The morning sun was now high up, lighting up the village.
It's sun rays landed on the face of a cute little girl that was resting on a double sized bed.
She squinted her eyes and rubbed them before putting herself in a sitting position on the bed.
While drowsy and tired, with her eyes barely open, she looked around the unfamiliar room.
"Where am I?", she asked out loud.
Suddenly the door opened, and a green, handsome young boy came in the room.
"Yo! Are you feeling okay?", he asked
The little girl opened her eyes wide when she saw who it was.
The person that her mother repeatedly instructed her to take care of.
"Young master! ", she said with a surprised voice while jumping out of bed and bowing in front of Iono.
"Come on Clarissa, enough with the formalities, we are the same age. ", he said.
"Well not exactly, but whatever", he thought.
"Is your body feeling ok? You were hit square on the chest. Thankfully there weren't any injuries, just a bruise." he added.
When Iono said that, Clarissa remembered what happened. She was in daze for a while, so the events escaped her mind.
She remembered a big red Deer charging towards her, and then everything going black.
"I see... So you saved me again, young master. "
Then she bowed and said,
"Thank you so much. I will do my best to serve you in order to pay you back for everything you did for me."
Iono simply looked at her. He didn't really care for her servitude.
"Wait a minite!" Clarissa thought. She lifted up her head abruptly and looked Iono in the eyes.
"How does he know there is a bruise!? I got hit on my chest, which would mean that he'd have to...?", her face got flustered and she blushed up to her ears, she hugged her chest with both arms, while looking at Iono in embarrassment and anger.
Iono was left with his mouth agape.
"What is this loli thinking? Don't tell me... ", he thought.
"Wait a moment, Clarissa! My mom! She was the one who checked for any injuries. I am a gentleman!", he said, flustered.
"Oh, thank god! ", she thought, while sighing in relief.
But her face was still blushed. She was embarrassed.
There was some tension in the room for a few seconds, before Iono broke it with a cough.
"Well, if you're feeling okay then that's fine. Once you're ready, come downstairs for breakfast. The bathroom is the door on your right.", he said and walked out of the room.
"Troublesome little girl.", he thought while leaving.
Iono had a hard time explaining to his parents what happened yesterday.
By the time he arrived to his house, it was already night time. When Yusef opened the door and saw him carrying an injured child, he thought that their peaceful life was over.
Yusef went pale and thought, " My child killed someone, this is it. I'm done. Everything is over.".
Iono ignored him and walked in the house. He saw his mother in the kitchen making dinner, and she also saw him.
Her exact words were,
"Hello my litt-", and then her eyes went wide, when she saw her son carrying an unknown unconscious girl on his back.
"My baby boy is already at that age?!? Impossible! M-My Baby! ", she thought inwardly, and simply stared at Iono who ignored her and put Clarrisa on his bed.
By the time he returned to the kitchen, he found his mother crying on his father's chest.
Yusef on the other hand was simply staring at the ceiling, pale as a ghost.
"Yusef! My baby, my sweet boy, is growing up so fast! He already brought a girl home!", she said between snots and tears.
Yusef couldn't answer, he thought that the girl was dead. He simply looked at the ceiling muttering, "Everything is over.", repeatedly.
"Can you two not jump so fast into conclusions, and show a little bit of trust in your son!?," Iono yelled as a vein popped on his forehead.
The both turned to look at him as he approached them and sat down.
"Let me explain everything.", he said and told them everything that happened.
They both listened to his story and after a couple minutes their expressions changed from sad to concerned for the unfortunate little girl.
"I will go check for any injuries. She seemed okay, but you never know.", Anna said, and went to check on Clarissa.
After a while she came downstairs and told them she was fine, other than the bruise.
Yusef and Anna looked at each other and decided that they should let her rest and return her home when she was awake.
---------------
Iono and Yusef were stuffing their mouths with food and Anna was cooking them more.
Suddenly all three stopped, and turned their heads to look at the small girl that walked in the dining room.
Anna wiped her hands on her apron and bend down in front of the little girl.
"Good morning honey, how are you feeling? ", she asked with a loving smile.
"I am Anna, Iono's mom. It's very nice to meet you."
Clarissa hurriedly bowed in front of Anna and opened her little mouth to say,
"Good morning your Highness, my name is Clarissa, it's very nice to meet you as well.
Thank you very much for letting my sleep in your house.
Young master saved my life many times yesterday, and you even made me breakfast...".
A few seconds passed and Clarrisa didn't say anything. She simply stood there bowing, but her body started trembling.
"Oh honey, no, don't call me your Highness. In this village, I'm simply Anna, you can even call me... aun-... aun-, let's just call me Anna okay?", she said with a smile, unable to say the word aunty.
Father and son almost spit out their food trying not to laugh at Anna.
The moment she heard them choking, she abruptly turned her head, and glared at them.
They shut up immediately.
Then she turn around to look at Clarissa who had lifted up her head.
He face was blushed, as she was crying her eyes out. She was crying, but she didn't want to be rude, so she bit her lips to stop her for bawling. She looked very cute but the scene made the Rosenblood family immediately tense up.
Anna hugged her tightly, which shattered Clarissa's inner walls and made her bawl her eyes out.
After a few minutes, Clarissa calmed down and Anna let go of her.
While rubbing her eyes, she said,
"I'm so sorry-...But It was so scary yesterday-...and even though the young master saved me-... I have to go back-... but I- ", she said between snots and sobbing, and then started crying again.
"What a noisy girl!", both father and son thought.
"It's ok sweety, don't worry. How about we have some breakfast and then we talk, ok?", Anna said while hugging Clarissa once again.
"Mm", Clarissa said while nodding.
Therefore they both sat down and had breakfast.
His mother had prepared a simple omelette with Huntsman deer meat that Iono brought in yesterday.
Clarissa had a first bite, which made her expression change from sad to happy, and she started gulping down the food like it was the first time she ate something so delicious.
The family of three simply watched her eat while enjoying it themselves.
The meat of the Huntsman deer was surprisingly light compared to normal deer meat, which made it perfect for breakfast.
After finishing her plate, and another one, and another one, Clarissa sat back on the chair rubbing her full belly.
Then she saw the whole family staring at her, which made her become as red as a tomato.
She hurriedly stood up, and with a bow said,
"I am so sorry for my rudeness! It was just so good I couldn't stop myself. Please forgive me. ", her body started trembling out of nervousness.
Suddenly all three burst into laughter which made her lift her head abruptly and look at them with a questioning face.
"There's more if you want sweety. Also, please stop being so formal. As long as we're in this village, we're simple villagers. And that's the reason me and Yusef came here in the first place.", Anna said to the nervous little girl.
She looked at Anna and then nodded her head. "Okay your High-... Aunty I understand.", she said with a beaming smile.
A vein popped in Anna's forehead and food came flying out of both Iono's and Yusef's mouth as they couldn't hold themselves back from laughing.
" Sweety. Anna. You can call me Anna, okay? ", she said to Clarissa.
"Okay, Anna. Hehe", she replied with a smile brighter than the last one, ignorant of what she just did.
"So Clarissa, now that we're full, do you want to tell us why you were so deep in the forest, and who are your parents. I'm sure they are worried sick about you.", Anna asked.
Both her and Yusef were pretty curious as to why has no one come looking for Clarissa.
They knew everyone in the village and they would usually come to them with any problems. So it was weird that a girl was missing and no one came to knock on their door.
Iono on the other hand didn't really care, so he didn't even question it.
When Anna asked about it, Clarissa's expression immediately turned sad again. She was a very emotional girl.
"You see, it's only been me and my mommy since I was born, and so we are very poor. Mommy said that daddy died while fighting bad guys, and that's why we are alone.
Because we are poor, mommy isn't eating right, just so I can eat enough, and so she is very sick.
I heard from a granny that lives next to us that medical herbs could cure her illness, so I went to gather some.
I thought if I went deeper into the forest, I would find better ones.
But-... But-... There were so many monsters there. And I almost died. But-... I can't stop, because mommy is still sick. But-... The monsters are so scary..."
She started weeping while thinking of her mother.