The butler handed some documents to Alaric.
"This is information on the new applicants. I have already checked them earlier, but I found nothing suspicious." Lucas spoke after wiping off the grease on his lips with a napkin.
Alaric nodded and took a quick scan of the portraits of the applicants.
His hand suddenly stopped when he saw a familiar face.
Drawn on the paper was the image of a woman in her early twenties. She wore a joyous smile, the kind that would make everyone feel at ease. She didn't have an impressive beauty and she had these freckles on her nose that made her look innocent and cute.
Alaric struggled hard to calm his emotions.
He would never forget this face for this was the very person who had poisoned his father in his past life.
"What is it? Did you find someone suspicious?" Lucas raised an eyebrow when he sensed the sudden change in his expression
Alaric put down the documents and squeezed out a smile. "It's nothing."
He stood up and bowed his head to the baron.
"I should go to the guest hall. We can't let all those people wait."
He felt that Alaric was hiding something from him, but he decided to trust his son.
Lucas waved his hand. "Let me know if you discover something suspicious."
Alaric nodded and left with Elena.
On their way to the guest hall, Elena asked.
"My lord, why are we hiring a new maid for the baron?"
Alaric felt that it was about time to tell her the truth.
He shook his head. "We are not."
"This is just a trap we set up to lure the traitor of the family." He muttered in a cold voice.
Elena gasped in shock. A traitor?!
She felt that this matter was too big so she didn't dare inquire further. I heard them talk about Sir Charles on most occasions. Is he the traitor? There's no way, right?
She was scared of her own thoughts.
A moment later, they arrived at the guest hall where dozens of women of varying ages had gathered.
Upon their arrival, the women quickly spotted them and they all stood up in unison.
"Greetings, Lord Alaric!" Most of them were experienced servants so they were familiar with noble etiquette. There were also a few who just followed the others.
Looking at these women, Alaric felt a bit apologetic. All of them were hoping to get the vacant position, but they were destined to be disappointed.
He smiled as he scanned their faces one by one. "Thank you for coming here. Today, we will select one of you to serve as the baron's maidservant, but please be informed that the selection process will be strict." He paused to give them some time to comprehend his words.
"Only the best one among you will be chosen for the job. I know this may sound unfair, especially to some of you who came from afar. For those who will fail the assessment, please don't give up. There are plenty of opportunities out there. A single…"
Alaric gave a short speech for formality's sake.
While he was speaking to the audience, he finally found the woman sent by Charles. She has an ordinary face so it was difficult to pinpoint her from the crowd.
I don't sense mana from her, but her physique is more well-defined compared to the rest.
She is probably trained in martial arts.
"Please follow me outside. The assessment will begin shortly." Although the evaluation was only for show, it had to be done systematically to prevent the target from becoming suspicious.
On their way out of the main building, Alaric asked Elena some questions.
"Elena, what should be the most important thing to take note of when serving your lord?"
"Hmm… The first thing to consider is the lord's mood. As servants, we must be prepared to…"
"How about this… What should be done…"
"That's easy… We just need to…"
Alaric already had an idea of how the assessment would be conducted, but hearing Elena's opinion was important since she had a long working experience despite her young age.
Her response gave him some ideas which he would add to the assessment process.
There were a lot of applicants so Alaric brought them to an open space next to the main mansion.
"Everyone, may I have your attention please?" Alaric raised his hand, signaling the applicants to keep quiet.
The women stared at him and perked their ears.
"For the first part of the assessment, I will be interviewing you one by one. I will only ask you simple questions so there's no need to be nervous. Alright, let's begin with you." Alaric pointed at someone randomly.
Alaric interviewed them one by one. At first, everyone was extremely nervous, but when they realized that he was only asking them some simple questions, they became less nervous.
Soon, it was finally the target's turn to be interviewed.
"What's your name?" Alaric stared at her with a smile.
"My name is Pamela, my lord." The woman responded confidently.
"My parents grew up in Vale, but I left the city and came here to seek my own opportunities. I don't want to rely on them. They are growing older so I want to earn some money and help them with the finances." She responded with a sigh.
She's a good actress. If I didn't know anything about her, I would have believed her words.
Alaric scoffed in his heart, but he pretended to sympathize with her experience. "I admire your courage to venture outside your comfort zone. Your parents must be happy to have you as their daughter."
Pamela smiled shyly. "Thank you for your kind words, my lord."
"Are you ready for the next questions?"
The interview continued and Pamela managed to answer everything without stuttering.
"That's all I need to know. Thank you." Alaric stared deeply at her.