“They took it huh?”

“Yes young master!”

“Thank fuck.”

Belle tittered behind her hand as she waited behind the partition as he soaked in the bath, “How did you know she would do such a thing young master?”

He washed his arms as he hummed, “It’s actually not terribly hard to guess, I may not be a genius but anybody who watches my family as much as I do can understand them well. Thalia is a genius for sure but she's only technically a genius meaning in book smarts, theoretical knowledge and her technical expertise are out of this world and I probably wouldn't be able to even touch her but she's bad with people. She's not very mature emotionally speaking, which is normal, she's only 13.”

He stood from the bath and reach for a towel drying himself as he asked for his clothes she passed them over the  partition, “I knew she would do something which is why I don't usually keep my stuff inside my room thank you for keeping them by the way”

“Of course, young master! Still how did you know they’d be there so early and not even check for anyone watching?”

“That’s actually the easiest to answer,” he stepped out from behind the partition tying his shirt loosely, “You’ve obviously noticed that nobody quite cares what happens to me, which means even if she were to destroy everything in my room or she went snooping it wouldn’t really matter because it was Thalia. And I’m Aster. We may both be Rosewoods, but she’s far more valuable than I am. Why would they waste magic to check if they were being watched when they knew they could get away with it, especially with Thalia backing them.”

“B-but after they left they made the room ordered as if no one had been there. Why do that if it wouldn’t matter?”

“Well who was there?”

He looked at her in question as they walked to his study, she hummed as she served him tea, “Uh… I apologize to the young master. I don't quite know their names, but there was a woman with mismatched eyes and a rather timid looking man that looks a lot like the butler that always follows the young mistress around.”

He nodded as he thanked her for the tea, “That’s why, that’s a bad combination, though I don’t usually see Thalia's staff, those two I definitely know. The timid man is the younger twin of Stefan, Damian and the woman is Anastasia. Anastasia is strong and competent and terribly prideful, while Damian has confidence issues being the younger twin of his talented older brother, in combination she gets annoyed at him for being anxious and indecisive and he becomes twitchy and jumpy at her angry, abrasiveness, he probably ordered things as a way to alleviate his own neurosis.”

She looked at him shocked as she mentlly noted this, ordering them in her mind as she absorbed the information.

“Your kind of scary young master.”

He tilted his head as he peered at her with piercing eyes and this time she shivered for good reason, those eyes rarely missed anything, the corners of them crinkled a bit and she relaxed, “Thank you, by the way did you manage to do it?”

She straightened up and nodded as she passed him a plate with a heart stew and sandwhich, he ate it with gusto, ‘Actual food!!!’

He nearly cried, “Certainly! This one’s done as asked, he said he’d meet with you in a week… is there really such a need for such secrecy?”

Aster frowned and he sighed, “I think so, though I understand why you wouldn’t like it-”

She shook her head, face set in a determined frown, “No I understand why… just be careful… It can be dangerous dealing with such things.”

Aster looked at her in surprise, but a true laugh escaped him, “Please you make it sound like I’m going to do something illegal!”

She burned red, her grey toned skin turning darker, “It feels like it with all this sneaking around!”

He laughed and she squawked in her defense.

It really was good to be back.

Muscles he didn't know were tense, relaxed and his clothes felt dry and soft, anxiety disappeared for now he would ignore the burning letter in his desk and focus on the familiar. After all, he still had time to decide what he would do with that particular… path.

He sighed as he leaned back relaxing in his seat, “These are nice…”

“I’m glad I checked them in town, before I had them delivered their weatherproof so we can leave them outside without worry.”

“Thank you Belle.”

She paused for a second before smiling timidly, “It’s no trouble master.”

.

In a place not so dissimilar to the Rosewood manor was a small girl with bright red eyes anxiously waiting as soon as she had returned to her estate her father had locked himself away to work in the study and she had returned to her etiquette and other studies. At this very moment she had paused looking out the window in wonder, she recalled her conversation with her maid,

“He took the letter and seal with a nod, mistress.”

“Did he say when he would respond?”

The girl shook her head eyes worried as she tensed, the girl just let a sigh escape her waving her away in dismissal.

She sat primly, properly like a lady should, her shoulders to her ears tense as she remembered her nanny’s words, “You shouldn’t eat such sweets my lady! You know you’ll end up getting too big if you continue, now especially you should watch yourself. With the announcement of your engagement to the prince you must prove yourself to everyone!”

She nodded, but she felt nauseous.

She was walking again when she met him. He was so kind, and his eyes saw her not beyond her into her future as a queen or even as the only daughter and heir to the duke. In the beginning it was likely because he didn’t know, which was peculiar considering he was a son of the marquis, but then after… she thought he would treat her as the others like a mannequin, but then he didn’t.

It made the knots in her tummy loosen.

She could breathe, if even slightly better, when speaking to the boy.

She hoped he would respond if nothing else she’d like to speak to him casually… maybe they could be friends…

“My lady, a message has arrived for you.”

She jumped, eyes widening and she hurried to the kindly old man, his eyes crinkled though he didn’t smile bowing as he left her. She dismissed her tutor who huffed, but he was soft for her as most people in the estate were.

She touched the seal with almost reverence as she sat herself at her desk, taking a letter opener she gasped in delight, a piece of embroidery and dried yellow freesia.

She nearly giggled but covered her mouth as it wasn’t proper.

‘Greetings to a new friend, First of her name Delilah De Luca,

I am honored to have gained your attention though I may not be able to respond frequently as I have recently taken on new responsibilities. I hope this one's insolence does not annoy the most honorable and kind princess. I have provided what I have been told is traditional in starting a friendship over letters, please do kindly refrain from laughing at my poor attempt at embroidery. I only had books to go off of for this situation…

What are your favorite foods?

I personally enjoy hearty meals with warm spices from the southern countries, stews, soups and sandwiches are my favorite though my personal maid has said I only like sandwiches because they're easy to eat while I work.

Please answer if you can!

Kindly, your new friend,

Aster of Rosewood

P.S.: Apologies for any awkwardness, and late replies, you are my first friend beyond my maid.

She smiled so widely her cheeks ached as she reread it, and saved the dried flowers in a special bejeweled box that held other emotional objects, sandwiching it between two pieces of paper. She looked at the piece of embroidered fabric and winced at the many mistakes, her hands twitching, but she held herself back from automatically trying to fix it.

It was charming, it was really, really bad, but charming, and kind.

She set it in the box and put it away as she set another piece of parchment on her desk and readied her ink and well, she would respond…

She looked blankly at the page.

How do you respond to letters of friendship?

She tilted her head in thought…

“Aha!”

She set herself to work, it would be the perfect letter!

.

“Uh master? You have a letter.”

He blinked looking up from his sketchbook he closed it as he stood to take the letter heading to his desk for his letter opener, tracing the seal with his finger he let a small smile lift the corner of his lips.

“It’s from the little girl I told you about.”

“Oh! A friend then! I’ll keep the image of her seal in my mind for future reference!”

She looked earnest as she closed her eyes to properly visualize it, Aster shook his head amused by her antics, “Alright, do what you like. Let’s see…”

He opened the letter and sat at his desk grinning as he gently placed the dried yellow and white pair of freesia on his desk, “Can you hand me the glass frame…”

He gently traced the embroidered handkerchief, wincing in remembrance at the catastrophe of his own attempt, ‘I should work on that…’

“That’s very delicate work, how brilliant the little princess is! I could never get such details. She must really be happy about this friendship!”

He nodded as he opened the letter, Belle gently placed the dried flowers between glass panels, she looked back, “What’s wrong?!”

He looked down at the letter with a peculiar expression.

“Is this a business order or something… ‘To whomever it may concern, greetings from the Lady de Luca… I am jubilant to inform thee that one’s letter has indeed reached the right hands…’”

He laughed, and she giggled, “It’s cute though master! She must’ve been very excited, this came back quickly especially since you took so long to answer her!”

She looked at him with disapproval and he looked sheepish, “I guess you're right… it is cute, she even put a little bunny at the bottom, or I think it’s a bunny it might be a unicorn though…”

Belle looked at it and tilted her head and squinted her eyes, “Maybe it’s a teddy bear…”

They looked at one another and shrugged.

.

A woman with sharp green eyes sat in front of him, he looked her over with dissecting eyes, but smiled warmly, her face stayed still.

“Well everything looks in order and all we need is a signature and we can get these things moving, you know it’s rather rare to meet such a… hard working lady such as yourself, most younger women tend to be searching for husbands rather than opening businesses.”

She stayed silent as she signed, though she chose to use a signature rather than actually sign he raised a brow, “Everything looks in order we’ll have to register it, but if everything comes back with an okay then this place if officially yours, there of course a yearly fee to pay, but beyond that you officially own this place.”

She nodded, and he frowned while leaving. 

He met his men outside, “That’s frigid bitch if I’ve ever seen one, no wonder she gave up on looking for a man, they likely didn’t want to deal with such a sour hag.”

They laughed and he went on his way.

Inside sharp green eyes looked over the place, a smile crossed the woman's face, “This is it, this is the beginning!”

A manly voice escaped her, Aster could finally get his shit moving, an evil smirk replaced the smile, “I’ll absolutely make this succeed.”

His heart was filled with pure kind of earnestness, as he laughed happily, the people walking outside jumped at the cackle that emitted from the dimly lit shop.

.

“A bakery?”

He nodded as he noted somethings in his ledger, eh had to get a new one in order to get his finances in proper order energy ran through him like like bundled and arching lightning He was restless and excited, he knew it would be hard, but if things went right he could open a second store in five years, and five years after that he could open another, he could own his own chain of bakeries…

It was a nice dream to have, but even if he only had one store as long as it was semi-popular he’d be able to live off of it for the rest of his life once things got going.

“Why?”

She looked at him with confused eyes, he felt his face burn red, scratching his cheeks, “Why not? Calliope is a country that eats bread which makes things hard and easy, harder since there are old bakeries all around, so the entry into the business is hard, but once you get going, you get going. It's a good business to have since everyone buys bread even during shit times.”

He was studiously looking over paperwork and she looked at him with burning eyes, a year was a while and she had lost most of her starry eyed earnestness and he could firmly say they were friends, definitely confidants.

“Really why though?”

He paused, and shrugged looking up, “I like baking… It's nice is all… relaxing.”

He held a tight lipped look and she let it go, she sighed things like this happened at times, passions she didn’t know about coming to light, tics and habits that she didn’t know about maybe this meant he was finally relaxing around her.

Trusting her.

But… he acted so dissimilar from a true born noble, he was more like her old man who’d been a commoner knight before being presented the title of baron.

She shook her head she wanted to know, but she’d trust she’d be told and even if she wasn’t she’d trust Aster, because he was a good person.

“Come look at this, I made a logo to help customers identify us! I’ve been working on it for a while that way even if we open up more stores people will know it’s us!”

.

“My name is Joshua Wilson! I will be joining the Rosewoods under Lord Tiberius Rosewood! I thank you for your kindness!”

Aster looked off into the middle distance as the greetings went on, ‘Ah I remember now why Tiberius and I were mentioned… Joshua Wilson, one of the male leads, and future greatest swordsman of the kingdom…’

The blonde with wide blue eyes looked him straight in the eye with determination and naivety, his floppy blonde hair reminding him of a golden retriever, he felt a chill run down his spine as he bowed his head to the boy, “Likewise, may your endeavors prove fruitful.”

The blonde smiled brightly as he nodded; he nearly tripped over himself to follow Tiberius who passed him with sharp eyes.

He left heading back to his wing, ‘Aaaaah~... trouble always comes in double…’