In front of me, there was a plan of sparring between Lady Octavi and Adel from me, but the sparring became more personal to each other, even Adel called Lady Octavi without honorifics. Each of their faces was so angry with each other.

            Adel the one who opened the sparred, she dashed fast to Lady Octavi, saw Adel came to her at full speed, made Lady Octavi took a step back for keeping the distance between Adel and her. In front of Lady Octavi, Adel took her right feet in front of her, and swung her dagger horizontally at Lady Octavi’s neck. *clang* In response, Lady Octavi blocked the swing with her sword where her two hands gripped it tightly. Seeing Lady Octavi both hands in the sword, Adel's skirt suddenly lifted up, I saw some sheaths of dagger in her thigh, and her left foot flew at the head of Lady Octavi..

            Lady Octavi sensed Adel’s foot, made her lose the sword grip with just her right hand in the sword, her left hand immediately repelled the attack from her left side. Knowing that her position was not suitable like Adel, Lady Octavi suddenly lost the clash with the dagger on purpose, so the dagger got pushed to the neck of Lady Octavi. But the swing of Adel's dagger in Lady Octavi’s neck just swung a wind, Lady Octavi saw the chance in Adel’s right foot, her body now focused on her right foot. Lady Octavi descended her body, she swung Adel’s right foot horizontally. Seeing the threat, in quick response, Adel jumped to the back with frontlipping, and completely landed.

            I was dazed by the two, I thought it was not just me, Alecia who beside me was amazed by it. The sound of the dagger and the sword clashed roaring in the area. I saw their faces become more intense in the spar. After some moments, suddenly there was Alicia and Aelia beside me, and I turned my back, there were some servants who watched the spar. More servants came to the garden because of the roaring of the clashes between sword and dagger, even the little two came to the garden with their maids and Felix. However, their maids’ faces seemed not happy, not just their maids that showed not happy faces, but all the maid’s faces showed non happiness or anger toward the spar. 

            While I was looking at everyone behind me, their faces were changed to shock, there must be something in the spar, I turned back to the spar and was surprised. Their weapon color was changed, from silver steel to blackest. It was not just the weapon, their hand that gripped the weapon slowly became black like the weapon until the elbow. After their hand became completely black, a glowing light appeared in their hand and formed a sort of rune.

            After everything, they readied to exchange their swing, they dashed to each other, at the same time a white dagger appeared in the middle of the ground out of nowhere from the sky. They stopped immediately and dropped their weapon, I saw they were frightened and trembling to see that dagger, not just them, every servant around felt the same. I looked at the house to find out where the dagger came from, there was no trace from the house. 

            I looked at Adel and was just standing there, not moving a single inch. She just looked down. I stood up and walked toward her. On the way to Adel, Livia and Martia, the maid of little two passed me and immediately grabbed both of Adel's arms. Seeing that, I quickly ran.

            “What are you two doing with Adel?” I asked them.

            “We just want to borrow Adel for a moment, my lady..”

            “To where? And what for?”

            “We can’t inform my lady about that..”

            “BUT SHE’S STILL MY MAID, you need to tell me where and what you want to do with Adel..”

            “Still we can’t inform you..”

            “NOO!” I grabbed Adel’s waist with both hands.

            But still they kept bringing her with them while I grabbed Adel’s waist. The little two, Ophelia and Aurelio blocked them in front of them, and grabbed Livia and Martia’s legs. 

            “Let go sister Aurelia’s maid!!”

            “Yest let her go..”

            “We can’t do that…can you two release our legs?”
            After some exchangin words between the little two and their maids, Adel finally spoke but with a flat tone “I can walk on my own..you can release me…and I know what I am doing..”

            “Okay then..” They released their grab on Adel’s arms.

            I immediately grabbed Adel’s hand “Now, let’s go back to my room and Lady Oc—” I turned my view to Lady Octavi, surprised, there was already Lady Laura in there.

            She looked at me and said “I will borrow my daughter for a moment, my lady..” and they left the garden. Meanwhile, Livia and Martia exchange some whispers with Adel, and Adel just nodded toward them..

            Within a few seconds “So my lady, let’s go back to my lady’s room..” Adel came back to normal..

            On my way to the house with Adel, I saw Livia and Martia went to Alecia, Alicia, Aelia, and it seemed they were talking about something. The kid’s eyes were towards me. While walking towards my room, I felt Adel’s not the same as usual, she gripped her hands tightly and seemed frightened or nervous about something.

            We arrived in my room, and we went to the balcony again. I was surprised there was only one chair in the balcony, that before there were 2 chairs for Lady Octavi and me, and now there was only one. Was there someone in my room? I took a seat in my chair. Adel tried to pour tea into my cup, but out of the blue, there was no single drop of tea in the pot. Adel made an excuse to refill the teapot. 

            “My lady, May I excuse for a moment to refill the tea?”

            “You may..”

            Adel left the room.

            After a while, I was waiting for Adel to refill the tea, but she wasn't coming. In a second, the door was opened, however it was not Adel, it was Alecia, Alicia, and Aelia who brought the tea with. They walked toward me with uneasy faces. In front of me, I asked them while Alicia was pouring tea in my cup..

            “Where’s Adel?”

            The three seemed didn’t want to answer it, until Aelia, the one who answered it. 

            “Ms Adel…she..is..in her.. quarters..for a reason..”

            “What’s the reason for her? Is she sick?”

            “She is fine, my lady…she..is just..in there..for a reason…”

            “So what's the reason for her being there? Can you ju—I see..I want to talk with mother..”

            I immediately stood up from my seat, but Alecia prevented me from standing up, by withholding my body to sit.

            “What are you doing, Alecia?” I kept insisting to get up. 

            “Forgive me, my lady..but you need to wait here until dinner…” Alecia kept holding my hands to prevent me from getting up. 

            “Who is the one ordering you to do this?”

            “It’s from madam, so please, wait here..”

            I turned my face to Alicia “Is it true what she said?” because Alicia was the one that was closer to mother than others.

            Alicia just nodded.. 

            “FINE THEN..” I withdrew my hands from Alecia and just kept sitting in the seat. 

            …

            ..

            .

            After some cups of tea I drank, a sound of knocking doors was heard. Aelia went to the door, while the others stayed standing behind me. In a second, Aelia went back and brought a message that it was time for dinner. Finally they let me stand up, and we left the room with the three following behind me. 

            Arriving in the dining room, I saw everyone already in their seats, even the little two. The three prepared my seat like Adel usually did, and I took the seat. After I put my body to the chair, father immediately clapped his hands, not like usual. While the servants were serving the foods on the table, I looked at my mother, and asked.

            “Mother, perhaps do you know where Adel is?”
            She didn’t make any eye contact with me, just ignoring me. So I turned my attention to my father, and asked the same question..Father turned his gaze to mother, and ignored me..After I didn't get any response from both of them, I just kept silent. I sensed there was something in both my hands, I checked it, and it was the little two hands, they were holding my hands. The food had been served on the table…

            __________

            For 2 days and 2 nights, the three had been my personal servants, and my mother still didn’t tell me anything about Adel. the three did what Adel did, like the usual morning, the three did everything with my appearance, combing my hair, tending my skin. It was not just Adel who was absent on usual days, Lady Octavi as my tutor and my lady-in-waiting were absent too, so there was no tutoring for the past 2 days. The relationship between mother and father became better, because of the effort from the little two in these past 2 days.

            At the dinner, my mother and my father became to talk to each other, the silence of dinner slowly being gone. While we were in the middle of eating dinner, mother said.

            “Aurelia, about your personal maid, Adel…She will be absent for some weeks..”

            I immediately dropped my fork and my knife after hearing that from my mother. 

            “What about Lady Octavi?” I asked 

            “That matter is your father's responsibility.” Mother turned her gaze to father “you need to ask your father..” 

            I looked at father “Will she be absent for some weeks too?”
            “I need a confirmation from Lady Laura for that…for now I don’t know how long she will be absent..”

            “So what’s the reason for them to be absent? Is it because of the spar 3 days ago?” I asked my mother.

            Mother asked “That spar, is it you who ordered them to do spar?” while moving her knife and fork to eat.

            “Yes….It was me who ordered them…”

            “For what reason, you ordered them to spar..”

            “It was for Alecia, I saw Alecia was training with her sword from my balcony…”

            “Then?” while moving her knife and fork
            “I came to the garden, and asked Lady Octavi to become her spar, while they were sparring, I remembered Adel had said that she was familiar with sword, so I asked her to replace Lady Octavi..”
            “Then?” while moving her knife and fork
            “But it seemed Lady Octavi didn’t like how Adel sparred with Alecia, and Alecia was exhausted from sparring with Lady Octavi and Adel, at that time, I got an idea that they were spared each other.”

            “Was you the one who ordered them to spar with a real weapon?”

            “Yes it was me…Is there any problem with that?”

            Out of the blue, father said “It seems Aurelia clueless about what had happened.”
            “What does father mean?”

            Father looked at mother “Dear, I think it's a great time for the three to know it..”
            Mother put down her cutlery and took a deep breath. “*Sigh* alright then…”

            She looked at us and started to explain “Your maids are not the usual maids, they have made a pact to me your mother, maybe you know your maids as your personal servant that innocence or obedient, but your maid has come under maids guard, this maids guard was under my charge…”

            “What is this maids guard?”
            “Maids guard is created by me, to protect all of you under shadow, because your maids will come along with you anywhere, and anytime. These maids come from different backgrounds, for example Marta Ophelia’s maid and Livia Aurelio’s maid come from man-at-arms even though they are women, because there was no waging of war anymore, so they put their sword and served to us. Adel Aurelia’s maid came from a restricted background, she was a member of the Order of Assassin…”

            I dropped my fork and knife again, after hearing that “WHAT! So Adel was an assassin.”

            “Indeed, she is a former assassin that your father brought to me after his triumph..”

            “Triumph? It means father caught her..”

            “Indeed, your father caught her when she was 14 years old I think…”

            “Do all the servants here come from that background?”

            “Only the servants under me came from that background, the servants in this house come under two, under me and under Lady Laura.…”

            “I see…but there is something that is in my mind..”

            “What is it?” Mother said while moving her cutlery.

            “When the two sparred, their hands and swords became black and there were sort of words or symbols in their hands, what is that?”
            “Ah that’s..” Mother turned and looked at me “That’s—” suddenly she dropped her cutlery.

            I saw her expression of shock, followed by father…She pointed at me with her fork. I didn’t know what she meant, and then she said..

            “YOUR MOUTH AURELIA!!”

            My mouth? I put my hand to my mouth, and checked it…I was surprised that there was blood…after seeing that, a surge of coughing was coming in my throat…made me cough..my vision became blurry, I saw my mother and my father was changed by someone that I didn’t know, I looked around, the tables, the chairs, and the decors was changed to something that I didn’t know.

            The table was a circle and smaller than usual, the chair was more simple than usual, I looked at my plate, there was sort of white things on top of my plate and there was no knife, just a spoon and fork, the food itself was so different, there was some that I had never seen before. Behind the dining room, there was a small sort of kitchen, but there was no firewood for fire nor the furnace for cooking, all of the things in the kitchen were weird like the stoves. I turned to beside me, there was no Aurelio nor Ophelia. I saw them in front of me, were talking to me, but their language, I didn’t know..

            I looked above, there was no chandelier anymore, but there was like a small ball thing that was brighter than any chandelier or candle I have seen. The ceiling itself was shorter than usual. I realized that the table was made from glass when I touched it. I saw the people in front of me stood up, and came to me. They touched me, and the woman’s face was in front of me, it seemed she said something to me. I pushed her face from me. The woman’s face seemed not pleasant about what I had done.

            They were dragging me out of the chair, I was resisting their dragging. 

            “Let go of me!!!!” I said.

            But they just spat some gibberish. 

            The man carried me…and he brought me out of the dining room. He carried me somewhere in the house, while he was carrying me, I was shocked that the house was changed. The house was more weird than usual, there were no ornaments nor paintings in the house, there were a lot of weird objects, even an object that emitted a sound. Even the side of the stairs was made of glass, he brought me to the second floor. The hall in there was so different, there was nothing in there, in usual there was some vase and ornaments on the wall, but there was nothing. We entered one of the rooms in the hall, the room was so different indeed. There were some dolls that I have never seen, the desk itself was so different, the beds, the wardrobe, the carpet, everything in the rooms was different..He put me down on the bed. Immediately, I felt the bed was more comfy than usual, he put the blanket on, and it was so warm than usual. After he put me to the bed, they left the room..

            Immediately I got up from the bed, and walked around the room. There was a doll that looked like a bear and a sort of white box on the table. I walked at it, and I bumped the desk, making the bear fall. I picked up the bear from the floor, and it was so fluffy, while holding the bear in my chest, I was walking around the room and checked everything, there was no balcony. I opened the wardrobe, and there were no dresses but some weird clothes or garments. I walked back to the desk, and opened the desk drawer. There was no jar of the powder for the morning routine, but there was a weird tiny thing and some weird thing. I looked at the white box that seemed so slim, there was a sort of symbol on top of it. I tried to push one of the symbols, but suddenly the other box lit up with a painting of the ocean, and all of the symbols lit up with a lot of colors..

            I heard the door open, I turned my back and saw a weird woman with white robe come to me..and grabbed both of my shoulders, her face was in front of me, it seemed she said something to me, but I only heard some gibberish from her. Out of the blue, my vision became blurry for once more…the woman in front of me changed to Sofia, and there was mother and father behind her. I looked around, I was in my room, I was holding a doll but after I looked at it again, there was nothing that I held, however my both hands were in blood. I turned my face to her and asked.

            “What happened?”

            Sofia just answered “That’s the question that I want to ask to my lady..”