My knights came back about a month after they left. I quickly summoned Sir Harrod for a report as soon as I heard.

“Good afternoon, my lady.”

“Hello, Sir Harrod. What have you brought back for me?”

He unslung his satchel from his shoulder and opened it. Then, he took a very thick stack of paper from inside and handed it to Tia, who handed it to me. I flipped through briefly.

“These are the sketches and the basic information of all blonde-haired and green-eyed orphan girls in Newfield county that are eight years old. I must say, there were many.”

“Are you serious?”

My hands trembled and I let out a laugh, shaking my head. This level of uselessness… were they even knights of House Avington? How did they dare hand me all this, what did they expect me to do with it, sort it myself? Me, Valentina Avington, the only daughter of the Grand Duke?

“Do we pay you for nothing? Do you even know shame? How dare you stand before me!”

I threw the stack of paper onto the ground, the pages fluttering everywhere. Glaring at Sir Harrod, my hands clenched into fists and I stomped my feet. Anger boiled until it burst out in frustrated yells.

“Are you kidding me? I asked Sir Williams for knights, not pieces of trash! Don’t you know how important this is? Even if you don’t, you still failed your master’s orders! Are you disrespecting the grand duke? Do you want our house to fall to ruins?!”

Sir Harrod took a few steps back, and lowered his head.

“I apologize, my lady! But you truly gave us a very limited description, and I would be more than happy to search again, if you would just give us something more specific.”

“Are you saying it’s my fault?!”

I took the nearest object I could lift near me, which was a teacup on the table, and raised it, preparing to throw it at him. Someone caught my arm before I could.

“Please don’t, my lady!”

Tia, a mere commoner, dared to touch me, a noble of the purest pedigree, without permission. I ought to have her executed, and I very nearly slapped her. The only thing that stopped me was the look of absolute terror in her eyes as she prepared for me to strike.

The villainess tormented the poor maid, and everyone in her household. That was why she was abandoned by all of them. I attempted to calm myself with a very basic question that came out barely a whisper.

“Are you telling me what to do? You, a maid?”

Tia let go of my arm and knelt onto the floor, tears welling in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, my lady! I just thought, you might regret it…”

“There’s no order in this household anymore! Knights, maids, you all go against me. God, the world is upside down.”

No one answered. I sank into my chair, crossing my arms angrily. However, the adrenaline was already draining out of me.

Just because I couldn’t have the saint eliminated right away didn’t mean it was the end of the world, we still had plenty of time. I may have expected Sir Harrod to come in with her head, but now I realized that may have been a tad unrealistic. One step at a time, we could do that.

As for the maid, she had a point. I would’ve hated breaking such a pretty cup, which I now gripped tightly in my hands. Regardless, she had disrespected me, and I found her sobbing irritating. She was optimistic and kind, yes, and she would’ve been a great friend to the saint, who had everything in her favour and merely needed a friend and an opportunity to show off how kind she was compared to the villainess. I needed someone with actual brains that knew how to behave and wouldn’t breakdown at the smallest thing.

“Very well.”

The knight lifted his head, and the maid’s sobbing lessened.

“I’ll call for you when I have further instructions, Sir Harrod. Tia, organize the papers.”

Sir Harrod bowed, and started to leave. His shoulders relaxed, but tensed again when I called him back.

“And remember not to tell Mother or Father.”

“Yes, my lady.”

He bowed again, and left, his features weary. Tia scrambled for the pages, still sniffling. She looked so pathetic, nothing like the way a lady’s maid should be. I shook my head and sighed.

If this was how she was going to be, then I needed someone else. Someone more competent, that could do my bidding, especially for the shadier things I had planned if worst came to worst. I recalled that in the original novel I had a maid that I sent to poison the saint, but I couldn’t remember her name. She didn’t have a major role to play in the novel, so it probably wouldn’t matter if I got someone else.

Nobles ladies typically didn’t need more than one personal maid until they were older, but if I had to listen to Tia’s whimpering for another moment, I would go insane. I headed out of my room and to the servants’ quarters, where I found the housekeeper.

“Please hire me another personal maid. She needs to be very intelligent and well-trained, know when to keep her mouth shut, and not to ask questions.”

The woman looked slightly surprised, but nodded. “Of course, my lady. I’ll arrange it right away.”

I left feeling slightly better knowing that at least some of the servants still respected me. Two days later, when I came back to my room after dinner, I found the housekeeper waiting with a new girl.

She had short brown hair and light brown eyes that were intelligent but lifeless. I judged her to be about a year older than Tia, so around fifteen. It was clear from her posture that she had experience and knew what she was doing. She curtsied.

“Good evening, my lady. My name is Zoe, and I will be attending to you from now on.”

I smiled, because I was satisfied but also surprised. Now that she said it, I was almost sure that had been the name of the maid from the novel, even though hiring her happened earlier than it was likely supposed to. It may have just been my subconsciousness making things up, but I felt certain it wasn’t. This was a sign from god, that things would go my way after all.

“Nice to meet you, Zoe.”

This girl was perfect, a gift from the heavens to make sure my plans went accordingly. Except this time, I would use her well.

Onto the first step: find the saint.