The cloudless and sunny sky and the bustling of the streets of the twilight kingdom was now all too familiar to Lara. She hopped down from the wagon where everyone was crammed like sardines and smelled of sweat and finally took a breath of fresh air.

She wondered, what could’ve happened while she was away? Surely not much.

With that thought in mind, Lara received a briefcase that the wagon driver gave her and made her way through the streets.

It didn’t take long for her to arrive back to the Valheim palace, and after taking a bath, she changed back to her Viktorian maid clothes and was called to the meeting room, where Queen Emilia would await her.

“Please excuse me,” Said Lara as she pushed the door open and there, Emilia sat with a straightened back, poised, and writing on a scroll with a feathered pen. Upon noticing Lara, she carefully placed the feather pen back in the ink container and looked up to face her.

“Please, have a seat.”

Lara gave Emilia a full ninety degree bow before taking the seat across Emilia’s table.

It was still nerve wracking to face the Queen of the Twilight Kingdom who had also graduated at the top of her class from Royal Jenis Academy, in a way, she was Lara’s idol. Even when Lara herself had more mana than Emilia, their spellcasting was league’s apart. Everytime she interacted with Emilia she had always stiffened up and tried to be as casual as possible.

Not to mention, Lady Emilia was the mother of Prince Lazarus who had shown a Valiant form in front of a mere servant like herself in order to protect her. Perhaps he inherited that bravery and kindness from Lady Emilia? It was most likely the case.

Still, Lara inhaled deeply, and steeled herself and put her thoughts to rest. She had to listen to what the Queen had to tell her.

“Lara, was it?” Said Emilia smiling warmly, which made Lara stiffen from the sheer admiration of her beauty. Why was she smiling like this? It made her stomach churn as she felt a sort of pressure not do something stupid, she answered hurriedly. “I-indeed it is Lady Emilia. So what was the reason why I was called here?”

“It concerns the rumors about Lazarus…”

Lara’s eyes widened. So it was about the young Prince.

“What have you last heard about the rumors about him?”

“Erhm, If I remember correctly, it was when I was leaving to go back home. I heard some people call him a cursed child.”

“I see. Unfortunately, the rumors have changed once more, as do all rumors. They’re now saying that it’s a disease.”

“A disease..? Why would they come up with such a thing?” To Lara it was just preposterous. She’d been with the prince for several months and nothing had happened to her so far so it was very unlikely to be a disease. But perhaps it has something to do with what happened thirty years ago?

“As you may have already thought. It might be because of that tragedy thirty years ago when a disease spread out and caused havoc and famine across the land. Haaahh-..” Emilia sighed, cupping her forehead in her hand before continuing. “If only it was a disease. But it's something he was born with…”

Lara furrowed her brows, asking, “Why would you hope for it to be a disease?”

Emilia smiled ruefully, “Then perhaps we could’ve called the last of the white fox clan and maybe cure Lazarus of his condition.”

“That’s… I see, when you put it like that, maybe perhaps it’s better that it was a disease.” Lara nodded in agreement. Glad that she didn’t jump to conclusions.

Thirty years ago when a deadly disease spread, one person had managed to come up with a powerful healing spell.

Just by herself, she ended the deadly plague and that magic she wielded was called the ‘Miracle touch’. It is said to be able to cure any sort of disease, wound, even a fatal injury. Her healing spell was almost on par with that of the Azalea flower.

Though, Lara couldn’t bring herself to believe the tales about this ‘Last of the white fox clan’ as she was the type of person to see to believe.

In any case,

“Why are you telling me this, your highness?”

“Well…”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, in the maid’s quarters, Lara woke up and did her usual routine of wiping herself clean, then putting on her Viktorian maid uniform. As she was about to go out, a maid with brownish hair and brown eyes, approached her smiled and said,

“Nice to meet you! I’m Ayla, you must be Lara, Prince Lazarus’ personal maid right?”

“That’s right?” Lara wasn’t sure where she was going with this kind of introduction.

“Here.” In Ayla’s hand was a small cup filled with brown liquid, warm tea. Lara had thought that it was for Ayla herself but apparently not. Well, maybe she was just being friendly, so Lara indulged her and received the cup with a ‘thanks’.

Another maid approached with tea in her hand as well and said, “Ayla was just hired a month ago but she makes tea for everyone to start the day, isn’t that great?”

“Y-yeah…”

Lara forced a smile and nodded. The other maid who just joined in was Lilia whom Lara was acquainted with. It was a bit awkward to be around her since she was one of Anastasia’s maids who didn’t really have a good history with Lazarus. But still, she was thankful to have been given a brief background on who the new girl was. But-

“Who’re you assigned to?” Asked Lara to Ayla who hummed and said,

“I’m assigned to Prince Clovis.” She said with a bright smile, he was someone who would gain influence, no wonder she was happy and making a peace sign.

“Thanks for the cup.” Said Lara raising the cup and slowly sipping it from time to time as she listened and had a chat with this friendly new maid. The topic was about their past, then it turned to a talk about clothes and it didn’t take long before the topic arrived to Prince Lazarus and Lilia said,

“I know you might not think that Prince Lazarus’ condition is not a disease, still you must be careful. Just a word of advice.”

-’So this was what lady Emilia meant…’- Thought Lara as she recalled her conversation with Emilia the day prior.

“I’ll take that to heart.” Said Lara before giving the two a nod and walking away as she had already finished her cup. “Alright, I’ll be seeing you two later. I have to attend to the young Prince.”

As she made her way through the stairs, Lara found her footsteps gradually hurrying. And she could feel a sense of longing and the moment she opened the door, she smiled and said,

“Good morning young Prince!”

The child, who had black hair and sky blue eyes, turned his head slowly to her direction.

“Lara?” Lazarus said softly, his expression brightened for a bit but then he quickly schooled in his smile and looked away, making Lara a bit sad that he wasn’t happy to see her as she was to see him. But she did see the shift and asked worriedly,

“Is something the matter young Prince?”

Lazarus put the book to the side before standing up and saying, “Should I move out while you clean?”

“No, why would you do that? Haven’t I always cleaned while we spoke?”

Strange…

The young Prince's expression seemed to shift, he opened his mouth as if to say something but held back and just said, “Alright.”

“So, how were you?” Lara said, as she took the book from Lazarus’ side and placed it on the table before starting to sweep the place with a broom.

“I’m fine.”

“Did anything happen while I was away?”

“Nothing really.”

“Hmm~ Well, you must’ve been spoiled a lot by Lady Emilia, weren’t you?”

Lazarus didn’t respond, making Lara think that something must’ve happened.

Yesterday, Lady Emilia had told her that from now on, Lara may have breakfast with Lazarus.

It was strange since, before, Emilia used to barge in Lazarus’ room and have breakfast with him privately. Maybe she was busy? Still, as a maid it was rude to share a meal with your master and she explained this to Emilia but the Queen explained that Lazarus would love it, and Lara too loved to spend time with Lazarus so she was happy to know she was allowed.

But now that she realized that something must’ve happened, she felt bad.

Lara continued to ask Lazarus’ some vague questions and the only responses he made were very few worded responses.

After a while, it was time for Lazarus’ lessons with Sir William. Lara escorted Lazarus to the library and as they were walking through the corridor, she noticed another maid heading in their direction. The moment the maid saw the two of them, she flinched comically, then quickly turned a complete 180 and headed somewhere else.

It wasn’t just a one time occurence too, it kept on happening and happening until Lara realized. ‘They believe the rumor?’

She took a quick glance at Lazarus and realized he was balling his fist and biting his lips. So this was what the queen met when she said, ‘There are a few servants who had started believing the rumors. But many didn’t believe it, however they are still being cautious.’

A swirl of emotions welled up in her chest.

Lara stopped walking, prompting Lazarus to look at her.

“Is this perhaps the reason why you refuse to talk with me and have been walking a bit further away than you normally do?”

“That’s….”

“Young Prince, even for one second, I do not believe the rumors to be true.” Lazarus' eyes widened as Lara continued, saying, “You are kind, I realize you are trying to be considerate of me. However, staying far away from me is merely hurting me rather than helping me. Do you understand?”

The Prince just kept on staring at her, his expression shifted a couple of times before he nodded and said, “ I’m sorry, Lara…”

“As long as you understand.” Lara said, patting his head. Perhaps she was too direct with her emotions to a child, but she didn’t want to keep on hiding stuff from him as he was her benefactor. She wanted to be honest, so he could be honest with her too.

After dropping Lazarus off to the library, he looked at her happily as he said, “I’ll see you later Lara!”

“I’ll come by later with snacks.” Responded Lara, before she closed the door to the library.

Time to do her usual chores.

After going a few rounds and cleaning the area’s she was assigned to, Lara encountered a young girl with lustrous black hair and emerald green eyes.

“Hello Princess!” Said Lara, giving Reisha a full ninety degree bow.

“A pleasure to be meeting you as well, Lara.” Reisha said softly, giving Lara a curtsy and a soft smile befitting that of a royalty, restrained and elegant. Lara was amazed, she knew that Reisha was a magic prodigy, but her mannerism as well was so advanced that she felt more like a mature woman than a five year old child.

“Then if you would please excuse me.” Said Reisha, walking away.

Lara sighed in admiration.

So this was the crown princess, Reisha Valheart. Lara had already seen her during the party but never got close. She knew that whoever Reisha’s personal maid would be, would be very lucky as she was already crowned as the heir. And though she did feel a bit of envy, she wouldn’t want to trade places with anyone. She wanted to be loyal to Lazarus, to the prince who stood up for her.

But then it dawned on her…-’How did she know my name?’-

After going about her usual duties, Lara delivered snacks to Lazarus and after their lessons, she brought him back to his room.

Everyday was the same as usual but the difference from a month ago was that now, Emilia interacted with Lazarus less and also the fact that the other maids also avoided Lazarus even more vehemently because of the rumors.

Lara could only hope that it changes soon so Lazarus wouldn’t be isolated just as much.

Still, one thing of note that stuck out to Lara was her interaction with Reisha. Every single time, the crown princess would always have the air of nobility and dignity despite being only five years of age.

Lara had thought that it was strange that Reisha never displayed any traits of that of a child, that is until several weeks later.

It was already evening, and Lara was about to visit Prince Lazarus’ room to perhaps clean again, though she calls it cleaning, it was just actually chatting with him. As she was about to open the door to his room, she stopped, when she heard voices from behind the door.

“Muu! I want to hear more!”

“Reisha, it’s already late.”

“But you stopped just before he was about to be captured by the Evil ogres!”

“That’s for tomorrow.”

“No! It has to be now!”

“Reisha…”

“But-...but we were already in a good part… If I can’t continue, can I sleep here instead?”

“Mom would scold you again.”

There was a bit of silence. Lara felt that she shouldn’t be eavesdropping on kids but it was just so strange to finally hear the young Princess being spoiled like a child of her age should be. As bad as Lara felt, she continued to eavesdrop.

“Mom doesn’t come here in the morning that much anymore, so she won’t find out.” Said Reisha.

“You're right, but doesn’t mom always go to your room to check up on you?”

“Oh, right…” Reisha was silent for a bit, “But I wanna sleep here, next to you.”

Lara chuckled, she never realized that the prodigy of a princess could be this stubborn and clingy.

“... Alright, just for today, okay?” Lazarus seemed to relent.

“Yey!”

It seems like the young Prince couldn’t win against the Princess. Lara couldn’t help but smile to herself as she turned and left.

It seems like there was at least another person who was close to the young prince besides herself and the Queen.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again, Lazarus was reading a picture book in his room.

How long has it been since the incident with Anastasia? A couple of months maybe.

It was already late in the afternoon and his lessons with Sir William had steadily decreased since Reisha’s magic lessons sometimes required two teachers, so both Emilia and Sir William had to work together. Apparently, Lazarus’ lessons were not as important so only he got some freedom out of it.

It wasn’t bad, since Lazarus didn’t like the lessons but he was already much more advanced in terms of reading and writing since he was only focused on the bare basics unlike the rest of his siblings who had magic lessons, etiquette, and politics.

It was a blessing, yet the fact that it only happened to him made Lazarus keenly aware of the treatment of someone who was manaless from those who were born with a blessing.

The only time he looked forward to was his time with Reisha. He became good at making stories up just to see her smile.

He had once loved learning about magic, but after realizing he was manaless his interest slowly fizzled out. Not to mention his attempts to compensate were met with punishment.

So why even try?

The only thing he wished now was for Emilia to join him every morning like she once had. But she had not done so in several weeks.

Unable to focus, Lazarus slid the book under his bed and left his room.

And as usual, the maids tried to avoid him and after this being done to him for several weeks, it was already something he could care less about. Why should he care what they think?

Lazarus hadn’t realized that his thoughts had gradually become uncaring. To him, after trying so hard and being met with consequences, he realized he never should have tried.

For some reason, his energy these days seemed to be getting lesser and lesser, perhaps he needed more sleep? Lazarus frowned, he was sleeping more often so it didn’t make sense.

At least he had his appetite and as he made his way through the palace corridors, he was thinking-

-’I wonder what sort of snacks are left this time?’-

He had made it a habit to check for snacks around this time in the dining room since after Clovis’ magic lessons, Emilia would also have a quick break with Reisha’s own magic lessons. Then they’d have snacks and have fun chatting in the dining room and sometimes before the maids would clean-up, he would try to get some.

He of course could just request Lara to make them, but he didn’t want to bother her too much so he refrained as much as possible.

As Lazarus pushed the door open to the dining room, he immediately noticed that someone was still in the room.

“Lazarus?”

“Mom?” Lazarus felt a sort of apprehension. Would this encounter be the same as their usual encounters where his mother would hurriedly leave? Maybe, in that case…

“Wait, perhaps you wanted some snacks?” Emilia took a piece of untouched meat tart and presented it to Lazarus who finally raised his head. She was giving him a soft smile. For some reason, a wave of relief hit him.

He nodded and received the tart from Emilia who closed the door behind him and sat on a chair. Lazarus just stared for a moment till he noticed that was beaconing for him to have a seat beside her. He hesitantly obliged.

“Sorry, Mommy has been unfair to you.” Emilia said while patting his head. It gave Lazarus a sense of relief, it has been quite a while since his mother spent some time with him. But, it wasn’t like before, where she would always be listening to him, sometimes sleeping with him in the afternoon, or spending time in the garden.

Lazarus just nodded to Emilia’s word as she continued,

“It is not because I have stopped loving you.”

Lazarus flinched and looked down. He couldn’t hide anything from her.

“It’s because of Reisha’s lessons. They’re growing more advanced each day. She learns too fast.”

If only he was a prodigy too.

There was a brief silence between the two then Emilia muttered, “That reminds me…”

Lazarus looked at her.

“When you do something wrong you know what to do. Don’t you have something to say to mommy?"

“Uhm-....”

“You did hide the fact you broke my vase after all.” Said Emilia gently, just waiting for Lazarus.

“S-sorry about the vase…”

“Good. Apology accepted.” Emilia smiled and then stood up. “I need to go, Reisha’s waiting for me.”

“Okay…” Lazarus just looked down on the tart on hand.

The moment Emilia left, he realized he wasn’t hungry any longer and simply left the tart on the table and went back to his room. He still felt that Emilia hadn’t forgiven him, after all, she didn’t spend as much time as she did before.

But… Emilia also wasn’t one to lie so perhaps she truly was busy.

If only he was as good as Reisha in magic…

That was impossible.

So then, how could he win Emilia back? She now spent breakfast with Anastasia, Clovis and Reisha and not him.

As the days went by, Lazarus contemplated what he could do without magic. The only saving grace was the moments when Emilia would visit him during her breaks and would occasionally chat with him and pat his head.

But there was another thing Lazarus looked forward to, it was his time with Reisha who would always listen intently to his stories and they sometimes played games in his room when he couldn’t come up with new sequences to his stories.

He remembered that when they played a guessing game, Reisha would complain to him, saying ‘That’s too vague! I didn’t know that existed!’ and the like. One time they had played hide and seek in the 3rd floor of the palace and it was quite fun.

Oh, and the snacks that Lara made for him were also quite delicious.

It’s just that, without Emilia, the days just weren't as enjoyable as before.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More days passed, and Lazarus had already read every single book in his room and decided to take some books from the grand library. After leafing through a couple of them, he noticed a book about various paints.

Lazarus remembered that in his parent’s bedroom there were also a lot of paintings when he used to go there.

-’Maybe mom likes paintings?’-

But what should he paint if that’s the case?

How do you paint in the first place?

It was then that Lazarus decided to start learning how to paint.

Of course, as a child he could only make scribbles and very weird figures. He tried drawing cool swords and weapons, but he also realized that Emilia may not like those things. Instead, he tried drawing flowers.

As the weeks went by, eventually he could finally draw properly and apply some coloring to them with a few pointers from Lara who was always glad to help him. She also told him that paintings should always convey your heart’s desire.

And when Lazarus told her he wanted to show them to Emilia, she became much more pumped up.

And he knew exactly what to paint as Lara suggested,

“Why don’t you paint a picture of the entire family?”

“That’s it!!”

It became Lazarus’ goal.

Some days, he went to the palace garden’s to draw. But he soon stopped going there when Anastasia saw him and hissed, “You better not try anything funny in the garden again! And what’s that, you’re drawing? You’re-..”

Nothing ever good came out of engaging with Anastasia so he ignored her and left. This seemed to infuriate her. When Lazarus looked back to the fuming Ana, she seemed to be muttering under her breath. But Lazarus didn’t stick for too long to find out what it was she was saying and just went back to his room.

His heart’s desire.

Lazarus no longer really wanted to be some great mage but instead he simply wanted to be with his family and be on good terms with them… even Ana.

His hands moved, arcing and waving as he drew with everything he had.

And finally..!

“Mom, look! look!” Lazarus came running down with a big grin on his face while raising both his arms holding a little painting to show Emilia who was sipping tea in the palace gardens.

Emilia received the painting and inspected the picture.

Lazarus had drawn scribbles of what seemed to be the sun and his family all smiling. f

They vaguely resemble people but it was quite good for a six year old, it was easy to discern which was which, since the king had a crown while the queen had a smaller crown, the rest of the figures were small compared to the 2 bigger figures. And there was also a figure wearing a maid uniform, he made sure to add that.

“Mama I also drew something for you” a voice suddenly called out, it belonged to his elder sister Ana. She drew a picture that one would not think she was 7, it seemed as if a painter actually drew this. The portrait had a family, yes anyone can see this is a family but the family she had drawn was lacking something.

Lazarus stared at the picture and looked at his own, it was nothing alike.

The difference was like heaven and earth, he felt embarrassed and disappointed at himself. He continued to stare at the picture when he noticed something was missing.

“Where am I?” He asked to which Anastasia snickered and said. “Father said you are not his son because you can’t use magic. So you’re not part of this family!”

Lazarus downcast his gaze.

“Ana!” Shouted Emilia. Anastasia hurriedly said, “I’m sorry-.. I was only joking.”

Lazarus felt a heat in his head. Anastasia always seemed to try and pick a bone with him…but it wasn’t the fact that Anastasia excluded him that made him feel worthless. It was the stark difference in their ability to paint. He saw Emilia’s reaction when she saw Ana’s painting, and it was quite the difference from watching his own.

After a brief session with Emilia scolding Anastasia once more, and telling him how his picture was really nice and that Emilia wanted to keep it, he went back to his room.

Little did he know that Reisha had seen the events unfold.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Months passed by quickly and some servants had caught the cold. It had spread quite a bit but it was just a simple cold that everyone was used to. Unfortunately, Lazarus also got hit and was bed ridden. Unlike most people who had mana, his body only had its natural defense.

Lara was beside him, replacing the towel in his forehead occasionally.

“That was quite the ordeal, wasn’t it young Prince?” She said with a chuckle, making Lazarus frown just remembering.

“Y-yeah.. I didn’t think Reisha would get too dramatic over that…”

Oftentimes, Reisha would come to Lazarus’ room in the mornings to sometimes share breakfast with him. She had begun doing so in recent months and it became a regular occurrence every other day. Unfortunately, when she saw Lazarus just bed ridden and hot, she began calling every servant around saying ‘My big brother is dying! Help him!’

Apparently, it was her first time encountering a cold. That was quite strange to Lazarus who thought a fever with a cough was a regular yearly occurrence to everyone in the Kingdom.

Maybe the fact that in his stories, the disease would often kill someone or would be quite fatal and would need a hero's magic to heal was what caused her paranoia? Still, she didn’t need to take it that far. She caused quite an uproar as Reisha never displayed that sort of distraught behavior before.

Lazarus sighed, “She-..*Cough* *Cough*, she can be quite a handful sometimes…”

“The young princess is simply worried about you.” Lara smiled softly, taking the towel in his head and replacing it with the won simmering in the wooden bucket beside his bed. “She has taken to you ever since she first met you, so you can’t blame her.”

“I’m not blaming her… It’s just that she made the castle go into a bit of an uproar. She could have just called you…”

“That’s true. Emilia is disciplining her right now. But just to let you know, a little sister can become overprotective of her big brother.” Lara chuckled, just remembering the time when she herself became sick and he did everything in his power to make her feel comfortable.

“Yeah-.. But a big brother is supposed to protect his little sister… That’s what I read in the book.”

“Hmm… That is true. In any case, please, get some rest now.” Lara patted Lazarus’ head who closed his eyes, attempting to sleep.

The prince finally fell asleep. When night came, Lara went back to the maid’s quarters and Ayla was there sitting on her bed with Lilia. The three became quite close and while Lara wasn’t too fond of Lilia before, she had begun opening up because of Ayla who was always so nosy and upbeat.

Not too long after, the three managed to talk more easily and eventually became friends.

“Ah, you’re here. How’s the young prince?” Asked Ayla to Lara who sat down beside her.

“He’s doing well.”

“Hey, about the rumors….” Lilia couldn’t help but ask and Lara simply sighed when she brought it up.

“It became worse. It has spread even to the Azure kingdom. And-... Oh, thanks.” Lara received a cup of warm tea that Ayla prepared for her and continued her rant after taking a quick sip. “I was hoping it would die down but it’s not. Why can’t these loyalists to the late Duke just stop already?”

“If you didn’t know, it was because while Duke Roann was a scumbag and taxed the citizens in his lands unfairly, he was quite generous to the people in his hometown. He would give them food, water, clothing and even make shelters for them. I’ve heard he even ran an orphanage there.”

“The Duke did!?” Ayla couldn’t hide her surprise and so did Lara. They never knew someone so disgusting and sleazy could’ve been kind to anyone at all.

Lilia nodded. “Unbelievable, right?”

The two nodded rapidly.

“But it’s true. It was quite the ordeal because that orphanage had been running for quite a while and some of the boys there became quite well known as an adventurer. He-..”

“Enough chit chat. It’s lights out.” Cut in another maid who looked to be in her forties.

“Ah!” The three looked at her, then looked at one another before looking back at her.

“Sorry head maid.” Said Lara. The two also went back to their beds and Lara went to the bathroom to wipe herself queen and change.

After going back to her bed, she channeled a bit of mana to the glowstone beside her bed to turn it off but-..

“Hmm? It’s not turning off… Is it broken?”

The maid whose bed was beside Lara, frowned. “Can you turn that off already?”

“Sorry. But it seems like it’s broken.” Lara tried to channel her mana again.

“Uggh… I have an early start tomorrow. Here, let me try.” She threw her blanket off in an exaggerated manner and touched the glowstone. It stopped glowing. “There’s no issue here. Were you just trying to get me up to do this for you!?”

“N-no-... I’m sorry.”

“Haa-... anyway. Get some sleep.”

“R-right…”

That was strange. Lara simply sighed and lied in her bed.

Then she felt an itch in her throat.

*Cough..*

-’Ah, did I catch a cold?’-