Contrary to my worries, my family arrived seemingly safe and sound two days later.

Thank the gods… No, thank everything…

A moment later, I realized that I had just thanked the gods, plural. That meant that I had been addressing the gods of this world, and thanking them for my family’s safety. To say that the notion was conflicting was an understatement, and it made me wonder if it had anything to do with my stint in the afterlife.

No, I won’t be manipulated again. Not by anyone, I’m just genuinely thankful for some good luck for once.

I put the thought out of my head and moved on with my life. If my attitude towards the gods was growing lax, then it was growing lax. The important fact was that it was my attitude, not anyone else's.

“Thank you, when can I see them?”

The servant who brought me the message bowed his head, “If my lady wishes, his highness has instructed me to take you there immediately.”

Perfect.

“Then let us go and collect Miss Felicity and Lady Rosial.”

My parents actually had no idea Rosial had been recovered, though as a former duke’s son my father probably had some idea as to what had happened to her. There had simply not been a way to safely inform them about her rescue, according to what Rupert had told me.

I need to figure out how best to break the news… Probably should do it to dad first, then he can help with mom when she faints.

Of course, my mother might not faint but she did not have the best track record with surprises. As I was mulling over these things, we arrived at Felicity and Rosial’s room. They had moved to be adjacent to my own rooms; today was actually rather strange in that the two of them weren’t in one of my rooms.

“Felicity, Rosial, I have some exciting news.”

They had been coloring in Felicity’s case, and… sharpening a dagger in Rosials case… Both of them had stood up excitedly when I came in and announced myself.

“What is it Stahlia Neechan!?” Felicity immediately got excited at the prospect of a potential surprise.

“Are we going to kill someone?” Rosial’s own reaction was less excited and more hopeful. Also rather concerning.

“…No, no killing. Felicity, Rosial. Father and Mother have arrived along with Rosin.”

Predictably, Felicity’s tails stood up and began to twitch, betraying her emotions. Rosial sunk into a bit of a concerned sulk.

“Really!? When can Felicity see them!?”

“…Mother and Father…? I… don’t remember…”

Right, it was never going to be easy, was it?

Giving Felicity a soft chop on the head, I directed her attention to Rosial.

“Felicity, Rosial is scared. As the older sister, what should you do? Claire, do not help her.”

I added the last part when I recognized Felicity’s expression going blank;  a sure sign that she was focusing inwards to have a conversation with her co-pilot. It looked like Claire heeded my instruction because Felicity came out of her blank stare only to furrow her brows in thought. After a few moments, she nodded.

“Don’t worry Rosial Imoutochan! You don’t have a tail, so Rosin can’t bully you!”

That’s… no. You don’t need a tail to be bullied, and that’s not the issue at all!

Rosial seemed entirely confused by this line of dialogue as well as if the idea that she might be bullied hadn’t even crossed her mind.

And why would it? Between his three older sisters, Rosin definitely drew the short straw; Rosial is a trained assassin and a champion. Felicity managed to avoid demonization and now holds a sin skill without being under the sway of a Hell King, and I’m me. The idea that he could bully any of us is pretty laughable.

“Haaa… Rosial, even if your own memories of them are faint, they remember you. Felicity, be nice to Rosin.”

Behind me, I could practically hear Sasha grinning. My new maid might be rather strict on formality and rules, but she seemed to have a soft spot for when I was interacting with my sisters. Though, it was not without ulterior motives, as my heightened senses had caught her mumbling about how good of a mother I would be. Though she now kept those thoughts to herself, it did not change the fact that I was aware of them. That being said, there was no way such trifling issues would be allowed to get between me and mine.

“Come on you two, let’s go.”

Collecting the pair of hands, our entourage left the room and made our way to where our family was waiting. At first, my plan had been to quietly talk about mom and dad, as a way to ease Rosial’s tension. But it seemed like that was not necessary; while she had initially been quite tense she had calmed as we walked. Her grip on my hand, which had started as shaky and tight, had become relaxed and loose. Her breathing had been short and rapid, as though she was about to have a panic attack, but it was now calm and restful.

She must have employed some technique the shadows taught her to keep calm under fire, but was it a conscious decision on her part? Or did she subconsciously liken meeting our parents to a botched assassination?

I could only hope it was the latter.

“You two, wait here; I need to warn our parents before letting them see Rosial. Felicity, please keep her company?”

Contrary to Rosial, Felicity had grown tenser and tenser as we walked, and it did not take a prodigy to realize why; our parents and little brother had broken expectations and accepted a demihuman as a surrogate daughter. Even though Felicity was too young to properly appreciate that, she at least knew subconsciously how big of a thing that had been. How could she not, when her whole life had been a product of prejudice?

Now though, she wasn’t a demihuman anymore. It was no small change either, as it had a very visible reminder attached to her rear. Would our parents accept her again? Such worries would certainly be plaguing her, even if I knew they were nonissues. They might be surprised at first, and would definitely have questions, but they would accept her, I had faith in that. That was also why Felicity had been asked to wait with Rosial; I wanted to warn my parents about her changes as well.

Of course, there was one minor issue that had slipped my mind; when the door opened and I entered the reception room, my parents and little brother were kneeling.

Right… Queen…

I closed my eyes and forced the immediate revulsion down. It was something that should have been anticipated, but I had been distracted by the issues regarding my sisters. One would hope that court etiquette like this did not extend to my immediate family, but there was no reason why it would not.

“Father, Mother, Rosin, I understand why you are doing this, but please; when we are relatively alone, treat me like your daughter and older sister, not your queen?”

I waited a moment before opening my eyes, and saw that they were all standing, though apprehensive about the guards and maid in the room, Ferdinand was also here but that wasn’t surprising given that Rupert had charged him with protecting my family while they traveled. That was fine, I had ways of dispelling tension.

Allowing the smile that had been building up to spill out onto my face, I let my emotions go unchecked and ran at my father. The move surprised him, but he was able to open his arms and receive me in time.

“I missed you all so much!” My eyes were starting to sting a bit as well, but crying would be too much, so I resisted that as best I could.

From inside our hug, dad’s body stiffened slightly.

Ah. From this distance, he can feel through the illusion.

A mistake to spring such a large change on him without warning, but one that I could rectify easily enough. I stepped back away from him so that he could see my new body; having perceived the illusion once, it no longer worked on him.

“Sorry for surprising you like that, I was overcome by my emotions… I should have warned you first.”

He blinked several times and shook his head as though to clear away a mental fog. Of course, that didn’t work; he was no longer seeing the illusion, and what his eyes now perceived was reality.

“Stahlia…? Is that really my little girl?”

I felt my smile beginning to fade a bit, but his reaction was perfectly reasonable.

“Yes, it is really me… a lot of things happened, and I wound up growing much faster than expected.”

Hopefully, if I treated this as just a thing that happened, and not the major event that it was, it would help him accept it. My mother overheard my statement and narrowed her gaze at me, a moment later she clapped her hands over her mouth as her eyes opened wide.

Was that enough for her to perceive the illusion…? If that’s the case, I need to really watch my words… Or maybe it’s just because she’s my mother that such a little thing broke the secret… there isn’t a way for me to really test it, so I’ll just have to be careful.

Rosin, for his part, seemed far too tired to notice anything was going on. Then again, he was only four so he probably wouldn’t notice anything beyond ‘big sister got bigger’ anyways.

Well, they’re both on the backfoot now, I may as well address the cat and the elephant in the room.

“My own condition aside… there is something else the two of you should know. Sasha, if you would?”

My maid advanced and brought my mother a chair, “My lady, if you would be so kind; Lady Stahlia has instructed me to have you seated for this next part.”

This was enough for my dad to realize that I was concerned about my mother fainting, and I saw him screw his eyes shut and furrow his brow. He was mentally preparing himself for something drastic, given that it was only now that I had prepped mother for fainting.

“Felicity has… changed a bit; one of her skills caused her to evolve into a different species of beastkin.”

At the mention of his younger older sister, Rosin’s tired ears perked up, “Big sis Felisity?” He looked around, “Where’s she?”

Well, that doesn’t hurt my feelings at all.

“Mother, please don’t be alarmed, but she has grown a second tail.”

My parents exchanged glances with each other before my father let out a tired sigh, “…That’s all?”

“Yes, but what do you mean ‘that’s all’? She has two tails now.”

It was my mother who answered, her own voice betraying some degree of exhasperation with me, “La- Stahlia, compared to you becoming a young woman in six months, a second tail is hardly worth concerning ourselves over; Do you have any idea what it was like when his Highness Prince Rupert sent Lord Ferdinand to bring us to the capital for your wedding? Nobody mentioned you had grown up.”

That statement left me blinking in confusion, and I glared at Ferdinand from across the room, “You told them they were coming for the wedding and didn’t think to mention that I had grown up?”

Ferdinand shrugged off my accusatory words, “His highness instructed me not to cause them undue confusion; had I attempted to explain your condition without showing them firsthand, they would not believe me. Likewise, if I had said they were needed for the engagement ceremonies, they would be set up for a panic when they arrived and saw you. Forgive my deception, but it was calculated to cause them the least distress.”

“I do not buy that excuse at all; I, for one know how much you like messing with people.”

Translation, never try anything like that with my family again.

“…That aside, mother, father, there is something else you have not been told.”

My father nodded, “Something else, that is too important to relay, and would be more shocking than you becoming queen, growing up, and Felicity gaining a second toy for Rosin?”

Ignoring his attempt at levity, I nodded, “I’ll just come out and say it; Rosial is still alive, and waiting in the next room.”

A silence descended on the room as they processed my words. My mother seemed to stop breathing entirely, but closer inspection revealed that she was taking rapid shallow breaths. My father froze on his feet before lowering his head, “So, she had been taken.”

So, you did know. Or at least you suspected.

“Yes, Rosial was collected by the Order of Shadows. It took a while, but I was able to recover her... She is a bit worse for wear mentally, but I am working on that.”

“His Highness Prince Rupert, assisted you with that no doubt.” My father’s words were a bit hollow, but he was probably in a state of shock at the moment. My mother was utterly silent and simply looked defeated.

“Yes, one of the terms of our engagement contract was the disbanding of the Order of Shadows, along with the recovery and return of Rosial into my custody. …I do not regret my actions.”

“…Even while I was doing my best to make sure you did not have to risk your life, you were still fighting.”

My father bowed his head, which was something that could not be allowed. In order to bring him back, I moved things along hurriedly, “Sasha, can you please have the two of them come in?”

My maid nodded and went to the door. A moment later, Felicity crept in. Her ears were pressed flat against her head, and her tails were subdued. Once she was a few steps inside, she froze and scanned the assembled family. Seeing the bitter expressions on our father and mother’s faces, she seemed to shrink back somewhat. It was Rosin who came to the rescue.

While he had been rather tired from the journey, seeing his fluffy big sister seemed to breath a fresh burt of energy into his tired frame, “Felisity!”

Rousing from his stupor he began to run at her, only to remember the many warnings he had been given during our last visit. Slowing his pace to a rapid walk, he approached and then circled around her to get a better look at the addition. Smiling broadly and mischievously, any thought of said previous warnings seemed to fly from his head as he lunged at her two tails.

Felicity came back to herself just in time to jerk the tails out of reach, or maybe it had been Claire. Either way, Rosin caught nothing but air. To her credit, Felicity did turn around and help break his fall by half catching him and lowering him to the ground. This display seemed to break my parents out of their stupor, as when she next faced them, my mother was smiling warmly and invited her to come for a hug. An offer that was quickly accepted; she even let out a soft purr as our mother tickled her ears.

That left Rosial. She had hung back in the doorway, and it seemed that watching the family embrace Felicity had caused some of her earlier apprehension to return. Once again, it was Rosin who noticed first, and he looked between the two of us in confusion.

“Two Stalis!?”

Ah, since he can’t see through the illusion yet, I look twelve to him. Rosial being eight, we would be fairly similar in appearance.

Our poor brother was blinking and rubbing his eyes, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. As he did so, Rosial began to breathe in a rhythm that I recognized from Jacqueline’s teachings. It would help to focus her mind and block out unnecessary thoughts.

I really hope that she’s using an assassination technique here consciously, even if I know that probably isn’t the case.

It seemed that she had decided to mimic Felicity, as she first approached Rosin. Forcibly tearing my eyes away, I checked my parents. Father had set his jaw and was not moving, his facial expression grim. Mother was likewise frozen but in her case, it was shock, not from strong emotions.

Looking back to Rosial and Rosin, I was just in time to see her reach out a hand towards him.

“You’re weak, but with a bit of practice, you could be strong. The trick to catching those is to be silent; our sister has good ears, so you have to really work hard.”

Wait, has Rosial been chasing Felicity’s tails as well when I wasn’t looking?

A quick glance at my feline sister revealed that this was likely the case, if her grimacing expression was anything to go by.

I’ll have to give her the tail talk as well then. Also, what kind of an introduction is that!? ‘You’re weak’ I mean, at least she offered to teach him, instead of suggesting that he be thrown away… that’s progress, right?

Of course, most of what Rosial was saying went right over Rosin’s head; he was simply too young to comprehend it. My father was perfectly aware, and coupled with my warning about her mental state, his own expression became mournful.

After helping Rosin up, she advanced toward our parents. Her gait was dignified, like a proper young noble girl. But then, she had been trained on how to act so her being able to do this much was no surprise. Coming to a halt a few paces back from them, she curtsied.

“Stahlia tells me that you are her family, since she is my sister in blood that means we are family as well. I hope we can get along.”

My father screwed his eyes shut, but I couldn’t help but notice the tears beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. Mother, on the other hand, was making no attempt to keep up her façade and was openly crying. Of course, they would; Rosial had just told them to their faces that she did not know who they were, and was only acting because I told her to.

We have a lot of work to do before we can become a real family again…

It was then that Lord Ferdinand waved me aside. I wanted to ignore him, and continue to spend time with my parents, brother, and sisters, but I knew better. He would not have interrupted this moment if it was unimportant. Nodding to Sasha, I stepped out of the room.

“My apologies, but there is a pressing matter that concerns you; it regards your family’s safety.”

Well, that certainly is important. I guess this is something I can’t wait on…

Sparing one longing look at the door, I steeled myself and nodded, “Very well, what is it.”

“Thank you, you see, there was an attempt on them while they traveled; a rather sizable one. If not for us receiving forewarning, it very well might have succeeded.”

“Forewarning? A mole in the first prince’s faction?”

“You could say that… The son of Duke Febligi, Ferris von Febligi. He claims to be honoring his debt to you and surrendered himself with intelligence regarding the raid on your family’s carriages. At present, he is being held under guard and is demanding to speak to you personally.”

“…Are you sure this is safe?”

It was a stalling question; I knew that if Ferdinand thought there was any danger, he probably would not have informed me at all, and simply dealt with things himself… probably by disposing of Ferris.

“Yes, he claims to owe you his life, and in lieu of events with the late Lord Dominic, I am inclined to believe him; his family holds one’s honor above even their loyalty to kin. It is why Duke Febligi sided with Prince Antonio… and why Ferris also bore a letter with his father’s seal. A letter officially disowning him and placing his life in your hands. Duke Febligi has cut of his own son, to preserve both their honor.”