Chapter 3

I hate everyone.

Mother who left me.

Father who I was left to.

The so called friends who brag at every given moments.

The fiancé who expects me to adore and worship her.

The servants... The maids...

It was incredibly bad fortune when I caught sight of that head of plaited brown hair. Those freckles that I could never quite count and that annoying smile.

I hate it.

How dare you smile like that! How dare you smile that at him. Or anyone for that matter.

She talked with that boy. The one I always hated. And with that stupid smile as well. Like she didn't have a care in the world.

Where was she going with him? I thought for a moment until I saw the little side building near the stables and sneered in disgust.

I wouldn't any less from her to blindly follow a man to his apartment.

And yet, it still made incredible angry. I want to break something.

"Master. Your fiancé Miss Lemone awaits your arrival downstairs", a servant interrupted my thoughts with the most unfortunate news. I gave him a glare which I hope conveyed my thoughts well.

I could see it. The moment terror washed over his face and began to feel slightly better.

At least I could frighten someone...

"I'll let her know you're unavailable", and with that he made his leave, but not before I remembered something.

"Wait", he halted at my word, "tell father I need to see him about the dam expansion plan".

"Yes sir".

I turned back to the window and the subject of my wrath was gone. Long gone.

How annoying.

Well... I don't need to see father until dinner so maybe I could kill time in another way?

I felt a smile lift my spirits as ideas came to mind.

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Doing laundry with burned hands was painful. Extremely painful. And it was worse when the laundry in question was so much that it was barely contained in the barrel it was bought in.

The hot water made my hands hiss in pain as I scrubbed away at them in the hot springs. We could only use the hot springs for this purpose in the afternoons. That was the only time you wouldn't find anyone cleaning themselves in them and except for the few scarring incidents - it was mostly safe.

In the silence, with only my hissing burned knuckles making any noise alongside a few chirping birds, I was at peace. I could kind of breath. Pretend I wasn't bound to a dukedom as a slave. Pretend I was... normal. Well maybe not normal... maybe well off.

Maybe my father owned a farm. And I had dozens of suitors all lined up to marry me. And nobody would hurt me or tell me to finish my chores... and Angela could have a man who wasn't a stable boy.

It was when I almost began a plot when I felt a whoosh of air and a glint of iron fly pass me. Just barely touching my head. And when I caught sight of the arrow that struck deep into the truck of a tree I scrambled back.

Turning around to see whoever shot the arrow.

Nobody could be seen. Just the same trees and bushes.

My heart beat deafened my ears and my panicked state found the sound of everything and anything terrifying. There was a snap of a twig and snapped my head towards a bird who was, no doubt, the culprit.

I should leave.

I quickly rationalised. Deciding to abandon the heap of clothes, I made my way back to the main building, but before I could even get close to the trees that separated me from the main building another went off. This time it almost hit my feet and in an attempt to dodge I fell backwards.

The air knocking out of me as my back hit the ground. I rolled over, hoping to get to my feet as fast as possible- to outrun my pursuer- but more of them shot around me. Hitting the ground near my feet or flying just past my body.

So much fired that I realised that either the person shooting at me had no skill in archery or they purposely avoided me. And when I considered the latter and took a better glance at the arrows, noticing the emblem on them, I realised just who was playing with me.

I wanted to breath a sigh of relief and just as I felt relief I felt immense anger.

Bastard! I wanted to call out. Cry. Shout. Scream.

But a maid does none of those things. A maid doesn't show emotions that displeases her master.

And so I decided to curtsy and wait until he was done. It was then when I felt an arrow scratch my cheek, I could feel a scar forming, warm liquid dripped down my face and of course my face was adorned with only an impeccably polite smile.

"How boring", the familiar voice spoke from nowhere. And then with the sound of branches rustling he appeared through the trees. No normal person would be able to conceal themselves so finely. But the young master wasn't normal.

In the sun he looked... beautiful. I forced myself to look away. A strange embarrassment at my train of thoughts boiled in my stomach.

"I liked it better when you looked scared like a mouse", he touched my face, grasping it lightly with his fingers, "I didn't know your face could even change expressions".

There it was. The cruel smile on his lips.

"I wonder if you'll be that scared if I actually stab one of these in you", he held an arrow beneath my chin while his other hand held my face up. I met his eyes with the face I was trained to have.

Those crystal eyes bore into me. Unnecessarily close.

"If you want me to then I shall be", I answered.

He clicked his tongue.

"No. I can't tell when your being genuine or faking it anyway" he dropped the arrow and pushed my face aside as he let go. He walked to the hot spring where the clothes still lay on the ground and started to pull off his clothes.

"Y-Young master! If you want to take a bath I'll draw you one!" I hadn't been this flustered in a long time. He noticed and seemed to find it amusing, however he didn't stop.

"I don't see the problem. You've dressed me many times haven't you? Nothing you haven't seen before", he really didn't care. I didn't dare look up anymore. The more articles of clothes that fell on a floor with a thud the more I flinched, "I would like to enjoy my time here, but you're still welcome to wash those clothes".

I heard the splash of water and realised I had no choice in washing the clothes since someone had to do them either way. I continued on, grateful when my skin stung where I had been burned so I didn't pay attention to the pair of eyes that stabbed into me.

It went on like this for a while and soon I found myself done with the clothes. With a silent cry of relief I got up to barrel them away.

"Massage my shoulders".

Of course. Of course I wouldn't catch a break like this. How naive of me.