By the time she had finished about one-third of the Junior High school level theories on magic, there was a sudden uproar in front of the mansion.
Yuki was bored.... She had been sitting in this place for a while now, and she was able to only grab this book while coming here in a hurry, it was a sudden summon after all.
She may like reading, but even your favourite dessert when eaten continuously tastes bad, here she was only reading this long, she was bored.... if it was her house, she would already be rolling on the floor mumbling, "bored bored bored bored"...
So, this Yuki was so bored that she wanted to be a nosy person for the first time, jumped from the seat and ran with her small legs towards the front door...
Outside the door, she saw a customised car parked with all its glory, Yuki made an approximate estimate of 10 million Lapi. ([Lapi is the currency of the Agape Empire. 1 Lapi will be around 10 USD]
Yuki's made an exaggerated, "waaahhh", yes, she was amusing herself for her own sake.
Yuki then saw the insignia on the small flags at the front, one was the symbol of the Empire, the golden sun at the centre of a Rose and two lions protecting it....
Then her eyes fell on the other flag, it was the same Golden Sun, but it was over a snowflake, the mighty Sun will be protected by the valiant Snow.....it was the insignia of the Wintedale of Agape, her family's symbol.
She had a guess considering the price tag of the car, 'It seems the Duke has returned.'
Suddenly, Yuki lost all her interest...
She was never interested in knowing about her family.
She had read the meaning of family in the dictionary, now that she thinks about it, it seems they were not a family, they acted more like strangers under one roof, no--
Wait. They were not even living under the same roof...
The little Yuki got the biggest puzzle of her life till date?
As she walked back to the sofa in the lounge, she kept contemplating on the matter!
What should a family that was not like a family be called?
When the maids and stewards saw the little miss blankly staring at the ground, they all started whispering...
Though Yuki was unaware of it, it seems the working class of the household held pity for her, but even if she knew, the most probable reaction would be a monotonic sounding, 'oh! ', followed by her usual RBF*.
Yuki, who was still seriously brooding over the matter, was so into her own world that she didn't notice a man walking towards her, or more accurately towards the stairs in front of her, she just happened to be in the middle of the path.
Just before the man reached her; there was a certain pressure coming from behind her, Yuki instinctively jumped aside and turned to face the 'enemy', as her hand reflexively went to her side waist,..... but there was nothing there; she had come here only with her clothes on, her hand that should be holding a sword by now, slightly twitched.
Both the man and the little girl paused because of this abnormal movement on her part...
Yuki finally noticed the huge presence in front of her, the man reeked of blood and strength and had a suffocating aura around him, with him around even the most lively of the maids were as meek as.... ummmm.... Tortoise? Well, that was the closest animal she could think of!
Anyway, just from the brilliant aura and jade-like face, she had an inkling....
This man was none other than the current head of the Winterdale household, a Duke and the Imperial General of the empire, Sigmund Barschester Winterdale!
Hw was currently also the strongest Alpha in the Empire of Agape;
with an additional postscript from Yuki, he happened to be the worst father in the empire's history, as well.
You see, it was the first time she saw him, yes, the very first time... the only reason she knew it was her father was that,
1. the Silver 'family crest coat of arms' pinned on his coat,
2. her intuition..plus,
3. both of them had similar facial features....
Anyway, according to her memory which she was very sure and proud of, this man hadn't stepped on the Ducal land since the Duchess had come, or so she thought.... well, she had no idea about 'another' being in this house so, it was natural for her to think like that.
She has been living outside the mansion and so, even if did come back, she won't know...
Not that she cared. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yuki met the Duke's eyes without saying anything, after a second, she just gave a nod, tired from the staring competition and walked back to her seat to read the book, 'it was far more interesting than the Duke', she thought.
But because she left without a word or more so, was able to meet him in the eyes, she didn't see the strange light that had crossed the Duke's eyes... and also failed to notice that the Duke had asked around about her, even if she knew, her reaction will still be the same, you know the same old (-_-) and will probably with a great effort, get 3 words out because he was someone who held some power, " Is that so? "
....
Notes:
RBF: Resting Bitch Face (-_-)