Even though the sun was high in the sky the air outside was chilly as usual. Dry leaves crunched beneath their feet as they walked. Amelia and her maid were pleasantly chatting about this and that although Olivia was the one who was doing most of the talking as usual.
It had become somewhat of a rutine for them to take a stroll together in the early afternoon. Appearently it was a healthy habit to have and it had turned out that Amelia quite enjoyed the exercise too.
Today Olivia was going to show her to the stable since a fawn had just been born. She had heard about it the day prior from another member of the staff and had barely stopped talking about it since.
Amelia had been prepared for a longer walk than usual but it took them more time to even reach the edge of the garden than she'd first expected. Ahead of them, behind the thick stone wall that surronded the entire garden, was the servants area of the estate. Instead of a garden of decorative flowers and meticulously trimmed hedges that Amelia had gotten used to during her stay, this area was filled with natural shrubs and large oak trees. Long rows of clothing lines streched across the open plains of grass though they were currently unused due to the cold weather.
The entire area was tucked away at the estate's furthest side, out of sight from its most frequented parts, and it was encircled by the surrounding forest. Although it seemed rather empty right now Amelia could imagine it bustling with life during the warmer seasons, filled with servants carrying out their dutys while chatting about their daily lives or complaining about their employers. Just like Amelia had envied the servants for being able to do back at home.
"The closest way is to go through the training grounds, otherwise we'd have to walk around it. But the knights should be done by this time anyways."
Olivia pointed towards a partially fenced area located close to the line of the forest. Beyond it Amelia could see the roof of a building that looked more rustic than the other detached buildings and she assumed that to be the stable.
As they got closer voices and the clattering of metal could be heard.
"Perhaps there are still some people left training. Still, it should be fine for us to pass through I think."
It turned out to be more than a just a few knights left though. As they turned a corner and got a clear view of the sanded field behind the fence they saw probably more than fifty of the estate's knights all cirkled around the middle of the arena. Apart from the scattered whispers amongst the knights and the noise of clashing swords from behind the crowd it was quiet and the atmosphere seemed tense.
Amelia only got a clear view of what was going on as the crowd suddenly cleared to make room for someone who fell to the ground.
There were four people sparring in the centre. Or rather, it was one person who was sparring against three others. A person that Amelia recognised well.
As the duke fought his face was scrunched in concentration. He almost did not seem human as he blocked the others attacks and retaliated against them with an amount of force that Amelia had never seen before. Even though it was safe to assume that the dukedom's knights were some of the most well trained in the kingdom they appeared as amateurs against that man.
As he had his back turned one of the knights took the opportunity and lunged towards him but he somehow sensed the attack and turned around, delivering a kick in the stomach to the person behind him while at the same time blocking an attack from the front with his sword.
The impact of the kick sent the knight flying and his body rolled as he hit the ground, creating a cloud of sand all around them.
When the sand began to clear only moments later Amelia was shocked to see the two remaining knights already on the ground with Dario's sword aimed against one of their throats.
Amelias face contorted as she saw the silver of the blade. She hadn't seen that sword ever since that night when she first met the duke and it had been covered with blood then, belonging to her her father, brother and stepmother.
'I must be truly horrible' she thought bitterly as she realised that even though her family had been killed with that sword merely weeks ago she didn't feel resentful or sad. She only felt fear over the possibility that one day she could be the one on the recieveing end of his blade.
'No matter how they treated me, aren't I being truly heartless?'
She pressed her lips together and tried to swallow the bitterness in her mouth.
"You ought to practise harder. It's a shame if the commanders of the dukedom's defense are only this good" Dario smirked as straightned and placed his sword back into its sheath. The tense atmosphere vanished as the spectators to the sparring began to murmur in aw and some ever cheered.
Amelia was going to leave before she was noticed but somehow she caught the duke's gaze through the crowd.
She did her best to hide her distorted expression and showed him her very best curtsy. When he did not respond in any way she simply smiled and turned around to leave.
"I think we ought to go back for today Olivia. I'm becoming rather worn so let's see the fawn tomorrow instead."
***
Amelia kept her pace at on her way back so much so that Olivia seemed to have trouble keeping up at times. She simply wanted to go back to her room as fast as possible and forget about the complicated thoughts that were racing through her mind.
"M-miss. Can you slow down? I worry about you since you haven't been eating or sleeping well."
Amelia stopped as she realised that the maid had fallen quite far behind her.
"Sorry. I was a bit distracted."
"It's fine." Olivia was a bit out of breath as she walked up beside Amelia.
"Miss..."
Olivia who had just been about to say something hesitated for a moment.
"You don't have to act like you're okay all the time. Even though I might not be of any help to you I can at least listen to your worries. Please know that if you need to lighten your heart I will not judge you."
Olivias expression was filled with sincerity and worry. There was a big part of Amelia that really wanted to put her trust in the maid and reveal the horrible thoughts that she'd just had. But she couldn't bring herself to say it. If she did, would the first person who had treated her with kindness in years turn their back on her?
"Olivia, I've been meaning to ask you... Why are you so kind to me?"
She resorted to cowardly swithcing the topic instead. Still, it was true that she had been wondering about the maid's intentions for a while now.
"Well, it's just... I guess you remind me a lot of my sister."
Amelia didn't know how to respond. She hadn't even known that Olivia had a sister since it had never been mentioned to her before. It was odd since Olivia often spoke of her family and friends from her howntown.
"I'm sorry, it might me rude of me to compare you to the child of a poor baron. But I truly do not mean it in a bad way."
Olivia had turned her head so that her face was blocked her hair. Amelia couldn't tell what her expression was but when she spoke her voice sounded weird.
"It's fine, I did not think of it as rude at all. If she's anything like you are I'm sure she's a wonderful person."
"I'm not as good of a person as you might think that I am."
The maid spoke so quitely that Amelia wasn't sure that she'd heard her correctly at first. It was a strange thing for Olivia who was usually so self assured to say. Amelia did not know what had just happened but it was obvious that the topic of her sister was a sensitive one.
She did not say anything as it did not feel like it was appropriate. Suddenly the maid chuckled and looked at Amelia again. She wore a bitter smile on her lips.
"I'm sorry. Even though I wanted to comfort you it turned out like this. I apologize for my behaviour, even though I was the one to bring my sister up I don't really like to talk about her."
"It's okay. In the future you don't have to talk about something if you're not comfortable with it."
Amelia reached for Olivias hand and squeezed it. She did not say it but seeing such a vulnurable side of the person who was always so happy, though it had been brief, had made it clear that she was someone that Amelia wanted to take the risk of putting her trust in.
"I've asked to have dessert sent up to my for the afternoon tea. Let's enjoy it together, yes?"