Melody lingered behind Luciana as her lady twisted her lips and crossed her arms in distress. The reaction was warranted after recent events, from the earthquake to the agricultural blight to the life-or-death standoff with a monstrous wolf—each a catastrophe in its own right and far too much for one girl’s shoulders to bear. But these disasters had passed. The house patriarch, Hughes, would handle the matter of the estate, Melody had cured the crops, and they’d banded together to slay the wolf. What, then, could have plagued her lady’s mind?
Luciana turned to Melody, brow wrinkled. “I can’t shake the feeling that I’m forgetting something important. You don’t remember what it was, do you?”
“Something important? You said the same thing not long ago.” The maid looked up in thought. Was it something she’d overlooked in their preparations? Not to her knowledge. Had orders slipped her mind? Impossible. If they were forgetting something, it was not immediately obvious to Melody. “I can’t say that I do, my lady. Perhaps it’s something to do with the academy?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. I just can’t place it.”
Melody crossed her arms, and together they thought. Little came of it.
“Strange,” Luciana mused. “It’s right on the tip of my tongue, and I think it was super important.”
“I’m afraid I can’t recall anything particularly pressing, my lady. It has been awfully hectic since we arrived. Perhaps it slipped your mind in the commotion. I’ll probe Micah and Rook at the next opportunity.”
“Please. Oh. Speak of the devil.”
“Miss Melody!”
Melody looked just in time to find Micah trotting their way.
“Micah, mind your manners,” Melody said. “A maid conducts herself with poise indoors and out.”
“It’s urgent, Miss Melody! You have a visitor!”
“A visitor? For me? Here?” Her acquaintances all lived in the capital, and she certainly couldn’t think of any who’d ride all the way to her lord’s domain to see her. Not a one. “Who could it be?”
“It’s him! It’d be quicker just to show you. Come on! Hurry! Chop-chop! Vamoose! He’s waiting for you in the foyer!”
“Good lord, Micah!”
The maid-in-training tugged, and her mentor could only surrender, nearly tripping over her own feet.
Micah giggled. “I can’t believe it. All the way here! Just to see you!”
“Can’t believe what? Can’t you just tell me who it is? Very sorry, my lady! I’ll return shortly!”
Luciana, left alone, sat in a daze for several seconds before shooting to her feet—“W-well, now I have to go see too!”—and giving chase like a sad puppy.
Micah hummed to herself the whole way, entirely in her element. Now this is how an otome game oughta be! Spontaneous romance is just what we were missing! And I get a front-row seat!
Melody, less so. What in the world is going on?!
The trio reached the foyer in a flurry of conflicting emotions, only to find someone else had beaten them there.
“So you’re here to see my sweet and beautiful Melody, huh? And just who do you think you are?”
“I, er—”
“You think the world revolves around that pretty little face of yours, d’ya?!”
The air rumbled.
“Awfully long way from the capital. Must’ve lost your way, little boy, because I know you didn’t come here to solicit my maid for whatever debauchery you have planned. Not while I live! Not while I breathe!”
“What are you two talking about?!” cried the accosted.
Conflict brewed in the foyer.
“Are we, um, interrupting?” Melody said.
“Is that Schue? And Lord Hubert?” Micah asked.
“What are those morons doing?” groaned Luciana.
The trio hid around the corner of an adjoining hallway, not out of politeness but instinct. The overbearing figures of Schue and Hubert obscured the guest while they apparently attempted to intimidate him into submission.
“They definitely weren’t here when I invited him in,” Micah said.
“Schue will be Schue, but what is Uncle thinking?” Luciana wondered.
“Incredulity can wait, my lady. We have to stop them!” Melody said.
Whatever fueled this hostility, the situation looked ready to boil over at a moment’s notice. The maid stepped forward to intervene.
Luciana halted her with her hand. “No. I’ll handle this.”
“My lady?”
With a gentle smile, Luciana strode into the foyer, fan out and ready by the time she reached the two belligerents. From there, all it took was a bit of mana and a snap of the wrist, and the folding fan became the Holy Harisen, primed for a torturous yet harmless smacking.
“Will you two get a grip?!”
Thwack! Paper met skulls. The victims cried out, then dropped to the ground in proper slapstick fashion. The maids looked on in awe.
“That thing packs a punch,” Micah commented. “And it’s totally harmless?”
“I-I did design it that way, b-but show a little restraint, my lady!” Melody pleaded. It was difficult to watch her own creation used for such mass destruction. She dashed from her hiding place.
“I’ll not apologize. It serves them right for being so callously rude to a guest. I do, however, apologize to you,” Luciana said, addressing the mystery visitor. “Forgive my house’s rudeness. I am…”
The air evaporated from her lungs the moment she made eye contact with the man. He was tall, and his sharp, piercing eyes glowed golden while his hair burned red.
“W-well met, Lady Luciana.”
“Lect?” Melody said, appearing behind her lady. “Is that you?”
Sir Lectias Froude was the third love interest in The Silver Saint and the Five Oaths, and perhaps the most lovesick knight in all the world.
“It’s been some time, Melody. Er, not much time, I suppose.”
“A-a few weeks shy of a month. Are you our guest? What brought you all this way? Nothing serious, I—my lady?!”
The harisen slashed between them, cutting short the knight and maid’s reunion. Melody regarded her lady with confusion, but Luciana ignored her inquisitive gaze and simply smiled.
Lect’s blood ran cold.
“It seems I acted a tad hastily,” she said.
“What do you mean by that, my lady?”
“Neither Schue nor my uncle were out of line. Back to manipulate Melody again, are we? Who do you think you are, waltzing into my estate with your wobbly knees and twisted morals, Sir Salacious?!”
“S-salacious?!” blurted Lect. “Where are you people getting that idea?!”
“Silence, beast! Behind me, Melody! I won’t let this wretched creature lay so much as a finger on you! En garde!”
“No, my lady!” Every bit as desperate as if they were again facing off against Garmr, the Dark One, Melody locked her arms around her lady’s and held her in place.
“Let me go! Let me at him! Let me at him, I say!”
“Calm yourself, my lady! Please! And where did you learn to speak that way?!”
“Sh-should I leave?” stammered Lect.
“I was so excited, and now everything’s ruined!” cried Micah.
Ryan the butler appeared right on time to witness the pandemonium at its peak. Indescribable horror widened his eyes. “What in the name of all that is good is everyone doing in front of our guest?!”