Prologue

"Have you heard of the shop in the hill?"

"Yeah! But I haven't been there yet. They say that it sells the most delicious cakes in the kingdom."

"They say that the shop owner is a fairy!"

Such was the talk of the people in a small village in the kingdom of Sekylann. Meanwhile, in the hill of that village, a young woman came out of her shop with a satisfied smile on her beautiful face. Her name was Peach.

Yes, just like the fruit which suited her very well indeed as she had long pink hair that was the perfect shade of peach blossoms.

Her eyes were the vibrant shade of the evergreen woods and her skin was smooth and white as the clouds up in the sky.

She had a bounce in her steps and her smile was undeniably that of someone who had just a wonderful day. Peach had just sold all of her pastries for the day. Cakes of different kinds, bread of different shapes and sizes, and cookies with marshmallows, chocolates, and cranberries. All of them gone. Poof! Like a fairy had cast a spell and left the shop empty except for dozens of coins in her cashier.

Peach was going to the woods down the hill just behind her cottage. She looked around happily for any sight of berries or cocoa beans. Tomorrow was going to be baking day. She would close her shop and just bake all day. After that, it would be selling day again. Peach would love to sell and bake her pastries everyday without closing her shop but she didn't have any staff to help her yet.

"Strawberries!" Peach exclaimed.

She crouched down and began picking the strawberries and placing them in her basket. She was already looking forward to turning some of them into strawberry jam and she would use the others as toppings for chiffon cakes.

It must have been an hour before she noticed that the sky had started to go dark already. She should go back to her cottage now. The beautiful forest was soon going to be a dangerous place filled with night beasts.

Peach was about to leave the forest when she suddenly heard something.

CRUNCH.

Peach spun around cautiously.

CRUNCH.

She started walking backwards slowly.

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE.

The tall bush at her right side rustled and something big came out!

"Go away!" Peach shouted while shutting her eyes and swinging her basket in front of her.

THUCK!

Her basket hit something.

She nervously opened her eyes.

Huh?

It wasn't a beast.

It was a hooded man and Peach had just hit him with all her might.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Peach said.

THUD!

The man suddenly collapsed on the ground. He wasn't moving.

Oh no.

Did she just hit an elderly person? Or a sick person?!

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Please be okay! I'm so sorry. Did I hit you too hard?!" Peach said as she crouched down beside the hooded man.

Blood.

Peach gasped.

His shirt was full of blood and he was still bleeding.

"We have to stop the bleeding. Please don't die," Peach said.

The man suddenly grabbed her wrist. Peach jolted up in surprise.

"W-who..." The man said weakly.

The man struggled to sit up. As he did, his hood fell down, revealing his face. Peach's eyes widened in shock.

Hair as black as a moonless night, stern-looking eyes with long dark lashes, and a very, very handsome face.

"Eunsu!" Peach exclaimed.

The man narrowed his eyes at her.

Heavily injured in front of Peach was someone she knew very well. Someone Peach dearly missed and didn't expect to see again.

"Eunsu! Why are you here?! No, wait. Let me treat you first. Argh! You're bleeding too much! Stop moving!" Peach said.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Shush. Let's talk later," Peach said and tore the ends of her skirt.

"W-what are you doing?!"

"Shush. Stay still. I don't have a bandage here so this will do for now," Peach said and began wrapping his chest with the fabric of her skirt.

Peach helped him walk back to her cottage. She half-carried him and half-dragged him. It was very difficult for her but she pressed on. The woods were too dangerous at night and she had to treat his wounds as soon as possible. Good thing she had stocked up on some first aid stuff in her cottage.

She managed to bring him in and she let him down on her sofa. He was unconscious again but he was breathing heavily. She had to hurry.

Peach worked tirelessly that night to save the man she brought in to her home. She cleaned his wounds, applied ointments on them, and bandaged him up too. She wiped down his face and his arms with a wet cloth as he was getting feverish already. Once his fever went down several hours later, Peach sat on the floor beside the sofa where Eunsu was sleeping.

She touched his forehead again.

Good. No more fever.

Peach smiled.

She didn't expect to ever see him again. She had missed him so much. Her best friend in the whole world.

She closed her eyes as fatigue came over her, lulling her to sleep.

Her precious secretary from her past life.