I held my breath in anticipation, expecting her to yell out at me at any second for being a man. My mind raced trying to figure out the best way to get out of the situation. However, contrary to my expectations, that accusation never came. Instead, a condescending sigh escaped her lips as she looked down on me. "My lady needs a servant to bathe her, you'll have to do so follow me."
I arched my eyebrow, being careful to not let her see my surprised expression. I watched her feet turn around as she began to walk back towards the way she came. I quickly straightened and followed her. It wouldn't do well to just run away here, I would be found out for sure. Besides, this was a good opportunity to earn some free exp while I was leveling up my 'Manipulation' mastery.
I followed her meekly, making sure to play the part of a timid, obedient maid at every moment. I didn't want to be found out in the middle of bathing a noble lady. My skill was also operating constantly at full blast, helping me fool the maid-in-waiting in front of me. So I decided to put my faith in the skill and be a bit more risky.
"Um, ma'am," I shifted the way I referred to her, giving her a more respectful title. "Which noble young lady might I be bathing?" I spoke quietly, making sure to avoid her eyes when she turned to look at me, instead looking down at the floor. She smirked, clearly enjoying my attitude towards her.
"Marquis Garold's youngest daughter, Lady Trisha." She said without stopping, continuing to lead me towards the luxury baths.
Marquis Garold was one of the Haliborn Kingdom's most influential men. The Kingdom's power was split into two separate entities, the royal family and the nobility. The royal family contained the main family, people like the king and Elly, along with any collateral families that contained their blood. These families were usually nobility as well, but they were not a part of the nobility faction.
The Nobility faction was run by the three Duchies, The Sword, The Shield, and The Staff. The Sword, Duke Beryl's family, was a family best known for their impressive sword lineage, including many aura knights. However what set them apart from any average aura knight was the skill passed down to each successor of the Duke title, 'Aether'.
'Aether' was a skill bestowed upon the first Duke of The Sword by the Holy Goddess herself, a skill that allows the possessor unparalleled skill with the sword. No one but the Duke of the Sword himself knows what the skill actually does, but what is known is that whoever possesses it will become one of the Kingdom's strongest fighters.
The Shield, Duchess Alina's family, is known for being the Kingdom's defender, hence the name. This family came about shortly after the first Daronian war, where the original Duke of The Shield, at that time a mere Earl, held back an entire army with only his own small regiment of men. He held them back for an entire week, enough time for reinforcements to arrive and drive away the army.
It was a decisive battle in the war, if that army had gotten a foothold the war would have become far more drawn out and there would have been many innocent casualties for it. The King recognized this, and awarded them a Dukedom as well as the position of captain of the imperial guards, the force responsible for protecting the capital and the royal palace.
The men and women of The Shield are known for their strategic minds and thorough planning, and instead of using blood to pick a successor, they use qualifications. Only the best can become both the Duke of The Shield and the captain of the imperial guards.
Lastly, The Staff, Duke Aborath's family, is the leader of the Haliborn magic tower. The magic tower is a place of learning and research committed to discovering more about the nature of magic and mana. To be accepted, you must have some degree of talent with magic, meaning you must have a skill either for using or relating to magic. The only exception to that rule is for researchers who have skills necessary to look into the nature of magic and mana.
Duke Aborath himself has been the Duke of The Staff since the creation of the magic tower, as he is a high elf that pledged loyalty to the first King of Haliborn. Aborath has no children, as he has never married, but instead has had many different disciples over the years. Most recently he has had two different disciples which became very well known throughout the world.
The first was the Kingdoms very own Queen, who showed remarkable talent with magic relating to ice. It is said that she is even more knowledgeable than Duke Aborath himself when it comes to ice magic. After she completed her learning under Aborath, she threw herself into her new role, as one of the Academy's two Headmistresses.
The other disciple was none other than Marquis Garold, someone so talented in magic that he became humanity's youngest archmage at the age of thirty seven years old. His natural intellect and proficiency with magic allowed him to use elements that he wasn't born with the skill to use, something no one, not even Aborath, knows how to do.
It was well known that Marquis Garold was a cold father, he had never shown affection towards his children, until his youngest and last child, Trisha, was born. The Marquis had four wives and he had a child with each one. His first child, a son, was born to his second wife, but when the child was born Marquis Garold quickly lost interest and pushed his second wife and her child away. The same thing came from when he had his second son to his fourth wife, and his third to his third wife. However, when his first wife gave birth to a daughter, things changed. Trisha must have had something special in Marquis Garold's eyes, as not only did he begin to personally train her, he also doted on her like a good father would.
This, of course, enraged his other children, making them lash out in anger. At first they attempted to bully her on their own, trying to put her down or beat her down at any point. However that quickly became impossible as Trisha was becoming stronger far faster than they were, and quickly surpassed them in power. So they were forced to try other methods, subtle verbal abuse, rumor spreading, and even petty thievery were tried, but none of it even made Trisha flinch.
So they tried something more, something foolish. They hired an assassin to kill her in her sleep one night. It nearly succeeded too, as the assassin was able to stab Trisha in her sleep, however they miscalculated. As the dagger swung into Trisha's neck, she awakened, killing the assassin before he could fully pierce her neck. The injury was still fatal, but the family always had priests on standby so they were able to save her.
The Marquis was rightfully pissed, tearing apart the entire city they lived in in order to find out just who had tried to harm his precious daughter. In the meantime, he sent his daughter to the safest place he knew of, the very Academy his longtime friend and fellow disciple, the Queen, was in charge of.
It was quite the story when I first heard about it from Hera, so the details stayed in my mind all this time. Who would have thought that conversation merely meant to pass the time would come in handy like this. I smiled inwardly while I began to put on an act for the woman in front of me.
I trembled outwardly, making sure that it was noticeable to the maid-in-waiting while also making sure to look like I was attempting to cover up said tremble. "Um, a-am I qualified to take care of such a refined lady?" I stuttered purposefully, showing my fake nervousness in front of her.
She stopped walking and grinned openly, not even trying to hide the mocking look on her face. "If you can bathe yourself, you can bathe my lady." She turned and walked towards me, leaning forwards to speak into my ear. "But if you make a mistake, I will cut your hands at the wrist so you will never be able to work again." She spun around and resumed walking, her gait full of vigor and pride.
She was definitely the type that enjoyed crushing those below her, which meant that I would be unable to make any mistakes here. Not that I was really all that scared of her, she was weak, but I didn't want the disguise I had crafted so painstakingly to be thrown away so soon.
So I mentally prepared myself before quickly walking after the maid-in-waiting. She didn't converse with me any further, nor did I attempt to talk with her again. Instead I mentally ran through a checklist in my head of what to do. Bathing a woman and bathing a man was a different endeavor after all. Luckily, I had the foresight to do some research before I had taken this disguise, so I knew all of the proper procedures for maid work.
This included bathing nobles. As I was running down my mental checklist, the maid-in-waiting stopped in front of a door. She pulled it open only to be met with a damp, humid air that wafted out. It was definitely a bathing room, and judging by the crinkling of her nose, the maid-in-waiting had only called me over because she found the damp air uncomfortable on her clothed body.
I almost rolled my eyes openly when I saw that, before quickly catching myself as she turned towards me and motioned towards the room. "She's in there, waiting for you. Bring her up to her room after you finish, it's room 306." She pulled a bell out of her waist and rang it. A cart with no one pushing it rolled into the hallway we were standing in, coming to a stop in front of her. The cart had a pitcher of iced water and a bottle of wine sitting in an iced container. The bell must have been some kind of magical device connected to the cart, but I couldn't understand how it functioned. "This is for the lady, make sure she stays refreshed in the bath. We wouldn't want her to be dehydrated afterwards, would we?"
I nodded as she began to walk away, mockingly wishing me luck before she left. I let out a sigh of both relief and trepidation after she turned the corner. It was a good opportunity for me, but it was an easy one to mess up. But, you know what they say, you only live once.
I breathed out a heavy breath before steeling my nerves, readying myself for the battle ahead. Then I grabbed the handle of the cart next to me and pushed it forwards, venturing into the humid depths of the women's bath.