The Cursed King

His voice was laced with deep sadness. From his tone, Elise could hear how lonely the man was.

"Oh.. I am sorry to hear that," Elise lowered her head. She felt sad for Loriel.

"Don't you want to know what happened to my family?" the handsome man asked.

Elise looked up and shook her head. "I don't want to invade your privacy."

"No, you are not invading my privacy. No worries. I am happy to share it with you. I have nothing to hide," said the man calmly.

"Okay." Elise looked at the man attentively and listened to what he had to say. "What happened to your family?"

Loriel smiled and said, "They all passed away a long time ago. I have been alone for most of my life. How about you?"

He hurriedly added, "I don't mean anything by my question. You can keep it to yourself and not tell me anything about you. Just because I share with you about my life, it doesn't mean you have to."

Elise looked at the man and bit her lip. She thought the man was nice and didn't mean any harm. So, maybe she could tell him a little bit about herself?

"Well, you already know that my father is sick. I am trying to work and make money so I can be independent and..." Elise paused. "By the way, you told me you can help me get a job?"

"Yes. I know some people who could hire you. What do you want to do? Do you have any particular interests?" Loriel asked. He didn't want to push Elise to share about herself if she was still feeling uncomfortable.

"Uhm... I am not good at many things, yet, but I am a quick learner. I will take whatever jobs available," said Elise firmly. "I am not picky."

"That's a good attitude." Loriel nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you so much," said Elise.

She looked relieved and continued eating her breakfast. Loriel only watched her with a smile on his face. He let her eat and not asked her any more questions.

After they finished eating, Loriel showed Elise how the AI household assistant worked.

"Horatio, please clean up the table. We have finished breakfast," said Loriel to no one in particular. Elise was surprised to hear Loriel's words. She looked around her to see the man called Horatio whom Loriel talked to just now.

However, she didn't see anyone. Was Loriel talking to someone remotely?

"Right away, Sir," a reply rang from the air, and Elise was startled. She widened her eyes as she looked at Loriel. "Who is that?"

"That's Horatio. He is the AI household assistant. A computer." Loriel explained slowly and clearly. "I am using a new technology that uses artificial intelligence to take care of everything related to the house. He checks if I need to get groceries and orders them online. He also arranges cleaning robots to clean the place, to mop, do laundry, etc."

"Oh... how amazing!" Elise pressed her lips in awe. Before she could say anything, a white robot with four hands came and took their plates from the table.

Another one came to clean up with a sponge and water.  It worked so quickly and efficiently that in no time, the table was now clean and spotless.

"Wow..." Elise batted her eyes in amazement. Two robots came out of nowhere and did the cleaning in such a short amount of time. She and Loriel didn't even need to lift a finger.

"What would you like to eat for lunch, Sir?"  Horatio's voice rang again. 

Loriel looked at Elise and decided to ask her something. "Do you have a work outfit to wear for the job interview?"

"Oh..." Elise just realized she didn't have any. She only brought a small backpack with her essential items. They didn't include work outfits. She shook her head. "Unfortunately no."

"What do you think if we go out shopping for business attire for you today?" Loriel asked. "Then we can have lunch outside."

Elise remembered she just received a lot of money as compensation from the hostel. She could use it to buy clothes.

Wait.. would it be enough?  How much would business attires cost?

As if reading her mind, Loriel explained that Elise didn't have to worry about money. "I am a regular customer in Bloomingrose. It's a big shop that sells clothes. I never use my points. I think I have accumulated quite a lot over the years. You can use my loyalty points to get you some nice outfits for free so you can go to work interviews."

"I-I... have some money," Elise insisted. "I can pay for them. I don't want to use your points. You've helped me so much already."

"Well, those points expire every end of the year anyway. So, if I don't use them, they will just expire. I think it's such a waste," said Loriel. "You can just use your money to buy me lunch. So, we can eat outside after shopping? What do you think?"

"Uhm... why don't you use your points to shop for yourself?" 

"I don't need anything," Loriel said with a shrug. "I have everything I would ever need. And as you can see, my clothes are nice and I don't have to get new ones. I would rather let you use my points and you return the favor by treating me to lunch. I think that's only fair."

"Are you sure?" Elise asked again. "I feel bad about taking advantage of your kindness. You have done so much for me."

"It's okay, Elise, don't mention it." Loriel smiled dotingly. "Please say yes, so I can tell Horatio not to prepare lunch for us."

Finally, Elise nodded. "Yes. I will buy you lunch."

"That's great!" Loriel grinned and then he clapped. "Horatio, you've heard the lady. No need to get us lunch. We will eat outside."

"Understood, Sir. Have a great day outside," said Horatio. "The weather is perfect for shopping and lunch. Have fun."

"Thank you, Horatio. We will," said Loriel with a happy smile.

The usually-curt man looked angelic when he smiled like this and, for a moment, Elise was mesmerized.