While Yvonne was being carried back to her room by her father, the conversation continued between the two children back in the cottage.

“Who’s the miss that has disappeared?” Frit curiously asked the girl.

“Is it the daughter of the Earl?” Without waiting for her response, he asked another question.

“Aren’t you being rude right now?” She pouted at him.

When she saw his confused face, she explained her previous remark.

“You haven’t even introduced yourself yet and you keep asking so many questions.” She crossed her hands and glared at him.

Frit laughed when he saw her tiny face distorted in anger and nodded his head.

He struggled to stand up straight and then he looked into her eyes and spoke with confidence.

“I apologize for my rude behavior, Miss. My name is Frit and I was recruited as a stable boy for the St. Claire’s last week.” Frit introduced himself with a proud countenance.

Hilly, the gardener’s daughter blushed when she saw how smooth his actions were and how regal he looked when he was upon his feet.

In this world, children could start working menial jobs from a young age. So Hilly did not doubt his words.

“Nice to meet you, Sir Frit. I am Hilda and this is my house.” She smiled widely and copied his actions.

They both chuckled looking at her clumsy movements.

Only the nobles introduced themselves with their family name and the commoners just used their first names. Which is what the two kids did.

“So it seems that you are close to the Earl’s daughter. What kind of a person is she?” He inquired after they had stopped laughing.

Frit wanted to cross-check whether the girl who had saved him was the Earl’s daughter. If they were the same person, then Earl St. Claire had hell to pay for how his daughter had behaved.

The smile on Hilda’s face faltered when she noticed how eager the new boy was to know about her friend, Yvonne.

Hilda had met Yvonne when the Lord and his family had arrived a few weeks back.

Yvonne was an energetic child who loved to make new friends. 

So when she was first introduced to Hilda, who was just a year older than her, they both instantly hit it off and had become great friends in the short span of a few days.

This was the reason why Hilda sounded so concerned when she heard that Yvonne was missing.

‘I hope that she is fine.’ She prayed for her friend’s safety.

“Hello? What are you thinking about?” Frit waved his hand before her face when he saw that she was lost in her thoughts.

“Nothing at all. Yes, we are close. She is my only close friend here.” Hilda pushed her thoughts away and smiled at Frit.

Hilda was lonely because she was the only young child in the estate but now she had a friend to spend her time with.

“It’s rare to see that nobles are close with commoners. How does she look?” He once again circled back to the same question.

Hilda frowned at his persistence because for some reason she did not feel comfortable talking about Von to this stranger.

“Umm… She is…” She started but paused when she heard a knock on the door.

They turned around and saw a tall boy standing at the door. 

He had light brown hair and his eyes were like shining emeralds that mesmerized Hilda.

She smiled at him because she had seen him earlier at the stables when she had passed by.

“Frit, let’s go.” The boy did not bother looking at Hilda and his entire attention was on Frit who stood in his still-wet clothes.

“Brother! You have no idea what happened to me today!” Frit bounced towards him and they started walking out of the cottage.

Remembering something, Frit turned around and faced Hilda who was rooted to the floor.

“Thank you for helping me out. I will never forget the favor which I owe you and your family.” He sincerely appreciated their hospitality and left with his brother.

As they walked away, Hilda stood at the door, looking at their backs with a sudden sense of loss which she couldn’t explain.

‘I hope we meet again, Sir Frit.’ She chuckled while thinking of their little joke.

—

A tiny white bird watched everything from high up in the skies.

“Sire, the story has already diverted from its initial course. The arrival of that child has caused certain repercussions to their fate. What if it all goes wrong?”

He fluttered his wings in panic and turned to his master who was leisurely pecking at the delicious and juicy grapes that were served on a plate.

“Things will always get back on track, my dear Theo. What’s meant to be will always be.” The big blue bird chirped after he said those words.

He then looked down at the two boys inside their room.

—

“I was about to die today! Do you know how scared I was? I thought that I would never meet mother, father, sister and you ever again!” Frit spoke anxiously as he held the warm glass of milk in his hands.

He had just taken a bath and changed into fresh new clothes.

“I don’t think that was possible, Frit.” The other guy rolled his eyes and explained that the stream was very shallow so it was impossible for him to drown in it. 

‘But he could have been injured when the current of the water suddenly increased, thankfully the little girl saved him.’ He sighed and looked at Frit’s widened eyes.

“So I just made a fool out of myself in front of her?” Frit frowned deeply.

“Her? Who? The gardener’s daughter?” His brother grinned mischievously.

“No, brother. There was a black-haired girl who pulled me out but later disappeared.” Frit recalled the incident in his mind but did not tell his brother about the embarrassing things that had happened in between.

‘Her hair was a deep violet and not black.’ Brother rolled his eyes.

He did not need any explanations because he was already watching the entire show from the sidelines.

Frit’s brother was the one who had spied on Yvonne and had followed her from the rose bushes, all the way to Hilda’s cottage.

But he did not correct his little brother because it would be more entertaining this way.

‘Yvonne St. Claire, I hope we meet again.’ He smirked and walked to the window of their small room.

Right now, they were in the lodging that the butler had assigned for the new stable boys who had pleaded for a job last week.

He whistled and suddenly a black-clothed man appeared before him.

“We will be leaving tonight. Get the carriage ready before dinner.” He ordered and the man bowed before he once again disappeared.

“But brother, we still haven’t completed our mission here.” Frit whined when he saw all this.

“You think your father would allow you to stay after you almost drowned?” He sneered which made Frit stomp his feet on the hardwood floor.

“But how did he know about this. It just happened!” Frit groaned and punched a pillow.

He had just gotten a break from his monotonous and boring life but because of such a small thing, now he had to go back.

“As he always says, he has eyes …” The brother looked at Frit and waited for him to complete the sentence.

“Everywhere!” Frit rolled his eyes and huffed.

‘Stupid shadow guards! Where were they when I was nearly drowning!’ He ignored his brother and buried himself under the sheets.

He could hear his brother’s chuckles but he did not look back at him.