Tessa and Cassandra sat in the guest room in the deepest part of the enormous Vespertine household's mansion, without looking at each other. A deathly silence hung over the room with all the women not finding a way to break the awkward situation.

Priscilla sat on the couch at her mother's side, with her hands crossed in the same manner as her mother. With their pitch-black hair and startling similarities in appearance, they were almost like twins, yet one of them had more youthful facial features and a childish pouting expression. She stared with dissatisfaction at her aunt sitting on the couch across from them, while Cassandra hid her eyes, staring down at her hands laying on her knees. 

Priscilla was seething with anger. Not for the ruined mood, leaving her with no desire to join the ongoing ball, where guests continue the festivity without even noticing what happened deeper inside the mansion thanks to it being well isolated from the outer part. What she was angry about is that this whole ball as it seemed was just a pretext to harm her beloved person. Their aunt let them down in more than one way today.

Three Dryads sat on a couch that was standing at a side between the ones Theresa and Cassandra sat on.

"We will not mention this to our Mother, for the sake of Master Noah." Said Dahlia, sitting in the middle of the couch, between her two sisters. "The discourteous actions that you have committed toward us would make Her Majesty seethe with anger. We don't know what actions she might take. We do not wish such trouble to be brought to Madam Theresa and Master Noah's door." 

"Thank you." Grunted Cassandra lifting her eyes to gaze at Dahlia in gratitude.

"That's all you have to say?" Hissed Priscilla.

"Cil." Said Tessa placing a hand on her daughter's knee to pacify her anger.

"How can you be so calm, mother?" Said Priscilla. "She…She wanted to…"

"To protect us as she deemed right." Said Theresa squeezing her daughter's knee.

"Against Noah!?" Snapped Priscilla.

"Against my stupidity." Said Tessa.

"What do you mean?" Asked Priscilla while Cassandra lifted her eyes, surprised by Tessa's words.

"She was afraid and I did not explain well what was going on. Archduke used it, placing seeds of doubt into her mind. I could have prevented it, had I foreseen that. To tell the truth I should have foreseen this. It's just that I was too preoccupied lately." Said Tessa, looking at her daughter with a dejected look.

"Yes. But it was still her doing."

"She did it in an act of love toward us, not hatred. She wanted to protect us. And she did. She protected us, putting her own neck on the line in the process, today." Added Tessa, turning to look at her friend that sat across from her biting her lip.

"How did you do it, Tess?" Said Cassandra with a quivering voice. "How did you overcome the instinct of challenge from multiple mate bite marks? It is not pretense, not a play. I saw it. Bri, Cil, and you. You all really overcame it. This is unheard of. There was only one explanation."

"We didn't. I did not find a way. You are right. Noah used mind magic on us." Said Tessa.

Hearing these words Cassandra jumped to her feet clenching her fists, but looking at her friend's calm expression, she took a deep breath to calm down and sat back.

"But, it is not Taming?" Said Cassandra.

"Yes. It is not." Said Tessa.

"You let him inside your head? Let him influence you? He could have done anything, Tessa. You trusted him to do what he did so much? Why?" Asked Cassandra.

"Because he knew I had the choice of killing him the entire time and he still decided to help. No. Because he knew that I was going to kill him once he helped Brianna overcome her stage, yet still stayed to help." Said Tessa looking at the shocked expression on Cassandra's face.

"What? We both knew the only way to prevent my family from crumbling was to kill him. Yes, I was going to do that. But…he knew it too. He owed us nothing, and to tell the truth…" Said Tessa looking at Dryads. "He could leave anytime. I would not be able to stop him if he wanted to escape. Right?"

"Yes. His powers allowed him to sneak through your barrier any time if he wanted." Said Dahlia, nodding at Tessa's question. "Just like we did."

Tessa nodded, turning to Cassandra.

"I thought he did not understand the true meaning of being a mate. Thought he would never take it seriously. Thought that once he knew what he got his hands on and what power over us three he gained, he would change. That greed would take him over as any other human. But it turned out, I was the one that did not take it seriously. He put his life on the line to prove how serious he was, Cass. When he came to my mansion I tested whether he would be able to put his trust in me. But in the end, it turned out, I was the one that had to be shown how to trust…how to love. I am a thousand years old monster, Cass and he taught me a lesson. He earned my trust, my heart, and my soul with it. I did it willingly, Cass and so did Cil and Bri. Not because he used some spell on us, but because we trust in our new mate so much."

"Why did you not explain…?" Muttered Cassandra.

"I was going to. Today. But it looks like I greatly miscalculated." Answered Tessa.

"I was a fool to listen to that old bastard. He is the same as all humans. Greedy for power and wealth. I am sorry, Tess. I never had the intention to betray you or go against you. I did not know what his true intentions were."

"As I said, don't blame yourself. You always relied on me in political matters and this time it was my error. I could have prevented it."

"How? We didn't know he would come up with some…" Started to say, Cassandra.

"I knew." Said Tessa, interrupting her friend.

"Wait. What? You knew and did not tell me? Why? I would have been wary of him…." Exclaimed Cassandra with a crestfallen voice.

Tessa sighed weakly and sat with a drooping head as if deflating.

"Girls. Can you leave us, please?" Asked Tessa looking at Dryads.

"Understood." Said Dahlia and the three sisters stood up, bowing to Tessa before leaving the room.

Cassandra looked at it with squinted eyes.

"To tell the truth, Cass. Not everything he said was a lie." Said Tessa with a downcast demeanor. "I was desperate, Cass. I had to help Cil and when I exhausted all legal means, I used illegal ones."

"For fucks sake, Tessa. You had dealings with the dark association? These bastards searched for a way to get their hands on a pseudo-core for ages. What was the price you had to pay?"

"Of course, I did nothing to betray the kingdom." Said Tessa, lifting her eyes to look into her friend's eyes. "But, the price of the illegal ingredients I used in potions for Cil is not small. Sometimes I sold my threads. But they were more interested in my alchemy mastery. So sometimes I made illegal potions for them. And sometimes…poisons."

"Poison? Why would they ask that from you?"

"Some things can't be found in just any book. And my collection of old and rare books is probably the largest in the kingdom after the Royal Library. Some of the books are even unique and have no copy anywhere else."

"And you made them poisons from those unique books?"

Tessa nodded with a drooping head.

"What kind of poisons?" Asked Cassandra sternly.

"Poisons, like the one used in Greenville town. Death Swamp Poison Mist. It was crafted by me."

"Fuck! If Archduke decides to search your place and finds out…"

"We disposed of that book when Bri and I memorized all the contents." Said, Priscilla

"Honey?" Asked Tessa surprised.

"You knew of your mother's dealings?" Asked Cassandra.

"We are not idiots. Of course, we understood what kind of price mother is paying for the ingredients. Bri is always in the craft room. She noticed what mother was crafting from the leftovers left after her work. We searched the library and found out about the poisons in question. It wasn't hard to put two and two together when we heard about the Greenville town accident and the description of the fog poison. Well, we knew it a lot earlier but after the incident, we quickly learned what was there to learn from the book and disposed of it." Explained Priscilla.

"Damn it. You two may now be blamed as accomplices." Said Cassandra.

"That's why I did not tell you. If somebody found out, I would take the blame. They would not be able to blame you, Cil, and Bri as accomplices. But now…"

"But now Archduke has the proof of your underground deals and we all are under fire. Damn, I bet the dark association sold you out themselves. " Said, Cassandra.

"Yes, probably. It must have been their plan to make me defect to their camp in an attempt to save my life when the Kingdom comes for me. Giving them access to the pseudo core would have been the price of their help." Said Tessa.

"Damn it. It is just a matter of time before they sell you out then. We both are done for."

"No, if my mate forgives me." Said Tessa with a heavy-hearted voice.

"What do you mean?" Asked Cassandra surprised. 

"Forgive you for what?" Asked Priscilla that was listening silently up till now.

"Noah came to our house hiding from people that wanted to steal his skill to create poison slimes. To save us, I exposed this information to the Archduke and Royal Investigator. Noah is a hero of Greenville town. His poison slimes saved many talented adventurers' lives and are very highly praised in the Capital. His hiding at our place would be a heavy point in favor of my innocence. But because of that everyone will find out his identity and nobles will hunt him again. I did something terrible again." Said Tessa while tears started to fall on her hands.

"Was there any other way to save us?" Asked Priscilla, clenching her fists.

"None that I could come up with." Muttered Theresa.

Priscilla sighed and placed her hand on her mother's hand.

"I am sure Noah would forgive you. He loves you, mom. If that need to be done to save you, he would do it himself. We will explain everything to him and ask for forgiveness. Don't cry, mom."

Cassandra watched the two hugging women and sighed heavily.

"Speaking of this Noah. Where is he anyway?"

*****

"Lord Belmont." Called Archduke as they rode in the flying carriage. "You are going to report the matter of the poison slime Tamer to the King?"

"Yes. This matter is of utmost importance to the Kingdom at the moment."

"Make it reach the ears of the King and him alone. No one else should hear of this. I will restrain my men from spreading information. Make sure your knights don't blabber either." Said, Archduke.

"You are afraid of the traitors."

"Believe me, no traitor can be as dangerous to our country as the greedy fools on our side."

"I see…That is indeed so. I will make sure this report will be heard only by His Majesty. However, we would have to prove his identity and for that, we would either need to ask him to provide us with more slime or ask him to rejuvenate the ones in our possession. We would need to either make new cases for holding slimes or ask the ones kept in the Royal treasury to be given out. This will bring attention to our actions."

"His Majesty is not stupid. He will choose what to do himself. Our task is to make sure he has that choice."

"I understand. What will you do with Duchess Threadweaver." Asked Lord Belmont.

"First, we would have to reassess the information in our possessions. If she is indeed innocent of treason and only had some underground deals, that means someone is painting her out as a criminal on purpose. And I can think of only one thing they would want to achieve with it."

"Taking her pseudo core." Said Lord Belmont.

"Yes. What was the source of your information?" Asked Archduke.

"Observers." Said Lord Belmont. "They reported something that they overheard somewhere."

"I see. It may be that someone used observers and made them overhear the information on purpose. In that case, these people would be heavily connected with dark society and need in-depth investigation."

"Indeed. You need not worry, your Excellency. I do not leave my job half-done. I will find out who is playing with us and for what purpose."

"Good," Said Archduke. "But we better hurry. I have a bad feeling. Those bastards of dark society hid for decades. But lately, they started to play in the open."

"You think it is connected with the…omen of the Hero's appearance?"

"That is a great possibility. We would be exposing ourselves greatly if we don't crush that dark society before the start of the new demon war." Said Archduke clenching their fist. 

"You believe it will start?" Asked Lord Belmont.

"I have no doubt it will." Said Archduke, watching out of the window.