6 Chapter 5: Esper's Song

I opened eyes and realized another day has passed. It has been a week since Diane passed away and every morning since then, I have bawled my eyes out.

'Could I have done something to save her? Could I have just saved her life with mine?' I brush off the thoughts as I splashed water on my face.

It was another day filled with guilt and depression for me however, every night when I cry by myself, the tree in the middle of the garden would release light that would relieve me of my anxiety. And every time the tree would glow, the flowers that were attached to it, that which had seemed to shy away from the world, opens up and shows the beauty it possessed.

Another day, week, and month has passed. And the same thing would happen over and over every night, when I am mourning. One time, I asked a fellow maid, if she noticed something glowing from the garden. And with no hesitation, she laughed at me and said,

"What are you talking about? Perhaps you've gone crazy after 2 months of being alone? And you've only been here for how long? 3 months?" She walked away from me while trying her best not to laugh out loud.

I tried to ask one of the butlers but he also replied that he didn't notice anything and he thought the same thing the other maid did.

'Is that really the case? Could I have just felt really lonely and miserable enough to see these hallucinations?' I thought to myself. However, when I think about it, every single morning I would feel better than I did during the earlier days. Wouldn't it be weird if I just got over this situation when I clearly cared so much about Diane? The more I think about it, the more confused I had become. Staring at the bucket of water I was washing my face with, a maid comes to me and said, "Come to the living room, you have guests."

She then left without a sound.

'Who could it be? Is it father?' I hurriedly ran to the living room thinking about the possibilities of it being my family. The huge smile on face vanished as soon as I saw who the guests were. Snakes.

-Before Yvytt left for the summer-house, 3 and months ago-

After receiving the gift from my siblings, I couldn't sleep. I decided to take a walk on the kingdom's garden one last time. I sneaked out of the place and into the garden. It seems impossible with all the guards but, if you have cleaned every inch of the palace, you would know passages not everyone knows of. The flowers and the breeze of the evening, were smoothing and calming.

"What were you trying to do?" A voice asked. I wondered who it was at this time of the day.

"I-I'm sorry. I just cou-couldn't contr-"

"LEARN HOW TO, DAMN IT! We even had to meet this late for this. What a waste of time." What seemed a familiar girl's voice shouted cutting the other one off.

"Do you know how much dignity I had to lose just for the sake of this plan? And here you are trying to ruin everything!" A man's voice interrupts. Somehow, these voices seemed familiar. I was about to walk towards them and take a peek but,

"Louise! I know that your life needs fixing, but, does your mind need it too?"

'Louise? No, it can't be. It's probably just a coincidence.' I laughed the idea off and started to tread away.

"You too, Jacob! Why are you taking things like those so far? Don't even touch me when your hand stinks of Yvytt."

'Is it really them? My friends?' I stood still with everything I was hearing.

"What do you expect me to do Evian? She might catch on." Jacob said. I knew for sure that it was him.

Thought started running in my mind, 'What are they talking about? What plan? Was Jacob just acting all this time? Were they all acting all this time?'

"You dare touch her when you say you love me? I guess your love for me isn't as big as I thought." Evian said as her last words turned quite soft. My eyes grew bigger as I heard those words.

"No, Evian. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me. I'd do anything for you, my queen."

I almost barfed from his choice of words, but, it made me want to vomit when I hear the truth. They were just acting in front of me? So that means, everything was really fake. I wiped my mouth and stood back straight, reminding myself to not try to face them. I gradually realized that it's because they just felt pity for me when everyone else was not even giving me a single glance. I accepted that fact because, even I am disgusted at my own existence. I walked away from everything.

-Present-

It was Evian, Louise, and Jacob. My 'friends' visited me in here? They actually made the efforts? I don't know if I should be happy or what, but seeing them made me lose the Oh-so-little confidence I had. I entered the room with my head lowered and welcomed them. "What brings you here?"

Evian stood up and walked towards me while the other two just sat down with concerned faces. "Oh me? I'm just here to see how my friend is going. Isn't that normal?" She said, still holding the fan she always had.

"O- oh. Thank you, E- Evian. Right. We are fr- friends after all." I cowered my head knowing how much of a lie that was.

With disgusting pity in her eyes, she said, "Of course. We used to be friends."

'Used to be? Is she cutting me off now? Please don't abandon me too! You three are the only people who I can lean on.' Before I could say those words inside my head, I looked up and threw those words away. Evian's expression suddenly changed. She grinned at me. "Pft. Are you serious? You should've caught on by now. I guess you're not only useless, you're really dumb too." Then she laughed along with the other two.

Jacob went closer to Evian, and to my shock, Jacob deliberately kissed Evian in front of me. Even if I knew of their relationship, it still hurts me that they had to show me how in love they are. I wanted to cry but, that sadness was replaced by anger. No matter how pathetic I was, It still wouldn't be enough of a reason for them to treat me like this.

"Get out." I slowly said.

"What did you just say?" Louise asked as she also stood up from the couch she was sitting on and slowly walked to us.

"I said, GET OUT! GO BACK TO THE PALACE!" I raised my head and screamed at them.

Silence followed. Suddenly, "Ha. Hahaha." Evian started laughing out loud with 'Crazy' depicting her eyes. "Do you think that you hold power? Ever since you were born, you didn't have a single authority in the palace. And now that you're here, do you think you would be able to drive us out? You must be out of your mind. Although, I appreciate the thought, we're leaving. This place reeks trash." They walked out and I was left in a dark and desolate room. I cried and cried until I started getting sleepy. I went to the garden and tried to sleep on the bed they gave me.

'Might as well just lie on the floor, huh?' I thought. The bed was shabby and it seemed like it could collapse any second, but it was enough for me. I cried again, and when everything seemed dark, the tree glowed again. It showed me beauty, that everyone else hadn't felt. With that I feel asleep. Weeks passed and the tree still kept on glowing every night when I cry, just like it did when Diane died.

It was the 4th month of me staying in this place and they treat me as cold as ever. Instead of doing their work, they would pass it all on to me and instead gossiped about other things. I cleaned and cleaned until sundown came. I was so tired and lonely. I hugged my own legs and sighed.

"Hello~" A small voice suddenly said.

I looked around and found nothing. "Ha. I must be going insane." I thought out loud.

"Hello~"

"Is someone really there? Please help me to get out of here! I'm so tired of everything!"

"If only I could. I can't even get out of here myself." The tiny voice replied.

A white light suddenly appeared out of nowhere and then introduced itself. The figure didn't seem too clear from the tears forming in my eyes. However, that little light brought comfort I badly needed.

The figure came close enough and now I could see everything. It's wings that looked like a butterfly's, a dress that looked seemed to be a rose, and a small body that was as small as my hand.

"Hello~ My name is Esper Seelie. Won't you tell me your name?" The tiny thing with blue hair and blue eyes said.

"Hello. I- I am Yvytt."

"Hello, Yvytt! Let's get along well!"

Finally after 4 months, I met someone to talk to in this boring and wretched mansion.

Every single day after that, Esper would talk to me every night. She would tell me stories about how her life was before. Like when she used to be friends with everyone with her kind and that she was highly respected. Just that simple thought made me jealous. 'I wish I was treated like that too.'

Esper also said that her kind were called fairies. Fairies are creatures that had the best affinity with natural elements. They were said to be the best wielders of mana and magic. However, Esper corrected this, she said that fairies are not wielders of mana nor magic. They only take care of them.

My anxiety goes away every time she tells me stories. One day, I was made fun of by the other maids. '

"Do you want your sadness to disappear for the meantime?" She asked. I nodded my head in response.

"As the water calmly flows by, and as the cold and harsh winds blow. Just remember I'll be by your side forever. As things may seem worse than ever, just know I'll be with you 'til it gets better. Many things may come between you and me, but I trust your love will bind us together. And with every little step you take towards happiness, don't leave me be and hold my hand. Because in everything that you go through, I'll be fighting with you."

With every word that she sang, felt my world light up. "How can you do that?" I asked.

"How can your voice make everything seem better?"

She smiled. "It's because my Magnus come from my songs."

And with that I felt at ease with everything. All my anxiety, my worries, and anger, all gone with Esper's song.