Un-Chain

The woman before Uteu continued to smile kindly at him even when he blushed and noticed he was staring at her unabashedly.

The woman chuckled at him when he looked down to avoid her eyes.

"You remind me so much of my little brother. He's around your age I believe." Her smooth voice soothed his ears and he felt curious about her.

"I didn't see you earlier, what's your name?" He felt his cheeks heat up again when she looked at him worriedly. He supposed he came off as unfriendly when he asked his question.

"I mean, I only saw like three of the maids so far so-"

"Oh! I see! Little sir is just curious about me." Her worried look eased and only look mildly on guard. Uteu wished he could make her feel at ease and was thrown off by his own thoughts.

"My name is Harvet Lianthi." She gave her name with a short curtsy. He was surprised to hear her last name. The rest of the maids were introduced with only their first names. He brushed it off as he never asked them directly for their names.

"Little sir should go inside now. It isn't safe to wander around."

Sure enough the sun was setting. Bewildered, Uteu realized he hadn't been paying much attention to the time. His stomach growled and he blushed again.

He wasn't sure when he had last eaten either.

Harvet chuckled and ushered for him to enter the mansion. When he was on the steps of the patio, he turned his head to say something to her. He turned his head side to side and realized he was alone.

Turning around, Harvet was still in the same spot she was in when she had prevented him from hyperventilating.

He quirked an eyebrow at her in question. Why wasn't she going in?

She smiled and called out gently, "Go on little sir, I have other matters to attend to first. We will meet again as long as little sir stays in Lord Mandleton's home."

A little sad to see her go, Uteu nodded in her direction and bid her farewell. She gave a short wave and walked away, he lost sight of her once she passed by some finely trimmed hedges that had survived the fight.

He turned back towards the door and put his hand on the golden door handle. Before he could do anything, the door already opened and Lia was there to admit him into the mansion.

She nodded to him as he entered. He lifted a hand in her direction and was about to ask her for a favor.

"Dinner is about to be served. Your siblings are already there waiting for you." She said before leaving swiftly. Uteu wasn't even able to utter a single question and she was gone. He felt awkward with his hand out so he let it fall back to his side.

He exhaled and looked around the place. He didn't even know where the dining room was. Or if that was where dinner would even be. He couldn't spot any other maids to ask them where to go.

He let out a weary laugh. He felt that Harvet was much friendlier in comparison to all of these other maids. Had he offended them? Maybe they felt he was undeserving of their master's protection.

Now that he had a basic understanding, he could faintly feel all the connections in the mansion. All of the maids in this mansion were all linked weakly to Grello. He is quite curious as to how that all came about. He'd have to pay more attention around him to learn more.

His stomach grumbled once more. He notes to himself that he will read those books after dinner. Unfortunately though, he still wasn't sure as to where to go.

He let out a drawn out sigh and put his hands in his pockets. He gave in, realizing he'd have to search around on his own. After around 25 minutes of blindly walking around he felt like all of the halls and doors were near identical to each other. Everything was just so neat and orderly like some sort of hotel.

Just when he was about to concede defeat and yell out for directions, he heard soft giggling. He recognized it immediately and grinned in relief. He turned around and caught sight of Uti peaking her head around the corner.

"Big brother, why are you walking around in a circle?"

Oh... so it wasn't that everything looked the same they were in fact, the same. Uteu's ears burned. He didn't want to be an unreliable older brother!

"Ah... I got a bit lost. No one showed me around yet." He grumbled.

Uti giggled again and grabbed his hand.

"Uti can show you around then!" When he felt her small hand slot against his own, he felt warmth blossom at the pit of his stomach.

She was safe.

Uteu felt tears gather at the corner of his eyes. He was so worried about them, he knew Grello and Tykol mentioned they were safe but he just needed to see them with his own eyes.

"Over here! This is where we eat." He subtlety wiped them before his little sister could see them.

He looked over at the double doors. The door was cracked open and Ulo's head poked out with a big wide smile.

"Hey big brother! About time you got here we've been waiting for you." When they were both within arms length, he hugged them tight.

"I missed you two so much." He could feel his tears wanting to well up again. He blinked rapidly to hold them back.

The twins gave him a big hug back and said, "We missed you too!"

He let them go and ruffled their hair. Ulo complained about his ruined hair while Uti grinned happily at the affection her brother was showing her.

"Let's go eat." Uteu gave them an easy smile. As long as he had these two by his side he truly felt at home.