Amity and Enmity

Chapter 52

Lili thought for a moment. "You want me to join you?"

"Yeah, since you no longer have to guard the princess."

Lili winced, then eventually replied, "okay, sure." She thanked Oscar for the food and found Calanthe sitting alongside Betty, whose hair had just been recently styled.

They greeted Lili with confused and sympathetic smiles.

It seemed everyone in the camp regarded Lili with pitying looks. Word must have gotten out to everyone that Princess Alfreda had fired her servants.

"How is Mr-" Lili started, then paused. If she was no longer a royal guard, did that mean she no longer had to address everyone formally? "How is Calixte faring?" she asked Betty.

"He managed to eat a full meal today!" Betty smiled. "Won't be long before he's back to full health! Well, before he's back to the health he was. Poor thing! I hope that one day he can stay as his human self."

Calanthe nodded. "That long blonde hair of his is beautiful..." She froze, her eyes growing cold as she caught sight of something.

Lili turned and saw that Princess Alfreda had finally left her house and was the last to receive her dinner.

Oscar stiffened, his amiable smile disappearing and turning into indifference as he scooped her a portion, no words used between either of them.

The fire demon seemed to say 'thank you' and then quickly left and returned to her house.

Once he cleared away the serving area, Oscar joined Lili, Calanthe, and Betty with his own dinner.

Calanthe asked if he was alright, and Oscar quickly changed the subject to something more jovial.

Lili attempted to join in on the conversation with some help from Calanthe but was content to stay mostly quiet, listening as Betty told stories of previous prisoners who had attempted to take over their camp, as well as any exciting or amusing monster masks she had encountered.

After finishing her food, Lili placed her bowl ready to be cleaned by whoever was washing up, then paused, wondering what she should do next.

She had a strict schedule that she followed every day. For example, right now, she would ensure that the princess' room was prepared for the night and then guard it.

Everything she did revolved around the princess, and now that she was free...

She was free to do whatever she wanted.

But what did she want?

A new purpose?

A new job?

Or should she take Ivette's advice and do whatever she feels like?

What do you want, Lili?

Corinna approached and placed her finished bowl and cutlery in the washing-up pot. She gave Lili a questioning look as to why the woman had been in deep thought for so long.

Lili finally looked at her, a corner of her lip curled up mischievously. "It's been a stressful day; care to help alleviate that?"

*

After finishing his food, Oscar joined Rin in walking over to the Raining Marshes. He never really talked to Rin a lot, and on these journeys, he attempted to become better friends with her, but she turned out to be unsurprising, a lousy conversationalist, and Oscar soon ran out of new topics to talk about.

When they reached the border of the Raining Marshes, they remained on the dry forest side whilst waiting for Sumit. In the distance, they could see a large silhouette through the plummeting rain. Eventually, that shape got closer, and the Kraken hauled itself over.