V

Evander POV

I rest my head as soon as we arrived at our house. Working at the stable isn't bad at all since I already use it with hard work like that. The horse seems fine with me. They didn't aggressive at all. Maybe they understand that I just want to help them.

I heard someone knocking on my room door. I sigh. It's so annoying when people want to meet me at this time. I just want to rest. I walked to the door, opened it and saw Maverick standing outside the door waiting for me.

"What?", I asked.

"Can we talk?", he asked me back.

Seeing he wants to talk to me, I let him enter my room. Usually, I don't like people to get in my private area. But for him, I don't mind since I see how desperately he wants to talk to me until he can't wait for tomorrow.

"Have a seat," I said.

He sat at one of the chairs. He waited for me to sit in front of him.

"You lend your jacket to Serenity?", he asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"Why do you need to do that?"

"What? Am I seems to so evil that I can't lend her my jacket? If she catches a cold, she'll get a fever tomorrow and won't be able to work. I know you know about it," I replied.

"You seem to care about her. Since the day she was almost involved in the accident, you always be there to help her... why?", he asked again.

"Hey, you know what? I don't have time to answer your dumb question in the middle of the night when I should rest. So, please get out of my room," I instruct him.

"I just need your answer."

"And the answer is, I don't care. Now go! Azazel! Take your friend with you!", I shout at Azazel.

I heard footsteps coming through my room door. Azazel quickly gets to Maverick.

"I told you there's no use to asked him," he said.

Both of them step outside my room. I close the door and lay down on the bed. Maverick's question made me feel weird. Isn't it something wrong with helping your friend? I thought it was normal.

"Why he even thinks to ask the question? I'm Serenity's friend so of course, I'll protect her. It's not only her. Even Claudia, I help her a lot before this," I murmur alone.

"Is he falling in love with her?"

. . . . . ╰──╮╭──╯ . . . . .

Azazel POV

"I told you so many times to not approach Evander! You know he never cares about this matter?", I said to Maverick.

"I'm just curious," he replied.

"I know you love her. But, Evander knows her long before she knows us. Maybe something else happens until Evander cares about her. So, please stop this childish jealousy!"

"Okay."

He went off to sleep. He didn't seem to continue this talk. As a friend, of course, I want him to be happy. But, by what he doing just now. It's just ridiculous! If Evander knows about his feelings toward Serenity, he would never care and still take care of Serenity like always.

"I need to always watch over this bastard!", I talked to myself about Maverick.

I lay down on my bed. Suddenly, I felt something strange about myself. A weird scent spread inside my nostril. It smells like...

"Blood?"

I quickly wake up and sense the smell. It's too close to us. I check on Maverick who already sleeping but there's no blood dripping from his body. I walk to the living room. Some workers already fall asleep in the living room. Maybe they're too lazy to walk through their room. I let them and continue inspecting the area. No blood at all. It's weird cause I still can smell it. The smell is too strong. I can't resist it. It's very annoying and disturbing.

I drag my feet to the outside of the house. There's no single creature outside. I scratched my head even though it was not itchy, still wondering where this smell comes from. I go back inside the house, wash my face and try to sleep.

. . . . . ╰──╮╭──╯ . . . . .

Serenity POV

"Serenity, I have a question for you," said Claudia.

We wake up early and get prepared to go to work.

"What?"

"Miss Emery told you to not repeat the same mistake yesterday. So, what's the mistake?" she asked.

"Haih," I sigh.

Claudia still waiting for my answer.

"I didn't know the King is the one who asked my name. I pronounced him as 'Sir' instead of 'my King'," I told her what's happen.

"And Miss Emery knows it instantly. But how?" I asked Claudia.

"Miss Emery is also the witch. She might scent it."

"A witch? Working inside the castle? How it's even happening?"

A witch from the Emerald Kingdom is rarely spotted in the other kingdoms. They are always busy practising witchcraft for battle if it's happened. They didn't bother about the outside world. For them, nothing is as important as witchery. It's their only shield.

"Miss Emery told me that she's sick of witchery and decided to meet the King and Queen herself to work her. After a few meetings, she finally managed to get the job. King and Queen are such nice fae. They seem didn't care about a witch working with them as long as they're loyal. They also know that I'm from the Emerald Kingdom," Claudia explained.

"How do they know?"

"Faes can spot someone's origin. Moreover, both of them are high-ranking faes. Of course, they'll spot it immediately"

"Oh, so if I ask them about my origin, will they reply?"

Claudia shook her head. She also doesn't know. She just meets the King and Queen and doesn't know if they can help. We're just workers. There's no way they want to help low-ranking humans like me.

"It's fine. Let's go now."

. . . . . ╰──╮╭──╯ . . . . .

"Miss Aliah, can I ask you something?", I said to Miss Aliah.

"Sure my dear. What is it?"

"What are you? Faes or fairy?"

Miss Aliah smiled at me. Her smile is sweet. It's already been a week since I work here, but this is the first time I asked her that question.

"I'm a flower nymph," she replied.

"A nymph? Is it the creature that is almost extinct here?" I shocked.

"Yes. I'm the only flower nymph left on the Earth. After what happened to the Carnation Kingdom, there are not many nymphs left. I don't even know where the other nymphs managed to run. I'm glad that the King and Queen decided to protect me. They even apologized to me cause they didn't manage to save my Kingdom. They send help. All the other kingdoms send help but it's too late," she explained.

I can see that she's sad. Her emotion drives her away from reality. I felt the pain inside my chest. It's never easy to lose someone. I don't know how it felt honestly. I can't remember anything. But it's just... hurt.

"So, what's the flower nymph can do?", I asked her to ease her emotion.

She smiled again and decided to show me something. A pair of wings. She flies beneath the sky. There's some dust falling from her wing. Her wing manages to distract me. I heard a story about a flower nymph with magnificent wings. Now, I see it with my eyes.

"What is this?", I asked.

"It's the nymph dust. I didn't always fly to do it. I mix the dust with the fertilizer. It's to keep the plant healthy and no insect will touch the plant," she landed back.

She closes her wing as if nothing happened. Her wing just disappeared. So, that's how she hides her wing.