Second World

Jack let her finished her rants first, and then continue to keep his silence some more.

"What? Nothing to say for yourself?" She said with a smug expression, thinking that Jack had been intimidated by her scolding.

Jack then gave her a sharp look and said, "well, miss…"

"Jimena, I'm the head maid of this mansion," the old maid said with some pride.

"Miss Jimena, what I can assure you about your master, the duke's unhappiness, is if he fails to recover the thing that he is looking for. I've been tasked to help him in finding it, and what do you think he will respond if I told him I fail to find it because some of his servants are not willing to cooperate? How about we call him now and ask if he would like to have you working on your chores or helping me look for the stolen item. should we call him?"

The old maid shifted uncomfortably. It was apparent that she was not so confident anymore.

"There is no need to disturb His Grace, he is busy as it is," she said, her eyes were not looking at Jack.

"Well, then this means you will answer my questions willingly?"

"Fine, ask as you will," the old maid answered with an annoyed face.

"Where were you in the morning at 10 AM two days ago?"

"Working," she answered. "This mansion is huge, do you think it was easy keeping it clean while still attending to the duke and duchess' needs? There is hardly any time for me to take a break, I spent every day fully at work!"

"Mam, I'm just asking for your whereabouts in the morning two days ago. Is it necessary to tell me your life story…?"

"I'm with the duchess! I'm preparing her medicine, and tend to her needs, and made sure her room was clean. She had a weak body that requires regular medication and a clean environment. When Luciana gave me the morning report, Joselyn was absent. So I went to search for her. That's when I found her to be in detention in the duke's workroom. They were having a meeting with the castle guards that had just arrived. That was when I found out about the theft."

"You didn't see the barrier formation being erected?"

"Do you mean that colorful light that prevents people from going in and out? No, I was busy inside the mansion, how would I be aware of it?"

Jack was silent in his thought for a while.

"Are you done? I still have many chores to tend to," the head maid spoke impatiently when Jack stopped asking her questions.

"One last thing, did you go out at any time after finding out about the theft? Particularly to the tower under the duke's workroom."

"Did you have a problem with your ears? I have said already I am a very busy lady. I have almost not enough time to deal with the tasks inside the mansion, why do I still have the time to go out?"

"Thank you for your time, please take care when you go out," Jack said with a forced smile.

Next came a plump guy. When he sat on the chair, it creaked. Jack was worried for a second that it would break. The plump guy seemed to be cautious of it too, as his expression appeared to be awaiting that fateful moment. After a few seconds passed without the worry came to pass, he finally relaxed and looked at Jack with a genuine smile.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tomas, the chef," he said cheerily.

"Nice to meet you too. Mr. Tomas, I'm sure you have been told before. I will be giving you some questions, I hope you will answer them truthfully," Jack said.

"Of course, of course. I would be happy too," he replied enthusiastically.

Jack nodded. "So, can you tell me where you are in the morning two days ago?"

"In the kitchen, preparing breakfast."

"After that?"

"Preparing lunch."

"…"

"Any other things you did? Did you go out of the kitchen for anything?"

"No."

"Did you meet anyone during that time?"

"The maid Joselyn, came to take the breakfast and later, wine for the duke. The maid Luciana came bringing me groceries and again later to take the wine for Marquess Fernando whom I heard had come to visit."

"So, you didn't see anything unusual?"

"No."

"When did you find out about the theft that happened?"

"There was a theft?"

"…"

"Okay, next!"

The Maid Luciana was next. When she sat on the chair, something did not feel right. She fidgeted the chair a bit and felt that its legs were shaky. She pushed the chair away and took another one to replace it. She sat back down after, made another fidgeting. After satisfied nothing was wrong, she turned her attention to Jack with a sweet smile.

Jack smiled back, not willing to waste more time, he immediately began, "Miss Luciana, I…"

"Please call me sister, everyone here calls me that way. I'm still very young after all, and I prefer that way."

"O… kay, Sister Luciana. I will be giving you some questions, and I hope you will answer them honestly."

"Shoot away," she said.

"O… kay. Can you describe what you did in the morning two days ago?"

"Two days ago? Let's see, hm, I did my chores as usual. I cleaned the guest hall, dining hall. I received grocery deliveries from the shop and brought them to the kitchen. Then I report to head maid Jimena, before I was summoned by butler Winston to serve Marquess Fernando who had come to visit. I gave him a cup of wine, then I go back to do some more cleaning on the other halls."

"When do you find out about the theft?"

"After the guards showed up, I realized there was a ruckus, but I don't know what it was. Later when I met head maid Jimena again, I asked her about it, she then told me about the theft."

"Do you see anything unusual? Any stranger or something out of place?"

"No… but… hm, I'm not sure if it is important, but it was unusual."

"Oh? Tell me," Jack's interest was piqued.

"I don't think it's anything significant. It's just that when I said I met the head maid, she was at the west wing of the mansion."

"What's so unusual about she being there?"

"It's not exactly about she being there. It's more like the way she behaved. She looked to be sneaking, or maybe it's my imagination. Do you know I have a wild imagination? Do you know once I thought I saw a unicorn in the woods in this estate? I mean, can you believe that?"

"I find that hard to believe. Can we go back to the sneaking head maid?"

"Oh, right. Forgive me, sometimes I get distracted. I was often time scolded by the head maid and butler Winston because of it. I mean, can you blame me? It's just that my mind likes to run by itself, I think it's because of my youthful energy."

"Yes, yes. About the sneaking head maid. Do you see what she was up to?"

"Oh no, she realized I was there, so she called me and told me that she was getting some medicines for the duchess from the medicine room, which was, by itself unusual. Because usually, she asked either me or Joselyn to get this medicine."

"So she was trying to explain herself when you caught her sneaking?"

"I don't know, or maybe she really was just getting medicine from the medicine room. Speaking of catching people sneaking, I also caught the butler sneaking some food a few days ago when…"

"Okay, thank you for your time. We will talk again when I think of some other questions."