"It's just a few days, Cashew…" Florian said softly, running his fingers through the young servant's hair. "And weren't you the one who told me you needed to dedicate time to your new role?"

After Lucius left, Florian had summoned Cashew again to help him pack. He hadn't waited long. Cashew arrived almost immediately, just as he always did.

But this time, before they even started, Cashew made a request.

He wanted to come along.

It caught Florian off guard.

Not because he didn't want Cashew with him, but because the decision Cashew had made earlier had felt right.

Cashew choosing to stay behind meant he was choosing something for himself.

His own responsibilities. His own future.

Becoming head maid, especially as a young male, was no small thing.

It was a rare opportunity, and Florian had been quietly relieved when Cashew decided to take it seriously instead of staying tethered to him.

It reassured him.

Especially knowing that one day, this body would no longer be his.

Florian needed to know that Cashew would be okay, even after the original Florian returned. He knew the original Florian cared deeply for Cashew too, but still, the thought lingered.

"Tell me, Cashew…" Florian said gently, finally noticing the tightness in his expression. The worry. The fear. "Did something happen?"

Cashew's eyes flickered.

"No," Florian continued, more certain now. "Something did happen. You wouldn't change your mind like this otherwise. So please, tell me."

Cashew looked down, fingers curling into the fabric of his sleeves. "Uhm…"

'I knew it,' Florian thought. There it was.

"Well…" Cashew began, fidgeting, clearly torn about whether he should continue.

Florian watched him quietly.

He knew Cashew too well by now.

"When I left you and Sir Lucius to talk, I spoke with some of the maids. Well… they were actually looking for me," Cashew said, taking a steadying breath as if bracing himself.

Florian's hand stilled mid-motion.

'Okay… did they bully him? Say something cruel?' Florian thought, his chest tightening instinctively. He forced himself not to interrupt, even as irritation began to simmer under his skin.

The maids adored Cashew.

They always had, even before he was appointed head maid.

But after everything that had happened, Florian couldn't afford blind trust anymore.

Not with anyone.

"…They told me they had concerns," Cashew continued, voice lowering. "A lot of concerns. About you."

"For me?" Florian echoed, eyes widening despite himself. "Concerns about what?"

Cashew hesitated, fingers curling together. "About Duke Elara's older brother. Sir Eldrick Skyshroud."

Florian frowned. "What about him?"

Cashew swallowed. "Apparently… he doesn't have a good reputation among the maids."

That caught Florian's full attention.

"Why?" he asked immediately.

Cashew glanced up at him, worry written plainly across his face. "They asked me not to tell anyone. They told me to just… find a way to go with you. But I thought you should know, Your Highness. Even if it makes things complicated."

Florian's stomach sank.

'That bad?' he thought.

"The maids, Dahlia and Rene," Cashew continued carefully, "they had a close friend. Very close. She was supposed to start working as a maid at Sir Eldrick's manor."

Cashew's voice wavered just slightly.

"And… she never came back."

Silence fell between them.

Florian's jaw tightened, his thoughts already racing.

"Do they know why?"

"Well, first...they did get a letter, they didn't say more but a day after their friend went to the manor, she sent a letter to them saying she's leaving the kingdom. That was all they told me."

"Their friend left the kingdom?"

'And here I thought it was the typical disappearing with no trace, but she left the kingdom?' Florian thought with a frown.

"Yes, however, despite the fact that they tried their best to find out why, even asking the maids who already worked for the manor, they got nothing. They started warning other girls though, to not accept any work opportunities from his manor, because they thought it was very suspicious." Cashew says.

It was, indeed, very suspicious.

At first glance, it would have been easy to dismiss it. A maid mistreated by a new master, deciding to leave quietly. That kind of thing happened more often than people liked to admit. Maybe she'd been bullied. Maybe she hated the work. Maybe she simply chose to leave.

That alone wouldn't have unsettled Florian. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

But leaving the kingdom?

That was different.

That meant fear. Panic. Or something far worse.

Florian felt a slow chill crawl up his spine.

'People don't abandon everything they know unless they're running,' he thought grimly.

And Eldrick Skyshroud was already a man wrapped in unanswered questions.

From everything Florian had pieced together, Elara had become duke not through tradition, but through deliberate choice.

Her father had favored her, yes, but Eldrick had agreed to step aside. That alone was strange. Men like Eldrick didn't surrender power without reason.

And now Florian was being asked to stay in his manor for four days.

Four days.

Not a banquet. Not a visit. Not a courtesy stay.

Four days of observation.

'Why me?' Florian wondered. 'And why there?'

The timing was too precise. The task too specific.

And Elara was far too intelligent to give him something meaningless.

She hadn't told him what to look for because she wanted to see if he could find it himself.

And now, with Cashew's information surfacing at the exact moment before departure, the pieces were beginning to feel uncomfortably close to fitting together.

Florian inhaled slowly.

'I need more. I need the truth, not rumors.'

He stepped closer and placed both hands gently on Cashew's shoulders, grounding the trembling servant in place.

"Cashew," Florian said quietly, voice firm but kind. "I need a favor. Please."

Cashew straightened instinctively. "Yes, Your Highness?"

"I can't bring you with me tomorrow," Florian continued, watching the disappointment flicker across Cashew's face. "I really can't. But what you told me… it might be the reason I'm being sent there in the first place."

Cashew's eyes widened.

"And I need to know more," Florian added. "So please, call those maids. Dahlia and Rene. Ask them to come here."

He paused, then lowered his voice.

"And tell them… if they still have the letter, to bring it with them."

Cashew froze for half a second.

Then he nodded.

"Yes, Your Highness," he said softly.

As Cashew turned to leave, Florian exhaled, his expression hardening.

'I had thoughts about it...but Elara didn't send me there for anything simple. He didn't send Anastasia, the queen, for a simple reason.' he thought. 'She sent her there, she sent me there because something might be wrong.'

Did she want him to figure that out?