A river gleamed in the distance, right in the middle of the thickly packed trees and bushes. Some fishes might be in there, but Ragenta wouldn't know, since he's not there, he's just standing on a balcony a hundred meters away, resting his head on his folded two hands.

'Funny'

He felt a breeze passed by his face, a chilly one.

'You will never saw that from down below now would you'

Now a lot of people when they asked this rhetorical question would stop there

But not Ragenta, he's too persistent on filling his mind with something, anything

'But why, is it because of the tall trees, or because the dense bush block the sound of the water splashing, or maybe it's just that they never wanted to imagine there's river while they can see this giant palace up ahead or could it be..'

Anything but that one thing, anything, any nonsense, any noise, any chatter and chit and chat.

'Could it be that it makes no difference whether there was a river or not, I mean, it's not like we are short of clean water are here, so why bother with..'

.

Thump

.

Thump

.

A pair of walking shoes interrupted his inner monologue. He did not want to be interrupted at the moment. So he kept on looking ahead, searching for the gleam of the stream he had been paying attention to, hoping his intruders would walk away reading all the body language that he gives, all which translates to I-want-to-be-with-me-myself-and-I-if-you-are-not-any-of-the-above-please-kindly-find-someplace-else-to-exist.

As the sun began to set, he was still drowning himself in his inner rambles, after quite a long while he finds silence once again engulfed the place. Contented with his me-time for now, he turn around and was about to leave in peace.

Until he saw someone.

Just a meter away from his nose.

It's a girl.

She scared the shit out of him.

"Goddamn she has been there the whole time holy wha-"

It's not her presence that made him froze right there, it's her appearance, or more specifically, her face.

All of her blonde bangs covers half her face, right from the eyebrows down to the middle of her nose, she didn't move an inch even when he took a sharp hard breath, the kind of breath you take when you feel like you just encountered something you think you shouldn't have encountered.

After a few seconds, he let that breath go and calmed himself. "Damn for a second I thought you are a ghost that crawls out from a well or something, don't scare me like that lady." He ended with a small laugh. He is so relieved. 

But then another breeze of wind past by, this ones harder than before. And this wind did something. It lifts the girl's bang and shows Ragenta, for a moment, her eyes, it's half-closed just enough to show the weird-colored pale orbs inside, he has never seen such a queer eye color before.

"Sorry for that, I don't want to surprise you, since I don't hear any movement, I thought you might wanted to be left alone, so I waited for the right time to talk." She finally spoke, but somehow..

Something's not right.

"It's alright, you only failed at the not-wanting-to-surprise-me part." He replied jokingly.

'Her eyes, it's not..looking at me. Or anywhere else in that matter, it just stare straight.'

He cut his trail of thinking, "You're coming here to see the scenery too?" He then stepped out of the way so he won't obstruct her view.

She replied slowly, "I thank you for the offer sir, but if you haven't noticed.."

Then it dawned on him, but realization came too late to him as he immediately curse himself, of course something's not right, he should've known, this is not his first encounter.

"I am blind." She managed to finished with a smile. Head now turning to his direction.

"I am so sorry." Ragenta feel so ashamed as he lower his head.

"Don't be, it's not uncommon for people to be confused," assuring tone is evident in her voice, "but that ghost part, my, that was my first time." A couple of light chuckles that she gave made him finally feel relaxed at the situation.

"My name's Ragenta." He introduced himself after a while. "And you?"

"Name's Clair, with no letter E." Surprisingly, she held out her hand right toward him. "It's nice to meet you."

"You are one cool girl you know." Ragenta grabbed her hand firmly, "what are you doing hanging round here waiting in silence for-I assume, a solid half an hour ?"

"Thanks, it's not everyday I heard that." She grins, "and as for what I was doing, if you haven't notice, I am one of the female servants in here." She moved her hand to either of her side, gesturing him to look at her plain but worn out dark blue knee-length one piece, with the sleeves that goes up to her elbows. She looks like a child in that, part of it is probably because of her short stature.

"Oh, I see, okay." 

"So I'm here to inform you that your dinner has been served, whenever you feel like eating, I can guide you to the dining hall." She points at herself proudly at the end of her breaking news.

"Hm? You sure you can do that ?" Ragenta's feeling his playful side coming out now, "because I think I can get there faster with no guide from you, I dunno, just a hunch." he shrugged his shoulder.

"Ooh, is that a challenge I hear?" Her tone is nowhere near backing down, "I know every nook and cranny of this palace. You will never beat me here, it's my zone." she said it with a silent confidence.

"Someday I'll take you up upon that challenge." He smiled, this little Clair got guts, something piqued his interest a bit about the way she is standing, she has a steady stance and even some muscle on her arms and legs, "I am just taking a guess here, but don't tell me you have had some kind of martial arts training ?"

"Wow, how do you know that?"

"Because you seems to have a sturdy pose, almost like you are on alert most of the times."

"Well, I do have to be alert most of the time, not being able to see doesn't exactly put many options into that choice." She laugh it off. "But you are right, my aunt taught me Krav Maga when I was young so that I'll be able to protect myself."

'That is some serious military street-fighting shit.' He whistled, "remind me not to get on your nerve then." 

"I thought you would've ask me to spar with you." She finished with a little hum upon hearing his nervous laugh, then her eyes widen as she seems to remember something, "and, before I forgot.."

"Yes?"

"His Majesty is hoping you'd dine along with him and his family." Her brows creased at the thought, "he said it's up to you though."

For a moment, her presence made him forgot just what made him want to be alone in here in the first place. Now it's all rushing back to his head and he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, hard. Haven't that waste of a king had enough of messing with his life in one day, there is only so much shit one can handle in one day, but no, now he is expected to have a dinner with him too. What's next ? Hunting lions together ? Even imagining his face makes Ragenta stomach twist. 

"Tch" He let out a snap, if it wasn't because of him wanting to assure Enganar everything would be fine and he didn't have to feel guilty about being forced to hand Ragenta over to this crazy royal residence, he wouldn't even wait one secone to step out of this palace. But he can't just ran away, not after seeing how Enganar regret bringing him here, thinking he's just doing his duty. If he was to ever walk out from here, he will do it the right way, it would have to be him as Ragenta the free person-just as he should have been, rather than Ragenta the runaway fugitive-the version they depicted him as in that shitty poster.

"Something the matter, sir ?" His short tongue click didn't escape her keen ears.

"No, nothing." He regained himself, at least for now, "and please, calling me Ragenta is fine." He said before turning to walk back into the palace hall. 

"I'll see you around then, Clair."

"Yep, maybe when you are lost in one of those corridors." She beamed cheerfully at him, then ask one last time with a barely visible tone of concern, "you sure you can get there alright on your own?"

"Hey, I wouldn't worry about me if I were you." He assured her before turning around the corners of the balcony. 

One moment she felt like a handful little sister then at the next, she felt like a doting mother to him. 

He never said it out loud though, because he has never seen real life Krav Maga before and isn't really planning to.