The first morning in the castle was cloudy. The early sun barely broke through the clouds, and the girls reluctantly stirred in their beds, struggling to open their eyes.
The sound of a new message on Vivienne's work phone made her jump out of bed. All the necessary numbers were already saved, so she immediately saw who had written.
From: Diana
"Morning! Are you awake yet? Let's go have breakfast!"
Vivienne quickly got up, got herself together, and with great effort lifted her younger sister out of bed. Five minutes later, both of them were already in the living room, waiting for Diana.
"Hi! How was your first night? Did you dream of your future husband?" Diana asked with a smile.
"Hi. Future husband? What do you mean?" Vivienne replied.
"Well, don't you know? Like, when you move into a new place and sleep there for the first night, your future husband will appear in your dream."
"Oh! Honestly, I didn't even know about that," Vivienne said, embarrassed. "Yeah, we fell asleep completely exhausted, I don't even remember drifting off."
"And I dreamed of a marshmallow," Emily piped up. "Covered in chocolate!"
The girls smiled.
"Okay, you'll get a chocolate-covered marshmallow for dessert!" Diana said. "Let's go!"
"Aren't we waiting for the others?" Vivienne asked, following Diana down the stairs to the kitchen.
"No, Lily will take care of them. They're still sleeping like the dead… Besides, I've been told to look after you two, so it's good if the three of us have breakfast together."
Vivienne was surprised by this attention. She really didn't want any special status. She remembered well how she had been treated in the orphanage because she had a little sister with her. They always got more food and clothes, which meant other kids didn't hold back in expressing their resentment—and Vivienne didn't want to repeat that here.
"Listen, Diana, thanks for looking out for us, but I don't want to stand out or get special treatment. I don't want anyone giving us sideways looks."
Diana looked at her questioningly, frowning.
"Why do you think you'll stand out here? Well, yes. It's the first time we've ever had a girl start work with her little sister. And don't you remember what Val said? We all help each other, so just think of it as help."
Vivienne nodded in gratitude, but the uneasy feeling inside her remained.
They went down to the kitchen, and in the morning sunlight, it seemed even bigger and more beautiful.
"I'm used to having cereal with strawberry yogurt for breakfast. You can cook whatever you want," Diana said, reaching for her favorite chocolate cereal. "I saw you trying to make pasta with fish yesterday. Very fancy," she added with a smile.
Vivienne smiled shyly.
"Yes, I tried. We'd been traveling for a long time, and Valentina stopped, so we had lunch at a restaurant."
"Ah, I see. That's typical Val. She feeds everyone along the way. On the way here, I asked for a steak. I really wanted to try a proper restaurant steak. It was magical," Diana smiled. "And the first steak I ever made? It looked like a charred piece of wood."
Everyone laughed.
"Oh, right! I forgot to mention, this is the coffee machine! You just turn it on, wait a minute for the water to heat, and you're ready. Pick a drink, press a button, and voilà! The coffee here is amazing, I can't live without it!"
Vi and Emily followed Diana's lead, pouring themselves bowls of cereal and cups of cappuccino. They settled comfortably in the dining hall and started eating. But Vivienne couldn't contain her curiosity.
"Listen, do all these groceries get delivered to you? Or do you buy them yourselves?"
"Nope. Look…" Diana reached into the pocket of her pajama pants, pulled out her phone, and opened an app. "Our work phones have a few important apps for living here. This one is our supermarket. It has absolutely every product you can buy in this city. Almost everything is here, neatly sorted into categories—meat, poultry, fish, seafood, vegetables, fruits, drinks, and so on. On Thursdays, from 1 to 6 p.m., the app shows an icon called 'My Cart.' You pick a product, select the quantity or weight, and add it to your cart. Then on Friday, the next day at 6 p.m., everything gets delivered in boxes. And the boxes have your room number on them. You saw the mini fridge in your room, right? Well, some items you can keep for yourself so you don't have to keep going down to the kitchen, and others, like potatoes or meat, stay here."
"God, that's so convenient!" Vivienne exclaimed.
"Uh-huh! You have a $1,000 monthly limit! That's more than enough. And on top of that, to make sure there's always a minimum of basics, Wally orders staples like potatoes, grains, sugar, and chicken. That's her responsibility. Everything else is up to us, our own wishes. Or if you really want something badly, you can go into town and buy it yourself. After all, we get paid well."
Vi was thrilled with this system and couldn't wait for Thursday to come so she could order her own food. But until then, she still had to survive, and there was a completely different event looming.
"I wanted to ask… today we're meeting the owner, right?"
Diana nodded approvingly and smiled.
"Are you scared?"
"Not exactly scared… just nervous. What if he doesn't like me?"
"Well, that's hardly a problem!" Diana reached into another pocket, pulled out an electronic cigarette, and took a drag. "If Val picked you, then the owner will like you too. Let's just say, they have the same taste in girls."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, Val — she's the owner's right hand, of course, she's been with him too, but that's not important. What matters is that when she goes on vacation or just heads into town for the weekend, she has fun with the girls just as much as the owner does!" Diana replied with a playful smile.
Vivienne needed a moment to digest that information. Then she smiled shyly, and Diana noticed a faint blush spreading across Vivienne's cheeks.
"Well… Valentina really is beautiful. And she smells so nice," Vivienne said timidly.
Diana laughed.
"Oh, yes! In that, they're very much alike. When Val started working here, she noticed the owner's massive perfume collection. And she got hooked too. Total perfume addicts. You'll see his collection yourself when you're assigned to clean the west wing. Thousands of fragrances! Thousands!"
"I'd love to smell like Valentina," Vivienne continued.
"Damn, then let's go into town this weekend and get you some perfume! If our days off match, I'll show you the city too!"
"That would be amazing! Thank you! Thank you for helping me!"
"No problem! That's just how things are here," Diana replied with a smile.
"Can I ask another question?"
"Ask away, before you find out everything."
"What's he like?"
"Who? The city?" Diana smiled.
"No… the owner. What's he like?" Vivienne asked shyly.
Diana smiled, not taking her eyes off her bowl of cereal, reached for her e-cigarette for another puff. Only after the air filled with the sweet scent of grapes did she say,
"He's very handsome."
Vivienne's face flushed with color.
"He's handsome," Diana repeated, "he always smells nice, he's always interesting to be around, and he's very attentive and polite to everyone."
Diana paused for a moment, then added,
"And he's also cold… emotionally cold and distant, like a block of ice. He's closed off and doesn't let anyone get close, even though he wants to. He's calculating, sometimes childish and capricious, like a child… He's not simple. So be ready for that. And for your own sake and this little one's, don't fall in love with him. Don't make things harder for yourself."
Diana's face still held a smile, though her eyes were now veiled with the shimmer of tears.
"I can tell you one thing," Diana added. "He will be the most amazing and incredible person of all those you will ever know! Even though he does some rather improper things."
Vivienne's face softened with sympathy for Diana, realizing that she loved the master, even though she tried with all her might to hide it. And yet, Vi couldn't imagine a more contradictory character than the master of this castle. How could someone combine nobility and so many vices in a single person? It both confused and fascinated her.
Meanwhile, the clock struck ten in the morning, and Vi, Emily, and Diana heard the other girls descending the stairs to the dining hall. Everyone was still sleepy and hungry, and soon the kitchen filled with the aroma of hastily prepared food.
In the middle of breakfast, one of the girls, Anna Belford from room number 6, received a message on her work phone.
From: Valentina
"Anna, good morning! Head to the third floor of the west wing. The large burgundy door in the middle of the floor, on the left side, you can't miss it. Don't forget to knock. Good luck!"
The entire dining hall seemed to tense up at once! Everyone realized that the master was waiting for her there. Anna was a painfully sensitive girl, and neither the orphanage nor the harsh conditions of life had managed to suppress her naive, sometimes even childlike simplicity. After reading the message, she couldn't calm the nervous trembling in her hands, even with Lily and Diana offering smiles and reassurance.
"Don't worry so much," Diana said with a smile. "You're just going to meet your employer, that's all."
"Yeah, he won't eat you! Not even a finger! You're just going to meet him in person, that's it!" Lily added.
"Just remember two things: don't make him wait, and don't lie to him," Diana reminded her.
All the girls accompanied Anna to the third floor, to the corridor leading to the west wing. Anna's anxiety was off the charts, but the presence of her new friends gave her steps a bit of steadiness.
"There it is!" Diana said, pointing at the burgundy door. "Go there and knock! We can't go any further without an invitation. Good luck!"
Everyone wished her good luck! As if she were heading to some very important exam. Only Lily and Diana remained calm, keeping gentle smiles on their faces.
Three firm knocks echoed down the corridor on the heavy wooden door. A few seconds later, a stream of light illuminated the hallway, and Anna stepped in humbly.
"Alright, let's finish our breakfast!" Lily said cheerfully. "We're not going to linger here all day, are we?"
"True, let's go. She'll be back soon," Diana added. "Then we'll head up to our lounge and wait for her there."
The girls returned to the dining hall, but nobody touched even a small bite. Everyone was too excited about meeting the master. Only Diana and Lily, with one hand scrolling through social media feeds carelessly, broke pieces of chocolate with the other and washed them down with fresh, fragrant coffee.
For the rest of the girls, the wait was worse than death. But in less than fifteen minutes, footsteps echoed on the stairs again. All eyes turned toward the doorway in unison.
Happy and flushed with excitement, Anna Belford ran toward her friends, hopping on her feet! The kitchen immediately filled with questions: "So? How was it? What happened? What did he say?"
"Everything was great! He's very kind and polite! Nothing scary at all. I was afraid for nothing!" Anna replied joyfully.
But no sooner had she finished that sentence than the sound of a new message rang out. This time, it was for a girl named Joanna Cross from room number 5. The message was from Valentina, exactly the same as Anna's.
The girls decided to wait for everyone in the lounge on the second floor. Half an hour later, Joanna returned, calm and happy after meeting the master. Next was Jane Siemens from room number 7. She spent slightly less time there—only about twenty minutes—and then returned to the lounge with the others. Everyone was smiling and laughing, talking about what the master was really like. And of course, they were all waiting for Vivienne to receive her message. But there was no message…
Half an hour passed after the last one, Jane, returned. Then an hour, then two. Diana and Lily themselves didn't know what was going on, but tried to reassure everyone, saying maybe he had urgent matters and the master was simply busy. They restarted Vivienne's phone, thinking it might have glitched. Everyone was trying to figure out why Vivienne still hadn't received a message.
Vivienne herself was already imagining the worst. After lunch, during which she hadn't eaten a single bite, she took Emily to her room for a nap, and went to the lounge alone. She sat on the couch by the window, holding her phone, barely holding back tears. The very thought that today she might leave this castle and leave her sister outside made her heart pound like a drum.
Diana joined her and sat down next to Vivienne.
"Maybe he changed his mind because I'm with my sister? Like, he wanted to at first, but then changed his mind?"
"That's so like him…" Diana smiled, "but only when it comes to his expensive coats or perfumes, not people. He's already chosen you, he can't just kick you out like that."
Diana moved closer and hugged Vivienne. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Diana, for her part, didn't come up with anything better than to pull an e-cigarette from her pocket and hand it to Vi.
"You want it?"
"What's this?" Vivienne asked with a sigh.
"An electronic cigarette, grape-flavored and chilled."
"I don't smoke…"
"Well, I didn't either once," Diana said with a smile.
Vi reached out and took the e-cigarette, its surface shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, and drew her very first puff in her life. She immediately burst into a cough.
"It's okay!" Diana reassured her. "That's how the first puff always feels. Don't drag too hard, just take small ones."
Vivienne tried again. To her own surprise, she actually liked the taste, and she didn't want to stop. The light dizziness only spurred her on and cleared her head.
"So, I take it when we go into town, we won't just be buying perfume, huh?" Diana asked with a smile.
Vivienne forced a smile onto her tear-streaked face and nodded, holding back tears again.
"You know what, Vivienne? I think you should join your sister and get some sleep! Don't think about anything. The master's a rich man—who knows what urgent business came up for him! That's it, you're going to rest now, no more worrying, got it? Put your phone down and try to sleep. And I'll quietly ask Val what happened and why you haven't received a message, okay?"
Vivienne nodded in approval and trudged off to her room, though sleep was the last thing on her mind. The girls remained in the hall, watching her go and offering words of comfort. But Vivienne didn't hear them. Every nerve was tuned to the sound of a new message arriving.
Already in the corridor, she heard Emily's laughter and realized her sister had either woken up or never fallen asleep at all. She opened the door to their room—and the phone slipped from her hand.
"Oh, hello there! You must be Vivienne! I've brought some dolls for this little one! I hope you don't mind? Yes, I know it's sudden, but I very much wanted to meet you in person. And of course, to bring these gifts for Emily!" the master of the castle said with a smile.