Gyllena slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the ceiling of her room, the room she grew up with, which felt like a prison once she realized the existence of the cultists inside her Mansion. Now though, she felt safe again. She couldn’t she dark mana with her eyes, but she felt it instinctively. That the darkness was no longer ruled this place.

"Did Tizmilly and that man succeeded?" She muttered, a smile on her face.

’Tizmilly...’

Her mind returned to the times when they were still two kids who were playing innocently, running around the garden of the Fallburn mansion.

"I am sorry... And thank you."

Why did she acted so harsh toward Tizmilly when they first met again after all these years? She was already pondering over the question for days. Now, she finally understood the reason.

It was complicated. Couldn’t be addressed by a world, like envy, anger, or any single feeling.

It was she being childish, she feeling envy, she want to get her attention, and she who wanted her to be depended on her and not on Theo, a complete stranger, when everything in her life fell aparts. But she chose the wrong way, which instead of making the reunion became a good memory, she turned it into a bad day encounter.

"I should apologize to Tizmilly," Gyllena muttered with determined expression as she rose from her bed.

She walked toward the window, and opened the curtain. She was curious, wondering how her mansion would look like after Theo and Tizmilly chased the cultists away.

The yard was as clean as ever. However, she could see that the windows of the first floor were all shattered. That made her frown, thinking that the fight should be a real spectacle. But that also made her sigh in relief. Windows could be replaced, but her life couldn’t. Overall, she felt satisfied after she hired the Tiz & Roosts.

But, again, that raised new mystery before Gyllena. "Did that man already know this would happen when he set such a high price before? But how can he managed to know about what happened when even I didn’t realize it until he warned me?"

Right then, the door of the room opened. When Gyllena turned around, she found Theo and Tizmilly there.

Tizmilly’s face immediately brightened up. "Gyllena!" She called out, her legs already closing the distance between them.

Gyllena still felt guilty toward her after she cornered Tizmilly that day, so she took a step back, but Tizmilly didn’t stop and pulled her into her embrace. That surprised Gyllena, since she thought Tizmilly would pull herself back once she saw her backed off from her.

"Gyllena! I am glad you are okay!" The Villainess said, her hands hugging Gyllena tightly.

Initially wanted to struggle, Gyllena instead found herself couldn’t get out of Tizmilly’s embrace. Not because she didn’t strong enough. But because she suddenly found herself incapable of that simple task.

Tears began flowing down her face without her even realizing. Her vision blurred as the result, but it didn’t feel bad for her. Instead, it was relieving. As if she was waiting for this all this time.

Gyllena didn’t say anything. She only moved her hands, and embraced her childhood friend back.

Theo smiled, sighing while watching them from the side. He turned to look at Jahreon, who was standing like a lost man at the doorway, looking around anxiously.

"What a job I had recieved." He complained softly, but with a gentle smile still on his face, his complain more like an idle displeasure than anything.

He then looked back at Tizmilly and Gyllena, who were still hugging each other. "But since I get to see this beautiful sight... I guess I’ll refrain myself from demanding extra payment."

Later, Gyllena would find out that her back garden was already become a destruction scene after people and the guards started to come over to check what happened in the mansion, but that was not Theo’s matter.

Not to mention all the work she had to do to wake every single one of her servants, who all bad lost their consciousness when Jahreon used his Dream World to everyone in the mansion before.

...

The next day, Gyllena was standing in front of Theo, Tizmilly, and Calary, who had just arrived after Theo called her, along with Carole and Timmy, at the yard. Her face was dark because of obvious reason.

"It was already miracle that your mansion is still intact, you know?" Theo said, raising an eyebrow.

"I know!" Gyllena hissed. She knew and understood that the situation was dire back then. However, that doesn’t mean that she could receive it just like that.

Theo shrugged, didn’t even gave her displeased face another look. His stance in this matter was obvious: I had done my job, so it was not my problem anymore. Which made Gyllena resented him even more. Her lips twitched seeing how he acted so nonchalantly.

She took a deep breath, calming herself down, before she looked at everyone again. But after she counted the number, she realized that Theo hadn’t brought his entire staff. "Where the rest of your staff?" She immediately asked Theo again.

But it was Tizmilly who spoke up to answer her. Tizmilly noticed the aggression between them, so she wanted to break the tension before they actually fight. "They are still have some tasks to do," Tizmilly replied. "But don’t worry, Gyllena. They would have been all here before the day of the party."

Gyllena’s expression softened a little. "Fine. That would do for now."

She then started to briefing about their jobs.

Turning her head toward Calary, Gyllena showed a slightly embarrased smile. "What I need the most is your cooking skill, Madam Roost. For now, I would like to see how you work in my kitchen. Can you come with me later?"

Calary nodded understandingly in response, a gentle smile on her face made Gyllena felt like the older woman had seen through her strong cover. For her, Calary was like a magnet that constantly trying to pull her into her embrace. She now understood why Tizmilly had became so tame around them. It was because of Calary.

To avoid herself from ruining her composed mask, Gyllena turned at Tizmilly and the duo Sister-brother. "For Tizmilly and you two... I will be thankful if you can lend your hands to my servants. Many of them haven’t woken up and recovered from the spell."

"To think that we will really work inside a Noble mansion... Life is just too unpredictable," Carole muttered nervously. Now that she was physically standing before the mansion and could see the difference between Gyllena’s lifestyle and hers, she felt somewhat overwhelmed.

Timmy tapped his sister’s shoulder. "Don’t worry, sis. Just acts as you always do in the restaurant, you will be okay! Maybe."

"I don’t need the last word!" Carole retorted back.

Timmy could only laugh awkwardly while scratching his head.

Tizmilly nodded. "I don’t see a problem in that setting." She replied with a smile.

Which brought warmth to Gyllena’s heart, though she immediately threw her face away to hide her feeling. "Of course you wouldn’t! I had thought of it all night."

But Tizmilly only widened her smile, as if she could see through her, just like Calary. Which made Gyllena felt even more embarrased. To escape from their warm gazes, she glared at Theo. "And then you!" She called out, pointing at him with a hardened face.

Theo pointed at himself, tilting his head. "What? Me?" He asked her back.

"Yes, you!" Gyllena answered strongly. "You will my servants cleaning and reshaping the back garden you have destroyed."

Theo frowned. His lips twitched as his face darkened. "As I said, I don’t have other choice but to..."

He wanted to explain himself, but in the middle, he stopped himself. He realized that Gyllena was just frustated and didn’t actually think that it was all his fault.

He waved his hands dismissively. "Alright, alright, I’ll do it!"

Gyllena scoffed. "So you at least know when to admit your mistake!"

Theo’s face turned sour again, but he didn’t say anything and immediately left the yard. He walked toward the back garden without waiting for Gyllena’s order.

Carole blinked, confused as to why Theo and Gyllena became so offensive toward each other. "What happened between these two?" She muttered.

Which Calary answered with a somewhat strange smile. "Theo is... Sigh... Such a popular boy. I understand the reason, though. He indeed carried the best of his father, after all."

Tizmilly, Carole, and Timmy exchanged glances, blinking their eyes animatedly. Their silence was a silence filled with with questions.

Didn’t aware of their little interactions, Gyllena straightened her back and showed a graceful smile of a noble lady at them. "Now, ladies. I can’t wait to see your performances!"

With that, their main job, that was: to replace the position of Gyllena’s head chef and helping her preparing her Engagement party, now begin.