Once everyone got settled and ordered dinner, they talked about their afternoon and shared some jokes. It eventually ended up with Estella finally explaining her plans with the beasts.
Although the other party was slightly concerned, Aesterix waved it off claiming she could do anything, also intrigued by the idea of raising wild beasts and her sea port.
"Find a bird for me that looks really ugly, Phel hates birds." He commented, a great discovery for Estella herself. The game never mentioned Astrophel hating birds, but she loved the idea of it.
Tilting her head, Ivonne asked who that was. "My older brother, I guess you'd meet him during my social debut." Estella said while her eye twitched a little just thinking about seeing his face.
Even if she was now a duchess of a foreign country, it was expected her family would still be there, even if said family member recently committed treason in a foreign country, what a pain that would be.
"What if he brings Heliousen's kid as his partner?" Aesterix asked as he popped a carrot into his mouth, angrily chewing at the thought of her.
Although she was the one who should hate Rosemary more for flirting with her fiancé and every man with a fiancé, it seemed like Aesterix took it harder, she noticed.
"So what? I decided not to blame her for my cheating fiancé. It's obvious he'll bring her anyways. He only agreed to commit treason so he can marry her." She responded taking a sip of her drink, the energy around the two slightly sullen.
Even Fenrir was curious, and couldn't help but ask despite posing as a personal guard at the moment. "Who exactly is she?" He asked.
"Oh, that's right. Rosemary Heliousen someone my older brother loves or something. She's cute I guess but flirts with everyone who has a fiancé and my brother." She bluntly commented.
Nodding, it was Felix's turn to give his opinion. "Why don't you go as her partner? A duchess at her own debut shouldn't be without one." He said with a smile towards Hyre, while Estella wanted to give him a thumbs up.
Before anyone could deny, Estella tag teamed with him. "Then Ivonne and Aesterix could go as partners. A symbolism of friendship and trust between royalty and the duchy." She said without even looking up from her meal.
It sounded like a good idea to everyone, with even a small blush on Ivonne's face, it seemed like mission successful for both Estella and Felix, who understood each other with unspoken words. They were the same, in terms of trying to set up their siblings.
Hopefully in her case, however, she'd be announcing Hyre to be one of her lovers at the social debut, regardless if the queen enjoyed it. It nearly brought a smile to her face knowing she'd probably embarrass the royal family if she took their son as a lover.
Did she want to make him a concubine or her husband to spare them face, she wondered as the conversation drifted. On one hand, she already told Fenrir he'd be her first concubine, so it'd be a little humiliating as a royal to be the second.
If she made him her main husband, that would make him the duke instead of prince, which would spare the royal family's face, but it brought a bit of a dilemma.
What if some other men wanted to be her main husband instead of concubine and now were slightly turned off? Then again, someone used to the pressure should be duke, right?
It nearly brought a sigh to her lips as she thought about how to settle her harem. Perhaps she'd announce she was engaged to Hyre during her social debut, and wed once he has his? She'd need a husband first before officially announcing her concubines, at least.
The more she thought about it, the more her head swirled, before calling it quits as she noticed Ivonne calling out to her. "Is something on your mind?" She asked, noticing the slightly sour look on Estella's face.
There was a lot, she wanted to say, but kept it in. Turning towards Aesterix, she told him to leave and start carrying all their stuff towards the carriage which would arrive soon if it hadn't already.
Although they looked concerned for him who had to carry so much, he easily picked them up and stealthily used his magic by making it look like his shadow to carry stuff.
"To be honest, I'm having a dilemma." She sighed, sounding deathly serious. Putting almost all of them on alert.
Leaning her chin on her hands, she closed her eyes. "How exactly do I want to design my harem? Should I also give them separate buildings to live in? Should I build an entire separate harem building for them all to stay?" She asked, before continuing.
"Once i make my debut, I can have as many lovers as I want, so long as they're about to or have past the age of their debut. I'm not limiting myself to humans, you know? But I can't take any concubines until I have a husband." She sighed, locking eyes with Hyre.
Although what she said sounded ridiculous, her eyes looked so commanding and powerful that he felt like he had to answer her, "I'm not sure." He said, hoping she wouldn't burn a hole into her head.
"I have no clue what you're talking about." Ivonne said, breaking Estella out of her serious gaze, now looking at Ivonne.
How would she explain this? She knew that in some of the novels she'd read there were many ways to design a harem, but she just couldn't decide her's.
Perhaps she was just overthinking it, she'll figure it out later, she said to herself as they paid up. Just when they were walking towards the carriage, a few screams could be heard, making them rush to try and find Aesterix.
They all came to a stop seeing the scene before them. The man who seemed to be the coachman was covered in blood, as Aesterix sword plunged straight into him for what seemed to be the third time, judging by the large wounds.
As he slowly coughed up blood and fell over, Aesterix made sure to close the man's eyes before standing back up and putting his sword away. Turning around, he was slightly surprised to see everyone looking at him but regained his composure. "I think we'll need a different coachman." He said.
Ivonne quickly covered Leila's eyes as Felix did the same to Carsion, the two seemed unfazed by his sudden behaviour change. "Was it…?" Ivonne asked trailing off a little, causing him to nod.
From behind, Fenrir clutched onto Estella's arm tightly, sensing bloodlust coming from the crowd of bystanders now. Although he didn't want to tell Estella, she may put two and two together on her own at this point.
In an instant, a bunch of men came from differently places surrounding the group, while focusing on Estella. One man shouted "No hard feelings, your majesty." As they ran up trying to stab her.
Before he could, Fenrir gripped the sword with his free hand, and held a tight grip, yanking it out of the man's hands and ripping off his hood and robe.
Quickly, Aesterix used his magic in order to pull away the bystanders from the crossfire, leaving Estella to Fenrir. If he brought Estella along, he knew it'd endanger the people, as these men wouldn't care what it took to accomplish their goal. He had to protect them.
As some began firing arrows, Fenrir picked her up and dodged them all moving backwards, towards a group of men with close ranged weapons. As soon as some rushed at him, he had no choice but to put her down to fight back, scared of causing her harm.
There wasn't enough time to pull out his sword, so he pushed her down and transformed one of his hands into that of a beasts.
His arm was now covering in his shiny fur and claws grew, as he turned in a circular motion cutting both their weapons and bodies in one go.
These men were dripping with blood and gasping, while screaming he was a monster, others were dead on the spot, while a few managed to escape backwards with a scratch.
Opening his mouth, his fangs were now coming out and purely visible. Letting out a low growl, the men immediately started to run away, while the arrows shot at them.
Covering her body with his own, his body started to shift into that more of a beast than human, when the men started to really panic, starting to realise the sheer danger they were in.
Almost instantaneously, the fight was over as he growled loudly, paralysing them with fear. He started with the long ranged men and wiped them up now that his beast form was exposed, picking up their bodies as he went.
When he reached the men who somehow still survive, he swallowed them all whole, every single one of them and turned back to Estella, before transforming back into his humanoid form.
There was no expression on her face, whether it be filled with fear, anger, relief, trauma. Absolutely nothing, it looked like a blank poker face, causing him to quickly shake her for some, or even any kind of reaction despite being covered in blood.
"Stop shaking me." She said starting to feel a little dizzy as her group rushed back towards her, Aesterix tossing Fenrir aside, making him fall, and hugging his sister, pulling out his sword towards Fenrir.
Angrily, Estella pushed Aesterix off and helped Fenrir up, sighing. "How can you point a sword at someone who saved me?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.
"This isn't a time to stay calm! Didn't you see what just happened?" Aesterix shouted as he still held his sword up. As if it suddenly clicked, even Hyre took Fenrir's defence.
"Put your sword down, if you want to fight, you can fight me." His voice was a little deeper than normal, the first time Estella had ever seen him so serious, and it was to defend Fenrir.
Frustrated, he yelled out "Get out of my way." As he angrily thrusted his sword forward, getting blocked. He sighed and dropped his sword, a tear dripping down his cheek.
"Did you know?" Was all he weakly asked as his voice cracked, looking at Estella. He didn't want to believe his sister was nearly killed and he wasn't the one who saved her, nor did he want to believe that the one he's been giving such a hard time recently managed to protect and save her, while genuinely caring for her.
He didn't want to believe the possibility that she knew someone was targeting her already, or that her guard knew before him due to how quickly he reacted. He didn't want to admit that he was frustrated with himself for being inferior.
"Take a moment to compose yourself, you're unsightly, older brother. You both will explain to me what just happened as soon as we go somewhere private." She said with a sigh, rubbing her temples.
The truth was she did feel some fear, she just knew she couldn't act up on it, she couldn't show weakness and make anyone feel bad for her sake, but most of all, she was simply confused. From the sound of things, they knew something she didn't, and that thought frustrated her as well. Why wouldn't they tell her something important that could possibly have endangered her life?