Noah left Natalie behind without hesitation, inwardly relieved when he didn't hear her move to pursue him. Instead, Natalie let him go and seemed to head to another part of the Everbright estate with mixed feelings.
The both of them knew full well that Natalie would have preferred to just take Noah to Duchess Everbright, but it was also true that forcing a healer would never lead to good results. The result was a compromise where Noah was tacitly allowed some freedom in the Everbright estate under the assumption he wouldn't flee. Meanwhile, Natalie would speak personally to Sophia Everbright.
It was an ideal development all things considered, but the present dilemma was far from it.
Noah sighed, expression growing flushed with embarrassment while standing at a fork in the hall of the apprentice barracks. Both ways looked the same, and he'd been too focused on studying the sigils of his cross in the time Natalie had guided him in. Inevitably, he'd made a mistake on the path while trying to backtrack to John and Leah.
He was lost.
Not giving up, he tried walking a few minutes longer and ended up in a storage room that contained numerous apprentice practice swords and weapons.
His expression twisted, an eye twitching. Even in the modern world, he didn't remember being this bad at navigation, so was this a quirk of the original Noah?
It had to be. Noah refused to accept that he was directionally impaired, but reality was making that hope fleeting.
Staring at the practice sword in front of him, Noah subconsciously reached forward and held one in his grip.
Instantly, a familiar weight and force of mana leaching from the training jewel over the hilt assailed him. Unperturbed, Noah gingerly moved the sword up and down, slowly going through the motions before breaking out of a trance when he heard the scuffle of footsteps behind him and the creaking of a door opening.
Noah put the sword down, and hid it behind him before facing the direction of the sound.
Raelyn, the little girl he'd just healed, stood there while giving him a confused look.
"Mr. Are you lost?" She eventually asked him in an awkward tone, giving away that she'd been following and watching him at some point.
Noah felt his sense of respect attacked as the older of the two.
Raelyn was going around with an oversized blanket around her shoulders despite her arms being healed of deformity. Likely, it was a subconscious defense mechanism born from insecurity. Only her head peaked out, the red of her hair forming a bird's nest from her bed head. From behind, a portion of the blanket dragged over the floor, making her look like a wayward child.
"You're lost?" Raleyn repeated at Noah's forced silence.
"No-ack, fine." Noah squirmed as he tried to lie and save face, but was forced to reconsider from a sharp pain.
Honesty was policy now.
"Yes, I'm lost." Noah had no choice but to admit.
Furiously nodding her head, Raelyn bobbed as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Can I help?" She asked, looking all too eager to be of aid.
Considering that Raelyn had likely been in the apprentice barracks longer than Noah, Noah had no reason to decline when he'd already admitted that he was lost.
"Thanks for the help."
Raelyn's expression brightened, but it wasn't long before Noah began to suspect that something was wrong while following Raelyn.
There had only been an inkling of suspicion at first, but that practically turned into certainty when she backtracked from a third empty room.
"...You don't know where you're going either, do you?" Noah said flatly.
Raelyn blushed, bowing her head.
/-/
Nervously, Annette Everbright stood in front of the imposing figure of her mother seated on her work desk in the middle of her office. The silence was stifling as the two women who bore the greatest resemblance to each other did nothing more than stare.
Finally, as if losing interest in the charade, Sophia Everbright, turned back to her papers and ignored her only daughter. The sound of a quill tip dipped in ink, and then pressed against paper echoed while Annette's expression wilted from a feeling of dismissal.
Annette's hands balled into fists, her mouth feeling dry, as she stood there looking every bit like the fool her mother made her feel to be ever since her mother took her father's place.
It was always the same, never different.
An Everbright should not cower, but lead by demonstration. To stand with dignity, and let their presence alone strike confidence in their followers.
Annette recalled her mother stressing this numerous times, and yet facing her mother had always been difficult when she knew how much of a disappointment her mother thought her to be. B-But this was for no one else but her father who made her feel the most loved.
Annette couldn't remain silent, and so with great difficulty, she opened her mouth and croaked out.
"M-Mother." Annette greeted stiffly, finally getting her mother to pause in her writing of documents and letters.
Sophia put down her writing quilt, and glanced up at Annette as if she'd been waiting for it all along. The neutrality of Sophia's face never failed to make Annette purse her lips. Was that anyway to look at your own child with such indifference? Father never looked at her like that.
"Daughter," Sophia greeted cordially, never failing to advise on Annette's shortcomings. "If you are the one to request an audience, you should be firm, not meek."
Annette couldn't even deny it. Even now, she was consciously avoiding her mother's eyes. "Y-Yes mother." She eventually got out.
"Fix your gaze."
Of course, Sophia did not miss her own daughter's actions. You could never get an advantage in discourse unless you could face your adversary down. When would she learn? Love was what enforced Sophia's strictness, and that came with the knowledge of Sophia's own shortcomings and mistakes she had to learn the hard way to internalize. You never get the upper hand if you expect things to go your way without self action and thought, and if so, might as well turn this into another learning experience.
"You requested this meeting, so at least have the prudence not to waste my time." Sophia steepled her fingers, leaning forward. "No matter, there are other topics to discuss if you lack the initiative."
Annette's eyes wavered, but she still failed to raise her head, only spurring Sophia's disappointment further.
"Mother I-"
"You should be on your best behavior. The coalition should have sent a representative to Everbright to stir up a motive or justification to contest our family's administrative right to Amaranth."
Sophia directly interrupted Annette, showing it as a lesson that if you wanted your voice heard, meekness would get you nowhere. An Everbright does not cower, and if drowned by the voice of another, cut in with a sharpness that suffocates the other side.
"Henri is meeting the representative at the gate, and you will be present when the meeting officially starts."
"Mother!" Annette finally started yelling, letting her voice be heard, but she said the wrong words. "Please, I think I really found a way to help dad!"
Sophia's expression darkened considerably like picking a dagger into a sore wound.
"As expected, it was for this again…" Sophia felt her heart bleeding, her mana control loosening and emitting a pale frost around her. "Annette Everbright. Enough is enough. This isn't what your father would have wanted of you."
"Mom-"
"Those three street kids you brought in? You think I didn't know?"
"If you could just give me the chance-!"
"Are they your new cure? How have you been swindled this time?"
"..."
"You disappoi-."
Tears dripped down Annette's face, startling Sophia so much her icy expression broke into an awkward panic. Annette had never cried before. Annette was a strong girl, and at least that part was something Sophia was proud of. So then why? Why was Annette crying while bowing her head?
"I hate you!" Annette screamed, finally meeting her mother's eyes through sheer emotion.
Quickly, Sophia hardened her features again, but she was far from inwardly composed. She was shocked and anxious with a sense of guilt.
"D-Dismissed."
It was the first time Sophia had ever stammered as Duchess Everbright, but Annette was now too heated to even notice.
"W-Why can't you just trust me?! Why can't you just listen to me?! Y-You never cared about dad, did you?!"
The hold Sophia had on her mana was slipping faster and faster, the accusations more and more piercing as Annette finally unloaded her grievances without care.
"Dismissed."
This time, Sophia used more force in her tone, realizing her magic energy was getting out of control and distorting the air around her. If she couldn't rein it in on time, her daughter would be in danger.
For Annette, her mother's words could only appear like an indifferent rejection.
Pressured by Sophia's rising magic aura, Annette could do little more than shiver and buckle her knees.
Annette pursed her lips and blinked back her tears as she quickly stormed out, unable to even start to explain Noah's conditions.
It was clear her mother wouldn't listen anyway.