A carriage had just arrived in front of Greene's mansion.
The gatekeeper, who was familiar with the carriage, rushed to aid a girl who had opened the carriage door to step down with her stunning green dress, while a man had already unloaded their two luggage with ease.
The gatekeeper then opened the gate and aided the Greene siblings with their luggage as they made their way to the mansion.
“Where's grandma?” The girl asked while fanning her face elegantly, her every movement was graceful and classy.
“Lady Ruth is accompanying Lady Hera to the orphanage, Lady Ysmay.”
They came to an abrupt stop as they heard the gatekeeper's response, gazing at each other to make sure they were hearing the same sentence.
“To the orphanage with whom?” Ysmay wondered. The corners of her lips, which were hidden by the fan, were raised slightly.
“With Lady Hera.” After a little pause, the gatekeeper added another piece of information. “The sister of Lord Lyonnel.”
“Oh my goodness... She's real…” Ysmay gaped in disbelief before grinning. She then elbowed the man next to her, who had the same look of disbelief on his face. “I wonder what kind of surprise Dad said Grandma had prepared for us before our departure.”
The man didn't respond to Ysmay's words. He glanced at the gatekeeper and threw in another question. “When will they... return?”
“They will be here soon, Lord Kyle.”
With that, they continued their walk towards the mansion, which had been stopped for some time.
Mrs. Oz, who had a bright smile on her face and a scarf over her arms, was waiting for them in front of the front door.
“What about Sir Herveus? Did he go with them?”
“No, my lord. The knights are being trained by Sir Herveus right now. Our training routine has gotten more intense and longer since Lady Rayla's arrival.” said the gatekeeper, venting a little.
“Lady Rayla from the Heiza family? What is she doing here?” Ysmay seemed interested in their conversation when she heard that name.
“... I'm not sure. Perhaps it was related to Lady Hera.”
“Thank you for helping them with the luggage, sir... You can return to your morning tasks. I'll take care of them from here.” interrupted Mrs. Oz. She then gestured to the maids behind her to take Kyle and Ysmay's luggage from the gatekeeper.
“Mrs. Oz... Is it true that my beloved cousin, the one that grandma always told us about, is here?” Ysmay immediately hooked her arm into Mrs. Oz's. “What kind of person is she?”
“Lady Hera wasn't the only one who was here, Milady. Lord Lyonnel had also arrived a few days earlier.” Mrs. Oz answered while gently patting the back of Ysmay's hand, which was resting on her arm. “As to what kind of person Lady Hera is, why don't you spend some time with her later?”
“Uh... Should I take her somewhere? Shopping? Also…” Ysmay noticed a shift in her brother's demeanor, which had previously been calm but now appeared to be excited.
“Where's Lyonnel?” Kyle's eyes gleamed with excitement.
“He was with Sir Herveus on the training ground. You know where it is, Lord Kyle.” Mrs. Oz smiled as she saw that Kyle had bolted away from them, towards where Lyonnel was.
Without saying anything, Kyle grabbed one of the wooden swords on the ground, looked for Lyonnel's figure among the crowd of other knights, and rushed toward him.
Luckily, Lyonnel had quick reflexes, especially when he knew his cousin was coming today, and Kyle would have gone straight for him the moment he found out he was here.
This was their habit. Lyonnel and Kyle had always had a duel whenever they met at their grandmother's house, at least until the last time they met a few years ago.
Swords clashed. Several knights formed a circle around the training field, observing the sudden sword duel which was taking place that morning.
They were both out of breath and clenching the hilts of their wooden swords, which were on the verge of breaking. Despite the fact that the sudden duel had lasted over fifteen minutes, neither of them was willing to give up.
After a while, they finally ended their duel after their swords were no longer intact.
“You finally return to see your grandmother.” Kyle said breathlessly. He wiped the sweat off his face and neck with a small towel and sat under the shade tree with Lyonnel. “Is it because your sister is here?”
“Hm…” Lyonnel gulped down his water bottle, straightened his legs and looked at the knights who had returned to training. Ignoring Kyle.
Kyle was right, most of the reason he was back in this mansion was just for Hera. Otherwise, he might as well have gone straight to the place his father rented for them to stay to attend the Sixons family event.
Since the year Ruth was kicked out of the Silverna mansion, the relationship between the Greene and Silverna families has been extremely strained. Although the Duke of Silverna still frequently sent letters to his mother-in-law, Ruth had never written back to Luca.
“How come I never heard anything about Hera from you or your father?” Kyle asked curiously.
“...”
Lyonnel pinched his nose and closed his eyes, not wanting to say anything about Hera right now. Following the events of the previous few days, the sight of Hera's terrified gaze still flashed across his head, causing him to have a nightmare.
He then got to his feet and walked away. “Let’s duel again tomorrow.” Lyonnel stopped walking, turned his gaze to Kyle, and added.
“Hey... Lyonnel... You haven't answered my question yet.” Kyle started yelling at his cousin but refused to stand up. “At least accompany me here. It's been a long time since we've seen each other. tsk tsk…”
...
“What's the matter with him? Why does he seem to be so grumpy?” Kyle cocked his head and narrowed his gaze at Herveus, who had approached him.
“Maybe it's because you attacked him all of a sudden…” Herveus said with a chuckle before his expression became solemn. “Perhaps it was because of what happened with Lady Hera and she refused to meet him after that.”
Kyle's brows creased. “Really? So, like Grandma said, their relationship isn't that great?”
“I have no idea. Maybe. I'm not sure.”
“How is she?”
“Lady Hera?” Herveus tilted his head, recalling his first impression of the girl he had met a few weeks before. “What can I say... she's... uh... too quiet... a loner, to say the least, Ahh... Mrs. Oz and a few maids were frantic for the first week, searching for her, only to find her inside the library. So I guess she likes to read... a lot.”
“...”
“She is, however, a polite lady. She asked about archery training when she first arrived. But, because her hands were injured, she had to wait a bit before beginning her training.” He kept talking about Hera. “Her maid informed me this morning that her hand is fine now. She would come here once a week to practice.”
Kyle nodded in response to Herveus' explanation. He then reached out his hand and let the man pull him up.
“Since I'm already here, I'll join your training. I heard the training schedule is getting more intense and longer because of someone.” Kyle smiled, followed Herveus to the training ground, and joined his family's knights' morning training.
Ysmay entered her own bedroom in their family mansion. The maids had cleaned their room beforehand, allowing her to throw her body right away and lay down on the soft mattress.
“When will my grandmother and cousin return, Mrs. Oz?”
“It won't be long, Milady. Should I make you some tea? Snack?”
Ysmay murmured lazily as she closed her eyes. “Let's just have tea when they return.”
“Alright, Milady.” Mrs. Oz motioned to the maids who had carried Ysmay's luggage out of the room before she retrieved a box from the table near Ysmay's bed. “This is a gift from Lady Hera to you.”
“What?” Ysmay rose from her bed and seized the box from Mrs. Oz's hand. “Gift? For me?”
“Lady Hera went to the festival yesterday and bought you something, which she wrapped up herself, because you were about to attend a masquerade event.” She explained.
Ysmay stroked the box before slowly tugging at the ribbon that wrapped it. She couldn't believe she'd received a gift from a cousin she'd never met before. “How about Kyle? Did she give him a gift too?”
Mrs. Oz shook her head, making Ysmay smile widely.
Ysmay is jealous every time she sees Kyle and Lyonnel's closeness. She also wants someone who will interact with her without questioning her or her brother's origins as an adopted child, like a group of nobles who constantly circle her at banquets, mocking her and openly gossiping about her family.
So when Ruth always told them about Hera or Rara as her childhood name, Ysmay always hoped that her cousin would visit her soon. But after years of waiting, Lyonnel never said anything about Hera at all. Ysmay begins to question the truth of Ruth's story about Hera.
But who'd have guessed she existed in the first place?
When Ysmay opened the box, her fingers came to a halt on a little piece of paper with beautiful handwriting. Ysmay seems to have guessed what was inside the package in the box after reading some of the sentences on the paper several times.
Grandma said you love red and fancy things. I hope you like it.
Ysmay burst out laughing. She took the red mask decorated with lily flowers and rhinestones out of the package and admired it. “I'm looking forward to meeting her.”
