Elysia sat at the end of the table, waiting for the lyra and the rest. She wondered what they were doing that was taking so much time, little Isolde was already salivating and constantly reaching out for the piece of meat in front of her.
''don't bother waiting for the rest of them, you can eat if you are so hungry'' elysia said you lyra patting down on her head
Renjiro was dressed in a blue top and a pair of brown shorts, he shut the room and headed for the dining, unlike his family's castle there were guards positioned virtually everywhere, this made him question the competency of alaric. When he arrived at the dining he saw that only elysia and little Isolde were seated, he pulled out a seat next to little Isolde and sat down, he saw little Isolde munching down on a juicy piece of meat and he salivated.
''what have you guys been doing? Have you seen lyra'' elysia asked
''no, I haven't seen her since I left to clean up'' he replied
Lyra came rushing in a few seconds later with Melora in tow. ''sorry I'm late mother, my room was a bit messy and I had to clean it up''. Melora's face heated up with lyra's apology knowing that she was the reason why lyra's room was messy.
''that's ok, lyra say a prayer to the goddess''
''goddess of fertility''
''goddess of growth''
''nourish us as we eat with your blessing'' lyra concluded
Renjiro couldn't remember the last time he had eaten with his mother, so whenever he ate he didn't bother praying to anyone, it wasn't like he believed in any of the god's in this universe, he wasn't exactly a religious person in his previous life but his transmigration reenforced his belief.
''let's eat'' elysia announced and renjiro didn't waste a second before digging into his plate, he ate like an animal and in a few seconds he was done. Melora looked at him in shock, she couldn't believe someone could eat that much food in such record time.
''so Melora where are you from'' elysia asked shocking her, Melora didn't know when it started but she had always been able to gauge people's strength, that is why she never took zephyrus seriously, she saw him as a weak plaything for lyra, but she couldn't get a read on this woman, her energy felt wrong and she had a thick stench of death around her, and that she could kill her with just a stare. She felt compelled to answer to any question elysia asked.
''you are spacing out'' lyra said nudging her
''I don't know where I was born but my first memory was from an orphanage in the kingdom of sunflower, then I was adopted by a family where everyone was an elite, it was a family with two male kids about the oldest was twenty and the younger child was fourteen. I was happy till the eldest son came to me at night while I was sleeping, I noticed someone touching me and I shrieked in fear, by the time everyone rushed into the room, he was foaming from the mouth and after a few months when he got better they found out that he couldn't channel energy anymore and blamed it on me, sending me back to the orphanage'' Melora said with tears in her eyes trying to elicit sympathy from elysia but she had seen a lot in her life and wasn't moved by sob stories.
''how old are you'' elysia asked
''so she didn't fall for it'' Melora thought to herself in frustration, she wasn't lying about her experience but the truth was that she wasn't affected by it, she had a cheerful outlook on life so she stopped being bothered about it long ago. At that point she remembered that she hadn't replied to elysia's question yet.
''I am eighteen''
''eighteen' elysia shouted spewing out all the contents of her mouth in surprise, she couldn't believe it. She could have sworn that the girl in front of her was at most twelve.
''got you with that one'' Melora thought smugly
''do you have a growth deficiency of any sort'' elysia asked forcefully holding down laughter
Melora shook her head in annoyance, zephyrus who she hated was still laughing at elysia's surprise, lyra was still also trying to hold in her laughter.
''do you know why those men were trying to sell you off'' elysia asked
Melora knew that there was no way she could escape this, if she wasn't honest elysia would have her kicked out of her castle and Melora would be captured and sold off again, she decided to tell the truth and trust that she wouldn't be used.
''after I was taken back to the orphanage, the doctor there discovered that my blood could seal one's energy pathway by mere contact, so he took me to a laboratory and took my blood once every month, that's where I lived till he decided to sell me off'' Melora said
''is there a way you can activate this ability without having to lose blood'' elysia asked
Lyra shook her head and elysia nodded in understanding, from what she heard Melora had been through a lot so she had decided to let her live with them and was going to let her have one of the rooms in the castle.
''you can stay here for as long as you like, tomorrow is a school day so you should get prepared, you'll be going with lyra and zephyrus, your uniform should be here in the morning and I would message the school administrator tonight so you can get registered'' elysia said and stood up, little Isolde had grown bored with their discussion and eventually fell asleep, elysia picked her up and left the dining area.
Melora leapt onto lyra and shot renjiro an evil eye, he ignored her and stood up planning on heading up and falling asleep as soon as he hit the bed leaving lyra with Melora who she was trying to get off her.