"The word from the royal capital has come." Announced Father on the dining table.

"Is this about Helena and Howard's birthday celebration, Dad?" Queried my Sister, seemingly able to anticipate the topic.

"It is. Helena and Howard will be going back for their birthday this year." Replied him, sipping his wine.

"Can't we do something about it like last year?" Pursued her.

"They have the seal of approval from the king, Alyson." Answered the man tenderly.

"He is not the kind of man who would do this..." Interjected Helena, putting down her fork.

"Manner! Is that how I taught you to address your elder?" Chided Mother at the sullen-looking Helena.

The latter threw her gaze down with a complicated look, refusing to meet Mother's eyes.

Seeing Howard's gloomy expression, it was clear as a day that he did share his sister's sentiments against their father.

'This is strange, indeed...the succession war should be on hold with the recent development. Unless the king's trying to show his favor for one side, he wouldn't be meddling with Howard and Helena...' I mused inward, quietly looking at the man sitting at the head of the table.

My Father calmly finished his dinner after dropping a huge bomb on us, sipping yet another mouthful of the sour wine before he wiped his mouth with a fresh napkin.

I could feel Helena's breath quicken as time crawled by, and when she finally couldn't contain herself any longer, Helena finally relented and addressed the elephant in the room.

"May I ask what your decision will be, Your Grace...?" A tinge of uncertainty lingered in the tips of her tongue.

"What do you mean, Helena?" Asked Father back, seemingly innocent of the nature of her question.

"Will...you let us go back there...?" Finished Helena.

What she was trying to say was obvious. If Father let them go back, that could only mean one thing. The annulment of the engagement between Helena and I. From their point of view, maybe they wanted to be sure once and for all whether Helena could be a useful card to rope the Dawson in, once and for all.

And that also explained why they would go so out of their way like this. If she could, then they surely would play out different sets of schemes they prepared beforehand, and if she couldn't, well, at least they finally knew better than to keep playing a losing game on a board my Father had set up.

"Of course. As the loyal subjects of this kingdom, I would never dare to reject the king's decree,"

Helena clenched her fist at his remark, unable to refute it.

"Thus, preparation must be done...Byron." Said Father casually, contrary to the twins' dismay.

"Yes, Your Grace." Answered the old butler in return.

"Send words back to Nemeria. Tell my Father and Mother that we will be visiting the royal capital in the coming week and will be expecting their company." Added Father, his eyes smiled furtively toward the twins.

"I will see to it, Your Grace." Responded Byron faithfully, slipping a small gentle nod to Howard, who had been blinking in a daze.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Does that mean you'll be going with us?" Exclaimed Howard, finally catching up to his thoughts, almost jumping out of his seat.

"Of course, Howard. It'll be hard for you to try and get rid of us anytime soon." Gripping Mother's hand that had found him, Father expressed kindly.

The twins' expression melted like a morning dew at his words. Howard tried to play it cool by feigning a cough, but the rising on the edge of his lips dearly betrayed him.

On the other hand, Helena, who didn't care about anything like that, threw me a wide and excited grin.

'Geez...he's such a tease...' I rolled my eyes and chuckled lightly. Couldn't lie, though; he really played them by the nose just now.

"Hey! That...You know..." Mumbled Helena in a broken sentence out of the blue while shyly peeping toward my Sister.

The latter, who seemed to know what's what, smirked in glee.

"Mother, Helena, and I are going for an outing tomorrow." Declared her, sending playful gestures toward Mother with her eyebrows.

"Oh, my~. This is why having daughters is a blessing. Say no further, dear." Mother nodded knowingly and then exchanged looks with Hannah, who also, for god knows how, was able to tell what the hell was going on and was brimming with excitement. She harrumphed zealously and nodded with conviction as though to tell Mother to leave everything to her,

"Outings!" Shouted Adam.

"Not this time, handsome. It's girls only." Commented sister Alyson, pouring the cold water over the little boy's spirit.

"But I wanna come..." Pouted Adam, sour-faced.

"You can't come with us, but brother Howard and Alex will play with you, and it'll be fun, right boys?" She was looking straight at us, and we knew at that instant what our answer should be...She wasn't asking. No, it was an order...

Yeah, it was a done deal...

As the wholesome moment of our banter enveloped the room, I couldn't help but sneak a glance at Father from time to time.

In fact, I could actually feel the veiled tension coming from the adults despite their remarkable efforts to hide it.

As much as they preferred to paint the whole matter with nothing but sugar, it could never be that simple, after all.

There were so many insinuations and risks lurking behind this situation, all the more so because of all the information I've received prior from Clara.

It was unclear to me whether Father had been informed regarding the latest development or not, but I sure believed someone as capable as him could sense something was wrong sooner than later. Who knows, maybe he already knew that the Saint might be planning a conquest, seeing as he would obediently let us go into the royal capital.

Knowing Father, if he thought it'd be dangerous, he would've never approved of us going there.

Anyway, everything aside, I believed this was a blessing in disguise. Not everything needed to be viewed with much negativity, and we could get something out of this instead.

Not every day could we get a free pass into Boreas's royal capital, after all. It was a chance to get into the tiger's den to do some recon while we were at it.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?" Inquired Helena, pulling me back to the real world.

"Nothing...I just wonder what the palace looks like." I lied through my teeth, groaning in disdain inwardly about how awkward my excuse was. 'Really, man? That's the best you could come up with...? Ugh...'

"The palace? Nothing much. It's too spacious and boring. You'll meet nothing but pretentious geezers over there. Here is better." Explained Helena, scowling and snorting.

"She's right, Alex. You can't walk around as you please. Everything must be done according to the schedules. It is tiring." Added Howard, sighing.

"Still...It'd be nice to see where you and Howard grew up..." I followed up.

"...If you say so..." Finished Helena, peeking at me for some reason.

"Helena. Finish up your dinner and meet me in my room after this. Let's try a few of my dresses first so we can get a clear reference to what we might want tomorrow...Father, Mother. I'll excuse myself first." Quipped Sister Alyson.

She then threw me an exaggerated wink that left me baffled.

'...The hell was that?'