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Custom Maid (Collector of Rarities x Nobodysangel)

She kept her temper carefully in check as he brought up the subject of her apparent spinsterhood. "Yes Master, I'm quite aware why I am unmarried. I am not a flirt. I never have been. It would be unthinkably foolish for me to pretend to be something that I'm not and have someone express interest in me under false pretenses. Even if I did pretend to be that sort of girl, I wouldn't be that girl, not truly. They would court and marry me and find themselves miserable with a very different sort of woman than they were expecting." She raised her chin proudly. "I am plain and boring and if you wish to say I am lacking in personality, but it is who I am. You want me to become something different, it would still be a lie in the end. You are essentially wanting to teach me to be a superb liar, Master Marlowe. If that is what you want then so be it, but you cannot put a peacock's tail on a duck and expect it to turn into a peacock, or for anyone who's ever seen a peacock to be fooled."

The comment about backbone stung, and it showed in the dull red flush that rose in her cheeks and the stubborn little set of her mouth. "I have backbone. And I can be obedient. What I cannot be is something other than what I am. You chose me because, as you stated, I lack any misconception about my place in this house, and because I have no aspirations of rising above my position. However, you wish me to put on airs, to act like those girls. I am an admittedly ignorant woman, but perhaps turning me into those other girls would make me more into them than you wish. If you want to start a new fashion, you should not choose a girl that you don't already have something you admire in them. If I have to change everything about myself to be a suitable pet to you, why would you ever think that a girl like me would start any sort of new fashion? Making an Imperial girl all the rage? Well and good, Master Marlowe, if that's the sort of thing that interests you. But perhaps you should choose an Imperial girl that acts or thinks more like the Colonial girls you've apparently grown so tired of, since that's what you're apparently wanting out of me." She would have been more circumspect in her words, but if he was going to speak so forthrightly to her, she would respond in kind. He could accuse her of many things, but having no backbone was one thing she would not allow to be said about her.
 
Alexander frowned, then grabbed Mairead by the wrist and sat back down on the bed, yanking her arm so that she fell across his lap as he did so. He let go of her wrist as she fell, placing his arm with his elbow resting between her shoulder blades and his forearm lying along her spine to hold her in place while he brought his other hand down on her bare ass. He spanked her several times until her asscheeks turned bright red and burned with pain.

"It is foolishness, not backbone, that allows you to stand up to me," he said once he was done spanking her. "It wasn't so long ago that all of you saw what I did to Tabitha. Angering me could put you in her place or in an equally unpleasant position. And if I deigned to end your punishment, you'd never be able to find work again, let alone a man who'd be willing to marry you. Your looks will not save you from me; as lovely of a specimen as you are, I can find someone to fill your shoes within the hour. It would be a waste to ruin someone as lovely as you, but I will do it if I have to. Now, if you're quite done being a spoiled little child, I'd like for you to listen.

"What I want is for you to become extroverted. You are a quiet, timid little thing that everyone overlooks thanks to you putting yourself out of the way and your frumpy attire. If you continue to live your life that way, you will continue to be alone until the day you die. This is a fate I would rather spare you; it is not deceit to make yourself more sociable. It is not a lie to learn how to present yourself in public: it is training. Were you not trained how to perform your duties in the lower house when you were first hired? Would you call your work up until now a lie?"
 
She yelped in surprise as her wrist was grabbed and she was pulled across his lap, his forearm surprisingly strong as it held her in place. She'd always wondered if noblemen were weak from having no hard work to do; between him lifting her up into his lap before and his ability to hold her down as she thrashed easily, it would appear that they weren't as weak as she'd have expected him to be. And thrash she did, crying out in indignation and pain as his hand came down on her ass again and again. By the time it was over with, her cheeks were reddened and hot from the spanking, her face tight and her eyes wet from the pain. But he was speaking again, and it was confusing. He thought she was under some assumption that her looks would save her? The confusion on her face was evident as she listened to him speak.

Extroverted? She had no idea how to speak with other people! Was he going to teach her how to be a fine lady and hold conversations with other people of high status? Was he going to teach her how to unknot her tongue and manage to get out more than quick, many-times practiced sentences about dinner being ready or things like that? When she spoke out of turn, she either lost her temper because she had been provoked (which he seemed uncommonly good at) or she stammered out of fear and nervousness and pure, unreasonable awkwardness. She looked down, closing her eyes tight to keep any tears from escaping. "I...I was t-t-t-trained, Ma-ma-Master Marlowe. B-but sc-scrubbing pots and...and washing fl-floors were things I...I had al-always done. Things I ha-had grown up doing. Th-this is d-d-different." She managed to get out, her anger replaced by fear and embarrassment and the uncomfortable, burning sensation in her backside. It was easier when she'd practiced, or when she was too angry for her tongue to become tripped up. But once she started, the humiliation of being unable to even speak simple words without her tongue tumbling over itself just made it that much worse with every stuttered word.
 
A soft smile spread across Alexanders face as he listened to Mairead stutter. He had to admit, she was cute when she stuttered. Perhaps that was something he could use to his advantage when presenting her publicly. He decided to take a kinder tone with her now that she'd been punished.

"The difference, my dear, is that this isn't a chore," he explained, his voice taking on a warm tone. "You aren't simply carrying out a practiced task. Think of us more as performers competing with other performers. Our goal is to come out looking the best after every gathering we attend. It's a game, really; we put on our little show, everyone else puts on theirs. It's quite enjoyable once you learn how to play. Of course, I'll have to modify my act a bit to accommodate you, just like I had to modify my act to accommodate Tabitha after I dismissed Rochelle. I'm not just teaching you how to behave for me, I'm also learning how to adapt to your quirks as well. That stutter of yours, for example: I'm not sure that I want to get rid of it. I think that we might be able to go for a blushing beauty look for you. You have an air of innocence about you that I think many would find alluring. Besides, the stutter is cute, and cute can be a rather powerful tool if used correctly."
 
She lowered her head, listening to him as he explained, sounding far less angry with her than he had before. She had always been a very reserved, circumspect young woman, always careful to present a respectful, well brought up young woman who knew her place and behaved as a young woman ought to. To become a performer...it was a bit fearful for her. "A...a performer, Master? Like the...the jugglers and gymnasts in the carnivals?" She was to put on a show then? "I've never...I've never been v-very good in front of other people. I get nervous and...and I can't sp-speak properly." She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself enough to stop stuttering. "It's wh-why I always asked other girls to...to trade with me when I w-was scheduled to work at your parties, Master." Her fingers knotted as she swallowed hard, forcing herself to speak in a more singsong voice to allow the rhythm to help her keep from stuttering. "I don't wish at all to disappoint, or make others view you badly...I fear it'd take more time and work, to train me for this properly."

The fact that he stated that her stutter was cute, and that her lack of understanding and naivete about this situation was alluring surprised her. Wouldn't a man prefer a woman who already understood how such things worked, who already knew what to do to please him? Wouldn't it be a terribly boring waste of time to train someone so utterly ignorant in such things? And when she failed to meet his standards, failed to bring him the expected accolades and envy of the other members of genteel society... "Pl...please don't dismiss me if...if I can't do it. Or if I'm displeasing. I don't...m-my family needs me, they need th-the money I send home." She didn't want to beg, didn't want to sound so pathetic but the thought that she would displease him, that she would end up in the stocks like Tabitha, disgraced and destitute while her family starved, made fear well up in her belly like ice, and it was a terrifying cap to all of the other terrifying, confusing, somewhat painful in the case of the spanking, day she'd had so far. Her first day as his new attendant was certainly not going very well at all.
 
"More like an actor on a stage," said Alexander. "I will teach you to play a role and you will learn it: simple as that. Our stages will be ballrooms and parties and our audience will be the aristocracy and nobility of England. And I do not think that I will find you displeasing, nor will our audience. You see, everyone has a willing whore who will gladly do anything to please their master or mistress; what no one's had in quite some time is a shy little wallflower who squirms and stutters when she's uncomfortable. It's alright for you to be reluctant, but not disobedient. Do you think you can do that for me?"

He smiled and gently stroked her hair as she laid out her fears for him. "I've already told you: you will not be severely punished for failure, just disobedience," he explained. "There may be a small punishment to motivate you to try harder next time if you fail, but you will only feel my wrath if you blatantly disobey me. If it turns out that we are not a good fit for one and other, I will have you returned to your old job. However, if I discover that you're intentionally sabotaging yourself, and me by extension, to get your old job back, there will be consequences."
 
She closed her eyes, feeling herself calm slightly bit by bit as he stroked her hair and reassured her. As long as she tried her best, worked hard...even if it wasn't good enough, even if she wasn't suitable to him...he wouldn't dismiss her. She would do her best for him in exchange. Still, the idea of being punished made her worry slightly; would it be like before, when he spanked her? Or would it be something worse? She swallowed hard and nodded. "I...I'll do my best. I can't..promise to obey everything; I don't know exactly what will be asked of me." She swallowed hard and looked away. "I've...I've heard stories of what some nobles want to see and do in those situations. I will have to trust you, and I do, Master. I just don't know how to do any of the things that you will want me to do. S-so, please be patient with me. I will do my best for you."

It sounded so strange, so final, to promise such a thing to him, especially considering what she was going to be doing for him. She wasn't foolish. Even a lower house maid like her knew the sorts of things that Tabitha, and before her, Rochelle, and before her, the other women that had been by their Master's side and shared his bed, had to do. She had seen some things, things that confused her, frightened her...but sometimes even intrigued her and that strange, twisting feeling in the pit of her stomach, though long since pushed down and vehemently denied, had been intense and strange enough to be remembered. It worried her to think that perhaps there must be something wrong with her, that perhaps she was in some way perverse for not viewing all of the things she had seen as repellent and sickening. Nobles were wicked and depraved, she'd been told as a young girl coming to work in the house the first time. And she wondered if perhaps she was wicked and depraved as well for reacting to some (not all but some) of the things she had seen in such a heated, longing manner. Well, for that, time would tell.
 
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