An Uninvited Guest

Isha and Taksh were in the living room, Taksh was playing with his toys, while Isha was reading a book. Books in Zario are not common, but come on, being the wife of a count has its perks. Bella was also there, doing some of her work. Whatever the work was, it could be easily done somewhere else. The reason she was here was as clear as day. She was there because Isha was there. I've already told you how much she reveres and worships Isha. Suddenly the door to the living room opened and a maid with clothes little different from other maids entered the room.

This maid is Milia, the head maid of the Arora household. She is a tall woman, about 5'8" and wears glasses which emphasize her black pupils, which look like are devoid of any emotions. They perfectly contrast her snow-white hair. Her demeanour is that of a perfect maid.

Milia is extremely cold to other maids below her. Even though she would never raise her voice in front of her employer, she doesn't have any problem humiliating the other maids if they make any mistake. Want to know a secret about Milia? Then here it is:-

In reality, she isn't all that cold-hearted. Her heart stings every time she scolds someone. But she thinks that both Dhruv and Isha are too kind to the maids. If she behaves that way, all the other maids will start ignoring their work, and she can't let that happen.

Isha raised her head towards Milia while closing the book, after sensing someone entering the room. But before Milia could convey why she was here, her eyes fell on Bella and a slight anger came over her. She asked Bella "Why are you here Bella? Didn't I ask you yesterday to clean the storage room? And haven't you seen the piles of clothes stacked for laundry? And more than that, don't you understand, you shouldn't disturb Lady Isha and young Lord Taksh in their private time? Do you just stare Lady Isha, but learn nothing from her?"

At this, Bell couldn't do anything else except apologize. After all, she was at fault here. "Sorry, I'm leaving" she said as she left the room hurriedly.

"I apologize Lady Isha." Milia said after Bella left the room. At this, Isha just shook her head slightly, before asking "Why did you come here?"

Isha knew that Milia wouldn't disturb her without any reason.

"Mr. Lonwell came here to meet you and Lord Dhruv. His daughter came along daughter too. I've already sent the news to Lord Taksh. He'd be down there any minute." Lonwell is one of the big merchants of the Lands of Eldir. (Lands of Eldir is the state that Dhruv governs, with its headquarters situated at the Town of Eldir.) He has a 10-year-old daughter named Lisa. There's nothing more to know about him other than this, trust me. He won't be in this story for a long time. I mean it.

"Mr. Lonwell came with his daughter? We're not that close that he'd come here just for a friendly meeting. Then why did he bring his daughter along with him? Anyway, go ahead. I'll be there within a minute." Then Isha turned towards Taksh and said, "Come with me Taksh and greet Mr. Lonwell."

When Isha came to meet Mr. Lonwell, Dhruv was already present there. The first one to move was the Lisa. She stood up, brought her left leg backwards and lifted her skirt slightly while bowing her head.

In her response, Taksh put his right palm on his left chest, brought his left leg backwards and bowed his head slightly. This is a form of courtesy nobles use when they meet someone elder to them.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Arora. How's everything going? Meet her, this is my daughter Lisa." To this, both Dhruv and Isha nodded, with a smile which couldn't be more fake. Right now, Taksh was free to leave the room. After all, this is going to be a talk between adults. But he chose to stay there for some time.

"You know, she awakened her Plant Element at the age of nine. I immediately hired a private instructor for her. According to him, my daughter is a little genius. In less than two years of time frame, she is about to advance into an intermediate-level mage. Can you believe this?" In reality, Lisa isn't a genius or anything. Her growth is just at a satisfactory level.

After hearing all those boasting, both Isha and Dhruv had an idea where this conversation was going. That's why Isha pushed it further in that direction.

"Lisa certainly is a cute girl. Even being talented in magic must be awesome news for you. Now, you wouldn't have to worry about finding a good one for her, right? I think that when Lisa reaches an appropriate age for marriage, there will be a big line of boys at your doorstep, fighting to marry her."

"Well, that certainly is a dream come true. BAHAHAHAHA…" Mr. Lonwell replied happily. In reality, he was here to convince Dhruv and Isha to engage Taksh with Lisa. That's why he was boasting about Lisa so much.

Stuff like this had happened with Dhruv and Isha in the past. Everyone craves a relationship with a count. And it's not rare to engage the children of two families for mutual benefits. But they don't want their son to be stuck in any relationship because his parents had some gain over the relationship, be it political or be it financial. That's why they were about to politely turn down the proposal. But it seems that there was some fault in Mr. Lonwell's stars.

I said this because the person who was sitting quietly this whole time asked a question. A question, which in hindsight became the sole reason for Mr. Lonwell's misery and torment.