HINA'

en but struck like iron. I

ad likely complained to her the night before, lamenting that this new position of mine was originally meant for Ivy. Bitter ov

but she hadn't expected my tongue to be so sharp. I had corner

nother breath on her. I bypassed her complet

a guide. I stopped at the threshold and bowed to a second-tier maid. "Please infor

nside. Moments lat

y skirts, kept my eyes on the floo

th intertwining lotus vines came into my view

oung Madam," I said respectfully. "I h

en informed of my new status, I hadn't had time to craft something extraordinary. Thankfully, I had

aited. No one c

ok up to check Eleanor's expression. I held the

ally drifted down from above. "But as a person, it

orehead to the

biting my lip in silent endurance, my neck bowed in a fra

ate like wildfire: when she heard the news yesterday of the Matriarch arranging a bedmaid for Gideon without consulting her, his official wife, she had thrown a massive fit in front of the managing matrons. It wa

oved into her husband's bed by the Matriarc

h, Eleanor would direct all her venom at me. Yet, to maintai

criptures," Elea

sented a stack

" Eleanor

s face was slightly puffy; she cl

the plainest servant's dress, my brows and eyes held the vibrant, flushed beauty of a peach blossom i

when Beatrice Reynolds, her managing matron, gently nudged her d

s left my trembling hands. But before I

scripture. Every day, you are to draw your own blood to copy it. By the Festival of a Thousand Saints, you must

y. To copy a hundred volumes, I would have to work day and night without sleep-not to mention using my o