"Hello Duchess."
It was a somewhat simple greeting to give someone of her stature but it was acceptable. The woman with a dress clad in numerous gemstones was going to be her mother in law after all, not to mention that the girl's status was technically higher than hers.
"Princess Mira! Always lovely to see you. I apologize for cutting your time with Felix short but we need to get going before night falls."
"Are you sure you can't stay?"
"Apologies Princess. We have pressing matters to attend to back home."
"I understand, Duchess."
"Thank you for understanding Princess. Come on Felix."
"Ok mom."
Before getting on the carriage, the boy turned towards his fiance.
"Well then, see you next achoo!"
A sneeze interrupted his goodbye. It was quite embarrassing but he quickly regained his composure, though his face was still a bit red. The sight made the girl giggle as she sent him off.
"Apologies. See you next week, Princess."
"Hehe, see you next week Felix."
She smiled and waved as the door to the carriage closed and they started to head off towards their destination.
"Hopefully Young master Laten's condition improves. It would not look good on us if he caught a cold here."
"Was it really that cold Kara?"
'How come I don't feel it?'
"Yes Princess. Which is why we urge not to go outside like this. You just got back from being sick Princess. It would be best for you to not go back to it so soon."
"I-I'll keep that in mind Kara."
The girl stared at the boy's carriage as it gradually went away. Now, without the presence of her fiance, she felt the cold atmosphere around her. She wrapped her arms around herself trying to keep warm.
'I guess it really is cold.'
Although they had just parted ways, the girl found herself longing for the boy's companionship already.
****
"A-Achoo!"
"Your father's not gonna be happy with that one Lix."
"I hope this clears up when we get home."
"Doubtful, but what were you and the princess even doing outside? I thought all you two did was play board games whenever you spend time together."
"Usually yeah, but she wanted to study today."
"Really?"
Felix tended to tell his folks a fair bit about the time he spent with the girl so it was somewhat surprising to hear that she wanted to study.
"I wonder what prompted that."
"Achoo!"
The boy sneezed once more.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright Lix."
As the boy was wiping his face, the sound of crackling lightning could be heard. Not long after, the door to their carriage opened with Kirk holding out his sword towards them. The blade gave off an aura of warmth as Felix took it off his hands.
"It's not as good as Lady Kashina's ember lights, but it should make you a bit warmer."
"Thank you Kirk."
As Felix brought the sword closer to himself, he felt the warmth of the electrified blade. Not too hot, but also not too cold. He let out a satisfying breath as he hugged the blade.
"That feels so nice."
"You're making it look like it does."
His mother looked back at the imperial castle growing smaller in the distance.
"Lix… about the Princess. What do you think about her?"
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said, what do you think of her?"
"Well…"
Felix was silent as he thought about the question.
"I don't know. I…"
"It's alright Lix. No need to think about it too hard."
"Hmm…"
His feelings about the girl were very clear, but putting it into words was slightly difficult for him. He was quite neutral most of the time but he tended to have negative thoughts about her.
"I guess… She's just alright."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah… Ah…."
Felix was unsure of why his mother had suddenly asked about his feelings but after answering she stayed silent as stared out the window.
****
As night fell the imperial palace, a guest that they thought would appear at a later time came knocking at the front gates. Jyllene's request for Aurelia to return only happened yesterday and their reply that they were gonna come back only came a few hours ago. So the carriage that bore the imperial family's crest that was there came as a surprise to everyone. The guardsmen hurried to open the gate as they saw the crest
"It's been quite some time since I've been here."
Aurelia stepped out of the carriage and entranced the people around her. Her long golden hair and striking ruby red eyes were truly just like her mother's. The majesty that she gave off felt similar to hers as well.
"Princess, you are already here."
An older gentleman stepped out from the main palace doors and greeted the entourage.
"It's nice to see you again, Count Hibiki. How've things been here?"
"To still address me as a Count, haha… it has truly been a long time."
The gentleman bowed deeply towards her.
"Has something happened for me to no longer call you as such?"
"I handed over the burden of my territory and title to my daughter. Strictly speaking I am merely Shira Hibiki now. And I must say, I have never felt better so you could say things have been quite good."
"Is that so? How has Countess Mika been doing then?"
"To know even my daughter's name that you have never met before, haha. Was it in the test files? She's doing splendidly."
Shira smiled as he told Aurelia of his situation. It was inevitable for nobility to pass on their titles and territories onto their children but it tended to be after they had already passed. Not many would give up the power that came with a noble title while they were alive after all. They cling to it to the very end and often have to be forced to give up their power. But seeing him speak so fondly of his daughter, it seemed that his case was of the rarer kind.
"That is good to hear, but why did you give it up?"
"I believe my daughter has a good head on her shoulders. I trust that she would do a far better job at handling the territory than me who would bounce back from here to there."
"But why not give this job up?"
"Alright you two."
Before Aurelia could get an answer Jenna clapped her hands to interrupt them.
"I know you two are having fun catching up but everyone wants to do that too."
Looking behind her, the servants all seemed eager to enter.
"My it seems that I was a little too eager to greet the princess. Sorry about that Jenna but I'm sure you know why we're talking like this, no?"
"I know full well, Senior Shira, but surely they should be finished by now."
"If they're worth their salt, they should be. Let's see shall we?"
"Huh? See what?"
Aurelia was a bit lost as to what the two were talking about, but in response to her confused look, they chuckled.
"Well let's see if they are ready then."
Shira turned around and gestured for Aurelia to get ready to enter. Jenna grabbed the other side door and nodded at him. Together they opened the doors with Aurelia at the center. As she stepped inside, she saw all the staff that she had not seen in years lined up seemingly there to greet them.
A huge banner with the words welcome back written on it hung above the grand staircase. It was all the more surprising to see that her name was not alone on the welcome banner. Everyone from her to the coachman had their names written on it.
""Welcome back Princess Aurelia.""
They all bowed as they greeted her. All these people had gone out of their way to welcome her back. She felt a little guilty as she knew they probably all had their own duties to attend to, but she also knew that this was part of it.
"Look at that, looks like they did finish."
"What did they finish?"
"Preparations for your arrival. It might not be as extravagant as it could be but given that all of them are here now, it should be acceptable."
"Hun?"
Aurelia looked a little closer at the servants' state. Though they looked alright from the outside, it was clear that they were breathing a bit harder than normal and some were even sweating albeit slightly. It was barely noticeable but Aurelia still saw it.
"Were they rushing to get something?"
"Of course they were Darling."
A booming voice came from the very top of the staircase. Though he was obscured by the banner and it had been a long time, Aurelia knew who that voice came from. The ruby red hair and massive stature of the man walking down the steps were unmistakable that of her father's.
"You did say that you were coming back tonight after all. So we had to rush a couple things to make sure that the palace was presentable."
"Dad!"
Aurelia was barely listening to what her father was saying, she immediately ran towards him and gave him the biggest hug she could. It was behavior unfit for a member of the imperial family, but it was just right for a girl who had not seen her family in a long time.
"I missed you so much!"
"Haha… I missed you too Darling. You've grown so much."
Pyron pushed away Aurelia only to pull her into a hug again as he crouched down.
"I hope your father's not the only one you missed, dear."
Much like how she recognized her father from just his voice, she had recognized this one too. Turning towards the direction, Aurelia saw her mother smiling at the sight of them. She tapped her father's shoulder signaling to him to release her so that she could go to her. However he had other plans.
"Ah!"
Without warning Pyron picked her up and started walking towards her. It was a little embarrassing for Aurelia to be picked up like that, but it soon passed as all three of them embraced with her sandwiched between them.
"I missed you dear."
"I missed you too, Mom."
No words were exchanged after as they all felt each other's warmth. Some of the servants watching the scene had gotten misty eyed at the reunion of the imperial family. It looked so complete and picturesque that none of them realized that there was someone missing from the picture.
"..."
Within the shadow of the three who were busy hugging, hidden from the view of the servants below was a little girl. She had wanted to greet her sister first but she had missed her chance to. And while she wanted to call out to her, she saw how happy her sister was enjoying the embrace of her mother and father.
Her parent's as well were just as happy to see their daughter. She wanted to be a part of the warm looking hug but it felt wrong to interrupt their precious moment now. It would undoubtedly be awkward as they seem to not even remember that she was there too, so she held herself back. Even if she did, with them holding up her sister in their arms, she would end up just hugging their legs.
As the girl continued to stare she stared at the scene in front of her, the girl tightened the grip she had on her wrist. The smiles on her parent's face, it felt like it was something she had not seen in a long time. Real genuine smiles filled with warmth and affection.
'It hurts. It hurts.'
Tears were on the verge of flowing from her eyes but she knew it would not look good if she cried right now. She clenched her teeth waiting for them to notice her.
""...""
After some time Aurelia felt that something was missing. Opening her eyes she makes eye contact with her sister. She was just standing there staring at them instead of joining them.
"Mira!"
Jumping down from Pyron and Jyllene's embrace, she ran towards her little sister and gave her a hug.
"I missed you so much."
Aurelia had expected her little sister to say something and hug her back, but even after the initial shock of the sudden embrace her arms were still by her side.
"Mira?"
She looked at the girl and to her surprise, she had a look of disbelief on her face.
'Was it that shocking?'
"Hello? Mira?"
Aurelia waved her hand in front of the girl. Still no response.
"Mira? Are you alright?"
She was starting to get worried until her little sister finally spoke.
"Are you real?"
"Of course I'm real, Mira."
It looked like she was just shocked that she had come home so soon. As Aurelia embraced her sister once more, her sister finally embraced her back.
"I'm home Mira. I missed you."
"W-welcome back…"