She caught her sister in the act.

No, that's not the right word.

She caught her step-sister in the act again.

Yes, that's it.

Mother must not know that she made the mistake of referring to Delia as her sister. That is like brewing a putrid potion of trouble.

And Alina did not like trouble with any one.

The worst person to get into trouble with in the whole Castle is Mother.

Even Father, with all his beards and muscular always shield away from confrontations with mother.

Yes, Alina is a sharp girl and she has noticed that.

But no, mother must not catch the sharpness in her eyes... Or even notice how intelligence she is. It'd only brew more trouble.

Alina did not like trouble with anyone, most especially not with mother.

And yes, she caught Delia again in the act.

And this time around, it is with the new cocky knight father had employed two days ago to start protecting his visitors through the Valley of Two Crowns; now an abode for some of the most notorious bandits the kingdom had even produced in a hundred years.

Surely not as notorious as The Merry Men or The Seven Eagles that Alina had read of inside Father's Private library.

But these ones inside the deep woods behind the valley are notorious nonetheless.

Yes, back to Delia. Alina had caught her with the Knight.

And the two were secretly at it in the kitchen late after the cooks had been done with their works there.

Alina had just been sneaking back from Father's library where she had gone since after dinner to read books...as always.

The library also served as a place for the young lady to escape from unintentionally becoming a scape goat of Mother's never ending wrath.

She caught them pants down. Dalia sitting on the long kitchen table, gown's up and fair exposed legs wide apart, the Knight's nose is buried deep within her neck and his hands deep inside her thighs.

Alina stepped out in reverse as she came in upon them almost immediately.

They didn't notice that she had entered, Delia's moaning must have overlapped the walking steps of Alina.

She had already caught Delia 4 times and only twice with the same person. Of all those four times, Delia knew only one of it.

That's a lot of time to be caught for the prestigious daughter of a whole Provincial Lord of the Great Kingdom. A fully fledged castle princess.

But what does Alina knows? She's just the slow dull-witted girl Mother wants everyone to believe she is. The daughter sired by Father during the warring days with a camp whore.

Many people don't say that, especially not anywhere near Alina.

But she always heard them either ways... If it's not by word, then by the way they stare whenever she passes.

Or the way they squeeze face and spit while looking away as if to hide their disgust at the thought of something so unholy living in the world and luxury of the nobles.

Alina did not want it, she has never wanted to be here.

But the outside world is cold.

And to be living in a castle like this is a privilege many thousands of girls living in Butcher's Bay would sacrifice their life for.

So Alina had decided not to run away, but to build a thick skin until such time that she'd be able to survive all the cruelty of the world on her own.

And it is with such conviction that she endures all the bad things Mother and her people say about her all the time.

Even though Mother's own beloved daughter is an impudent brat that will lay with any man that has a banana hanging in his groin.

But Delia is the apple of her mother's eyes, and she's an even colder manipulator than the mother, which means it'd be dangerous for her to let the impudent brat know that she had caught her again.

And so , she silently slipped out of the room.

Ignoring the hunger for pies and cold chicken stew that had brought her towards the kitchen in the first place.

Up the stairs she climbed, hugging tight at her body and feeling her way up by tracing hands along the railings that is there to protect anyone and everyone from a steep fall off the stairs.

She went up and up until she reached the artic where her room was.

And thanks to the books she had read, Alina had made it an habit to lubricate the hinges of her door so they don't make any creeking noise whenever it is opened or closed.

She slipped in quietly and locked the door behind her.

And there she felt her peace again.

In this little artic room that has grown to become the only comfort zone for her in the world.

Alina walked towards her bed that lay by the slanting wall that is also the roof of the artic.

Thanks to father, a part of the roof had been changed to glass, and that allows her to witness the beauty of the night sky on clear night and the beauty of the moon when it's fully out.

And although she gets scared whenever it's raining heavily that the glass on the roof will cave in and break and her room will be flooded with water, that had never happened.

But still, the same paranoid fear never goes away.

She did not let Father know of her fear tho, lest he orders the glass to be replaced by rooting sheets... And that would take away one of Alina's most favorite part of the room.

She lay down on the bed but the sleep is not coming.

She had nothing to fall back to but her thoughts....but whatever she tries to think of, the memories of a Moaning Delia and the hands inside her thighs always get back at Alina.

She knew it's not the best thing to think of and so she forced her thoughts harder.

So she started thinking about the book she had only stopped reading from the libraries some hours ago.

It's was an historical classic. A collection of books detailing the events that had started from the God Wars and then through to about 800 years later which was the Secession of the Old World; when most of the other high creatures left the world in a bid to fight the greatest war of all time in Paradis- The true world.

The quest was written as the major event that would mean the end of the long history of rivalry and politics and wars and feuds between the human race and the other three races.

And the event was also the begining of the rise of humans as the sole proprietors of the world.

One thing Alina has always wished for though was a world where all the five races of high brings still dwell together... Perhaps it would have been a lot more chaotic, perhaps less.

Either way, humans would be less arrogant and prideful as they are now in this age. Sometimes, Alina likes to think she's different from the normal humans...with their fake smiles and proud wide mouthed laughter.

Their haughty strides and subtle mockery of people they thought lesser than them.

And their deceitful actions, lies and betrayals.

But what to do, Alina is only human too...even though she'd never find her self go so low as to start engaging in their vices.

She gazed into the stars, through the glass panel on her roof and she thought about the many crazy worlds that could would be in them.

Paradis among.

Before she fell asleep, she wondered how in the world had the other high races learned to travel beyond the planes of this world.

And why had the humans alive now could not even provide a single bit of knowledge regarding the Ascension of those beings into Paradis.

Or perhaps, some of them knew it and were keeping it from others.

Humans and their deceit.

Slowly, the rage in her mind faded until she was slowly and fast asleep.

***

Delia could not control herself even though she tried.

This young handsome man here surely knows his way with women and she had already lost all reasonable thoughts as he slowly traced his long finger along the openings of her wetness.

Her mouths wide open, watering, eyes closed and hands grabbing tight at the Knights back. She enjoyed the teasing but wished he'd just put the long fingers in. They do not have all night.

But the Knight is a cocky bastard, and she knew he was playing a game with her.

If she showed any eagerness, he'd only increased the torment.

So all she could do is slowly grind her waist against the fingers and it felt so good. She moaned.

The Knight smiled inwardly.

I didn't think this would be so easy... Now this one is mine.

And he laughed in his mind. A wicked cocky laughter.

He slipped In one finger slowly and he could feel the warmness of her inside. He could hear the increase in the pace of her heartbeat and her moanings are no more muffled. She grinded deep against the finger and this time, he obliged.

Enough play.

He worked his way with his fingers, his mind now on how to succeed with the next stage of his plan.