Romanoff Dukedom: The Heroine (3)

Zarya winced out of the stinging pain that she felt in her right arm. Thankfully, Elena noticed it so she halted her movements immediately.

"Sorry! I forgot that you have wounds."

"No, no, it's fine." Zarya uttered with a smile, "You know what, Elena, I was able to take revenge against Helga yesterday, albeit petty."

Zarya excitedly reported, her eyes now gleaming with delight. Elena became invested in their topic, fully facing her body towards Zarya.

Before Elena could even utter a word, another maid's voice interrupted their conversation.

"Oh, there you are!"

"Raina, what are you doing here?" Elena asked, wondering why someone who's supposed to be busy in the garden was in front of them.

"Elena, you better get back to your duties. I'm here for Zarya."

"Me?"

"Yes, you were assigned to attend to the needs of the young master of the Avret Ducal House, Lord Herkel, who's staying in the mansion."

---

After accomplishing her daily morning routine, Zarya was now walking along the corridors that would take her to the room where Herkel was staying.

'Why am I the one assigned to attend to such an esteemed person's needs? I should've been in the kitchen to clean the utensils. This is so troublesome.' The lady complained to herself, burdened of serving a noble all on her own.

According to the maid who informed her, the role was given to Zarya by reason of personnel unavailability. It was not something that she could refute, thus she accepted the chore without any complaints. Thankfully, Elena was there to help her sober up from her nightmare and prepare to start her day.

'In any case, I ought to be grateful that they're not sending me to that Refecta again. However, I've heard that Lord Avret is a wolf shifter himself.' Zarya then rolled her eyes as a thought occurred in her mind, 'He might be undergoing his heat cycle. Why are they always burdening me with these tasks?'

One last turn before she reached the corridor where the chamber occupied by Herkel was staying, Zarya heaved a long sigh to pump herself up. Once she had arrived in front of the door, the lady knocked and announced her presence.

"Lord Avret, I am the maid named Zarya. I was assigned to attend to your needs for the day."

She harkened a muffled voice saying 'Enter' coming from the inside. She put her hand on the handle, pushing the door ever so slightly.

As soon as she stepped inside the room, Zarya first bowed her upper torso forward to give her respect.

"A good day to you, Lord Avret. I will do my best to serve you today."

Herkel stared at the young lady with a curious gaze, a smile of mischief plastered on his face. The maid's appearance was perfect to his frivolous preference. He quickly discarded his uncouth behavior to make a good impression.

"You're quite the beauty, Lady Zarya. Well then, I will entrust to you all of my needs for the day. Please take extra care of me while you're at it." He said anticipatingly as the mirth in his eyes grew.

"Please just call me Zarya, My Lord. And yes, I will do my best."

"I will take you up on that offer, Zarya. Now, could you change the dressings on my wounds? They're fairly loose because I was moving around too much." Herkel requested sans sounding as if he was ordering Zarya.

The lady straightened her posture prior to complying with the order, leaving the chamber to procure some supplies that she would be using.

Zarya hurriedly made her way to the supply room, slighting her co-workers who already had an abundant amount of worries on their plates. Her destination wasn't that far-off, arriving in its vicinity within a matter of minutes.

She quickly obtained a brown knapsack from the shelf lining the right wall, proceeding to load it with a small metal container filled with cotton dipped in a salt solution, two rolls of bandage tape, a tiny box of herbs, and a clean towel.

The young lady was about to exit the storage when two maids abruptly blocked her path, oblivious of her presence since they were in a deep conversation. The two were speaking with their voices hushed. Though Zarya, who was gazing at them with deadpan orbs, was near enough to gather all of the gossips they were exchanging.

"Eh? If what you're saying is true, then isn't that serious?"

"Believe me! I overheard it when I was passing by the young master's parlor!"

"If someone could attack a wolf shifter like Lord Avret and deal him with that much damage, us humans would be an easy target!"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you from the beginning!"

"Are we even safe within this mansion?"

"I want to ask the same question. Perhaps they're already dealing with the offender?"

"It's the Romanoff family after all. They won't just absolve the matter without apprehending the person who tainted their clan's name."

Zarya couldn't seem to see the dialogue ending sooner than desired. Hence, she cleared her throat ahead of verbally expressing her wish to escape the storage room.

"Excuse me, can you let me go through?"

Her fellow servants snappily turned their heads to look at her. As they saw the exquisite beauty of the smiling young lady, they tried to feign ignorance.

"Zarya! You surprised me! I was frightened for a second!"

"You should've spoken up if you were there!"

The two maids threw mellowed tantrums while pouting their lips. The two ladies were part of the minority who treated Zarya as an acquaintance and the lady could never be annoyed by how cheerful and open-minded they were.

"I mean, the both of you appeared to be enjoying yourselves," Zarya said as she resumed her task, walking in the space between the maids.

However, a couple of meters into her saunter, she left the two a caution.

"Oh, by the way, don't spread rumors. You might earn the ire of some people."