Chapter 10 - CHAPTER 9

"Let go"
"Oh come on sweetheart. I can give you wealth if you go with me"

"I said let…."
"She said let her go"

Eli and the man stopped and slowly look back and saw a young guy. He looks like he's either the same age as Daniel, in his early 20s or younger. He has a black hair and eyes that are staring at the both of them intensely. He looks so intimidating because of his tall stature.

"She asked you to let her go", he walked towards them and grabbed Eli's arm yanking it away from the man's grasp. "Hey! This girl is already taken. Go get some other girl somewhere", the man tried to snarl at him with his arrogance on full load.

But the guy with black hair just stared at him coldly. "What?", the man tried to be as tough as he can, but, the more he stared at the guy's eyes, the more he can feel like they're swallowing him. He started backing down little by little without him even noticing.

"Tsk!", then, finally, when he can't help it, he walked out of there quickly. Eleanor look up to him, she looks like a feet shorter than him. "T-thank you", she meekly said before securing that the last book is in the proper bookshelf. She thought the man left her after that, but, due to shock, she let out a small squeal after seeing the tall man standing behind her, watching her every move.

"Umm, do you need something in return for the help that you've given to me?", but the man just walked to her closer not minding what she just said.

He kneeled down and then took out a small potion out of his pocket, grabbing Eli's arm that the man is holding earlier, and pouring the potion into a wound that looked like it formed because of the man's nails.

"O-oh, t-thank you", Eleanor just watched him as the wound slowly closed up and healed. "Oh, umm, thank you again. I'm Eleanor", she offer her right arm and was delighted when he shook it in return. "Ca…Rephienne. I'm Rephienne", Eli smiled at him with a shy small.

"Nice to meet you. I want to thank you again for umm, helping me earlier", she bowed her head to show gratitude when he lifted it back by holding her chin. "No need", he calmly said.

"T-then, is there any way to repay you? Oh! The potion you used! How much is it?!", Eli started checking her pockets for some money when Rephienne stopped her.

"No need to pay for it"
"But it must've been an expensive one!"
"Then…Mango Cream Pie"

Eli looked at him with a clueless face. "Mango Cream Pie?", she asked. What about it?

"Eat Mango Cream Pie with me some other time", Rephienne, whose looking away from her, stated. Eli looked at him and smiled at him before answering. "Sure"














After their first encounter with each other at the library, Rephienne, who is now being called 'Ren' by Eli, became involved to her daily life.

The two spent time every single day. They either help Meridia in her research; wherein Ren was allowed to help after proving himself useful as her assistant, spend time in the library where they first met, or eat Mango Cream Pie; something that the two of them enjoyed eating together. Sometimes they go to the forest together to collect ingredients since it's easier to do at spring season, and at times they take walks and roam around the city on their day off or do horseback riding in the fields.

It's been months since they've met, and now, it's already summer.

"Welcome back young master Callisto"
"Mm"
"Would you like me to prepare your bath, sir?"

Callisto looked at his butler awaiting his orders. He stared at his reflection in the mirror beside him, his silver hair is messy and and his sky blue eyes looks like it lacks sleep. He was about to say something when he heard voices outside. "Hurry and give me one potion", the butler immediately scurried and in just a second a bottle with a colorless liquid was given to him.

He gulped it in one down and waited for a few minutes before opening the door. "Eleanor. Did something happen? What brings you here?", Eleanor stared at him intently. He unconsciously touched his hair and his eyelids.

"I-is something wrong?"

The girl continued to stare at her for a bit more then started to get closer to him. "Eli?"

"Your look so tired, your black hair is a mess and your beautiful black eyes look tired. I'm sorry, did master pushed you too far with work, Ren?", Callisto mentally sighed. "Sir Callisto…", the maid stopped talking when she saw who's outside with her master.

Callisto looked at her and glared at her. "Callisto? You mean, like the villain of the story?", Eli murmured to herself.

"Did you say something Eli?", Callisto look back at her then started to get close, he then pet her hair. "Huh? I..I didn't!", Eleanor immediately retorted. She looked at him and squinted her eyes.

"Callisto?", she questioned. "A-ah! The maid is talking about…m-my….my f-father! That's right! My father!", Callisto stuttered while scratching his head. 'Maybe I'm being too wary of the characters in this story. It doesn't mean that I hear someone having 'Callisto' as their name, does mean that they're the villain, besides, I can still remember the description about him, silver hair and sky blue eyes, buuuutttt~ there are also people who have those hair and eye colors, but it doesn't mean they're Callisto the villain either', after contemplating for quite a bit, Eli then nodded to herself, convincing her own self about things.

"Oh. Umm, are your parents home? You told me that they're rarely here because of their work so my sudden visit mightt surprise them", Eleanor asked, she looked at him with her innocent eyes. He stared at her before chuckling.

"No, they're not here. The maid must've made a mistake"
"Oh, okay"

The girl then noticed Ren/Callisto's features and started to grow more worried. "Hey Ren?", the young man look at her holding his right hand, "Umm, I convinced master to let me take a break for today, so I came here to check on you since I noticed that you look so tired earlier before leaving work", she look at him with worry evident on her eyes.

"Then, would you like to come in and have tea with me?"














"Here's your tea, milady", the butler, Rostum, served the tea in the table as Eli thanked him properly. He then left the room of Callisto where the two are currently in. The both of them sip the teas quietly, Ren/Callisto put his cup down as he let out a quiet yawn, but Eli noticed.

She looked at the bed and contemplated on things again, and once she made up her mind. She stood up, sat on the edge of the bed then looked at Ren who's also looking at her.

She shyly looked down and called out, "Umm, Ren…can you umm..can you please come here?", Ren/Callisto came towards her despite not knowing the reason. But he was surprised when Eli suddenly made him lay down in bed.

"Eli what are you..", she then stopped him from talking by massaging his head and temples. "I really can't believe this. You're already this rich and yet you're still taking your time and putting so much effort in working in the lab with us. What are you going to do with all those money you've earn? You can't even take care of your health like this"

Eli continued to scold him but she didn't notice the gentle smile placed on Ren's lips as he continued to look at her. "I'll massage you like this till you fall asleep. So go on, sleep", Eli continued massaging Ren's head.

An hour passed by, and when Eli was sure that he's really sleeping now and no one is in the room, she focused and let out energy. The familiar blue light came out and a dome like barrier covered Ren's whole body like a blanket, and later on, the bags on his eyes and any marks of stress and fatigue vanished.

Eli continued to massage him after that. The barrier vanished then after healing the young man. Ren felt her hands started to slow down and finally stopped from massaging his head.

He slowly opened his eyes and look up, there he saw Eli's eyes closed. Looks like she fell asleep. He slowly got up and gently lay her down in his bed then took off her shoes.

He sat beside her and stared at her face, as the sun started to set, something on her hair shone by the sunset's light. Ren pushed a part of Eli's long black hair behind her ears.

He never saw her put her hair behind her ears, not even once, for Eli, it must've been a habit she got when she was still Ammiel, because of her chubby cheeks she hates putting her hair behind her ears, but Ren interpreted it in a different way, because after putting her hair behind her ears there he saw something that was very familiar to him.

On Eli's ear, a single piece of earring…familiar earring…can be seen. He zoned out for a minute but then, slowly…a smile was formed in his lips. "This is the final confirmation"














"Ugh…I can't believe I actually spent the night at your mansion. I'm sorry for the trouble Ren"
"Haha, it's okay Eli, you're welcome in our house anytime"
"Seriously, master will scold me"
"No she won't, I informed her that you fell asleep and will be spending the night in our house"
"But still, now we're late"

Ren chuckled as Eleanor continued to mumble things while they're entering the school to where the lab is. Eleanor, who accidentally fell asleep, spent the night sleeping on Ren's bed. Ren/ Callisto, then informed Meridia about her spending the night there for her not to worry about the girl. The next day, the two of them woke up late and was now running late.

As the both of them got closer to where the lab is, they soon noticed a lot of knights waiting near the door. Ren stopped and held Eli's hand to stop her from walking. He then placed her behind him as the knights finally noticed them.

"What are you both doing here?! This place is not for students like you both! Or are you both not students?! Identify yourselves!", as one knight shouted, a few knights started walking towards them. Eli hold onto Ren's sleeves, worried about the situation they're in now.

"W-we're the master's assistants", Eli tried to answer, though she still stuttered a bit. The knights looked at each other when the door opened. Meridia peeked and immediately got what's happening. "They're my assistants", she confirmed to them. The knights let the two passed by then and they both entered the lab.

There they found two men. Both of them have electric blue eyes that stared at both Eli and Ren who just entered, but, the older one has black hair while the young one has ash grey hair.

The two just stood there but then Meridia called the both of them. "Greet them, they're important guests of ours", the two then bowed their heads. The older man immediately dismissed them, a sign that he might be a noble. And that is indeed right.

"This is your excellency, Duke Lucian Haven Donati", Meridia introduced as the older man nodded at them with a stern face.

"And this is young master, Lucius Ethel Donati", the young man nodded as well after being introduced. Eli and Ren bowed their heads in respect, "We greet your excellency and the young master of the Donati Dukedom", they said in chorus.

The Donati clan are the ones who rules/ are in charge of the Southern Region of Sirthyna Kingdom where every people with different abilities (wizards, alchemists, priests, and even people with no abilities) are; the Meridio Region. It is also the region where school for scholars and knights to be, who are people with no abilities, are located.

In the other regions, Earl Pier is in charge of the Western Region, the region where the academy for priests are; Ciden. Marquess Isbert is in charge of the Northern Region where the Veneficus Academia (academy for wizards) are; Septen. Earl Perye is in charge of the Eastern Region where they are right now and where most of the people are alchemists; Orien. And finally, the royal family who oversees the whole Sirthyna Kingdom is in the central region; Centralis.

"These are my assistants, Eleanor and Rephienne", the two bowed as they were introduced. "!?", the older man, Duke Lucian, immediately sat up from his seat but the young master, Lucius, stopped him. He shook his head firmly to calm his father down.

"A-ahem!", he immediately composed himself and sat down in the chair after seeing that everyone were looking at him. "Let's go back to business, shall we?", Meridia sat by the chair in front of the 2 nobles while Eli and Ren stood behind her. The 2 nobles looked at the both of them, "Don't worry, my assistants are trustworthy, besides, they're going to help me with the task that you'll assign to me", the 2 then nodded, though still having doubts, but they have no choice.

"So..ahem! We need your help in creating a new potion", Lucius started out, he looked at his father as the older man nodded at him to continue.

"What kind of potion?", Meridia asked. "It's will be difficult to create this potion but we're willing to pay. So, the potion you'll be making, is a potion…for locating a person"

Silence filled the room as Meridia looked at the two serious nobles sitting in front of her.

"You already know that this potion will be very hard to make. It might take me at least 6 months or worse, years", she immediately said.

"We're fine with paying no matter how much you'll need for this", Lucius immediately retorted.

"Okay, let's say that you'll be able to pay all the expenses for this research in creating this potion, but why would you need us to create something like this? If you need to search for someone, you can just ask tracking wizards to search for them. So why would you need to go and ask us for help in this?", after saying that, Meridia stood up and was about to go out of the room when a small voice was heard.

"Because they can't find them"

Meridia stopped walking. She then slowly looked back to the one who just spoke seconds ago. "What do you mean Duke Donati?"

The old Duke sighed. He and his son looked and gave each other a nod before he began talking again. "The spells wizards use in order to track someone requires things that that person already used. But, the problem is, we don't have those", Meridia became more confused about the details. She slowly walked back to where the 2 nobles are while asking, "What do you mean they you don't have any?"

And by the looks that the Duke is making, it seems like this is deep secret that their family might be hiding. But even so, they don't have a choice. In order to convince Meridia to make the potion that they need, they have to confess everything.

"Father, are you sure about this?", young master Lucius grabbed his father's arm. But the Duke looked at him sternly, "We need to cooperate in order for them to help us. We don't really have a choice. Besides, Meridia Oscas is a known alchemist who never revealed any secrets that she knows"

Eleanor unknowingly nodded mentally, agreeing about that fact stated regarding her master. Lucius' fist clenched. "It's for THEM Lucius. We can't lose them as well, especially without doing anything", and finally, the young master just bowed his head and loosen his grip on his father's arm.
And thus, after taking a deep breathe, the Duke started to explain. "That person never left any things that they've already used. It wasn't destroyed or anything like that. We don't have anything that they've already used because that person is a newborn baby. I don't even know if they're a boy or a girl, we prepared stuffs for both genders but, it was never used, because even before I was able to see them, they already disappeared"

Everyone listened to him intently as Meridia asked him again.

"And how important is that baby? How is that newborn baby connected to the both of you?"

"That baby….that baby is the most important treasure of the Donati Dukedom even before they were even born. That baby….they're my and my wife...the duchess' second child"