The scribbling on paper, the small usage of magic, and the sighs of many echoed through the room. Aquie had been signing papers and reading carefully while taking notes on the paper to send to other residences and the royal family. Marione had been researching about the black magic case in the office simply with the excuse of boredom alone, where she claims she 'can't focus' with the silence.
Yen, who was sitting across Marione, had also been reading different documents regarding black magic, specifically to get some information about who their facing. When it came to documents about Poscanitus, it was difficult in trying to find at least one paper with so much details about him. Every time she finished reading a single report, she would sigh, finding nothing new about it. It had always been the same way of temptation, by angering them enough to corrupt them.
Shouldn't there be anything else or has no one lived to tell the tale?
Marione had enough with the stress and silence.
Marione: "Why don't we go to Angel's for a while? It's been a week since I haven't had a different routine other than research and magic for the case.."
Aquie scribbles on the papers, giving them silence for a moment. They just kept silent, giving her time to think to herself. It was just a sudden invite, after all. She places down her pen and turns to look at Yen with a look of curiosity.
Duchess of Ceresé: "What is your opinion of this, Yen?"
Yen: "Me? Hmm.."
She took some time, thinking about the case and it's importance. Of course, this was something they couldn't rest at until completed, but it had been days since they have seen Beatrice, or even Vincent, making a move. It was highly suspicious.
Yen: "I suppose it's a good idea. They haven't done anything for days, which arose my suspicions, and being in the capital could help us get a closer look, don't you think? It's best you also join us if that's alright with you, Aquie?"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Hmm.."
She continued scribbling, drinking a bit of tea from time to time. It was silent, but both sisters could tell she was thinking hard about this, weighing scales to judge which one would be a better or worse decision to make.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Let me finish my work first then so that my assistant won't have much of a hard time to do this by herself. We'll leave to get there in time for lunch so please hurry up and get ready."
Marione: "Nice! We'll get ready, thanks!"
With a clap, Marione teleported both herself and Yen to their respective rooms. It became a habit of hers, but Yen really couldn't get used to it at all. She just sighs in disappointment.
Yen: "When will she stop teleporting without warning.."
She mumbled in annoyance.
Yen: "Kayla! Please get my uniform ready!"
Kayla: "Yes, of course, my lady."
____________________
She was dressed real formally, with her hair in a braided bun. Though she wished to just enter the capital in village wear, she needed to be extra careful. She had her weapons ready, invisible to the eye yet waiting to be summoned on the right moment.
Meeting Marione waiting outside her door, also wearing her uniform, but she had a ponytail on as her curtain bangs still hung around her face. She most likely wasn't able to tie it with her ponytail from how it only reached a few inches below her chin, signaling how it was too short.
Marione: "I'll teleport us both to Aquie's office."
Yen: "Do as you please. But do give warnings before you teleport us next time."
Marione: "My apologies.."
They were teleported in front of the office door, before knocking thrice, waiting for a response.
Duchess of Ceresé: "You may enter."
Aquie was also dressed in the same azure uniform, Ceresé's symbol on her left as the golden epaulettes sit on her shoulders. The woman with emerald eyes also had her hair tied up in a bun. She was such a graceful figure, with the empire's respect and power. It made sense to why she became Duchess.
Duchess of Ceresé: "It's nice to know I don't need to remind you both to wear your uniforms. We need others to notice us as much as possible."
Marione: "Yes, the more others ask for help, the more information we'll get."
Duchess of Ceresé: "I've already told my assistant and your boyfriend to watch over the residence while we're gone."
Yen sighed, annoyed with Aquie's cheeky jokes.
Yen: "Haru isn't my boyfriend."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Hehe, I haven't even specified that it was Haru."
Yen: "I-I..! Let's just go.."
Yen made her way to rush out of the room with embarrassment. If only she didn't assume..! Marione just stood there and sighed.
Marione: "Oh, to have a lover.. Both of you already have candidates for lovers.."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Oh, cheer up! You're already married to your books."
Marione: "Oh dear.. please don't start this again...."
They both made their way to the carriage, tailing behind Yen, who refused to speak a word with them until she has gotten a hold of herself.
In the carriage, it was nothing but awkward silence as they all hopped in.
Yen: "I apologize.. for my sudden outburst."
Duchess of Ceresé: "It's alright. I used to do that few years back."
Marione: "Of course. 2 members of the royal family tried to court you, including your-"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Yeah, please don't remind me of those times where many nobles would confess to me.."
Yen: "It must be quite stressful while you were training as the heir of Ceresé back then."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Oh how stressful it is! That's how I'm able to manage my schedule much more carefully now."
Yen: "Doesn't that mean you have advice for me? It would be really helpful if you knew a thing or two about romance."
Aquie gave an awkward looking face, turning redder by the moment. It did shock Yen, but she figured that she remembered some memories from that experience of hers. How many people even try to court her in the first place?
Duchess of Ceresé: "It's best you take action and prepare to be disappointed if that person rejects you, but make sure not to take your relationship with someone for granted? You never know if someone's true nature could appear out of nowhere."
Yen: "So, like an assassination attempt.."
Duchess of Ceresé: "I mean, you could.. say it like that..?"
Marione: "Other than that, Yen, I really suggest you finish your mission. Who knows? Haru might stop liking you after a long time of waiting for something to happen."
Yen sat in silence, imagining the rejection Haru might pull off. What she was thinking was of course, something she knew Haru wouldn't do to anyone, but she couldn't help but pull in a lot of pessimistic thoughts.
Yen: "I really hope I finish my mission soon.."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Don't worry too much! He's the type of guy who would wait for you. A green flag, I must say. Too green, in fact, that I can't believe he isn't faking it."
Marione: "Prince Charming, I must say. A lucky guy like him got to suck Yen in like some sort of magnet.."
Yen: "You're saying it like he's a bad man."
Marione: "I'm not implying he is. I'm just happy about how lucky he is! You have high standards after Remi, you know?"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Who's.. Remi..?"
Yen: "It's Rui. You're forgetting his name again."
Marione soon realized her mistake, her confidence slowly turning into embarrassment as she covers her face with her gloved hands.
Marione: "Right.. but can you really blame me? It's easy to forget someone like him even exists."
Duchess of Ceresé: "That's true.. I forgot Yen even had a first love. If only Haru was her first, then it would work out better."
Yen: "For once, I agree with you."
They all continued to converse with each other, changing their moods depending on the topic and expressing their joy and displeased looks when commenting about a specific thing in the topic. Most of their conversations would be about love, giving Yen different kinds of advice and information as they talked about their experiences with amazing and disturbing types of people that come in their way.
Yen did seem a bit disturbed whenever Aquie would talk about her experiences. Being a target for assassinations because the Third Prince Allen and Princess Dianna, were members of the family who really had shown a different kind of affection towards them. It shocked Yen, as she never even expected that even the Princess had a crush on her.
As time passed, Aquie checked the time with magic, telling them that it's nearing noon and they might arrive anytime soon. Marione became excited, missing the food in Angel's and always talking highly about them to encourage Aquie to find some kind of interest towards it. Yen could somehow relate to Marione to an extent as she really loved their food, but Marione really never stopped talking about how amazing their food was.
The carriage then came to an abrupt stop, signaling that they have arrived. Aquie then thanked the coachman as they made their way to Angel's, with Marione guiding the way.
Marione: "I first discovered this 2 years ago! It was also the day they opened, so when I really expressed my gratitude and became friends with the owner, I got to become the the place's VIP."
Duchess of Ceresé: "The many stories you shared really is starting to pluck my curiosity one by one."
Yen: "She is quite in love with the buffet. It probably helps her with her stress. Look how happy she seems right now just by the mention of it's name..."
Marione did seem to start acting like a hyper animal. At least the stress has left the bodies of the three Ceresés.
Yet they could feel the eyes of the villagers nearby. Many were fawning over them, most especially over Yen and Aquie.
"Is that the Ceresé siblings?!"
"The Duchess looks so wonderful!"
"The Young Lady of Ceresé is so gorgeous.."
"I'm curious with their magic abilities.."
Yen: "We're really grabbing a lot of attention, it's really.."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Just don't mind them too much. Once people see nobles, it usually depends on their status or rank in society that would determine how long they'd stare."
Marione: "But we're second after the Royal Family.."
Aquie cleared her throat.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Just.. don't mind them that much."
Soon, they found themselves being greeted with great hospitality by the workers of the buffet, taking them to a VIP section of the buffet to eat in.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Now, this is a bit convenient.. I hate going near too much people."
Yen: "Do you want me to be the one to get you some food?"
After Aquie became Duchess, she had less time to eat, so as her sister, she would bring in some of the food from the meal she had missed, and after Aquie would talk to her about anything in particular to keep a conversation, Yen had figured out a lot of new things she never knew about her, which includes her food preferences. She had been awfully specific about it whenever that would be the topic they would converse about.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Thank you, but I wish to try this myself."
Getting food wasn't a problem as the three of them went and waited for each other on which food they would get. The only problem was the hard stares they were getting. Many might have thought that they were too busy to even go outside and rest.
"Whoa.. it's the Ceresés..!"
Yen: 'Hah.. if there was truly a day we could go out in formal wear without getting any peculiar stares from anyone..'
The food was something that they could always enjoy despite the many stares, piercing through them like lasers. None of them minded that much, though, as Aquie mainly focused on the food's taste, judging if what Marione said was true, or something she exaggerated too much.
Marione had been anticipating an answer, hoping Aquie would take a liking to the food.
Duchess of Ceresé: "It's actually.. quite good for a buffet."
Yen: "Right? They really do their best to make sure their customers get good food. I'd rate it 5 stars."
Duchess of Ceresé; "Now, it kind of makes me wonder if this is what you used your luck on. It seems too good to be true, I must say."
Marione: "I've been lucky ever since! What are you talking about?"
Duchess of Ceresé: "You haven't been that lucky two years ago."
She stayed silent.
Yen: "It's true though. I'd say it was the worst year of your life."
By the time they were finished eating as much as they intended to, Aquie left a huge tip of 1,000 REN, which shocked the waiter, yet he was thanking her repeatedly, which had brought a huge smile on her face to see how happy he was.
Marione: "Quite the huge tip, I must say."
Duchess of Ceresé: "I hope to help this buffet grow. I truly believe it has the potential to do so, with or without my help. I'm just speeding the process."
The waiter comes back to say that the payment has been received and they may leave now. As they finally went back out, Yen stretched from the amount of time she had been sitting there, now enjoying the fresh air that's flowing with the large, happy groups of people.
Marione: "Now, what should we do next?"
Duchess of Ceresé: "Head back, of course. My assistant can't do everything forever, you know?"
Marione: "Right.."
Suddenly, a young boy came running, tugging Aquie by her cape, which shocked the capital with the sudden action. He was terrified of something, that's for sure, because he was bawling his eyes out and even if he did try to stop crying, the tears would continue to flow.
Aquie was shocked in seeing the child, frail in her presence. She turned to face him and squatted down a bit to go eye to eye with the boy.
Duchess of Ceresé: "What's the matter?"
At that point, he started to hug her and bawl his eyes out, stuttering with each and every word and sentence that came out of his mouth.
Joshua: "M-my name- Joshua, a-and M-m-mommy is in da-anger.. p-pleas-se h-help mommy.."
With that signal alone, Marione put a layer of protection against anyone in her sights.
Marione: "I sense a monster. Poscanitus's doing. I need you to distract as I try to teleport all these people away."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Teleport them all in the guest house of Ceresé Residence. Haru is probably patrolling that area. He'll know what to do."
Yen drew out her sword, running to the direction the Joshua came from.
Yen: 'I have to see if the mother's alive..'
Not only does she have to make sure if the mother was alright, so that Joshua wouldn't have to worry all that much, she also had to see for herself what Poscanitus had summoned. Perhaps a newly possessed animal by Malum.
Once she got to the scene, she could spot a woman who looked exactly like Joshua, which she assumed as his mother.
Yen: "Miss! Please get out of the scene!"
She was standing straight, facing the wall. She seemed to have ignored what Yen said, which led her curious. It was as if she were in a daze.
Yen: "Miss..?"
Yen came closer. She became horrified when she saw the woman, eyes black, and mouth wide open, mumbling the same word 'Poscanitus' over and over again. If what she thought would be an animal possession, it was in fact human possession.
Yen: 'Is this a possession?!'
She took a step back, not knowing what to do.
Yen: 'Maybe I could bring her to Marione..'
With that, she carried the woman, bridal style, running back to where Marione and Aquie were located. The more time had passed, the louder she could hear her. It terrified her, yet she couldn't bring herself to leave the woman. She was suffering greatly, most likely trying her best to resist Malum's temptations.
By the time she spotted her two sisters, the crowd of people had disappeared, which had meant that Marione teleported them away already.
Yen: "Marione! Please help her!"
Marione ran to her, eyeing the woman in arms like some sort of anomaly as Yen slowly explained what she saw.
Marione: "Let her stand up."
Yen put her down, adjusting her to stand up as to what she saw a while back. Marione's eyes opened.
Marione: "She's already possessed, but why isn't she attacking..? Unless.."
Marione turned to look at Yen, fear in her eyes, which had scared her. What made her that worried that she had to look at Yen.
Yen: "Guh..!"
She gasped, feeling a wave of blood fall out her mouth. Aquie rushed to her side after she teleported Joshua away, hoping he wouldn't see such a scene.
Duchess of Ceresé: "Marione! What's happening to her?!"
Marione: "She touched her, which meant poison is circulating through her right now."
Marione teleported the possessed body away.
Marione; "I teleported the lady to the tower to research on. For now, we should hurry and teleport her back before.."
She didn't dare finish that sentence. Yen was coughing on her knees. Her chest hurt immensely and the poison was slowly killing her. It felt like the pure torture in her nightmares.
Marione didn't hesitate to carry Yen, teleporting them to the hall, where Haru was located, calming down the people in the capital.
One look at Yen, he went in shock. He wanted to hold her, reassure her that she would be alright, yet seeing the passed out figure with blood all over her let him know that whatever he wanted to do with her wouldn't help at all.
Haru: "I'll call the doctor!"
Yen was soon bedridden, unconscious and frail to the world and it had worried everyone who cared for her, most especially Haru.
Doctor: "She'll wake up in a week or so, do not fret too much."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Thank you, Doctor. You may leave now."
When the Doctor left, Haru just stared at the woman he loved, who he thought was most likely suffering right now, fighting for her life in the borders of life and death.
Duchess of Ceresé: "She'll be fine, Haru. Just take a moment to rest, it's been a long day."
Haru: "Yes.. Duchess.."
As he left the room, hoping not to disturb the two sisters, he really did start to lose a fragment of hope, not to Yen, but to himself. For not being able to be there and save her.
Duchess of Ceresé: "It will take some time for him to recover."
Marione: "But time hasn't turned back yet, which means she's still alive."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Yes, I trust her. But for now, I suggest you research on the possessed woman. Try to find out how to get her out of Malum's reach."
Marione: "It must be from Maluminus. It will take me a few days, but I trust my abilities. I'll just come to your office to report to you now and then."
Duchess of Ceresé: "Yes, of course."
With Yen down, speeding up the case's research more would be better in contributing to keep Yen's life intact. It became their motivation.