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The green snake slithers, never baring its fangs.
In the shadows, it waits for its moment to strike.
Though, it only does so for it was taught nothing else.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
Kairo was cruising around the mansion's garden until he saw Esmeralda sweeping nearby.
Upon noticing her, he hastily hid himself behind a tree.
"Fool! Why am I hiding?"
When the sound of the broom bristles sweeping roughly across the stony paths ceased, he took a peek and saw her staring right in his direction, broom still in hand.
He immediately withdrew his head, pretending to act as if they never made eye contact.
"I saw you!" she declared audibly.
"No, you didn't!" he replied just as loud.
"Kairo..." he could hear the considerate smile behind her tone.
He timidly showed himself. Once he did, the sound of sweeping that filled the quiet garden resumed.
He approached her.
"Why were you hiding, you silly boy?"
"I don't even know myse—" before he could finish his sentence, he clumsily tripped on the edge of the stone path's patterned floor.
He was about to catch himself but alas, all the recent training made his arms numb that he couldn't prevent his fall.
He hit forehead hard on the ground with a yelp of pain, worsened by his wrong posture from expecting his arms to save him.
"Kairo!" Esmeralda ran up to him, dropping her long broom with a loud, wooden thud.
He sat up disoriented, with the back of his head hurting more than the front. That was until the stinging started to grow on his forehead. Embarrassed and hurt, tears started to well up in his eyes as his mouth quivered.
"Oh, don't cry."
Hearing such considerate words at a moment of weakness, it was as if he was instead given permission to cry. And so, he began sobbing.
It was the first time he got this hurt, even when training, he never experienced such pain and embarrassment. Even he himself was surprised that he broke down like this.
Like a toddler who doesn't need to cry, but does anyway, just because the parent felt like the toddler would.
"C'mon, Kairo. Stand up. Let's get you inside so I can treat your injury."
He stood up as he was told and followed her inside the mansion.
"No, no! Don't touch your wound!" she warned him as he was about to examine his forehead injury.
When they went inside, she ordered him to sit still as she looked for the medicinal supplies. He struggled to keep his hands off of his forehead as the stinging was distracting him.
He felt something wet starting to form and travel down from his forehead. He wasn't sure if it was blood or sweat. Sweat from what? It must be blood.
In any case, he couldn't believe he just tripped and bawled his eyes out in front of Esmeralda. What a cowardly thing to show! The worst of the worst just happened. He wished he could turn back time to ensure none of that ever happened.
"Ah, I want to die. I want to perish... it's the only way. Please, take me from this world," he muttered as his sobbing was starting to pass.
"Does it hurt that much?"
Esmeralda arrived with that reliable smile on her face and a box of medicine on hand.
He sniffled and said with a shaky voice that tried to be tough, "I was thinking about something else..."
"Like what?"
"N-Nothing!"
He started to mellow down as the tears began to dry on his face. She used a jar of honey, a bowl of water, and some medicinal herbs. He gazed at Esmeralda who was cleaning and treating his head injury.
Her face was so close to his. Her pleasant smell comforted him. He thought to himself about how charming Esmeralda was with her round spectacles sitting on top of her sharp nose.
"I was just... embarrassed that I tripped in front of you," he confessed. He could feel an intense pressure on his face and a loud thumping in his chest.
"Oh," she giggled. "You silly boy. You don't have to be embarrassed with me."
"Okay," finding solace in her attempt to comfort him, he decided to believe her words.
The ointment she used on the dressing felt cold and stung harder than the wound itself, making him groan in pain.
"It hurts but do endure it." Esmeralda urged while she finished wrapping the strips of clean cloth around his head. "It's medicine. It'll prevent any infection, though it may leave quite a scar. I apologize, I haven't learned how to cast any sort of healing spells."
"It's alright, the honey helped in dealing with the pain. Thank you, Esmeralda, I appreciate it. If it makes you feel any better, I also don't know how to cast a healing spell myself," he made a grin that was half a wince due to the stinging.
She smiled at his polite gesture. Even when he was the one that was hurt, he still tries to comfort those around him.
"Too tight? Not tight enough? Anything else hurting?" she asked him.
"It's just right," Kairo replied, examining the dressing with his hand. "I'm good now."
"Still, that was quite a big shock. You just fell flat on your face," she chuckled shortly before stopping herself, worried that Kairo might cry again. She felt relieved when he simply took her remark with a pout.
"It's my first time seeing you cry," said Esmeralda. "Sometimes, I forget that you're just a child like Lady Aisia because you act so precocious. Especially when compared to many of the ladies here," she giggled softly.
"I'm still only ten. Do you really think of me like that?"
"Ah, so that's how old you are. You look so tough now though. And that is not only meant as shallow praise. I've been... observing... how exhausted you are whenever you come back from your training with Lady Aisia and Lord Grisia. You even learned a fire chakra technique from me. You push yourself oh so hard, but the reason you train so much..." she stared at the floor as she failed to continue her sentence. "I apologize for bringing it up."
"No, it's fine. I didn't know you were aware of my circumstance too." Kairo replied. He wondered who else knew of the raid on his village?
"Yes, well... apologies."
She genuinely didn't mean to arrive at THAT topic, but she tried not to let it show too much on her face, out of consideration for Kairo feeling bad, in case he tried to cheer her up again.
"It's fine. It's not like you're the one who brought my home to ruin anyway."
Esmeralda continued to stare at the floor for a while.
Eventually, she sat beside Kairo.
"Anything I can assist you with? Would you like some treats or cookies?"
"Hmm..." Kairo was genuinely considering it, he has yet to try desserts in his life. He knew of it from stories in his village about sweet treats that nobles use for pleasantries and tea parties. It's plain expensive and not something sold at his village. Even at Grisia's place, he couldn't see any treats anywhere. Probably because it's not necessary for training diet, or Aisia doesn't have a sweet tooth.
He's interested, but his mother taught him to not ask too much of other people. All this thinking made him realize Esmeralda was still waiting for an answer.
"Taking care of me during my stay here was already more than enough. Then patching me up was me being indebted to you. I don't think I can ask for any more..." he rubbed the back of his head with polite unease.
"Are you sure? If there's anything you'd like me to do, I may be of help."
Kairo looked at Esmeralda right in her charming, green eyes. Her expression showed him that she was truly worried. Maybe she was pitying him.
As he told Aisia, he doesn't like it when he's being treated like a helpless victim. But somehow, he didn't mind it too much when it came to Esmeralda.
Esmeralda added, "A-As an esteemed guest— I mean... since you're part of the manor's family now, of course."
Kairo brought his finger onto his chin, contemplating what he wanted.
What was it he wanted? Apart from revenge, if that whole ordeal didn't happen, if he continued to live his meek life in the village, what was it that he wanted to do or have?
Ever since that tragedy, most of his actions and preparations were made with exacting revenge in mind. Grisia also asked him about his aspirations, but he had no other answer apart from avenging his village.
"Even if it's a simple thing, like a shoulder massage, you can ask me," she told him.
That was it. There was some other thing he wanted apart from revenge. It was the only other answer he could think of. His heart felt full when it happened with Aisia earlier.
He wanted company. But in this case, he especially wanted Esmeralda's company.
"Would a chat happen to be included in your offer?"
She was slightly taken aback by his request, thinking that it was much too simple.
In spite of that, she replied with a relaxed exhale, "Certainly."
If it was much too simple, then for this boy, it must be done, she thought.
And so, they talked to each other about themselves. Even if it was only scratching the surface, they both enjoyed their time together.
Esmeralda learned about Kairo's childhood friends, their names, his parents, his quiet life in his small and humble village.
He talked about the happy times that he could remember. Finding that he wasn't able to list as many as he thought he could, he tried searching his memories for more shenanigans with Nayani and Kayal, but somehow, he couldn't quite get a grasp of any of it anymore.
Has it really been that long since the good times?
He was having a great deal of difficulty trying to connect a bridge that just wouldn't form. He held his head as if it would help him remember but to no avail.
Esmeralda began to worry that his head injury may have affected his memories, but Kairo insisted that it's been happening even before this recent blunder.
On that topic, he shared that he was also frequently feeling nostalgic about situations that he doesn't remember being in, as well as having lifelike dreams.
Sometimes, he found himself in the settings of these realistic dreams while awake, feeling a strong sense of deja vu when he realizes it. Other times, his dreams were so realistic that he thought he was awake and going through the day normally, but the next moment, he was back in his bed.
Feeling like he was talking too much about himself, he moved on and started asking about her.
Kairo learned about how she came to this mansion. She was part of a notorious upstart bandit gang that Grisia took down. The boss of that gang and the other bandits were too stubborn, but since she valued her life more, she willingly joined him to reform herself instead of ending up in a cell and rotting there. Soon, Alex joined the mansion. Similar to herself, Alex was a defeated enemy that wished to be reformed from a different expedition Grisia had.
He soon understood from the stories she told of the other girls in the mansion that it was a coincidence the mansion was full of maids
Many of them were certainly, merely ordinary servants, while others wished to join Grisia after being defeated. It turned out that the men Grisia encountered were too far gone or too stubborn.
Was it because men are just more prideful, to refuse the one that singlehandedly defeated their gangs? Or are women simply wiser? Kairo wondered.
It appeared it wasn't her lord's intention to collect women as servants. She told Kairo that Grisia once mentioned it would be nice to have a male butler in the future, which led to their conversation about the only other man in this manor.
Esmeralda told the story with a guilty delight.
Fredrick was a trainee who failed to be a knight since he focused more on his woodwork. Troubled by the wrath of his strict parents, he begged to work under Grisia, who was known to be quite an extraordinary adventurer and considered to be akin to a high-ranking knight or noble by the commoners.
Grisia didn't mind and Fredrick's parents were satisfied with this, even if he was only a gatekeeper at the mansion.
In time, Fredrick did his own training in order to maintain his job. He became skillful enough to defend himself and disarm a bandit or two at the same time, though since the manor was inside a prestigious land, he wasn't able to show off his skills too much, fortunately so.
Esmeralda admitted that she was amused by this as she watched the situation unfold. She asked Kairo to keep that fact a secret from everyone, especially Fredrick, as this act of gossip might cause some friction in the mansion's day-to-day life.
After a while, as they enjoyed their talk, still diligent as ever, Esmeralda told him, "I apologize dearly, but I have to cut our time together short. I must attend to my duties."
"I see. It was fun talking with you, Esmeralda. I enjoyed it so much that I completely forgot about my pain. Ah, and speaking of: ow," Kairo winced in pain.
Esmeralda giggled softly. "We can still have more conversations in the future, whenever I'm not busy. Before I go, I'll have to instruct you to find Lord Grisia. Ask for him to cast a healing spell on you. Likewise, I'll mention it to him when I see—"
"NO!" Kairo shouted.
The both of them were shocked by his sudden response.
"I mean... I wanted to experience how to live naturally with an injury. I think this experience may help me somehow in my training. Yeah, that's it."
Esmeralda made a worried smile that made it clear to Kairo that she thought he was being silly.
"...Very well. I... suppose if it helps you in your growth. I don't quite understand it that much though. Then let us meet here some days of every week to replace the dressing and reapply medicine."
Kairo agreed to this, seeing that it was an opportunity to spend more time with her.
And so, they parted ways.
When evening came, Kairo didn't join Grisia and Aisia at dinner. He didn't want them to see his injury.
He did, however, join the later batches. It was inevitable that the maids would come to know of his condition, and so they fawned over him while asking how he got hurt.
Every time, he tried to tell them that he merely tripped and Esmeralda treated his injury. But they kept hounding him and used it as an excuse to baby him. Agata endorsed that she could help. Since she was a dark elf, her healing magic and nature chakra were something to behold.
Kairo respectfully declined, but she kept insisting and listing benefits if he were to be healed by her.
That was until Alex told them off.
She was Kairo's saving grace. It felt like she was being rescued by an elder sister from nosy relatives. Finally, he could savor Tiraga's cooking in peace. Alex gave him a thumbs-up and her smile sparkled with a wink. He replied with the same gesture.
Afterwards, he headed to his room. Kairo couldn't get a wink of sleep. He spent his time thinking about getting to talk with Esmeralda today.
His heart just couldn't remain calm.