Who are you?

" Hey? Liz!", Just then Dr. Sue arrived stumbling at the scene. His tone sounded trailing, whiny and long , a bit worried. After all, although, the greenhouse or terrace was quite far from the kitchen, it was still inside the mansion.

His arms flailed around clumsily as he glanced at Liz's direction. His eyes scanned her from head to toe, he might not be at the scene but he was definitely familiar with sounds of fighting. Not to mentions, the loud crash he could hear all the way from the parlor.

Seeing that she was fine, a little startled perhaps, Dr. Sue thought. Noting the slight shiver in her hands as she held the tray. Dr. Sue crossed his arms for a minute before taking it for himself and finally settling poor tray who had gone through all this ordeal.

Liz was surprised by his sudden arrival, while Mariel re-tightenned her grip on that metal pole. But, Liz didn't notice this , what she was the most surprised about is the fact that the metal tray filled with tea ceramics from the pot to the cup, even to the glass plates are still safe and sound. None of them with a single scratch, still pristine!

As much as she doesn't like it, she really got to be gratefull at that teacher of hers. At the very least, all that getting whipped, kneeling on salt , standing up while raising her arms with books on each of them and starving herself for her own good finally amounted for something.

Not breaking or shattering a single cup in that fight! Liz cheerfully clapped for herself twice, giggling happily infront of the two. Not knowing what she was so happy about the two looked at her strangely...even Dr. Sue who was crossing his arms beside her couldn't help doing sidestep subtly.

" So, who are you exactly?", Mariel tonelessly asked, her expression serious and her body crouched like martial artist.

Liz and Sullivan exchanged glances with one another , the both of them felt extremely disgruntled but also felt an extreme urge to laugh at her.

Unfortunately, Dr. Sue was not strong enough for the two of them. He laughed mercilessly, finding it funny that she was only wary now. This time it was Liz who felt the need to sidestep away from him.

While, Mariel could only look on flabbergasted, she couldn't quite catch the humor in this situation

" Didn't she already tell you that we are the guests of this house?" Dr. Sue said wiping away the tears in his eyes while fighting back the urge to laugh.

" But, what if you're lying?", she retorted.

" That's true, but you look more suspicious than us" , he told her back.

Dr. Sue smirked as she crossed his arms.

"Besides, if we were really robbers. Why are we so openly walking around?" He asked , his gaze scanning her in that stance she was doing as he added,

" I mean- you look more like a thief than the both of us." His finger twirled in the air slightly pointing out their quite more than homely clothes." A tea thief", he teased.

" I.. I..I" Mariel stammered profusely, her eyes darting around. Her mouth opened and closed for a retort but not a sound came out.

Dr. Sue took one look at her face and licked his lips like a pervert causing Lizette to frown further in disgust.

He was just just a few meters from the lass when he walked closer to put his one of his arms over her shoulder. Completely undermining her, Lizette saw this and without even thinking , grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and gave him a good smack in the head!

Just what he deserves!

Dr. Sue angrily turned his head finding what Lizette did as totally absurd and was even ready to bring it down for her, 'how dar-' , couldn't even finish in his head when he met two ferocious looking eyes staring right back at him.

Dr. Sue could only sheepishly look away and honestly keep his hands both to himself. But, he still won't let Mariel go, he kept both his hands to his hips and circled around the poor girl, clearly already overthinking things.

' The poor girl, look at her, just look at what you did to her' Lizette lamented soundlessly at Dr. Sue her gaze quite pointy as she accused him with a frown on her face, while gazing at Mariel with that sorrowfully making Dr. Sue speechless.

' Oh please, she called us robbers! Do we look like robbers? We even got robbed! Do I look like robber to you?'

Dr. Sue rolled his eyes, a perfect 360 degrees to show Liz that he didn't find Mariel pitiful at all. Clearly the last part that he was thinking was more important to him, in any case, he disagreed with Liz that they should go easy on Mariel.

'But.. you weren't here!" Liz argued back in a whisper to Dr. Sue. She pleaded with him that it wasn't Mariel's fault she was clearly just being cautious. But, Dr. Sue didn't think so, there's a fine line here with being cautious and clearly not listening to reason.

'Besides, being careful means your supposed to not miss a single thing or just one - three things. She missed all of them.' Dr. Sue stuck his pinky at the ear Liz whispered in and shrugged her hands off of him. Clearly unamused, he even felt irritated just thinking about it.

If we were scammers we should've posed as some sort of salesman , one that comes door to door. Tell her to ask her aunt about us and while, she was away, take everything.

Everything, we can find to pawn in the house or just proceed to scam a sum. If we lied about being a guests, and if we were true robbers we would've done our assignment. We would know the layout of the house and we would not pick this time to rob because just yesterday was Rosalind's rest day, so she was here the whole day and she left not that long ago this morning. Not enough to snoop around unless we are thief with a goal because a robber robs and robs everything. Not to mention, this was a closely knit neighborhood at the perscipice of those snobby nobles.

Far but not that far, Dr. Sue analyzed everything he could think of but still felt it absurd. Why can't she get it through her head?

Dr. Sue seriously couldn't understand, they meant no harm, Lizette was wearing home clothes while holding a tray of food! Even if she wasn't a guest, a servant would suffice. Ludicrous.

Dr. Sue shook his head and crossed his arms, leaned his upper body forward and let the rest of his body lean at the wall behind him. One of his feet casually tapping the floor rhythmically on his heel.

'But, she's clearly pitiful' Liz whispered.

' You think she's pitiful now, wait till you were hit by the full force of that metal stick! Who'd you think will cry for injustice then? ' This time Dr. Sue didn't bother to look at her and just pointed at the familiar crack on the kitchen counter. 'Truly rich', he commented silently, ' a fully ceramic tabe counter'.

Liz followed his forefinger and after looking at Liz couldn't say a word . She could only keep looking at it .Not knowing how to react or how to feel, he wasn't wrong but as a girl, prevention is better than cure. Afrter all, some girls would relax their guard around women, thinking they wouldn't harm them , being women and all, too. Yet, they don't seem to see, how exploitable that thinking is.

Dr. Sue saw that she still wasn't leting it go so, he simply assured her that he'd let it go under one condition. If she says sorry, making Liz finally relax. After all, Mariel is so beautiful, what if she was pshycologically wounded after this.

Meanwhile, Mariel still stood there, her face flushed with embarrassment and frustration. She could feel her pulse racing, her breath coming out faster as anxiety clawed at her chest. Was she being too paranoid? Were they really just guests? Dr. Sue's teasing eyes was starting to get under her skin, and her mind spun in circles, doubting herself. Did I make a fool of myself?

A knot formed in her stomach. She had always been on guard, always ready for danger, always looking over her shoulder. And yet, now, she felt like an idiot. Maybe she had been too quick to judge. But what if they were hiding something? She couldn't shake that feeling.

In a rush of breathlessness, she almost used the stick she had raised this whole time. Holding the very end of the metal stick like a hilt and using it in the stance of a sword. The good thing was her words came out before she could start going physical, a knee-jerk reaction to the pressure building inside her.

"Well, you could still be lying," she snapped, her voice higher than intended, more defensive than she'd meant. "I—I don't trust you."

She immediately regretted it. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, she cursed herself in her head.

Her hands shook slightly as she crossed her arms, trying to calm herself, but the hyperventilating feeling in her chest wouldn't subside. Why was this so hard?

She could feel her face burning even more, her throat tightening. "I...I mean... You can't just walk around and expect me to believe you, okay?!" she blurted, a hint of childish stubbornness in her tone. The words didn't feel right, but they were the only ones that came to mind. She wasn't even sure why she said them, but she felt too backed into a corner to hold her tongue.

With her reaction, Dr. Sue clicked his tongue 'would you look at that' , his eyes a cross of disgust and a mocking smile. While, Liz tapped him to uncross his arms, ' stop intimidating her then!' She chided him.