Arc 1: Finally Starting

***

"...hah..."

"...fuh~"

"...Ngh...ahn!"

"..."

"...I apologize, M'lady."

With a disturbed look on her face Akris sighed and stood up walking to her bed that had heaps of books of various colors namely, Gold, Silver, and Bronze but one book stood out from the rest a book of pure White.

"...Fuh, just come here and help me carry these."

"Yes, M'lady"

Walking to where her Lady stood, Yeru took a peek at the covers but was surprised to find out that no design or title was put. 'How strange.'

"...hmpf, huh, huu."

BAM! Having dumped them carelessly, the books Yeru were carrying made an earsplitting sound that resounded throughout the bedroom.

Deafening silence spread through the room it's stunned occupants staying still and holding their breaths.

"Krk! Yeru, don't make noise people could hear!" Scolded the heiress appalled by her servants recklessness but while she was doing so light footsteps were heard outside.

"Tsk! Someone's outside they must have heard the noise."

Curious about who is outside Yeru slowly stepped to the door only to be stopped by her Lady.

/Wait! I will open it just stay here./ Akris whispered.

/M'lady, the servant is the one who must open the door especially if their Master is present, it is etiquette./ Yeru argued, feeling uncomfortable with the etiquette they were breaching.

/...fuh, fufufu, we've already broken servant and master etiquette for a long time now Yeru. I've been speaking to you casually for years now./ Regin replied smiling in mirth.

Then a stream of rapid knocks sounded, interrupting their conversation, suspiscion evident on her face Akris stared at the door.

'It must be one of the servants'

Frowning, she strode to the door beads of sweat forming on her visage, just as her hand was near the handle a young voice spoke.

"Big brother, Regin are you there?"

Stunned by the familiar voice she grabbed the handle and quickly opened the door revealing a young girl of 10, pink bows tied on her long, luscious, blonde hair and striking blue eyes like a doe's staring at her in curiosity and barely hidden delight, hands strangely hidden behind her back.

Turning back to shut the door Regin made eye-contact with his servant and winked putting a finger on his heart shaped lips while doing so. /Shhh/.

After closing it he turned to face the girl. "Swana? Your session should be finished 3 hours from now." Questioned Regin his attention focused on her hands that she had hidden behind her.

Taking a quick look around her Swana stepped closer to her elder brother, tiptoed and began whispering

/Well...Miss Adelia got sick and father told me that since it is almost your birthday he will allow me 2 weeks of no sessions!" Her whispers slowly getting louder, the young girl ended up shouting, excitement and glee apparent in her voice.

Amused by his sisters elation Regin smirked. "You are adorable as always Swana."

Face turning red from the compliment she opened her mouth only to get interrupted.

"But do remember dear sister, that a Patique MUST always LOOK and SOUND dignified as stated by the Family Rules so do avoid shouting whether in public or private areas." With a stern face Regin scolded Swana.

Stunned by the quick change of her brother's mood Swana clenched her hands and glared at Regin.

Unseen by her Regin grimaced. 'Isn't she hiding something in her hands...won't it get crumpled?' having thought that his face cringed.

"Big brother...yo-you're a meanie and stupid! I hope your Birthday Celebration fails and you won't make any friends!" tears in her eyes she shouted in defiance upset from her brother's scolding.

Dumbfounded by her shouting Regin stepped closer only to be bewildered when she turned and ran away shouting. "I hope Eldest Sister Rawenel will replace you as heir!"

"Rawenel? Hah... that child did not listen to her lessons did she. The Patique's are a patriarchal family even if they only had one living relative left, if they were a woman, then they would rather hand off the legacy to one of their hated branch families." he muttered his voice slowly getting filled with anger.

"Hah..." Silence permeated through the empty hallways with Regin standing in place, eyes wandering to the sides, only stopping to glare at the left hallway opposite to where his sister ran through. 'They're gone.'

"Fuah~" Releasing the breath he held in he walked to where Swana stood, kneeled and picked up a crumpled envelope standing back up he dusted off his pants with his left hand.

"So this is what she was hiding? An envelope? Who would dare task a noblelady to personally send a letter...how preposterous!" He muttered his rage obvious in his voice. Calming down he began inspecting the envelope and turned it around, not seeing any address he flattened it and noticed a cracked wax sigil on the front.

'A red lion? A Duke then, but hundreds of Dukes use lions as their sigil whether they are from the empire or not... I still don't get why...considering how the sigil sytem was created to AVOID confusion.'

'For now I'll just keep this and ask Yeru about it later when we finish picking the guests.'

Envelope in hand Regin opened the door and walked in closing it after getting inside.

Hearing the door open Yeru who was waiting by the side greeted her Master. "M'lady welcome back."

Side eyeing her Akris showed a small smile. "Yeru, you heard what my dear sister yelled at me right? Do you agree with her?"

'Yelled? Does she mean how Lady Swana called her stupid and a...meanie?'

"No, M'lady I believe you are an intelligent and clever individual that is to be expected of the heir to the Patique's and as opposed to what Lady Swana, yelled you are not a, pfft...meanie nor a kind person M'lady, rather you're more of a neutral person, unbiased and impartial no matter the situation and that truly makes me feel proud as your servant. " She replied her voice filled with pride but it seemed as though she had yet to finish as she went on and on about what she thought of her Master even listing her accomplishments.

While her servant was talking Akris was lost in her thoughts. 'Impartial and unbiased, a neutral person, is that how I look to everyone? Is it because I always mediate the arguments my siblings cause?...but I think I'm rather selfish when I found out Frel killed my pet cat I had him punished with 10 whips on his calves...and there was also the time I sided with Mother when she had an argument with Father, she gave me 5 candies so I testified for her...is it this easy to be seen as neutral? If so life would be quite underwhelming no?'

Looking back at her servant she noticed she had yet to finish talking, causing her to chuckle. "You seem to remember quite a lot about me Yeru, have you finally come to terms that you're smitten with me?"

Baffled with what Akris said Yeru started sweating. "N-no, M'lady, I'm not smitten with you I promise. I mean we have an age gap of 7 years and you're underage while I am an adult and there's also our... well status you are a noble and me a... bought servant." as she talked her voice lowered and she eventually showed a dejected face at the end.

Noticing it Akris showed a troubled face but kept silent as the atmosphere turned akward.

"..."

"...kough, kough, uff, You don't have to worry about that...your contract will be finished after 2 decades, if I use my position as heir I will be able to decrease it by 5 years, then you will become a free woman."

"...Is this really fine for you M'lady? You've done so much for me, invested your time and money on me but you will let me become a free woman after 15 years? Is that not...wasteful?"

Displeased with her response she clicked her tounge in irritation. "Tsk. What I do is never wasteful, if I choose to invest in someone it is because it benefits me. Even if thousands of more capable and attractive servants were presented to me, if you were one of them then I would always choose you, after all an empathetic servant is more useful to me than a logical one."

"More importantly why are you so inquisitive today? From the 4 years of me working with you I have noticed that you would only follow my orders no matter how...strange they may seem. You would never ask questions either." She added.

"...Uh...I don't why I'm so curious today either, M'lady, it seems like there's this strange urge for me to question the past, it has also even lead me to ask why you chose me, which is unusual since I am quite confident that the reason you bought me is because you saw something special about me."

Amused by her confidence a small smile formed on Akris face but it fell when she saw the books that were gathered on the table.

"Oh. I almost forgot, the books, hand me the Bronze one. Let us start with the guest picking."

After being given the Bronze book Akris sat on the chair near the table. Opening it long paragraphs appeared along with small pictures located at the bottom.

Yeru stood by her side waiting for her master to finish reading as she stood she heard paper scratching and glanced to see her master writing.

A few minutes passed, until suddenly Akris closed the book. "Yeru, you do remember most of the lower nobles right?"

"Yes, M'lady I remember most of them especially the more 'important' ones." Yeru replied.

"Hmm, that's good, assist me with weeding out the unimportant ones but leave at least 3, that is the minimum needed when conducting parties as nobles in our position." Akris requested.

"Here is the list:

○ The Ilusop's

○ The Reven's

○ The Nerihz's

○ The Lidoc's

○ The Brever's

○ The Zerik's

" She added.

Reading the list Yeru was apprehensive. "...M'lady is this all of the lower nobles in that book?" She eventually questioned.

"No, but they are the one's who I prefer to invite, since they seem more interesting than the other bland ones I read about." A wide grin on her face as she said so.

"Just focus on that list you don't need to know about the others anyway. Oh, and when you've finished picking explain to me why they're important." She added.

Nodding, Yeru took a pencil and began carefully analyzing the nobles written. Eventually she started shading the circles of the one's she chose to invite.

Minutes passed and finally Yeru finished. Reviewing it for the last time she handed the sheet of paper to Akris. "Here, M'lady."

"Hm...so these are the one's you chose..."

****

"...Hm, drinking coffee in hot weather is quite foolish. You agree right?" A gentle voice spoke.

"Ya, mean what your doin' right now? M'lady." A raspy voice asked.

"...Uhm...Yes." The noblelady replied embarrassment now clear in her voice.

"Well, I definitely agree then." Replied the raspy voice.

"That so...ah, the envelope did she receive it?" The noblelady asked.

"Oh, ya mean that letter you wrote? Nah, last I saw, the one you gave the envelope, crumpled it when she was arguing with the Patique heir." As the raspy voice sounded the gender of the speaker revealed itself to be male.

"...What? You mean she did not receive it?" Confused the noblelady asked.

"Sh-...uh I mean He did pick it up although I don't know if he opened it, pretty sure he was confused on who it was for."

"Hah...oh dear...should I just personally arrange a meeting with her? There would be a lesser chance of any interruptions happening if I do." The noblelady mentioned her idea.

"Yer choice, M'lady. I'm yer butler so I can't help yeh with yer personal shenanigans." The butler spoke his accent becoming heavy.

Looking through the window by her side the noblelady focused on the field of Marigolds outside.

"...Yes I know." She spoke lost in her thoughts.