Chapter 5: Calm before the storm

 "Damn, it's still hurting." I rubbed my temple, I was still affected by the headache from earlier.

I walked down the grand stairs to the kitchen to the left. I walked through the broken door into the burning hot kitchen. There, I saw Shiva displaying her skills by multitasking between cutting, prepping, and cooking the food. 

This was all the more impressive to me, who cannot cook for the life of me.

"Good morning, Shiva." I walked up to her and took a peek at what she was cooking.

"Good morning, Lee. I'm assuming you are here for breakfast? Well, I suppose it's lunch right now." She laughed wholeheartedly.

"Yeah, by the way, what are you cooking? It smells heavenly." There's something about Shiva's cooking; the herbs and spices blend into a heavenly aroma. The smell of what seems to be mint gave a refreshing aroma to the salad. 

'I wondered how it would taste.' Drools started leaking like a broken faucet. I wiped it away with my fingers, but I'm excited to try it when it is finished.

"Well, it's a secret, but be thankful that you are a guest, or else you would be eating this." Shiva pointed to a basket full of bread.

'I'm so glad I cleared up the misunderstanding earlier.' I sighed in relief as I thought back on our first interaction

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"Listen well, my name is Shiva, you shall call me head chef. Got it?" Her sharp, thorny gaze refused to take no for an answer.

"Understood, Sh- head chef!" I'm reminded of my old internship at a big company that chewed you out for the smallest mistakes.

"Good, get to cooking!" Shiva ordered like a commander on a battlefield.

"Cooking?" I repeated with a puzzled look.

"No shit! What else?!" She grabbed my collar and yelled impatiently.

"But I don't know how to cook," I admitted without a single ounce of shame, and looked at her with a deadpan.

Shiva was stunned for a few seconds before she let go of my collar.

"You applied to be a servant, and you don't know how to cook? How did you even pass the entrance test? Oh… I guess that's how." She looked at me with disappointment instead of anger, which somehow made me feel even worse.

"I, uhh, am a guest here." I admitted with flushed cheeks.

"Guest? What kind of guest goes to wash dishes?" Her question stabbed me right in the heart.

"I…I'm a bit unusual." She nodded in agreement.

"No kidding, anyway, let's say you are a guest, who invited you? Was it Mir?" She looked at me with suspicion.

"Mir?" I raised an eyebrow. 

I didn't know Silvia had siblings.' That's a fun fact, or maybe I just forgot.

"Not him? How interesting, he likes pretty things, and you fit right into that criteria, I'm surprised he wasn't the one that invited you." I was taken aback by the sudden compliment from Shiva. My cheeks gradually turned crimson, I fanned myself from the rising heat on my face.

"P-Pretty? Surely you are lying, I'm just average." Shiva just stayed silent, which made me feel even more awkward.

"Anyway, if it is not Mir, then it must be Luna. She also likes pretty things, so if it is not Mir, then it must be Luna." Suddenly, I realized something.

'Does she think I'm a hooker or something?' I was offended and confused—why would she assume that?

"No, not her either." I cut her off before she speculated further.

"Umm, by any chance, do you think I'm a hoo- I mean a prostitute?" I want to know the answer to this burning question, and depending on the answer, I might go full Karen.

"Uh… Obviously, you are dressed for the part. Look at how exposed you are." She said it as if it were a matter of fact. 

"What's wrong with my clothes? It's not like I'm showing my chest to the world or something." This made Shiva huff and cross her arms.

"That's exactly what someone trying to deny it would say. First, you are showing off your legs by wearing such skimpy clothing, and your cleavage can still be seen." I glanced down. Just a baggy shirt and a medium-length skirt. Nothing scandalous. I was in utter confusion, then I remembered how people before the 1900s stigmatized women for showing even the tiniest bit of their bodies.

'Damn, I guess there is no swim suit in this world huh? Well, at least for women." I sighed inwardly

"Ahem, uhh… this is just how we dress back in my hometown." I tried to correct her so I could salvage the last bit of my dignity.

"Sure… Anyway, if it is not them, then who is it?" That ticked me off more than I expected. 

"Silvia! Silvia invited me, why did you not think that Silvia invited me?" My emotions got the best of me. 

"Silvia? Why would she… Never mind, prove that Lady Silvia invited you." Shiva narrowed her eyes. She tensed her body, readied to pounce on me if I said something suspicious. 

Before I could try to find some excuse, the half-broken door burst open, which caused it to shatter.

"LEE!" Silvia rushed to me and gripped my shoulder.

"Oww… Silvia, that hurts!" I tried to push her hand away from me.

"S-Sorry! Umm, are you okay, Lee?" I nodded

"Yeah, besides your iron grip on my shoulder." I chuckled and reassured her while I rubbed my sore shoulder.

Silvia took a big sigh of relief.

"That's good, anyway." Silvia turned to look at Shiva and bowed.

"Sorry for not telling you about the guest, Shiva. I thought you would've been informed already." I could see Shiva panicking a little.

"N-No, please raise your head, Lady Silvia, it's not your fault, so please raise your head!" Silvia finally lifted her head after Shiva insisted.

"Lee, you will be coming with me." Her voice was firm, just like when she talked to the guard earlier. She grabbed my hand and dragged me outside.

Before I left, I saw Shiva's shit eating grin before she turned around and went back to cooking.

'I'm cooked, I'm in trouble already.' I lamented inwardly as I was dragged away like a sack of potatoes.

Silvia stopped and looked at me.

"Lee, do you know what you did wrong?" Silvia scolded me like a parent scolding their child.

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"If Silvia didn't intervene, I probably would've either died or been beaten up if I said the wrong thing." I muttered to myself, completely forgetting Shiva was standing right in front of me

'But speaking of dying, I still don't know how [Return By Death] works. I don't know whether it has the same condition as the [Return By Death] that I know.' I didn't really want to experiment on how it works, so I decided to just forget it for now and regret it later.

'That is a problem for the future, Lee Hyejin.' I nodded and shrugged it off.

"You are still weird." I jumped when Shiva spoke again, I completely forgot I was still with Shiva.

"A-Ahem, anyway, do you know where Silvia is?" I asked her, hoping that she would know, somehow, some way.

"I don't know, I'm a chef. I don't leave the kitchen unless I'm ordered to. You would have better luck asking a servant instead of me." She then shooed me away. 

"Well, I hope I don't meet that perverted maid again…" Suddenly, I felt a warm touch around my waist. 

"Hmm? Perverted maid, was there someone like that?" I got jump-scares by the Nth time today. 

I looked behind me and saw the said maid I hoped to avoid.

"Hi~ My name is Juliet, I heard from a little bird that you're looking for Lady Silvia, right?" She waved her eyebrow up and down knowingly.

"Let me guide you, Lady Lee. Let this be an apology for my unruly behavior last night." She apologized sincerely.

'At least she didn't dogeza today…' 

"Alright, I accept, just lead me to where Silvia is. I need… a job." I'd rather die than be a freeloader in front of Silvia. There is also the fact that I'm dirt poor like always.

"A job? Forgive me, Lady Lee, why would you need a job? Aren't you also an aristocrat?" Juliet stopped and looked at me with a quizzical look.

'Jesus, another misunderstanding? Am I in a shitty rom-com novel?' I wanted to bash my head with a mace from all of the misunderstandings.

"No, I'm a commoner just like you, and I'm dirt poor right now. Silvia is just letting me stay here because of her noblesse oblige." I decided to just clear up the misunderstandings before it comes and stabs me in the back, then breaks my ankles. 

"Is that so? Is that so? Well, there's a job open in the mansion, no tests needed. But I'm not sure if you'd want it." At this point, I didn't heed her warning because I needed a job. 

Little did I know how much I would hate myself later.