"Wait, Liwei!"
Luowei frowned as she hurried after her sister.
The woman with ashen hair stopped for a moment. She looked back, her face twisted with fury, her obsidian-black armor creaking.
"They got away!" she exclaimed, trembling with uncontrollable rage. Waves of destructive energy radiated from her body, shattering everything around her.
"Liwei, I think it's time we head back. The sisters must be angry…"
It seemed like the warrior was about to refuse immediately, but she held herself back. She stared fixedly at a point in space and finally let out a long sigh.
"Fine… But we'll pass through Vraeth on our way back. Maybe we'll run into some of the ones who escaped on the way there."
Luowei didn't look very pleased with the decision, but she chose not to complain. She simply nodded.
"We'll have to let them know if we're going there…" She lowered her head and sighed. "What a pain."
…
"News! News! The Emperor is ill!"
"They can't hide it from us!"
"The crown prince isn't ready!"
"Princess Elara is preparing to seize power and much more! News! News!"
People gathered in crowds to get their hands on the daily newspaper.
In just one day, the entire kingdom had learned that their sovereign was incapacitated.
While chaos took over the streets, Cassian was having breakfast at his residence, accompanied by a frequent guest those days.
"You're doing it wrong," he said coldly. "I still don't understand how you haven't improved after everything we've talked about."
Valeria pouted, resigned.
"But how? I practiced exactly like you told me. There's no way anyone can do something like that."
"You worry too much about the posture. You have to feel the sword more. It should become so much a part of you that you forget it's even there."
"I don't understand…"
Cassian rolled his eyes and stopped paying attention to her, taking a sip of his tea instead. Adela watched the interaction with a hint of amusement from the corner, but remained quiet and attentive in case her master needed anything.
A little later, little Bethany came running into the room with her maid.
"Brother!" she exclaimed, practically flying with excitement into Cassian's arms.
Once he caught her, she flashed a huge smile and asked proudly, "Guess what?"
"Hmm, what could it be?"
The little girl squirmed restlessly, waiting anxiously for his answer.
"Come on, guess!"
"Congratulations on opening your first circle, Bethany."
"Yes!" she cheered, beaming. "Mina helped me. She's amazing, brother! I'm the first in my class to reach the first circle!"
Bethany boasted proudly.
However, as she looked around, she noticed that her brother had a guest who was staring at a sword with absolute concentration.
With a touch of doubt, the girl looked at Cassian.
"Brother?"
"She's Valeria Astaford. Don't distract her, she's practicing."
"Practicing? Mmm… Okay!" she nodded with childish enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, Adela approached to offer sweets to little Bethany.
A cozy and strangely familiar atmosphere filled the room: two maids standing to the side with strict professionalism, a happy little girl eating treats, and a woman swinging a sword with her eyes closed while making strange faces.
After a while, Valeria seemed to have given up.
She approached the table with a look of distress and sat down next to the two siblings.
Cassian briefly considered saying something to cheer her up, but the little girl beat him to it.
"Amazing!" Bethany exclaimed, looking at Valeria with bright eyes full of deep admiration.
The woman, who still hadn't let go of her sword, shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
A slight blush covered her cheeks as she nodded shyly.
Cassian looked at his little sister, then at Valeria, and let out a sigh before intervening with his usual sarcastic tone:
"Bethany, why are you praising her? If you keep looking at her like that, she's going to think making weird faces is an advanced secret sword technique."
Valeria nearly choked on her own saliva from embarrassment, while Adela tried to hide a smile.
Little Bethany didn't seem to fully understand what her brother meant, but sensing it was something funny, she laughed and shared her sweets with Valeria to comfort her.
"By the way, Valeria, how is your mother?" Cassian asked, changing the subject. "I had the chance to meet her recently."
"Eh? Ah, right!" she reacted. "She told me you ran into her. What did you say to her? It seems she doesn't like you at all."
Cassian frowned with fake irritation, then flashed a mysterious smile.
"I don't know…"
After composing himself, he added with amusement:
"Though I think you should ask her directly. Clearly I've helped you so much that I don't deserve whatever she's saying about me."
Valeria, who didn't seem to doubt Cassian's words at all, nodded solemnly, as if everything he said held the purest truth.
Adela took that exact moment to subtly pinch her master under the table without anyone noticing.
Or at least, the only one who caught that brief, intimate interaction was the other maid, who preferred to stay silent.
The pinch made Cassian shift his attention to the woman who had been accompanying his little sister since she arrived at the capital.
"Mina, right?"
The woman straightened her back with impeccable posture and replied formally:
"Yes, my lord. May I help you with something?"
"I think you and Adela should sit down," he said casually. "It's not like we need anything else on the table."
Bethany immediately took Mina's hand and nodded enthusiastically, reinforcing her brother's order.
Adela joined the table right away with complete naturalness, while Mina, still showing a bit of protocol stiffness, sat down as well.
"Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"
Cassian's question seemed normal, but something in his attitude and the fact that he rarely showed this kind of curiosity surprised the women around the table—especially the one who knew him best.
A trace of jealousy and something deeper stirred in Adela.
Her master directing his attention to another maid was definitely something that could make her explode.
Mina didn't seem to notice what her question had caused in the room.
She simply observed the man she always heard about from her young lady and replied professionally, without taking the interest personally:
"I don't know why you're asking, my lord, but there's nothing interesting about me. I come from a fallen noble family. I don't think it's good for the young miss to hear too much about them."
Cassian raised an eyebrow, glanced at Bethany—who looked a bit worried by her maid's tone—and nodded silently.
"Well, if you say so, it must be true," he shrugged and immediately changed the subject to lighten the mood.
Cassian glanced sideways at Valeria's plate and smiled mischievously.
"By the way, Valeria, I see you're eating all of Bethany's sweets. Is that a family thing? It seems your mother likes them a lot too."
Bethany looked at Valeria, who froze with a pastry in her hand at her brother's words, and burst out laughing.
Valeria looked at him indignantly, though with a hint of doubt in her eyes.
"My mother does like them a lot…" she whispered to herself, processing.
However, she didn't take long to counterattack.
She slammed the pastry down on the plate, pointed an accusing finger at Cassian, and exclaimed:
"Hey! I'm not eating everything, Bethany offered them to me! Besides, you're not going to be stingy with what a guest eats, are you?"
Cassian simply took another sip of his tea, looking at her with obvious amusement.
…
On Elara's side.
"Master, I can't anymore. I need a break."
Cassandra frowned and looked at the princess, who was completely sweaty and had a miserable expression on her face.
"Your father is ill, Elara," Cassandra said. "And while I don't like your relationship with that lover of yours who came last time, I also don't think Leonardo is a better option right now."
Elara observed the dark, uncomfortable expression on her master's face and remained silent for a moment.
"Master…" she continued, uncertain. "It seems like you've never agreed with my brother ascending to the throne from the beginning. But if that's the case, why haven't you refused all this time?"
"Well, isn't it your fault?" she replied. "Though I suppose the fact that you never showed interest in the throne saved you. Your brother hasn't played fair, and the corrupt ones in the church act like saints, but they didn't hesitate to help him clear the field. I'm still surprised you survived, which is why I don't want you to leave this place."
"Mmm, even so, my master said he sent people to protect me. I should be able to go out without anything happening to me."
Cassandra shot her a withering look, as if demanding she forget about such things.
It seemed Elara was going to give up, but at the last moment she decided to insist:
"I don't accept that. I'm sure you, Master, haven't stepped foot in the city center in decades."
The older woman hesitated for a moment before yielding.
"I suppose if I accompany you… it wouldn't be so bad."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Author's Note:
I love a cozy breakfast! Don't you?
Anyway, next week all the looks of all ten sisters are going to be available on Patreon for everyone! Make sure you don't miss them out!
Join now so you don't miss it: patreon.com/gghostk
Thank you for reading, have a great weekend, and see you on Monday!