"Did the lady always talk like that?" as soon as Avy left the garden, the other young gardeners came out of their hiding place, the bushes behind the old gardener stood. There were four of them listening to their conversation quietly since they were too afraid to face the lady.
"How would I know? I worked in this garden since the day I entered this Estate." Elias, one of the garden caretakers answered.
"You're amazing Sir Hanson. You didn't even stutter in front of her." another one named Lorry praised the old man as if he did a major thing that they can never do.
Sir Hanson chuckled softly. "Youngsters these days fear a child who's only lost from her path." He told them before going back to his work, leaving the four confused
"What does that mean?" asked the boy named Rowen
The other, Jerad shrugged and said. "Old people always talk old."
~~~
"I completely forgot about the appearance of the main characters. And I forgot about that bastard." it has been hours since she found out about the identity of the man with blue hair and it has been hours since she started recalling the characteristics of every single important person written in the novel for future purposes.
"Miss, where should I put these Romance novels?" she heard Mariel ask her, referring to stacks of books on the floor. Since she's not into those things, she ordered her maid to replace everything with books about Alchemy, Magic, and others about the world she was in, including the information about the Imperial Family and famous Clans and Houses throughout the Empire.
"You can take them." Avy answered, still focusing on the notebook on top of her desk. 'This girl spent her whole life burying her face on Romance books yet gets herself killed because of romance itself. How come she didn't learn anything from those books? Stupid.' she rolled her eyes and opened a book that she will use as a reference for her character recalling. Entitled, Pillars of the Empire.
"B-but Mi'lady. These books are expensive. It will only be wasted on a maid like me." Mariel said.
"By the way. Are lightning-type magicians immune to lightning?" she asked out of nowhere, ignoring the maid's statement about the books.
"Mages are only immune to their own magic, Miss. If it came from another, they are nothing more than normal people." Mariel replied.
"A pity. I was just thinking about befriending that boy and using him as a lab rat to test my electric-based ideas though." Avy mumbled, caressing her chin causing the maid to look at her with curiosity and confusion.
"Pardon...?" she tilted her head cluelessly
"Ah. Nevermind. I really have to start reading these books. I feel so stupid." Avy said, putting he attention back on her work.
"About the books..."
"Keep them or throw them. It's up to you." she started scribbling on the paper in front of her and a couple of minutes later, she returned her gaze on her maid.
"Do you know any place where I can buy these things?" she asked, showing a messy drawing of tools and materials that she needed.
"I know a place. But I heard it closed because of the incident in the forest this morning, the owner got involved in the chaos. I will just ask the other servants, My lady." said Mariel that piqued Avy's curiosity.
"Incident?"
"Oh! I was going to tell you after getting the books but you seemed busy with something." the Maid reasoned, referring to Avy's continuous mumbling earlier. "I heard from another maid that a beast Man wreaked havoc in the forest and almost killed the hunters in the area. The hunters are just low-class Mages so all of them got injured so bad before they killed the Beast Man, it was a relief that a miraculous girl appeared out of nowhere and healed them all in a matter of seconds." she narrated.
Avy narrowed her eyes by the mention of the word healing for it is the biggest asset of the protagonist of the novel she was in.
"A miraculous girl?" that last statement was enough for Avy to be eager to hear more from her maid.
"Yes, Miss. They say it was a lady with platinum blonde hair and eyes the color of the green forest during the day. Rumors spread that she rivals the healing power of the Imperial Palace's best Healing Mage or even better." Mariel was about to take the paper from her Mistress' hand when Avy took it out of her reach.
"I guess I will be buying these things on my own." She said, erasing the excited expression that was on Mariel's face while talking about the said miraculous girl that healed countless hunters like a goddess.
"B-but my lady! You just got into an accident not too long ago, the Duke won't allow you to go out." Mariel protested but Avy only looked at her with mischievous eyes and spoke.
"Who says I will ask for permission?"
~~~~
"At least take me with you, Miss! You might get hurt outside!" Mariel begged as her mistress stood in front of the estate's wall, wearing simple clothes underneath a black hooded cloak.
"Who will make excuses for me if we both go outside?" Avy told her, studying the map that she acquired from her personal maid who also happened to know how to sneak out of the estate without going through the gates.
"Th-then I should go, Mi'lady. It's really dangerous, even if you wear a cloak that hides your presence from the animals in the forest. Why do you have to go personally?"
"I have to check something."
'I need to. Before he gets a hold of that thing and uses it against me.'
The book was found in a cave, next to the remains of a beast child.
'Is what's written in the novel. Even though Marie said it was a beast-man, I need to make sure.'
"Do you have enough money with you?"
"Two bags of gold coins with fifty pieces each can even buy me a house."
"Handkerchief?"
"You stuffed it inside my bag, I saw you."
"I put a small first aid kit with alcohol for sanitizing wounds and bandages if you ever get wounded. Don't walk in shady places where you can't ask for help, do you understand My lady?" Mariel said worriedly.
"I understand. I'll be going now."
"Please take this with you." the maid handed her another small bag, she took it and looked inside only to find a wooden lunch box.
"It's the lunch that the Chef prepared, I put it inside a box so it'll be more convenient to carry." Mariel stated.
"Thanks, Marie. I owe you. Wait for me in my room." Avy tapped her shoulder and faced the wall, she moved the bushes aside which revealed a small hole where a grown person can crawl through.
Since the Arkwright Family has its own Knights and Order, the estate was once a place where aspiring knights train. And those knights use the secret passage to sneak out every break time to wander around the town. Ever since the knights' headquarters was moved to another estate owned by the Family, the passage became a secret that was passed from one servant to another.
Once she was out of the estate, trees and bushes greeted her, no signs of animals around, probably because the Ducal servants cleared the surrounding areas for the safety of everyone inside the estate walls. She then looked at the map in her hand to decide which direction she will be going.
"I hate traveling. Really. I hate it." she mumbled under her breath and continued on her way.
~~~
"I received a message from His Majesty that you will be staying here until the Summit." Ciel greeted the second Prince who just got out of the Carriage he rode to get to the Arkwright's Estate. Since his Father and Elder brother was not present at the moment, and he doesn't want to trouble his sister for 'unimportant matters' as he calls it, he was obliged to receive the Prince on his own.
"I don't really want to stay with you and your sister but it's better than seeing old people every day for weeks." the young Prince said nonchalantly. Although it was just a simple statement, Ciel couldn't help but take it as an insult.
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm only agreeing to this per His Majesty's orders." He replied.
The servants were already accustomed to them going after each other's throats and trading barbs whenever they are in the same room. And since both of them have prideful attitudes, only a handful of people can stop their quarrels, for now, no one is capable of doing such.
"Young Master, the Lunch is already prepared." a butler told Ciel to change the heavy atmosphere caused by the pressuring glares that the two youngsters are giving each other.
"We'll be there." He said and entered the Mansion with the Prince.
He was silently walking to the dining hall when he saw his Sister's Personal Maid from afar, a thought crossed his mind.
He approached the Maid and spoke. "Where's sister?"
"Y-young Master. The Lady is inside her room." Mariel answered, looking down.
"Then I'll go invite her to eat." he was about to walk to the stairs when Mariel interrupted.
"Th-the lady said she doesn't want to be disturbed. A-and she has already eaten her meal earlier." she stuttered, unable to lie smoothly.
Ciel seemed to be disappointed but nevertheless, composed himself. "You may go."
'She's coming back to her old self, that's all.' he tried to comfort himself.
"What are you standing there for, Arkwright? Are you sick or something?" the arrogant voice of the Prince snapped him back to reality.
"I'm not." He said and continued walking.
The Prince just looked at him as if he was a strange creature as he followed behind.
~~~
"That's it... I-... I'm done..." Avy said as she let herself fall down on the ground, leaning on a tree as she catch her breath.
Even in her past life, she's not really into physical activities since all she does all day is sit inside her room either programming or fiddling on scraps she gets. The only reason that she keeps her body in shape is that her crazy Uncle is a Martial Arts enthusiast who gives her the materials she wants and uses them to make her practice martial arts with his students, which she never liked in every way. But since those things are very hard to find, she never refused.
"I've been walking for two straight hours even after taking the shortcut that Marie told me." She complained.
Since she wants to go check if there was a cave in the forest and early as possible, she decided to buy the things she needed after doing so.
"But it's strange. I haven't seen any animals around. Isn't this supposed to be a forest?" she looked around and saw nothing but trees and plants all over the place.
She was quietly resting her head when she suddenly sensed something. Something like a presence of a living creature.
"What was that?" she stood up in guard.
It was such a foreign feeling as if she knew someone was nearby, but with a much stronger presence, unlike normal people.
Out of curiosity, she started moving, following the presence that was bugging her when she came across a part of the forest that looks much brighter than the other. Some of the trees are flawless, but for some reason, she found the air in that place quite unpleasant.
She kept on moving, walking to where the presence is stronger.
Until she saw a cave.
"I'm pretty sure it was coming inside that cave." She stated and held the dagger Marie gave her in case she needs to defend herself from wild animals.
"Nope. It's dark. I need light." she scanned the surroundings to find anything that she can use to make anything that will give her light to go inside the cave.
She gathered branches and dried leaves and cleared a spot to start making fire. Creating friction to make heat is the fastest way she knows without using any kind of thing aside from tree branches and leaves.
It took her a while until she successfully created a fire large enough to consume the other branches so that it will last long.
She then took a much thicker branch before taking out the alcohol and bandages inside her bag. By neatly wrapping the bandages at the end of the thick branch and soaking it with a generous amount of alcohol, she finally finished making a torch.
"Now light up." She said and stick the end of the branch in the fire she created and as expected, it was a success.
She looked at the entrance of the cave and took a deep breath before entering. As she went deeper and deeper, she felt the presence getting stronger until she heard something, supporting her guess that there was something inside.
"Urgghh..." it was like someone in pain.
"The fuck is that?" she felt chills down her spine as she went deeper into the cave.
"Is that... fire?" she squinted her eyes at the small light that was visible on a wall from afar.
"If it can create fire, it's probably a person." She said out loud and walked faster until she reached her destination.
"HOLY-"