The curled up claws flew across the space, about to reach his face. Yet, just before the fist could touch the human, the arm stopped briskly, followed by another silence.
“I’m Lady Zyponia’s slave,” the fallen man said, a silver coin flaunting in the palm of his left hand
Immediately, the previous man acted, grabbing onto the slave’s suit before bringing him up from the ground. With somewhat creased eyebrows, he smiled slightly and talked once more.
“Excuse me, I had no idea. Please, don’t tell anything to Lord Zyponia,” he pleaded to the white-haired man, a tinge of desperation in his eyes.
“Maybe,” Lutiel replied, dusting off his clothes quickly before storming off, thrusting away the claws plastered all over his shoulders.
Taking a look back, he saw the man leading his carriage stare back at him, only giving him a nod while leaning back on his seat.
Sighing inwardly before moving under the cumulation of looks from each of his side, Lutiel’s attention kept only at the sign with a violet frog swirling out its tongue.
Shutting off his ears from the whisperings, he quickly entered the shop that gained practically no attention from the earlier crowd, only tumultuous because he went inside. Though, closing the doors, no demon seemed to want to enter after him.
Looking at the doors for a few seconds, he only turned around once somebody shook him out of the state.
“Lei arn ges, kozs’o meci dobnivic zamis?”
A male voice rang out from afar, prompting Lutiel to speak himself, still remaining in place.
“I’m a human.”
“Then, you should know not to come here,” he said, creating a space for silence to prevail. “You do know, right?”
“I’m here under Lady Zyponia’s orders.”
Standing calmly, he didn’t have to wait long for a reply, though it didn’t come without an exasperated sigh.
“Haa, please come inside. What is it that she wanted?” He asked after revealing himself to the servant beyond the wall on his right, where the counter went along.
With steps full of creaks, within a few of them, he was already facing the man, who was still leisurely sitting on a chair.
“Two reams of dark paper along with ten of the inks the Lady likes.”
“Alright, anything else?” With half-closed eyes, the demon with a single horn asked, moving away slightly from the wooden chair.
“No,” tersely, he replied, but the demon didn’t bat an eye anyway. Simply moving a hand through his short hairs, he lifted up the door of the counter before moving to the middle of the shop, where long and tall shelves filled with a plethora of eerie items, at least to Lutiel, could be seen.
Looking at all the bottled-up powders of vibrant shades, along with certain liquids in glass containers and all the other miscellaneous things, his eyes naturally followed the materials he hadn’t seen before.
Scouring his gaze through different parts of the small shop, his head suddenly stopped on the left, where a wall full of books could be seen. With only hard covers, their sizes were quite extensive, the colors equally so.
With a vivid embrace, despite inside the enclosed building, the covers gave off an illumination, catching him entrapped.
“You here? They aren’t in aseunian, so don’t waste your master’s money. Not that you could,” the shopkeeper muttered, having already brought all of the things over to the wooden counter.
“I didn’t want to buy them.”
“I won’t doubt you. That will be nine silvers and fifty bronze dracars,” he said, stacking the items on top of each other, with all ten inks on the upper ream of the dark papers.
Searching through the left pocket of his jacket, Lutiel brought out a handful of coins in his palm, none bronze in color. Taking ten of them, he handed the money over to the brought out arm.
“Five bronze haeldra, here,” the man spoke absentmindedly as he stored the coins in the register, bringing out five bronze coins a bit larger than the silver ones.
Glancing at him as he finished all the necessities, the servant promptly took the bought items before heading back, under complete silence. The shopkeeper didn’t utter a single word more, simply staring at his back as he made his way to the doors.
Quickly leaving the shop, he found himself in a sidewalk free of the previous looks, replaced by a new look of indifference. Even the demons he saw before simply moved past him.
‘Now, the food and the coal is left.’ Thinking to himself, he stared at the carriage on his left, where a certain old man seemed to have been sleeping.
Walking with the items in his hold, after he passed a few buildings, he was already next to the horses, making the man’s eyes open up and stare him down.
“Done already?” He asked, looking at the stuff in his arms before engaging the horses with a whistle, plainly grabbing onto the reins and readying them for the drive.
“Yes, let’s go to the market now,” he replied, opening the doors before going inside.
…
“What do you think?” She asked in their native tongue, standing in the middle of the room with her arms sprawled out straight to the sides.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
The listener, tugging on the fabric of her dress, remained silent as she corrected the clothing while kneeling. Only when she stopped and stood up from the carpet did her mouth open, grabbing onto the parts beneath Zyponia’s armpits.
“What? About Lutiel?” Raeyine asked, her eyes focused on the creases of the dress.
“Yes. What are your initial thoughts?”
“Well, although he shows his intimidation against us indiscreetly, I think it’s only subconscious. I’m sure he will become useful, he’s quite talented,” she said, sending a wink to her while taking a glance up.
“Raeyine,” Zyponia spoke, but the maid kept on moving her hands around her body. “It’s not what you think it is.”
“Really? I can’t imagine any other option why you bought him, then. For a golden coin at that. There are hundreds of servants we don’t have to teach from the beginning for a fraction of the price.”
“Like I said, it’s not. He simply seemed weird. Unlike a human. The strength he showed was like that of a beast.”
“Is that what made you smitten?” She asked with a prideful smile, only to receive a strike on top of her head. “Ouch! That hurt!”
“It was supposed to. You’re allowed far too much.”
“I think otherwise,” she said under her nose, with a smile on her face before taking a comb and softly running through the lady’s hairs. “What do you want to do with him?”
“I think sister may make good use out of him, but not in his current state. He has great potential, but he moves like a newborn. Still, he won with the leader of the revolutionaries that were here.”
“What? You didn’t tell me that yesterday,” the maid blurted out while stopping momentarily, her eyes widened somewhat.
“I’m telling you now. I was too busy to remember,” she said, closing her eyes as Raeyine enhanced her features.
“Fine, I won’t prod at you. But, you want to nurture him, right?” She asked at the same time as she stopped preparing her lady.
“Yes.”
“And how are you supposed to achieve that? Train him with human ways? Make him a knight? Through a weapon or martial arts? And what if he remembers his past?”
Looking at the arms gently sitting on her waist, Zyponia’s eyes wandered down at the question.
“I don’t know. He will stay obedient, but wanting to actually do it is completely different.”
“Well, you could just force him if he won’t do it,” the maid proposed, soon receiving a shake of the head from the master of the mansion.
“No, I can’t let his mind become broken.”
“What if it strengthens his resolve?”
“Just stop,” quickly interjected Zyponia, staring at the girl donning a smirk.
“Fine,” she said, pinching her lips shut tight before swiftly opening them once more. “How about letting him attend your lessons with Camilla?”
“What do you mean?”
“He is your assistant already. Why not make him one during the lessons as well?”
“No, no, how does that even correlate?” The girl asked with furrowed eyebrows while glancing up at the maid with glasses.
“Just trust me. I have a good feeling about this,” she said, a smile on her face as she stared back at the demon lady.
“I’m meant to expand on his strength, even if it means him becoming said knight, not some professor,” she replied with a calm voice, crossing her arms.
“You can still do that, but that won’t stop him from hating you. What I’m proposing is that he shouldn’t leave your side. Make him attached to you.”
“What?” She asked, blinking a couple of times after hearing the girl.
“You heard me. There is no man that wouldn’t fall for your cuteness, you just have to show it to him.”
Raising her hand, it was already tightened into a fist, her eyebrows lowered into a glare. “How long will you keep this up?” Talking amidst the giggle reverberating through the room, she remained that way.
“Then, how about just using a potion on him? He won’t regain the memories that way forever.”
Quickly changing her mien, the lady looked at her maid with a meek frown. Remaining in the same position for a while, she spoke with a reserved tone.
“No, I told you already.”
“I don’t have any other ideas, in that case. Still, I believe that having Lutiel in your classes would be the best option.”
However, before Zyponia could reply to her words, her head turned to the right, the gaze escaping into the distance beyond her windows. Looking at the closing gates, as well as the carriage that stopped after coming inside the estate.
Coming closer to the window, a hand soon embraced her left shoulder, a presence standing close beside her.
“It seems that we have summoned the devil. I will go help him,” she said, bringing her face near Zyponia. “Though, you can call me if you want to get prepared for your first date together.”
“You can go,” she replied briskly, not looking back after the maid started leaving.
Closing the doors behind her, Raeyine’s smile traced back into an unimpressed look, walking through the corridors with decisive steps. Within a few moments, as she passed the doors in the hallway of the top floor, the maid found herself taking the staircase leading down.
Spreading her melody against the steps, her shiny loafers moved at a spry pace, reaching the hall before Lutiel could even reach the doors leading to them.
Grabbing onto the knobs, she did so herself, the sight of the sky and greenery out in front of her. In the middle of it all, however, she saw a certain man standing near the flung open carriage doors.
Seeing him take out the basket filled with fresh vegetables, she spoke up, in a tongue he could understand.
“You can leave those in the kitchen. I will take care of the coal boxes.”
Lutiel stopped moving as he heard her speak before turning around to meet her face already close to him.
“They’re inside, but you should check them first,” he said to the girl, whose look suddenly plummeted, creasing her eyebrows.
“What happened?”
“Well, he sold me the boxes, but he said only the smallest ones were available.”
“How much did he charge you?” Raeyine asked, looking into the man’s eyes.
“Four silvers per box,” he replied with a straight face, the corners of his jaw somewhat taut.
“Agh, that pig!” She spat out before leaning against the leather cushions and pulling onto the wooden box.
Putting it on the ground, the girl didn’t wait and simply opened the box, only for her eye to begin twitching as she witnessed the insides.
Not filled out to the top, the small pieces of pebble-like, dark coal with a light shade of blue to them made the maid clench her jaw as she dirtied her hand, grabbing onto the coals before raising them.
Falling to the box, some of the powder went along with the wind, right before she closed the lid, a loud clack spreading through the space.
“Sorry about that,” she said while stacking all of the boxes on top of each other. “I will go there myself. Next time, don’t hesitate to call out my name if he tries any of this again.”
“Okay.” With a succinct reply, he was already on his way toward the kitchen, moving through doors of the mansion that stayed open.