On the third day since Hannah began to work as a maid, the dining room was brightly flooded with light as two different types of breakfast were served, one for me and one for Mary. Obviously, had the one where the chef couldn’t fuck up too much, although I was still surprised by the amount of salt he put on it. In any case, Mary seemed to like hers, so it was probably me who was just a bit of a picky eater.

The atmosphere on the table was good, if not for the four maids around us. The two maids that stood at the wall behind Mary stared at the girl behind me with blatant hatred. The situation certainly didn't become better as Mary eyed every movement of the other maid behind me, one of the trio that usually took care of me.

“Speak openly.” Mary said at the end of our meal, much to my surprise. I didn’t want to escalate the situation this early, but her words didn’t leave me any choice. Scratching my cheek, I waited for any of the three maids to speak up.

“We are against sheltering this elf any longer. It damages the reputation of this house.” The maid behind me said. “She isn´t fit to serve you.”

“There are criteria for being a servant here?” I asked, a bit surprised.

“Yes. One must be of acceptable birth and one must be trained. She doesn’t qualify.” Unhappily, I stood up and met her gaze. She, more than everyone else here, hated Hannah because her job was at risk.

“Yvonne, if you could please gather every available servant in this room and tell everyone to bring a chair with them. I think we all need to discuss this issue. Hannah, if you would be so kind to follow me.” I strolled out of the room, a timid Hannah following behind me. Mary, seemingly interested in what I was up to, took a sip of her tea and smiled at Yvonne.

“Where are we going?” Hannah asked as soon as we were a bit further away.

“We are going to make tea.” I stated, simply unable to lie.

“You are making tea?” She asked in surprise.

“Rarely. I usually drink the tea of the maids because it´s too tasty.” And my lying streak started again.

Shortly afterwards, we arrived at the kitchen where I greeted the chef. He was already accustomed to my presence as I made quite a few cookies in the past and even helped with boiling up a large pot of tea, stacking all the cups and mugs we had into a cart and rolling it back to the dining room as soon as I deemed the tea fit for consumption.

As most of the servants were already gathered here and as Yvonne was already back, I guessed that the others were currently occupied with something else. Still, the twenty-odd servants in this room were more than enough for what I was planning to do.

“Take a seat, Hannah.” I directed her towards my old chair and waited for the chef to sit down on another chair. Smiling, I drove the cart behind Mary and retrieved a cup out of it, even though she already had one in front of her. It didn’t take long for me to pour her a cup and serve it to her.

“I heard that you are unsatisfied with Hannah.” A few of the servants nodded boldly while some refrained from giving any answers. But none of them refused my words. “Is it because her parents were elves?”

Even more nodding filled the room.

“My father was a commoner. Do you dislike me as well?” Most of them simply froze, but Yvonne stayed bold. She was really itching to get rid of Hannah.

“We wouldn’t dare! But she is an elf, and you are a human.” She said. Slowly, I filled the next cup with tea.

“And what does that make for a difference? Both she and I are looked down upon by nobility. Our heritage is unacceptable in the eyes of many, so please Paul, tell me if it hurts to be served tea by me?” I placed the cup of tea in front of a butler.

“It is an honour to be served by you.” I nodded happily and started to pour the next cup.

“So birth doesn’t matter. How about my training? I lived on a farm for most of my life. I haven’t served much tea to nobles, so tell me if it hurts your honour to be served tea by an untrained person, Leonie.”

“It doesn’t.” The maid I served said.

“So it is neither her birth nor her training you are unsatisfied with. It is her race. The elves are responsible for so much destruction, for so much pain and I think you, hailing from the east all felt this pain first hand. So did I. I didn’t want my father to die at the hands of the elves because they realized who I was. They tried to use him against me and mum, but didn’t succeed in doing so.”

I paused for a few seconds as I continued to serve a few more servants.

“And now he is dead … For a few days, I hated the elves even more than you do now. But this is wrong. The elves aren’t that different from us, they have feelings as well: the desire for safety, love and most importantly pain. Whatever they did to us, we also did to them. It is a circle, whatever we do will be paid back and vice versa. Losing the army to them in unknown circumstances made everything much worse. We hate them because they hate us, they hurt us because we hurt them. We need to stop for our own sake. I don’t want to live with the knowledge that I could have changed something, may it be as little as just showing the world elves and humans can live together.”

I placed a cup in front of Hannah who looked at me with big, round eyes.

“I´m young, I´m naïve. I know all of that, but I also know my dad wouldn’t have wanted to see even more die because I didn’t strive for peace. I don’t want you to accept her because I said so, but I do want you to try to see her as your equal.”

I served Yvonne a cup of tea.

“All of you.”

None of them ever heard of an incident where a human noble girl served tea for every maid and butler for the sake of an elf. I was sure some would dislike me because of that, especially the nobles who were still burning with desire to wage war with the elves of those racist pieces of shit that weren’t capable of changing their minds. But I wasn’t targeting them with my actions anyway, but rather your average commoner and those living in the slums. I wanted to become some kind of figure they could look up to, second to only the king in their eyes. The nobles certainly feared that and would try to do anything to discredit me, even bribing one of my maids to oppose me, not that I claimed that it actually happened.

Last but not least, I filled my own cup of tea and sat down right next to Mary.

“We are all a big family here, no exceptions. From my daughter to the cooks to the maids, I consider everyone here precious to me. I do not wish for anyone to befall harm in this place, even if he or she belongs to a race we are currently at war with. My daughter rescued Hannah and I fully support her decision.” Mary said, nailing the coffin shut. The malice was obviously still there, but the threshold of actually harming Hannah increased severalfold. If someone wanted to hurt her anymore though, he or she would certainly go overboard and downright kill her, hoping they could get away with it.

While I was still deep in thought, Mary was already sipping on her tea, along with everyone else.

“How are you doing this?” She asked as everyone was a bit surprised by the quality of the tea.

“Lots and lots of love.” I said and smiled brightly. It was obviously a lie as I usually made a mess whenever I cooked something. There was no love in my food, there was only heartless, meticulous planning and execution. Nevertheless, most servants accepted my reasoning somewhat.

“Interesting … hey, Lucy, aren’t you late to something?” Surprised, I blinked and looked at Mary.

“Uhm …” I said, hoping it was just some minor inconvenience I forgot.

“See, that’s why I already prepared a carriage for you.” Sadly, she didn’t forget. My tutoring lessons were supposed to continue this day. Pouting, I stood up, grabbed Hannah´s hand and pulled her up.

“Let´s go,” I said, trying my hardest to remain cheerful. “I need to meet the second prince and you will follow me.”