The maids moved quickly, cleaning the mess as best they could, wiping jam off the furniture, picking up broken pastries and fallen tablecloths, while the young nobles brushed their clothes and fixed their hair, pretending nothing had happened.
Axelius quietly walked away from the group, holding his arms behind his back, and looked up at the sky. The sun had started to lower, turning the clouds orange and pink. It felt peaceful now, though his clothes were still stained with cream and fruit. He took a deep breath and sat back under the same tree he hid beneath earlier, his arms crossed and his eyes staring ahead.
"I'm really in trouble, huh," he muttered to himself.
Owen, the small slime, bounced beside him, his clear body still a little sticky. "Not really. I think you made Ellory happy. That means you did something good, right?"
Axelius looked at him sideways. "I didn't do it for her."
"You kind of did," Owen replied with a small squishy shrug.
