"I am master Lumian's maid, Herilina. Sorry to startle you," she whispered with a cute smile. Her cheeks reviled small dimples on either side, making her look as innocent as a lamb.
Kaden glanced at her and nodded. "Please," he handed her the small saucer to wash. The woman smirked at him cutely and washed it.
He walked around her to the shelf and acted like he was taking another cup. The cup slipped from his hands. "ah," he exclaimed.
The new maid swiftly bent down and caught it by with her catlike reflexes.
"Wow, you are quite fast," he said with his eyes slightly narrowed.
His vigilant eyes noticed few scars on her fingertip. It's not an unusual place to be scarred, but the thing was her scars were consistent and in the same shape. 'As if it was made because of constant use of a weapon like finger knives or claw knives,' his eyes went wide for a second but he regained his calm disposure.
"Why didn't we see you yesterday?" he said casually.
"Oh, I was collecting mushrooms in the forest I guess I lost track of time so I got lost. I camped out last night," she giggled and pointed to the basket on the counter.
Kaden nodded. Thanked her and walked away. But he was not going to his room. He directly walked up to Deric's room and knocked.
Deric, who was in the middle of changing clothes, let him in quietly.
"There is an Aaorlin here," he said urgently.
Deric paused. "What do you mean? We got news that they all died in the attack,"
"that's what I thought as well, I guess one of them survived and escaped into the dark forest," Kaden walked around and held Deric's shoulders. "We need to leave here immediately,"
"I don't want to,"
"Deric, this is not a good something to play around. You know how terrifying they are, right? They can kill you easily in your sleep. Why are you risking your life here?" Kaden shouted.
Deric shook his hands away and wore his warm shirt. "Eru is here,"
Kaden was baffled. "Are you willing to risk yourself for him? That kid you barely know for months," he whispered in shock.
"he is not just anybody," Deric whisper and walked around him.
After a moment of silence Kaden whispered, "you are in love with him...you are REALLY in love with him.. oh my god this is gonna cause so many problems in our plan," he mumbled grabbing onto his neatly combed hair.
Deric Chuckled. "it's not that terrifying news, to be honest. From eth moment I saw his painting I knew he meant something to me.....but when I first saw his face I knew....I knew that he was mine," he whispered with a bashful smirk.
Suddenly a small voice echoed in his ears. 'YES! That person is ours!'
With his hands clenched, he glanced out the window. "Kaden I know you are worried for my safety but know this....as long as I'm alive I will protect him."
Kaden gaped and strutted around. 'I can't believe it....we are in so much trouble than I thought..' his calm disposure melted away to reveal his anxious expression. "How.... you don't have an army, you don't have your status. You don't have anything Deric.... how can you protect him from Lijin, from Lafta,"
Deric gritted his teeth. "You are right....I am but a powerless exiled prince... but it's not hard to gather power," he said and glanced back.
Kaden stopped his nervous walk and glanced at his friend. He saw something that he thought was a phantom.
He saw unwavering determination in his eyes.
"Hmm, we shall. I'll make sure that you have all the power to protect your loved ones," Kaden said with a small smirk.
The next morning Eru woke up before the break of dawn and went to the lawn. An energetic Deric and a yawning Silas stood next to him. "You are late, you slacker," Silas whispered.
"YOU guys are early," Eru yawned and stood next to them. "So what should we do now? Run?"
"Let's wait for our master," Deric said with a small smile. He stepped closer to him and leaned down, "and thanks for looking after my back,"
"No problem,"
Silas watched this with a grimace. 'What is this kid doing now? Isn't it very obvious Deric likes him and he likes Zhong? Then why is he stringing him along. Anyway, it's not my problem,' he shook his head and glanced at Kaden. Weirdly so, he was not meeting his eyes. 'eh, what is wrong with my idol, he is not even looking straight at me,' he thought with a frown.
Whist all this, Kaden had a wooden look on his face. Because he knew....he knew that Erudite was telling the truth last night and that Silas did have a crush on him. 'but I have my Fang, I shouldn't give false hope to a kid,'
Silas pouted. She nudged Eru and whispered, "is it just my imagination or is Kaden ignoring me?"
Eru started sweating. 'Oh shit, what to do? Should I tell him that I revealed his secret? No, Silas would kick my ass. Either way I covered my lie saying that it was April's fool. Kaden believed that, right?' he took a glance at the stoic man.
Kaden glanced at him and nodded his greeting.
'Looks like he did not believe me about Silas,' Eru smirked. He nudged Silas back and whispered, "It's your imagination. He looks normal to me,"
Lumian walked out with a cup of tea. "Everyone gathered here on time. Good, let's start our official training. Each of you," he pointed to the kids lined up in front of him, "will have a training catered to according your own strength and weaknesses. You guys ready" he waiting for their affirmation.
"Yes!" All three of them shouted.