’s already hard to look after oneself. Emily became even more appealing to Lily. With such proper sense of responsibility, even if Fredrick made secret proposals like he did to Megan or Margaret, she wouldn’t easily fall for them.

“I’d like to meet this child.”

Whether to hire her or not was a decision to be made after meeting in person. Hoping that Emily would be exactly as she imagined, Lily set an appointment for the morning after tomorrow. She wanted to see her tomorrow if possible, but it couldn’t be helped since the agency was unavailable in the morning and she was busy in the afternoon.

“Then I’ll see you the day after tomorrow, my lady.”

“Yes. See you then.”

It was when Lily had escorted the agency staff out of the central hall and turned around. Robert, dressed in a neat suit, came down from the second floor.

“Good afternoon, my lady.”

“……”

Although Robert bowed politely and greeted her, Lily did not return the greeting. How could she? This man was the thief who stole her shoes. Even if it was on Fredrick’s orders, that fact didn’t change.

Lily wanted to grab Robert’s collar right then and shout, asking why he stole her things and demanding them back, but doing so wouldn’t change anything. Rather, it would only reveal the cards she held, so she held back.

When Lily just stared without saying anything, Robert asked.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

“…I do.”

She had so much she wanted to say that she didn’t know where to start. Lily pondered for a moment on how to get the answer she wanted from Robert, then asked.

“Did you hear from my husband about what happened last night?”

Asking first to check how much he knew, Robert nodded.

“Yes. I heard there was an unfortunate incident. I’m quite sorry to hear such unpleasant news. I hope you find the culprit as soon as possible.”

Hearing such words from the culprit himself made her feel strange. She couldn’t define this emotion exactly, but one thing was certain – it didn’t make her angry. Rather, it was odd how the anger that had risen to her head was slowly subsiding.

“Is that all my husband said?”

Thanks to this, however, Lily was able to ask calmly and rationally. Robert looked at her face for a moment before speaking.

“If you have something you’d like to say to the master, please tell me. I’ll relay it on your behalf.”

“I don’t have anything particular I want to say. I’m just curious when he’ll catch the shameless culprit who stole my belongings.”

Lily deliberately emphasized ‘shameless’ while observing Robert’s expression. She thought he might show some agitation, but that was a mistake.

“I see. I’ll convey that message.”

Seems he has no conscience at all. Lily clicked her tongue inwardly. Even though they say servants come to resemble their masters, there was no need to imitate to that extent.

“If the culprit isn’t found, and thus the stolen shoes aren’t recovered, please also tell him to buy me the same ones. There’s an identical pair in the dressing room, so he can take that and buy the same ones.”

“Understood.”

“Since we’re on the topic, why don’t you go up and get them now.”

At Lily’s suggestion, Robert checked his pocket watch and shook his head.

“I have another appointment, so it would be difficult right now.”

“It won’t take long, just 5 minutes. Let’s go up for a moment and get them.”

Lily finally led Robert to the dressing room on the second floor. Seemingly in a hurry, Robert kept checking the time throughout the journey.

“Let’s see, it was somewhere around here…”

The more hurried he seemed, the more leisurely Lily acted. Although she knew where the single remaining shoe was, she pretended not to know and examined the shoe rack. Robert, who had been anxiously watching Lily with the pocket watch in hand, let out a deep sigh and approached her.

“It’s here.”

And he took out the single remaining shoe from the top of the shoe rack. Seeing this, a bright smile bloomed on Lily’s face.

“So it was there. You found it well.”

“Yes. Then I’ll be…”

“But how did you know that was the missing shoe?”

Robert, who was about to turn around and leave immediately, stopped. Like a machine that hadn’t been oiled and was rusting, he turned only his head creakily to look at her. Lily was still smiling, but her eyes flashed sharply as she looked at Robert. It seemed like she was accusing Robert of being the culprit who stole her belongings.

An awkward silence fell between the two. As they stared at each other like in a staring contest, Lily was the first to speak.

“I’ve kept a busy person for too long. You should go now. We can’t let it interfere with your work.”

“……”

Robert was more uneasy about Lily sending him off with a relaxed smile than if she had questioned him persistently. It meant she knew something.

How much did she know? He wanted to ask, but doing so would only be self-destructive, so he finally left the dressing room without asking anything.

It was when the sky was tinged with red sunset that the boy from the alley on Maple Street came to see Herald again.

“Pleased to meet you, Count. My name is Emily.”

Emily, the girl who came with the boy, bowed deeply and greeted politely. She was very nervous, tightly grasping the hem of her worn skirt. The boy’s face was also tense as he rolled his eyes around, scanning the surroundings.

“It seems the agency contacted you.”

Although Herald knew why this sibling pair had come, he wanted to make sure and asked. The boy and Emily nodded simultaneously, without either taking the lead.

As expected. Herald was satisfied that Lily had taken his advice. At the same time, what made him bitter was that she had chosen Emily. It meant Lily’s situation was not good enough to have to use a child lacking in both experience and ability as her personal maid.

Of course, this too was calculated and planned. Everything was flowing as he had anticipated.

“……”

Yet, not feeling particularly good about it, Herald frowned and tilted his head. Interpreting this as a bad sign, Emily, still with her head bowed, stammered:

“I will definitely please the Viscountess and become her personal maid. And I will report everything that happens to the Viscountess to you, Count.”