Outside of the villa somewhere in the mountains, there's Lily, who had a tearful look on her face with ferocious-looking Fenrir on her side. The aura around became distorted, going frenzy because of her emotions overtaking her.
"Out of the way, Claude! I'm going home!"
"No, you are not. I will not let you. This is for your own good."
"Who are you telling me that! My people are perishing because of my own selfish actions!"
"I know. And, what are you going to do? You will give yourself to that bureaucrat?"
"If I do, I will!"
"If that's your answer, then I will need to seize you here. Clara, go get her."
"Yes, young master."
Clara instantly appears in front of Lily, punching her in the guts, knocking her out unconscious. I couldn't get a glimpse of what just happened because it was too fast. Walking my way to the unconscious Lily, I carry her to her room in the villa where we're currently staying right now.
The reason would be because last week; Lily learned the current situation of her kingdom and started blaming herself despite nothing to worry about, but the guilt that she has done something unforgivable that tainted the reputation of her kingdom really did hit her. The news rumor of Lily killing a bureaucrat's son was spread wide across the kingdom of Maiveil.
Lily hadn't been branded as a criminal yet because it's still a baseless rumor. Nevertheless, it still affected the image of Lily. Master Irene was doing everything she can to remove the rumors.
People are perceiving her as a criminal or a killer from what I see in every news outlet. It really got into Lily's head. I can't blame her for what happened because her emotions and mind aren't really stable, plus its self-defense. But now, she's blaming herself for tainting the image of the kingdom.
We took Lily out of the city somewhere far away because some journalists are going over the mansion lately. So we move out to the villa, a place where no one can find us, nor Lily can go back home. It's also the request of her father to take her somewhere else first until the issue is solved.
Seeing her mental state, it's causing turmoil and tightness inside my chest. She has been hard on herself these days such as not eating, locking herself in her room while crying all day, or would protest against me to let her go home. I keep a close distance on Lily to monitor her, but listening to her weeping makes me hate myself, adding more guilt to my heart.
Every day, I will listen to Lily's cries.
"Sorry, father, brothers. I-I'm so sorry—*Sniff*"
Hearing those words, repeatedly. What hurts the most would be...
"I-I promised mother on her—*Hic* to protect the kingdom, but I disappointed you. *Sniff* S-Sorry... *Hic* I'm a disappointment... Mother... *Hic* *Sniff* Sorry..."
I can't listen to it, but I need to be on her side. I wanted to speak all my thoughts out and comfort her, but I chose to wait.
However, I need to sort those feelings out than mulling over them and getting depressed.
Clara and I would change our turns to monitor Lily. We can't afford for her to leave the villa. She'll likely do everything just to save her kingdom from the threat of war. It's admirable, but I won't ever let her do that; her father and Master Irene entrusted me to take care of her until the issue is solved. Despite nothing is happening as of right now, Lily's acting as if it's the end of her kingdom.
About the war, they're only rumors. It's most likely Valentin the bureaucrat was pressuring the Askar kingdom to surrender Lily to him, by threatening them with war. Obviously, he only has a position in the Krishna Council, but that doesn't mean he holds the entire council in his palm.
Because of that, there have been rumors of him agreeing with the orcs and ogres. And, he even spread the news of Lily killing his son to deprecate Lily, to gather sympathy from the people. Instead of filing a report on the Krishna Council, he's more fixated on forcing the Askar kingdom to give Lily to him; which doesn't really add up if he wanted justice for his own son.
In honesty, I find it laughable that Valentin would go against the Elven kingdom when he's only a Duke in the kingdom of Osiris in the east. The Elven kingdom is still a force to reckon with. That's why other kingdoms are most likely to avoid going into war against them, but the problem would be Lily. Duke Valentin took advantage of the scandal to get Lily and lift his aristocratic status if he manages to make the Elven kingdom comply with his request.
I explained all of that to Lily, but despite that, nothing has changed. Even telling her to trust her father and Master Irene, she just doesn't listen to me.
Right now, we're waiting for the Krishna council to take a look at this matter since Master Irene reported it as self-defense because the man was clearly drunk at that time. So we're waiting for the judgment hearing, but until then I need to watch over Lily.
"Young master Claude, I'm next for the duty."
"Ah, yeah, thanks. Clara."
"Ms. Stephanie is on the ground floor, searching for you."
"Stephanie? How come she's here?"
"Madam told me, Ms. Stephanie begged her to meet you because she wanted to meet you," Clara said with a hint of frustration coming from her voice. But, I couldn't tell because of her emotionless face.
"Okay. Thank you. If you want, I'll give a reward later." I teasingly said.
"Really? I won't shy away then, young master."
"...Only kiss, okay?" I said nervously.
I started sweating profusely after hearing her response. I'm at fault with this one. Clara really needs to control her lust, or it'll be hell for me.
"Good enough."
Heading downstairs, I saw Stephanie wearing a yellow summer dress. She immediately pounced on me when her eyes spot me, embracing me tightly, even rubbing her face on my chest.
"Whoa! When did you become this clingy?"
"Shut up! Took me a while to beg mother to let me meet you after the incident! I thought you're a goner! *Sniff*" After saying that, Stephanie cried at my chest with her arms tightly wrapped around my body. I sighed and stroked her head gently. It goes on for a while until she stopped crying on my chest.
"*Hic* *Hic*"
"There-there. Sorry for making you worry. How are you and your mother now?"
"*Sniff* We're fine. Mother didn't let me go out after the huge incident, and she's worried about you."
"Yeah, I know. She kept calling me every day after that."
"I know! I didn't even know that she can do that!"
"Seriously? We've been calling each other for a year, and you didn't know?"
"A year?! Why is she not telling me! If I knew I would be calling you every day!"
"Aww~ How sweet. You've been getting bolder now, huh?"
Stephanie flinched and burying her embarrassed face in my chest while still hugging me. I chuckled while continuing to stroke her hair. "Well, your mother told me you've been busy lately with your school because you're in your senior year. You can't blame her since she wanted you to focus on your studies."
"Bwut, still..." Stephanie mumbled.
"There, there. You've been sniffing my body scent for quite a while now. Are you done registering my smell on your Claude's database?"
"Schut up."
"Hahaha—"
Suddenly, a strong killing intent grazes my back, sending a shiver down my spine. I turn around to see who's the one responsible for that, but there's no one in there. Needless to say, I already knew who it was—There are only four people in the mansion, including me. Lily is locked in her room and Stephanie is in front of me, which means the crazy, emotionless maid is the one responsible.
It's her habit that she always exudes whenever someone would get chummy with me even with Master Irene.
'I swear, I'm going to get myself killed someday.'
Clara has been my problem ever since. Master Irene told me she adopted Clara because they have the same constitution and she's talented. But there's only one problem, when I started living in the mansion Clara became like a sex-maniac because her self-control is horrendous than Master Irene's.
What's more, I just recently learned that she's only 3 years older than me. I didn't expect that. She should be in the academy, but she's not interested in attending, and instead, she started working as an informant or spy for Master Irene.
I didn't notice anything odd on her even after a year of my stay in the mansion because her emotionless face always throws me off, letting me think that she's some sort of innocent creature; but behind it, she's secretly a predator who's been eyeing me ever since. I already gave Master Irene my thanks for everything she did to hold down Clara, but right now, I'm all on my own making my life in danger.
Silent but deadly.