Chapter 3 - Chapter 2: Maria

A/N: on today onwards, chapters would be in the 3rd person point of view. I, just notify you if the chapters would be a 1st p.o.v or not.

A week has passed since the occurrence of the 'sudden death' of Chantelleia. The whole dukedom is busy taking care of Chantelleia, her sudden death felt like horror that everyone was affected. From time to time they check her room if she's breathing. Chantelleia felt discomforted, she appreciate them for being worried but being supervised from morning till the time she needs to sleep made her feel the discomfort she never felt before she reincarnated.

It was clearly lunch, the sun's position is already at the center that indicates that it's clearly near the afternoon. As Chantelleia walked out of her room with 3 maid servants including Maria are tailing her from behind. Behind the maids are 4 De Pier owned knights that serves as her guards. Since their family is always on the line of death, they are in need of a lot of guardsmen

"Mother, Father. I am very pleased that all of you are worried about me, but i feel uncomfortable from being checked from morning till night . I cannot even sleep peacefully , the servants kept entering my chamber." Chantelleia reasoned out once they were in the dining area. Her complexion was not as pale as before but you can clearly see on her face that she's exhausted.

"We are just worried about you, My dear." Her Mother, leanelle speculated that once they do not check on her, the same thing would happen again.

"Mother, I truly am fine. My complexion is pale because i cannot sleep well, I understand your worry besides I can now move freely without any hindrance at all" She reasoned out again. Seeing her parents faces, she could clearly see the dissatisfaction they feel once they heard her excuse. This gave her an idea, maybe she could just persuade them

"Mother, Father perhaps your dissatisfaction would disperse if i just have Maria sleep with me....please?" She persuaded them as they sat on their respective chairs in the dining room. Both maids and knights that was behind chantelleia surrounded them as they sat. This may seem weird to other visitors simply because their lives aren't always at stake, this has always been normal to De Pier Dukedom since they are always exposed to assassination attempts.

"Ha~ okay. May i ask, why Maria? There are a lot of maids but why Maria?" Alastair, Her Father asked.

"Well both of us have the same age, and i believe father would not assign a maid so normal to serve me" Chantelleia replied, being in the dukedom, the servants held different capabilities. Since she was reborn in her younger years, her years observing them did not fail her. Maria, the once neglected maid was trained by her own father to protect her at anytime that includes the time Maria stood out for her before her family's execution.

Both her parents was astonished as they heard her speak. 'How can our child know such a thing?' Both asked themselves. They have always been secretive despite the fact that they are well known, they were confident that this young lady won't notice anything because she was still a little timid and shy given that she's being trained. They thought that their daughter's observing skill is still lacking yet they were taken by surprise by her straightforwardness.

"Then she will stay in your room until the time you want her gone." Alastair uttered his loss to her daughter's forwardness.

Chantelleia cannot help but steal a glance towards Maria, who's actually staring at her young lady bewildered, 'My Lady...she's amazing!' She thought to herself. Maria noticing her lady's glances turned shy, she cannot believe her own timid and shy lady had been observing her, she cannot help but to feel embarrassed.

Leanelle signaled the servants to put the food that had been made by their dukedom chef. Each of them was Chantelle favorite foods, from pasta to cupcakes. She cannot help but grin, her eyes showed sparkles as she say them put the food into the table one by one.

She happily ate one by one, and in fact she finished every food that was given to her. Her parents and the servants thought 'such a small frame yet has a big appetite' they cannot help but give off a smile. Their Young Miss that was once a seed is finally growing into a beautiful flower bit by bit.

"Mother, Father I am done now. I'll just clean myself and after this i will be in the Library , if anyone looks for me, i'm just there reading. Maria? Please accompany me" her voice rang in their ear, as they eat. Both of her parents looked at her and gave her a smile, signaling that she's allowed to leave the dining area. She returned a lovely smile as she walked past them.

L*I*B*R*A*R*Y

She now wore a white turtle neck floral dress that reaches to her knee, a fluffy flip flops and a bun that finished her entire look. Since she was back at her child like state, her chest are now flat and her height is now small, the mature and elegant aura that she possessed before was now change into youthful and lovely aura that compliments her age.

As she enter the library, she walked straight to the history section ignoring the others where the most complicated history structure of her and other kingdom rest. She chose the history book of Eintiellyo Sun. Eintiellyo Sun is the kingdom where she and her family resides and protect, this kingdom was founded by the friend of the ancestor of the Entello.

As she skips through the pages of the book she once hated to read, a paragraph caught her eye ' eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. What once mine became yours yet you decided to be blind by the lie of a fruit' she was confused as she reminisce through her memory 'there wasn't any paragraph like this before.....did the future change?' She asked herself. Maria noticing her young miss showing a confused expression, Maria Asked

"Is there something bothering you, My lady?"

Snapping out of her thought Chantelleia looked at Maria and replied "No, there's nothing."

"Do you want Tea, My lady?"

"No thank you Maria. Instead sit here and accompany me while reading"

"No! My Lady...this young servant doesn't dare to sit near you...." Maria made an excuse, it was wrong that a servant sits near nor sits beside its master.

"I insist, and besides you're now my friend. You should stop the formalities when you are with me. Act like both of us doesn't have any status that can affect us" Chantelleia insisted. She wants to keep this servant close because she's the only one who stood up on her except from her parents.

"But My lady.."

"No buts!"

Maria did not make anymore excuse, she carefully sat beside her with a wide amount of space between them yet Her young master kept telling her to come closer until an inch space is left. Maria's body froze as the skin contact is almost near, she does not have any romantic feeling for her young miss but the sudden contact made her panicky.

"Don't be nervous Maria, we are friends. We can be this close". Her master explained while reading attentively to the book she was holding.

"Y-yes young miss"

A sudden awkward silence filled the library, no one talked. Chantelleia was indulge in the book she was reading but she's sensitive enough to notice her friend's discomfort to the silence that's eating the whole library, so then she ask: " are you not wondering why i chose you?"

Her sudden question rang into Maria's ear, her head perked up and looked at her young miss beside her. Looking, she also saw her young miss looking at her, at the moment they are both staring at each other eye to eye. It led to Maria being embarrassed and her whole face including her ears turned beet red

Chantelleia, seeing her friend's cute reaction made her giggle ' this young maid is truly adorable' . Maria hearing her Young Miss giggle made her feel more embarrassed, yet she pushed them aside and asked her "why did you chose me, My Lady?

"Because were the same age."

Maria was confused at her master's answer, 'is that it?' She asked herself. Chantelleia, seeing her friend's confused face added "you're the only person i'm familiar with. I know all of you mannerisms including rubbing your fingers together when your embarrassed"

Maria was shocked hearing her young master. She did not know that her young miss had been attentively observing her from a far, yet she cannot help but to think that it was sort of creepy that even her young miss knows her mannerism.

Chantelleia noticed her friend's complicated look and said "creepy....you're thinking that it's creepy right? I just like you to be my friend that I unintentionally observed you too much. I'm sorry"

Maria was caught off guard by her master sudden confession 'My Lady likes me!?' As she thought her face turn beet red. When Chantelleia saw this adorable reaction she cannot help but give of a lovely laugh. The laugh was enchanting to Maria's ears, for the first time she heard her master sincere laugh. Since she's been with her master since they were 5 years old, this was the first time she heard her genuine laugh.

You might find it weird but hearing her master laugh bought tears into Maria's eyes. She has been with her for so long but seeing her master laughing like her life is not on the line made her emotional. She quickly remove the tears that nearly spilling out of her eyes and instead gave a meaningful smile. 'My Lady, you sure are very lovely. I am so grateful to be able serve and protect you' she thought to herself. Her blood sweat and tears that have been spilled since she was trained by her father were worth it, seeing her beloved master smile like this gave her a little bit more hope and happiness for her to be able to endure anything.

Maria held her Young Master hands that caught Chantelleia off guard. "My Lady, in the name of De Pier Dukedom, i offer you my life. Please allow me to serve you until my last breath"

Chantelleia was astonished as she heard her friend pledge her loyalty to her. This made her feel happy and at ease. She gave a Genuine smile and said " This silly friend of mine, i accept your offer. Please guide me well...."

This made Maria happy that the tears that was threatening to fall awhile ago, spilled. "My life is for you o-only My L-Lady"

Chantelleia smiled as she wiped Maria's tears with her hands. She hugged Maria. She felt her tears falling so she hugged her so that Maria won't notice. In the back of her mind she thought 'thank you, this time i won't neglect you'

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Hi author here, since i still have so much time and i still cannot enter class because there is still no internet, i made chapter 2. This will be draft first and by the time you see this posted it means the internet is back. I'll probably make more chapters since i have a lot of free time and i want to publish a lot.

I am thankful that I don't have any writers block and i could think a lot of scenes, i'll just probably have a hard time explaining and giving detail since English isn't my first language, if you don't know, i'm a filipino so making sentences in complete english is still hard even if i'm in 11th grade (lmao i'm stupid)

Again, once you see this chapter and my notes are still like this it means i posted it when the internet is back. Please give this chapter a like if you liked it and i hope you could also comment. I want to see your evaluation and insights so that i could still improve myself as a amateur novel writer.

Thank you for reading i love y'all🥰

Word count/s: 2072 words