CHAPTER 34: ACTING STRANGE P4
~34.4~
*****
As soon as the butler welcomed Yami inside, she felt something strange, as did Aliana.
“Princess Yami, stay on alert,” the invisible guard said. “I am sensing a strange mana... but somewhat familiar. And I don’t like it.”
“I feel it, too,” Yami replied. “Aneue, you can hear us, right?”
“Yes. We all can hear and see through Aliana’s NeuraPhone.”
Yami immediately felt safer, knowing that her protective older sisters and mother were watching. “Okay.” She gave the butler a smile and asked, “Where is my brother?”
“Lord Zen is current in the library reading,” the butler answered promptly. “Do you have business with him, Your Highness?”
Yami nodded. “Yes. I wish to invite him to dinner.”
“I see,” the butler’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. “I shall relay your invitation and contact your attendant once he has given me his response.”
Yami smiled dryly. “That’s okay, I’d rather invite him in person. If you ask, he’ll simply say no. If I ask, he’ll have a harder time saying no.”
She began walking through the foyer toward the hallway to the library, but the butler hurriedly cut her off. “Your Highness, please understand, His Highness is busy. I cannot allow-”
She shot him a glare that would not take no for an answer. “You can and you will. Step asi-”
“Master Lowen, the child!” cried a maid as she came running from the stairs.
Yami’s expression hardened, and beneath Aliana’s stealth magic, Ranna’s eyes teared up.
“My baby?” She began to run out of Aliana’s stealth magic, but the guard held her hand, barring the way.
“Wait, Lady Ranna. Something isn’t right.”
“That’s exactly why-”
“What is the problem?” the butler asked, his expression remaining unchanged.
“Lady Ren was crying, and nothing we did could calm her. Since Lady Ranna is out at the moment, we decided to ask Lord Zen to help calm the girl.”
“And did he?”
“He agreed to help, but...” the maid trailed off, her eyes had already teared up.
“Speak. What is the situation?”
“Lord Zen went into the nursery, but did not allow any of us to go in with him. He came out a few minutes later and told us ‘She will be quiet now.’”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Yami said. “Nevermind the library. Maid, take me to the nursery.”
“That’s the problem!” she was growing more hysterical. “Lady Ren is missing! The other maids are searching, but I can’t sense her mana anywhere!”
Ranna tried to run out of the stealth barrier again, but Aliana stopped her.
“If she truly is missing, you can do nothing for her right this second. Let the conversation continue.”
“I can’t stay calm, she just said my little girl is gone!”
“I didn’t tell you to stay calm, but you need to stay safe. Clearly something has happened. I can confirm Ren is not in this palace. The moment she said Ren was missing, I scanned the entire palace with my magic. We will find her, but your safety is just as important.”
Yami transformed her bracelet into a katana and held it toward the butler. “Lead me to my brother immediately.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Aneue, are you coming?”
There was no response.
“Aneue?”
“Princess, our connection has been cut off. I can’t contact anyone, even with telepathy. Our location has been altered. Inside the palace, everything is the same. Outside, I sense the void.”
“What is this commotion?” Yami recognized the voice immediately. Her brother staggered into the foyer from the hallway leading to the library. “Ah, Yami.”
Yami’s expression hardened. “Zen, what is going on? Where is Ren?”
“Ah. She was crying, and the maids were pestering me about it. So I made her stop crying.”
“By doing what, exactly?” Yami gripped her blade. She didn’t want to use it, but began to fear for her life. “Aliana, this is serious. You’re still here, right?”
“Right behind you, Princess.”
“Well, it’s the darndest thing. I went to the nursery, but none of the maids followed me in. I’m not exactly sure why.” He shrugged. “But I went inside, and she was crying. Kenji was already gone. I don’t know where he got off to. I wanted her to be quiet, and then she was just... gone. I don’t know how.”
Yami’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. “Zen... how could you speak so casually about your children missing like that?”
“Hmm...” He held a finger to his chin. “I wonder. I dunno. It doesn’t seem like a problem, though. The maids wanted them quiet. Now they’re quiet. Anyway, I’m going back to the library. I was reading. You can let yourself out.”
Yami gritted her teeth and walked up to her brother. “Snap out of it! You’re acting insane. You should be worried sick that your child is suddenly gone, yet you’re acting like it’s problem solved. Your manner of speaking is strange. And where even are we? Outside the palace isn’t the rest of the royal district. The entire palace was just... moved.”
“Oh, that’s probably the weird voice. Just a minute ago before I came out here, I recall hearing your voices from down the hall and wanting solitude. And now, I guess I have solitude. It’s whatever. I’m going back to my reading. You can leave now.”
The white-haired princess was growing more irritated, and Ranna was growing more hysterical inside the stealth barrier.
“I’ll leave when I see Ren safe and sound.” She looked at him in the eyes. “Tell yourself you want her back. Make that weird voice return them.”
Zen scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, it doesn’t work like that. You see, I don’t actually want to hear the crying again, so the voice won’t do anything against that. I can’t control it. Anyway, you can leave now.”
“Not until the child is safe.” Yami shook her head.
Zen’s eyes glazed over, and a black katana appeared in his hand. He quickly swung his blade, Yami tried to block, but Aliana was faster. The royal guard knight stopped Zen’s blade with her own in the blink of an eye, her expression hiding none of her anger.
“You would go so far as to attack your sister for the sake of quiet?” She scoffed at him. “You are clearly not in your right mind.”
“Ah, that’s why my sister was so fearless. The mighty guard knight Aliana Venturi was right there in the shadows.”
“Zen, please, where is our daughter?” cried Ranna, having followed Aliana out of the stealth barrier.
Zen looked only more displeased. “Great. More noise.” He sighed.
“Princess Yami, as soon as you can, please escape this palace with Lady Ranna. Run outside and try to contact Princess Kye. I’m not sure what magic is hindering our communications, but it’s very serious. The system is not so fragile as to be meddled with on a whim. I’m certain I can keep you safe on my own, but I cannot solve this problem.”
Yami was taken aback. “It’s that bad? Okay.” She eyed Ranna, who reluctantly nodded.
“Are you not able to teleport us out of here? You are one of the greatest spatial magic users in the empire!”
“No.” Aliana knew she could whisk them away, but she was hesitant given the fact that the system’s communications were being blocked and they were transported without her noticing at first. “I don’t know our current coordinates. I can’t perform long distance spatial movement without knowing both ends of the movement. I can do short distance movement with my void magic active, but that won’t solve anything. I can keep you safe simply remaining here within my magic. Please try to leave the palace and contact the Princess. You both are wrapped in my magic already. Nobody I do not permit can touch you right now.”
Yami grabbed Ranna’s wrist and ran for the door.
“Oh, you’re leaving!” Zen seemed genuinely happy. “Okay, that’s great. I can have my quiet now.” He eyed Aliana, who was not moving. “Why are you not leaving with them?”
“I will not leave you to your devices,” she answered. “I will remain here and you will not leave my presence until Princess has arrived.”
“No, I’d rather you leave.”
Before either could exchange any more words, the door suddenly burst open just before Yami and Ranna could open it.
“YOU BASTARD!” came a voice none of them were familiar with. It belonged to a black-haired girl, seemingly in her twenties. Her hair was very long, enough that the back of it covered her butt. She was wearing a strange outfit, one with several belts in places that belts would normally not be found. Her expression quickly changed from angry to surprised when she laid eyes on Ranna. She stopped in her tracks.
Ranna stepped closer to her, her hands held outward. Ranna instinctively knew who the girl was. “Could it be?” She moved the girl’s hair to the side to get a full view of her face. “You are! But how?”
“You know who I am?”
Ranna nodded. “I could never see you and not know.” Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she embraced the girl. “My baby. Ren.”
The girl’s eyes were quickly overcome with tears as well. “Mom!”
*****
Revision: 2024-11-6