Monica was very pleased with her circumstances—well, not that they were fighting a war, but everything else was perfect. Every day, she had a chance to stand next to Edelgard and talk with her! It was more than she could ever hope for, and she desperately wished it would last even after the war. Monica would crush Her Majesty's enemies, prove herself worthy as her servant, and eventually be able to stand by Edelgard's side as an equal.
One day in camp, Monica was doing everything she could to be useful. No matter the intent at first, Her Majesty saved her life; even a less dedicated person would recognize that they should try to repay her. Everything she could do was but a meager task compared to saving a life, but perhaps one day all of her small tasks would add up.
She just finished up her previous task—sorting through weapons and helping to check inventory—and decided to ask Edelgard for any other things she could do to bide away her time. Monica found the emperor in one of the makeshift buildings, looking around for something.
"Is everything all right, Your Majesty?" Monica asked curiously.
Edelgard first looked to see who it was, then completely turned around. "Hello, Monica," she greeted kindly. She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong, per se; I just seemed to have misplaced one of my better pens. It's not a huge problem, but it's still vexing. I could've sworn it was right here earlier."
"Perhaps someone took it?" Monica suggested. "If you would like, I would gladly look for it."
"That may be for the best," Edelgard decided after a moment. "Just keep an eye out—if it's lost, it's lost. I can always get a new one."
Monica nodded, accepting the task that was given to her. Both of them searched for a brief time before Hubert came to bring Edelgard somewhere else in camp. Monica continued looking for the pen alone, having nothing else to do.
When she finished that room, she slowly combed through camp, offering her assistance to anyone who looked like they might want it while she was there. Monica looked through the entire camp—three times—and asked any likely pilferers about the object. No one knew what happened to it, however.
Monica still kept an eye out for it in the following days. Edelgard seemed to mostly forget the incident, opting to just use a different pen for her work. However, Monica heard her murmurs of ink splotches and rougher writing—she refused to accept defeat when Her Majesty wasn't satisfied!
Unfortunately, even bravado could not help her. Monica couldn't find the blasted pen anywhere, and now they were preparing to take down camp and move on to a different location.
Although she was loathe to do it, she had to admit to Her Majesty that she could not find the lost pen. Monica trudged along to find Edelgard, only to see her speaking with the Ashen Demon.
"Oh! How did you know this was mine?"
"It looked like something you might own. Call it a hunch."
"Regardless, thank you. I've been looking for this for a few days now."
It made her blood boil. She was upstaged! By a mercenary! All of her regret in needing to tell Edelgard that she failed vanished, especially as Byleth and Edelgard began to hold a conversation.
Monica was stuck standing there, watching them, for several moments. She was far enough away that they likely wouldn't notice her, so she allowed herself to listen and wonder why a mercenary seemed to prompt more conversation than her. Was Monica trying to hard—did Edelgard think she was annoying? Maybe she tried to have tea with the emperor too much, or her efforts at helping Edelgard succeed were insufficient.
Eventually, Hubert took notice of Monica's loitering and gave her some tasks to do. It didn't help her sour mood any, but it got her mind off of it. She took her frustration out on the enemies when they next stepped on the battlefield.
One day, she would be worthy of Edelgard's attention, and be able to hold conversations with her so effortlessly like that mercenary—both Byleth and Shez both. Monica refused to stay in other people's shadows in Her Majesty's mind.