Chapter 14
"I did. I wanted to see if what the maids and servants said was true, and it was. She sleeps under the bed more than on it. She will not stay healthy if she chooses to still sleep under the bed." Reg crossed his arms, leaning on the bed while his father tended to the girl with another fever.
"Like your mother said, it takes time, but it will only be effective if we put in the effort." Sachin had patted his son's head, but he never thought he would be a father until his wife told him that she was pregnant with Reg. "You should get some rest. I will take care of her tonight." Sachin said.
Reg paused for some time before speaking out, "I'll take turns with you. Like Mother said, we have to put the effort into it." Reg decided to go over and help his father care for the little feral girl.
*** Seven was sleeping when she found herself awake and standing in an odd place. The whole atmosphere was just too strange and surreal. She looked around and saw people all dressed in black suits and dresses. 'What is this place?' she thought, going up to see a tombstone that sat in front of a woman and a little lion. Taking a closer look, she saw that it was Priti and Reg. 'Why are they here?! ' she thought, going up close to see what had been engraved onto the tombstone. It was as though she was invisible to them.
'Sachin Maximus'
Looking shocked, she could not think that this mage would be dead. 'Is this real or fake???' She had no idea if it was real, but she felt her heart become increasingly concerned all of a sudden. Seven knew that she should not be worried about him, so it was strange that she was now. 'I need to wake up!' She knew that something was bound to happen. "Let me wake up!!!" She shouted this time as loud as she could.
Opening her eyes, she saw she was lying on a bigger bed, which was clearly not the one that she was sleeping in. 'Where is this?' The blankets had been placed on top of her, and the curtains for the windows had been pulled open. Something bigger only came across her mind. 'Why am I worried about these people?' She thought, getting out of bed as she saw the empty hallway. Looking around, she started to walk around and stumbled upon a more oversized bedroom. It seems like the room she moved into was neighbored by another giant room. Entering the room, she could catch the scent of many people who had entered the room at some point. 'Who stays in this room?' She questioned, going around and seeing that the bed was big enough for two people to sleep in. She could hear shuffling going on, and she looked around to see that there was a maid who happened to be looking through cabinets and drawers. 'What is this maid doing???'
"Damn it! Where is it?!" The maid fumbled quite a lot. Not a very sneaky one.
'What is she looking for?' Seven looked at the maid, who fumbled through the drawers and cabinets, almost like she was desperate for something.
"Here it is!" The maid had pulled out a small box, opening it to reveal a piece of fine jewelry inside. Worth up to about two million worth of gold.
'It looks expensive.' Seven could see that this maid was a thief who may have stolen from this family more than once. Seven was about to sneak out of the room, so she stopped and sighed, with no other option. 'This is going to be stupid.' She knew fully well that this would be the most stupid decision she made.
***
"Aaaahhhh!!!!" Everyone had heard a maid scream within the mansion, making them all rush to find that the maid was bleeding on the hand. The back of the maid's hand had three scratch marks—it was not a light scratch. At most, it would have cut the veins in the process. All the maids and servants shook—looking to see the child their master had brought in.
"Monster!!!"
They all screamed to see that there was so much blood around on the tile floor of the master and madam's bedroom, but they also witnessed the maid missing three fingers soon after. Many had gotten out of the way of the little girl who ran out of the room, seeing Sachin with his wife and son, who stood there to see the blood on her. 'Whose going to believe me?' Ignoring them, she ran off outside to avoid all the trouble that would occur for her. Both lions looked at one another, catching the scent of blood in the room, which was none other than the maid's blood.
"Wait!!!" Priti tried to run after the little girl when Sachin stopped her. "Sachin! I have to go to her!" She shouted out. 'This has to be some kind of misunderstanding!' Priti would not believe that a child would attack a maid out of the blue.
"Are you crazy?! She went into our room, and a maid happened to be there. What if it was you?!" Sachin growled, clearly assuming that the little girl must have gone crazy.
"You are probably misunderstanding the situation!" Priti shouted back to him. She wouldn't listen to just the maid's side of the story. Priti knew that there were always two sides to the story.
Reg went into the room, seeing the maid being tended by the others, but he noticed a jewelry box containing his mother's fine jewelry opened with blood staining it that belonged to the maid. 'Why was this thing open? This jewelry box usually has a lock on it, and the only way to open it is with a key.' Thinking back, he had seen this maid come in and out of his parents' room constantly. He assumed that she was cleaning the room throughout that time, but there was a set rule that there had to be at least two maids to clean the room.
"Lord Sachin! You must find justice for me! That little monster had just torn my fingers off!!!" The maid was clearly in pain, but she held killing intent on the little girl. She wanted the little girl to pay for the loss of her fingers. Sachin did not get the chance to speak out since his son spoke first.
"Let me ask you something. Why were you in my parent's room alone?" Reg was clearly seeking an answer since he had noticed that the little girl would not have attacked for no reason. He took his mother's side. He himself had been alone with the girl, so he figured that it must have been something that the maid did.
"I was just cleaning the room!"
"No maid is allowed to clean the room alone," Reg said. Looking to the head maid, he wanted to get to the bottom of this. "Head maid, who was assigned to clean the room today?" He looked to the head maid, who had shaken just a bit from his gaze—looking at the young master with his serious lion cub expression was still frightening. His aura did not make the atmosphere any better.
"Lord Reg, these two are usually the ones who clean up the room together. There are no other maids who clean this room but them." The head maid showed two maids who agreed that they were usually the ones who cleaned the room.
"Y-Yes, the two of us usually clean the master and madam's room. The cycle never changes," one of the maids who cleaned the room informed them.
"It seems as though you have a lot to explain." Reg looked at the maid, who looked panicked.
***
Seven did not know where she had gone, but she stumbled upon a small pond. Washing from there, she could see the look on everyone's face that immediately blamed her with no hesitation to think about it all. 'This is why I hate every living being, whether human or beast.' She felt as though no one would understand her. She kept looking at her reflection in the water, seeing nothing but a monster that they called her.
"Ahhh, isn't that such a pitiful child?"
"I agree."
Hearing voices, she turned her gaze to look up and saw two fish swimming in the pond. Continuing to stare at them, she did not know if she was going crazy or something.
"Hey, she is looking over at us!"
"She isn't thinking about eating us, right?!"
"Don't be stupid as bubbles! Nothing is allowed to eat us. We are high value."
Seven continued to stare at the two swans, who were indeed the voices she was hearing. 'I must be going insane.' Getting up, she decided that it was about time to hide and then find a way out of this mansion. 'It has been a long day.'
***
"See! I told you that there was a big misunderstanding!" Priti could not believe that the maid almost got away with trying to frame the little girl, who was clearly trying to protect her belongings. 'She is not a monster!' Priti was angered, but her old maid tried to calm her down due to the baby that she carried.
"I got it. I was wrong." Sachin had to admit his mistake; if not for his son, they would have sent the girl away or even executed her. They had sent the maid to the prison while the servants and maids had to look for the little girl. 'It seems like I had too little faith in her.' Sachin did feel terrible for assuming so quickly.
"The servants and maids cannot find her anywhere. I do not know where she could have gone." Reg came into the room where both of his parents were talking.
"Sachin, you need to find her. Out of everyone here, you are the only one who would be able to track her down. Besides, I think you owe her an apology as well." Priti knew that her husband needed to find the little girl.
"I know. I was the one who blamed her first; I'll go look for her." Sachin had left the room, and Priti and Reg were looking at one another. It seemed like they could only depend on him since he was the archmage with the best magic and tracking abilities.