CHAPTER 6.5: PROGRESS

**Maddie**

Our experiments with the magic circles continued, focusing on the one we contacted Kuro via a dream sequence.

“…”

“Just one more circle to work on…”

“Maddie?”

“One more circle…”

“Maddie…”

“One more…”

“Maddie!”

“!!!” the circular line I was trying to perfect got jumbled when Lily suddenly shouted in my ears. I angrily turned at her, “What is it? You ruined my work!”

“You shouldn’t forget your food, for goodness’ sake!” my head maid scolded me. “It’s been several days since you began doing these magic circles, and you have progressed little since then! Maybe you should consider taking a break for a moment!”

“Kuro’s waiting for me…”

“Do you think he’ll like it when he sees you at your current state, Your Holiness?” the young maid, Eris, asked, “Isn’t it the very reason he got involved with Chersea’s affairs in the first place? To help you?”

“They are right, Maddie!” Natasha backed them up, all the while eating a slice of cake, “Come on, put those brushes for a while and eat!”

“And your father wants to see you, Maddie!” Lily added, “He’s getting irritated these past few days because you rarely talk to him!”

“Ugh…”

“Come!” Natasha took the paper away from my hands, “Anyway, even with a single imperfect circle in this set, I think I still could make it work just like the rest. Want to check it out?”

“Can’t we eat first, Your Holiness?” Eris reminded us again of the first topic.

“Ah yes! We should eat first, Maddie!” the Saint of Darkness tugged my hand, “Take this seat beside the bed—whoa!”

“Hey, careful!” Lily quickly reached out to me to protect me from the falling piles of papers after Natasha tripped. However, we did not need to worry. The Saint of Darkness used her magic to prop herself up again.

“Did I forgot to mention to you guys? Though I may look like this, my real body is back here, in Cherflammen?” she winked at us. “Thus, I couldn’t be harmed easily. Ohohohohoho!!!”

“Yes, Your Holiness! That’s why it’s the right decision for me to protect my friend, rather than you.”

“Somehow those words from you kind of hurt me.”

“Well, my apologies if it is so, Your Holiness,” the head maid bowed, “But I think my professional duty is to protect the Human Saint foremost.”

“Ah, anyway, enough of that Natasha and Lily; let’s eat so I can come back to drawing!” I told them while helping myself to the food.

“Always on the hurry, eh, Human Saint?” Natasha laughed, before asking, “By the way, where’s the little squirt?”

“Hm? Eris?”

We looked around the room, searching for the young maid before finding her in one of the corners, quietly staring on the wall, as if watching something. Everyone else turned and saw a moving picture, being projected before Eris…

I searched for its source and found out that it was coming from the magic circle I drew earlier. It must’ve activated when Natasha was forced to cast a spell when she nearly tripped. The paper was glowing, and a ray of light cast the projection on the wall; as if we’re watching a movie, like the ones from Kuro’s memories.

“Look!” Eris excitedly pointed to us, “It’s like moving pictures! Amazing!”

“This is…”

The projection was showing a hallway full of children wearing strange white clothes. The boys were in black pants, while the girls were in green checkered skirts. Most were running around; some were chatting while eating something like brown food on sticks. Some were drinking on weird-looking, but beautiful, colored bottles.

But I guess the ones that captured my attention were those children who were bunched up together and seemed to be happily singing, while one of them was playing guitar.

“…”

The scene was like something that was being shown through the eyes of a person. And then, after a few moments, that person turned to the left, where we’re all surprised to see a man who looked exactly the same as Kuro…only that he was wearing an off-white shirt with buttons at the middle, and his hair was considerably shorter.

“That’s Kuro, right?” Lily asked me.

“I don’t…know,” I’m not really sure, so I won’t give a definite answer. The ‘movie’ had no sound, so we couldn’t hear what was happening. But from the likes of it, it’s as if Kuro was talking to the person whom we’re watching from.

And then, a sudden change. It’s as if something happened when Kuro and the person he’s talking with looked around the hallways, and the other children were going back inside the rooms. Then, Kuro called the attention of the person and gave something like a small mirror at the back of a hair comb.

“…”

Just as the person was about to look at the mirror…

“!!!”

The ‘movie’ stopped.

“Alright guys, I guess it’s time for us to eat,” it was Natasha. She picked up the paper, shook it as if removing dust, and set it aside. “The food’s going to get cold; let’s just watch that thing again later. And Maddie, you still have to work on other magic circles, right?”

“R-Right…” Lily, Eris, and I returned to our senses as if we just came from a dream.

Then, while we’re still out of ourselves, Natasha pulled us over at the small dining table and forced us to sit. She handed us plates with food on them and even forced the cutleries on our hands.

“We still have a long work to do,” she told me, “The Braunhauer duchess still has to clean the mess in this room, while Princess von Leese still needs to distract your father from coming over here. And you, you still need to work on more potential magic circles.”

“Hey!” Lily protested, “Distractions are not my job!”

“Thank you for the help, Lily!” Natasha chuckled.

“Right. Yes…” I answered, though I’m getting suspicious of Natasha. Unlike before, I couldn’t read her thoughts.

What is she thinking, and why is it she seems to hide something from us?