Chapter 7 - An Unexpected Gift

The head maid’s eyes were wide and looking through the air instead of at Azriel. Her face then gradually turned pale, as if she were witnessing something horrific.

“Head Maid, what’s wrong…?” Azriel, shocked, tugged at the head maid’s collar. 

At that moment, the head maid trembled as if she had been struck by lightning before sinking to the ground and crawling backward on all fours.

“Uh, oh, oh, arrgghh!!”

She hurried to her feet and darted off, screaming.

Azriel stood lost in wonder as she watched the head maid disappear with a glimmer. She examined the space the head maid had been staring at, but nothing was visible to her eyes. All she could see was a bucket filled with some water and a box laying neatly on the ground.

“…No way.”

She carefully picked up the box. The silk ribbon wrapped around it had been tied into an intricate, floral shape that felt too precious to untie. Her fingertips fidgeted with the edge of the ribbon as she glanced at her surroundings.

“Mr. Wizard? Where are you?”

There was silence. The pale wizard did not materialize.

“Reshith… No, Mr. Rhema? Did you happen to do something just now, by any chance?”

Knowing how stupid she might have looked, she still posed her question to the empty air. She waited for a while but received no answer. The only sounds she heard were the wind rustling the leaves and the commotion of people coming and going from the direction of the castle. She felt like she had been dreaming. Had it not been for the box in her arms, she would have questioned whether she had dozed off while standing.

Looking down at the fancy box in confusion, she wondered, ‘He gave this to me? Why?’

She felt uneasy and leery, but she could not just leave it there. Finally, she resolved to take the box to her room later and resumed her water-carrying duties.

*

Rhema Reshith stood before the head maid’s body and coldly looked down at the corpse lying at his feet. It had been a long time since he killed someone who was not a wizard.

‘How dare you,’ he thought.

He did not regret his actions. In fact, they even felt inadequate.

‘How dare she curse her? How dare she lay a hand on her? How dare she, how dare she!’

Such words filled his mind. With a gesture of his hand, the wizard turned the head maid’s corpse into dust that dissipated as it blew in the wind. Though he was watching the dust that had been a breathing being not too long ago, his mind was preoccupied with other thoughts.

The frayed shoes with soles that had fallen half off, foot with a mark burnt onto it, scarred legs that were so thin they looked easily breakable, a worn-out skirt, chapped lips and hands, large and sunken eyes that looked exhausted—yes, those exhausted, golden eyes…

‘I didn’t leave hoping she would live like that.’

Something stirred in his barren heart. He could not describe the emotion he was experiencing and merely continued to repeat his previous words like a parrot.

‘I thought you’d be happy. I just wanted you to enjoy an abundant and happy life just like other people…’

He rubbed his face, which had become twisted. Then he rubbed his face once more. Something was surging up within him with no intention of calming down. Rarely did his tranquility break, and since it happened so infrequently, he did not know what to do. The more he contemplated the situation, the greater the jarring feeling inside of him grew. Perhaps that feeling had dampened when he had made excuses to himself by saying he would just come to check on how she had been living—only for a brief moment. Or maybe things had already started going wrong when he decided to leave her.

‘If you are not happy when I’m gone, then I’d rather be around…’

No, that should not have been the case. He knew full well that he would make her unhappy—even more so than now. However, he did not want to leave her in this state. The wizard gently closed his eyes.

*

Preparations for the guest were not finished until late that night.

“Azriel! Azriel! Are you there?”

Azriel had been staring intently at the box that she had yet to unwrap but rushed to hide it in response to the voice calling her from outside.

“Yes,” she answered. “I’m here. Come inside.”

“Hehe,” Maylie giggled as she slipped in through the door. She was a kind-looking maid with curly, red hair and Azriel’s only friend. Hiding something behind her back, she shrugged.

“Guess what I brought you.” 

“Let me see… I smell something sweet,” observed Azriel.

“Look!”

With a broad smile, Maylie held out what she had been hiding. In her hand and wrapped in paper was a round chocolate pie the size of her palm. A cherry laid adorably atop the center of it. Azriel’s eyes widened.

“Isn’t this a dessert for guests?”

“Yeah! It got a little crushed here, so the chef gave it to me since it can’t be served anymore. I brought it to share with you.”

This was a precious dessert that was difficult for mere maids to get their hands on, yet Maylie had thought to sneak it into Azriel’s room to share with her. Touched by her thoughtfulness, Azriel felt as if she was already tasting the sweetness of the pie on her tongue—even more so since her day had been exceptionally tough.

Azriel smiled and shook her head, “You can have it all. I’m alright. I don’t like pies anyway, and I know you love them.”

“I know you like chocolate! Let’s eat together, please? And look here, I brought this, too. You didn’t have dinner, did you?”

Maylie took a loaf of bread from the basket hanging on her arm and placed it in Azriel’s hand in one motion. It smelled sweet.

“You didn’t have dinner, did you?”

Azriel remembered how her brother used to say that to her before handing her a piece of bread when they were younger. Her voice cracked as she looked steadily down at the bread.

“Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” Maylie replied.

Maylie sat down next to Azriel and laughed. They had not always been friends since the beginning. When they had first met, Maylie was reluctant to get close to her. Although she did not pick on her as the other servants did, she would still avoid her. Azriel’s particularly pale skin was a trait unique to the ethnic peoples living in the north, so her appearance was awkward here. Maylie had also never seen anyone with golden eyes before, and they looked strange to her. Additionally, she had not been too keen on the fact that Azriel, a slave, was dressed in better clothes than the other maids.

Then, one day, a pair of earrings that Countess Colte treasured disappeared. Maylie had been the last person to exit her dressing room, so she was suspected to be the thief. Not only was she about to be thrown out of the estate but she would also have been indebted for the price of the earrings.