I don't easily get angered by my youngest sister but what she said really annoyed me.
"Don't say that Athy." I glared at her. "With just eight of us here, who will protect out maids and other workers?"
Athy looked like she wanted to refute but I didn't let her.
"We can't be selfish and only think of ourselves. We have other people to protect for. People who work for us. They are also our responsibility." I scolded her in a way she will understand.
Athy grew up spoiled by us as the youngest but she was also sickly. She grew up only thinking about herself and sge never actually worked so adjusting to other people was something new for her.
Athy looked down dejected. I don't normally scold her but this time she should learn how to think of others too.
"Okay." Athy replied downcast.
I looked at her and let out a sigh.
This girl.
"My lady, what about the archduke and archduches?" Saintess Karen asked.
"Don't worry about them, they will be fine." I replied confidently.
Our meeting was interrupted by some knocks. Sebastiene went out to check who it was and immediately came back in.
"My ladies, saintesses, dinner is ready." He ananounced.
We all went to the dining room where father and mother were waiting.
"Did you find the wolf?" Father asked.
"No, but I made a barrier to trap it inside the forest." I replied as I sat down.
"Okay, that's better that having it steal our food." He looked at Uriel.
She was looking at the dishes laid on the table. The food were all made of fish and vegetables. She made a face at it.
"The wolf stole the meat so the kitchen made do with what we have. Don't be picky and be thankful." Father told her.
Uriel is not fond of vegetables and she does not eat fish. She says that she doesn't like the smell of it. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do but eat the quail eggs and salad instead.
We were eating peacefully when Saintess Sachi put down her fork and looked at us with a sad smile.
"Your grace, my ladies, we would like to inform you that we will be leaving early tomorrow morning." Saintess Sachi suddenly announced.
I stopped eating and stared at her.
"Why early morning?" Father asked.
"I will be using my ability to go back and I would need the early morning sun to do it." She answered.
"What kind of ability?" I asked, curious.
"You're not going to use a carriage?" Athy asked.
"No, my lady." Saintess Sachi smiled. Her red lips curving up towards her veiled eyes. "I also have a teleportation ability, though a bit different that Jubie's."
"Really?" I looked at her and she smiled.
"But what about saintess Karen?" I looked at the other saintess.
"I don't have a teleportation ability so I'll be in Sachi's care." She chuckled.
"Saintess Sachi's ability has something to with shadows right?" Athy asked her with an awed look.
"Yes, my lady." Saintess Sachi replied after drinking her water.
"My ability is shadow manipulation." She explained. "I can manipulate shadows to do my bidding. My teleportation ability also works the same way. I can move freely in any shadow. I can inter any shadow and come out on another."
"I see. But why do you need the rising sun to be able to go back? You can do it later?" I asked.
"That's because the shadow a rising sun creates takes lesser soul force than the other. I will also be taking Karen with me so I will need to use more soul force." She explained.
"I see." I nodded.
Athy was looking at saintess Sachi with a frown. She was obviously in deep thought.
"Athy?" I called her.
She closed her eyes and calmness returned to her face.
"Is there anything you need on your trip home saintesses? You can tell us and we will provide it for you." Mother offered.
"Thank you, your grace, but we do not need anything." Sachi smiled at father before looking at Athy. "It would be more than enough if the vessels will visit the temple sometime."
"We will visit soon." Athy swore, making the saintesses smile.
The rest of the dinner was filled with idle talks and some wine for father. We all went to our rooms after.
On our way to our rooms, we dropped Athy at her room first. We saw Anderson standing outside Athy's room waiting for her. He seems to have something to discuss with her. We left them and went straight to my room. Sebastiene left after making sure the windows are closed and setting up a kind of alarm for me.