Amelia and Ophelia: The Former Grand Duchess and Saintess.

“Thank you for your help again Percy, you are reliable as always"

“Thank you for the praise Your Grace, and you're welcome” I say as I hand her a folder filled with reports on the duchy and some minor events that had happened 

“Please, Ophelia is just fine. You have been by my side since Mother and Father died after all. The only one who chose to stay after those events” she answers me with a smile as she takes the folder and pats my shoulder 

“Right..then thank you, Ophelia” 

I said as I watched the now twenty-three-year-old Grand Duchess slip into her room with two personal maids, a smile on my face as I watched her disappear behind those doors, dressed in a black tank top that revealed her scarred shoulders and arms, and perfectly wrapped around her proportions which were slightly bigger than mine. With black combat slacks and a pair of heavy-duty boots. 

I let out a happy sigh as I turned around

“Right, Let’s get to work” 

And began my shift around the estate. My job was simply making sure that every nook and cranny was clean, making sure that the staff we hired were doing their jobs and were loyal to Ophelia, from the knights hired to defend the estate to the waiters, maids and butlers and even gardeners, and just overall making sure nothing was out of order or out of place, sometimes things would happen that would give me headaches to try and manage. Like trying to repel a band of mercenaries who were hired to burn the estate to the ground, or dealing with a bunch of rowdy beastkin who thought we were enslaving their kind because most of the staff here are beastkin. 

But it wasn’t always like this, I remember a time when the estate had barely enough people running it and when we used to live in a small series of sheds outside a burned-down manor, a time when we were all at rock bottom, especially Ophelia. I remember seeing her play around with the previous Grand Duke and Duchess every day, laughing and smiling, making even us servants happy to witness such a sight. But that all disappeared once the explosion and fire broke out, one of the knights whom we thought we could trust betrayed us, bribed by a now-deceased Count who was looking to become the next Grand Duke. The knight allowed an assassin to sneak inside and set fire to the place thanks to a magical blast that failed to kill the Grand Duke and Duchess but severely injured and immobilized them, I remember Ophelia just standing there as her parents told her they loved her and uttered their final goodbyes, tears streaking down her face as the flames took everything she had. She was never the same after that, none of us were really. 

I sighed as I then turned a corner and walked down a hallway and end up looking up at a family portrait of the previous Grand Duke and Duchess, both of whom are dressed in elegant blue outfits, and in the middle, was a young girl dressed in the same manner. I smiled as I continued to think of happier times. 

“Miss Percy! There is a problem!” 

A servant’s shout brings me back from my trip down memory lane as I turn to her and see it is one of the newer knights we had hired, judging by his heavy breathing and the fact that he is catching his breath as of the moment, I can clearly tell he came running from either gate of the estate since I am still inside the manor, 

“What is it?” 

“At the gate…there are a couple of nobles…requesting to speak with the Grand Duchess” the knight answers my question, still trying to recompose himself 

My brow furrows and I let out an exasperated sigh as I think of another way to deal with this problem, a problem that I have been dealing with ever since Ophelia became the Grand Duchess, other nobles. 

“What is it that they want this time?” I asked as I crossed my arms and felt my ears and tail curl up in annoyance

“Well, it’s a man named Count Chernin and he is uhh…with his son”

I feel my blood pressure rise as I immediately know what this means, I take a deep breath and calmly look at the knight before me

“Tell him. No”

“Just no Miss?”

“Did I stutter” 

“No Miss”

“Then go”

“Understood Miss” 

I watch as the knight gives me a short nod and bow before booking it towards the gate, the annoying feeling still lingering in my body. I sigh to myself as I continue my patrol through the manor, directing some maids and servants to do this and that, and as I exit through the backdoor, I am greeted by the sight of a blonde-haired girl standing underneath a tree. She’s dressed in the uniform of the prestigious Hallsworth Academy, a sight that I have gotten used to over my years of service, making me smile as I walk over. 

“Here to visit your lover?” I ask with a small smile 

“Heh, yeah. And a pleasure to see you as always Miss Percy” 

“No need to be so formal Miss Amelia, just Percy is fine” I answer as Amelia blushes, 

“Thank you as always Amelia…for giving Ophelia something to live for” I say with a heartfelt smile and a bit of sadness, trying my best not to give it away

“I’m not the only reason she has to live for” Amelia responds as she pats my shoulder 

“Thank you, Miss Amelia” I reply 

“But if you must know, she is currently getting dressed for your outing, she just finished training with the knights” 

“Oh? Is that so…well thank you for that information Miss Percy, I will be going now” 

And before I can say anything, the girl disappears in the blink of an eye, leaving only a small imprint of her shoes on the ground where she stood, I turn around and see that one of the windows in the manor is now wide open and I sigh as I look around and see a maid taking out some trash and making sure she does so before beckoning her over to close the window. 

After a while I continue on my patrol, stopping by the stables and checking up on the staff there, most of them are newly hired as the last batch met an unfortunate end…traitorous bastards. 

I then move on to the gate to check on the knights and to my annoyance and anger, I see and hear a round, chubby, and short man dressed in a suit, his toupee barely latching onto that round head of his, his chestnut-colored stache is twirled around his fingers as he yells at the top of his lungs at the knights guarding the gate. And next to him, well, behind him is a taller but younger-looking man, who is also shouting at our knights, with the same chestnut hair but with a body more built than the man before him, I roll my eyes as I walk towards both of them, trying my best to keep my composure as the yelling gets louder and louder. 

“I will have you know you are disrespecting a noble young man! If you do not allow me to enter the estate and see the Grand Duchess then you leave me no choice but to-”

“But to what your grace?” I interject, watching as the knight turns to me and I see relief in his eyes, the count on the other hand and his son seem to still be fuming 

The knight moved aside and took a few steps back, and I locked eyes with the pair who were now just looking me up and down as if they hadn’t seen me before, well, neither had really met me properly, but I had seen Count Chernin during the noble meetings that the emperor would hold from time to time. And even during those meetings, I wore a robe and mask and just sat on the far end of the groups of tables, just listening in. 

“Count Chernin” I begin, giving them little time to say anything 

“I presume you know that directly threatening a servant of the Grand Duchess is equivalent to threatening her, I suggest you keep a lid on it and leave” 

“You! How dare you talk to my father like that! You good for nothing kit-”
“I believe I just told you to shut up” 

“Son!, you! Stop that now!” 

“Unless you can keep it down and civilized I see no reason to” 

“...Faatherr….” 

I calmly stated as I used my barrier magic to wrap the head of the loudmouthed son, slowly closing my palm and hearing as the barrier tightened around him, while staring down Count Chernin, seeing his fuming face turn to shock then finally to resignation as he gives me a head nod and I release the poor man, his face being slightly blue. 

“you….YOU! Do you know the crime for inflicting pain on nobles like me!” he shouted as he slowly rose to his feet, lunging forward to try and grab me but going headfirst into a barrier I put up, 

“I do. And I am not scared, as I, the representative of the Grand Duchess, on her land that you so conveniently forgot is not yours, can enact the clause of guardian and claim self-defense in the name of the duchy if you were ever to bring this to the imperial court since I have been appointed as the guardian of the Grand Duchess by Emperor Gaius himself ” 

My act of name-dropping makes the two men freeze and I see Count Chernin immediately switch tact and bow his head, smacking his son on the back of his head to quickly follow in his actions. 

“We did not mean to offend you to this point…miss?”

“Percy, the head maid of the estate and guardian to the Grand Duchess” 

“Miss Percy, we apologize for offending you, but the matter we have today is of utmost importance and the emperor himself has ordered us to meet the Grand Duchess and discuss this with her and ONLY her” 

“I see, so where is the parchment pertaining to the order?” I ask with a small smirk as I cross my arms 

“What?....uhhh the emperor gave us no such parchment” 

“Then that means two things, the first is that you're lying about coming here under the emperor's orders and the second is that you're using the emperor's name in vain. Which I believe is punishable by death if not exile” 

My words force both men to immediately straighten up and freeze as I call their bluff, making me smile on the inside. 

“You have one chance, I can let this go, only if you leave now” I told them, straight face and all. 

Both of them eyed me, trying their best to read me and Count Chernin sighs as he nods and he beckons his son to follow him, I watch as both of them climb back into their carriage and continue to watch as they leave the estate, I slightly turn my head 

“Follow them out, I do not want them to cause any more trouble. If they do, report to me and I’ll ask the Duchess what to do with them” I mutter, 

“Understood ma’am” A voice in the shadow replies and I feel their presence disappear. 

I look back at the manor and smile as I walk back, intent on finishing my small stroll with a cup of nice hot chocolate and some biscuits in the kitchen. 

……………………………………………………………………………………….

That was two months ago…a month before everything went to shit, before the lady I served got banished, before I got hit on the head in an attempt on my life that was thwarted by Ophelia. Anger and rage seethe inside me as I place my bandaged hand on my bandaged head.  I remember the contingency plan that was in place for a moment just like this, and I have been following it to the letter, the surprise declaration of self-governance by the emperor and the information I received about the Adventurer’s Guild devoting all their available resources to help us under the table were things that I believe I knew about before getting clocked in the head but for now, its good news and news that I needed for a while. 

Now here I am, inside the main family chamber of the manor, all of the furniture replaced by tables with stacks upon stacks of papers filled with reports detailing the entire duchy, from resources we mine here down to the people who live here and those reports are very accurate if I do say so myself. Alongside these replacements, the walls have now been stripped of their elegant wallpaper and instead hold up boards that I use to collect and connect information on certain targets to be aware of, like the nobles surrounding us and even the imperial family. And to be honest, all this standing is making my tail and ears act up. 

I spend most of my days now looking over reports of who comes in or out of the duchy, getting reports on the status of the multitude of towns and villages we manage, and also, keeping a keen eye out for infiltrators and threats that could threaten the plan. 

“Miss Percy! New reports from the villages have just come in” a fellow servant told me as I scanned over the documents in my hand 

“Place them over there on that table” I answer him with a pointed hand towards a table filled to the brim with documents. 

The servant does as he is told and placed a large folder on the table, I move over and read a few lines and my eyes widen 

“Dispatch the knights immediately! We have infiltrators in the village near the border with Count Chernin!” I shout out towards the open window.

I see a knight standing on the front lawn, immediately turning his head to meet me and he nods before he runs off, making me nod as well in satisfaction. I look over at the report about the adventurer’s guild wanting to meet me later this week, it's filled with fancy words that beat around the bush, it’s obvious that they want something in return for helping us out, even though they said otherwise. I smile to myself as I stretch my limbs and head out of the room, picking up my coat hanging on the coatrack by the door, 

“Right. Let’s get to work” 

 

A/N; Hello! I am back now that my finals are over! and oh boy some of the side story chapters are done and will be ready to post next week! thanks for reading once again! and I hope you enjoy!