Chapter 42: Day of Change
"This process may differ for each person, some may have to do something as simple as forgiving their neighbour, and others? Sinners? Criminals? Maybe their process would require them to meditate upon their path for months."
"...Or, the process could be gruelling. Terrifying, even. This becomes more prevalent the higher you climb."
"Remember this though, it can be anything. There is no reason or rhyme to it."
"I was merely giving possible examples."
"And, upon attaining this Approval, each Step has a different Ascension process. As for the First to Second Step, that process is mostly centred around the Armament; Giliard taught you about those, right?"
Giliard...
"Yes, sweet Alora, my adorable daughter, the Commander of the Sanctified Knights, Giliard Von Lamperard."
Oh.
"But for you, sweet Alora, this process is different."
She stared at my blanket of proliferating Curses.
"You are a Blessless One, after all. Having Awakened with only Curses and consumed all of your dear sister's, your process will be special—or unique, would be the more apt term."
Reaching outward, at the petals of Curses, she carefully caressed them.
"That'll be enough for today, my sweet Alora. Rest."
...I was knocked to sleep upon the arrival of the word 'Rest'.
.....
...I had no idea.
The upheaval that was soon to come.
The twist of fate.
The downfall.
No...
There was no twist of fate.
Those omnipresent strings connecting reality itself had always been in line.
Thus.
I lay there.
Asleep.
...Still blind to the meaning of the Canaries.
...Still blind to our parents' ploys.
...And still unaware of the dreadful journey that was to come—the journey that had been predetermined on that fateful day of my sister's Awakening.
...
If I had known, things might have changed.
I could have saved him.
I could have saved her.
...But it was too late.
The first, a sacrifice.
The second, an oversight.
A ploy of fate's puppeteering.
...And I, the doll.
To this day, the Prophet, she reassures me; that I had done my best.
That there was nothing more that I could have done.
But that is not true, is it?
Because:
I was a coward.
An adult who watched their world crumble before their eyes.
Meandering;
Coasting along;
Pathetic.
-----
"Little dummy, here, another invitation."
Hilda passed over an envelope the moment I exited the bathroom.
"It's from Sir Hildekar, Sir Jill, Sir Elden, Lady Vanessa, Lady Yulei, and Lady Nemora."
An odd array of names entered my eardrums, "Lady Nemora? Sir Elden? Are they also part of the six?"
"Yep!"
...Hm?
An invitation from all six of Esme's friends?
This smells fishy.
Slicing open the wax sticking the letter together, I pulled out the invitation and read it through.
Simply put:
We would like to have a chat.
"..."
Jill doesn't seem like the type to initiate this, and Vanessa has a small chance of being the culprit. Yulei would have invited me for a private conversation, and Hildekar presented himself as more of the prim and proper type—less so the scheming kind.
Nemora or Elden.
It's likely one of the two.
But for what reason?
I've already received the opportunity to acquaint myself with the first three, so if there was anything they wanted to know from me, they had plenty of opportunities to ask.
Meaning...
One of Nemora or Elden has a hidden agenda they would like to achieve through this breakfast invitation.
"Come on, little dummy, we need to go! Stop staring at the paper!" Grabbing my shoulder, Hilda pushed me forward and took her place behind me.
As unprofessional as she was, she understood basic etiquette once the need for it arose.
-----
The gazebo was quiet.
Black hair.
Pale-beige hair.
Brown hair.
Silver hair.
Green hair.
Black hair.
5 types of hair colour; 6 children; 6 Ducal Houses.
Vanessa carelessly leaned back, uninterested in this forced collective.
Yulei interlaced her fingers, resting her chin on it and staring quietly and calmly at the perpetrator of this collective.
Hildekar tensely glared at the perpetrator, his eyes, however, occasionally glanced sideways, at the pathway leading to this gazebo.
Jill was stiff as usual, as uninterested as Vanessa.
Elden lay there bored, his eyes drifting between Hildekar and the pathway.
...And, finally, the eldest of the six.
Bathed in long, silk-like, wavy brown hair, her shimmering green eyes oozing with intellect:
Nemora of House Martinere.
Neatly flipping through a pile of documents titled [Alora of Light, Ghost of The Palace] in bold, her fierce pupils scrutinised every detail, every inconsistency, and every error in the behaviour recorded within this document.
"Staring won't do you any good, Yulei." Her maturing voice skimmed the silence, somehow only reaching Yulei's ears.
Rubbing her suddenly itching ears, "Stop using that ability, Nemora. How often must I tell you that it is uncomfortable to the ears? Especially during moments where its use is not necessary."
Leaking a smile, "Woops." That's all Nemora said at Yulei's little complaint.
On the other hand, the moment her eyes turned back to the documents at hand, her demeanour shifted drastically.
...Her green eyes were cold.
Frigid;
Reading these documents, suspicion was the only thing on her mind.
Alora of Light.
Appearing out of nowhere one day, just like a ghost, just as Esme Ascended the First Step. A sister who moved like a shadow, appearing and disappearing across the palace grounds erratically.
Reports from the servants varied, but they all had one thing in common.
[Eery, her eyes are eery.]
And the reports from the guards were even worse:
[That thing is disgusting.]
[I would purge it if I could.]
[A vile mark of impurity in this Blessed land.]
...Every one of them revealed an unpleasant, murky character amidst this canvas of light.
Her friends were both young and severely lacking in the field of intelligence gathering; they had no idea, yet they spent many hours mingling with that thing.
'Especially you, Yulei.'
She had ears.
She heard what that Ghost of The Palace had asked Yulei just a while ago, a question that anyone with a decent mind would not dare ask a disabled girl.
Yet she had.
'Alora of Light, what are you?'
Nemora was not going to allow this farce to continue any longer.
'What are you planning? Are you attempting to overthrow Esme's role in the Domain of Light? Are you attempting to break apart relationships? Sour our friendships?'
Because it sure damn well seemed like it.
"Milady Nemora, the guests have come." Her maid's voice struck her engine ablaze, Nemora shot her eyes up; at the pathway; at the incoming, masked little girl.
She ignored the tall maid attempting to hide behind the little girl, Hilda's business was to do with that silver-haired fool over there, not Nemora herself.
Step-
The little girl's steps were bold, loud, even.
Step-
The rushing gusts exploded her golden hair, turning her into a sunflower.
Step-
Yet, in Nemora's vision.
Step-
Only a monster in human form was approaching their table.
Something had changed; those pure, white eyes no longer emanated the same purity she had seen only a few weeks ago.
Stopping only a few steps away from the gazebo, she gazed down at them through that mask of hers.
In response, all six stood; one shakily.
""We greet Lady Alora of Light.""
Standing above the little girl in height, Nemora glared down at the tiny thing; in return, the tiny thing stared right back into her soul.
She knew.
From the moment their eyes crossed, from the moment the little Lady Alora of Light realised that a couple of the recognisable eyes were staring at the tallest, and also most mature of them all;
She, too, realised.
"Greetings." So Alora said, yet Alora's greeting seemed to echo only in Nemora's ears.
"...Greetings." And Nemora's words truly did only echo in Alora's ears.
"Lady Nemora, correct?" Alora's eyes briefly observed the table.
'There is no food on the table, a breakfast invitation without the breakfast.' Instead, only a pair of tense prying eyes greeted her from this collection of Esme's friends.
"Correct, I am Nemora Von Martinere, eldest of House Martinere. It is a pleasure to greet you again, Alora of Light, Esme of Light's sister."
[Esme of Light's sister.]
She was practically belittling Alora's status.
"Alora of Light, likewise."
Hilda walked by Alora and quietly pulled out the seat, her face turned to the side, away from the glaring eyes of Hildekar.
Mumbling out a thank you, Alora took her seat at the front of the table.
This time, there was no Esme or Lily.
There was no food to interrupt their conversation.
This time, it was Alora and the six—there was no escaping.
"I believe this is to be a formal breakfast, yet I see no food. Has the food been delayed?"
Nemora smilingly responded, "Unfortunately, the food may take a long time to arrive today. How about we converse in a civil manner befitting two nobles on this pleasant morning?"
"I see, that truly is unfortunate. I have been feeling peckish since I awoke on this lovely aurora lit morning."
"Unfortunate indeed."
Sparks flew across the table.
The other five sat there mildly awkwardly; anyone with any level of intelligence could tell by this point that something was up. Even the uninterested Vanessa had her ears perked up; the gossiping demon inside her was rearing its head.
Hildekar swapped gazes with Elden while Jill kept his gaze far beyond the gossip of the children, his eyes were sternly staring ahead at the pathway.
Yulei, on the other hand, was attempting to convey her dislike for the situation through her eyes.
But Nemora and Alora weren't letting go of their connected eyes.
Thus.
Amid this fine morning.
Below the Aurora's nourishing light.
Basking in a wonderful breeze.
...Only Jill noticed.
.....
...This moment.
To this day, I can only remember the sensation of my pounding heart.
The primordial horror.
...
Jill stood up, his chair screeching across the gazebo's tiling.
His stiff face held a hint of seriousness as all eyes abruptly turned to him.
But.
His eyes.
They remained on the path.
Jill took a step back from the table, creating enough room to-
Thud.
His knees slammed the ground.
Then, his usually dull voice...
"I greet His Majesty."
...It slammed into Alora's ears like a blaring siren.