Maria and Alaia were enveloped in silence for a few minutes after that sweet gesture by Alaia. Both are internally screaming on the inside. They are hiding their smiles at each other. They are busy normalizing the beating of their heart. Especially Maria, the bubbly personality of her earlier popped out and she's now suddenly shy. Suddenly, everything she wanted to say was washed out of her mind, leaving her a blushing mess.
"Where is your mother, Maria? I never heard you mention her." Alaia asked after realizing that they needed to break the silence between them while staring at her hands on her lap.
Maria flinched in surprise at the question. She had never imagined that one day, Alaia would be interested in her life.
Maria looked down, couldn't help but be sad at the mention of her dead mother. She can't blame Alaia though, because Alaia was oblivious to the fact that her mother was long gone in this world already.
Smiling sadly, Maria answered, "My mother died when she was giving birth to my twin little brothers."
"O-Oh. Sorry for asking. I didn't know." Alaia guiltily apologized. She wanted to facepalm herself while mentally cursing, feeling so stupid right now, but she knew that doing that would make her look even more stupid, so she didn't.
"It's okay. I love my mother and I love talking about her. I have many happy memories with her, and this bracelet-" Maria raised her left arm to show the bracelet to Alaia.
"My mother is the one who gave me this. That is why I never take it off." Maria continued, smiling while staring at the bracelet.
Alaia wanted to straighten things out and reveal that she was actually the real owner of that bracelet. The reason why her mother gave it to her is that she asked them to do that so she would be able to distinguish from everyone that she was the baby of the peasants that Alaia met that day. But she didn't want to ruin the moment, so she just let Maria assume for now that the bracelet was her mother's.
"How about you, Your Highness? Where are your parents?" Maria casually asked, which left Alaia speechless. Maria only realized what she had just asked and whom she had just asked, when she finished her question. She knew that Alaia's identity and everything about her was a secret that she wasn't supposed to know. She pondered on her thoughts whether she would take back her question or not, but because she didn't want to be seen as pushy, she had decided to take it back.
"It's okay-"
"My father was also dead already." Alaia revealed, which surprised Maria.
Maria looked back at Alaia and was about to apologize for asking, but Alaia was not yet done. "And so, my oldest brother."
Alaia, not only does she sound sad, but there's some spiciness in her voice. Maria wondered what the spiciness was about, but she was too scared to ask. She felt like asking about that would be the biggest mistake she would ever commit.
"My mother" Alaia took a deep breath before she continued, "And my older brother killed them for selfish reasons."
Maria's eyes widened and lightly bit her lower lip at the heavy words. Even though she didn't know the people that Alaia mentioned and how they were killed, just imagining it was enough to bring tightness in her chest that she was sure Alaia was also feeling a thousand times heftier than she could ever imagine. She wanted to reach out for Alaia's hand to caress it and make Alaia feel that she was there. That she was listening and willing to do everything to make her feel better, but she believed that they weren't that close yet for her to be allowed to do that, so she just tightly closed her fist to stop the urge.
"T-Then w-where is your mother and older brother now?" Maria asked. She had a hard time letting out those words, there was a big lump in her throat that was hindering her ability to speak and breathe. She didn't expect Alaia's past to be this bad. Now she at least understood why there were too many walls surrounding her. Now she understood why it was too hard for her to trust anyone, especially humans, because the people she trusted and loved the most killed the people who were as important as her life. What Maria doesn't know is Alaia was also once killed by the same people. Alaia skipped that part. She doesn't want to reveal every little thing about her life. There's a perfect time for everything.
Alaia looked back at Maria and smiled, "He's living happily with the fruit of his greediness. As for my mother, I heard she died a few years ago due to an illness."
"D-Did they abandon you? Is that why you're living alone here?"
Alaia shook her head, "No, they don't know. They thought I was already dead. I don't want them to know that I'm still alive. That is why I chose to live here alone."
"Then how long are you living alone already?" Maria asked, returning Alaia's stare.
Alaia paused, counting the years that had passed since she died. "Twenty-four years already."
Maria nodded in understanding, staring at the ground. "So that happened a long time-"
Maria pursed her lips in confusion, counting the years that passed with her hands. She remembered that the reason why she was there was that Alaia once saved her parents from a dangerous situation. Then how old was she when that happened and how old is she now?
Alaia giggled, finding the confused Maria cute. She knew what the younger girl was thinking and it was not really a secret.
"I'm 45 years old already, Maria."
Alaia was right in expecting that Maria would be surprised to know her age, since she was sure that she didn't look in her mid-forties already. She found how Maria reacted funny: how her eyes widened and how her jaw dropped slowly.
"Are you kidding me?" Maria asked, forgetting to use the honorifics.
Alaia shook her head. "No. I met your parents when I was only 21 years old."
Maria furrowed her brows, "H-How come? You don't look 45 years old. I thought you were just a year or maybe two away from my age."
Alaia snickered. She looked back at Maria while lightly pinching her chin with her hand that was on top of her knees.
"I'm no longer a normal human being, remember? Something happened that gave me the ability to use magic and not to age."
Maria slowly nodded her head and then looked away.
"That would be an 18-year age gap." Maria whispered, referring to her age and Alaia's.
"What did you say?" Alaia asked.
Maria panickily shook her head and scratched her cheek, "O-Oh, I said. Tell me more about your life." Maria confidently requested and tightened the blanket around her as cold air was blown in their direction.
Alaia flicked Maria's forehead, which earned a groan from the younger girl.
"What's that for?" Maria asked, rubbing her forehead while pouting her lips at Alaia.
Alaia tried not to look down at Maria's lips but failed after a split second that passed since her mind told her to not look down. It was just too tempting. It was a must. She should look at it because she didn't know when she would be given an opportunity to sit this close to Maria again. It was only for a brief moment though, because she was too scared that Maria would notice her staring.
"Don't you think you've learned so many things about me already? Why don't you share something instead? After all, you were the one who suggested that we should do this and yet you barely contributed anything to this conversation."
Maria scratched her head in embarrassment, "But I don't have anything I can talk about. My life wasn't that eventful." That was true, but that's not the sole reason why she wanted Alaia to be the main contributor to this conversation; that was because she wanted to learn every little thing about Alaia.
Alaia sighed and then looked up at the night sky, thinking of happenings in her life that she could safely share.
"Then I'll tell you how I met each of them." Alaia stated, referring to her servants.
Maria eagerly nodded her head, feeling excited that Alaia would be willing to tell her more stories. And so, Alaia started telling how she met each of them. She started with Leo, since she met him first among everyone. Alaia had never had a conversation as casual as this with anyone. Yes, she was pretty close with all her servants but this closeness between her and Maria was different in a thousand ways. Maria was a human and yet she managed to earn Alaia's trust this early. Alaia just hoped that she wouldn't regret it.
"That's it. I already told you everything, how about we sleep already?" Alaia asked and looked back at Maria only to find the younger girl already sleeping.
Alaia stifled a laugh, couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"She's the one who said that she probably wouldn't get sleep for the rest of the night, but here she is: fell asleep earlier than me even though she's just sitting without leaning into anything. How can this be?" Alaia whispered, asking herself while staring at the sleeping Maria.
Maria's head was lightly banging. The blanket that was wrapped around her had already fallen to her side. She probably fell asleep when Alaia was just starting her story or at least already in the middle.
Alaia smiled for the nth time tonight. She scooted closer to Maria and picked up the blanket to wrap it around Maria again. She carefully pushed Maria's head onto her shoulder and grinned even wider when she felt Maria scoot even closer to her while still sleeping. She again smelled that fruity fragrance that messed her mind two months ago.
Alaia untied her white mask using only one hand and then put it down on her side. She pushed the strand of Maria's hair that fell to her face behind her ear and then let her hand rest on Maria's left cheek, caressing it lightly.
"What am I even doing?"