Alyanna Rohan’s POV
"This is where you belong! Stay here till you rot!" My aunt shouted as she pushed me inside a small and dark room.
Because I felt extreme hunger from toiling all day, I was forced to steal a bread from them. However, I was caught and now I"m being punished.
I cried as I begged. "Auntie Seline, I won"t do it again. Please let me off this time."
"Ungrateful person! You don"t have the right to ask me that. The next time you stole something from me, I"ll make sure to make your life a burning h.e.l.l!"
After the last word was spoken, the place changed into a field surrounded by fire. The heat brought pain to me. It"s scaldingly hot, my skin was being burned and my body becoming full of sweat.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared amidst the fire. "Alyanna Rohan." The shadow called my name and when I probed who he was, it was actually Brylle Zaffiro. "Welcome to h.e.l.l!"
A second after, he reappeared together with Auntie Seline and now they were laughing demonically. Cerina and Vander came out from the both sides and as they approached me, they transformed into two hideous monsters.
What should I do? They"re gonna eat me! What do I do now?!
"Aaaahhhhhhh!"
I just saw myself waking up from a nightmare. My breathing’s rough and I was sweating all over. However, since realization came to me, I managed to begin regaining my usual composure. I chanted to myself, "Yana, everything"s not real. Only a nightmare. Only a nightmare."
When I sat up, I noticed something odd. "Where is this place?"
I"m on a comfortable and fluffy bed and even though the room was kinda dirty, it"s still more presentable and bigger than my previous one. "If so&h.e.l.lip;" The fact that my aunt robbed me my fortune and that I met Brylle Zaffiro&h.e.l.lip;. "Was real. All of it was real&h.e.l.lip;"
I feel conflicted, I brought my hands on my cheeks. Even now, I still don"t know what I involved myself into. As I gazed down to my fingers, I saw the ring created by Brylle Zaffiro"s spell. I tried pulling it out but it didn"t budge.
"You"re doing something useless!" The small voice coming from underneath the bed startled me. When I peeked below to see who it was, "Rawr!"
"Aaaaaaaaahhhh!" I screamed and stumbled on the floor.
"Ahahahaha!" Vander, the little gnome, laughed hysterically while pointing a finger at me. "Geez, mortals! Why are you all like scaredy-cats?"
If you have been intentionally surprised by someone like him, won"t you be frightened?
"What are you doing here?"
"Hey, hey, hey! I should be the one asking you that!" If I were to measure his tallness - I mean, his small height, it seems a ruler can beat him! But because of his tiny stature, it"s very easy for the eyes to lose him. "Your job starts today. Why are you not moving?"
"Job?" I searched around for him. Where is he now? When I wasn"t expecting it, someone pushed on my calves. "Waaaah!" It seems Vander was now behind me.
"Move, move, move!" Now he"s pulling on my clothes to bring me out of the room. "If Master Brylle woke up and you haven"t finished your tasks by that time, you"re dead! You"re dead, you"re dead, you"re dead!"
Vander served as my tour guide as we roamed the whole house. We first toured the dustiest place in their mansion, the hallway! Then onward to the most foul-smelling one, the comfort room! The most chaotic - living room and then to the most disgusting - the dining room. Lastly, he ushered me to the most nauseating place of all - the mansion"s kitchen!
"You"re all so horrible! It was as if this house was not inhabited by humans!" I said while half-crying and feeling very repulsive.
"Technically, the people here are not humans! There"s even a Garden Gnome here! Me, me and me!" Vander even searched a high place to climb so that our eyes will meet on the same height. Really, this guy is so cute and importunate. It"s hard to be scared of the real him.
"So how did your house become this dirty?" I hinted that I was talking about their whole mansion.
"Rituals, spells, research, training. Rituals, spells, research, training. Rituals, spells, research, training. Rituals, spells, research, training. Rituals, spells, research, training. Rituals, spells, research, training. Rit - "
I hastily stopped him from continuing. "I get it! I know now how busy you guys are!"
"Right!" Then he jumped to somewhere. I heard some noises and sounds and then when he reappeared again&h.e.l.lip; "Here"s the broom, rags, soap&h.e.l.lip;" And other cleaning tools. "Start your housekeeping works! However, please remember to wake up Master Brylle at 6 am! The breakfast should be ready by then!"
"Vander."
When I called him, he suddenly put his hands on his ears. His cheeks ballooned up as if telling that he"s angry. "You don"t have any right and authority to call me by my name! Are we close? Do you know everything about me? You"re just a newbie here! And we"re not yet friends - "
He really doesn"t know how to stop when ranting. "Okay. Then how am I going to address you?"
"Ahem&h.e.l.lip;" He fixed himself and dusted his red-pointed hat. "I"m a 225 year-old Garden Gnome serving under the Zaffiro family since birth." Ow, he"s that old? "I"m an expert in magics under the Earth Element! Call me - um&h.e.l.lip; aha! Vander! I am Vander!"
If I remember correctly, a while ago he fought with me when I called him Vander and yet he"s saying I should be calling him that.
I shook hands with him, though I only used two fingers since his hands were very small.
"How do I call you, mortal?"
"You can address me as Yana."
"Yana, Yana, Yana!"
"Hehe, a single Yana can do." Even though I said that, Vander ignored me as he repeated my name for who-knows-how-many times.
"Vander, can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"What"s this ring for? Why can"t I remove it?"
"That"s called a Bond ring! That"s your lifeline. Your life depends on that white crystal." Nervousness attacked me when he mentioned how my life is at stake. "The white crystal will be tainted with black color whenever you anger or sadden Master Brylle. The moment you completely turned that crystal into a black crystal, it will become a poison which will take your life away."
I swallowed some saliva. This ring is unreasonable!
"However, you can stop that scenario by making Master happy. Aside from that, if you made him more than happy, the crystal on the ring will shine brilliantly. And do you know what that means?"
"What?"
"One wish, Yana! You can make a wish whenever the ring lights up!" I smiled with understanding. If that"s the case, all I have to do is avoid making Brylle mad and strive to make him pleased. "By the way, you still can"t wish for anything related to the contract, clear?"
I nodded at him. When he was leaving, I stopped him. "Wait, I have one more question!"
Now, his hands were on his waists. "Yana, this is the last one."
"Okay. If your Master is powerful, why does he need a housekeeper and maid like me? Can"t he just magic out the cleaning of this house?"
Vander laughed at me. I swear, his tiny voice hurts my ears. "Master Brylle doesn"t have the hobby of using magic to do something which he could leave to others. Also, what was cleaned will eventually become dirty. Then it will be cleaned, but will be dirty again. Then he will clean it once again, but will become dirty again. And then he will clean that once again - "
"Hep! It means, it"s a repet.i.tive cycle, right?" Like how I noticed that Vander likes repeating things?
"Precisely! And with the number of works for Master, he can no longer mind the cleaning of this house because, like what I said before, it will only become dirty!"After Vander"s ever-repeating explanation, he clung to the ceiling. "Now, begin your task!" And then he finally disappeared from my sight.
TIME: 5:30 AM
WHAT: I started cleaning the comfort room.
TIME: 6: 45 AM
WHAT: I cleaned next the kitchen
TIME: 7:30 AM
WHAT: Currently cooking like crazy
TIME: 8:00 AM
WHAT: I brought upstairs the dishes I"ve cooked
WHERE: To Brylle"s room
I observed that the stuff in this room were also quite dusty. Men are really awesome, huh. They can stomach living in a dirty place like this.
"Ma&h.e.l.lip; Master Brylle." I carefully approached the bed. There lies Brylle Zaffiro, deep in his sleep. I gained the opportunity to scrutinize his face, from his hair, to his eyebrows, eyelashes, prominent nose and his&h.e.l.lip;
I covered my mouth. Because I suddenly remembered something! This&h.e.l.lip; his lips! I remembered that this man had kissed me before! My first kiss, he stole it without much thought!
I shook my head but I can"t contain my anger! I want to strangle him, beat him up, stab him and kill him!
"Alyanna Rohan."
"Uwaaah!" I felt like being choked when he suddenly spoke and opened his eyes.
"You"re late!" He rose up. "I should always be up by eight am. But what time is it now?"
With my forehead creased, I glanced on the wall clock. "1 minute and 45 turning 46 seconds late." Only by that? He"s so meticulous on the wrong things. How irritating!
As he glared at me, I also shot at him some deadly stares. That was before he pointed at my finger, to where my ring was. "Uwaaaahh!" Dirt has started to acc.u.mulate on it. I tried cleaning but it looks like the problem is inside.
I angered him?
"Sorry! Sorry, Master!"
"So Vander had already explained about that to you?" I nodded while inwardly scolding myself. Yana, don"t repeat that stupidity again, he"s forbidden to be angered!
"Your breakfast is ready." I respectfully said as I presented the dishes. "Enjoy&h.e.l.lip;?"
He"s still not smiling. He"s so mean, perfect in ruining my day!
He first sipped some coffee&h.e.l.lip; and then his left brow rose up. The next thing he tasted was the toasted bread and egg that I prepared&h.e.l.lip; and he still did not give any reaction.
However, one thing made me smile. I sighed in relief because the black spots on my crystal already vanished and that only meant one thing. I managed to make him happy through my prepared breakfast!