Kedra wandered around the halls of the residence, looking for the blonde servant. She started with the kitchen but only found Lucie in the process of making lunch, who shooed her out, claiming that she was a distraction.
She continued through the halls, reaching the common room. There, she saw Maria sweeping a particularly stubborn dust bunny out the main door. As the maid noticed her approach, she immediately stopped her broom and tilted her head inquisitively.
"Can I help you, my lady?"
"I need you to teach me how to read." Outwardly, Kedra was as apathetic as ever; internally, however, she was dying of embarrassment. Having to ask someone she threatened to kill a day ago for a lesson in language was not easy on her pride.
Oblivious to her master's true feelings, Maria was filled with enthusiasm; she had already decided to serve Kedra to the best of her abilities, and teaching her was a great way to do so.
"Of course, my lady, though it would be difficult, considering this residence lacks a library." "We can always try the head maid's office, though! She was an avid reader; I'm sure she had a few books lying around." Maria motioned to a large keyring she had hanging from her belt. She had made sure to empty the head maid's pockets before burying her, ensuring that she now had access to all parts of the residence.
"Alright then, lead the way, Maria."
'The lady called my name; oh, how joyous!' As Maria rejoiced at receiving a sliver of Kedra's acknowledgement, she began leading her upstairs towards a dark wood door. Reaching the entrance, she unlocked the room and motioned outward with her arm, requesting that Kedra enter first.
As the pair entered the office, they noticed that it was uncharacteristically well maintained: shelves completely filled with hard-back books, walls covered in fancy dark green wallpaper, and beneath a window, an expensive-looking polished wood desk with a red cushioned chair.
'So my original room looked like it had been hit by a tornado, but her office looks like this ?!' Kedra was outraged. 'There was clearly enough money to take proper care of me, and yet she siphoned it all, and for what? Just some tacky decor?'
"I never knew we had this much money! Well, that's besides the point. Look, my lady, there are dozens of books here; with this, I can comfortably teach you the alphabet." Maria's enthusiastic tone brought Kedra back on track as she plucked the first book in her reach off the shelf.
She opened up the book, prepared to be met with incomprehensible letters; however, to her surprise, each character held a loose resemblance to Latin letters. Thanks to Maria explaining the phonetics of each letter, Kedra managed to confirm that the writing system of the country she was currently in was almost phonetically identical to Earth's Latin alphabet.
She only noticed two distinct differences, the first of which she had already picked up while speaking the language. First, the 'g' sound did not exist, instead sounding more like a hiss. Kedra likened it to the Spanish pronunciation of the letter. Second, there were a few letters that, while phonetically similar to other letters, had noticeably different appearances, notably, the letter y had an extra bar, the letter o had a bar striking through it diagonally from either left to right or right to left depending on the intonation of the sound, and the letter s had gotten longer.
Using this new knowledge, Kedra managed to comfortably read by saying words out loud and likening them to those she knew. Though occasionally a word would come up that she did not understand, in such cases she simply asked Maria to explain.
"My lady, this is amazing. How is it that you can already read so well when I've just barely explained basic pronunciation to you?" Maria was baffled; it had been the young lady's first encounter with written language, yet she was reading effortlessly.
Kedra suddenly realized that her rate of growth was certainly unusual considering her circumstances, though she didn't feel the need to play dumb or hide it.
"I don't know; I just kind of knew."
"Could it be? Our lady is a genius!" Maria's excited shouting echoed through the halls as she looked at the lady in admiration. After a moment's consideration, however, she fell to her knees in realization.
"We have truly all sinned by failing to nurture such talent earlier on. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I apologize." Maria bowed her head deeply to Kedra; all the excitement from last night had dulled her sense of guilt, but once faced with the weight of her mistakes once more, she could not suppress it any longer, as it insidiously crawled back.
Kedra had begun to let her guard down; Maria's willingness to serve had finally reached her. Just as Maria's guilt had begun resurfacing, Kedra's compassion began to return as well, though something within her clung to her cold facade, refusing to let it slip.
"It's alright, Maria. I'll be relying on you from now on, so show me that those words aren't empty and serve me properly, alright?"
"Of course, my lady, anything for you." Maria's face lit up, and a renewed determination welled up within her.
The pair continued their lesson until late in the afternoon; they had completely missed lunch.