"We have arrived."
The door to the carriage opened, and no one was waiting to welcome Amelia.
She had already mentioned that her family didn't care for her, but wasn't this too much?
I wasn't exactly sure, considering that I had never had a family of any kind. However, I had often watched nobles arriving at their respective estates, and they would always have countless servants waiting for them.
Actually, now that I looked again, there was only one person waiting.
She seemed to be a maid based on her uniform.
'There might be someone that cares for her, after all.'
"You've finally returned…"
There was an annoyed tinge in the maid's voice, which immediately caught my attention.
"It was about time. If you had stayed in the Royal Capital any longer, then your family would have gotten rid of me."
"I-I'm sorry…"
I frowned at what I witnessed.
Amelia was the one apologizing to the maid.
Did she not realize that she was the master here?
'I can already tell why everyone looks down on her. She doesn't have a backbone. She lets everyone walk all over her. If a maid can do this much, then I can't imagine what her siblings might do.'
"And who's this?" the maid said with a frown, looking me up and down with clear disdain. "Did you get engaged without the Patriarch's approval?"
Amelia blushed once more, unable to meet the maid's eyes.
"T-That's not it. I just asked him to—"
"My name is Yike Vale. I asked your master to accompany her to the Lix Estate."
I cut Amelia off.
There was no reason to tell this maid that she was the one who had asked a favor of me.
It was the least I could do.
"Mhm. Then, are you interested in Amelia?"
Again, she was being disrespectful.
I wasn't sure why, but her overconfidence was truly starting to get on my nerves. Why would a powerless maid think that she was of equal standing with a member of the Lix Family?
"Amelia won't need you around anymore. I'll be the one taking care of her inside the Lix Estate."
The maid's eyes widened at my words. "T-That's impossible! You would need the approval of the Patriarch to become the one in charge of her."
I sighed. "I don't think that should be much of a problem, considering the way you blatantly disrespect her. Also, I'll make sure to mention your attitude to the Patriarch. I'm sure he would be quite interested in knowing about this situation."
I smirked, expecting the maid to fall into a state of fear, but the opposite happened. As soon as I mentioned the Patriarch, she grinned happily.
"Do as you wish. Until you receive the Patriarch's permission, I will be the one in charge of this stupid girl."
'Stupid girl?' I gritted my teeth. 'Ugh. Why am I getting so angry over those words?'
Just as I was about to make that girl eat her own words, I felt Amelia's soft hand grab my arm.
"I-It's fine. Felicia has been my maid since I was a little girl… W-We get along fine."
I gazed into her eyes filled with fear and just frowned, annoyed.
'Just how much of a pushover are you? If I were in your position, I would be torturing her, making her beg for her life.'
"Whatever, where can I meet with the Patriarch?"
I had planned on trying to win his favor by being a nice person, but depending on how he acted when I revealed how Amelia had been treated, my plan might change completely.
The maid scoffed. "The Lix Patriarch isn't someone you can meet so easily."
Knowing that Amelia wasn't particularly paying attention to what was currently happening, I decided to use this to my advantage.
My blue eyes suddenly turned into an endless pool of darkness, staring right into the maid's eyes.
[Eyes of Despair]
The confidence she had just shown vanished in the blink of an eye; her arms became limp, and soon after, her legs did the same as she dropped to her knees, tears falling on both cheeks.
"D-Don't kill me, please… I-I didn't mean any of it," she muttered, her voice shaking from fear.
I hid my smirk as I watched her fall into despair.
Eyes of Despair was my Unique Darkness Attribute Skill, the one that had made it possible for me to survive all these years. While the skill was active, every person who met my gaze would fall into a pit of despair, imagining their worst nightmare.
The skill's effects would only fail to work on those with a higher mental fortitude than mine, but as of now, I had never met such a person.
[Felicia Parker has fallen into despair. From now on, every time she meets your eyes, she will be extremely scared for her life, and all of her stats will fall by 50%.]
'That much should be enough.'
"Felicia, are you okay?" Amelia asked immediately when she saw the mental state of her maid. "Is something wrong with you? Should I ask someone to look after you?"
It annoyed me even more to see her care about such a person.
Suddenly, she looked me in the eyes, worried.
"Let's take her to our family's infirmary. They'll take care of her."
"Sure," I replied with a grin.
As soon as I tried to touch Felicia, she pushed herself away from me, scared for her life.
"I-I'll be fine, Miss Lix. I-I think it's a result of missing you for all these months. My mind feels a little dizzy." Her voice shook with each word. "I will see you later."
For the first time since I had left the carriage, I was satisfied with the respect shown to my savior.
I gave Amelia my hand and offered her a bright smile.
"Shall we head to your room?"
It was the first time I had used my powers to help someone, and I had to admit it didn't feel all that bad.