It's been five days since I've been attacked by the person who tried to kill me. The past two days I've been looking over the history of magic curriculum, deciding what I will want to be changing. I'm currently hunched over my rather large circular desk where I can keep more textbooks open. It's late in the day, dinner has ended when a knock on my door interrupts me.
I walk over to the door and see Sir Elliot standing in front of me. "Master Solon, someone is here to see you. He says he's your uh... best friend. Should I send him away?"
I narrow my eyes, only knowing one person who would refer to himself that way. "No, let him in. He's allowed to come in this room, thank you."
There's only one reason why Francis would be here at this late hour... he has news on Milo. I take a deep breath, walking towards my desk. I look at the empty fireplace. I snap my fingers and fire lights up the space, making the room warmer in the cool evening summer. I watch the flames until a knock and the opening of the door grabs my attention. I turn around and see two people enter my study- Francis and Sir Pine.
Francis lets out a whistle as he looks around the room. Sir Pine silently glances around my study. I know my study is big and it's impressive which makes sense for my title. "Gentlemen, it's a surprise to see you both. Sir Pine, I thought you would be in the North by now. I remember asking for evidence on the-"
"I have it." Sir Pine takes off his hood and reveals a memory orb hiding in his cloak. He has it in his hands, and slowly walks to me.
I nod, surprised to see him have it so quickly. How was he able to buy a memory orb, an orb that is very expensive? How was he able to go to the northern point of our country, cross the border into no- man zone, get video of the cave and return in... 5 days? It's almost impossible. I was expecting him to return in two weeks minimum.
"That's great. Please hand it to me." I extend my hand, inviting for both of the men to meet me in the middle. I walk forward for a bit and then Francis throws his hands around me. He holds me tightly, not giving me room to separate.
"Giselle!" He presses his cheek against mine. "You have no idea how scared I was when I heard you were attacked."
I look over Francis' shoulder to make eye contact with Sir Pine. I mouth out a help due to Francis squeezing me tightly to the point where I can't tell him to get off of me. Luckily, Sir Pine knows how to read lips so he pulls our friend off of me. I sigh with relief, rolling my shoulders back.
"God Francis!" I exclaim, my right shoulder suddenly cramping from his strength. "I was getting better until you almost crushed me to death."
"I'm sorry," Francis shrugs Sir Pine off of him. "I'm just too worried about you." Francis steps forward and grabs my cheeks. He moves my head around which I allow him to see the fading scars. They look a lot better with the potions that my coworker has given me. He's told me that they should fade and I will have no scarring.
"See, I'm still alive. It'll be hard to kill me," I mutter out the truth. Francis peers into my green eyes with his light brown ones and then huffs.
"You're not allowed to visit me anymore. I'll come to you." Francis orders me and I nod my head, happy to hear that he is worried over my safety. It's kind of weird to hear, but sweet at the same time. I walk around the friendly pest and walk to Sir Pine.
"Sir Pine, I owe you my life. Please give me the memory orb so I can save yours. Please have a seat." I gesture to the round table where my many textbooks lay open.
The Northern soldier steps forward and I notice the same gaze that Francis has as he makes sure I'm okay. "Lady Solon-"
"Master. Master Solon." I interrupt him.
"Master Solon," He corrects himself as he clears his throat. He doesn't make eye contact with me, settling on the scar on my neck. "I'm relieved to see you better than that unfortunate day." He carefully places the orb in my hand and walks away.
My eyes track him. Wouldn't a normal savior want to know more about the damsel in distress they rescued? Well... who am I to know what normal social expectations are? I look away from him and turn to Francis who has a smug look in his face. I narrow my eyes and choose to ignore the weird face of his.
"Francis," I scratch my neck and lower my voice to a whisper. "What have you found out?"
"Well," Francis drops his voice to a whisper, coming to speak in my ear. "Last I heard he crossed the Bulnaran border."
"Bulnaran?" I question, not knowing why Milo is there or who he's looking for. If I remember correctly, Catherina didn't come from there, so why is he there? Who is the 'her' he's looking for? Why won't he return?
"I can send some men to go after him, but when crossing a border my prices increase a-"
"Money isn't an issue. Please bring him back quickly no matter what. Even if they have to tie him down... I need to speak to him." I urge. Francis nods and looks over my shoulder.
"Have you researched for my friend? I'm rather worried."
"I'll need to research the memory orb. This is old, old, old ancient magic. It's going to take some time, but I'm the best." I smile, not sure if it looks confident or not.
I make my way to my center table as the knight takes a seat around the round table. I carefully put my crystal globe away and transfer the clear orbs so that the memory orb is placed in a way that I can access its memories. I then look at Sir Pine, staring him down until he awkwardly looks at me.
"So... how did you manage to get the money for a memory orb and make it across the northern border and back all within a week? How much money do you have?" I ask, trying to guess who he truly is. "Take off both gloves and let me see your hands."
Sir Pine does what I instruct him and his hands are now free save for the enchanted bracelet. "I don't have much, but the Duke said he will cover the costs as long as I live."
I hum, nodding my head. It does make sense for the Duke to pay for the curse he forced Sir Pine onto. I take his hand and examine it. So far, it hasn't gotten bigger and it's roughly the same shape.
I take the other hand when Francis comes behind me. "Have you ever met the Duke?"
"No." I turn his palm over and I'm relieved to see his usual, normal skin color. The curse has not yet progressed.
"I'm sure Sir Pine can say what he wants about the ever secretive Duke. I hear he's in the Capital and has gained attention amongst a certain... female population. You're female- " Francis asks, voice humorous.
I let go of the knight's hand and cross my arms when I face Francis, effectively cutting him off with a glare. "I just said I've never met him, so how can I fancy him? Besides I don't care to know about him." I shrug my shoulders and squeeze between the men to sit on the chair to look at the orb.
I touch it and a memory pops up like a live painting that shows information in real time. I study it, taking out paper and quill I have around. I narrow my eyes, reaching into the orb and moving the memory around as much as I can to see exactly where this cave is.
"Why do you not want to know him? I hear he's attractive... underneath that scar of course." Francis sighs. I pause and roll my eyes, getting annoyed that my job and focus is being interrupted.
"Francis," I look over my shoulder to look at my friend who looks pleased with himself. "If you fancy him, why don't you try to get his attention?"
My dear friend laughs and looks over to Sir Pine who also looks annoyed. "Nah, he's not my type. I think he's kinda ugly." Francis chuckles which makes Sir Pine frown.
"What kind of books are these?" Sir Pine cleared his throat before speaking, effectively changing conversation. I look around to see what Sir Pine is looking at. He has walked over to one of my many bookcases and stares at the ground where textbooks are piled up.
I pause the memory. "They're Magic history books. I'll be teaching this year so I'm preparing."
"Teaching?" Francis hums. "I didn't know Masters at the Academy taught."
I swallow some dry spit. "They normally don't. I miss academia so I decided to teach. Is that so wrong?"
"Will you even be able to save my life?" Sir Pine speaks up from my bookcase. I look to see he's turned towards me with anger in his voice. "I'm sure you have duties here as the lady of the house, even more duties as a Master Mage, now you're a teacher? I'm not-"
"I have all of those titles, but I have many more people I command to make sure they do the work for me. My days tend to be going over reports and signing off on things. I won't be conducting any research which is how I usually spent my days, which are now going to be dedicated to you." I ease his worries with a stern voice. He doesn't say anything for a while and I take that as a cue that he's done.
I resume looking at the video and pause it when I see some pictographs. I instantly start copying them into paper. I frown, not recognizing any of the symbols. Nonetheless, I perfectly copy it into print.
"Oh," I warn. "You can walk around my study but do not go over there," I point to the alcove behind me. "Anything you touch in there will curse you, curse you some more or can kill you."
"The fuck? Why do you have dangerous things in here?" Francis shrieks, wrapping his arms around himself.
I smile and shrug. "Because I can?"
I leave the men to do what they can, hoping they have common sense to listen to my warnings. Time goes by as they goof around my study, making noise and distracting me by Francis' stupid questions.
"Boys," I speak up and I drop my pen. "This will take me some time and it's late." I hope they get my hint to leave.
"Oh!" Francis skips- yes skips- towards me, takes the pen I'm holding and throws it on the table and grabs my hand.
"Hey!"
"Shh." He presses his finger to my mouth to silence me. My eyes widen as I'm stunned into silence as he takes the hand away and digs around in his pocket.
"Francis, what're you doing?" Sir Pine sounds rather concerned about Francis' weird behavior.
"I have a gift," he takes out a small jewelry box. "It's not much for a Master Duchess, but I'm relieved your alive and I like you not dead."
I look into Francis' blue eyes. He's completely sincere and I can see it through his soul. I can see he truly does treasure me and I really wish I ran from the palace when I could've gone with him- a true friend.
I bite my lip and take the box. I shakily open it and see a small pair of light sapphire earrings. I exhale and touch my mouth. He didn't have to gift me anything, not even a pair of beautiful and expensive looking earrings. I bite my lip to stop the quivering.
"Francis..." I stand up and throw my arms around him. I bury my head into his shoulders and he quickly wraps his arms around me.
"I didn't think you'd like them that much." Francis jokes.
I shake my head. "You didn't have to buy me a gift. Besides..." I lean back so I can make eye contact with him. "I'm really happy knowing you would've missed me if I were dead. I'm happy to know you're on my side and that you don't wish for my death."
I shove my face back into the crook of his neck and hide my tears and shaky voice. I can't help but cry. I think the conversation I had with Sebastian has caught up to me. I feel his hand on my back, petting me to calm me down.
I thought I was finally doing a bit better, building friendships with the people in my past life. However I was wrong and my brother still doesn't like me. I now have a strained relationship with the Academy since people are picking sides between Master Pamen and I. But him... I can always count on Francis.
"Giselle," he pats my head and smooths out my white hair. "I will never wish for your death. I want you to grow happy, fall in love and have a kid that will be named after me."
I sniffle and nod my head. We stay in a hug for a while. I've never really hugged others before, not family or friends... but hugging Francis feels nice. It feels like a great hug from a dear friend. I think it would be nice to make genuine friends like him. Hugs feel warm and... I start to wish for more. I squeeze harder and clear my throat.
I finally let go and he pats my head. He looks at me, reaching forward and wiping away the tears. "Alright, I'm going to go and sleep. Make sure you get some sleep, you have some bags growing underneath these pretty eyes. Let's go."
"Wait." Sir Pine walks towards us. "Are you staying up?"
I frown and nod. "Yes, I'll be up for some hours writing this and then starting to decode it."
"Then let me work with you. My life is something I don't want in the hands of a stranger, even if she is the Master of Ancient Magic. Let me help you." Sir Pine says.
I look at him. I can understand how hopeless he may feel about his upcoming death. He wants to try to stop it himself, but doesn't know how.
I nod. "Sure, you can be my assistant." I settle down on the chair and clear my throat. "Do you have any experience in the Ancient language?"
"A little."
I raise my eyebrows in shock. It's uncommon for simple soldiers to know about Ancient Magic. However he is a Northern knight and he crosses the wall often enough. I'm sure he must know some basics.
"Aw," Francis wraps his arm around Sir Pine's shoulders. "You're going to be working together, how cute."
"Let's go. I'll see you tomorrow." Sir Pine nods before he pushes Francis away. I chuckle at the dramatic fall Francis pulled off as he crashes against the wall.
"Alright bye. I will see you soon, Giselle. Let's meet up for some food some day." He waves goodbye after Sir Pine pulls him to his feet. He laughs it off, waving goodbye before they walk to the exit.
"I'll hold you to that." I smile and look away and grab my fallen pen. I look to Sir Pine and we make eye contact. "Sir Pine, I'll be in my office at the Academy the next couple of days. If you wish to work with me, meet me there."
He nods his head and a flash of curiosity comes and goes in his eyes. "I'll see you then." I can't tell what is going on in his head, wondering about his true intentions.
Normally I think I'm good at reading people, but I can't read him. I know he is hiding his appearance, but his red eyes cannot change. I don't know who he is, but I trust that Francis would not want a dangerous person around me. I look at the memory orb, wondering how he got to be so close to the Duke for him to pay for this. He must be a high ranking knight... but then why hide his face?