Promise

A cup of tea and biscuits

Wisteria invited Javier into her house.

"Sir.., consider it your own home!" said Wisteria while inviting Javier to sit in one of the chairs in the dining room. With a smile that never left her lips, Wisteria poured a cup of rose tea and served several jars of biscuits. Not to forget, Wisteria also prepared a slice of apple pie for Javier. Complete with honey on top.

Javier feels happy because Wisteria accepted him well. That was in stark contrast to what he had thought before. Wisteria even served almost all of her baked goods, filling the dining table in front of them with jars of various types of cookies and biscuits. However, Javier could not taste any of those cakes. Elves only consume honey and a type of cake made from flower pollen mixed with nectar. Nevertheless, Javier can still drink the rose tea that Wisteria poured into his cup.

"Can you sit down and chat with me for a bit?! There's something I want to ask you," said Javier while sipping tea from his cup.

After placing the last jar of dry cheesecake on the table, Wisteria sat down as Javier requested. Wisteria kept smiling, gazing at Javier with admiration. "A long time ago... when I was 7 or 8 years old, that was when I saw an elf for the first time. I never expected that I would have another chance to see an elf for the second time," Wisteria said with gratitude.

Javier smiled. For the first time, he felt happy seeing someone so grateful for their presence. "Wisteria... who do you live with in this house?" Javier asked, starting a conversation between them.

"Alone," Wisteria replied, but then she fell silent for a moment. "I live in this house alone... My daughter is already married, and now she lives with her husband in Tohron to manage the store. They also have a bee farm. My daughter delivers some jars of honey every Saturday morning. Usually... they will stay over and return to Tohron on Sunday evening." Wisteria spoke about her daughter with great enthusiasm.

Javier felt the need to win Wisteria's heart to obtain information about Luda's whereabouts. Javier remembered Antonius's message, that Wisteria might have difficulty recalling her past. Because of her age, which is no longer young.

"Wisteria… didn't you once work for the Volkova family?" Javier started steering the conversation towards Wisteria's job to gather information about the Volkova family.

Wisteria fell silent for a moment. She tried to recall her memories from the past. "Yes…," Wisteria replied with a hint of hesitation. "Maybe around 30 years ago I worked for the Volkova family," Wisteria replied, looking at Javier with a confused expression.

"Didn't your mother also work for that family before?" asked Javier.

Wisteria smiled; it seemed her memory had returned. "That's right. Mom also worked for the Volkova family, but that was a long time ago. In the past, my mother worked in the kitchen as a baker, but she also cooked with three other people. I often helped my mother with her work, but usually only after returning from the academy.” Wisteria looked so happy while recounting her past memories.

"What about that family now?" Javier asked while sipping his tea again.

Wisteria fell silent. Her facial expression changed to a gloomy one. "I don't know," he said softly, as if hiding something so terrible. "But... maybe I'm also confused about how to say it."

Javier smiled. He tried to make Wisteria feel comfortable enough to share all her past. "I will listen to everything," said Javier.

Wisteria poured tea into Jevier's empty cup again, then added a little honey into the cup.

“The last descendant of the Volkova family passed away 30 years ago. Mr. Igor is the only son of Mrs. Zinaida and Mr. Ilya. Mr. Igor lost both of his parents in a tragic attack that occurred in the city of Filanesia. Since then... many of his relatives have suggested that Mr. Igor get married, but Mr. Igor always refuses because he suffers from hemophilia. For him, just surviving until that day was already very difficult.” For some people, work is not measured by how much money is earned or how high a position can be achieved. That is the case for Wisteria. It is clear that Wisteria really enjoys her job as a maid in the Volkova family.

"Don't they have 2 daughters?" Javier increasingly directed every question towards the information he wanted to obtain regarding Luda's whereabouts.

"What do you mean, Miss Luda?" asked Wisteria. "I haven't seen Miss Luda in a very long time. The last time I saw her was probably when I was 7 or 8 years old." Wisteria looked at Javier with a confused expression. Wisteria wondered why an elf would ask about the Volkova family.

Javier let out a long sigh. He was hoping to get a little clue about Luda's whereabouts, but now he feels desperate once again.

Wisteria fell silent again, staring at her cup with a vacant expression. She then took a deep breath and exhaled it with annoyance. "At that time, I was still too young to understand the situation. I only learned the real story decades after the incident and almost 20 years after I no longer worked for the Volkova family. Miss Luda was still too young when she fell in love with a nobleman named Erel. At that time, Miss Luda was only 14 years old, while Mr. Erel was already 23 years old. The gap between the two families widened with Mr. Erel's family's social status and Mr. Erel's position as a member of the Crimson Knight, as well as his role as the bodyguard of Mr. Javier Mareq, who is the brother of Anthonius Mareq, the leader of the Crimson Knight. It really looks like a lopsided scale.”

Javier fell silent, listening to Wisteria's story.

"The situation worsened when Mr. Erel passed away. That very day, Miss Luda was expelled from the house because she was considered to bring bad luck. At that time, she was not even 15 years old yet. Mother had asked the young lady to stay at our house, but on the second day, Miss Luda just left. Mother and Father searched for Miss Luda all night, but we never found her. Miss… it was as if she disappeared."

"Why drive her away? Luda is not guilty of Erel's death," Javier suddenly whispered, which immediately confused Wisteria.

"Do you know where Luda is now?" asked Javier with hope. He really hoped that Wisteria knew where Luda was.

Wisteria looked confused by Javier's question. "Sir… my current age is 117 years, so the likely age of the lady is 125 years. 125 is not an age at which humans generally can still live. Even for myself. I am able to survive at the age of 117 because of the potion I learned while working as an assistant to an alchemist in the city. If I had only relied on food and a healthy lifestyle, I wouldn't have been able to survive this long. Besides that..., the condition of Terra at that time was still very chaotic due to the wars and conflicts happening in several major cities. It feels impossible for a girl who hasn't even turned 15 yet to be able to survive outside alone.”

Javier cannot deny that what Wisteria just said is wrong because he was also one of the soldiers on the battlefield during the early turmoil that occurred in Terra. Javier could even logically deduce from what Wisteria had just said that the possibility of Luda surviving alone at that time was probably less than 1%.

"Do you know her siblings?" Javier still hopes for a little information that will help him from Wisteria, besides a reality that will shatter a 100-year-old hope and reveal a reality that his efforts all this time have been in vain.

"I'm sorry," Wisteria said with deep regret.

Javier paused for a moment, then looked at Wisteria, alternating his gaze with the tea in his cup, which was now half full. "I never knew that all this time Luda was declared as the cause of Erel's death. Meanwhile, I am completely convinced that Erel's family already knows the cause of their son's death.”

Wisteria looked at Jevier with a confused expression.

"Erel and I were once on a mission to escort Lord Meuz for the sealing process of the Kruber Crystal Cave. At that time, none of us realized that a shard of crystal from the cave had been carried along in the armor Erel was wearing. Although it was quite small, it turned out that the crystal emitted a miasma that gradually paralyzed all human organs. I have already explained this to the Erel family, and this conclusion is not mine but entirely the result of the investigation by the royal special forensic team under the auspices of Lord Meuz. This is a valid conclusion."

"The rice has turned into porridge, and we cannot go back to the past to prevent everything. It's unimaginable that a 14-year-old girl, so innocent, has to bear such a heavy burden," said Wisteria.

"I... feel like I've failed!" Javier was disappointed with himself. For almost 100 years he searched for Luda, but all this time he never knew that Luda had been blamed for Erel's death.