Previously…

In the midst of playing hide and seek, Chaewon is taken by surprise upon learning about a group of intruders that manage to infiltrate Miyawaki Residence. Things take a worse turn when Hitomi is taken as hostage and Nako is hurt in her attempt to save Hitomi. Knowing that she had no chance in winning, Chaewon used up her mana and acted as bait only to fail miserably. Fortunately, Sakura came to the rescue…

***

It’s been a week since the last incident which shook the entire of Miyawaki Residence. The breach in their security which allowed such heinous people to step inside the mansion surely gave a huge backlash towards the head of security which also acts as the head butler, Mr. Ahn. Chaewon never sees Sakura being that furious and more surprisingly, Mr. Ahn treats Sakura words with much seriousness even when the young heir is just a 12 years old kid.

Well, that is one thing that occupied Chaewon’s mind but after saving both Nako and Hitomi, Chaewon somehow realized that she had a secret fan following her while doing some maid job. She tried shaking this feeling of someone glaring at her back to the point Chaewon feels like a hole is being burned on that small head of hers.

A long, deep sigh escapes her tiny mouth as the maid decides confronting her little admirer who did a poor job in hiding herself. Thus, Chaewon pretends to kneel down for a bit, dusting off the armor using a brown feather duster before vanishing into thin air. She smirked upon hearing a hurried rustling noise from the corner of the wall, indicating that her stalker is baffled by Chaewon’s sudden disappearance or maybe she is befuddled upon knowing that Chaewon noticed her following the maid around for this past week.

“Hey, you got something to do with me?”

Feeling a bit naughty, Chaewon creeps just close enough to Hitomi’s ear before whispering like a ghost. For the record, she sees Eunbi did this to Sakura a few days ago and scared the young, mischievous heir less. So, she thought why not use the same tactic to mess around with this girl with adorable features who keep on stalking her.

“Gahh, where did you come from?!”

That reaction is what Chaewon aims to see, round eyes, cute bunny front teeth as well as those shrieks. She wants to laugh out loud, rolling on the floor even but then, Chaewon decides to mess around for a bit more with this girl.

“Uh, from behind?”

Scratching her cheek, Chaewon really gave her all in acting clueless at Hitomi’s reaction. Deep inside, she had this urge to burst out laughing like a maniac but she is still holding that thought for herself, enjoying Hitomi’s reaction.

“That’s not what I’m indicating- Oh well.”

Seeing Hitomi wiggling out those eyebrows of her while chewing that fluffy cheeks makes Chaewon cackling while pressing her stomach. Tears are escaping her eyes as she laughs harder than she intended while Hitomi is puffing her cheeks in protest.

“Sorry, sorry. Won’t do that again but seriously, why are you following me around?”

Raising her hands in the air, Chaewon is still chuckling but she makes sure to shoot the question directly. She dislikes beating around the bush when it comes dealing with people and although Hitomi might have an innocent intent, Chaewon would still like to exercise caution. Striding towards the girl who is baffled by Chaewon’s forward attitude, the maid tilted her head to get a better view of Hitomi’s blushing face underneath the bangs that covered her eyes.

“Why would you hide those beautiful eyes?”

“Beautiful?”

“Yeah, your eyes are pretty. So do your cheeks, make you look so adorable. Don’t you think so?”

Pinching both of Hitomi’s cheeks, Chaewon grinned at the girl before patting Hitomi’s head. She might not receive any answer on why Hitomi is following her around and Chaewon guesses that maybe the girl just wants to be friends with her. After all, there’s only a few kids in this mansion. Three to be exact if they exclude toddler Yujin from the kid’s list.

“Hii-chan, the young master needs us in his room.”

An abrupt voice suddenly chimes in, breaking the harmonious atmosphere which both Chaewon and Hitomi share. The girl with red hair turns her head and sees a rather petite girl who is crossing both of her arms while frowning. She seems mad, or that is what Chaewon’s thought. After the hide and seek, they didn’t get any chance to talk with each other but Chaewon didn’t mind any mockery about being sent back to Estelle Kingdom from Nako either. If she can put their relationship into words, Chaewon would say that they are lukewarm towards each other or that is what she wants to believe. However, there is something more than that when Nako is glowering at Chaewon from earlier. The older girl turned her head towards the direction that Nako stares with a longing look.

Ah, so it is something like that.

Chaewon groans internally upon realizing the meaning behind this cold and tense atmosphere surrounding her. After pondering for a quick second, Chaewon joins the girl to meet with Sakura as she had a favor to ask from the young heir.

“Why are you coming with us?”

Look at that, this jealous bean sprout.

She really considers to talk her thought out loud but upon having a second thought, Chaewon just flashes her grin as she snakes her arm around Nako’s slender shoulder.

”Well, I had some business with the young master too. Come on, let’s get along.”

The maid expects that Nako might have swatted her arms away but the younger girl proved her wrong. They both silently walk through the vast marble corridor heading towards Sakura’s room which is located around the main house. The Miyawaki Residence is divided into five separate buildings, each marked with North, South, East and West buildings respectively. The main building is the one connecting those separate sections, where the young heir as well as his parents, Duke and Duchess Miyawaki reside. Usually, it will take a normal servant around 20 minutes’ walk just to reach the main building but it’s not the case for the little trio.

“You sure this road is okay?”

Nervousness washed Chaewon’s composure away as she took a peek inside a secret passage shown by Nako and Hitomi. She is in awe seeing such leeway does exist in this place and started wondering about the total of secret passage built in this humongous mansion.

“Don’t worry, this one is safe. Young master himself showed us this.”

Nako coolly leads them as she lights up a fireball in her palm to illuminate their path. Chaewon took a careful step alongside Hitomi who led her while intertwining their hands. It is a rather smooth walk with a few turns inside the tunnel. Chaewon realized that there are a few more crossroads with different tunnels, some even grown with moss and looks eerie. A few skeletons scattered across their journey which makes the maid wonder their origins.

“Here, we already arrived.”

If she didn’t know Nako, Chaewon would definitely scoff at this kid who is pushing against a solid rock in front of them but before she can do that, the boulder moved away, revealing blinding sunlight and intake of fresh air into the pungent secret passage. She is mesmerized upon seeing Sakura’s oaken door right in front of them. With Nako and Hitomi’s help, Chaewon climbs down from a portrait and dusts off her clothes before entering Sakura’s room.

“You still took a solid five minutes from that passage? It's supposed to be done in two, you know?”

Sakura’s stern voice greeted them upon entering the young heir’s room. Chaewon is in awe seeing Sakura being serious once in a while. No, maybe she is slightly amazed looking at Sakura wearing spectacles while reviewing his study materials.

“Well, we do bring along a newbie today thus we can't just sprint in the tunnel, Saku-chan.”

Nako moves forward while shrugging both of her shoulders. Maybe Chaewon just read into this matter too deeply as she thought that Nako just covered up for her against Sakura. She does think that both of these kids are mindful enough of Chaewon when they slowed down their pace to match Chaewon who is amazed by the new founding.

“I see. Nice to see you on your feet again Chaewon.”

The young master curtly nodded at Chaewon before turning his head towards Nako and Hitomi. He cleared his throat and wore a serious expression before briefing the recon squad trainee about their new mission. She didn’t pay heed much into their talks and let her eyes roam around Sakura’s room. She sees a partition separating the young master study area where they are standing at this moment and his luxurious bedroom.

“…then I’ll meet you both again tomorrow morning.”

Their talk seems to be awfully fast as Chaewon just about to float with her mind thinking about several improvements she should get in her room once she gets her first pay. She does consider taking a little break and visiting a nearby town with Eunbi, maybe treating some sweets to the older girl who is always being considerate towards her. However, her little mind wandering broken upon being tapped by Hitomi, redirecting her attention towards this squishy girl.

“Uhh… See you again tomorrow.”

Chaewon finds it a bit peculiar when this girl blushes a little while talking to her.

“Sure, see you later Hitoma-”

“Hitoma?”

“Ugh, I stumbled with my words again.”

The young maid scratches her nape as she is embarrassed by her failed attempt in speaking Wiz Empire language. Well, she does try to look cool in front of the kids who are able to fluently converse bilingual but guess she still needs more practice.

“Hitoma is fine. You can call me that.”

She didn’t expect to hear such words coming from Hitomi. Chaewon somehow anticipates sniggered or maybe mockery from the kids but they didn’t even belittle her effort in talking Wiz Language.

“Let’s not waste any time, Hii-chan.”

For some reasons, Nako seems irritated more than ever. The little girl grabbed Hitomi by her wrist and dragged the girl from Sakura’s room without bidding either Sakura or Chaewon goodbye. Her attention is now on Sakura who is smirking while stifling his laugh by the mahogany table.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay then, I do have something for you. This is my letter for Minjoo, can you please deliver it to her?”

Handing over her letter to Sakura who makes an exasperated expression, Chaewon frowned at the young master’s peculiar behavior. Before she can even ask reasons behind Sakura over dramatic reaction, the brown haired kid is already blabbing while swaying Chaewon’s letter.

“Just about time! Minjoo almost chewed me out for not receiving any letter, you know? She accused me of abusing you here, how absurd is that!”

“Well, she isn’t entirely wrong…”

“What?”

“Nothing~”

It is hard for Chaewon in maintaining her stoic face in front of Sakura. It is such a weird feeling, she thought. She had been acting like a spoiled younger sibling with Sakura when in fact she barely knows this young heir. Well, she might develop a sense of respect for Sakura for rushing to aid her from being sent to the after life by the group of assassins and thus, she bowed her head out of sudden which startled Sakura.

“Thank you very much for saving my life, young master.”

“So you know how to be thankful, huh?”

Maybe it’s her eyes that deceived Chaewon but she certainly sees Sakura’s gaze softened for a bit before the young heir ruffles her hair. Sakura gestured to Chaewon to take a seat in front of him and she gladly obeyed although she felt a bit awkward being alone with Sakura.

“Well, I thought that you ought to know about those intruders from the other day.”

She can feel her body stiffened upon hearing Sakura’s words. Chaewon might already experience a few near-death situations herself but nothing can top the recent incident. That bloodlust is no joke at all but somehow, Chaewon manages to steel herself in order to save her newly found friends. Heck, even to this day Chaewon couldn’t believe in herself for volunteering to be killed in exchange for other’s life. Maybe Sakura noticed Chaewon is trembling on her seat for the young master to pat the girl’s head tenderly.

“I’m really sorry for not being able to be there sooner, Chaewon. Things is, I need to dispose of a few intruders who are disguising themselves as our staff.”

Those words struck Chaewon differently as she lifted her head and stared in disbelief at Sakura. She can see the older girl seems awfully exhausted for just a mere twelve years old kid. Chaewon wondered how much responsibility that Sakura shoulder to make the young master battered.

“You see, both Nako and Hitomi seem to be their target since those kids aiding me in destroying a certain shady business a few months ago.”

“You all do what?”

Picking her