Chapter 13: The Lost Prince and the Wandering Maid.
Time: Afternoon.
 
//The Gun Powder of Delights Itself!//

In the Greenhouse, it was full of a variety of plants taken care by gardeners assigned to by the school. Originally it was supposedly used by students who wished to study plantation for their fiefs and land they managed.

However, due to the place being located behind the kitchen a large distance away from the classroom and courtyard. It now simply just used as a source of supply for the food they feed to the students and barely anyone enters there.

Because of this, Estel felt at ease when she noticed no one was around the place.
But then, she heard the mourning of a person within the place, as she followed the sound.
She then discovered a ridiculous sight as she hid behind the potted plants around the room.

A young man weeps while watering the plants, he sat on a chair he pulled away on the table a distance away from him.

Black hair and dark eyes his expression was gloomy and the complete opposite of how he showed before. He wore a top hat and dark coat as before, though his bloodshot eyes and red nose didn't change the fact, he was weeping alone in such a place.

"Damn it...
At this rate my family house will fall!" he cried out.

While the young man continued to mourn,
she noticed black eerie aura around him still remained giving her unease as she gazed at it.

[Nothing good will come from getting involved in this...
What was this guy name again?]

Her armlet called out to her,
 "It's... Jake if my memory serves right." the armlet whispered to her.

(*Chapter 10 update note: Previously got brutally rejected by Leanne due to his family situation.*)

She then asked her armlet.
"What the heck is that black eerie thing around him?"

"It's a curse, though it appears to be quite a dangerous one." It added.

[Ugh, why do I always get dragged into these mess?
All I wanted were some-]

Estel who came across his pitiful side was about to crawl away but then noticed the plants around him.

She winced at it, for another look.

"No way..." she was at awe.
Its round seed like shape completely entranced her,
She knew what kind of plant, as she used to steal them.

The goal was to make her siblings happy, by making them sweets.
It was a certain plant that is similar to her world.

"Cocoa..." as she said as her voice reached him,
the young man flinched as he gazed at her direction,
then swept his tears as he gazed at her with bloodshot eyes.

"You... aren't you that maid that she brought along?"

Estel stared at him with a defeated expression as she turned white.
Only a single word entered her mind.
[Shit.]

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//Uncaring Kindness.//

She gazed at him trying to compose herself.
"Yes, I am."

He then looks away as he gave her a bitter angry look.
"Are you here to find some dirt on me, for your master?
If so...
Then go right ahead and laugh.
My home is soon gone and so am I."

But Estel then gave him a bow, as she left the premises without saying a word.
[Tsk... as expected, these people only care about themselves.]

After a few moments has passed by
He returned to his mournful state.
Estel on the other hand returned with a trolley cart
and tea set which she had brought from the kitchen.

She then politely said like a maid should.
"Would you like to have some tea?"

He then gazed at her with blinking eyes.
"You...
Can you even read the air here?"

"No." She calmly said while she walked towards the table a distance away from him.
"All I can see is a mourning buffoon who is hogging the green-house."
As she set her tea set on the table for herself.

"Since you don't seem to want tea, then I'll just watch you mourn there."
She said while pouring herself a cup then sat on an extra chair on the opposite end of the round table.

But he gave her a frown while giving her a serious expression.
"Do you even know who I am!?"

Estel then retorts with a bored expression.
"No...
But you look like an idiot." She said while sipping her tea.

He gave a shocked expression as he heard it,
Gazing at her for a moment then blinked twice,
As his face slowly turns red.

He then shouted while standing as he approached the table slamming his hands.

"What kind of maid call's a prince of another kingdom an idiot!?
Do you want to be hanged!"

But Estel gave him a bored look once more.
She placed down her tea as she finished.

"What prince?
Didn't you just say?
You were about to lose your home?"

He then displayed a pale expression, as he kneeled to the ground on all four.

"Ah... I'm finished, even her maid is treating me like a fool!"

He then heard the sound of her chair moving backward,
As he heard her footsteps come closer to him.
She then said while giving him an exhausted expression.

"Calm down and have some tea," she said while reaching out a hand.

"I don't know what your problem is...
But if you don't relax, you will never find an answer."

As he saw the maid expression giving him a gentle smile.
He then showed her a sobbing face as he reached out to her hand as she pulls it.

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//This is it!//

[Right now, I'm having tea with a cursed prince.
His face is a mess his good looks and attire is completely wasted on this fool.
But what pisses me off more, is that malicious aura around him.
It's unnerving.]

Her armlet then whispered.
"Why not break it then?"

[Now that I think about it...
Can you read my thoughts?]

"Yes, but have no fear.
we have watched over many descendants.
That we rarely disrupt their peace of mind and only answer when it relates to us."

[I see...
How convenient.]

Right now Estel was having tea with Jake of Corona after he finally calmed down.
They were having a silent moment in a simple wooden table, with the lush green of plants around them. Estel then gazed at the cocoa, as she then asked.

"Are those plant's yours?"

He nods.
"They are plants of my home."

As Estel walked towards the cocoa, she then held it in her hands.

"Interesting, can I keep these?"
While holding onto a ripe pod of cocoa.
He gave her a puzzled look and confusion.

"Sure, but why that?
I can't find a single value in it.
It's hard to eat and extremely bitter to taste."

Luria smiled as her eyes lit with glee the moment she heard it.
[This... is it!?
If I somehow managed to turn this plant into a huge profit.
I can literally live my life in peace!

Hey, wait...
How does a single coin work in this world exactly?]

Estel pulls out her pouch as it revealed the gold coins inside it.
Jake who was curious was shocked.
"Are you really a maid!?
Where on earth did you receive that much?"

Estel gave him a puzzled look.

"Eh? her majesty gave me this." she flatly said while pulling a single gold coin.
Jake reaction to her words was him blinking repeatedly.
He never asked anymore.

"So... tell me, how much is this?" she cheerfully

...

...

...

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Though the answer she found was more than she can handle.

//I'm just a simple maid!//

Estel froze, the moment she heard it.
The number of coins she carried was enough to buy herself a piece of land and house.
She can literally live a life of her own using the coins she carried.

But then she recalled it...
The missing 3 coins within it.
She suddenly felt depressed as she noticed the number reduced to 27.

Jake slouched at his chair as he then said.
"Are you really just a maid?
Not even a king will give you that much gold you know!"

Estel swiftly in a panic then said...
"That's right I'm just a simple maid!
There's no way Leanne would give me this much.
It's just a mistake right!? Right!?"

While gazing at him with a troubled expression in her face
But as the prince gazed at her.
He then began laughing.

"Puh...
pu!-ha!-ha!-ha!"

Estel gazed at him.
Confused at what was happening in front of her.

He then covered his eyes while slouching in his chair he gazed at the ceiling.

"I can't believe this.
A tiny maid like you just made all my worries go away like this."

As he fixes his position, then told her these words with a bright smile in his face.
"I'm not surprised anymore.
Even I might pay that much for someone as refreshing as you, at my side."

"Eh?" she said as her voice went dry.
"eeh!" as her face froze from his words.

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//Did I over-do it? //

As we continued to talk.
Jake then explained a bit more about his situation.
Apparently, his country uncovered jewels at the corner of their territory.
Which his family recently bought from another nation.

Knowing its value they fortified the place and began earning an enormous amount of money from it.

Unfortunately, the neighboring countries discovered this and demanded the return of the land.
But his family refused and a declaration of war was announced to happen in a month.
Sadly they weren't the only enemy either.

Bandits were the first to discover their flow of trade attacking the caravans and those stolen goods then gave neighboring countries informants a tip, and were able to pry out the knowledge of the mines, which led to the coming war.

Even now bandits are attacking their caravans and mercenaries were hired to deal with them.
However, their numbers grew when the first succeeded.
Now even their armies are struggling against mere bandits despite being reinforced by mercenaries.

Though, the real problem was...
There were at least three countries on the corner of their land that wants it.
It became a united front against his family nation and certain doom is what awaits it if nothing is done.

"I was sent here to find a nation to help me.
But looks like this is the end of my ropes." He said with a bitter expression.

...

...

...

As silence and sound of wind took the air around them,
Estel simply drank her tea as it clinked as she placed it back on the tiny platter.
Then she said.

"Are your family complete morons?" she asked him.

"Huh?" with a puzzled look he reacted.

"I'm asking you.
If your family complete morons?"

"Of course not!?
My family is a proud descendant of Carona!
It took many centuries to build our fair nation you know!?" with pride he said.

She then shouted.

"Then why won't your family cut-losses and abandon that place!"

"Are your family too blind by jewels!?" she angrily said.

Jake retorted to her.
"It was a diamond mine!
Do you even understand how much value that place hold?
A single piece of that jewel will make anyone gain enormous wealth from it!"

But as he said those words, Luria, she then went quiet.
She looked at him with pity.
 
[In order to return my family's home to its rightful place,
The deed with our name which that bastard stole from us.
I hunted down the con-artist to his home and finally managed to trick him into revealing where he hid it.

While I enacted my vengeance in the name of justice.

But things were not as simple as it appeared to be.
It was not only our deeds were stolen but also greater riches were there as well.
Things which other owned.

Greed took hold of me, who lived in poor life.
I took a large amount of wealth from it.
But it was later, that I found out.

"It was a trap."

Investigator came to his home, as they found his lifeless body.
They then inspected his things and managed to track down missing objects which I've sold.
Which led them to track me down and where I met my end.

I thought everything was perfect, a clean escape, no traces.
But it was my own greed that led me to my downfall.
At least, my family should have received it.
An unknown box with riches and the deed we lost inside it.]

His family like me is blinded, just like I have.
I can't just allow him to go down like this.

Then she finally said.

"What is the worth of that much wealth?
When you lost everything around you?"

Jake then flinched at her words as he fell from his chair from shock.

He gazed at the young girl before him in a confused state trying to find a way to talk back.
But no words would come from his mouth.
His eyes then turned to her's.
Its purple-colored irises gleamed with pity.
Then swallowed his own saliva as it fell down his throat and deeply thought about it.

...

...

A few seconds later he asked.

"Then... what should I do?" he asked Luria with a worried expression in his face.

But she then simply walked closer to him as she patted his shoulders with one hand.
Her eyes full of pity changed into a gentle smile.

"I'm just a maid," she said.

"You, on the other hand, are a prince.."

"Do what you, believe will save your family."

She then stood as she placed the tea set into the trolley cart.
But then, he noticed something strange while she was fixing the cart.
The tips of her hair showed a unique silver color on its tips.

She gave him an elegant bow then left him in the garden.

In his mind... he thought.
[Somehow that maid looked like a princess.]

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