Trouvaille | Technoblade x Reader

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Working for Lady Nihachu was not what you had thought it would be.

You had imagined a life of intrigue and passion as a maidservant to a Lady of the Southern Kingdom. In your head, stories of magical adventures and court mysteries had swirled together in an intricate painting of assumption, but reality was much more boring.

As of today, you were officially six months into your position, and you still knew or saw nothing more of the outside world than what you already had known. There were no trips to the walled borders in the north and no desperate fleeing to the sea with a message to Lady Nihachu's long lost lover in hand.

Mainly, Lady Nihachu dealt with the same petty squabbles of your hometown that always arose, and she dealt with money. Lots of money. Mostly taxes, in fact.

You weren't even sure why she was here. She was a bright and lovely young woman, and you quite honestly thought that her talents would be better used in a large city that would appreciate her cunning and compassion. Nonetheless, she resided in the largest home in Actium just beyond the somewhat dingy marketplace.

As you passed by the unopened stalls, you found yourself shivering and drawing your cloak closer to your body. The sun hadn't so much as peaked over the horizon yet, so the chill from the autumn air hadn't had a chance to dissipate.

When you breathed out, warm air tumbled from your mouth into a swirling cloud of fog. You felt that it added nicely to the nearly haunted atmosphere of the empty market. A ghost could jump out any minute, or worse: a thief.

You clenched your hands around your baskets protectively as you cautiously watched the shadows. Being a follower of the Goddess of Death, you were all too aware of the danger that occasionally lurked around the corner.

As you approached the back of Lady Nihachu's residence, your steps slowed.

Relief settled on your shoulders like a blanket as the warm air of the already bustling kitchen greeted you. Men and women scurried around, some bumping into each other with a huff, others hurrying to their daily tasks without so much as a cursory greeting in anyone's direction.

You quickly made yourself useful. Your baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables immediately were whisked away, and you busied yourself with hanging up your cloak and tying your apron.

"Y/N," a familiar voice yelled. "Get your ass up here! We got tables to clean!"

You smiled and rolled your eyes in the direction of Raja. Her skin wrinkled around her eyes and mouth as she grinned, and you happily skirted around the busy bodies to grab your bucket of supplies from the closet adjacent to the oven.

A servant brushed by you as you climbed your way up the stairs to where Raja was waiting, and you felt the person you had accidentally touched flinch back. You ignored how their fear made your chest sink and focused on Raja.

She took a moment to quickly lift her white hair into a somewhat presentable bun as you approached, and then the two of you set off.

The Lady's manor had amazed you at first. It seemed like something out of a fairytale with its high ceilings and glistening, colorful windows. As you got to know the place, though, you began to understand that it was more of a meeting place than an actual home.

There were more rooms left unoccupied than were filled, even when Lady Nihachu had guests. Two rooms featured large wooden tables with intricate designs - the dining room and meeting hall - and you and Raja were in charge of cleaning them whenever important guests were about to arrive. At first, the intricate depictions of bloody wars and prosperous communities were beautiful, but the second you had to clean between the crevices, they became more of a nuisance than anything else.