"No, no, it's not what you think!" Esme said hurriedly, her voice pitching higher than usual as she waved her hands in front of her defensively. "I mean... we're just... it's nothing like that!"
But the servant only gave her a smile that said everything. A polite, awkward smile that confirmed Esme's worst fears—her reputation, at least in the eyes of the servant, was completely and utterly ruined. She could see it now: whispers in the halls, knowing glances exchanged behind her back.
She sighed internally, realizing that nothing she said would erase the image now firmly planted in the servant's mind. After all, she wasn't *Esme Valhalla* anymore; she was *Rose Reinguard*, and Rose Reinguard had just lost another piece of her carefully constructed persona.
"Well," Esme said, finally giving up, "What brings you here?"
