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. 

Chapter 11 - Saint and Priest

I sat with Zoe in front of the tall stack of paper. It was time to get to work. 

“She’s very pretty, but in a cute and innocent way, so eliminate anyone that’s not cute.”

Zoe took notes as I spoke. It assured me even more of her competence, and I began listing off everything I could remember.”

“I don’t know her current name… but look for anything close to ‘Catherine’, or maybe ‘Cat’.”

“Her hair is a very specific shade of blonde, like golden sunlight. Her eyes are green like sparkling emeralds.”

“Um… she’s extremely kind and optimistic and sweet. And quirky. She can do no wrong and everyone just loves her. Basically, she’s not like other girls. Wait, she obviously wouldn’t be like other aristocratic ladies, because she was raised as a commoner.” 

Why was she just the living embodiment of stupid tropes? What kind of horrible author wrote this? They should’ve been more considerate of any potential reincarnators. Ugh, whatever.

“I’m nine, so she should be eight right now. The carriage accident took place when she was really young, but she somehow found her way from a forest to an orphanage, so I’m assuming she was at least one. Yes, that’s it, if I remember correctly.”

“I don't know what forest it was, and it is odd that the baron just stumbled onto her when visiting the count. I mean, it’s not surprising since the baroness had taken the same road for her visit to the countess, but still. So, the orphanage should be along the road from Barony of Bryant to the County of Newfield.”

I fell silent for a moment as Zoe scribbled her notes. She lifted her head. 

“If I may ask, my lady, are you perhaps looking for Lady Catherine Bryant, the lost daughter of Baron Bryant?”

“Yes.” 

“Thank you, my lady. I will take that into account.”

She nodded and waited for me to begin again. It was a display of professionalism that she did not inquire how I knew some of the information. She knew when to not ask questions, though I had almost hoped she would, so that I could put into effect another idea I had, but I supposed it might be better to save it for when I fully develop a plan. Yet, she did not hesitate to ask for confirmation on information that could help her in her task of assisting me. 

Serving a noble well was a difficult task, and this girl had mastered the art completely. 

“Oh, and there’s this boy as well.”

The classic childhood best friend. Considerate, caring, kind, and arguably the best option realistically. Eternally stuck in the friend-zone, because the female lead could only see him as a brother. 

“His name is Nathaniel Seaton. He’s the same age as Catherine, with soft brown hair and warm hazel eyes. He’s just as kind, with strong divine powers.”

“His parents were merchants that died in an epidemic, and he ended up at the same orphanage as Catherine. He spent several years becoming close with her before the temple discovered his divine powers and took him in when he was eight. Wait, that’s this year.”

That was excellent! If I could get to him before or soon after the temple did, perhaps I could get Father to take him in as a ward. We had a private chapel with a priest who could use an apprentice, and a library with a large collection of old religious texts in need of translation. He would become the youngest high priest in the history of Orilon, and the power that could bring our family was unthinkable. We would truly be able to rival the royal family at last. 

“If we can find him, we’ll be able to find the girl. But I suppose the information right now wouldn’t contain this, so I’ll tell the knights next time. Pay attention to any that are closely affiliated with the temple.”

That was all I could remember at the moment, and recalling memories from my past life gave me a light headache. Zoe looked up again. 

“If you’re ready, start sorting through them. I want a refined list as soon as possible.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The maid began, working at an alarming rate. I yawned, and went on as usual. The tower of papers was almost intimidating, so I didn’t expect her to get them done quickly. 

My eyes widened as she handed me a list of names three days later. 

“These here are the ones that fit the description perfectly, and these ones fit most of them. The ones with stars next to them mean that some information wasn’t specified. I apologize, my lady, for taking so long.”

“No, no! It’s wonderful. Here, take this hairpin.”

I grabbed the nearest small trinket I could find, which was a small pearl hairpin. 

“You’ve done well.”

“Thank you, my lady. But I can not accept this, I was merely doing my job.”

“Good point.”

I saw Tia peeking from behind the door, so I waved her in. She flushed and curtsied clumsily when she reached me. 

“I’m so sorry, my lady! I didn’t mean to spy!”

“It’s fine. Take the pin, think of it as a gift from me or Zoe. Try to be more like her.”

It was important I kept her close to me. As of right now, small tokens of affection ought to do. I really hoped Zoe could teach her to be a better maid. 

Tia gushed and fell to her knees, thanking me repeatedly. This level of ass-kissing could only be achieved by the maid of the heroine, and I was impressed. She had the potential of becoming a good maid. 

Zoe looked on, her expression blank, but her head slightly tilted as if in interest. She would be loyal to me regardless, so I didn’t particularly care what she thought. I waved dismissively to Tia’s gratitude and stood up. 

I wanted to send the knights on their way as soon as possible. This time, they better bring back something useful. The fate of the grand duchy depended on it.