Diane was speechless. She had
The wind was bustling through her hair, and it seemed as though sapphire was at her fullest speed yet. She screamed in delight as the horse ran over various fields and orchards of all sorts of forms and sizes. After running for what seemed like thousands of miles, Sapphire finally seemed to be getting fatigued. As though the universe was trying to aid her, there stood at the side of them a magnificent orchad with a beautiful gate in front and a stream overflowing with sparkling water at the side. " Here sapphire, I think we can rest here. " She said while stroking the horse's mane. " You were cooped up inside that smelly stable for so long that you outran your last record." She said with a smile. She watched as sapphire bent her head down to drink from the stream . " I know I might be trespassing, but who establishes an orchard so far away from their house and doesn't give it proper protection. Hmm, these locks seem complicated. She said, turning the locks in front of the gate. They gave in at once. Diane took one good look at the magnificent golden gate in front of her , before walking into the orchad . " Wow, the apples are so fresh. I wonder what aristocrat owns this, hmm, I wonder if it could be one of father' s political friends .... GAHH ! " *THUMP*
Diane had been so mesmerized appreciating the beauty of the orchad garden in front of her that she failed to notice the gully right in the middle of her path, which she had currently fallen into. " Ouch, why would there be such a thing in a garden, doesn't the owner know how to maintain it? O-OUCH!!!" She had sprained her ankle quite badly, and it seemed to be swelling by the second. She attempted to climb her way back up, but the effort proved to be fruitless. " Sapphire isn't near to get help for me, and I doubt anyone would hear me even If I screamed. This place is as desolate as a morgue." She said , resting her head on her knees.
Not too far away from her location, a young man with blue hair was seen busy in his office. " Ah, I thought I informed Dame Lilian not to bother ." He said, flipping over one of his many files in the office , while scribbling away on a parchment. " Honestly, the people of this world don't realize what's best for them, they always tend to make the wrong choices." All of a sudden, as if on impulse, the door of his office burst open. The young man lifted up his brown eyes to regard the intruder, while looking on the blotch of ink that currently stained the parchment. " Hugo." He began with his voice as calm as possible. " Given the velocity at which you barged into my office, I hope the issue on ground is worth my attention. " " I am sorry my lord, but I had no other choice left. " The elderly man said while bowing his head, and later
raise it up, showing a medallion which was blinking faintly. The young man arched his eyebrow.
It had seemed like days for Diane, but in reality it had just been hours. " Huh, I wonder if father will search for me if he discovers that I ' ve gone missing. Or maybe I should just accept my Fate and die here peacefully. Afterall, only few people get to have such a luxury." She said, but as she was about to lose hope, she heard some voices from above. " HELLO! IS SOMEONE OUT THERE? PLEASE HELP ME !" The footsteps began to get closer until... " Ah, so this is where our intruder was hiding. "
Diane was quite stunned. She felt like he was one of those heroes from stories who
never failed to save their princess at the last moment. He just kept on walking setting her down on a bench Close to a magnificent fountain, and then uttered two simple words : " Show me." Diane was flabbergasted. To be honest, she had never before in her teenage years considered any guy to be handsome except her brother, but she was certain that with the right supplies, this guy was capable of beating her brother in a contest.
"Did you not hear what I said?" The voice had finally managed to snap her out of her thoughts. To her he seemed to have inched closer, compelling her to withdraw further away from him. "W- What do you think you are doing ?" She asked timidly. "Oh , I see you don't take a liking to strangers. How admirable" Diane almost choked. What kind of weirdo found that admirable? " Listen the point is I don' t know who you are, or where you are from. I don't even know your background. And before you jump into conclusions, No, I am not the kind of person that participates in discrimination between nobles and commoners. " She said, her arms crossed across her chest. "Pfffft" Diane's eyes widened. What had she said that he found so funny? " It seemed like I stumbled upon quite an interesting specimen" He said, studying her with his eyes, his hand on his chin, seemingly intrigued by her behavior. " Okay then, I will formally introduce myself. I am Diego. Diego Raymond." Something immediately clicked in her head. " Wait, as in the Diego Raymond? The owner of THAT business company?" " My goodness, how many people bear the same name as me?" He said, placing his hand on the bridge of his nose. " But it is a good thing, I am more popular than I thought. Now" He said inching a bit closer to Diane. " May I have the pleasure of getting acquainted with my lady?"
" I am Diane, Diane Lewis. " She said after a pause. " Ah yes, I have bumped into your father and older brother quite often. " He said half - heartedly, while taking her shoe off and placing her injured leg on his lap. " What are you doing?!" She said, trying to retrieve her leg back, but the leg suddenly felt weak for some reason. " You are hurt, you shouldn't struggle too much. " He said locking eyes with her. It could be a trick of the light, but she could have sworn that they turned gold. "Wait a second, how did you know I was hurt? " She questioned, while arching a brow. " It's almost nearly impossible for one to fall into that hole without getting hurt. And I knew your leg was hurt because you kept holding it at an odd angle. " He said, pulling her trousers up and examining the bruise. " Also, I had quite a few... associates that fell in as well when I was younger. " " Then why don't you fix it?! What if I broke my neck and died down there?!" " Wow my lady, It never dawned on me that you were the type that yelled out their dissatisfaction. " Diego said, wringing out his ear with his hands " Besides, you ought to be more grateful.if I was cruel I would just have left you in there." Diane gave it some consideration to what Diego just said. " You are right, I am sorry. " She said with her head bowed. " Well, at least you are not the noble that has vain pride. I accept your apology. " Diego replied with a smile which seemed to Diane, brighter and more glorious than the sun itself.
It hurts a lot, doesn't it . " Diego asked, snapping her our of her trance ." It does." Diane was surprised at how free she was with Diego. She rarely flowed with strangers. " You seem younger than me." He said caressing her bruise. She was enjoying the cool touch of his fingers. " How old are you?" "Eighteen " She said without hesitation. " What about you? " " Twenty two." "Hey Diego, do you believe in love?" " What prompted you to ask such a thing?" " I ask because I 'm beginning to lose faith in love. " She said with a sigh. " Love is a beautiful thing, and I agree it can hurt you sometimes. But when you fall in love with the one whom you desire, it will seem like an endless and infinite tunnel of happiness. I hope you get to experience that someday." " Why do you say that?" She said looking up at him. " Because you probably have a long list of suitors, you are of age, afterall. " He said. She looked down at her leg because of the tingling sensation she felt, only to notice that her left leg was completely healed. "What In the..." " Tell me how you were able to see this orchad" Diego said suddenly with a serious look on his face. " Wait, why are you asking such a question, everyone can see it, right?" " You have such a magnificent and loyal horse. " He said, standing up and turning his back on her. " Count yourself lucky for that." He said walking away. " Honestly, If I hadn't seen her, I would have greatly doubted if someone was here. She was really restless the whole time and kept looking at the gate." He added. She made up to grab him." What you just said does not make any sense to me. " "You don't believe in magic, do you?" He stated and as she looked closer his body emanated a silvery glow. " Well, it doesn't matter. I will just adjust the spell, and hopefully when you wake up. " He said, turning around swiftly and tapping her on the forehead with his index finger. " You will not remember any of this. " What are you..." She could not complete her sentence because her head got heavy. But before she hit the ground, she felt Diego pull her close to him. Then everything went dark.
"Mmm, mmm." Diane muttered as the sun rays went streaming down her eyelids. She got up slowly from her bed. Her head was pounding. She felt some weight on her lap, and when she glanced at her legs she saw Morris's sleeping head. She touched his head softly, and he yawned, got up and rubbed his eyes. When his line of sight landed on her, his green eyes widened for a moment, before he sprang up like one who had been shot by lightening. "Nanny! Father! Brother Sylvester! Brother Dennis! Sister is awake". He yelled while running out of her room. Diane wanted to call after him bit her throat felt dry. Why was Morris acting as though she just came back from the land of the dead? She tried to recall her previous memories but her already aching head began to pound even harder. It only took a split moment for the entire family to arrive in her room. "Diane!" Her twin brother Dennis was the first to barge in. His eyes which were initially filled with worry softened up as he saw her. "How are you feeling now?" He asked, sitting himself by her bedside. "A little feverish, but I am fine now." She replied. She did feel a lite feverish. She felt her face warm, her eyelids were unusually heavy and her head banging from only goodness knew what. The rest of the family members also equally nestled around her, while the maid, Dorothy and her daughter, Alice stood around the door. "How are you, princess?" Her father asked. He had been calling her that since she was a baby. Diane was his princess and Dennis, his little prince. "I am fine, father. Just a little feverish that's all." She replied flatly. She wish he would remove his hand from her face. Ever since her mother died, she began to have mixed up theories about her father. She couldn't even tell if he truly loved her right now or if he was just trying to win her favor so she would get married to any guy he decided to throw at her. "Father, with all due permission, can I at least work from home today? I want to watch over my sister, at least just this once." Dennis stated. "Absolutely not, Dennis, why make such a ridiculous request?" Her father retorted. What a man. So an older brother wishing to spend some quality time with his sister had turned ridiculous. "But father" Dennis began but his father cut him short. "There are way too many distractions at home and besides, there are more than enough people to watch over her, and Dorothy is also here." He said. "Let it go, thames." Diane said to her brother, placing his hand on his when she noticed he was about to say something else. Dennis looked at her and outwardly sighed. Thames. That was the pet name her mother usually called Dennis. She had named him after her own late father. "Besides, we will have to see Count Adriel's family today." He continued. "Their daughter was lovely, wasn't she? So well mannered and cultured. If all goes well, we could get you both betrothed." He said as he stood up to leave. "Yes, father." Dennis replied flatly as he and Sylvester also stood up. "Dorothy, keep am eye on her." He said as he and his two eldest sons walked out of the door. " Of course, my lord." Dorothy replied with a slight bow. "Alice, young master, come we should really let the young lady rest." She said to the children. Morris was squeezing Diane's hand so tightly, Dorothy feared that her lady's hands will break. "NO!" Morris obstinately refused. Dorothy sighed and knelt beside him. "Morris, you are a good boy, right?" Morris innocently nodded. "Then good boys should always listen to their elders. Besides, if you don't let your sister rest, how on earth will she recover fully so she can play with you?" She asked. "I do want her to get better quickly." Morris murmured. Alice appeared and grabbed his right hand. "Come with me Morris, I know what will make your sister feel better." She said. "We can go pick the roses that grows from the garden." She said, tugging Morris from the bed. "Yeah, we can do that." Morris agreed. And hence the two children left the room, laughing heartily. "I will let you rest, my lady." Dorothy said after a brief moment of silence. "In the mean time, I will go gather some herbs from the garden that can help abate that fever of yours. " She added as she turned around to leave. "Thank you, dorothy." Diane mouthed. "Sleep well, my lady." Dorothy said as she closed the door. "I guess I will have to ask her about how she found me later." She said to herself as her heavy eye lids subconsciously closed.
It was one heck of a dream. Diane' s eyes finally fluttered open. At that time it was evening. She finally sat up in bed, rubbing her sore head. She didn't know how, but she somewhat managed to recall the eventful event of the previous day. "M-magic? No, I must have misheard him." She said as she got out of bed. "Hmph! Who the hell does he think he is to touch me however he deems fit?" She stated as she sat on the dressing mirror and began to brush the tangles away from her hair. "Still, he was acting so strange, I have to do some research." She said, allowing her blonde hair fall about magnificently on her shoulders. She suddenly heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" She inquired. "Sister it's me." The voice replied. "Come in, Sylvester." She said as the door opened. Sylvesyer proceeded to sit in her bed, after closing the door behind him. "What is it? Are you alright?" She asked with a look of suspicion. Her brother wasn't usually this quiet around her, but yet he found a way to distance himself from her. "What happened?" She asked after sensing the weird tension emanating from his being. "Well, sister, you see...."
Diane had a look of contemplation on her face as Sylvester explained all that had unfolded. "Don't worry, I will make him see reason." She said to Sylvester. "You just go and tell father that I will handle it." She said to Sylvester. "Okay." Sylvetser said and proceeded to leave. "But I can't assure you that I can make him to comply." She said as he was about to close the door. She heaved a sigh as she also proceeded to exit the room as well.