Enarys led Nathan through the wide and luxurious corridors of the mansion. It had been a couple of days since Nathan had returned from training with Abel and it was time for him to get to work.
Finally they reached a room on the top floor of the mansion at the end of the corridor, the farthest room in the whole place. Enarys knocked three times on the door and waited.
"I wish you luck" Enarys murmured looking at Nathan, who was only slightly confused.
'Why would I need it?' he thought and just a moment later the door opened.
A woman dressed in a maid's outfit peeked out. Seeing Enarys she opened the door fully and bowed respectfully. "Lady Enarys"
Enarys simply calmed the maid and waited for her to raise her head to point at Nathan. "This is Eri's new guard"
The maid looked at Nathan and he could see a slight hint of disappointment, which simply confused him even more.
"I understand, Lady Enarys. Thank you very much" the maid nodded slightly.
Enarys looked at Nathan again and smiled. "I trust you will do well"
Saying that, Enarys turned and began to walk away down the hallway. Nathan stood in the doorway in front of the maid, who seeing that Enarys was gone looked at him with displeasure. "Are you coming in or not?"
The maid went inside and left the door open with a still confused and surprised Nathan. 'What was that change?'
'There's something else Enarys didn't tell you' Amelia mentioned.
Nathan just sighed internally and entered the room. It was at that moment that he felt his essence begin to behave strangely. Nathan tried to control it and barely managed to do so.
Feeling his body heavy because of the strange behavior of his essence, Nathan closed the door behind him and entered the room. He looked around and sighed.
'Is this a room?' He had entered some room in the mansion itself, but this one was not comparable to a guest room. Instead, it was a complete apartment, Nathan saw a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room, where several maids were gathered, hiding a person with their bodies.
'So that's her...' Nathan thought as he began to walk towards the living room.
There, a young black-haired woman with a pale complexion and emerald, green eyes was lying on one of the sofas, reading a book. Three maids were around her, conversing quietly with slight smiles on their faces.
When the maid who had opened the door for Nathan and Enarys saw that he had arrived, she alerted the others and approached the young woman sitting on the sofa, whispering something in her ear.
The young woman stopped reading and turned her head to look at Nathan. Then she sat down and raised her back without taking her eyes off Nathan. She closed her book, put it down and smiled.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, seventh guard of the month" the young woman greeted with a friendly look.
Nathan, however, frowned and growled internally. 'What's going on? My essence is going crazy'
The closer he got to the young woman, the more he could feel his essence starting to get out of control, to the point where he had to give his all to keep it under control.
Seeing Nathan's frown, the young woman smiled sadly and whispered. "It's the same as always"
Nathan couldn't allow himself to lose focus, so he couldn't listen to the young woman. Realizing that he either had to keep control of his essence or get away from the young woman, Nathan looked at the silver bracelet on his wrist and bit his lip. 'I'm going to give you all my essence, Amelia'
'Huh? All of it?' asked Amelia in surprise.
'Yes, all of it. I can't take it anymore' Nathan groaned in pain and without thinking again he made all his essence flow into the bracelet.
Never before had he used so much essence in such a short time, so he lost his balance and had to hold on to a nearby chair to keep from falling. Finally, after a few seconds, all his essence was swallowed by Amelia, and he could finally take a breath, feeling that his body, although weakened by the lack of essence, felt better.
Nathan sighed with his whole-body sweating, then he looked at the young woman who looked at him in surprise. Her eyes sparkled with interest while the maids looked at him in confusion.
"Ohhh! You endured it!" the young woman clapped her hands amusedly.
Nathan had to push his sweat-soaked hair back and stared at the young woman. Not more than five minutes had passed, and Nathan was already as tired as if he had trained for a whole day.
The young woman picked up her book and lay down again. Without looking at Nathan, she opened the book and read it again. "My name is Erina Shraon, it is a pleasure to meet you, seventh guard of the month. I look forward to seeing how much time we can share together"
Nathan said nothing and simply remained silent. 'Amelia... remind me what today is?'
'It's... February 5th' Amelia replied.
Nathan just laughed silently. 'It's been five days since the month started and I'm the seventh guard'
Slowly Nathan stood upright again and looked at the young woman who was reading disinterestedly. 'Although I can understand why... What was that?'
'I could feel your essence going out of control... but I didn't suffer it' Amelia mentioned, trying to help Nathan understand what had happened. 'Is it her technique?'
'I don't think so... she doesn't possess essence. She is an ordinary human, just like the maids' Nathan took a few steps back and reached the end of the room, where he leaned against the wall and sighed.
'She is the worst enemy of any essence user... Enarys knew it and for that reason she made me spend a month together with Abel' Nathan swallowed saliva and growled slightly as he felt a pinch of his essence regenerate, having to give it to Amelia, returning it to zero.
'I'm barely first rank third rate... I doubt they haven't tried to get someone second rank or third rank to go near her. So I guess the effect is the same or worse'