Three days had passed, since her shopping spree with Lady Florence and her new blue colored gown was delivered to the Lord's mansion yesterday.
That day, she had spoken to the Lord about wanting to leave and he had assured that he would find a decent job for her. Unfortunately Lord Theodore was a busy man as Myra didn't get to see the him after that.
She somehow pleaded with Alvin to let her help in any of the household work. Working was the only way to shoo away her boredom. The butler had adamantly refused at first, but after a lot of pestering, he agreed to let her do some easy tasks here and there.
Currently she was in the drawing room, that was located in the first floor, arranging the flowers into a vase.
A maid had bought in a bundle of freshly picked tulips and had placed it on the mahogany table. Myra had thanked the maid and pulled out the old dried flowers from the vase.
She then wiped it with a cloth and then neatly started setting the freshly picked, yellow and orange tulips in the cylindrical vase. Once done, she gleefully stood back and looked at her very own flower arrangement with satisfaction.
The drawing room was big, but slightly smaller than the main foyer in the ground floor. It was elegantly furnished like the rest of the rooms. The walls held beautiful paintings of animals and nature except for the one that was hung above the huge fireplace.
It was a portrait of a beautiful young woman sitting on an armchair. She was dressed elegantly in a pale lilac gown and her long black hair was intricately coiffured into a braid. Sitting on her lap was an adorable baby, no more than a year old.
The lady had a gentle smile on her face, her golden eyes sparkling with mirth, looking at her child lovingly. Her hands was wrapped around the little one protectively and the baby on her lap, was busy playing with its mother's fingers.
Myra stared at the portrait with interest, wondering who this pretty lady and the baby might be.
It was an aesthetic painting that clearly depicted a mother's affection towards her child.
"Miss?" someone called out.
"huh?". Myra, reluctantly looked away from the picture and turned to face the maid who had called her out. It was Rachel.
"It's lunch time" Rachel said with a polite smile, which had Myra nod.
"Rachel?" Myra said, turning around to look at the portrait again.
"Yes, Milady?"
Myra frowned, and tilted her head to look at the maid. "First thing, Rachel. Please call me by my name. Just my name. No need to add a 'lady' before it".
By now she was tired of telling it to everyone around her, but none of them gave any heed to her request and continued to address her with honorifics. Rachel nodded hesitantly.
"And who is this lady in the portrait?" Myra asked, hoping that Rachel would know.
"Ah!. That's Lady Aurelia Warburton" answered rachel. "Mi-.. I mean Myra", she added a while later, correcting herself immediately.
"And the baby?" Amyra asked pointing at the child in the portrait.
Rachel smiled, "That's our Lord Theodore". Myra eyes widened. That baby is the current Arcardian Lord?.
"Oh my god! really?!"
Aww.. He looked soo cute back then. The beautiful woman in the painting must be the Lord's mother, the previous Lady of Arcardia.
"There is another picture of Lady Aurelia in the Lord's study", said Rachel. "It is even more beautiful than this one, and that painting was painted by Lord Theodore himself, in the memory of his mother".
"His Lord paints?" Myra asked curiously.
"Yes, he does" replied the maid, "but not very often. I have only seen him painting something, twice. Ever since I started working here three years ago".
Myra hummed.
"Yuki, One of my friend. Who is in charge of cleaning the Lord's personal chambers, said that she recently peeked into a half completed painting of a woman in there", Rachel continued. Filling her in with the gossips. "I think it is his Lord's mystery lover", she added in a whispery voice inching near her ears.
Lord Theodore has a lover?
'Of course why wouldn't he not have one? He is a handsome young man after all', thought Myra.
But, for some unknown reason she felt sad hearing that.
"Can I see his paintings?" she asked eagerly after a moment.
Rachel shook her head, "No, The room in which all his Lord's art works are stored is locked and nobody other than the Lord or the butler is allowed inside"
Myra sighed feeling disappointed.
"Now, enough of this chit chat" said Rachel, "Let's go before the butler comes and scolds me for slacking off from my work".
Myra nodded understandingly, Alvin was polite and respectful whenever he spoke to her but when it comes to dealing with the maids and servants, working in the Warburton mansion, he was a stern man who excepts perfection and strictly doesn't entertain laziness among the workers.
After lunch, Myra spent her time in the garden. Helping in watering the plants, while three other servants were busy digging up the soil to plant new saplings on the other side. Alvin didn't allow her to join them, instead for her satisfaction, he allowed her to water the plants.
As Myra was watering the plants, a carriage rode through the court yard. A young woman and two men got down.
The woman had short, shoulder length, ginger colored hair. Unlike any other woman, Myra had come across before, this woman seemed quiet different. She was clad in a beige colored breeches and tight shirt, making her look like a female warrior.
The two men, who had accompanied the woman were also young, well-built and tall. One man had long blonde hair that was tied up into a half pony and he was wearing a loose white shirt with brown breeches while the other guy had short brown hair and was dressed in fine blue suit.
Myra observed the three of them with interest from the garden area, wondering who these people might be. The butler walked out through the front door and came forward to welcome them.
"Alvin, we are back!", shouted the blonde guy with a wide smile, launching himself on the butler and giving him a man hug.
The other man with brown hair, rolled his eyes and shook his head looking at his companions odd behavior, while the woman just stared not giving out any reaction.
Pulling back, the blond man patted the Butler's shoulders quiet hard, that had Alvin jerk forward slightly, with a grim unpleasant expression.
"Welcome back" said the butler politely, quickly fixing his uncomfortable expression, looking at all the three of them who had arrived.
The Woman and the brown haired man gave a light nod, before they entered the mansion.The Blonde man and the butler, followed them closely behind.
Before stepping inside, the blonde haired man paused by the main door and turned back. He eyed at the curious Amyra, staring at him. A smirk grew on his face as he noticed her.
Then without a warning he winked at her, before turning around and vanishing out of sight.