Looking down at the scared young man her facial expression darkened. What did he mean by that? Was she that ugly?
Looking back she should have just thrown him out. She had come to clean the room as per her usual routine. She always cleaned this room last since there wasn't much to do besides maintenance.
And there he was, this poor homeless fella. She saw him asleep on the floor, his eyes a moment away from pouring tears. She had never seen anyone feel so comfortable sleeping on what amounted to cold tiles.
Seeing the scene something resonated within her as she remembered her homeless days till the Madam found her.
"It's okay poor man, tonight you can sleep on a bed." Having resolved herself she took one of his legs and pulled him across the room towards the bed then threw him up and on it.
She knew she should probably report the matter to the madam about how sloppy the guards were to allow a poor man slip through, but she figured she'd tell her in the morning.
It was late at night and she honestly couldn't be bothered to do more work.
Recalling the previous night her emotions swelled! She felt betrayed! After everything she'd done for him!
Tristan on the other hand was looking at the strange girl that had appeared before.
Seeing her going through an existential crisis in what amounted to seconds he couldn't help but think she had a few screws loose.
"You! Pedophile, what's your name?" Tristan stood up and patted himself down, but he remained vigilant. One should never let their guard down in front of such people.
"Me? I'm Mara...ea." It was then it downed on her. Had she been mistaken as such?
"WAIT! WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" She looked to be on the verge of tears. "You poor homeless man with a shabby fashion sense. Even after all I did for you!"
Tristan was trying to remain vigilant but the more words she spewed the more sour his expression turned.
'Me? Homeless? Shabby?' He almost felt the urge to turn and check if there was someone else in the room. But then he felt something off. Why was he reacting so strongly?
Looking at the girl again and then at his surroundings he couldn't find anything causing him to frown. He calmed down finally having analysed the situation.
"You, are you perhaps a maid here?" Tristan looked towards the girl with a bland expression.
"Me? Yes." Maraea answered without much hesitation.
'Sigh isn't she too free with strangers?' Tristan's face scrunched. He couldn't wrap his head around those who always had their guard down. Was she that confident or just stupid?
"Alright. I guess you're not a threat." Tristan breathed a sigh of relief. He was naturally not someone who took risks. He had planned for a possible breach.
"What do you mean..." But before she could continue her line of thoughts she saw the runic array fading from her chest. Her eyes narrowed.
'When did he touch me?' She frowned. But even that disappeared as quickly as it came.
'So he's not a beggar then... Assassin? No, then he wouldn't be sleeping on the floor.' She ran through a multitude of thoughts in her head but was unable to settle for anyone in particular.
"Tristan, are you awake? Breakfast is ready." Olivia walked into the room only to see a frightened Tristan backed into a corner by another woman.
'It can't be... are our maids so loose?' Her expression darkened. Her cheery mood dropped faster than a meteor gravitated towards Earth.
Sensing the odd atmosphere Maraea turned around only to turn back immediately, but not fast enough for Olivia to miss her face.
"Ma. Ra. Ea. Would you mind...explaining what you're up to?" The floors quaked under her voice.
"Oh, Olivia... hi. So there is this intru-" Maraea turned once more to explain herself but was quickly cut off.
"Did you not read the notifications on your communicator?" Olivia frowned. This girl was honestly much too unruly, she had no idea why Madam kept her around.
"No...tifica...tions. Right, there was something like that wasn't there."
Tristan on the other hand felt the urge to facepalm. 'Is she really that dumb or?' He didn't know, and he couldn't be bothered to find out.
He cleared his mind letting their banter fall to the background. The fact Olivia hadn't attacked was already enough proof of her identity. There was no need to probe more than that.
The shape of the heart. A Base Diagram at its core was a Construct. A Natural Construct perfectly tailored to its creator. But whenever he tried simulating its use on himself it always fell short of his expectations.
This was expected of course. Nobody ever tried to create it perfectly because there were always variables.
But in his simulation, the heart always failed. It was almost when you could tell you were using more energy than needed to achieve something. There was a distinct lack of efficiency.
'No. It's not efficient. Rather its ability to manipulate energy is low causing it to overclock itself.' Tristan frowned. How could he possibly have more energy than was needed to achieve a stable Construct?
He looked down at his chest and frowned. 'Is it this thing?' He wasn't sure but until he found a solution there wasn't much he could do.
"..ris..Tristan!" Soon his cognition returned only to hear his name being screamed out.
'Why are they all so noisy.' He truly could not understand. It seemed like something was going on every second it was just emotional rollercoaster after emotional rollercoaster.
"Yes?" He honestly could have cared less. Well, at least that was his mindset till he heard her next set of words.
"Breakfast is ready are you-" Before Olivia could even say much more his stomach was growling. It was almost as if just the mention of food was enough to wake the sleeping monster.