We arrived home, back to the maid squad. Rosemary and Stephanie had somehow managed to convince Shima that they weren’t two demons in disguise. Shima was playing with Rosemary when we opened the door. This distracted Rosemary long enough for Shima to manage to capture the toy that Rosemary had been dangling in front of her.

“Are the three of you staying for a little bit longer?” I asked Alessia and my other two guests.

“We should probably leave you alone for today.” Alessia replied. “We still have a pretty long drive home awaiting us.”

“That’s fair.”

“How did the meeting go, Miss Alessia?” Stephanie asked.

“Everything went according to plan.” She nodded back.

“Good to hear.”

Rosemary nodded as well. “Now our new mistress can be lovey-dovey with her partner as much as she wants.” She winked at me.

“Damn right.” I replied with a grin.

Alessia smiled and gently ordered the maids to leave Shima alone. “I don’t know when we will meet up next time, Aurora. I’ll let you know in advance if I got some dates free to continue your education.”

“Yeah, we’ll figure something out.” I nodded again. “See you later.”

“Goodbye, dear daughter of mine.” She smirked.

“Bye bye, mom.” I chuckled back.

With the three ladies out of my house, it was finally time to get this dastardly make-up from my face. I’d managed to somewhat keep it out of my mind while we were at Ria’s place. But now that I was back home, I wanted it off as soon as possible. Luckily, applying water and a good old rubbing with a washcloth managed to get most of it off. Although I’d probably have to wash the washcloth next.

“Much, much better.” I smiled into the mirror. My hair would be a lot more difficult to get back into my own style, but taking a shower would probably do a lot to rectify that. That was something for tomorrow morning, though, as I didn’t really have any interest in doing that right now.

Instead, I took up my phone and dialed up Emma. The phone rang twice before she picked up.

“Hey Auro. Did you get back from Ria already?”

“Yep. I’ve been back for thirty minutes or so. Needed to wash off the make-up first?”

I could hear her giggle on the other side of the line. “Make-up? Did Alessia make you wear make-up?”

“She did. She and her little group of demons.”

“Did she take pictures, you know, for research purposes?”

“I don’t think she did… at least I hope she didn’t…”

“Awh.” Em laughed. “So, how did it go?”

“Pretty well. I think Ria’s parents will leave us alone for the time being.”

“That’s great news!”

“By the way, Ria kissed me in front of her parents just before she left.”

“Wow, and her parents didn’t say anything?”

“They are not allowed to, or they’ll become persona non grata in their social circles. I’m sure they were burning up inside. But they’ll just have to get over that.”

“Let’s hope that threat hangs over their head long enough for Ria to be able to move out.”

“Even if they’d kick her out now, she’d be able to live with me. It’s not like I can’t financially support her anymore. And I’m sure Alessia would help too.”

“The same would go for me, but it would still suck balls for her.”

“That’s true…”

“But I’m glad to hear everything went fine. And now that that’s all behind us, we should start focussing on the next obstacle in our way.”

“Which is?” I asked, I didn’t really have anything in mind that could be a problem.

“The exam period.”

“Oh fuck.”

Em laughed. “I know you’ve been studying pretty well, but let’s not forget to not let our attention slip. It’d be a terrible shame if any of us would fail our courses.”

“Do you want to propose something?”

“I definitely have a couple of ideas…”

-A couple of weeks later.-

Em’s ideas mainly revolved around studying hard and often. So that’s what we’d been doing the last couple of weeks. Now that Ria was being left alone by her parents, she was free to join Em and me at our study sessions. From what Em and I heard, Ria’s parents were keeping themselves to the contract really well. And the situation had improved so much that her relationship with them had even gotten better. Which I hadn’t expected at all because of the bombshell she and I dropped on them just before I left. Apparently the list of contacts Alessia had given them had really worked wonders on their mood. Those attendants had increased the family’s prestige with their peers and they had seen the advantages of treating their personnel a lot better too. You could definitely say that our little plan had performed a minor miracle.

As for Alessia, she’d decided to leave me alone for the time being, as I had to focus on my exams. Although we had agreed to come together for our first lessons during the post-exam holidays.

Anyway, Em’s rigorous study schedule had Ria and I ending up at her house on a Friday evening. Today Em had planned a study session for History so it was my job to help out my girlfriends, and Karin, while studying. I was happy for the occasion as this was one of the few courses I could help the others with instead of the other way around.

“Aurora, sweetie, do you want some more water?” Em’s mom came by to check in on us. I was just standing over Ria, pointing at the Cuban missile crisis in her textbook.

“Nah, I’m fine, Miss M.” I smiled at her. “Thank you for the offer.”

“Are you sure? It’s important to drink plenty of water. It’s good for your hair as well.” Em’s mom had been really enthusiastic about my hair having been styled, so she made it no secret that she wanted to see me with the hairstyle again. I thought it was kinda cute so it didn’t bother me at all. As I’ve said before, I really like Em’s mom a lot.

“Alright, if you insist.” I smiled again.

“Great! And how about you, Corelia.”

“I’d like another glass as well!”

Em and Karin still had their glasses pretty topped off so their mom skipped over them.

Ilse smiled and continued on talking for a bit longer. “I’ve also set up the guest beds in Emma’s room. I put an extra blanket on top so you won’t get cold.”

“Oh, you should not have, we could’ve set them up ourselves.” I replied.

“I can still do that much.” Ilse winked back at me. “But I’ll leave you girls alone to study some more for now. I’ll bring your water in a bit.”

“Thanks a lot.” I gave her yet another smile, and so did Ria. She then went on her merry way.

“Aurora, could you explain this for me?” Karin asked, pointing at a page in her textbook.

“I’m on my way!” I sure do love being useful.

With our glasses of water refilled, we continued studying for another hour, all the way up to dinner time. Em’s dad was out for a business trip so we were having dinner with just the five of us.

We got served some chicken with potato croquettes. It was heavenly good as usual.

“Would you girls like to play a boardgame or lay a puzzle with me later on this evening? If you’ve all studied enough.” Ilse asked while we were eating.

Em looked at Ria and me for an answer, but of course we couldn’t refuse her. With her husband being away, she would love our company even more. And there’s no way in hell Ria and I could say no to that. The least we could do was to repay her for her great hospitality and the amazing care she’d always given to us.

“Definitely! What would you prefer?” I asked. Ria nodded along with my answer.

Em’s mom already looked terribly happy that Ria and I had agreed. “I think… on a nice winter evening like this… That a calming puzzle next to the fireplace would fit best.”

Karin nodded.

Em smiled. “I think there’s still that big puzzle of that castle that we’ve not laid out yet, mom.”

“Do you know where we put the box?”

“I think I do.” Em nodded. “I’ll go look for it after dinner.”

“Thank you.” She smiled softly and took a bite from another croquette. “Now eat up before the food gets cold.”

“You don’t need to tell me that twice.” I replied with a smile and chomped down on a croquette of my own.

After dinner, Em and Karin went off to go and find the puzzle box, while the three of us moved to the living room. The fireplace was still happily crackling away.

“Aurora, would you mind putting on another log or two?” Em’s mom asked while she sat down on the sofa. She sounded tired.

“Are you alright?” I asked. Ria looked at her with concern in her eyes as well.

“Maybe I should have asked for some help with the beds after all.” She chuckled softly.

“Please don’t overdo yourself for us. You can always ask for our help.” Ria replied as she sat down next to Ilse.

“Sometimes I just overestimate the capabilities of my body.” She smiled at Ria. “Especially if we have good company around.” She looked at me as well.

“Mhmm.” I hummed and moved towards the basket of wood that was standing next to the fireplace. “Just let us do the heavy lifting when we are around. We don’t mind at all.” I took out a couple of blocks and put them into the fireplace.

“I’m really glad my Emma ended up with you two.” Ilse laid her hands on Ria’s and I could swear I saw a tear in the corner of her eye. “You both are such lovely people.”

“Awh.” Ria almost started crying and quickly took Em’s mom in for a hug. “You are a great person too.”

Ilse hadn’t expected Ria to do that, not that sudden anyway, but she accepted her hug nonetheless. It was a very wholesome sight to behold. I smiled and shut the fireplace’s door close. The new logs were already starting to crackle away as they got licked by the flames. While outside, snow continued to fall.