Lily's vow

Lily was stunned to see the rose in its full bloom when she had clearly seen a withered one when it was in Samantha's hand. Also, there was no possibility of any mistake as the basket had only one thing in it, a pink rose. No words came out of her mouth as she kept staring at the beautiful flower which a few moments ago was completely wilted. Her mind went blank and she stood in her place frozen. 

Samantha had no idea that Lily was behind her and she continued to do her work until she turned back to pick up the basket. She was startled to see an absent-minded Lily behind her and she jumped in fright. "Madam Lily, you scared me." She accused as she patted her frightened heart with a small pout. But she did not get any response from the old woman. 

Samantha's brows furrowed and she waved her hands in front of Lily to gain her attention. "Madam, are you alright? Is something the matter?" She spoke, her voice turning anxious on getting no response from the older woman again. She then patted Lily's hands to bring her back and this time, Lily moved a little. She blinked continuously trying to comprehend what was even happening and noticed a worried Samantha mouthing something at her.

It took some time for Lily to come back to her senses. "Are you alright, Madam?" She heard Samantha ask her again and this time, the woman replied to her. "Yes, I am. Don't worry, dear." She assured the girl although she was not sure herself. "Could you get me a glass of water, dear?" Lily asked making a decision at once.

"Yes, Madam. Right away." Samantha left the garden in a hurry, leaving the old woman to herself. 

Lily looked around to see if anybody was in the vicinity and on finding nobody nearby, she picked up the rose in the basket and observed it thoroughly, wondering how something like that was even possible. She did not know how to face the issue and for a second, she wondered if Samantha was special. Lily had heard about special creatures that graced this kingdom and one of the few people she knew who belonged to that category was her employer, the Bradfords. But she had no idea what they were.

So, seeing someone who shared the same kind of possibility made her stunned. But she had never seen anything like this from the Bradfords. They seemed to be just like normal human beings, except that they aged slowly, slower than the humans at least. She knew this because she had worked at the mansion for a long time and had seen Young Master Bradford being the same even after twenty years had passed. 

From this, Lily knew that the family of Bradfords were special. But she had no idea what other powers they possessed. So, this was the first time for her to witness something so magical. She could not help but wonder more about Samantha now.

The girl did seem to anything but normal. 'Is she a witch?' Lily had also heard about witches, who at one time stayed amongst the humans in the kingdom. However, after an unfortunate incident where one of them had tried to curse one of the previous kings to death, they had been banished from the kingdom. And since then, she had not heard about them.

Lily could not help but assume Samantha to be a witch. If that was the case, then the girl's life would be in danger. The king or anybody from the royal family would never allow her to stay in this kingdom and this made the woman to fear for the poor girl. She had to save her at costs and make sure that she did nothing that could incur the wrath from anybody. Before that, she had to find out what exactly Samantha was. What if she was not a witch and something else?

Lily heard a rustle from behind her and she realized that Samantha was back. So, she hid the rose in her skirt pocket before she turned to face her. "Madam Lily, please have some water and take a rest. All the work will be done, don't you worry about it." Samantha tried to assure the woman, with a gentle smile on her face.

This made the older woman to worry for her more. 'This child. Why do you make me worry about you this much?' The woman thought. Although Samantha was mischievous at times, she was a kind girl. Lily could see the innocence in her eyes and at this moment, Lily made a vow to protect the orphan at all costs. Samantha already had nobody as her family and Lily did not want to leave her alone to face her problems herself.

"Madam, do you want me to escort you back to your chambers?" Samantha questioned, seeing the woman's weird gaze. However, the woman rejected her kind offer with a shake of her head. "I'll be fine. You can continue with your work." But then, Lily remembered something. She pulled off her gloves from her hands and handed it to Samantha, making the girl's eyes go wide. "Wear this whenever you work in the garden from now onwards."

"But..."

"We do not want those pretty hands of yours getting pricked by twigs or thorns." Lily did not allow her to interrupt her words. "This is an order. We do not want you getting injured."

With that, Lily started to walk away from the girl who had not stopped worrying about the old woman. At one instant, Lily stopped suddenly and turned back only to see Samantha already staring at her. "Samantha, please be safe, darling."

Lily then continued to walking, not sparing another glance at the confused girl, even though her mind was filled with her thoughts. Meanwhile, Madam Lily's behavior made Samantha to blink her eyes. However, she did not give it much thought and went back to her work after putting on the gloves. She started to hum a tune trying to shake the weird notions out of her already muddled brain.

This time, no miracle happened and the dried leaves and flowers remained the way they were. So, Samantha had no idea what had actually transpired for Lily to find out that she was special. She finished her work sooner than she had expected and returned to the kitchen to munch on her favorite cakes when she met now of the two Bradford's coachman, Nigel. 

The man smiled at her widely and the girl returned it politely. She was about to walk past him when the man stopped her. "Samantha?" 

"Yes, Mr. Nigel." The girl replied, ignoring that the man had called her without any honorifics. 

"I am going to the kingdom capital on some work tomorrow. Do you wish to accompany me? I heard that you have not seen the capital. I am sure you would love it." The man suggested hoping for the beautiful girl to accept his offer. This way, he could spend some time with the girl he had taken a liking to for quite some time now.

Samantha did not know how to respond to the man's proposition. It was true that she wished to see the place which everybody who had been there spoke about. She had heard how fascinating the place was and how sophisticated the life was over there compared to their small village. However, she did not want to accompany the man who visibly had feelings for her when she felt nothing for him.

"But.."

"I promise, we will return before the sun sets." The man said, trying to stop the girl from rejecting him. He truly liked her and he wanted to get to know her more.

Samantha sighed when she noticed the man's eagerness. "I need to take Madam Lily's permission."

"I'll take care of it. You don't have to worry about it." The man said confidently. It was a piece of cake for him as the woman Samantha was talking about was his mother and Nigel knew how to handle his own mother. "Now, will you agree to it? Please."

Seeing Samantha hesitate, the man knew she was not comfortable. "You could get your friend if you want." This caught Samantha's attention and her eyes gleamed in joy. If Itri was going to accompany her, then she had no problems with going to the capital with Nigel. She would have a friend to keep her company and she would not be uncomfortable too.

"In that case, I think we can make it tomorrow."

"Great. We will be leaving an hour after breakfast." The man said with a small smile. Although he wanted to go with Samantha alone, he did not want to make her feel awkward either. So, he had decided to take her friend along with them. At least, he got the girl to come with him and had taken the first step towards the girl's heart.