A series of knocks—not too loud yet not too soft either—filled a certain silver and crimson dyed room.
The sun had risen up for a while now, yet no one had seen this lady come out of her room yet after being knocked on her door for an hour now.
Finally, worried about what happened to her and partly running out of patience, Lyfa pushed the doors open while gently announcing her presence, "I'm coming in, My Lady."
She first pulled the drawn curtains open to allow the light to seep in and illuminate the dull room before walking closer to the bed and, slightly pulling to canopy to wake her little lady, she let out a horrifying shrill scream.
...
7am at the Fief's plaza square.
A hooded figure dressed in plain clothes, wandered around the shops as they browsed through different goods.
Checking out the sweets corner of one of the shops, she drooled at the sights of them whilst not knowing how she threw the whole Castle of Sylveris in complete chaos that made them mobilize their personal knight order.
She continued to stroll out on the streets with one major problem.
I didn't bring any money with me!
"Ugh. How idiotic of me." Adira grumbled to herself while hearing her stomach start to growl in hunger. She flushed red when the man, who owned the bakery she happened to pass by, turned to her upon hearing her stomach's angry growl.
"Little lady, have you not eaten yet?" He asked as kindly as he could, so he doesn't scare the little girl. He was, after all, as humonguous as a bear and all children were afraid of him the moment they lay their little eyes at him. It eventually became his weakness.
Adira, still feeling shy at her blunder, shook her head softly. Like a cute little animal shying away from a human.
The baker smiled at her cuteness, clutching his chest as if he were healed with this unparalled cuteness, before thinking about her answer, "That's weird. This fief barely has any beggars on the streets and though dressed plainly, you don't look like one."
"Barely has beggars? Why is that Mister?" Adira looked up to him with cute upturned puppy eyes that struck another arrow into the poor baker's heart.
He smiled at her and crouched low to gently pat her little hooded head, as he could no longer stop himself, before answering her, "Are you not from around here? It's impossible to not know how the Duke Sylveris takes care of us diligently.
He set up orphanages for homeless children and gave jobs for those able bodied former beggars desperate to change their fates.
Of course there are scuffles here and there and scums who refuse to follow him but everything's manageable. We are very much thankful for the Duke."
"Wow. How nice of the Duke!" Her little eyes sparkled in adulation for the silly father that cried buckets of tears plus snots after seeing Adira faint from her high fever again. Her wonderful, adorable, doting father.
"Right? He's very cool too! How about I take you to the orphanage to see if they can accommodate you after you eat breakfast? You came at the right time, my wife cooked her special omelettes today and you're gonna love it!"
The proud baker boasted about his wife's cooking and invited Adira in. Although she found them too trusting to strangers that it was too alien for her, she was thankful nonetheless. Cause if he hadn't invited her, she'd be crawling back to the manor with an empty stomach.
The little wife, a woman with jet black shiny hair, small delicate face and pinkish lips, looked towards them and was briely shocked with the little visitor before her visage warmed up and she smiled.
"Hello little one. Were you lost? Did this big scary man frighten you? Don't be scared to tell this sister. I'm stronger." She winked at Adira which earned her a sweet and amused smile from the latter.
"Hello, sister. The big brother did not frighten me at all! In fact, he offered to help me solve my starvation. Please, do pardon my intrusion." Adira, with the force of habit, slipped and used a formal and noble tone before she twitched from forcing herself to not curtsey right after she said the words.
The baker and his wife were briefly floored at her refined mannerisms and turned to each other before warmly looking down at her like proud parents.
"My, do you like the way those nobles present theirselves? You got their manners hands down! It almost made me think that maybe you're one of them!" The wife beamed happily, gently coaxing the child, and patted Adira's hooded head, elated with the latter's small show.
Well, I really am one of them though.
What made the couple think otherwise was because no noble child would purposely don on a plain commoner's clothes and roam around their fief's plaza square, right? Which noble in their right mind would do that?
Partly, also, they heard their little Lady Sylveris was the little demoness. Surely this cute little angel cannot be that demoness, right? This is a far cry from that demonic little beast.
"Do you wanna eat with us before going with this big scary man to find your parents?"
"Hey Hya! Stop saying big scary man this, big scary man that! She really will be scared of me at this rate!" The baker, her husband, protested and pouted.
My, dotes on the wife too much and now can't fight back, eh?
"Haha! My bad, darling. Well, shall we eat before the food turns cold?" Hyacinth asked and turned to both Adira and her husband, Peter, before leading them to the dining table.
During the meal, Adira got to know them a little bit better. Apparently, Hyacinth and Peter were newlyweds and weren't blessed with a child yet. And well, Peter, if possible, wanted a child like Adira—cute, beautiful and angelic. Heck! He even wanted to just go ahead and adopt the girl herself.
However, that needs to wait before they confirm if Adira's an orphan. If she is, they would love to have her be part of their simple little family.
Just a few little minutes after their meal, after saying their thanks and cleaning the table, a ruckus could be heard outside.
Adira, now with her hood off and showcasing her dark ash-like wavy locks and silverish orbs, turned her gaze outside.
What's happening? Why is it noisy outside?
Along the line of Adira's thoughts, Hyacinth voiced hers, "I wonder what's wrong? It's a little too noisy outside. There's too much unrest this morning."
"Shall we go out and ask someone?" Peter asked and walked first while Hyacinth wiped her hands with her apron and Adira wore her hood again—for safety purposes.
A large group of knights, bearing the crest of the Silver Crescent Moon, which was clearly just a fraction of a much larger group of knights roamed around. Some were atop their horses for faster mobility and better vantage point and some were marching heavily as if marching towards a war.
The anxiety and unrest were flowing out them in waves that the townspeople couldn't help but be infected with it.
"What's wrong? Why are the Silver Knights here?"
"I don't know. They seem to be looking for someone."
"Could it be a spy?"
"Good lord, are we in danger then?"
The antsy townspeople started to discuss among themselves while Adira could only pull her hood down to cover her more and retreated a few steps to make her presence as less as possible and slipped out of the crowd when she saw an opportunity.
"Little one, looks like we'll have to postpone going to—huh? Where is she?" Peter turned to his wife, who could only shrug and shake her head before each of their expressions morphed into one of worry.
...
Adira ran and ran, back to the place she snuck out of, back to her home. She sped and turned past various alleys trying to find the shortest possible route.
Oh God! I didn't know it would cause this huge mess! Why did they mobilize the family's knights?!
Oh. It's really my fault! I shouldn't have snuck out! I'm dead! I'm dead! I'm dead!!
Turning into another alley, back to the open streets but with visibly lesser people—since a lot of them were gathered at the square—she mistakenly bumped into someone.
Seeing as she was much smaller, and a girl for goodness' sake, she fell down on her butt with her hood flying off her head.
Adira groaned and endured the brief pain. She opened her eyes to the sight of a silvery-white haired boy with fine, porcelain-like skin and a beautiful face—almost beating a girl at her own field—crumpled with worry with his hands offered to her before asking, "Are you fine?
I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."
Adira, sitting there like an awkward gaping duck in front of this beautiful, white swan, opened and closed her mouth a few times. She didn't know what to say!
His beauty robbed her of her tirade of complaints. His beautiful glistening platinum eyes were like the cream of the crop amongst the finest jewels in the kingdom. And oh, his plump cherry red childish lips!
Adira!!! That's a child!!! Stop!!!
"Ummm... Uhhhh..." Weird sounds were coming out of Adira's lips and she could barely notice her embarrassment herself. Her mind was full of this beautiful person's profile.
Wait... Did I not know this person from my previous life? Why do I not know him?! A person as beautiful as this slipped past my sensors?! How preposterous!
"You... You don't belong here... Right?"