"How are you feeling?"
"This place is beautiful, Amy! I never knew such a place existed in Magic City." Alana brightly smiled, dodging the question, and Amelia sensed that she did not wish to talk about it.
"It is." She nodded and then looked at Zoey, whose brows were furrowed. "Zoey?"
"Her brother seems to hold some grudge against Keith." The chestnut-haired girl replied and ignored the pleading look Alana sent her way. "I overheard him telling her that she does not know whom she had fallen in love with and how dangerous Keith was."
Amelia narrowed her eyes at those words and looked at Alana, making it clear to her that she had to explain what had happened.
"He's just upset that I am with Keith." Alana lowered her head. "I don't know why he keeps telling me how dangerous Keith is, and that I should be wary of him, but I guess he's just being a little protective since I am his only family. Please don't mind his words." She requested.
Once again, Alana refused to go into details, and Amelia did not insist either. Sooner or later, the truth would come to light, and she had a hunch that Yexuan's behaviour was not as simple as being protective of his only family member. Besides, his actions and secrets told an entirely different story.
"How was he?" Amelia changed the subject and asked.
"Who?" Alana subconsciously asked, but realised whom she was talking about and nodded with a smile. "He's fine. Seemed to be in good health, and his results have been perfect so far."
"Good." She nodded. "Has he made any progress in his Cultivation?"
"Cultivation?" The Parker frowned. "Yexuan is not an Auror?" She uncertainly asked.
"I see, so he did not tell you about it." She had guessed it, and it proved to be true. "Come, let's go for lunch."
Alana felt a little hollow as she followed Zoey and Amelia to the dining room where the family was going to have lunch. She could not understand why Yexuan would hide it from her. She had always thought that her little brother shared everything with her, but recently, his behaviour and words made her feel estranged from him.
"Does he really cultivate?" She whispered the question, and when she raised her head and watched Amelia nod, her heart ached.
She now understood why Yexuan had not seemed very thrilled when she had told him about Aurors and Cultivation and that Rebecca had helped her open her first Aura Node.
He did not seem even a little surprised, instead, he had been a little angry and spoken those hurtful words again.
"How's your progress?" Zoey tried to distract her as she found her quite despondent over what had happened and what she had just learned.
"I completed my Body Refinement Stage." Alana absently replied, and just when Zoey was about to try again, Amelia glanced at her and shook he head.
The chestnut-haired girl understood that they needed to give the girl some space, so, she did not try again to engage her in a conversation.
They had a very silent lunch, and it was mostly because the Mourntale Family ate in complete silence. An etiquette that everyone observed.
But once they were finished with their meal and the elders left, the youngsters happily started conversing with each other.
She helped Amelia wipe their plates and then followed her into the kitchen where they washed the dishes they had used. Since Alana was still lost in her thoughts they took care of her plates as well.
"Aunty." Amelia walked over to her aunt, who was busy instructing a few girls of the family about what they would be preparing for tonight's dinner, and the woman smiled and lovingly looked at her.
"Yes?"
"My sister-wife is coming over tonight with her Shadow. And another girl from our family would be coming over too by tomorrow morning."
"I will get their rooms prepared." Her aunt understood what she was asking for and nodded to her.
"Thank you."
"It is your home, my child. You don't have to thank me for it." She expressed a little dissatisfaction with Amelia's guest-like behaviour, but when the girl stepped forward and hugged her, her mood instantly improved.
However, her actions led her to get teased by her aunt since she had never shown such gestures of affection so easily when she used to live there. It was undoubtedly something she had picked up after getting married, and Amelia only now realised how much she had indeed changed after marrying Keith and living in the Demiliore Manor.
It did not really bother her. After all, it all felt natural to her, and she also knew that these little gestures of affection were quite necessary within the family for a happy relationship.
She excused themselves away before her aunt could pick up on Alana's depressed mood. And then she led them back to their rooms to get some rest.
"Whose coming over?" Zoey curiously asked.
"Rebecca, Marianne, and Iseul."
"Iseul?" The chestnut-haired girl frowned.
"Yes. There something I need her help with." Amelia told her and then showed Alana the room that she would be staying in. "Get some sleep. It will help." She advised, and the girl nodded to her before they left and closed the door behind them. "Did you meet him?"
"After what I heard, I did not greet him. And it was for the best since he was throwing a very threatening glare at me." She recalled how Yexuan had behaved when she had arrived to pick up Alana and felt even more dissatisfied with the boy. "It's quite hard to believe that they are siblings."
"She was adopted into the family," Amelia informed her.
"So they are not related." Zoey felt better now that things made sense why they looked so different and behaved so differently, and then something clicked into her mind. "Do you think he might be in love with her?"
Amelia frowned at her words, and now that she thought about it, she could not deny the possibility. It could indeed be the reason behind Yexuan's grudge against Keith. But she did not know why she felt like there was a lot more to it.
Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop when she found a certain someone waiting for her inside her room, sitting at the breakfast table with a chessboard set.
"You are supposed to be attending the After-Lunch Training session." She smiled as she watched the little girl pout.
"I don't want to spar with them." She truthfully said, and Amelia walked over to gently caress her head.
"Well, how about you fight against Zoey? She's in Nascent Realm as well." Amelia asked, making both of them look at each other in curiosity.
"You don't want to play?" Helena looked back at her and asked.
"We will play if you can manage to win against her." She gave her an incentive, and the little girl immediately stood up with a bright smile.
"Okay!"
Zoey had some reservations about going against someone so young, but she had been training with the family, and she had seen how capable Ingvild was.
The Carmilla Princess was only slightly older than Amelia's little cousin, and having seen how outrageous everyone around her was, she was not going to underestimate this little girl.
"Be careful." And her competitive instinct immediately kicked in when Amelia said those words to her and not to the little girl.
There was a small courtyard attached to Amelia's room, a place where she used to train, away from the eyes of her family.
The three of them walked into it, and both Zoey and Helena stood in the centre, facing each other.
Helena observed the etiquette of a spar and bowed to her opponent, and Zoey was a little unnerved at finding the young girl so focused and composed.
"Begin." Amelia signalled, and before the chestnut-haired haired girl could react, she watched the young girl rush at her faster than she had anticipated, and when she blocked the barrage of nonstop fists and kicks, her arms and legs started aching a little.
Zoey really had to fight the urge to utilise her Aura to protect her arms and legs, but this was a spar, and the little girl was not using her Aura. Her pride would not allow her to do it, and so, she bore the pain.
She was not sure at what stage of Nascent Profound Realm this little girl was, but what she realised in a matter of a couple of minutes was that she was highly skilled in combat for her age.
The training of years against her couple of months became so obvious that Zoey felt a little embarrassed, but she managed to preserve for ten minutes against such a skilled opponent.
"Helena wins!" Amelia announced when Zoey was forced on the ground and Helena got a clear opportunity to punch her face that the former could not guard against.
"Thank you for the spar." The little girl immediately stepped back and then bowed to Zoey as she got up on her feet.
"You are awesome!" The chestnut-haired girl could not help but praise her, and Helena seemed a little surprised at her words.
Perhaps the little girl was expecting her opponent to show her resentment at losing since she was older and it must be embarrassing for her, but she could sense the sincerity in Zoey's smile.
"Thank you." She sincerely smiled as well and then looked at her cousin. "You promised!"
"I know. Come." Amelia gently said and then walked inside the room to sit at the breakfast table.
Zoey could not help but shake her head as she watched the enthusiastic little girl excited to play Chess against Amelia.
However, she was surprised when the girl was not disheartened in the least even after losing a dozen matches in an hour.
She just seemed happy that Amelia was playing with her.
