"Milady, are you awake?" Lynn pops her head inside the six year old girl's bedroom. Upon hearing muffled giggles, Lynn smiles lovingly knowing that the beloved child of her masters is hiding somewhere in her room and wants to play. "I'll take your answer as a yes milady. Now where are you hiding?" Lynn steps inside the room and closes the door behind her, insuring that little foxy –as she likes to call her- won't escape her so easily. She tiptoes around the room as her eyes dart in every direction and ears try to catch the slightest whisper. "Come out come out wherever you are little foxy," Lynn sings happily. She hears a tiny squeal coming from inside the wardrobe, "found you" she says in her mind. However, wanting to entertain little foxy a little bit, Lynn runs to the curtains and exclaims "Got you".
Spying on her lady-in-waiting from the small openings in the closet, little foxy giggles again but this time without covering her mouth. Her eyes widen knowing that she revealed her secret hideout. "Oh no, Lynn's going to catch me," she mentally panics. Before little foxy can come up with a plan, she feels arms wrapping around her waist then her body being pulled out of the wardrobe. A scream rips through her throat followed by both hers and Lynn's laughter.
"You always find me," little foxy hugs Lynn.
"You are a terrible hider," Lynn replies, her heart fluttering as she hugs back.
"Not true. When I play with mister Pineapple, I always win. You are an amazing seeker," she points at her stuffed monkey, mister Pineapple and then at Lynn, smiling.
The door is thrown open. Lynn tenses but relaxes as she sees who's standing there, "it's only you Dominic".
"I heard milady scream," the armored man explains in a serious voice.
Feeling the girl tighten her grasp on her dress, Lynn strokes her hair and replies "We were just playing hide-and-seek. There's no need to get all worked up Dominic".
"It's Sir Dominic. And I am sure you're aware of today's importance in milady's journey"
Lynn sighs nodding. Sir Dominic turns on his heels and leaves. As the door shuts, little foxy raises her head, "Sir Dominic is really scary".
Lynn chuckles and walks towards the bed, "don't worry. He's here to keep you safe from bad guys". She places the girl on the bed and pats her on the head.
"Bad guys?" little foxy asks tilting her head, making her long black hair fall to the side.
Lynn hums in response, "Do you know who you're meeting today?"
"No. all that mommy and daddy said was that a very important person is coming to visit us today and that I have to be on my best behavior," little foxy says before she corrects herself, "I mean mother and father".
Lynn frowns; her masters are becoming stricter with little foxy as the weeks go by. Last time she called them mommy and daddy, she got lectured for hours on how to address them. She was four at the time for crying out loud!
"Do you know who I'm meeting today, Lynn?" little foxy's voice snaps her out of her trance.
"Yes milady," she says and turns to present the dress she picked out for the occasion, "the prince, his Royal Highness Levianth, is coming to visit with his friend Sir Charles".
Little foxy cringes at the sight of the outfit she has to wear and pouts, "I don't want to wear this. It's ugly!"
Trying to suppress her laughter, Lynn reasons "I wholeheartedly agree with you milady but if you wear it, I'll let you stay awake past your bedtime and you can do whatever you want".
Upon hearing the offer, little foxy's eyes sparkle indicating her interest. However, she was smarter than to fall into temptation. "That's not enough. If you want me to wear this fancy dress, you'll have to up the rewards" she states confidently.
"Rewards?" Lynn asks raising an eyebrow, "You are getting better at bargaining I see. But you forget that I know you love pretty dresses. Last week I caught you gawking at the gowns that were being presented to Lady Ashley".
"Not true!" little foxy quickly denies.
"Denial," Lynn sings as she takes off little foxy's pajamas, "do you agree to take my offer?"
Little foxy glances at Lynn briefly before admitting defeat, causing the latter to smile.
Few hours later, the faint sound of cheering is heard at the Teral mansion.
"Prince Levianth and his companion will be here shortly, sir" Dominic informs Lord Robert.
"Have all security measures been taken?" the lord asks coldly.
"Yes, sir!" Dominic answers directly.
"Good," Lord Robert exclaims, "Now where is that troublemaking daughter of mine?"
Lady Ashley looks at her husband from the corner of her eye and sighs. Before Dominic could answer, little foxy runs to her parents' side. The little girl stands panting and fixes her dress.
"I apologize for being late Mother, Father," she says in a small, slightly terrified voice.
"A lady is always early. A lady should never expresses fatigue. And most importantly, a lady never shows up looking like this, all messed up and sweaty," Lady Ashley speaks venomously to her daughter without even making eye contact. The poor little girl shakes at her mother's words.
After a few long minutes of agonizing silence, for little foxy of course, the herald announces in a booming voice, "his highness Prince Levianth and his companion Sir Charles Helms have arrived!"
Everyone gets on one knee and bow their heads the moment the gates to the mansion open. Everyone except little foxy.
"You brat!" her father whispers at her before tugging her down. She yelps as her knee hits the ground causing pain to shoot through her entire body. She balls her small hands into fists and clenches her teeth. She would have sought comfort from Lynn but the latter is back inside the mansion helping to finish the preparations. Taking a deep breath, little foxy wipes the tears that have formed in her eyes away.
"You can rise now," a gentle calm voice is heard followed by armors clattering and clothes ruffling as everyone stands up. Little foxy is the last one to stand. Luckily her dress is long enough to cover her bruised knee.
Her chocolate brown eyes fall upon the guests. Two boys of the same height stand next to one another. The one who is wearing glasses has blue long hair and navy blue eyes. His eyeglasses are white rectangular shape, matching his outfit- a white suit with also a navy blue tie.
Her gaze shifts to the other guest. Chocolate brown hair carefully brushed but a hair or two aren't in line. Yellow almond shaped eyes almost captivate her. His posture radiates power and dominance. A midnight blue cape hugs his broad shoulders; the sides are connected by three pairs of shimmering gold chains. Underneath the cape, an indigo vest neatly buttoned above a white shirt. Surrounding his waist is leather belt where a sword is sheathed inside a scabbard. His pants match the color of his cape.
Little foxy lost focus of her surroundings as she thinks, "the boy with the cape must be the prince even though I can't see the royal crest anywhere. He looks younger than his friend Charles by a year I think. They are definitely older than I am. I wonder why they look so serious, the prince looks really tense. Does he not want to be here either?"
"And this is my daughter, Lady-" as she hears her father pronouncing her name she freezes. He rarely calls her by her name anymore, it's whether brat or insolent child or idiot girl or worthless daughter of mine.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," the same gentle voice from earlier brings her back to her senses. She blinks twice at the boy standing in front of her before she stammers, "It's nice to meet you as well your highness" and bows rapidly.
A thud is heard. Little foxy's head hits the prince's causing both of them to fall opposite ways and landing on their butts.
"Ouch," they both say at the same time. Charles rushes to the prince's side to see if he's okay. Expecting her parents or anyone to rush to her side, little foxy is hit by a huge wave of disappointment. She looks up to see her mother apologizing to the prince for her daughter's impolite behavior claiming that she clearly lacks basic manners. Whereas her father is glaring at her as if she's some bug that he's about to stomp on. She looks down at her dress, now covered in dust and realizes that no matter what, she'll always be treated like an outsider, a stranger by her own family and people. What has she done wrong to deserve such treatment? Why isn't Lynn here helping her up like always? Is she going to be in prison because she hit the prince and made him fall?
All negative thoughts are running in her head as she doesn't move a muscle.
"I'm sorry, please forgive my childish inappropriate behavior" she instinctively blurts out.
"It's okay," the prince replies a little bit surprised, "childish? She's only six" he thinks to himself. He extends his hand with the pure intent of helping the girl up. Her reaction causes the boys' heart to flutter. And not in the good way.
The moment little foxy hears the slight shuffle of clothes so close to her, her palms cover the back of her head, her arms cover the rest and her elbows connect in front of her nose, her legs shut and her knees bend toward her chest, "anything but my head. An injury on my back or legs can be recovered from but a brain injury is not the same" she inaudibly recites waiting for the blow, the punch, the kick, any form of attack.
The prince frozen in his spot, "What is wrong with that girl?" he thinks. He jumps in his place when his friend's bluntly states, "Don't worry. Lev was just trying to help".
The girl takes a peak making sure there's no danger whatsoever. She stands up and dusts off her clothes silent. After apologizing one more time to their guests, she excuses herself and heads to her safe haven- the saucer magnolia tree.
"NIGHT WALKER! OPEN UP!" Charles' yelling brings her back to reality, "IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, I'M BUSTING IN!"
Night walker growls at the threat but an idea sparks. She waits a few moments and what Charles warned her about came to pass. The instant the door is swung open, she screams, "CHARLES YOU PERVERT! I'M NAKED!"
"WHAT?!" Charles screams back as he shuts the door as quickly as he opened it.
Night walker falls to her knees clutching her stomach as she bursts into uncontrollable laughter.
Charles opens the door and sees that she's fully dressed, "it's not funny!" he says coldly. But this doesn't stop night walker, "you should have heard yourself. I can't believe you fell for it!" she says.
Charles blushes and turns his face to the side.
"What do you want so badly that you pounded on the door?" she asks as she starts to calm down.
"Well I have been yelling for the past fifteen minutes that dinner is ready but you didn't come out nor answer"
"Oh," she says before her voice turns sad, "you made me dinner?"
He looks at her questionably and answers with a nod. She whispers a thank you before grabbing a pillow.
"Where are you taking it?" curiosity spikes in the investigator.
"Living room. I'm sleeping there,"
"But you have…"
Night walker cuts him off, "I don't want anything fancy like this," she lazily gestures around the room. "I hate it and it makes me want to vomit," she states.
"I take it that you dislike the clothes as well,"
"Yes"
Charles sighs, "I told him that you'll hate every inch of this room but he wouldn't listen. Tomorrow I'll accompany you to the market we passed through on our way here so you get some clothes you like"
"No, everything in that market is pricey and gives off 'prestigious' vibe" night walker quotes-mark the word prestigious.
"Fine! Where do you want to go then?" Charles says as he follows night walker into the dining room.
"There's a bazar happening all week long at Sapphire Port. We can go there. It's a two hours ride on horse-back. Not too far,"
Charles grunts at the word Bazar but complies with her suggestion.
"And after that, will you answer my questions?"
Giving him a side glance, night walker nods. "You said it yourself, sooner or later you'll uncover all my secrets. I just hope you took my warning seriously".
"I did".