February 6th, 1708
Elira woke up with a hair full of bedhead, stumbling out of her blankets as she began to fold them.
A couple of minutes later, three knocks came from the door, with Lily's voice following.
"Madam? Are you awake?" Lily's voice broke into the room, and the knocking now subsided.
"Ah, yes! I'm awake!"
The doors flew open as Lily walked in, her face appalled.
"Madam! What is this!? You have such deep eye bags today! And why are you folding the bedsheets? That's my job!" Lily took notice of the books on the bedside shelf. "Ah, I see."
"I'm sorry, Lily... I got caught up in my reading last night."
"You must be excited to work with the Duchess," Lily responded as she sighed, taking the bedsheets from Elira while leading her to the bathroom.
"Of course I am! Could you prepare the bath for me while I brush?"
"Yes, my Lady."
After 5 minutes, Elira was done brushing, and the bathtub was filled with warm water.
"Shall I bathe you today, My Lady?"
"Oh, that's quite all right. I can do it myself."
"Very well," Lily responded as she left the room, leaving Elira by herself as she undressed.
Elira had been rejecting any form of service from Lily that required her to undress, fearing she would see her back and that a lot of drama would be created.
Elira wasn't scared of the drama necessarily, more so of the chance that her father would try to get involved upon hearing it.
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The clock read 9 AM as Elira walked into the Duchess's office. There was no one here yet as Elira arrived early on purpose, scanning some of the books that were on the shelf here.
She spotted a book on financial organization. She opened it, seeing if she could get a head start on how papers were organized and how to analyze them.
From outside the room, Kaelith's servant noticed her walk in, not saying anything, just observing.
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The Duchess walked into the room at around 10 AM, startling Elira, who dropped the book she was reading.
"Oh my... I wasn't expecting anyone to be here already." The Duchess said softly, picking up the book and looking at the title.
"Y-your Grace!"
"Mother, call me Mother," The Duchess corrected.
"Sorry... I wanted to get a head start. I'd rather not be a disappointment..." Elira responded silently.
"Oh, please, trust me, it will be very hard to be a disappointment."
"I'll take your word for it, M-Mother..."
A fat stack of papers landed on Elira's lap a couple of minutes later.
"Start with this, these are the papers I said I would translate yesterday from all that mumbo jumbo text into some understandable words. I want you to come up with a comprehensive list of the gains and losses listed in the pages. These papers are all from what we've spent on decor and gardening."
"Of course, I can do that! If it isn't much of a burden, may I have the original copy of the papers as well? Just so I can familiarize myself with reading the quote-unquote mumbo jumbo text?" Elira responded quickly, without any stutter.
"Hm... Sure. I don't see any problem with that." The Duchess responded, handing Elira a second fat stack of papers, slightly larger than what was given to her the first time around.
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By the end of the day, when it was 6 PM, Elira had finally finished with everything, coming up with a 45-page report and placing it on the Duchess's desk, who went out on a walk for the moment.
She wrote a little note, placing it next to the papers.
Dear Mother, I've finished analyzing the papers! I'll be heading off on a walk, and I'll also visit the library in the meantime. If you have anything to talk to me about, we can talk about it over dinner! Thank you for the work- I will come in at the same time tomorrow. Love, Elira.
Elira crept up to the door of the office, about to leave, when the door flung open.
"Ah... Aric?" Elira said, looking up at her equally confused husband.