To You, Who Shines

“My, what’s going on in here! I see my lovely daughter has a guest with her!”

Eris had to struggle not to choke as the voice she wanted to hear the least suddenly resounded through the opening door. She didn’t even dare to look in the direction it came from, only able to give a muffled sigh around the cake that still filled her mouth before renewing her chewing efforts.

Unlike the displeased but unsurprised Eris, Siffia couldn’t help but gasp at the unexpected intruder, immediately forcing herself to rise and greet him once she realized who it was- Something that only served to irritate Eris further.

“Ah! Y-Your Excellency, Margrave Mescal! I-I greet you!”

As Siffia performed a proper bow and curtsy along with her greeting, Eris’s father's already amused eyes seemed to light up all the more. The tickled expression that grew upon his face made Eris want to throw something at him, knowing how troublesome he was about to be. He’d sworn that he had no intentions to meddle in her relationship with Siffia before, but Eris could easily tell that her father had come to this room now to do just that.

“Oh dear, there’s no need for such formalities from my daughter’s guest! I merely wished to finally lay eyes on the one who had captivated so much of my aloof daughter’s attention as of late-!”

“Father.”

Having finally managed to swallow her way through the last of the cake in her mouth, Eris was at last able to give the growling warning that she’d wanted to from the very moment that he’d walked in.

“I don’t recall inviting you to this meeting. Leave, before your foolish actions manage to infuriate me any further.”

Her father, completely used to being treated as useless garbage by his daughter by now, simply laughed at the lightness of her reprimanding. He’d already known that she would get upset at him for doing such a thing, but the fact that she was holding back her sharpness to this degree despite how obviously irritated with him that she currently was only served to show how precious the woman across the table really was to her.

Yes, this was exactly what he’d come to see!

As if he couldn’t feel the murderous glare that was attempting to pierce through him, Eris’s father simply shrugged and sat himself down on the same couch as his daughter, signaling Siffia to sit as well.

“So then, you must be Lady Siffia of the Hestons, correct?”

Though her face was covered with confusion over the situation, Siffia hesitantly sat herself back down as she was bid, slowly nodding along to the question, even as her hands nervously clasped together.

“Ah yes, that’s… that’s me. I’m honored that someone of your station, um… kn-knows of me.”

“Haha, no need for such modesty! Of course I’d know who my daughter is close to! Especially-”

Her father’s eyes glanced towards Eris for the briefest of moments, though the emotion in them was difficult to discern before they turned back away.

“-with a beautiful young omega such as yourself!”

“Oh… Thank you, that’s... Er, that's very flattering, My Lord. You… You were able to tell...?”

Siffia’s face flushed, both with surprise and embarrassment, looking every bit the sweet, bashful young lady at the unexpected compliment. Eris’s father couldn’t help but smile at the fresh and pure reaction, filled with an understanding for what must have drawn his daughter to her.

Looking back at said daughter revealed a comically opposite reaction, however.

As if she’d just been caught doing something wrong, Eris’s face was screwed up in an embarrassed grimace, yet another expression that her father had never witnessed from her before. He’d been worried before uttering the words, having been told by her during their last meeting that she believed Siffia to be a beta, but… Well, obviously it would seem that his daughter had managed to figure out the truth since then.

Still he didn’t dislike seeing this vulnerable look on her. It was as if he were finally seeing behind the barbed wall she always put up around him for the first time in a while.

Perhaps it was due to his alpha instincts, but for some reason he felt the need to tease his foolish daughter.

“My, yes, of course I could tell! Who wouldn’t be able to, even after such a short while together? Why, I’m sure such a beautiful omega as yourself must catch the eye of at least one alphaevery day!”

Even while he lavished such words upon the bashfully blushing Siffia, he kept a gleeful watch on his daughter out of the corner of his eye. Just as he’d hoped, she seemed dreadfully embarrassed by his poignant words. It seemed all too obvious that she was aware how much of a fool she’d been.

“Ah, um-”

Though Siffia seemed to be pleased by his praise, she also seemed quite awkward with it as well, slightly wriggling in discomfort from it. Of course, it was no surprise to him why that would be; He’d already read her file. Still, seeing her adorable display right in front of his own eyes washed away any preconceived notions he might have had of her from the picture he’d been given. She might not have been the most flashy of omegas as was the typical standard, but the quiet and pure beauty that she held was absolutely undeniable.

She was like the night sky in her loveliness.

-And he couldn’t help but find the way her eyes repeatedly sent furtive glances towards Eris to be akin to the twinkling of stars.

“Th-Thank you, Lord Mescal. I don’t… know how to, um… to thank you enough for such words. B-But that’s not…”

“Hmm? What? Oh, don’t tell me it’s not true~.”

With a smile just short of wicked, his face brightened up, filled with taunting energy.

“Why, I’m sure just my daughter alone-!”

“That’s enough, father.”

For the first time in a while, Eris spoke up. The sternness of her tone immediately made him stop his words and look at her for a moment, taking in the infuriated graveness that her blazing eyes conveyed. There was something there, he knew it, something more than just a general embarrassment towards herself that had made her stop him. He knew if he dug any deeper than this he would be in severe trouble with his daughter, and yet something about it was so terribly suspicious, too damn suspicious-

It was enough to stimulate his predatory curiosity.

“My, look at this daughter of mine, speaking this way to me when I’m merely telling the truth! What is it? What do you not want me to say so badly, hmm? Isn’t it quite obvious already that you, to this omega-”

“I said that’s enough.”

With a force like a raging tiger, Eris grabbed hold of the back of her father’s neck in a claw like grip, effortlessly pulling him up from where he was seated before he could react, and dragging him towards the door.

“Leave. Now. And don’t show yourself in front of myself or Lady Siffia everagain.”

Like a cat swiping a glass off of a table, Eris tossed her father out through the door, firmly closing it behind him. The door was of course immediately locked, and knowing that it wouldn’t be nearly enough to stop a rampaging alpha, Eris even used herself as a barricade. She was firmly resolved to never let her father spout another word in front of Siffia. He’d come too close to spilling the beans, too close to revealing what she currently wanted to keep secret.

She'd already felt like her heart might just stop before...

If such a thing were to happen a second time, Eris wasn’t sure that she would be able to survive it.