It's been months since Helena and I unofficially became engaged.

And man, things were hectic both in the family and outside.

For some unknown reason, Maya had taken a liking to Helena. Saying something like she resembled Hannah in her much younger days.

Our gentle and beautiful Hanna? Resembling the salty bitch Princess Helena? Ain't no fucking way...

Still, it is what it is. Who was I to know any better...

Hence, for the first time in her life, Helena had to deal with an adult who saw her as nothing more than the awkward brat that she was rather than the tough princess persona she always put up.

It was safe to assume she didn't have a freaking clue as to how to act around Maya. One might wonder why she didn't try to resort to violent tantrums like she often did when cornered.

Well, does the bird fly and the fish swim? What do you think the answer is going to be? Of course, she tried. And boy, did she try...

But what can I say? Helena has truly met her match this time around.

Before she became the Duchess of Dawson, Maya was the Princess from Kareya, but more than her royal title, Maya was also a master of her craft. As one might call it, she was one of the Martial Magicians who hailed from the East.

In short...She was strong. Hella strong, in fact. Renata told me that Maya was said to be around the Master level herself.

Using the unique alteration of Magic application from Kareya's teachings, Maya could exercise her strength, resembling a particular green alter ego hero from my previous world.

Powerless. That's the best word to describe Helena's pitiful state while she was in front of Maya. Stripped of the one thing that she could always count on, Helena was forced back to square one, and her last ditch effort was none other than to scream profanity unbridledly while hoping for Maya to leave her alone.

And Maya won, nevertheless. Helena was able to keep it up for two or three days at first. Insulting, grumbling, clicking tongue, or whatever she could think of, she tried it, but faced with Maya's consistent gentle smile, she broke in the end.

She still behaved like a stray cat, though. But it was nothing in comparison to the first time we met her.

So that's what happened...

And regarding the matters of outside...It was way more severe than our Princess's character development diary.

Within these past months, Helena and Howard had spent their days within Dawson's secluded walls; there were so many attempts on their lives. I didn't even bother to count. Fortunately, none of them have been successful.

Dawson's airtight security aside, I had Renata double down on our guys on Dawson's fief to prevent what could be contained.

But even that was like throwing a handful of sand to the beach. The influx of spies and assassins alike kept on coming endlessly. It wasn't exactly pleasant in any way...

And just when my mood kept plummeting day after day, the chance to exterminate them by the dozens had finally come.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

The whole continent will be celebrating an annual event a week from now.

The Festival of Light. The day when they honor the victory of the Champion of Light.

The whole family, including Helena and Howard, would appear at the city square to mark the start of the event.

The plan was simple. Utilizing the twins as bait, we'd try to subdue and capture as many rats as possible. My job was to mark and tell Renata about the suspicious people. The tricky here was we had to do this without entering the sight of people from Dawson.

The House of Light and Darkness was still hidden at this point, and I liked to keep it that way until I was strong enough to be confident about coming out in the open.

Having the Dawson to chase my people would be an irony I hoped to avoid to the best of my ability.

And thus, the week passed by in the blink of an eye, and the festival's day came at last.

----------------------------------------

"Why is she the one to escort Alex?" Complained Alyson.

"You make it sound like I'm dying to do this." Helena rolled her eyes exasperatedly.

"Hush now. Manners. Remember manners? I don't want to hear you two arguing from now on. Is that clear?" Scolded Maya sternly.

"Yes, Mother." Answered Alyson.

"Tch..." Meanwhile, Helena nodded after clicking her tongue softly.

"Good girls." Maya then turned her attention toward the squirming toddler. "Are you okay, baby? Do you want Mommy to hold you up?"

"I'm big! I can walk!" Retorted Adam back with conviction.

"How are you feeling, Alex? If you feel something wrong, tell us immediately, okay?" And lastly, she looked at me to express her concern.

"I'm fine, Mother. You know it yourself; it's been forever since I've last had an episode."

It was true. I never do limit testing during the day anymore. There was this whole thing behind it, but long story short, due to the twins and Adam's reactions to my limit testing, I decided to switch it up at night when I was as free as a bird.

However, thanks to that, the fame of my night vigilante life had been spreading faster and wider to the outside world. Due to my periodic inhuman screaming while I culled brigands on the mountains and forest, the name Black Nightmare had been cemented solidly in the minds of many.

I've even become a night tale mothers used for the naughty children who refused to sleep. Sleep, else you'll be taken with your eyes open when you hear the scream...

"I know, but just in case, okay, Alex? Don't ever take your situation lightly." Said Maya, caressing my snowy white hair.

"Yes, I will, Mother."

"Good..." She cupped my cheek and kissed my forehead softly before finding Helena, who was pushing my wheelchair.

"I'll leave him in your care, Helena, dear."

"Tch!" Helena repeated her action as though she had run out of repertoire.

Maya strode forward with Adam just beside George, who was still busy conversing with Byron concerning the security and other details of the event.

"Howard," I whispered to the seemingly invisible boy beside Helena. "Stay close to your sister..."

"What do you mean?" He was taken aback, maybe wondering why I suddenly sounded so grave out of the blue.

"Exactly what I mean. Stay close to Helena and protect yourself if the need arises."

"Why do you think I need protection, huh?" Helena's annoyed voice stabbed sharply from behind.

"You don't need them," Shrugging, I replied with a calm face.

'You will need them. But I know better than to say something stupid and needlessly provoke you here...' I complained inwardly.

"But think about Adam here. You might hurt him accidentally if you're running loose without thinking so much about left or right. We can't have that, can we?"

"Argh! Fine!" Maybe she realized my train of thought wasn't exactly unfounded; hence, Helena didn't bother to argue much after dishing out her trademark frustrating look.

"Alright. Is everyone ready?" After scanning us briefly, George led the whole gang to board the carriage into the city square. "Let's go."