Alice opened the front gate and greeted her other visitor, who was leaning against his vintage car until he saw the heiress. "Shadow, what are you doing here? You should stay home during this heavy rain."

"But that's exactly why I came—to see how you're doing during this fine weather."

The redhead opened the gate wider to let him in and positioned her umbrella above the both of them. "Let's get you a dry towel. Just because you drove here in your car doesn't mean you don't need an umbrella. Chris!"

"I'm on it..."

After removing his coat and shoes, Shadow handed a gift bag to Alice. "In the meantime, here are some fresh bakery treats to keep you warm."

Once Chris returned with a large dry towel, Alice asked, "Can you get the kettle from the stove and boil some English breakfast tea for us?"

"Sure...why not...?"

Hiding in the kitchen were Soon and Shun, in which the latter asked, "Why did you drag me back in here when Alice's visitor came? Who is he?"

"The man you see in a ridiculous purple-black suit is Shadow Prove. He's one of Miss Alice's...suitors."

So Shadow was serious about stealing Alice's inheritance. "You sound like you don't like him."

"Somewhat. He's a relatively nice person, but his unfashionable suit gives me the chills. Out of all people that Miss Alice has met with, he was the most persistent one and even appealed to her aunt and uncle. I can't imagine Miss Alice rejecting him."

"That's because he's an overachiever." Chris marched angrily into the kitchen to shut the stove just when the kettle whistled. "He literally comes uninvited and brings so many gifts that Alice couldn't care less for. If you'll excuse me, I need to serve 'English Breakfast Tea' to the two of them. Be back later."

If Chris and maybe Soon oppose Shadow pursuing Alice, then that could complicate his plans. "What do we do now?"

"I'd rather stay out of their sight and wait until Mister Shadow leaves. Can you help me get something from the cabinet in the meantime?"

"Of course."

After Chris poured tea and arranged the bakery treats on the coffee table, Shadow asked, "Since your aunt and uncle approve of me already, when do you think we can register for—"

"Shadow, I've been telling you so many times. I still need time."

"Oh." The suitor chewed his food slowly before proposing a recommendation. "Maybe we can go somewhere later this week when the weather is—"

"I'm sorry, but I'm feeling very well, and I still have some legal issues to deal—" A crash in the kitchen attracted everyone's attention. "What happened?!"

"Nothing to worry about! Shun was helping me find something!" Soon reassured. "I forgot to tell you! This is Shun, our new housekeeper! He just arrived earlier this morning."

You did not just call me a 'housekeeper'. Shun bowed at ninety degrees and greeted, "Good morning. Nice to meet—"

"That's amazing!" Shadow interrupted while breaking into a subtly sarcastic applause. "This is exactly what Aunt Clara and Uncle Ben wanted. You finally have some extra assistance around the house."

Alice stared at Shun briefly while sipping her tea, but sighed briefly before facing the coffee table.

She didn't say anything, Shun thought. Did I do something wrong? Or did Shadow blow our covers away with his 'overachiever' behavior?

"Anyway, I'm glad to see that you and your house staff are doing well, Alice." Shadow stood up and saluted to everyone else before snapping his fingers. "It was nice seeing all of you again. I'll be back next time."

"I'll walk you outside," Alice offered.

Shun kept his eyes on Shadow and approached the front door to watch Alice converse with her visitor briefly before she closed the gates on him. How did Alice and her family even meet Shadow? He's making this all too obvious and going too above and beyond for some unspecified inheritance.

"That was a pointless visit..." mumbled Chris as she cleaned up the coffee table.

Alice returned from sending her guest off and asked, "Chris, can you come with me upstairs? I need to you come on an errand with me later."

"On my way!"

Soon cleaned up the remainder of the mess and apologized to Shun. "Please don't take Miss Alice's behavior seriously. I suppose she didn't want to say much be you arrived around the same time as Mister Shadow. She's probably still confused. Just give her some time."

"I don't mind. I suppose I came uninvited as well."

"Don't say that! At least we knew you were coming to work here. Mister Shadow, on the other hand...is unpredictable. That's all. Let me show you the backyard."

"Sure." Not another house tour... I'll never find anything valuable here with Soon holding me back...

-x-x-x-x-x-

"We're back!" sang the blonde housemaid as she skipped down the stone path from the metal gate to the front door. "Alice, I'll drop off your bags in your room."

"That would be great."

Shun was lighting the lamp at the front door when he saw Alice, who was wearing white dress under the same gray raincoat from this morning. "Welcome back. Soon is preparing food in—"

"Care to walk and talk with me until dinner time?"

The raven-haired servant blanked out as the redhead tilted her head in anticipation. "Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Just help me carry these bags of supplies to the backyard. Follow me." Alice unlocked a small, rusty metal gate on the side of the house and then glanced at Shun. "You look so pale. Am I scaring you?"

"No...but maybe I wasn't expecting to meet you this way. Today was a mess." Shun touched his face and forehead with the back of his hand. "I'm probably not used to the persistent rainy weather. I swear, I'm fine."

"That's good. I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to talk to you earlier. Chris and I were gardening when you came, and Soon gave you a tour of the house without informing me. Then I heard Shadow's noisy car and had to greet him as soon as possible."

"Why so quickly? Is he impatient?"

"No, but it's best to not leave your guests waiting, although he comes here with the same intentions every day, anyway."

"So...what his is relationship to you?"

"Don't worry about that. My life is a mess, but I know what's best for me. Anyway, did Soon go over housekeeping details with you yet?"

"She did. Not much different from what I was expected or used to doing."

"That's good. My aunt and uncle insisted on hiring a male domestic worker ever since my grandfather died, but I think they're being outdated."

"Then why did you hire me if the final decision was your and not theirs?"

"I could use extra help around the house. Plus, I feel bad that you were laid off from Kagusa-chan's household."

I can't believe this entire residence still seriously believes this lie. "So...how would you like me to call you by? I've heard it differently between Soon and Chris."

"Just call me Alice. It'll be just the four of us here. No one will correct you if I don't."

"Thanks...Alice."

"Everyone, it's dinner time!" echoed Soon's voice.

Alice opened the small metal gate that bordered the backyard. "Perfect timing. You can leave the bags under the awning next to the garden shed. I'll find another dining chair so that we can all eat together, Shun. "

"I will." Now she actually calls me by my name. Otherwise...she's nicer than I thought. Shun then looked inside all the bags that they both carried. Everything in here is for gardening use. Is that obsessed? And if she's supposedly that rich, then why has she only had two servants working at home?

-x-x-x-x-x-

The next morning, Alice left her residence very early in the morning and waited on the sidewalk of the closest major street in town. "Chris, where are you?"

"I'm coming...!" The blonde housemaid finally caught up while carrying a heavy bag. "Should I be glad that I won't be accompany you or carrying this heavy bag? What do you have in here? Is this safe to bring with you onto public transportation?"

"Trust me, it's completely safe. Besides, I need you and Soon to clean the vicinity of the house since the rain from yesterday and last night made everything wet and soiled. Shun can go into the forest and maybe cut some logs for fire."

"But wouldn't the wood also be wet?"

"Which is why I need him to expose the dry core using the axe at home." Alice waved her hand as a man in a rickshaw pulled up. "There's my ride. You can go home now."

"Stay safe!" As soon as Alice and the rickshaw disappeared into the horizon, Chris returned home and reported everything that Alice ordered to Soon and Shun.

The raven-haired servant retrieved the axe from the garden shed and casually commented, "So many errands for her to run..."

"I'm surprised too," replied Soon. "Perhaps Miss Alice still isn't over Doctor Michael's death. People talk about the emotional and psychological distress, but almost never about the financial and legal distress. Just because you hear about someone's death doesn't mean they're truly gone from society."

"And I think you're overthinking, Soon." Chris elbowed her fellow colleague before dragging her to the garden shed. "We need to put away everything that Alice purchased yesterday."

I'd better cut some trees down to use as firewood before they both drive me crazy as well. After completing his primary task, Shun brought home loose firewood and placed most of it into the firewood shed. Chris peeked inside and asked, "Aren't you supposed to cut the wood into pieces to expose the dry core?"

"I'll do that if we're using the wood immediately. If I cut them open but not use them immediately, then the dry core will absorb moisture and become damp. I don't anticipate the weather to get any better."

"Ah, makes sense now. I haven't cut firewood in a long time. Alice has been doing it herself since her grandfather died."

"Oh...at least she has the physical strength to do that. I'll carry this stack of wood into the kitchen." Does Alice personally do some housework because she thinks that Chris and Soon can't handle it?

After replenishing the kitchen's supply of firewood, Shun proceeded with searching both floors of the mansion for any valuable items. I don't get it. Shadow said that Alice has a lot of money on hand and via the inheritance. There's nothing at home besides vases, paintings, tapestries, statues, clothing, and jewelry. Very little cash in the drawers and definitely no gold or silver.

He looked out of window from the second floor and saw Shadow's vintage car parked farther than usual compared to his first day of work. Alice isn't home yet, so why is Shadow here? But if he's parking in a distant secluded area, then that means he doesn't want to be seen?

Nevertheless, Shun returned to the first floor and exited the front gates without being seen by the other girls. "I know you're here somewhere."

"I'm surprised that you saw me." Shadow jumped out of the trees and spun his car keys around his index finger. "Did you find anything?"

"First of all, I could see you parked in this area from the second floor windows, so you're not being any more discrete than you were on my first day of work. Anyway, there are some expensive items at home, but not that much cash or any valuable metals. Alice isn't home right now, so she probably has her wallet with her."

"Good to know. Have you tried searching in her personal bedroom?"

"No, it's locked."

"Then how do you know about Alice's clothes and jewelry?"

"Did I say they belonged to Alice? Her room may be the locked, but Chris and Soon leave their doors open. But why did I even think that those two housemaids would have any valuable items to begin with? Shadow, I don't exactly know what I'm supposed to do."

"Just keep an eye out for anything valuable, which can be physical items like 'gold and silver' as you said, or abstract items like bank accounts or stocks. If Alice doesn't even know about her own inheritance, then I'm a total idiot!"

"You already are. Also, my job isn't any easier than yours since I have those two housemaids keeping their eyes on me."

"Don't worry about that! I'll split the earnings with you once we—"

"Please go home before Alice comes back. I'm leaving."

Upon returning to the mansion, Shun overheard the housemaids talking kitchen and walked past the living room silently. "Do you think Alice will let us come with her if she does get married?" asked Chris.

Soon stirred the pot of soup and sighed. "Usually, it's customary to accompany the lady to wherever her husband resides. That's what happened to Miss Kagusa's personal maid.

"What about the housemaids stay at the lady's maiden home?"

"They serve the heads of the household instead, which happened to be the lady's parents. I wouldn't trust leaving Miss Alice alone. Ever since Doctor Michael died, she hasn't been caring much for herself. Why didn't you stop her from compulsively buying gardening supplies?"

"Because she knows that I don't complain about it as much as you do, and therefore never brings you to run any errands."

"Ah...we know her too well at this point."

Shun signed and returned to his bedroom. How many more days will I last here?

Afternoon and evening passed, but Alice still hadn't returned yet. Chris stared at the front gate for the longest time before giving up. "I should never have let Alice gone alone. Either she's compulsively shopping again, or that she had an accident. Now I have goosebumps."

"Miss Alice did not have an accident!" Soon scolded. "One more word along those lines, and I'm not cooking your share of dinner."

"And you have goosebumps because you're wearing thin clothing in the cold wind," Shun lectured. "Just go back inside and help Soon with dinner, Chris. I'll stay here and watch."

"Are you sure? You'll get cold and hungry, too."

"I'm fine. I need to fix the damage outside the house caused by rain and wind."

Evening sunset progressed to moonlit night, but Alice still hadn't returned. This is perfect. Why did I insist on waiting for Alice to come back? I'm hungry and cold, and the weather damage still fully repaired.

Suddenly, a horse neighed as it came closer to the front metal gate. Shun unlocked the gate slowly with his frozen hands and greeted the redhead. "We've missed you all day—"

"Shun! You look paler than you were yesterday!" The heiress hopped off the horse carriage and touched her servant's forehead by surprise. "You're practically frozen!"

"I'm fine." Why is so easy to lie like that? "I don't mind. If I weren't waiting here, then Chris would've been here, and that wouldn't be any different."

"I'm so sorry to keep you waiting." Alice paid the carriage driver before he left and walked back home with Shun. "Where are they now?"

"They finished eating dinner an hour ago. I can reheat—"

"Did you eat yet? You can sit with me for dinner if you haven't."

"Uh...no thanks. I'm not hungry. Give me a moment to set up the table. Chris and Soon are also exhausted from unpacking your gardening supplies..."

Alice watching Shun walk back and forth between the dining table and kitchen. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself to get everything done...

"Did you say something?"

"Uh...oh! I still have my umbrella in my hands. Take your time!" The heiress hung her umbrella upside down on the front porch awning. She was about to close the front door when her hand felt numb. What's happening? I've been fine all—

"Alice?!" Shun dropped everything on the dining table and rushed over to catch the redhead before she hit the ground. "Alice, are you okay?!"

No response.