The lady who was seemingly aggrieved earlier, suddenly became silent.
"And what would I get from you if I submit?" She asked, interested.
"Revenge against Karciel and everyone connected to him." I said with a small smile and drank my tea.
"A little girl like you?" She quickly replied, obviously doubting me.
"With your knowledge and connections paired with my family's knights and background, it would be easy for a little girl like me to do so." I assured her.
"I don't believe you." She quickly replied. "What kind of family background do you have to be confident to use it?"
"You are speaking to the eldest daughter of House Castellan and the vessel of the goddess Parsua, lady Melody Castellan." Sebastiene kindly informed her.
Miss Bloom's expression showed shock for an instant before she managed to put on an uncomfortable smile.
"T-the eldest daughter of House Castellan?" She asked Sebastiene, trying to keep her calm. "The House Castellan?"
"Yes." Sebastiene smile proudly.
Her eyes went wide hearing his confirmation and she was visibly shaking with fear.
"No need to be afraid of me." I looked at her with a faint smile. "I want you to serve me as my informant, what do you say?"
Not only was miss Bloom dumbfounded from my invitation, her jaw even dropped from the shock.
"M-my lady, are you sure?" She asked.
"I am." I replied casually.
"Then I shall accept lady Castellan's offer." She hastily replied.
I pushed the glass of wine towards her and smiled.
"From today forward, you will be a knight of House Castellan who will serve as my informant. You shall take the Oath of loyalty together with the other knights." I smiled at her.
"Yes, my lady." She bowed.
"Good." I smiled and turned towards the Shalit who where both shocked from what they just overheard.
"Do you guys also want to serve under me?" I casually asked them.
"We are not remarkable people, my lady." Mr. Francis replied, indignant. "We are only mere common folk with no distinguishing capabilities. We are just normal teahouse owners."
"Serving me does not mean that you have to have amazing abilities and be distinguished people." I shook my head with a dejected expression. "I only wanted people I can trust and a place that would be easy for me to gather information regarding common life, as we also need it for governing our territory."
When they saw my expression, they must have realized that they had overreacted.
"I apologize for my husband's misunderstanding, my lady." Madam Shalit apologized sincerely. "We have no problems with what you ask, if it will be for the betterment of Westreon and it's people."
The hurt expression on my face was instantly switched to a grin.
"Thank you." I replied. "I will come here every now and then for some tea and gossip."
I looked back at Miss Bloom.
"Do you have a place to stay for the meantime?"
She shook her head.
"Do you have an extra room?" I asked the Shalits and they nodded.
"There is room in the attic that we do not use anymore." Madam Shalit answered.
"For the meantime, you shall work here in the teahouse and help the Shalits." I instructed her and turned to Sebastiene.
"Go buy her some clothes and change her appearance enough for others to not be able to recognize her."
"She will need to come with me if I buy her clothes, but we cannot afford to be seen right now." Sebastiene smiled knowingly.
"What do you mean?" I frowned.
"Eldest lady, lady Athanasia has a message for you." A knight came down from upstairs.
"Speak."
"Karciel's people are out on the street, looking for the runaways." He reported.
"The siblings?" I frowned.
"And miss Bloom." The knight nodded.
Miss bloom swallowed hard.
"Madam Cheska, please take Miss Bloom upstairs to clean up and change. Kindly let her borrow some of your old clothes and cut her hair short." I look at her with urgency.
Madam Shalit nodded and helped Miss Bloom up the stairs. Sir Francis looked puzzled but just shrugged it off and continues wiping the counter.
"Seb, take care of those people outside." I ordered him to which he smiled happily.
"With pleasure, my lady."
Sebastiene went outside and 'took care' of things. I went back to the second floor where Athy was still looking out the window sipping tea. Aspez and Elaheh sat nervously on their table with some of our knights. Sir Francis bought me another cup of tea.
"I have been downstairs for some time and you haven't budge from where you sat since I left." I told her as I sat down in front of her again.
"Where's the ex-girlfriend?" She asked unbothered by my remark.
"Had her cleaned up before showing her to you." I shrugged.
"Good." She remarked still not looking at me.
"I wonder how long it will take mother and Uriel to finish their shopping." I mumbled.
"Until the sun sets." Athy commented, annoyed. "You know how they are."
"I have already recruited five new people while they are shopping." I sighed.
"Five?" Athy faced me with a frown.
"Aspez, Elaheh, Miss Bloom, and the Shalit couple." I smiled while raising a finger for each name. "Common folk gossip is free here, just make sure to not bring trouble to the tea house."
"What do you mean?" Athy looked puzzled.
"This place will become our information place for gossip revolving around the commoners' daily lives. We will need such information for us to understand our people more." I winked at her.
"I see." Athy whispered.
"Also, their wine here is really good." I added.
Athy frowned at me, looking disgusted.
"It's for father, not you." I cleared.
Athy rolled her eyes at me and looked outside the window again, I ignored her action and did the same.