The Almira Family

From the gardener to the one who started preparing breakfast, all the maids in the Almira residence were all busy working here and there even though it was still early in the morning. Even the chief of maids had also woken up to oversee all the work, until finally she helped out in the kitchen to make sure today's breakfast menu suited the tongues of the Almira family members.

Only when the sun was about to rise did she fold up her apron. "Finish the rest." She said. Without being told, everyone already knows, that she's already scheduled to check on the condition of the family members.

The Almira family only has three members. Namely Mr. Almira, Mrs. Almira, and their only daughter, Miss Almira. Each of them already had a personal maid, so actually the chief only needed to make sure that the maids served them properly. But maybe because she used to be Mrs. Almira's personal maid, she had been specially asked to come to her room every morning.

Knock knock. "It's me, your maid, Helen." She asked permission at the door.

"Come in."

And as soon as she stepped inside, it turned out that her master, Anastasia was still sitting limply on her bed. Her face still looked sleepy, but her beautiful smile was already visible in the morning sun. Even her messy hair look kinda cute too.

"Helen, is Rina awake?" She asked.

"I'll check after this." Helen replied.

"Hm, I feel something off today. Should I take her out for a walk…?" She continued with rather sullen face. "Make sure Rina comes downstairs for breakfast okay? So prepare orange juice for her. She always looks calmer when she drinks that. I don't know why though."

"I understand." Helen replied and she went out.

Then after walking to the other side of the house, she finally stood in front of her young lady's door. But just as she was about to knock, the door opened by itself. Showing the figure of Sei coming out from there.

"Ah, miss Helen." She said while bowing.

Helen looked at the tea tray in Sei's hand for a moment and then looked back at her. "...Miss Arina is already awake?"

"Yes, and she asked me to make a new tea." Sei replied.

"Okay, you can go." She said and Sei complied. But after two steps, Helen called out to her again. "That, is Miss Arina in a bad mood or something?"

"...I don't think so."

"Is that so? Okay. You can go again." She replied and let Sei go again. But while watching her subordinate turn in the corridor, Helen remembered that Sei had been working in this mansion for almost three years.

'Seems like Miss Arina likes her quite a bit.'

Remembering her weird temperament, Arina used to always ask for a change of maids every month or even every week as if it were a prearranged schedule. As a result, the position that all the maids originally wanted slowly began to change into one that was most avoided!

But for some reason, all of that stopped after Sei became her servant. Even after more than a year being assigned to be Arina's personal maid, Sei also never heard to complain about anything, which meant that at least she wasn't being abused by Arina or something.

"Maybe because Sei is obedient…?" Helen muttered, then immediately shook her head to herself, knowing that there was no use guessing at her young lady's thoughts. The problem is that when Arina was only 3 years old, she had difficulty doing it. What else now.

Knock Knock. "Miss Arina, it's me, Helen."

"Come in."

And as soon as the servant entered, not only was she awake, the beautiful young lady was already sitting at her desk, smiling as if she was reading something enjoyable. "Helen, why are you here?" Arina asked first.

"I heard you were already awake since earlier."

"No. Rather, I didn't sleep last night." She answered relaxedly.

"You can't sleep? Have you asked for some chamomile tea or something so—"

"No need. It's not like I can't sleep because of insomnia, after all." She interrupted. "I just can't sleep because I'm a little too happy." She continued, smiling again.

"You're happy...? Because of what?"

"Confidential."

'Hmm? Maybe I should just tell Mrs. Anastasia about this?'

The logic is easy. The problem is that all the maids already know very well that Arina is a difficult person to deal with—which means there isn't much that can be done to make her happy. So if she's actually happy for no reason like this, usually it's not a normal thing. At worst, she might already be causing trouble.

"Why? Do you want to tell mom?" Asked Arina who could immediately read Helen's astonished expression. "Did she send you here to ask that?"

"...No. She just wanted to make sure you come down for breakfast later."

Arina was silent for a moment with her smile, but then she replied, "Sure, fine. Did she ask anything else?"

"Hm, she was actually thinking of asking you to go out today."

"Is that so? But too bad I can't. Because the prince said he would come here today." She replied. But after staring at Helen's face for a while, her faint smile came back again. "But if later mom asks about our relationship, just tell her that I still like him, okay?"

The servant looked dissatisfied, but finally bowed. "Then I'll excuse myself." She said and finally left Arina's room.

And as soon as she returned to Anastasia's room, the madam was neatly dressed by now. "Has everyone gone down?" Anastasia asked immediately. But noticing that Helen's gaze was a little strange, Anastasia ordered her other maids to come out of the room first. "Why? Is Rina in a bad mood again?"

"No. On the other hand, Miss Arina looks really happy today." Helen answered. "She was so happy that she couldn't sleep last night."

"She said why?"

"Unfortunately no."

"..." Putting on the same faint smile as her daughter, Mrs. Anastasia was silent for a while. Even though they haven't seen each other this morning, it seems the game of secrets between them has started again.

They had been playing this for a long time, but Arina was always a little too good at it. "Maybe I really should have asked her out today…"

"About that, miss Arina seems to have a plan today." Helen chimed in again.

"What plan? Tea party? But I thought she never liked it."

"No, she said the prince will come to visit today."

"Prince? Alex?" She repeated. But because Helen was silent, Mrs. Anastasia started to get restless herself, kind of worried about the fact that her daughter had a fiancé now. "But Helen, how do you think their relationship is? Just fine, or?"

"If you ask that, Miss Arina told me to say that she still likes him." Helen replied just as she was told to.

"Haha... My daughter is really funny." Anastasia muttered bitterly.

Because the Almira family is a noble with a high position, a propose like that has actually been coming since Arina was little. But because of her rather strange temperament and character, Arina never wants to date anyone, let alone marriage.

The gentle Mrs. Anastasia never liked to force Arina on anything, but Mr. Hendrick also rarely won if he tried to argue with his daughter. So yes, usually they just let Arina do as she pleases.

But despite all that, 5 months ago, the third prince, Alexander suddenly proposed an engagement to Arina, which to their surprise was accepted by Arina!

So the Almira family, which previously had a high status, became even higher because they were now the candidates for the royal family's in-laws.

"The salads are delicious." Praise Arina when chewing her breakfast.

As Helen said, it seemed Arina was really in a good mood today. It was so weird that her parents were surprised and had to look at each other as if they weren't sure if the young lady sitting in front of them was really their daughter or not.

But then the father wanted to join in answering. "Yes, yes. Today's salad was delicious!" He replied excitedly. But because Arina ignored him, he went back to eating his bread in silence.

Then finally the mother spoke up too. "I heard that today the prince will come?" She said carefully. "He must be busy though. Thank goodness Prince Alex cares about you." She said. But this time it was the same. Arina's just quietly munching her breakfast.

Both of them gave up for a moment, but then Mr. Almira spoke again. "Ah, speaking of prince, I remember something. Have you heard about Prince Felix's magic?" He said then. "Even though at first he could only make a small fire, yesterday I saw he was already able to burn a tree."

"I heard it too. So it's true?" Mrs. Anastasia answered. "I think the enchanted forest can indeed change a person's fate."

"He couldn't get another hand, but instead he got magic, huh?" Arina mumbled softly, but her parents heard it and stared at her in silence. "...What? It's not like I'm demeaning him. I'm just saying he at least got something else to cover his... Unfortunate event."

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, but in the end they just shrugged. There's nothing wrong with that sentence.

"But is Alex okay?" Asked the father again. "Thanks to that, recently there have been rumors that Alex's position as crown prince might be threatened again." He said.

"...Don't know, and don't care."