After I heard Mom’s idea I once again made my way to the kitchen. When I walked through the corridor of the mansion I started to realize that the ’little’ house that I was in is actually really big. The reason why I thought the mansion was small is because I never spend my time exploring it. My 8 years of life here was spent in my bedroom, study room, and the dining room. Now that I said it to myself I also realized that my life was really lonely. Since Mother and Father never bothered with their children beyond their basic necessity they just left the children to the butler. Of course the butler couldn’t pay attention to the both of us most of the time because he needed to do a lot of the job that was assigned to him, from organizing the servants to assisting Father in his work.
While I was walking I saw a few maids doing their job. I thought again about the lesson that Mom taught me. Steeling my resolve I walked to the closest maid and called out to her.
“Um… excuse me.”
“!”
“Good morning.”
“Ah, good morning, Milady.”
I did it! For some reason the maid didn’t move after she returned my greeting, but I did it. I looked around and saw a few other maids around the hall. Fueled by confidence after my first success I approached everyone and said my greetings to them one by one. In the end everybody returned my greetings just like the first maid did. I was feeling really happy. That was the first time that I was able to do many things on my own. Filled with more confidence than ever I looked around once again to search for more people to greet.
Maybe I should go to the place where the servants gathered and say hello to everybody?
I turned myself toward the direction of the separate building that was built next to our mansion. Mom said that every servant that didn’t have any home to return to lived there together. I merrily made my way to the building. But after a few steps I stopped myself. I wondered how long it will take to walk to the side building and then back here again. I was afraid that by the time I made it back it would be past lunch time. I tried to calculate the distance in my head but noticed that since I never walked to the side building I didn’t know how long it would take. With no more I could do I put this plan in my head and decided that I will ask Mom about it later. I then turned around again and continued my walk to the kitchen.
Walking a few minutes down the corridor I arrived back at the kitchen. I took a deep breath and tried to open the door as quietly as possible so that I won’t distract the staff like I did in the morning. From the tiny opening I could see the kitchen staff doing many tasks at various places inside the kitchen, some were peeling vegetables and cutting things in the corner, some were cooking near the fire, and some were cleaning many dishes. After surveying the room for some time I finally found the chef, Meahold, instructing several people with the same uniform as him. Confirming that he was inside I closed the door back and knocked it several times. After waiting for a few minutes a maid opened the door and looked at me with a surprised look on her face but she quickly adjusted her expression.
“Milady, can I help you with anything?”
“Umm... yes. Can you please let me inside once more? I promise I won’t bother anybody again.”
“Milady I apologize for my words, but you are our master, you can do whatever you want in this house.”
“No, that’s… I know… but...”
The maid was waiting for an answer from me but I just couldn’t say that I was here to apologize to them for what I did this morning. I was so overjoyed by my little success on the way to the kitchen that I forgot to actually think about the way I will apologize to the kitchen staff. I also never apologized for anything in my life before. That made me realize that when I did something wrong the maids would take care of it for me. Maybe I should just tell her to let me in like she said. No, then there would be no reason to apologize. Again and again I realized that many things I did in the past were okay only if I saw it from my perspective. I felt like I just wanted to run away and go back to my room.
Seeing me standing there without saying anything the maid looked back at the kitchen and called somebody. I then heard a hurried step getting closer to the door. The door then opened even more and Meahold appeared in front of me. Before I could say anything Meahold bowed his head down.
“Milady, I’m sorry if what I did this morning offended you. I will take full responsibility for all of your dissatisfaction so please forgive the other servants. They were just simply following my orders.”
“It’s not that! Wait no, I didn’t mean to shout… that’s… I’m sorry for disturbing your work!”
Panicked, I did the same thing that Meahold was doing, I bent my body and bowed my head to apologize to everybody at the kitchen. I stayed like that and waited for anybody to speak but all I heard was the sound of water boiling in a pot.
“What are you doing?”
While I was busy thinking of the next step for my apology a boy’s voice suddenly entered my ear. The boy’s voice was filled with questions, no doubt because he saw a young lady and a chef bowing to each other. Feeling sore after keeping my posture for some time I lifted my head and looked towards the boy. Standing in the corridor was a noble boy a few years older than me. He stood there with a confused face, a sword in one arm, and a book in another. After looking at his face many memories flooded my head. Yes, I remember, this was my brother, Stefano Ewlo Lamotte, the boy who would become the bloodthirsty duke.
