Meretrix had no reason other than her own fastidiousness driving her decision to re-check the castle's account books. Soon after she arrived at the castle, after meeting the housekeeper and getting a breif tour she had a servant direct her to the records room and made camp there. She had a nest of blankets and pillows in a corner, her meals brought to her so she wouldn't have to remember to eat and the few times Jacie, the servant the housekeeper sent to watch over her, managed to get her to her room she would smuggle a few of the account books along with her and stay up late reviewing them.
-and obsessively checking them.
-and rewriting them.
She wouldn't have been surprised if the rest of the castle's staff thought she was a figment of their imagination. That was fine with her, she didn't want to become a central figure at the castle. She was content to do the job Lord Yuri hired her to do - managing the castle's finances. She another servant, not some noble lady or an ornament to make the castle that much prettier.
Once the castle's book were all thoroughly checked and rewritten, she decided she didn't like the way they were organized, took them all out again and set to putting them back the way she wanted. It was in the middle of her re-arrangement of the records room when the regent arrived. He knew that she'd gone on ahead to get things in order, so he wouldn't need to see her unless he needed to know something about the books.
The morning he arrived, she woke up in her room draped over the most recent book she was preparing for tracking Yuri's funds. Most importantly, she was pale, milk pale with light blond hair and eyes that were only the barest hint of blue. The castle staff had seen her arrive in full colour - with robustly coloured skin, dark brown hair and china blue eyes, someone would notice that she'd faded. Jacie definitely and perhaps the housekeeper. She couldn't let herself go like she used to.
First the nightdress went. Then a few skirts she brought along for this purpose alone. She tore a few strips from a blouse that still had a bit of faded colour left in it and bit experimently into the heavy cloth of her corset. A few ragged tears in another skirt brought her close to her usual appearance - enough that would hopefully fool those that she interacted with everyday. It exhausted her - strangely, sapping the desire to work even as it reinvigorated her. Maybe it was time for a break, she'd been working steadily at the account books for nearly a month.
A break it was. She didn't want to harass the regent, he was probably as busy as she was when she first arrived. Maybe she could just wander the castle, get to know her old surroundings. Yes, that would be pleasant.
She released her hair from the severe braided updo she'd affected since her arrival and piled it into a simple half up and half down style with a couple free peices to frame her face. A touch of kohl on her eyes, a bit of paint on her lips a dusting of sparkle on her bare shoulders and between her breasts. Threw on the torn blouse, the corset she'd bitten and layered several of her more tattered skirts that still had the palest hints of colour, different colours so they would shift and sway as she moved. Then came her usual boots, the knee boots in the Connlaothian style that were in a noticeable better condition than the rest of her clothing. She perched a clip shaped like a butterfly in her hair and checked her nails before walking out the door.
It was still early morning, only a few servants were awake and about at this time, but she felt that she didn't need them. All she wanted to was wander around. There had to be a garden somewhere on the castle grounds. Meretrix was always fond of flowers, for their beauty, and no one would think she had ulterior motives if she went plucking flowers - which sometimes she did, but more than often wanted to press and keep them.
She walked slowly through the corridors, noting what was where and what places they lead to. Architecture had it's own patterns like mathmatics, once she found a specific room, like the kitchens or a dining hall she'd have a better idea of where she was in the castle.
