A day at the Lombardi mansion

Priscilla had spent several days searching for any reference to the ruins of which the hooded man had spoken, but in her house, there was no book that made reference to those ruins.

To the point that even finding some reference was doubtful, with the passing of days and a constant failure, had even begun to raise the possibility that it was an invented name of some kind.

With no apparent results and discomfort caused by the constant failure, Priscilla broke down, while closing one of the many books that occupied her desk. After observing with stopping the library window as she did regularly, she finally released a deep, tired sigh that would be more her own in an elderly person.

—"Why not just tell me the location? Is there any hidden meaning in that strange word? Anyway... I'm really tired and I don't think it's anything that impressive anyway."

Priscilla could not help but think that the hooded man locked in her mansion´s jail was just cheating on her, as he had not shown herself to be especially proficient in anything and only slept inside of his prison cell.

Everywhere one looked, he was no different from any swindler, so, feeling slightly deceived, she decided to approach the vagrant in search of a clear answer. However, there was one thing that was very clear to him and that was that he would not let the tramp control the rhythm of the discussion so as not to fall into his traps.

After deciding what he would do next he got up from his chair and making a graceful leap of resolution headed for the library door. There were many questions left in the air and the lack of answers was just a drawback that I no longer wanted to have.

As she walked the halls of the Lombardi mansion, Priscilla greeted with joy all the service staff in the house. The blue-haired girl had a characteristic joy difficult to describe, which made it extremely difficult to perceive her as a noblewoman at the time of first meeting her.

—"Good afternoon Marta!" She shouted with joy behind the cook of the mansion.

—"Aaaah! Miss!" she exclaimed with discomfort. "One of these days you will kill me with a heart attack."

—"I'm sorry, but your reactions are very funny."

—"Even if that is the case, one of the young masters of the house cannot show such an unseemly attitude."

—"Come on, you don't have to be so rigid."

—"You should be more aware of your position, Miss." Marta took Priscilla's shoulders with an expression of concern and seriousness. "Aren't you concerned that your servants will begin to underestimate you for acting like a child?"

"Why would they? I just try to be nice to them and get along with everyone."

Before the answer, Marta could not help sighing. She had an excellent relationship with Priscilla and did not want her to change her way of being. However, in the kind of environment they lived was, her way of being was starting to be a problem.

To begin with, the girl was unaware of her surroundings and ignored any unpleasant rumors that began to spread about her, neither was she trying to discipline staff who disrespected her or called her without honors. Instead of doing something about those issues, the girl would simply smile back at them or try to talk to them.

This was a matter of concern to Marta because it caused the staff of the mansion to show no respect or fear for Priscilla, instead, they seemed to take advantage of the girl's kindness to ask for rewards or spread more rumors behind her back.

—"Miss, you seem to misunderstand something."

—"What do you mean?"

—"The staff of the mansion works for you and they receive a salary for attending you. You treating them as friends instead of servants is not only strange, it also causes all kinds of problems."

—"Why does everyone say that? At the end of the day, we are all people who deserve respect and the fact that our social positions are so distant doesn't change anything."

—"I think it's wonderful that you think so, miss, but I'm afraid the world doesn't work that way and that will cause you problems."

—"I had enough of this, I thought you would understand." Priscilla's bright face darkened.

—"Miss, I just..."

—-"Leave it, Marta, I understand what you are saying. after all, a person like me is not allowed to have a single friend because it would be frowned upon by others." She said as she lowered her head with an uncomfortable ill feeling in her chest. "If I try to befriend a nobleman, terrible rumors will soon begin to circulate about my loving inclinations and if I try to get along with the staff I will be underestimated and ridiculed."

—"Miss Priscilla..."

—"I understand Marta, but I don't like to live in solitude as a simple decoration in a gigantic house where everyone is against me."

After saying those words, Priscilla ran away from the place where Martha cleaned the furniture of the house to hide the tears that were beginning to flow from her eyes. Priscilla no longer had a place to go to, simply wandering around the mansion without finding a place where she could vent her frustration.

Options such as the patio or the cellar went through her head, but the possibility of running into someone and generating more annoying rumors was high and she can't go with her father, since he was the one who was causing his situation, even if it was not intentionally.

That sudden emotional outburst made Priscilla much more aware of how lonely she really was, to the point that it was incredible how lonely a person can feel on a mission that was literally full of other people.

In the absence of options, Priscilla decided to go to the place where there was the only person who did not care who she was or her social position since the prisoner in the mansion's jail wouldn't risk offending her or contradicting her. Incredibly the only place she could go was that damp, smelly dungeon where a person who might very well be trying to kill her rested. Still, she ignored that last point and headed to the mansion's jail.

On this occasion, the guards did not try to stop her as it had become quite clear over time that the prisoner was not dangerous at all. So the guards only gave a small salute to the crestfallen girl and removed the spears that obstructed the entrance to the prison cells under the mansion.

Observing that he had a visitor, Krom rose from the floor and approached the bars of his cell.

—"Did you find information about the ruins?" he asked curiously.

There was only silence in answer to his question, the girl in front of him did not seem to be in the mood to speak and just stood there, standing by the entrance of his cell with her head down, seemed to sob slightly.

—"Is something wrong, my lady?"

—"Tell me one thing, Krom, do you respect me?"

—"Respect you?" He seemed surprised by the question as he placed his hands on the bars. "Well, I don't know her well enough to have any respect for her person." As Priscilla heard it, she held her head even lower. "However, with the little interaction I have had with you, I can say that you are a pleasant person."

Priscilla felt a little calmer, they had not told her anything particularly flattering, but the sincerity of that prisoner was real. He was certainly a cold and manipulative person, but one thing was clear, that tramp was not used to lying too much.

—"I found nothing related to the ruins you mentioned."

—"I see, so even the historical records were erased... That's curious."

—"Uh, aren't you disappointed?" Priscilla raised her head in surprise.

—"Hahaha, my goal was always to know what kind of story had been transmitted about what happened in those ruins. Unfortunately, being locked up, it's not like I could freely go through the books in a nobleman's mansion. For that reasson, I gave you that information in the hope that you would investigate for me and tell me anything on that subject at the time that you had any doubts or found the ruins."

-"You manipulated me..." She said annoyingly.

—"I guess you can call it that... Remember that if you want to know the size of someone's house, you don't ask about the size of the house; instead, you ask: How many candles and candlesticks does your house have? Even out of curiosity, you will count them in your mind, and from the number, you can estimate a fairly accurate approximate number of rooms in the place and de size of the home."

— "W-what kind of person you really are?"

— "A vagabond who has offered you his services."

— "What I don't understand is, what kind of services do you offer to me? No matter how much you say it, I don't understand it."

—"From what I can see, you're too kind for your own good; I, on the other hand, have a certain facility for dealing with troubled people and getting information. That said, what I'm looking for is a Master who can function as a brake for me."

—"From what I can see, you're too kind for your own good; I, on the other hand, have a certain facility for dealing with troubling people and getting information. That said, what I'm looking for is a Master who can function as a brake for me."

—"A brake?"

—"Remember the ruins I told you about?"

—"Yes."

—"If you ride a day south, from the highest tree at the entrance of the city, you will find a mountain shaped like a half-moon. On that mountain, there is a path that leads to a forest and inside that forest, you will find the ruins I told you about."

— "I don't understand, why are you telling me all this?"

— "I can see your soul, you have a pure, crystalline soul that has not been corrupted by the malice of human society. I can trust such a master to properly control my royal body. Of course, if you decide to take the proposal that I made to you, otherwise, I'll have to look for someone else."

— "Wait, let me process what you say... you're basically looking for a Master."

— "Well, gender doesn't really matter. It just happened that our paths crossed."

— "When you say brake, what do you mean?"

—"Well... the consciousness you're currently speaking with, it's just a residual fragment of my real consciousness. In other words, you're talking to the part of me that wanted to become a doctor of some town to have a quiet life planting and helping the people around me. However, my real consciousness is a little... Well, I'm not sure what my actual consciousness is like, but I can tell it's not as pleasant as the consciousness you're currently talking to actually."

— "Wait, you said you were sealed or something, right?"

— "Exactly and that hasn't changed. My real self is still sleeping."

— "What will happen when I free you?"

—"I do not know. You may release something extremely bad to the world or you may not. At the end of the day, the only thing I can really guarantee is that I will follow the orders of whoever forms a contract with me."

—"Will you follow my orders?"

—"That's right. While my race cannot be enslaved, if we can form blood contracts, which in this case is very convenient, since the only thing that can set me free is your blood. There is also the option to kill you and take your blood to free my body, but I fear that might be a bad thing for the children who inhabit the ruins ..."

— "Kids? Wait, I don't think I understand anything."

— "To put it simply, if my real self-turned out to be a complete madman, the children who inhabit those ruins would die and I would not forgive myself if something like that happened."

— "You speak of yourself as completely different people."

��"That's because the amount of memories I have is very limited, so there is no factor that deforms my personality.

You just have to analyze things a little bit to realize that my other self-had some reason to do something like this. After all, why not just leave your full awakened consciousness on the crystal? I can only think of a few possibilities to do something like that."

— "What those possibilities are?"

—"The first is that I have fallen into insanity and the other is that I am so blinded by revenge that I have lost empathy for a lifetime. There are other possibilities, but based on my personality they are unlikely."

— "If I free you I won't be alone anymore?" The question really surprised Krom, as I didn't really expect a question like that.

—"I suppose not. Remember that I will become what my Master's needs, but you must remember that you must function as a brake. I cannot take responsibility for what may happen if you allow me to act with complete freedom."

— "From what I understand so far, in exchange for serving me, you want me to give you a home to live in for those children and to free you from the crystal to help me create that home, right?"

—"Exactly. I have no way of knowing how this happened, but those children seem to be the last survivors of my race and it is my responsibility to watch over their happiness."

— "I-I see... However, that doesn't explain why you chose me?"

— "Because you're a hero, aren't you? The energy that emanates from your body gives you away."

There was a lot of information that Priscilla had to process, and complex situations kept swirling around her. Now, there was a person who discovered his best-kept secret and had done it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Priscilla was completely immobile, unbelief had taken hold of her being and she did not know how to respond.

—"Could it be that you... were also transported to this world against your will?"