Breakfast was as profoundly quiet as usual.
The soft morning light filtered beautifully through the tall dining room windows, casting long, pale shapes across the polished wooden table.
Silverware clinked softly against porcelain, and the attending servants moved around the room entirely without sound.
Fainyx ate steadily, keeping his eyes lowered as his attention drifted lazily between his hot food and the bright window.
Then, the Duke finally spoke.
"Your maid Estrella will be returning to the estate this afternoon."
Fainyx stilled.
It was only a slight hesitation, but it was there.
The Duke set down his teacup with the exact same unhurried, terrifying calm that he applied to absolutely everything in his life.
"She has officially completed her leave of absence. She will resume her duties as your dedicated personal maid going forward."
He glanced briefly at Fainyx. "Are you agreeable to that arrangement?"
Fainyx looked at the imposing man for a moment.
Then, he simply nodded once.
Satisfied, the Duke returned his attention to his food without any further comment.
Sitting across the long table, Liam perked up immediately at the news.
"Oh, is Fainyx's maid finally coming back? The really nice one from the annex?"
"Yes," the Duke answered simply.
Liam grinned brightly. "That is great! She seemed really nice to him."
Adam said absolutely nothing, but he glanced briefly at his youngest brother with something deeply quiet and understanding in his dark expression.
Fainyx had already looked back down at his plate. He continued eating his meal perfectly calmly, acting exactly as if the sudden news had not immediately settled into something incredibly warm and steady deep inside his chest the very moment it was announced.
The quiet morning slowly passed, and the golden afternoon finally arrived.
Fainyx was sitting comfortably in his bedroom, deeply engrossed in his reading, when a polite knock finally echoed against the wood.
It was incredibly soft and perfectly measured. The heavy door opened, and Weinhart stepped inside.
The butler's posture was completely impeccable as always, his silver hair was perfectly neat, and his aged expression remained flawlessly composed.
"Young Master," Weinhart announced gently. "Your maid Estrella has officially arrived."
Fainyx closed his thick book immediately. He set it aside on the table with extreme care, and then he stood up.
He found her waiting near the grand main entrance hall.
She stood near the towering doors with a worn travel bag resting at her feet, speaking quietly with one of the senior household maids.
Her familiar uniform was freshly pressed, and her warm brown hair was pinned neatly behind her head. She looked exactly the way he remembered her.
Well... She's only gone for weeks.
Fainyx stopped walking just a few short steps away.
She had not even noticed his quiet arrival yet.
He simply stood there and looked at her, and suddenly, something deep inside his chest moved in a painful, overwhelming way he had absolutely not expected.
It had been weeks.
It had been long, agonizing weeks of desperately adjusting to the terrifying main palace.
Weeks of constantly navigating dangerous new faces and rigid new rules, living under the suffocating, quiet pressure of constantly being watched and coldly measured by everyone around him.
Weeks of dealing with the cruel head maid Jaren.
Of purposefully missed meals and violent hunger.
Of sneaking out for late nights hidden in the dark garden.
It had been weeks without a single, comforting, familiar thing to ground him.
Except for her.
She slowly turned around.
Her bright eyes instantly landed on him.
For a breathless moment, she simply stared, looking exactly as if she desperately needed a second to confirm that he was actually real.
Then, her entire face completely changed.
"...Young Master." Her voice came out incredibly soft and completely unsteady.
Fainyx looked up at her.
His delicate face was perfectly still. He looked as calm and flawlessly neutral as he always did.
But deep inside his racing mind...
'...I really missed you.'
He reached smoothly into his pocket and pulled out his trusty notebook and pen. He wrote his message very slowly and incredibly carefully, and then he held the paper up for her to see.
[ Welcome back. ]
And for just one brief, breathtaking moment, the absolute faintest smile touched the very corner of his lips.
It was incredibly small.
It was almost entirely imperceptible.
But it was undeniably there.
And Estrella saw it.
That tiny, fragile smile was all it took.
Her professional composure broke entirely. Her hand flew up to tightly cover her trembling mouth.
Her bright eyes filled instantly, hot tears spilling freely down her cheeks before she could even try to stop them, and she let out a shattered sound that landed somewhere painfully between a joyful laugh and a desperate sob.
"Oh, Young Master..."
She crossed the remaining distance between them in two frantic steps and immediately knelt down on the hard stone floor.
She pulled him tightly into her warm arms, holding him incredibly carefully, exactly the same way she always had, treating him like he was something infinitely precious, deeply fragile, and entirely worth protecting from the cruel world.
Fainyx did not move.
He did not try to pull away from the sudden embrace.
He simply stood perfectly still, his small arms resting limply at his sides, his face pressed gently against her soft shoulder.
She held on desperately.
"I heard everything," she whispered, her voice violently trembling.
"I heard exactly what happened to you while I was gone. I heard what that awful woman did to you."
Her warm grip tightened just slightly around his small frame.
"I am so sorry." Her voice completely cracked with raw guilt.
"I am so incredibly sorry, Young Master. I absolutely should have been here. I should have stayed by your side. I should have protected you, and I..."
She forced herself to stop. She took a deep, shuddering breath.
"I am so sorry," she whispered again, significantly quieter this time.
Fainyx stayed perfectly still in her arms.
He seriously thought about writing something down.
He wanted to reassure her. He wanted to tell her that absolutely none of it was her fault. He wanted to say that it was fine, and that he had managed to survive just perfectly on his own.
But his notebook was still clutched uselessly in his hand, and his arms were far too occupied, because somewhere between actively deciding not to move and feeling the overwhelming warmth of her arms wrapped securely around him, he had subconsciously leaned his weight into her.
It was just slightly. Just enough to matter.
He did not write anything. He really did not need to.
Estrella seemed to completely understand his silent response anyway. She almost always did.
She held him securely for a long while longer, one warm hand resting gently against the back of his silver hair, comforting him the exact same way she used to do back when he was still small enough to be constantly carried.
When she finally pulled back to look at him, she wiped her tear stained eyes quickly, clearly embarrassed by her emotional outburst, and let out a long, shaky breath.
"Just look at me..." she said softly, half laughing at her own ridiculous behavior.
"I am openly crying right in the middle of the grand entrance hall."
She finally looked at him properly. She studied his delicate face.
She looked deeply into his violet eyes, finding them perfectly still and crystal clear as always.
She reached out with a gentle hand and carefully fixed a stray strand of silver hair that had fallen messily across his pale forehead.
"You have gotten even thinner," she noted quietly. The warm smile on her face absolutely did not manage to hide the fierce, maternal worry burning underneath it.
Fainyx looked up at her and wrote his reply.
[ The food here is very good now. I will easily gain it back. ]
Estrella read the note and laughed. It was a real, beautiful laugh this time, sounding entirely warm and watery all at once.
"You had absolutely better gain it back," she commanded firmly.
"I am going to personally make sure of it myself."
She finally straightened up, brushing her pressed uniform smooth and forcefully composing herself back into the highly capable, professional maid she truly was.
But her eyes were still incredibly bright.
They were still just a little wet with unshed tears. And they were still looking directly at him as if he were the absolute most important thing in the entire world.
Fainyx simply looked back at her.
And somewhere deep behind his perfectly still, neutral face, something profoundly important quietly settled back into its proper place.
It felt exactly like a missing piece of his entire world had finally returned to exactly where it belonged.