The wind ruffled Sylvia’s long silver hair as she hadn’t braided it this morning in her hurry. 

She had to keep tucking away the errant strands behind her ears as she briskly walked through the cluster of trees.

The castle’s stable was not too far out. She had asked one of the castle guards for directions and it was pretty straightforward.

And the walk in itself was also very peaceful. 

The huge tall trees reminded her of the forest they had recently visited and her pathetic escape attempt, wherein she had been played by the man from the very beginning.

Her hand subconsciously shot up to her neck and fiddled with the thin silver chain as she continued walking.

A few more minutes later, Sylvia caught the sight of a huge wooden shed, if it could even be called that.

Sheds were normally much smaller, but this stable was quite huge. I guess this is befitting someone of a royal lineage. She shrugged.

She quickened her pace ever so slightly as she walked towards the stable, her feet leaving behind small imprints on the muddy forest grounds, wet from the previous night’s rain.

“Hello.” Sylvia leaned over and mumbled, after reaching what she assumed to be the front entrance of the stables.

Her eyes caught the sight of a battered wooden chair and table in a corner, with a blanket sprawled messily on it, so she wondered if someone was present nearby.

She waited for a couple of minutes and tried calling out again, but no one was responding back.

Sylvia shrugged and decided to head in anyways. After all, she was just a maid in the castle and would only be taking care of the menial chores, so she didn’t think that anyone would mind her waltzing in.

Sylvia took another look around just to be sure and then leisurely stepped into the stable. 

She creaked open the huge wooden doors, wondering why the animals were locked shut, and then peered inside as she opened the doors further…

Ahhhh!

A small scream escaped her trembling lips, as Sylvia fell back down the very next instant.

She panted in utter shock, with her ass on the ground, her eyes still fixated on the inside of the stables.

She looked bewildered as if she couldn’t believe what she saw and staring right back at her were several pairs of fluorescent eyes, some green, some blue, some yellow, and some red, clearly far too many for her to count.

And they took the liberty of responding back to her involuntary scream. 

A series of growls, snarls, and roars echoed from within the stables, making Sylvia even more nervous than she was.

And to make things worse, she could feel a sort of vague powerful oppressive aura flowing out of the stables, making her entire body freeze.

This kind of aura couldn’t possibly belong to a domesticated or even a wild animal. Rather this was the violent oppressive aura of magical beasts!

Sylvia had felt this same aura, back in the forests, when they were surrounded by the pack of wolves.

She was helpless there and she was helpless now, shuddering in fear, but this was not her fault since any commoner without mana affinity would be intimidated by these beasts in the same manner.

The magically gifted were higher up in the food chain because of their natural advantage and that was how this world worked.

“Aye! Who riled up all my beasts this early in the morning?” A coarse gruff voice grumbled behind Sylvia, finally breaking her trance.

The young woman quickly scrambled to stand up with an ashamed expression on her face.

She could tell that this was Ana’s plan all along and now her weird out of nowhere task order made sense, but still, Sylvia was ashamed of her blatant weakness.

She bit her lips in frustration seeing how easily she tended to become rattled.

“Eh? Who the hell are you? And what are you doing here?” The gruff voice sounded again, scolding Sylvia.

She looked up to explain herself and saw a tall dark-skinned man leisurely sitting on the chair. He had silver hair just like her and a pair of sharp scrutinizing eyes. 

“Umm… I am here to tend to the stables?”

“Why? Doesn’t the other one usually do this?” The man asked, making Sylvia wonder if he was talking about Ana.

“I am not sure, Sir. Miss Ana asked me to take care of this today.” She mumbled in response. Not that she was planning to get Ana in trouble, she just stated what had happened.

But the person on the other end didn’t seem to care. He shifted his gaze from her, leaning back on the chair lazily, and closed his eyes.

“Oh. Alright then. Get to work.” He replied while yawning. “Oh and by the way just call me Leol. I am also just a servant like you.” He hummed and yawned again.

Sylvia nodded dazedly. That was it? She needed more instructions, damn it! 

She hadn’t even tended to horses before. How was she now supposed to deal with these magical beasts all of a sudden???

Before the man could fully drift asleep, Sylvia quickly asked him again. “Ummm, Mr. Leol, this… could I please trouble you to show me once how it’s done?”

“Umm… I have never tended to any animal before. Please help me learn, Sir.”

“Ha?” The man immediately turned around, slightly startled at her request. He had a look of annoyance on his face. 

“Why did they send me this dunce today?” he muttered under his breath, but not really taking any effort to hide it from Sylvia.

Her face flushed on hearing someone say that to her directly and when she was about to retort back, the man yawned and mumbled. “Alright. Follow me.”

Sylvia nodded, swallowing back her words. 

Though she was slightly angry and embarrassed, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement mixed in with the nervousness. So she quietly followed the man to learn from him.