章節 14: You.. were fascinating. Ch 14

"I used to live in Cassia's town, Calluna province, the territory of the Corvus." Master Abel said.

"My father owned a book store there, and there's a young lady who used to visit us often. That young lady was Mary Rose. She's a brilliant person, you see.. she was the very person that got me in to the Rose Church." He stopped for a moment to sip his tea. Everytime we talked about her, Master's face become a bit more gloomed each time.

He lets out a deep sigh.

"…I didn't know what happened as I went to the capital to continue my studies for the church, and before I knew it, she was married to the Duke of the House of Corvus… The last letter I received from her, was that she had made a breakthrough, a key to reviving our goddess Rosalia back from the dead, she was going to bring the book personally to me. But fate was a cruel and twisted one, she was taken away from us… while giving birth to that disgraced Corvus…" Master sounded like he was going to break apart. I can not let him keep this up.

"Master.. let's take a rest, we can continue this later-"

"No.." he grabbed my hand to sit back down. " I'm almost finished..".

I nodded to his request and listened.

"Mary Rose passed away in that manor.. she has the key to our salvation.. Irene, while you're there, please.. find Mary's study book, I'm sure her keepsake is still somewhere there.She may have left us, but I can't let her glory's and dedications go to waste. We must find it."That was the first request Master has ever asked of me, so as his only protēgē, I accepted it without a second thought.

From then on, my goal in the manor would be to find her book. While I had to attended to Kannavis personal's needs and torments, I took my time to observed and learned about the manor. Every crooked corner of the estate, I secretly explored it bit by bit. I bumped in to the lord of the house, sir Galium Corvus on one occasion. He seemed to be a gentlemen, but somehow he, no… almost everyone in this manor treated Kannavis's poorly.

It is a fact that she was a lady of the house truly, but I thought it was strange that she spends most of her time, alone in her room, dressing herself up, and writing tons and tons of letters to the prince. The only maid that actually came in and took care of her well-being was me and the head maid, Holly.

One day unbeknownst, the letter reached his majesty, the prince, and he responded to her invitation for a tea party. She was jumping in joy.. her face that has always looked gloomy was looking ecstatic for the first time I've been there… she resembled a kitten…

"Commoner! Come here and help me with my clothes!" Kannavis said.

"Yes, my lady." I said.

It was an exciting day. For the first time, Kannavis Corvus has asked for my opinion on how she looked and the first time I didn't get berated first thing in the morning… she looked gorgeous in that yellow dress though.. like a sunflower.

..But I was a fool to think that this meeting was going to go well. The whole time, his majesty, the prince was gazing at me while having tea with Kannavis… your majesty..please look at the lady in front of you! Can't you see this little kitten is desperately asking for your attention!?

I had to watch.. as her expressions changed from happy to dejected.. and from being dejected to her vein popping out, her eyes were wide-opened as she realized as to what was happening… I'm doomed.

It was a quick meeting session, immediately after his majesty left, Kannavis started throwing a tantrum, tears was filling in her eyes as she's making a mess of the room. I tried to calm her down.

"My lady.." I spoke softly, then I got a backlash with anger.

"Don't Touch Me!!!" Kannavis screamed and turned her head to faced me.

She continued-"Why?…why is everyone treating me this way.." I should be happy at the side of her suffering… but for some reason, I felt a slight ache in my heart. I don't understand it, and because of this odd feeling, I approached her further.

*Bang!*

As a result of my poor judgment of the situation, she hit me in the head with a tea kettle and I felt to the ground bleeding. ah- that has definitely cleared my head up. What was I thinking? She ran away and locked herself in her room after Galium came in.

After I got my head bandaged up, I got myself ready to head to her room again.

"Woah.. you're still going in there?" A maid asked.

"I have to.. I'm her personal maid after all." I answered. Honestly, I was nervous, but for some reason, I couldn't leave her alone.

I went to knock at her door. " My lady."…Then, a moment of silent…haaa..Who am I kidding? She wouldn't open-

Before I could finished what I was thinking, the door was swing opened at my face and she just stand there and stared at me through my soul..Is she still angry? I tried to get my act together and served her dinner. I noticed her pretty yellow dress was stained so I had to help her changed it.

..This is weird. Usually she would say something to tick me off or blabbed about something… right now she just sits there and stares at me. Is she planning something?..I've gotta say something.

I picked out a long white gown that has a strap at the back from her closet.

"My lady, is this dress to your liking?" I asked but huh..? Why is she smirking? She's definitely plotting something right now..

She started to walked up closer to me, I thought I was prepared as to what might have come next, but-

"I'm sorry?" I was extremely confused.

"From today onwards, you will no longer be my personal maid, you can still be a maid for the house, but I don't need you by my side anymore." Kannavis repeated herself.

I was baffled, Is she serious right now? She must be scheming something right now.. I need to see if this is real.

"Was my service of any lackings to you, my lady? If there was anything wrong, please, would you tell me?" I put on my most innocence facet to try to guilt-tripped her, but it looked like she was serious about this.

"There was nothing wrong. Like I said, I don't need you anymore, you can go wherever you want." Kannavis said.

Wait- I can go anywhere I want, that's awesome! She doesn't need me anymore!… she doesn't need me anymore…wait why am I feeling down? No matter .. I'm free from her grasps now, at least as my last act of service, I should help her changed in to some new cloth with out my blood marks.

"Ah-you don't have to-" Kannavis stuttered.

I started to undo her clothes, it was a normal thing I had to do for her anyway. Since it's going to be my last service as her personal maid anyway, I might as well do it. What happened next was a bit surprising.

"eep!!" She lets out a squeal.. w-what? I didn't know she was this sensitive, ah- that must have been embarrassing for her.. she's gonna hit me for that, isn't she? That's what I thought.

..However, she just yelled at me politely to leave. W-what. This is confusing.. I didn't get hit.. and she just stand there looking all shy…mmm..how endearing…

A few days went by and she hasn't bothered me. When we accidentally met in the hallway, she would turn around and walk back to wherever she comes from.. is she intentionally avoiding me? One day, I try to cornered her at the end of the hallway, there was no escaping, I wondered- what are you going to do now, my lady? And to my surprised… she jumped out through the window?! My lady!!!

Goodness.. is she really done with me? Even my presence, she doesn't even want to be in it... that's kinda offensed my heart.

"Oh! Irene?" Galium asked.

"Oh! Sir Galium." I bowed and greeted the man. In the duke absence,Galium represents as the lord of the manor. Galium and miss Kannavis are siblings, but they don't seem to be very close, yeah quite the contrast, I'd said they don't get along at all. Galium is a reserved person, but he can be very aggressive sometimes. Kannavis on the hand, is…a bit weird.., she will do anything you'd least expect her to do these days.

I talked a bit with sir Galium in the garden.., but I couldn't focused at all because of her!

I noticed for awhile now that she was staring from her window, so I quickly turned to look at her. Our eyes were locked in for a moment, then she ducked back under like she was caught snooping… hah..what is she thinking?

When we head back inside, Kannavis was talking with a man, by the looks of it, he seemed to be a knight of the house, and it looks like he has a good relationship with her too.

He left, then Galium and Kannavis started to talk.. and out of nowhere their conversations turned in to a full blown argument..

"Father Doesn't Need Someone Like You By His Side! Hah!Your Worth Would Only Amount To That Box Of Chocalates OF Yo-"

*Pow!*

Everybody was shocked.

W-what? S-She just punched him like that!? It was well-deserved, but this was an unusual thing for Kannavis Corvus to do?! N-never mind that, Galium looked pissed.. let's get her out of here before things get worse.

As we were walking back, I noticed that she was tip toeing on her leg, her sprained ankle must have still been hurting, I couldn't help myself but worry about this young lady…let's just get this fixed up for her.

I placed her on her bed, then started to undo her bandages. For awhile now, I noticed she has slightly changed, the Kannavis right now is quiet, aloof and seems to always be lost in her thoughts. Maybe those words Galium said must be rubbing off on her…

"Are you alright, my lady?" I asked.

"Oh that? It's nothing new to me.You don't have to mind of such things, Galium's just being Galium, and I'm used to this attitude anyway." Kannavis replied.

The words she just said right now… her eyes looked like she was used to these negligence, these pain.. loneliness.. is she shunning everyone away from her or is she the one that has been shunned away by people…is this why she's been acting this way?… how pitiful..

"You're done with my wound right? If there's nothing else, you can leave-"

"Do you perhaps not like me.. my lady?" The words came out of its own..That's a idiotic thing for me to ask…of course she dislikes me..

"Wha-what no! It's nothing like that-" …mmm? what? She doesn't?

"But my lady.. you've been avoiding me these days, even to go so far as to get your foot hurt like this.." I continued.

"N-Noo! you've gotten it wrong..-I apologized… for what I've done to you up until now.., it was horrible of me to do those things to you. Because of such reason, I thought it would be best to not be around you, I want you.. to feel safe while working around here…, so that's why I've been doing this.." Kannavis said.

W-what... the self-absorbed, egotistical Kannavis Corvus is actually apologizing to me right now? Has she gone mad from the shock that the prince's keep ignoring her? Did a ghost possessed her body?There's no way she has actually changed.. right?..

The event that's happening in front of me was so be-wildering that I started to squeezed her sprained leg and lean my head on to it. It was an act of rage, but at the same time I was relieved.

…. Huuuu.. it looked like something has twisted her brain, but this.. it's not so bad.. this is kinda pleasant.. I didn't know when I broke in to a laugh in front of her, she was looking confused for a moment, and there I thought the day would end with just that.

…Until she proved me wrong again, suddenly she leaned in… and started to pat my head… huh? Why does she look so fascinated as she's touching my head.. wait.. why am I burning up..this is bad..

"I -I'll be leaving first, my lady." I flew out of her room. W-what.. I thought she was shrinking..but she's being awfully bold..this is too much to get in…