A red-haired woman with green eyes walked along a path not far from the palace to a large mansion near the forest. The mansion was occupied by three men who had just returned from war.
While walking steadily but quickly, she entered the mansion area by showing a badge that she was a royal servant. A special badge made for servants sent to serve the three men.
"I was sent to serve the royal knights. Let me in," she said as she showed the badge to the guards at the gate.
"So you are the new servant? His Emperial Majesty really sent another new servant for the knights. I hope you'll be fine," said one of the guards in a teasing tone, as if he thought that the woman would not last long serving the three knights living in the mansion.
Not only that guard but the other guard also said the same thing. Holding back his laughter, he warned her to be careful and not to look the knights in the eye.
That made the maid feel confused. But she didn't stop there and went straight into the mansion area after they opened the gate for her.
Carrying a suitcase in her hand, she placed the suitcase next to her foot and knocked on the door.
After almost a few minutes, the door finally opened and she was quite shocked by the appearance of a black-haired man with amber eyes staring at her with such a piercing gaze.
What was more surprising was not the stare, but the blood that stained the man's face as well as the clothes he was wearing. From his clothes, she could recognize that he was the knight everyone was talking about.
"Who are you? Are you the new servant sent for us?" the man asked.
She nodded her head, confirming the question and answering that indeed she was the servant sent to treat their wounds and serve their needs while there.
He then allowed her to enter and followed him to the parlor where the other two Knights were sitting waiting for her arrival. Similar to the previous man, the other two men also had a condition where there was blood splattered on their faces and bodies.
From how she saw, the blood was not only theirs but must have also come from their enemies.
"Look who's here," said the man opening the door and leading him into the room.
The other two men turned around and seemed interested in her arrival and stood up and approached her. They had mischievous smiles on their faces, as if they were looking at a new toy in front of them right now.
"Look at this new maid, she looks very pretty and sweet too. Emperor does have good taste when it comes to choosing servants for us," one of them said as he approached her.
"You're right, she does look pretty. So what's your name, darling?" asked the other man.
Meanwhile, the man she met first, seen leaning against the wall, was not very interested in her.
"My name is Seira, His Emperial Majesty sent me to serve you which is why I came here. It seems you need to clean yourselves up before I treat your wounds," she introduced herself while looking at them one by one.
"Seira? What a sweet name for such a beautiful woman. My name is Albert Kay Gideon. You can call me anything, but they usually call me Albert," said the brown-haired man with beautiful purple eyes.
The other man introduced himself as Leonard Baldwin. A tall man with dark purple hair and light gray eyes.
"It's my good fortune to meet a maid as beautiful as you," Leonard said and touched Seira's hand and kissed the back of her hand.
She immediately pulled her hand away because of Leonard's treatment of her. Albert and Leonard chuckled thinking that Seira was just flustered by what they did.
But it was different with the other man, the man she met for the first time. That man knew that Seira was not happy with the treatment of his two partner.
"Please don't do it again," Seira said in a firm but still gentle tone.
"You don't have to feel ashamed, because the longer you're here you'll understand your position," Leonard said.
She then turned to the last man, whose name she was sure was Harvey. The leader of the three Knights who were considered to be very cruel and dangerous.
Harvey looked at her and said, "Why are you staring at me? They've already introduced themselves and I'm sure you know my name because everyone knows our names. I'm sure you can still use your brain to think of my name."
She nodded her head while still staring at him.
"Of course I know, you are Lord Harvey Van Desmond. You are the leader of the two of them and also the Emperor's loyal dog," Seira replied with a nod of her head.
"You're right, and as you know I am His Emperial Majesty's loyal knight. So if you turn out to be someone who does not deserve to set foot back in the palace, I will not hesitate to get rid of you," he said with a threatening look in his eyes.
Seira did not say much, but only replied with a nod of her head as well and said that she was just an ordinary servant following the palace's orders.
"You don't have to worry, I don't have anything for you to suspect. I just want to complete my duty of serving you."
"Good then. I want you to prepare everything immediately including our food. We want everything ready and after we've cleaned ourselves up the food is already on the table with you ready to treat our wounds. Do you understand?"
Seeing Harvey's firmness, Leonard tried to break the ice by putting his arm around Seira's shoulders.
"There's no need to be so strict with her. She's a new servant and don't make her run away scared like the other servants," he said which made Seira feel dizzy smelling the blood from her body.
"Can you not get too close to me? The smell of your blood is quite disturbing and I want you to clean up quickly if you want me to cook and treat your wounds." Seira spoke as if she was ordering the three of them to quickly bathe and change clothes.
However, her firmness made the three men pause and stare at her with unusual gazes.
Albert and Leonard stared at Seira with a look as if to say, "This woman has the nerve to say something like that to us?"
But it was different with Harvey, who was staring with something unreadable.
"Do you realize what you just said to us?"