Between two bookshelves a young child walked slowly with an expression of broken grief. Her large puffy eyes were unfocused as she took lonesome steps almost unconsciously forward. The rare books holding a treasure of information next to her did not concern her in the slightest. Pulling the end of her previously elegant and expressive dress on the floor, she paid no heed at her careless actions. Her hair was disorganized and unfitting of a young lady of any lineage. Sweat and blood patches dirtied the unclean piece of cloth on her, but none of them came from her self.

Not even when El greeted her from behind the counter did she raise her head, she kept staring into the abyss as if it was what she was meant to do.

El stepped up and patted her head gently. With a simple swipe of her hand, the grime and filth disappeared but the emotion of a person was not something she could fix that easily.

“Sit down.” She commanded the younger girl and pulled her towards the table by her hand. Just like last time, she poured a cup of tea for the gentle girl and watched her sitting silently by the table.

The suffering child didn’t even notice the third person sitting in a chair opposite to her during the whole time.

“Drink and rest a little. If you feel like talking, I am here.”

With this El stepped back and returned to the other person. As a young girl, her reaction to the events she had experienced was justified. While the librarian did not say anything, she already knew everything about what had happened to the girl.

Quietly shivering, the girl raised her chin to take a small glance at the only person she longed to see. Finally, she learned that they were not alone. Her interest in the third member was non-existent and she dismissed any thoughts regarding them. The big watery eyes only looked into the direction of El with a sense of longing for comfort and loneliness.

El sat down at the end of the table granting her a good view of both visitors who were facing each other. On her left sat a self-proclaimed thief who refused to leave her home and has been called an assassin. On her right, a young heartbroken child sat was crying tearlessly in despair.

The situation felt slightly comical to her and she would have smiled if the situation allowed dark humor to be appreciated. Many thoughts crossed her mind in the past few hours, calculating and processing what she learned from the woman named Golde and other knowledge inherited by the library.

The action she took could be regarded as the silence of the wise but she honestly only faced them with sheer apathy and a bit of longing for interesting events in general. Whatever mind she possessed decided to be impartial and wait and see.

Golde could not sit still and watch the child in such a state for a long time. She kept glancing at the librarian pleading for help who just ignored her attempts. Her face wrinkled up gradually in an emotional response and her left hand kept rubbing the back of her head. Out of the three, the silence was the most unnerving for her mind. Soon, she gave up and began talking.

“I can’t endure it! Girl, spit it out, what’s the problem?”

At the sudden rude yell, the girl finally broke and started sobbing loudly. Tears kept streaming down her face as and she could only weep uncontrollably. Since the thief did not want to instantly regret her words, she repeated her question.

“C’mn! We can’t help you like this. Tell us already what you want.”

Like a child she was, she answered still crying between sobs.

“Mother…everyone was killed. They are all dead.”

The annoyed assassin kept opening and closing her mouth voiceless. She did not expect such an answer let alone it being related to her. The woman turned towards El with a question clearly written on her face.

“Emma, 10 years old. Single child. She had come here a few times to read, a very nice girl with a pure heart.” When the librarian told her what she has been curious about, she could swear she could see a tiny dark smile on the corner of El’s lips which caused shivers to run down her spine. The unexpected on-point honesty scared her even more.

“Right. That’s horrible. Do you have any family you can turn to as help?”

“No.”

The answer was simple yet effective in silencing her. As a person with a dangerous illegal work, Golde came from a difficult background and had no experience with neither children nor comforting people. Her opinion wasn’t worth much either. She glanced at the other adult in the room and asked.

“Could she stay here as well for a while?”

El showed only her expressionless face without a single twitch of a muscle. Even without a reaction from her, the thief could tell that she greatly disliked the idea of anyone staying there for an extended period of time. The bargained time for herself was short which already displeased the woman more than enough. With the deal between the two of them so vague, the librarian promised to let her stay there until she became too much trouble or if she got bored with her.

Before a refusal could be given, a slight cough interrupted them from the side. The child and the thief were both startled and turned their necks towards the noise instantly yet El did not even react as if she already knew who was there.

“Good evening. Forgive me for interrupting, but it seems I came at the perfect time.”

A tall, elegant woman wearing a breathtakingly beautiful sea-blue evening dress stepped out from the shadows with an elegant atmosphere. The charming smile on her face was more seductive than the seemingly perfect face of El which she wore proudly. A pair of red irises looked at the three people before her, as if evaluating them each. Even the poor thief could tell that the new addition to their party was neither human nor a simple person.

Her upper-class training caused Emma’s body to react to the aura the noble lady was emitting, the sobbing child instinctually withdrew her tears.

“Pardon me to enter your conversation so rudely, but I feel you should accept the proposal, El.”

Her words were directed straight at the person and soon the two ended up in a staring contest.

A girl, a woman, a librarian and a lady waited for fate to roll and set on a fixed path after a time of swelling discord.

“Why do you believe so?”

“Among many reasons, I believe it would do much progress towards your goals.”

The look she threw with the words implicated the El should already know everything she could say. Rather, the displeasure stemmed from the fact that even though every reason and knowledge pointed the librarian to say yes, she still wanted to refuse. Not waiting for another excuse, she continued.

“You know your worst enemy is yourself, as it always has been. This is for your sake.”

El closed her eyes and did not respond anymore. For the other three the fact that she did not refuse equaled to her reluctant agreement. The thief stood up and took the girl’s hands into her own.

“Camn’. Thank her for letting you stay.”

Crushed between emotions, the young girl bowed elegantly and thanked them profusely, albeit with a still sobbing voice.

“Thank you!”

The librarian did not respond and continued to sit calmly. Send, the girl turned to the unknown lady.

“Thank you!”

The third time, she turned to the assassin who was fidgeting while nervously looking at her.

“Thank you!”

Such as, the girl resumed sobbing, albeit this time not simply out of despair. The lady took the opportunity to step closer, took the girl’s chin between her palms and introduced herself.

“My name is Ol'ma'k Eliza. You don’t have to try to pronounce my family name, just call me Lady Eliza. What is your name, sweetie?”

“Emma. Emma Wulfhild Lyveryche.”

Her weak voice barely reached the ear of the lady whose face distorted into hateful resentment.