- Mn. - Sophie was stunned and blushed a little more at Clare's action, she didn't know how to react to the situation, but even though she didn't know how to act, just looking at her expression made it clear that she was thrilled and happy about the situation.
Arthur looking at the interaction of the two was happy as he watched the silly smile on his sister's face, after watching them both for a few seconds he also began to smile and ended up hugging both Clare and his sister without thinking; Sophie who was happy was surprised when another arm wrapped around her, then she looked to her left and saw Arthur's smiling face looking at her, and before she could say anything she heard her brother's playful voice. - Good morning! My dear little sister! - Sophie looked at her smiling brother and smiled again, even though she felt sad that her parents didn't visit her like the other children, or that she complained that Arthur didn't spend as much time in hospital, she still loved him; even though she didn't understand why he couldn't spend more time with her, the best moments of her days for as long as she could remember were when her brother visited her.Sophie was happy that her brother was with her, and she even removed her right arm from around Clare's stomach to hug Arthur, and being hugged by the person who had told her that she would be her mother along with her brother made Sophie's smile stand out even more.
- Good morning! - While still hugging Arthur and Clare, she said in an excited voice.
Clare looks at both children with a calm and gentle expression with a slight smile as countless memories flash through her mind, unfortunately her rambling was cut short by the ring of her cell phone, looking at the desk and seeing the number she just sighs and looks at Sophie and Arthur before speaking. - I need to call back, but today I'm taking the day off so we'll talk later, okay? - she asked while smiling at the children.
Sophie, who had been lifted by Clare and placed next to her brother, looked at her with an upset expression and as Clare stood up, she grabbed her shirt and spoke. - When you get back can we... play?
Clare was surprised by Sophie's question but seeing the expectation on both her and Arthur's faces, she said with a smile. - Of course, but I'm not going to take it easy just because you're my daughter. - Clare walked to the door and when she was already outside and about to close the door, she turned and said to both of them. - We can play whatever you want in the afternoon, but I have to take care of a few things in the morning... When you want to have breakfast, just come down, see you later... - Clare said this and closed the door after watching them for a while.
- Do you want to go for coffee?
- I want to lie down for a while... You can go first. - Sophie said, smiling at Arthur.
Arthur looked at his little sister smiling and got up, but instead of leaving as Sophie suggested he just went to the bathroom, Sophie looked at him closing the bathroom door and lay back down to stare at the ceiling of the room; the sun was now covering his head and spreading down to his abdomen, thanks to the sun she had to squint his eyes which were glowing a deep green, but they weren't glowing just because of the sun but because of the tears that in the next instant began to run down his cheeks.
- ...Eeek! ic!... Eeek! ic! - Arthur sat leaning against the door as he heard sporadic sobs, and listening to his sister cry, a few tears streamed down his face as he remembered all the few precious moments he'd had with his sister and how happy she'd been when she'd talked to Clare today, he got up and went to the mirror. Arthur faced himself, he looked at himself for a long time and his vision focused mainly on his now crimson eyes, he stared at himself until the tears stopped flowing and he whispered. - I'll never lose anyone again... Since I got these eyes like hers, I should be able to look a little like her... - Arthur said this to himself and closed his eyes, he went over the memories of Samantha he had seen last time, and went over the last training session, especially the demonstration she had given him of her mark. After several seconds had passed, Arthur's eyes opened and a blue light in the shape of a triquetra radiated from them as he stared at himself in the mirror. After looking into his eyes, he looked at his right hand, which was out of reach of the mirror, from where a red light was radiating strongly.
- I'm not willing to be weak! - Arthur muttered with conviction, recalling his conversation with Samantha before closing his eyes. When he reopened them, the light in his eyes and in his hand had vanished.
As the children cried a pair of red eyes looked up at a world made up of flames, Samantha had a smile on her face as she looked up, and with a cheerful tone she said. - Of course I wouldn't be, after all, you're my brother! - Samantha continued smiling for a while before walking over to the bed again and lying down, with a serious face this time she muttered. - What expressions will the gods make when I return? I wonder, did they expect me to be able to understand the path I created? The path to abandon sorcery and embrace it as a goddess too..., But without ties... - Samantha continued to look thoughtful for a while longer before sighing and closing her eyes. 'It will still take him a while to master these marks, let alone the third...' After pondering several things, Samantha decided to just wait and teach her new "brother" to prepare for the breaking of the seal.
Clare went down to the first floor of the house, and then she went out into the yard and walked for a few minutes, she calmly passed the artificial lake, and continued walking through the garden until she stopped and leaned against a tree while she enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight on her body, she allowed herself to be bathed and warmed by the sunlight for a long time while she relaxed and only after several minutes did she decide to walk again; she walked through the garden until a metal trapdoor appeared, she looked at the trapdoor and knelt down right in front of it and placed her hand on the only piece of glass at the bottom edge on the right-hand side. Clare left her hand for just a second before the red light came on and then she stood up, the trap door slowly opened to where a simple, well-lit corridor stretched out, she walked down the corridor and came to a completely white metal door. As soon as she opened the door, a scene contrary to the expectations of anyone who saw the simple corridor unfolded, there was a huge living room with an apparently comfortable sofa and numerous plants around the room, and apart from that there was just some simple furniture that gave the place the air of an old office, among the furniture that filled the room was a desk with a computer that was apparently on; Clare entered the room and closed the door, when the door was closed the trapdoor also closed, and as the trapdoor closed Clare walked over to the desk where she pulled out the chair that was apparently customized and appeared to be extremely comfortable and sat down, she then laid the chair down and stretched out and stared at the plants for several seconds.
- Sigh... - After several seconds of looking at all the plants, she let out a sigh before taking her cell phone out of her pocket, then placed it on the table and said quietly. - Connect device "TMN - 2" - After that she closed her eyes and a robotic voice sounded in the room.
[TMN - 2 device initializing... Connecting to network... Confirming user voice... Connecting to devices near user... System ready. Welcome, user Clare Leken]
- Connect me to the marshal of Clypeus territory. - Clare said while still leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed.
[initiating connection...]
Note:I'm creating a Patreon page while writing both stories, which has disrupted my schedule. However, I hope everything will return to normal after Sunday.
"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."