Nika massaged her temples as she put aside a piece of paper. One of the many that covered her table. This paper in particular seemed to cause her the most pain.

"Is this really true?"

Nika looked up with hope at the young man standing aside with his hands behind his back. He straightened his posture and nodded.

"Yes, your highness. At first, we thought they were just rumors, but we did manage to find an… evidence."

Nika bit her lip in frustration as she saw a recorded picture of two girls that seemed to be tortured to death. Along with the picture was a timeline of events, as well as any piece of information they managed to collect.

The location where they found the corpses of the two girls was in a river near Amir's mansion. They also managed to identify the corpses as belonging to Rie and Erse Armir. The late sisters of Nemi Amir.

"As you can see, by all evidence, she-"

"She killed them for my sister’s sake…"

Nika clutched the paper in her hand. She was angry, angry that she couldn’t find any evidence of falsehood in what Nemi told her. By all evidence, it appeared that Nemi truly loved her sister, just as she claimed.

Moreover, Nika recalled that this was the sort of girl her sister liked. She remembered that in the past, her sister had drawn a story about a girl who was madly in love with another girl, and she was not afraid to kill if it meant being with her.

Nika herself didn’t really understand it, but it appeared her sister liked this type of girl. Of all her drawings, besides the animal-eared one. These were the most common. A sense of dread overtook her as she realized that her sister might be taken from her. this time for real.

"Thank you for your hard work. You can go now."

Nika smiled slightly. The soldier saluted and left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Once the door closed, Nika collapsed into a chair and covered her face in her hands.

"What should I do, sister?"

Nika’s eyes were drawn toward a framed picture of herself and her sister from when they were younger. With a nostalgic smile, she took it in her hand, running her finger along it.

"Say, do you love her? … I guess you do."

Nika murmured sadly. It was one of the things she never wanted to happen, but at last, it did. The day her sister will have someone she likes more than herself.

With a sigh, Nika disposed of the documents in a swift motion practiced through the years. Once she was sure that there was no document left, She stood up and left the small office-like room.

The sky outside the windows that were spread out through the hall was dark as spilled ink. It made it clear to her that she was most likely the only one awake now. But she still couldn’t stop herself.

"Sister, are you sleeping?"

She slowly opened the door of the room that her sister was given. Carefully peeking in while whispering softly.

Inside the dark room, She could see the rough shape of a person lying on a bed. opening the door slightly more to let in light from the hall. Nika was able to make sure that her sister was sleeping.

Slightly disappointed, but with a soft, gentle smile. Nika tiptoed to the bed. Only then was she able to see Lily laying snuggled against Julia in such a way that she was not noticeable from the door.

This, while it briefly surprised her, was nothing new to her. After all, her sister always said how adorable animal-eared girls are. She always had a hard time controlling herself when one, especially a young one, was at a pateble distance from her. Though Lily appeared to be older than the girls her sister was begging to keep.

"Good night, sister."

Nika fixed the blanket for Julia before kissing her.

"It looks like our roles reversed there."

Nika laughed a little bit as she closed the door. her mind, giving her memories of when her sister did this to her.

Stretching slightly, she walked to her room, which was right next to her sisters, and laid down on to her bed. She had a hard time falling asleep, thinking about the information she had learned. She hoped that the girl named Nemi would not make her sister unhappy.

…

The chirping of the birds woke her up; the sun seemed to be up for some time now. Nika yawned and stretched her sore body. After some basic stretches, she changed her clothes and left the room.

On her way, she stopped by her sister’s room, but it looked like she had already been awake for some time as no one was inside. She spent more time than she would have liked looking for her sister. But in the end, she managed to locate her.

Julia was located in a courtyard, making Nika wonder how she had not thought of the possibility earlier.

Julia was there, practicing swordsmanship. Both Lily and Nemi were with her, observing her. Nika stopped to look. No one seemed to notice her as Julia continued to swing her sword. After five minutes, Julia stopped swinging and wiped the sweat off her brows.

"Good work, Julia."

"Good work, master."

"Hyaa?!"

Julia screamed in surprise as the other two talked to her. Apparently, she didn’t know they were there.

"When did you come?"

"An hour ago."

Lily and Nemi smiled at her. while Julia looked utterly embarrassed. Nika smiled at the sigh she saw. She regretted that she didn’t arrive earlier so that she could watch her sister practice.

"You should have said something…"

Julia pouted. Which makes Nika chuckle. She took a few seconds to calm down a little before approaching her sister.

"Working early like always. I see."

"You too!?"

Julia looked like she was about to die of embarrassment. While Julia covered her bright red face, Kana turned into her human form and rubbed Julia’s back.

"More importantly, the eldest sister."

Nika put her hands together with a bright smile on her face. Putting aside her sister’s embarrassment. Julia wasn’t happy about it, but she did lift her face to look at Nika.

"Shall we return home?"

Nika’s smile widened.