When Aria walked out of the mansion the following day, Nephrite was already waiting for her by the side of a carriage.

The Tealeaf’s house was built on top of a hill, with no close neighbors to speak about. It would take roughly thirty minutes by carriage to reach town - something most children in the house hated.

As Aria’s trusted and loyal servant, Marian followed behind her with an even expression - her blue eyes scanning the servants that would tag along in the journey coldly.

To be honest, she didn’t trust Nephrite nor the servants, and she was worried they would try to do something to her lady. If it wasn’t because he knew how stubborn Aria was, she would have tried to stop her.

“Not a date, huh~” Aria hummed while staring at her sister.

Despite Nephrite's previous words, she had clearly put some effort in looking even more charming than the usual her. Moreover, seeing how flushed her face was, it didn't seem that it was just for the sake of the family's reputation.

Meanwhile, Marian was staring coldly at the surrounding servants.

She got easily embarrassed by Aria’s advances, but her nature was quite frigid. Most employees of the Tealeaf Family knew her as an absolute ice-queen.

Marian knew that while many servants were afraid of Aria after what happened during the dinner incident. However, they still scorned her behind her back and thought of her as a deranged and crazy woman.

After glaring at them for a moment, Marian’s eyes fell on Nephrite and, as if sensing it, the girl also looked at her while being squeezed tightly by Aria’s arms.

Marian gritted her teeth as the black-haired girl smirked and wrapped her arms – that had been lying limply to the side – around Aria, as if in a declaration of war.

Breathing in and out, Marian calmed herself down. She knew there was no need to get triggered by Nephrite’s actions, after all…

‘You are her sister.’

As those words echoed in her heart, Marian smiled. There was a boundary that Nephrite would never be able to cross, a gap that would never allow her to get as intimately close to Aria as she could.

Even though she did not wish to cross that threshold right now, the simple fact she would always have that choice made her smile triumphantly.

As she ignored the young girl, she did not even realize how natural for her it was to think of Aria that way nowadays.

— - -

Aria rested her elbow against the window of the carriage while looking outside, watching the fantastical scenery of the paved road that connected the Tealeaf state to the city.

Marian was sitting to her right, her expression even and eyes closed as she listened to the surrounding echoes. Meanwhile, Nephrite was sitting in front of her on the opposite side, a boring book in her hands.

This one, though, wasn’t meant for study.

‘Sacred Crystal, by Wilhelm Grinwald.’

During one of her study sessions in the library, she had also taken a glimpse at it. The book was about a legendary hero and his companions - a fairy tale of the sorts.

It was funny to call it a fairy tale, however.

This was a world of beasts and magic, of devil lords and heavenly kingdoms… and the protagonist of the game was a true saintess, her holy magic unmatched in the whole realm.

‘But she isn’t my type.’ Aria remarked while yawning.

Still, that wasn’t the point. Truth was that there were heroes in the past, and many fairy tales were more real than people made them sound like.

Yawning once more, Aria stretched herself in boredom. Barely a few minutes had passed since they left, but having nothing to do was a big pain in the ass. That said, she wasn't going to endure that any longer.

With a swift movement, she got up inside the gently shaking carriage, attracting two pairs of eyes in the process.

Winking at Marian playfully, just for the sake of provoking her and make her jealous, Aria stepped toward Nephrite and sat by her side.

“What is it?” The girl asked.

“Hm? Nothing~” Aria giggled. “Just wanted to check from up close how cute my sweet Nephy is.”

The raven-haired girl sent her an odd glance, a bit suspicious and at the same time embarrassed by the compliment.

Not giving her time to react, Aria threw herself on the other girl’s lap – the back of her head resting on Nephrite’s thighs as she looked up at the shocked girl.

“Why don’t you read it to me?”

“… It is just a stupid fairy tale.”

“Really?”

“Ummm.”

Aria found it funny how the girl was trying to keep her composure – her eyes did not leave the book for a moment, however, she was obviously feeling conscious by Aria's closeness.

“I don’t mind it, though.” Reaching, Aria grabbed one of Nephrite’s dark strands of hair and twirled it in her fingers. “As long as the one reading it is Nephy, nothing can be boring, right~?”

Just as Aria was thinking about how smooth she was!

“Ow!“ A groan escaped her lips as the book hit her in the face.

“Sorry!”

As Nephrite fumbled over her words, she picked the book up while looking anxious. Her ears were burning red and she didn’t dare to look straight at Aria.

Rubbing her aching nose with her free hand, Aria scolded herself inwardly. She had chosen the worst time to look this lame. That said, small setbacks were nowhere near enough to stop her.

“Go on, I want to listen to it.”

Nephrite wrinkled her nose and cleared her throat a few times, only getting more conscious about everything as time went on. She never felt so unsure of herself as she did with Aria patiently and earnestly waiting for her.

“Legends say that a long, long time ago…”

The placidness was gone.

The distance had been shrunk.

As Aria listened to the shaking voice, fumbling over easy words and expressions, she hummed to herself and closed her eyes. Nephrite’s voice was pleasant and soft and, with a tinge of uneasiness to it, it was even more enjoyable.

Taking a quick peek at her maid, Aria saw a confused but also puzzled expression on her face.

Thanks to the time they spent together, Aria knew that Marian was a perceptive person - either because of her jobs or attributes, or even both of them.

‘She peered at it, huh?’

Closing her eyes again, her smile became one of amusement. There was no way she didn’t know that Marian was feeling antagonistic toward Nephrite and the other servants, she wasn’t blind after all.

The thing was, as much as she wanted to be the only one in her maid’s eyes, she wasn’t an asshole. Well, she wasn’t most of the time, at least.

“The hero was the savior of the people, destine to fight with the Demon Lord that wanted to the destruction of the whole world…”

Picking up on Nephrite’s words, her expression became peaceful again.

'If only the world was black and white, and if only people were separated in heroes and villains…'

As the complex thoughts entangled themselves, making a mess of her mind, Aria shook her head. She didn’t want to think about that, instead, she wanted to enjoy the company of the two beautiful girls nearby.

Paying close attention to Nephrite’s voice, she continued to twirl a bit of the girl’s hair in her fingers. And like that, she allowed the foolish fairy tale to occupy her mind for the rest of the journey.

It wasn't until the carriage came to a halt that Aria opened her eyes. Not even an instant later, a voice echoed from outside.

“My Ladies, we have arrived.”

With a dull echo, Nephrite closed the book in her hand and looked down toward her sister. Catching sight of the red rubies staring at her, she looked away while placing the book down on her other side.

Smiling faintly, Aria got up and stretched her arms.

“Don’t be disappointed, you can always finish reading it to me at another time.”

“… Sure.”

“Well, here is a reward just for you, then—”

Before Nephrite could ask what she was talking about, Aria leaned in and kissed her cheek softly.

“Did you like it~♥?” Bringing a finger to her lips, Aria smirked.

There was so much going on through Nephrite’s mind, however, that she took a moment to register everything. It wasn’t until almost a minute had passed that the reality of things dawned upon her.

“Who would like something like that?” She asked back, her ears fuming and cheeks beet-red.

Chortling, Aria decided to not tease her too much. There would always be time to embarrass the hell out of her, but now, they had more important things to do.

"Since you are not ready to admit it, let's just go shopping."

Under Nephrite’s sharp but cute stare, and Marian’s frustrated eyes, Aria was the first to walk out of the carriage - refusing the hands offered to her by the escorts.

Once outside, she looked toward the shop right in front of them.

‘Magical Emporium of Mystical Things’

It was a foolish and dumb name, but Aria knew that there was no better place to shop for whatever they wanted. It was a large-scale business, after all, and it was present in most of the empire's cities and towns.

'There are also all kinds of quests and storylines connecting to it.'

That, however, was something she would not be able to explore right now. She was not one to court disaster, and her current level of power was too small to mess around with such giants.

‘But give me a year or two…’ Her smile widened considerably at the thought.

Giant killing… that was also one of her hobbies!