I had frozen uhat little girl's gaze, too caught up iendero notice Katarina approag us. I only became aware of her presence when she crouched beside the girl and looked at me with an unfortable smile.

  "For some reason, I feel pletely defeated." She said, gently stroking the little angel's hair and ears.

  The baby closed her eyes with te painted on her face, purring from her mother's delicate loving touch, and yes, literally purring.

  I could hear that unmistakable sound ing from her.

  "Defeated?" asked one of the dies who had been introduced earlier, tess Silbrook.

  "Yes. I have never seen my little Kibisa1 a term used to refer to the young of the Kibi race. ugh with such glee for aher than Leviant. And none of us know how he aplish that." Katarina replied in a slightly frustrated voice. But she quickly ged to her usual cheerful smile and beed me closer.

  Hesitantly, I walked slowly towards her as I alternated my gaze betweetle girl, who was still enjoying her mother's affe, and the Duchess herself, who for some reason had a smile that sent shivers down my spine.

  When I was within her reach, she pulled me much closer, almost putting me in front of her daughter, and then proceeded to give me the same treatment as her.

  ...

  Well ... I uand why the little girl enjoys the pats her mother was giving her so much, they were incredibly pleasant.

  "Then, Orinthya." The Duchess began, not holding back her hands. "Would you like to be friends with my little Yuliana?"

  The questio me thinking for a moment, and though it felt a little strahe way she asked it, I had already made up my mind to be her friend, and nothing would make me ge my mind.

  I nodded and she gave me a smile iurn. Then she shifted her attention to her daughter, she stopped her hand so she could pay attention to her.

  "And you, Yuliana, do you want to be friends with Orinthya?" she asked. The little girl looked at me the same way as before, w who I was and what I was doing there. Then she looked back at her mother, back at me, and nodded slightly.

  "Otya. My?" said the girl bowing her head slightly. Katarina ughed gleefully at her words.

  "No honey, she's not yours. She's not a toy, she's a friend." Katarina replied stroking her hair.

  Speak for yourself, if she asked me, I would gdly be.

  The girl responded with a fused expression but did nothing but look at me and put her thumb to her mouth.

  Katarina quickly corrected her, removing her finger from her mouth as she rolled her eyes and lifted her off the ground.

  "Are you hungry too, Orinthya?" she asked me, as she stood up.

  I nodded. I wasn't that hungry, but with all the sweets I saw when I arrived, I wasn't going to refuse.

  Katarina took my hand and walked me carefully to a small children's table on one side of the room, near where Maki and the rest of the mothers were drinking tea and chatting. Maki gave me a cheerful wave, with a proud smile that told me she had been watg very carefully what happened.

  The Duchess sat us both in the small chairs and ordered one of the maids to serve us food. To her surprise, Ameli had already moved over and pced a small tray with the things I liked on it for me, along with a bottle filled, of course, with my raval juice. If I had to guess, I'd say she pulled it out of those magical stes they all seem to have, otherwise, I don't know how she did it. Not that I minded so much as long as it was handy.

  Katarina looked at her a little impressed by her efficy. She o her in approval, to which Ameli just gave her a silent bow. I felt proud of the girl who had improved by leaps and bounds sihat day. She had secured her positioo me through hard work and dedication, guided by Maki, a strid effective mentor.

  The maid to whom Katarina gave her order was already pg Yuliana's favorite sweets in front of her, o her own bottle. It didn't take the little girl a sed to devour her sweets and drink greedily.

  The purr echoed in my ears again, showing hoy she was at this moment. Although the expression on her face didn't ge too much, other than looking a little more rexed. I decided to go along with her happiness by enjoying myself as well.

  "Dear guests, my Duchess. Yrace, tess Isolde Bos Eleios and young Miss Aria Bjuu Eleios."

  A woman with an arrogant and proud expression walked through the doors, she walked with an elegand fidehat only someone who has dedicated her life to the refi of high society could possess. Every step she took resonated with authority, and her gaze, sharp and unfppable, seemed to evaluate us all with the critical eye of someone aced to being the ter of attention.

  She wore a midnight blue taffeta gown, adorned with intricate silver embroidery drawing patterns of flowers with thorns along the skirt. The waist is marked with a bck velvet sash, ated with a sapphire brooch that reflects light as she moves.

  Her shiny silver hair, long and wavy, cascaded over her shoulders and back, precisely styled to frame her face. She had 2 horns slightly curved back with a smooth, almost pearly texture. They were adorned with fine silver rings encrusted with small sapphires that matched the broo her dress.

  Her eyes were an intense gcier blue, with a pierg arating gaze that veyed her experiend dominance, but also a strong disdain for everything around her. A truly icy stare.

  She advanced directly toward Katarina, the hostess, and stopped a few steps away from her. She handed her daughter to one of the maidservants to then bow to the Duchess, with perfectly mastered movements, proof of her great experience.

  "Duchess Nazzik, it is a true pleasure for me to have been io your home on this beautiful day." She said in her clear and soft voice, which did not go at all with the attitude with which she ehe room.

  "Isolde," Katarina called her courteously, but maintaining an authoritative tone, which showed that she was in a higher rank than the tess. "I am gd to see that you were able to attend."

  The Duchess approached Isolde, g her hands with hers and giving her an ho smile.

  The 4 nobles behind Katarina greeted the tess, who returned a brief greeting. Then it was Maki's turn, who maintained an uurbed expression.

  My sereeted her with a cordial smile. The woma silent for a long time as if she had no iion of responding. Maki, however, remained calm and patient, something that seemed to annoy the tess, though only for an instant, for she immediately ged her expression to a polite smile aurhe greeting.

  Isolde suddenly pulled out an envelope and ha to Katarina, who looked at it in fusion.

  "This is a letter of apology from Duchess Fondawl for not being able to attend today's event. I spoke with her two days ago and she asked me to deliver it to you directly."

  "Thank you, Isolde."

  The woman curtsied and after a few words walked away, straight towards the 2 women who were still in their distant position. I was beginning to feel very serious suspis about those two. They were doing nothing but standing there, whispering to each other, watg everything as if they were only here to gather information in a rather btant manner.

  Isolde greeted them much more cheerfully than she greeted Katarina herself, revealing that she had known them before and further increasing my doubts about them. But things simply ehere. The mothers' versations resumed as if nothing had happened, and the other children tio py with each other.

  From what little I mao hear from Katarina as she spoke to the rest, Duchess Fondawl's son had fallen very ill, and so was uo attend. Katarina only said that she hoped it was not something serious, as Duchess Fondawl had had the misfortune of having lost a son a couple of years ago, and did not want something like that to happen tain.

  After several ents sharing the same opinion, they slowly returo more cheerful topics.

  In front of me, Yuliana was watg everything with her expressionless face. She shifted her gaze to me, and tilted her head in fusion, givihat look again as if she didn't remember me. She looked down at her hand, which was holding a cookie, and then offered it to me.

  I looked at it for a sed before taking it aing it straight up.

  It tasted like one of those oatmeal cookies. Quite delicious, if a bit dry. I did the same and offered her one of my dies. A small ball of soft caramel, whose fvor was a bit remi of honey with a slight hint of amon.

  "Ah, wait young Miss Orinthya. Young Miss Yuliana doesn't like-"

  The maid who tried to waropped abruptly when she saw Yuliana take what I offered her a it quite normally. The maid was silent for a while, incredulous at her dy's a. She goward Katarina, but she seemed to pay no attention, so she sighed auro her position behind us. I could hear a sly chuckle from Ameli.

  Time passed, and muests arrived. Different women and men from various echelons of the nobility brought their children and the pce quickly filled with people, all versing peacefully, though divided into two groups. Oogether with Katarina, Maki, and the 4 nobles from the beginning, and the other, together with Isolde and the 2 chattering females.

  Unfortunately, the children seemed to follow their parents' example and stayed separated in the same way, with the only exception being Yuliana and me.

  We had both finished eating together and, following the persistent little girl, we moved to one side of the room, where there seemed to be some of her toys, which were mostly plush dolls.

  However, we were not "pying" in the most literal sense of the word. Yuliana would show me one of them, I would admire it with genuine curiosity, squeeze it, hug it check how incredibly soft it was, and then nod or deny towards her. The girl, whose expressions were quite limited, would respond in two ways. If I nodded, meaning I liked the stuffed animal, then she would shoroud expression, as if bragging about having a stuffed animal to match. And if I denied, she'd be thoughtful as she picked out some other ohat I might approve of.

  To be fair, the ones I really came to like had shapes familiar to me, among them ohat looked very simir to a rabbit, only, with shorter ears, a wider head, and with four eyes, twe and two small. Another one looked like a small fox, only it had a slightly stockier body, with two thin tails, less fur than a normal fox, and a big toad-like mouth.

  The ones I rejected were... well, hard to describe sihey didn't look like something a child would like. If there were such a thing oh, it would surely give even adults nightmares. The most normal among them looked like a starfish with a gigantic eye in the ter of its body. It had some sort of sloth-like cws on each tentacle and was a very dark shade of purple.

  Whoever made these plush dolls was very good at their job...something I didn't know if I should be thankful for or not.

  After turning dow one she offered me, Yuliana sat in thought for a long while, until something seemed to occur to her. She waved her hand, and in respohe previous maid suddenly appeared.

  "Gia, Giva." Babbled the girl early, opening her arms as if describing something very rge.

  "Right away." Replied the maid, quickly leaving the pce.

  I tilted my head in fusion. I had no idea what the girl had pnned, but from her expression, it looked like I was going to like it.

  Surprisingly she got up from her pd sat dht o me, leaning on my shoulder, giving a long sigh. She stood watg the rest of the children py happily, running around the pd ughing unedly. The maids that eaoble had brought with them watched over their respective children, while the parents chatted and gave sidelong g their children from time to time, either worried or curious.

  Maki was one of them. When my eyes met hers, she would give me a knowing smile, as if she was somehow teasing me. I didn't want to indulge her and just trated on Yuliana's as, although that seemed to make her expressions worse, because every time I turned around, her smile grew wider. It seemed that at any moment she would turn into the Cheshire cat.

  Finally, the maid that left came back. And boy was I surprised to see her. She had a stuffed animal that was quite a bit bigger than us. If I had to describe it, I'd say its body looked a lot like a giant aer, but with the arms of a goril and the head of a walrus. Without those characteristic tusks, though.

  Yuliana immediately stood up and raised her arms toward the maid who pced the huge animal o her. The girl immediately hugged it and smiled in satisfa. She gave me a look as if asking me why I had not approached her yet.

  I stared at her without uanding what I should do. Yuliana looked at me annoyed, with an adorable frown.

  "Osya, Giva." She said sounding authoritative. I tilted my head in fusion. I wasn't sure what she meant, whether it was to introduce me to her toy, have me pliment her, or, like the rest, "rate" the quality of it.

  "Young dy." Said Ameli suddenly kneelio me. "I think what young dy Yuliana is asking you to do is to e over to her and hug her friend Ginevere. Isn't that right young dy Yuliana?"

  The girl nodded immediately with sparkling eyes. Ameli seemed to have uood the little angel's iions perfectly, which gave me a feeling of pride a at the same time. Wasn't she supposed to be bad at this and I the good one because of the years I took care of my sister?

  No, wait.... was that thing called Ginevere? How the hell did she get that name from just Giva?

  I started to think that maybe it was a on name for stuffed animals, like Teddy bears because otherwise, I couldn't uand how Ameli picked up the name so easily.

  Anyway, I decided to follow Ameli's advid hugged the strange, huge stuffed animal.

  ...

  Damn, it was soft. Incredibly nid fluffy. What kind of divine craftsman had created such a wohey didn't pay them enough, of that, I was sure. Yuliana snorted, smug, as if to tell me "I told you so."

  Arrogant brat. If you weren't so incredibly adorable as tive you anything, I'd... I'd... I'd pinch those adorable cheeks right now!

  We stayed like that for a long while, almost falling asleep from how rexing it was. Much harder for me, as Yuliana's sweet purring almost sounded like a lulby that rexed me enough to almost lose sciousness and go into my nap mode.

  *tap tap tap*

  Small but loud footsteps approached and stopped right in front of us. I opened my eyes to check who it was and saw Isolde's daughter, Aria, looking at both of us with intense eyes, and full ahe girl seemed to be older than us, maybe 2 years and a little more. She had ptinum hair, a little darker than her mother, and gray eyes a little darker than mine.

  She was wearing a sky-blue anza dress that reflected a deeper shade depending on the light, atuating the freshness of her youth. The dress had a skirt with several yers of soft tulle that gave it volume and movement and was adorned with small silver flower embroidery running along the hem. The bodice had a delicate rounded nee and short puffed sleeves, adding a cssid teouch.

  Her hair was styled in soft natural waves that fell to her shoulders. Her bangs, slightly deviated to one side, covered part of one of her eyes. And on the sides of her head were what looked like hints of small horns.

  Spoiler

  Just imagihat she has little horns on her head xd

  [colpse]"Give me," she said dismissively as if she were a random servant.

  Yuliana looked at her in fusion, with little, if any, iion of doing as she asked. The irl, seeing that we were not following her orders wrinkled her face with an annoyed expression. She tried to approach Yuliana to pull her away from Ginevere, but I wasn't going to let that happen.

  "AH!" I yelled to get her attention, as I stood up and gred at her. The girl stopped in surprise and looked at me with wide eyes, but only for a moment before she sched her eyebrows together angrily and tried to approach my little angel again.

  I growled at her like an animal, causio jump in fright and look at me more ily than before. Yuliana stood behind me, hugging Giighter as Aria and I kept up a staring match.

  Uedly, the girl pushed me hard, pushi of her way. Not hard enough to fall to the ground, but hard enough to push me away. And then she began tle with Yuliana for possession of Ginevere.

  "NO! MI, MI!" cried Yuliana, struggling to keep the irl from takiuffed animal. The maid seemed flicted, hesitating about whether to push the girl away or call both of their mothers. When I looked over to Katarina, she looked calm but was already heading this way. Isolde looked pletely different than I expected, she looked a bit panicked, as if she was really scared of what might happen, and was already moving towards us at a hurried pace.

  Yuliana and Aria were struggling fiercely, her giving in to the other's dominance of Ginevere. It was at that instant that I had enough and stepped betweewo, pushing the irl slightly, and pnting myself firmly in pce.

  Aria didn't take that well, as she immediately shed out at me with swipes. I heard her mother screaming her name in anger and some panic, but the girl not only didn't listen to her but was even more insistent, trying to push me out of her way.

  Seeing that none of that was w, she finally had enough, gave me a furious look, and before I k, she had made a fist and punched me full for the face. Right on my he blow was so hard that it knocked me to the ground right at Yuliana's feet.

  "Young dy!"

  "ARIA!"

  Both screams were heard at the same time.

  My nose hurt, to the point that my eyes filled with tears. I tried to recover and sit up, but as soon as I did, I felt something drip on my clothes and then saw it fall to the floor. A drop of red liquid. Blood. I was bleeding.

  There was a moment where I went bnk, and suddenly I realized how much it was hurting. More tears began to well up, my breathing hitched, coupled with the fact that I really couldn't breathe properly.

  Then it happened.

  Like a bursting dam, I cried at the top of my lungs.

  o me, was a sob and then a cry at the same level as my cry.

  Gentle hands caressed my head. With my eyes blurry from tears, I could barely reize Ameli who had crouched dowo me, trying to calm me. Off to the side, eared to be Maki also approached. I immediately moved towards her.

  I heard, amidst my own g, Katarina taking her daughter in her arms as she also tried to calm her down.

  Maki put a handkerchief to my opping the bleeding, and making me cough more than once. She repeated again and again for me to breathe through my mouth, which was difficult as I was g in pain, but somehow, I mao do it.

  The handkerchief was already quite red by the time I realized it.

  o us, Katarina had somehow mao calm Yuliana, who was ging tightly to her mother. She had hiddeail and her ears had fttened, a clear sign of her current mood.

  Oher side, Isolde was strongly scolding her daughter. She ulling hard on her ears while the child was g. Isolde... looked somewhat terrified. All the color of her slightly pink skin was gone. She ale, and from the way her hands were shaking, I did not doubt that she was sidering the worst possible sario for her daughter, or herself. Her eyes, whice gave an air of ess and arrogance, reflected a terror that I was uo describe.

  I was sure that through her mind she could only think that her daughter had seriously hurt the daughter of a Ducal family. And they, being from a family of ts, were in serious trouble for it. Not just political.

  "How is Orinthya?" asked Katarina in a worried voice. She held Yuliana safely in her arms and walked over to try to chee.

  "It doesn't look serious, but it's possible she broke her 's going to need healing." She said, not as calmly as her expression appeared. There was a slight tone of anger in her voice.

  "I already called the family physi; she should be here soon."

  Despite my loud g, and the pain that still assaulted me, I thought it wasn't as bad as my reaade it seem, but having a doctor was always better. Besides... I didn't want to have some deformity in my hat kind of thing fuck up your breathing when you get older.

  "Where's the girl?" a person suddenly shouted.

  A... be-being? She came in suddenly, looking agitated and sing everywhere in the room.

  "This way, acolyte Vlyra." Katarina indicated.

  Vlyra was a being approximately 180cm long, and about 120cm tall, simir to a giant slug. It was crawling quickly towards us. Her figure was thid stocky at the bottom, and from the front, the other half of her body rose into a torso just slightly thinner and straighter.

  Higher up were 3 long, slender arms like brawo of them grew from her shoulders and the third from her back, whided in 3-fingered hands, slightly short and stubby, with what looked like a su cup oip of each.

  She didn't seem to have a neck, and her head was a little rger than normal. Nothing about her body was to me, though. Her face was very simir to that of a snail, elongated and with 2 protrusions on the sides of the . She didn't seem to have anything resembling a nose and her eyes, a very nice emerald green color, were very simir to a chameleon's, being able to move them individually.

  Only the upper half of her body was clothed, with something simir to a Greek robe. The silk-like fabric crossed over her shoulders and then desded into a skirt that reached down to almost touch the ground. She wore a wide belt of dark leather, which had several hooks from whie objects were held, presumably for medical use. As far as I could see, she had no breasts, which seemed abht when I thought about the possible species she came from.

  When she finally came in front of me, she gave me what looked like a reassuring smile. Her eyes moved quickly; and individually, sing my face, looking at Maki, Katarina, Ameli, and Yuliana.

  "Ma'am." She said, addressing Maki, by way of a quick greeting. She looked ily at the handkerchief she put on my nose. "Could you remove it a me see?"

  Maki nodded and obeyed her without trouble, slowly removing it from my face.

  I could see her focus pletely on me, with very serious eyes. Then she slowly brought her hands closer as she spoke to me in a soft, motherly voice. "Hello, little one. My name is Vlyra. Don't worry, I'm here to help you feel better. I'm going to check your nose, okay? It'll be real quick."

  I nodded in respohe touch was light and careful. Every movement she made she described so that I would be aware of it and not pani example of how used to dealing with children she was.

  trary to what I expected, her fingers were warm and not at all sticky. They felt very nice.

  "You're doing great sweetie, you're a very brave little girl." She said in that pleasant voice. And for some reason, the praise she gave me helped me calm down a lot more.

  "Well, if I'm ho, I expected a lot worse, but this kind of wound is easy to heal."

  There was a collective sigh. I more than anyone else was relieved by it.

  "Will it leave any after-effects?" Katarina asked, her voice worried.

  "It shouldn't if I treated her right now. Thank Alika it wasn't a fracture." Vlyra replied with a smile. Then she brought her third arm close, pg it right over my nose, and in a harmonious, pleasant voice, ted what I assumed ell.

  "May the touch of the great light grant renewal to this weary soul."

  There was a humming sound, like when aric coil was turned on, but it sounded very soft. Then, from her hand came a bluish light, which focused on my face fillih a sense of warmth and peace. The pain gradually faded, ging to a mild tingling, then to nothing.

  When the light faded, I felt pletely refreshed, as if I had gained new energy.

  "Well, it looks like there was no problem." She said, smiling at me once again. "I would reend feeding her something nutritious aing her sleep for a while to let her body recover on its own."

  Maki nodded in agreement and smiled at me in relief.

  Vlyra seemed to take that as her ce to step aside. She excused herself ao che the irl, Aria as I was lifted in Maki's arms.

  Katarina approached with Yuliana looking tired, yawning evee the little i, the uests didn't seem too disturbed, and the rest of the children, although they weren't pying as actively as before, were still in their little groups, pletely oblivious to everything that had happened. Although several of them looked as tired as me and my little angel.

  "Maybe we should take advantage ahem all take a nap?" announced Katarina, attrag the attention of all the guests, who nodded and ordered their servants to take all the children to a separate room so we could sleep.

  To be ho, taking a nap seemed just what I the moment. My eyes felt a little heavy and g so much was weari. It's not like I liked admitting t like that...

  Ameli offered to immediately take me to sleep, but Maki seemed a bit relut to let go of me. My poor maid had to almost beg her to let her do her job so she could take me.

  Before all that, Ameli had to ge my clothes, because of the blood stains that had bee on my dress. She would take the opportunity to it while I was asleep. She ged me into some kind of robe-like pajamas that she took out of her magiventory and then id me down in a pce a little apart from the rest. But a protest was heard.

  Yuliana, who was in a nearby bed, saw Ameli and me away from her and protested about it. Ameli, somehow good at uanding the little angel, ged her mind and took me to the girl, who happily pulled me aside to a spot o her to hug Ginevere.

  I sighed in amusement. Before I k; bless my good fortuhe little angel had taken a liking to me.

  With nothing to stop me, I id down on one side of the all-toely named monster, with Yuliana oher side, happily cuddling and looking at me tentedly. Before long, sleep overcame me and before I k, I had fallen asleep.

  FivesZeta