Chapter 8

Haa, today feels boring because Xino is back to the capital now to attend his class. Now there's no cutie running around and calling me. All that I have right now are tons of paper works and I need to finish them before the season's end. When winter comes, things will get busy because of the annual winter ball because we need to do this and that. The winter ball will last for one to two weeks, on the first day of the first week, the common people will celebrate the event by welcoming every noble that will arrive at the capital. Rather than calling it as the opening day, it would become like a fashion show where every noble will showcase their clothes. In this world, your power and fame can be measure by your appearance. If you dress well, has the recent and famous accessories, you'll be the ace of the event. For sure every lady in the Kingdom will showcase what they have and those who are single, for sure they'll use this event as an opportunity to catch a guy that will change their life. For me, this event is just a waste of money and time. You can celebrate the winter ball by just doing a simple event and not a lavish one. While I'm signing a document, I heard a knock and I immediately replied "Yes, you can come in." I saw Krios enter my office and I immediately smile at him. I drop my pen and stop what I'm doing, Krios sit down in front of me and he reach out to touch my right cheek. Krios rub my cheeks and I'm like a cat that's rubbing its cheeks to its owner.

"I visit you today because I thought you might feel bored because Xino is not around."

"Well, it is true. Now that Xino is not around, it felt quite boring."

I saw Krios smile and his face suddenly light up, as if he just thinks of something great. He stands in front of me and extend his right hand towards me.

"Hey, how about we go outside today?"

Eh? I am a bit confuse but I immediately say yes. Krios told me to prepare myself and he'll be waiting for me outside. I immediately call Elen to help me prepare. Krios told me that we will be going to the town and walk around. Elen and I decided that I'm going to wear a simple dress, that its length is just 1-2 inches below my knees. Elen make my hair into a bun so that even if it gets windy, I'll be fine. After a few minutes of preparing, I walk towards outside of the mansion and there, I saw the most handsome and kind guy I love. Krios is wearing a simple black long-sleeved polo and pair it with a black jean. It looks simple yet can attract a lot of attention. Krios extend his and help me ride the carriage first. When we both settle in, Krios immediately tell the coachman to start moving the carriage. On the way, both Krios and I don't know what to say. Should I ask him about his work? Or about some events that happened in his life or work? I open my mouth to speak but I didn't expect that we would both speak at the same time. I laugh at what happened and Krios also laugh.

"You can speak first." Krios said while gesturing his hand towards me. I fake a cough and compose myself before speaking.

"How's you work? Is it hard?"

Krios cross his hands on his chest and sigh deeply. Oh, I get that's his responds. Krios starting to tell me about how hard it is to make sure those monster won't reach the wall and create a mess. Every day, he needs to patrol the area and to see if those monster make a move. That explains why he would wake up late and he would come back late at night. Krios saw that I feel a bit sad about his work so he changes the topic and ask me about my everyday life in the mansion.

"So, how is your situation in the mansion? Have you already adjusted to it? I'm sorry if it is not that grand as your house."

I immediately sway my head from left to right to show that he's wrong. I immediately reply "No, you're wrong! I'm doing fine in the mansion and there's nothing to feel sorry about!" Well, it's true, even I don't have Liliana's memories when he's still on her family's house, I know that being here is much better than being there. Way back when I'm just a normal reader of this novel, I have read about Liliana's situation. It's true that her family adores her for being the only daughter of the family but that was all just a show. Liliana grew up not being good in anything, she's not smart, she has so talent in arts and music and that's why when Krios announced that he's searching for a potential marriage partner, Liliana's parents immediately hooked her up. Krios smile at me and laugh softly. After that, we talk about random things, like about his and Xino's likes for sweets, about how we both are thankful that Xino is growing without any problem. As we both talk with each other, I felt this sense of relief because I know that Krios past was harsh and in the future, if I haven't become Liliana now, I know that the real Liliana will broke his heart. That is the event I want to prevent to happen. After a few minutes, we arrive at the town's square, Krios help me to get down from the carriage and we started to walk together. We walk together and some people recognize Krios and I and greet us. We go through a lot of shops and stall, we also taste every food we saw and in the middle of our walk, I saw a jewel being displayed in a shop. I immediately ask Krios if we can stop by and he agree to it. We enter the shop and the owner immediately greet us with a warm smile.

"Welcome to our humble shop, how can I help you two today?"

The owner bows down when he realizes who we are. Krios immediately told the shop's owner not to mind us and give us time to look at every items he's selling. I walk towards the display of the store and pick up the jewel I saw earlier. It was a sapphire stone in a cufflinks and I'm sure this will be perfect for Krios to use in the winter ball. I first see if Krios is watching me or not and I saw him looking at some weapons so I quietly walk my way to the cashier and pay for the cufflinks I like. When I'm done paying, I immediately hide it into my bag. I slowly walk towards Krios and ask him if he want to buy something. He shows me a small dagger and told me that he is giving it to me so that even if I'm alone, I can still protect myself. After doing business, we walk out from the shop and the owner bid us goodbye. It was already afternoon when we finish doing everything we want and Krios ask me to go somewhere with him. We arrive at the upper part of the town and when you look down, you can see the whole town. We sit at a nearby bench and watch the sun go down. Both of us were silent and waiting who's going to speak first and I took a deep breath before speaking.

"Ah, Krios, here, I saw these cufflinks earlier and I thought that it will look good on you."

I hand over him the box and he immediately open it. I saw him blush and he immediately put each cufflink on the end of his long-sleeved polo he's wearing. He shows it to me and ask me "Does it look good on me?" and I immediately said "Yes, it looks good on you." Krios immediately smile and kiss the cufflink I gave him and said "Thank you, I like it and I'll treasure this forever." I smile at him and we arrive at the mansion safely.