The Female Knight of Doom - TFKOD 06: Settlement of Accommodation

“Cut off your hands?” Lord Etienne asked rhetorically.

After a moment, he understood what Alice meant.

He smiled bitterly, “You’re not perfectly disciplined, but compared to what you’ve just done, this matter is nothing. In any case, the leftover food from the Feast of the Gods is to be distributed to the temple apprentices after the feast, so it can’t easily be taken away.”

As Alice listened to his admonishment, she nodded her head unconsciously. She felt her limbs gradually regaining sensation and realized that she likely wouldn’t be punished for stealing.

He probably didn’t think she was stealing on purpose because she was young. Had she been a few years older, her behavior wouldn’t have been dismissed as childish mischief, and she would have paid a heavy price.

While she was still thinking about being cut, Lord Etienne, who wasn’t a ruthless person, instantly changed the subject.

“You like cake, don’t you?”

No matter when, cake is a word that delights people. Alice was caught off guard and didn’t have time to share the enormous cake that ended up on the table.

When she heard him mention it, her eyes instantly lit up.

Then Lord Etienne said, “Pick one from here. I can’t finish these alone. Even if I don’t give them to you, I’ll have to share them with the temple apprentices in the end. They’re considered my personal belongings, and no one will say anything about them.”

She noticed that most of the packages piled up by his table were boxes of treats. They were exquisitely wrapped with ribbons tied on top, and they appeared to be gifts from women. Some of the boxes had the Brad Master Pastry Shop logo printed on them.

She had never seen so many treats outside of the shop.

She looked at the cakes, then at him, flabbergasted.

Lord Etienne didn’t have time to see her reaction. He was busy removing the cards one by one.

The cards were more valuable than the cakes themselves. Properly handling them and discreetly replying to the letters was part of his job as a priest—perhaps the most important part.

The cards were gifts from noblewomen who frequented the temple.

Priests took a vow of celibacy, abandoning their families to live in the temple for the rest of their lives and dedicate themselves entirely to the gods. According to general custom, they were not criticized for becoming familiar with their female relatives.

Local noblewomen had always given gifts to their favored priests.

Lord Etienne was from the capital and highly attractive, so he received almost twice as many gifts as the others did each day.

Alice didn’t know this, of course, but she knew that she shouldn’t reject his goodwill outright.

She paused briefly before choosing the smallest cake, “I’ll take this one.”

He glanced at her, then at the box she was pointing to.

“You like cakes, don’t you? Better take a bigger one.”

With that, he picked the biggest cake Alice could carry, tied the ribbon securely around it, and handed it to her.

The cake was heavy.

It was probably the most valuable thing she had ever held. She felt her hands tremble slightly.

Lord Etienne’s voice sounded from above, “I frightened you just now. Take this cake as compensation.”

Alice still hadn’t gotten to eat the cake from the Feast of the Gods. By the time she left his office, the feast had ended. He sent her out of the temple directly through the side door.

She stood at the temple’s entrance, cake in hand, still in a trance.

There had been so many accidents that day. Her tiny brain couldn’t process all the information, and she couldn’t tell if she was lucky or unlucky.

She didn’t want to go back, but wandering the streets was freezing. Besides, the cake was heavy, and Dark River Street was the only place she could go.

No matter how reluctant she was, she headed back down the familiar road.

She returned to Dark River Street with the cake. The mistress was displeased when she revealed that she had not become a follower of Goddess Fragna.

“You didn’t choose Fragna?”

“Fragna didn’t choose me.” She decided to use the same excuse that Lord Etienne had used in front of the Lord High Priest, “I memorized the wrong prayer, and she wouldn’t accept me.”

But the mistress wasn’t easily tricked. Having spent her life dealing with tenants who couldn’t pay their rent, she had seen enough lies to never be as gullible or forgiving as the Lord High Priest.

She stared at her with skeptical eyes, “I have never seen anyone hated by the gods for reciting the wrong prayers. Besides, a clever girl like you shouldn’t have made such a mistake. In any case, I cannot have a non-follower of Fragna in my household. It is not safe.”

Alice had no complaints about the mistress’ decision. Although she hadn’t expected to keep her position as a servant, she was saddened by her unforgiving words.

“Do you have a smaller vacant room that you could rent to me?”

Renting was another matter.

The landlady put on a businesslike face, “One of the tenants just backed out of the lease yesterday, so I can rent it to you instead. But, if you want to live here, you must promise to behave. I don’t rent to thieves or whores. If a house has a bad reputation, no one will want to rent it in the future. What are you going to do to support yourself?”

Alice had thought of an answer to this question long ago, “Like my mother, I’ll wash clothes for people.”

“You won’t be able to support yourself by washing clothes alone with your small stature,” the landlady commented on this but did not say that she would not rent the house to her, which made Alice breathe a sigh of relief.

Still, the landlady looked her up and down as if trying to see if she had changed since leaving her house that morning or to assess whether she could pay the rent.

That’s when she recognized the cake she was holding, “Is that a cake in your hand? Where did you get it?”

It was an easy question to answer, “The lord priest in the temple gave it to me.”

The landlady threw her a baffled look, as if she couldn’t fathom why such a valuable cake would be given to an illegitimate, fatherless, and motherless little girl by a noble priest.

She looked at her for a moment and finally threatened, “If I hear that a cake has been lost or that you’ve done something shameless, you’ll have to leave immediately. This is not a place for shameless girls.”

“I’m telling the truth,” Alice asserted.

“A girl who hasn’t been chosen by Fragna is not to be trusted.” The landlady snorted and changed the subject, “If you have any shame left, you should pray day and night for Fragna to give you another chance. Anyway, I have to clean the room I just vacated, so come by in the evening, and I’ll show you to your new room.”

Alice remained silent until the landlady finished her grandiose speech. Although the landlady was rude, she was grateful that she rented her a place without requiring a guarantor.

She bowed to the landlady and left the house.

With the housing problem solved, the only thing left was to figure out how to make money.

Alice went to the laundry shop.

The proprietress of the Dark River Street Laundry was tall, thin, shrewd, and capable. She was never a good talker. When she heard that Alice wanted to work at the laundry shop, she furrowed her brows.

“You want to work in our laundry? No, no, no. That’s never a job for children.”

Alice knew she wasn’t smooth to communicate with, but she didn’t foresee being denied so hastily.

“I thought you were short-handed right now.”

“Of course we’re short-handed, but we never need children. Not to mention, even when Jenna was alive, she never did a very good job.”

Jenna was Alice’s mother.

She opened her mouth to say that her mother had done a good job with her work before she got sick, but nothing came out.

Should she leave, or should she stick around a little longer? At her age, with no connections or divine blessings, finding a suitable job would be challenging, even if she searched everywhere right now.

She didn’t think the laundry shop owner’s wife would reject her. The work was difficult and demanding, and the pay was low. Only a few destitute old ladies who couldn’t find other jobs did it. There were always so many laundries. In her opinion, even twice as many people couldn’t finish their work.

At that moment, the owner’s wife saw the box that she was holding, “What are you holding?”

“It’s a cake. The priest gave it to me.”

The laundress usually had access to the kitchens of wealthy and influential people.

She knew more about what went on in the temple than the landlady did, so she couldn’t help but ask detailed questions, “Which priest?”

“Lord Etienne.”

Upon hearing the name, her expression changed slightly, indicating interest, “He’s a significant person.”

Alice nodded vaguely.

Unexpectedly enlightened, she blurted out, “I can’t finish such a good cake by myself. Why don’t we all eat it together?”

“How can that be good?” The owner’s wife exclaimed under her breath.

Her eyes were glued to the box.

Alice smiled lightly, “When my mother was around, everyone in the laundry room took extra care of us. It’s only right that we have the opportunity to treat everyone to some cake.”

That’s not exactly a lie.

The laundresses took fairly good care of Alice when her mother was ill. However, the owner’s wife was always nasty and didn’t do much to help.

However, the owner’s wife rightfully accepted the thanks at face value, “You also know how to be grateful. When Jenna was sick, if it were anyone else, she would have stopped working by now. You wait here for a while. I’ll go make a pot of tea.”

She went to the kitchen to make tea and took out a knife. She passed it to Alice and told her to share the cake.

There were about seven or eight women there. Although the cake was not small, there was not enough for everyone to get an ample amount. Alice gritted her teeth and cut an extra-large piece for the owner’s wife.

Seeing this, the owner’s wife’s eyes flashed with delight.

The tea was boiling at that moment, so she took out cups and poured a cup for everyone, “Come take a break. Have a slice of cake and a cup of hot tea.”

The women looked up, their faces appearing slightly wooden from their hard work. However, when the sweet cream and soft cake touched their lips, their expressions softened.

Even the cold, hard-faced owner’s wife revealed a gentler demeanor, “I’m not going to pay you a fixed wage. I’ll pay you for each piece of clothing you deliver. You’ll also have to accompany me to the temple whenever I go to collect and deliver clothes. I won’t pay you extra for that part of the job, and you’ll only receive a third of any tips you earn.”

It was a harsh request, but Alice was in no position to argue. She acquiesced silently and took a sip of tea.

The laundry shop didn’t have any decent tea, and Alice couldn’t tell if the tea was good or bad; she could only tell that it was warm. A hint of tenderness remained as the cream from the cake melted on her tongue.

At the Feast of the Gods, Lord Etienne had taken her away early, so she hadn’t gotten to eat cake at the banquet.

She bet this cake was a hundred times better than the one at the Feast of the Gods, though.
…

T/N:
Since Alice moved out of the mistress’ house and no longer works for her, her title has changed to “landlady.” Don’t get confused.