Denied: A Devil’s Thousandth Proposal

Ch14 New Arrival

Rebecca first demonstrated to Lilian how to wash a napkin and what methods to use to remove stubborn stains. Lilian listened very attentively.

Lilian's first time washing napkins, it took her half an hour to clean all ten-odd napkins and hang them out to dry. Rebecca checked them first, nodded, and didn't say anything, but Lilian knew this meant Rebecca was satisfied with her work.

As for folding the napkins, that was a piece of cake for Lilian . She has nimble fingers, a good memory, and excellent spatial reasoning skills. After Rebecca demonstrated it once, she learned how to do it.

Rebecca was just about to polish the cleaned silver cutlery, and had only finished one piece when Lilian, who had expected it to take at least one or two hours to fold it to a satisfactory level , brought over her work.

Those were napkin folding flowers in the shape of flower petals. Although it was the simplest requirement for a kitchen maid in the Earl's mansion, it was still relatively complicated. Rebecca did not expect Lilian to fold them so quickly, and the quality was quite good.

"Did you fold this yourself?" Rebecca asked.

Lilian nodded: "Yes, once you remember the trick, it's very simple."

Rebecca was polishing the silverware, a very important task that only an old hand in the kitchen like herself could handle. So she thought for a moment and called someone else over to teach Lilian the other tricks.

Seeing Lilian's focused expression while studying, Rebecca's eyes showed more approval.

After Rebecca finished her work, she went to Lilian's side to check on her study progress.

Lilian earlier had left, and Lilian was the only one there folding flowers. The flowers she was folding were patterns that Rebecca had never seen before.

Rebecca coughed, and Lilian looked up and smiled, "Rebecca, I've finished learning."

Even though she already knew Lilian was a fast learner, Rebecca still couldn't believe it when she heard about her progress.

She had taught newcomers before; courses like napkin folding usually took them about three days to learn.

But now it's only two hours at most.

"Next, I will assess you. If you pass, you can move on to the next learning activity." Rebecca remained expressionless, showing little emotion.

Lilian also stopped smiling and nodded seriously, saying, "I'm ready."

Rebecca's test was simple: she just had to name a napkin pattern and have Lilian fold it. In Lilian's view, it was just like memorizing English vocabulary in middle school.

There were a total of twenty napkin folding patterns. Rebecca drew three basic patterns and three difficult ones, but none of them stumped Lilian .

Even Rebecca's usually stern face couldn't help but reveal a very faint smile: "Well done."

"Thank you, it's all thanks to the teacher's excellent teaching," Lilian said modestly.

Rebecca nodded without saying anything more, and then proceeded to teach Lilian how to set the table.

There are many intricacies involved. Nobles have a wide variety of dining options, with three or four sets of knives and forks. Different dishes require different cutlery, all of which Lilian needs to remember.

These were child's play compared to the various reports and data Lilian used to have to memorize. She learned them quickly and passed Rebecca's test without any trouble.

Rebecca's plan was to teach Lilian and then go about her own business, leaving the rest for Lilian to practice on her own. However, because Lilian learned quickly, Rebecca spent the entire first half of the day teaching her.

Fortunately, Rebecca has taught many newcomers, so there's no situation where teaching ahead of schedule would leave her with nothing to teach.

Just as Rebecca was about to teach Lilian more table manners, someone rushed over and called from the kitchen doorway, "Where's the new maid?"

Lilian was taken aback. Was this someone looking for her?

The newcomer was a young boy. Seeing that no one answered, he looked around and asked again, "Which one is the new maid?"

Lilian then raised her hand: "It's me."

She recognized the boy; he was the same boy who had been with Master Parish, sitting outside the carriage. He must have been Master Parish's personal valet.

Well, as the saying goes, "The tree may wish to be still, but the wind will not cease." That devil was indeed not so kind as to leave her alone.

Fortunately, Lilian was already mentally prepared.

Having accepted the devil's help, she had to continue dealing with him, which was the price she had to pay.

The boy looked at Lilian , as if to confirm her appearance, before saying, "Young Master Parish is about to have his meal."

Lilian hesitated for a moment: "I'm still learning the rules, and I'm afraid I won't do them well and it will affect the young master's mood."

The boy said with a straight face, "The young master specifically asked you to go."

What do you mean by naming her...? I'm afraid that demon still doesn't know her name, so his male servants refer to her as "the new maid."

Lilian was mentally prepared, and seeing that struggling was futile, she had no choice but to agree.

It was already noon. The Earl's manor's custom was roughly 9:00 for breakfast, 1:30 for lunch, 4:00 for afternoon tea, and 8:00 for dinner. Therefore, lunch was already quite ready, and since Young Master Parish was a late riser, the kitchen always prepared breakfast for him. Since he hadn't given any special instructions, Rebecca had Lilian take the breakfast to him.

After Lilian left, the maids who had been subtly watching her and weren't busy gathered in twos and threes, and naturally, their conversation revolved around Lilian .

Only Mrs. Mary knows the details of Lilian's acceptance yesterday, but those who were eliminated yesterday will naturally complain to their elders at home, so there are already quite a few rumors about Lilian .

Having only been there for half a day and focused solely on studying , Lilian was unaware of the pressure brought by the rumors. Carrying a food box, she followed behind the boy who called himself Wado, thinking about how to deal with that devil later.

It's not that difficult; you just need to firmly refuse.