The boy couldn’t help but smile and feel at peace as he reminisced over his simple and warm memories of this greenhouse, his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand as he let himself remember more and more of those good times. He did his best not to let the angel that was clinging to his back distract him from his reveries, and he was even succeeding at it, until the voice of the approaching maid brought him back to reality. Noth’s smile immediately dropped as he remembered the situation, but one corner of his mouth tugged up a little bit for an entirely different reason.

The maid’s voice was completely devoid of emotion.

It almost sounded dead.

She was calling out for her young master again and again, but each call sounded dull and uninterested. It somehow went past sounding like she was doing something she didn’t feel like doing, and right into sounding like she really just didn’t care. Noth had never heard someone sound so completely apathetic about anything before. He was stunned for a few moments as he tried to understand if the maid was doing this on purpose or not, but he soon realized that she must have been here to guide Jeck to him, so Noth shouted his reply to her so that she could find him.

A few minutes of waiting for them to find their way through the unkempt greenhouse later, and Jeck and the maid were finally standing in front of Noth’s quaint little table. The boy did his best to smile up welcomingly to them, although he failed to fully keep the predatory glint out of his eyes. He extended his hand out towards the opposite seat in invitation when it seemed like Jeck was hesitating to sit down, and when the maid nonchalantly pulled out the chair for the man with her hand that wasn’t carrying the refreshments, the pressure on him to sit and conform to etiquette was too strong for him to rightfully resist. Noth opened his eyes wide as he tried to engrave the image of the Jeck’s face recoiling as he begrudgingly sat down and felt the dust, film of rotten leaves, and freshly broken webs that were all now firmly pressed against his legs and back. The boy was so filled with glee that he had to fight against the smile that he could feel trying to bloom across his face.

The maid had paused for a small while in seeming contemplation before she placed her frilled apron over her free arm and roughly scrubbed her arm across the table. It seemed she was trying to remove the filth from it before she set down the things she was carrying, which made perfect sense, but the way she went about it was so against maid etiquette that Noth couldn’t help but tear his eyes away from his opponent and look up to her. He quickly spread his arms out across the table to stop her actions.

“No, leave it. I’ve finally gotten it exactly how I want it. Put down the refreshments and you can go.”

There was almost too little reaction from the uncaring maid besides a slight shrug of her shoulders and the immediate dropping of her apron. It didn’t even seem like she cared about the line of grime that was still clinging on to the white of her clothes at all; She just quickly went about placing down the cute tray of snacks and pouring them both their tea without a word. The unchanging doll-like quality of her face was piquing Noth’s interest a little too much for his liking. Did he know this maid? He was sure he’d remember someone like her if he’d come across her during his recent years in the manor. He’d never met someone so lacking in expression like her before; Every other servant seemed to have their feelings about him obviously painted across their faces, and even the most disciplined out of them seemed to have at least some sort of reaction or other. Who was this woman?

He stared at her very intently as she came closer to pour his tea. He’d gained absolutely nothing from watching her face, and as he let his eyes drift over her messy orange-brown hair and followed a loose lock that cascaded down, he finally noticed her dress. He hadn’t been paying attention to the outfit earlier, but the subdued look of it and lack of detail pointed towards her being a kitchen maid. Noth didn’t often take many trips down to the kitchen, since normally the food was brought to him instead, so he didn’t know the kitchen staff all that well. For a moment the boy was pleased with himself for solving the riddle, and his curiosity was briefly satiated. But as the maid quickly and sloppily bowed before turning to take her leave, Noth’s curiosity roared full force back to life. He grabbed her wrist as fast as he could to stop her from getting away.

A kitchen maid.

Was it her?

Was she the kitchen maid?!

He had to try his very hardest not to yell his words as they blurted out uncontrollably from his lips.

“Wait! Wait just a moment! Maid, what’s your name?”

The woman seemed a little shocked from his outburst, but even that reaction was dull. She turned back towards him, and for the first time he felt her eyes actually land on his figure. They still had the same glaze that they had over them before, but now he could tell that they were actually pointed directly at him.

“M’name’s Elillith, young master.”

The confirmation of his suspicions made the boy’s brain freeze for just a moment before he felt his stopped heart start up again just as hard as before. This was her! This was the kitchen maid! The one his angel had mentioned! He was finally meeting her! Thank the God-dess that he’d only had to wait one day! His eyes worked even harder to drink in every single feature of the woman in front of him. His hold on her wrist got a little tighter without his knowledge as his mind raced through the multitude of questions he had for, and about, the maid. He opened his mouth to start spilling the deluge of questions he had for the woman onto her, but a sudden hand grabbing over his own and quickly removing the boy’s hand from the maid’s wrist made him unconsciously turn his head. His angel’s face was now only inches away from his own.

She was smiling gently at him, but her eyes seemed to brook no argument about the situation. Her breath lightly tickled over his face and slowly woke him up from the fog of his over-focus. Noth glanced away from her gaze and looked towards the two other people present. He’d completely forgotten about Jeck’s presence in his obsession to satiate his rampant curiosity. He was aware of how bizarre he must have looked as he physically held the maid back and thoroughly scanned her over from head to toe. And just now he’d even looked like he’d whipped his head over to gaze at thin air. He wouldn’t be surprised if the both of them thought that he was crazy. Noth blushed just a bit and mentally thanked the angel from stopping him from acting even more embarrassingly. He adjusted himself back into the proper seating position, clasped both his hands firmly on his lap, and briefly looked towards the maid.

“Ahem… You may leave.”

Noth was happy to note that at least the maid didn’t seem perturbed by his odd behaviour, but then again he shouldn’t have expected much of anything to show on the woman’s seemingly frozen face. If she could overlook the odd way he’d acted towards her, then that would certainly be a blessing. It would’ve been hard to approach her again in the future if she became wary of him after this. Once again, Elillith gave a shallow bow and promptly left, leaving Noth and Jeck to themselves. It was only once the kitchen maid was finally out of sight that Noth actually turned to look at Jeck’s face, and the clear anger and bewilderment the man was showing at being so ignored after he was made to sit in such an uncomfortable spot was wonderful. The boy couldn’t help but smirk at this unintended outcome. This tea party was starting out very fruitfully.

“Where are my manners? Please, you don’t have to wait for me, help yourself.”

With his chin placed on his hand, Noth smugly watched Jeck. The rules of high society clearly stated that people of lower status couldn’t eat before those of higher status did. Although neither of them was a noble, the son of an Earl would always outrank the son of anything lower down the totem pole. Even if the man hadn’t been trying to follow along with etiquette by not eating yet, Noth was sure as hell going to make sure that he rubbed his status in the snake’s face. A small, sincere sounding reminder ought to hurt the status chasing man much more than an obvious sneering comment would. Schemers were the kind of people to read into every little thing after all, and there was much more digging to be done in indirect words. The boy practically looked like he’d start purring when he watched the already upset face in front of him grow just a shade redder.

Of course Noth took even greater interest in the fact that even after he’d given permission, Jeck still didn’t make a single move to consume anything.

“Oh no, could it be that you don’t like this kind of food? I should have it replaced then.”

The boy put on his best concerned face and started to get up from his chair.

“N-no wait, I do like them, I’ve just er, I’ve been unwell lately. Too many sweets tend to make it worse. You understand.”

A giant smile immediately ripped across Noth’s face when his prey took the bait. Yes, of course this stupid snake wouldn’t just let him get rid of his poisoned offerings so easily. Noth did his best to fight against the smile, but it was almost impossible to erase. He resolved to just act around it instead.

“Oh that’s wonderful, so you don’t dislike it. You’re wrong however, I don’t understand. You can’t even have a single cookie?”

Noth gingerly picked up one of the cookies from the tray. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his angel just barely flinch, and he made a mental note not to somehow lick his hands for any reason. The boy quickly sprung up and rounded the table, shoving the cookie in the man’s face. His smile grew just a tad wider as he watched how Jeck’s mouth firmly pressed shut when he saw the encroaching object. The way the man had to lean back into the disgusting chair that he’d so obviously been loath to touch before, just to get away from him, made Noth feel amazing.

“Wow, that’s so sad to hear! And what about the tea, is that no good, too? I can’t possibly imagine a way that tea could be bad for you.”

Noth dropped the tainted baked good on Jeck’s lap as his hand swiftly grabbed the handle of the teacup nearby. The speed at which he brought the cup up towards the man made a small bit of the liquid inside splash onto his vest. Jeck’s shivering as he stared down wide eyed at the wet spot on his chest brought out light glee-filled chuckles from the boy. When he’d had enough of watching the man silently squirm, he gently put the tea cup back down on the table and moved to go back to his seat. The power he felt like he had over this man he’d deemed a monster felt almost intoxicating.

Noth was having so much fun toying with his prey that he had to bite his lip and focus on steadying his breathing just so that he could calm himself down enough to move on to the next step.

“How unfortunate. Well then we’ll just have to move along to the main topic, won’t we?”

The boy reached out and grabbed another cookie, and brought it over his plate. He’d have to have been blind to not catch the sudden hopeful shift that took place on Jeck’s countenance. How had this man ever been the one going around and manipulating people when everything was so obvious on his face? Was it possible that he was the kind who could easily dish it out, but was actually very weak against it? Or could it be that he’d only really emotionally manipulated Noth’s father, and had used other means when he formed all his other connections? Noth could accept that second option rather easily, considering how effortless it seemed to be to affect his father’s moods.

There was also the third option that the man had been so thoroughly flustered by Noth that he didn’t have the wherewithal to focus on controlling his expressions anymore.

This option was Noth’s favourite.

Jeck stared at the cookie held between Noth’s fingers like his life depended on it. Noth giggled to himself a few times as he looked back and forth between the man and the cookie. A wonderful impulse passed through his mind, and the boy suddenly squeezed his hand around the cookie, crumbling its soft bread to bits, the thick remaining chunks falling down onto the plate. His eyes narrowed in joy at the snake’s shocked reaction. He slowly reached out for another cookie.

“You know, I’m really having fun with you right now, but I need to stop letting myself get distracted. I called you here to have a talk, and so far it’s feeling a little one sided. I thought you needed my help?”

Those words seemed to be the key that woke Jeck up. His face grew a touch more resolved, and he sat up with just a tad more decorum and authority than he’d had before.

“Yes, you’re correct. I’ve come to ask you to please fix the misunderstanding between your father and I. I’d hate to lose such a good friend after thoughtlessly saying the wrong things. I never meant to be rude towards you, young master.”

Noth was impressed at how composed Jeck seemed, even while he spoke complete bullshit to the boy’s face. How dumb did he think Noth was? He acted as if Noth hadn’t been there and heard the words he was speaking.

“Oh, is that so? But it really sounded to me like you meant all those words. Or maybe you think I don’t actually have ears?”

He did his best to sound calm, even while his hands were busy angrily picking apart the cookie he held.

“No, this isn’t what I wanted to talk about at all. I don’t really care how much you obviously hate me. I’m here to talk with you, not to listen to you lie to me.”

Jeck opened his mouth to protest the boy’s words, but quickly closed it when a cookie came sailing at his face.

“Shut up. Your lies are boring. Let’s talk about interesting things instead. Maybe I’ll even fix our stupid little ‘misunderstanding’ if you can figure out how to answer my questions, so pay attention!”

Noth grabbed a fistfull of cookies and menacingly held them up until the man across from him finally nodded his head in agreement. He narrowed his eyes at the man and placed the cookies down on his plate, then slowly started tracing the finger around the rim of his teacup.

“Good. First of all, I’m aware of your greedy intentions. You’re doing one of those ‘favours’ of yours for someone right now. One that involves me, I’m sure. I want to know who it’s for.”

There was a clattering noise as Jeck jumped up and reached across the table, roughly grabbing Noth’s shirt. The snake’s voice hissed out as he slammed his free fist down on the table.

“How did you know? Who told you?!”

The boy stared down at the hand that was fisting his shirt with an indignant look, and then calmly grabbed his cup of tea and splashed the liquid inside of it into the man’s face. He playfully rocked the cup side to side as he sat there and watched the snake jump back and desperately scrape the tainted tea off of his face. As Jeck spat out a final sputter and levelled a murderous glare at the child, Noth let out a soft unimpressed laugh as he held the teacup out to his side.

“The important thing isn’t how I know. The real important point is that poisoning someone is a crime.”

And with that, Noth dropped the teacup, letting it shatter on the grimy stone floor.