Gremory went on strike.
She's been working so much lately that she needed a period of laziness.
Fortunately, Chession allowed it. Gremory was given a three-day vacation.
The task of making the potion was entrusted to the abbess of the convent. Since potions require a little magic to complete, Gremory gave the abbess some beads made by condensing her own magical power. The abbess liked the ominous black beads, saying they were the holy relics of the Saint.
Locked in the bedroom, Gremory drew blackout curtains, slid under the covers, and rolled herself up.
'Oh, that's good.'
Gremory dozed off and thought. She doesn't think it's bad to be rumored to be a Saint.
'My goal was to live here in hiding in the first place. If I am rumored to be a Saint, I will never be suspected of being a witch.'
And Gremory did a little introspection on herself.
"Do you think I should hide my identity from now on? I don't think I claimed to be a witch in front of a lot of people. I'm in a position where I have to live in hiding."
Just as she was thinking. Iris nagged her.
"So, from now on, don't shout at me for being a witch. The young lady is too much of a witch without even trying. You said you were living in hiding. This time, people just got over it, but there's no guarantee that they'll go over it next time."
"Shut up. If people say anything, you can put a mental curse on them. Ha, I tried to be careful, but I didn't want to be careful because you were nagging me."
"Never do such a scary thing!"
"Shut up."
Gremory rolled up her fluffy blankets and took a nap. Just as she was about to enjoy the warmth, the door suddenly opened with a small knock.
She was so annoyed.
"Hey, Miss Mori. Are you inside? Oh boy! There you are! It's been a long time since you've been in the mansion!"
Anna, the little maid who was serving her food, brought a chair to the front of the bed and sat down. Gremory asked for business by sticking her eyes out of the blanket.
"Miss Mori wasn't there, so no one listened to me! I had so many things I wanted to say!"
Gremory looked at Anna with a puzzled face. Anna began to talk in earnest about whether they still thought of the witch as a bamboo forest.
"That's why I heard the rumors. They said that Miss Mori was a Saint? It's amazing! Thank you for protecting our territory."
Anna's words were long. But there was no substance in her words. It is as if she is talking about the main topic in circles. There was no way that Gremory, who could see through the darkness of her opponents, could not notice Anna's heart.
"Anna."
"Yes, Miss!"
"Tell me the point."
"Oh..."
Anna's expression darkened rapidly.
"Facts... I'm being bullied by the maids. Because I'm from an orphanage."
"You are from an orphanage? Didn't you have a family? You once told me that you lost both your parents and brothers to the plague."
"That's it... My parents and brothers died in a fire when I was very young. The people who died from the plague Gremory, were the orphanage director and the orphanage's older sisters. In fact, I wasn't as close to the director as my parents, and I just took away the little food he gave me from my older sisters."
"What? I also thought that very important people had died because of the plague. Аnyway, the maids are making fun of you for that?"
"Yes..."
Gremory's mood was strange. Every time she saw Anna, the unpleasant sensation that was stirring somewhere in her chest disappeared a little. Instead, anger filled the place.
"Anna. Sleep in my room tonight."
"What? Why?"
"Don't ask, just sleep."
***
The maids were divided into three groups. The first is a group that quietly does its own thing. This group consisted mostly of dark-haired women brought by Chession. The second is a group of people who form a faction by playing around. They are a bit noisy, but they do their job steadily.
The problem was the third and final group. They got a job with a letter of recommendation from an aristocratic family, and they were the most powerful of the group. They picked up the gentle and kind maids one by one and bullied them for some strange reason. The maid caught this time was Anna. She doesn't have a recommendation letter. She doesn't have a supporter, and she can't take action anywhere, even if I'm bullied.
They dropped Anna's laundry on the floor and stained it, and spilled water on her bed so that she could sleep on the floor.
There was only one reason why Anna was bullied. It was the subject of the highest amount of money while taking care of the Grand Duke and the maids closely, and it was a strange reason not to share it with the other maids.
Chession was aware of this problem. This was because Isolene had reported the problem of bullying among the maids. The other day, one of the maids quit her job because of bullying issues.
Chession summoned the dark-haired maids to inquire. Is there a bullying problem these days? Unfortunately, he didn't know that there was a problem because each of the maids he called out had no interest in anything other than work. It was also because Anna was so quiet and had no colleagues to confide in.
In the end, Chession decided to hide his disregard and walk down the halls of the maid's quarters. He wanted to listen to the voices coming from inside the room.
That night, Chession hid his disguise with magic and headed for the maids' quarters.
Since it was late, most of the rooms were quiet and sleeping. Or they get together and talk about poetry.
Chession's footsteps stopped in front of Room 404 on the 4th floor. The sound of words coming from inside was unusual.
"Did you see her expression? Isn't that funny? Ahaha!"
"But Anna, she's really awful, too. If you have any concerns, you should either go out or give a public donation, right?"
"So! But where did she go today? It didn't look like she was in the bedroom."
"We sprinkled vinegar on the bed. Why don't you go out and sleep in the backyard?"
'... I found it.'
Chession's expression hardened. It turned out that the target of the bullying was Anna.
Chession was about to knock on the door violently. A scream was heard from inside Room 404.
"Ahh... What the heck is this! Bats!"
"Go away! Apart! Aaaaaaaaaa!?"
"What? The door won't open! Someone, please help me!"
Chession wondered what was going on. Bats. There is no place for bats to live near the Grand Palace.
But is the door really not open?
Chession turned the doorknob out of curiosity. The handle was as hard as a stone and did not turn.
"Ahh... What is that! Ugh! What is a person?"
"Witch! You're a witch who plays bats!"
"Hey, is that a person? Eyes are red! Ugh! Humans have bat wings! Aaaaaaaa!!"
Chession held his breath and pressed his ear to the crack in the door. You what? Witch? Bat wings? Let's see it together.
"What do you want! Why are you doing this to us? Aaaa!!"
Then.
He heard a voice.
"Get out of the Grand Duke's residence. Forever."
Chession was stunned.
This was clearly Mori's voice.
Chession ran out of the building. Then he looked at the place where Room 404 was.
Surprisingly, the place was quiet. The wooden windows were also firmly closed. There were no bats around.
Feeling a bit eerie, Chession went back inside the building and headed for Room 404. He was so surprised that he forgot to hide his surprise.
By the way.
There was no room 404.
In the room after room 403, there was room 405.
Then, awakened by the sound of Chession's footsteps, one of the maids opened the door and poked her head out.
"Who is running around so crazy... Yes? Your Highness? What's going on here?"
"Sith, wasn't Room 404 here?"
"What are you talking about? It's a well-known fact that there is no room 404 in the maid's dormitory. A long time ago, an assassin broke in and killed the maid in Room 404...... Your Highness? Are you okay?"
"Huh? It's a little cold."
Chession rubbed his arms and hurried toward Gremory. Gremory was sleeping in the same bed as Anna.
Anna, who was a bright sleeper, rubbed her eyes and woke up.
"Mmm... Yes? Your Highness?"
"Why are you sleeping together?"
"Oh... I had some friction with the other maids, so I had no choice but to sleep with Miss Mori for today. Miss, isn't it?"
"Hmmm."
"That's right. I understand."
Chession returned to his bedroom, feeling haunted. The whole way, he felt as if something was following him.
"Holy...!"
Chession walked quickly into the bedroom and locked the door. The windows were quickly locked.
'Mori was clearly sleeping. If she had moved, Anna, who was a bright sleeper, would have noticed it right away. Then Mori isn't the culprit. Then what exactly is Mori's voice that I heard?'
Chession slumped into the bed and covered himself with a blanket over his head. Mori's voice, which he had heard in Room 404, seemed to be ringing in his ears.
"I want to be sure that Mori isn't a witch, but this keeps happening....! I'm confused!"
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