The Duke’s funeral was set to be in a few weeks, but due to monsters prevailing in the area, only a few would attend the funerary rites. It would be irresponsible for the Knights of Tenetium to escort every single noble who asked. Only those equipped or with knights of their own would attend, even the King would send soone in his wake so that he wouldn’t have to put his family through more travel.
That in itself didn’t sit well with most knights and apprentices. They thought that, even though the man had been declining slowly for a while, he still deserved a more honorable end. What was normal for a Duke’s funeral was a large event. They would celebrate life and bless his body.
For the Duchess to steal his ashes and effectively ruin the blessing and honoring of the man.
But what ca with the sense of disappointnt over this fact was determination.
Sir Gunnar quickly found that the maids who were hired late were left behind by the Duchess. It was quite cruel considering they didn’t have anyone in the Duke’s Tower who looked after them. The Duchess hid them from everyone and housed them in rooms closest to the one she shared with the Duke.
As Sir Gunnar waited in the library for the youngest new maid to co to him, he couldn’t help tapping his foot impatiently.
The reason for eting the girl in such a casual place was that she seed intimidated by those around her because she knew that her presence was already unwelco, and many were suspicious of her and the other new maids. It also didn’t help that certain events seed to revolve around her, so Gunnar decided he would speak to her directly.
However, he also brought Irene with him, hoping that having soone younger might soften the blow. Perhaps he would also respond more kindly to the situation if he had soone he was ant to teach and couldn’t see him behaving in the unsavory way he was feeling.
Irene was permitted to read until the maid arrived, but when the door opened, her head snapped up at the sa ti the book shut.
Agnes stepped into the room, gently pushing Rosalind by the shoulders.
"Go ahead," the slightly older maid insisted. "It’s alright."
Gunnar stood up, and the girl seed to shrink further.
He raised his hands as if to say he ant no harm and went to the other side of the table, where he pulled out two chairs. He then gestured for the won to sit down.
Agnes wasn’t ant to stay, but he decided on the spot that she ought to.
"I will tell Ingrid if you miss sothing you were supposed to attend to," Gunnar assured the maid.
"Yes, sir," Agnes responded before she took up his offer of a chair and smiled faintly at Iro.
Since the last ti she had spoken to the girl, she found out that Gunnar knew of her secret. It made Agnes more relieved that more trusted people knew. The responsibility was heavy to bear.
When Rosalind finally sat down, Sir Gunnar did as well. He leaned into the table and tried not to communicate anything through his posture other than his silent reception of what he hoped she told him.
"I’m not here to berate you or lecture you," Sir Gunnar assured her. "It isn’t your fault that you’ve been sent to a place such as this and then left by the one who brought all of you here. I rely want to get to the bottom of this situation where things are brewing out of our control."
"Yes, sir," the young maid responded.
"First of all, where did you co from? Did the others co from the sa place as you?" he wondered.
Rosalind glanced at Agnes who rely nodded at her.
"A village nearly a two-day trip from here, sir," she explained. "There were job postings for maids. Since I lost my family due to a monster attack, I have been living and working in an inn, but this work promised higher pay, and I want to stay safe from the monsters. I think others felt the sa, but the Duchess didn’t permit us to speak to one another while we were attending to our duties."
Irene did her best not to respond to the girl, but she knew her eyebrows had lowered, and she quickly wiped away the incredulous look she was giving.
"Please, tell what sort of duties Her Grace put you up to since you’ve arrived," Gunnar requested.
"We were to stay in the Duke’s room at all tis while it was our turn to watch him," she explained. "For hours I would sit there watching a man who seed either minutes to death or completely asleep. The few tis he talked to , he was a very kind person. He even gave a book from his library."
Gunnar couldn’t hold back his disbelief at this.
"You were ant to stay there the entire ti?" the knight asked.
"I’m not even sure he realized we were there, sir," she admitted. "We had als and dicine we were ant to give him around the clock, but half the ti it was given to him, he was asleep, and the food would go to waste. He refused to be fed unless it was Her Grace. He argued with her before that it was emasculating to be spoon fed like a baby."
Gunnar was unsure of how to respond, so he rely pressed forward.
"And you were the one there when he died?" the knight asked.
Rosalind glanced around at all the eyes on her a bit more suspiciously. Could she trust those people? Did she have a choice?
Since Agnes had only ever been kind to her and they were people Agnes said she trusted, Rosalind relented after a mont of consideration.
"I was, sir," she responded more quietly. "It sounded like he was choking, so I rushed to him. He threw up sothing black just before he died."
Irene and Sir Gunnar glanced at one another, knowing exactly what it seed like. However, even Agnes stared in disbelief. She was there all the tis Irene threw up even when she was completely unconscious. However, the apprentice survived while soone as old as the Duke couldn’t.
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