*** PoV: Kathleen ***

I thought having company for the night would help me calm down in a wholesome way, not by pushing my survival instincts to the edge, forcing me to forget my problems if I wanted to stay alive. Sure, it was all fun and games when we were still talking our time away, but right after we got into my luxurious bed fit for royalty, the absolute nightmare began. I was literally fighting for my life there. One moment my ribs barely survived a tight hug without breaking, then right as I managed to free myself, an elbow landed in my face, crushing my nose. That must have left some difficult to clean bloody spots on the sheets. The next moment I had to roll over to avoid a heel aimed at my teeth by a hair’s breadth, instead getting headbutted in the stomach. I was too busy figuring out how Hanna’s head got here so quickly after she pulled her leg back, but I faintly remember hearing something crack. Did the bed give out under me? When I bounced off of the wall of my own room from a powerful kick to my spine, finally getting outside of the attack range of the wild, uncontained limbs, I got to understand what my brother must have lived through the previous night. I clearly had to stop harassing both him and Alan for how bad they looked after their encounters with sister and the rat girls, seeing how after only an hour I no longer even had the strength to lift myself up from the floor. As for the disturbing sound I heard on impact, the wall probably crumbled behind me. It definitely wasn’t the sound of my bones shattering. The maids must have been terrified when they found me lying there like a disfigured rabbit after being torn into pieces by a pack of wolves. As for the healers, I just had to hope they liked sweets.

***

“Alan! Sister Kath is finally awake!” The first voice that I heard after I regained consciousness was that of my little sister, Sara, who I thought would refuse to talk to me for days, or possibly even weeks after the events of the previous day. Slowly lifting myself up, I could see over ten healers and Directory Hildakoa lying around my room, all of them being visibly drained. Alan and Hanna were sitting on Sara’s sides, both deep asleep, though on a closer look I realized Hanna’s limbs were tightly tied to her chair.

“Is this heaven?” A single near-death experience wasn’t enough to stop me from messing with people. Just like how the head maid kept intentionally pushing the buttons of people, I wasn’t about to change my ways either. Or maybe I was, but I planned to do it slowly. I knew perfectly well how creepy the serious Sylvie was when everyone was used to her usual self.

“What are you talking about, sister Kath? This is your room. This is where I found you last night. How can you still joke around like this?” Sara’s teary, but at the same time angry face scared me a bit. “Sister Letty said you would have died if I hadn't found you.” That meant instead of the maids it was my little sister who had to live with the trauma of finding my bloody unconscious body.

“Thank you. You are the best little sister I could wish for.” Her scrunched up face told me everything I wanted to know. “See? This happens when I stop messing with people for a moment, and that’s exactly why I still do it, no matter how bad the situation is, but putting that aside for a moment, I actually meant that. Thanks for not letting me die here.”

“You are welcome. Just please promise me one thing.” She jumped up from her chair and leaned in so close our noses almost touched.

“No, I won’t give you Alan, but I’m willing to treat him better.”

“I wanted to ask you something else, but thanks, sister Kath! Please tell us if you want to sleep with Lady Hanna! I’ll join you so that I can protect you!” Sara could be really sweet when I wasn’t actively teasing or bullying Alan near her.

“Do you think you could protect me from her?”

“Yes I can! I managed to tie her to her chair when she fell asleep while waiting for you to wake up, and almost hit Alan in the face.”

“...” I could not believe what I was hearing. “Are you saying you are stronger than her? Sometimes you seriously terrify me.”

“I’m not terrifying! I just trained a lot with Papa to become strong enough to protect Alan and you!”

“It’s reassuring that you included me there as well. Want to come over and sleep with your big sisters today?”

“Yes! It’ll definitely be fun trying to sleep with this many new people. Sister Letty was so comfortable too.”

“What do you mean by comf– Oh. Actually I have a pretty good guess,” I couldn’t help but mutter when I looked at the Director again.

“Can I invite her too?”

“Please consider saving Princess Kathleen the compensation for me declining your invitation.” Colette was still on the floor, but she was definitely awake and listening to our conversation.

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“Afraid of your own sister?”

“Want to wake up as a lich the next time you get your shapely little bottom handed to you by her?” Were both Hildakoa girls this dangerous?

“I’ll pass. I’m too young to become an undead.”

“Listen here, you little shit,” came Hanna’s voice from the top of a dangerously creaking chair. “You are only a single year younger than I was when I died, so stop spouting nonsense.”

“Wanna try me?”

“She did, Princess, and you lost.” Colette wasn’t pulling her verbal punches, that’s for sure.

“Who is the one getting done in by a girl now?” Alan had to pick this time to wake up. I wanted to throw a stinging remark at him, but I knew this wasn’t the right time. Even I could learn from my own past mistakes.

“Oh, good morning, Alan. Seems like everyone important is awake now, so I want to ask, for how long were you all here looking after me?”

“I have been here since we went to bed,” came Hanna’s answer, but she was avoiding eye contact.

“We heard something crashing, and Sara came back from checking it out with teary eyes saying that you were a bloody mess, so since about that time. I only left for a short while to get more healers, as Director Hildakoa wasn’t able to handle your wounds alone, but other than that we all were here for the whole night.”

“But you were sleeping most of the time, Alan. I even had to protect you from Lady Hanna while sister Letty was healing sister Kath. I was a good girl, so can I get some reward?”

I wasn’t about to argue with that.. “All I can offer are some desserts you like, and maybe some sisterly sharing too, if you can wait another 10 years.”

“I love you, sister Kath! But please write a… What was it again? Con… Contact? Cont… Ah, a contract! Please write a contract, sister Kath!”

“Was it the head maid who taught you tricks like this?”

“Yes, Lady Sylvie told me I had to make people write contracts so they keep their promises.”

“Whatever. Get me some parchment and a quill, and I’ll take care of it. We even have some witnesses here.”

“What are you two talking about?” came Alan’s question. Was I really not allowed to make a retort?

“Dense as always, I see.” Sister executed what I failed at without any hesitation, so all was good in the world. It felt nice not being the one who had to worry about the backlash.

*** PoV: Hanna ***

After completing the annoying task of being the witness for the improvised contract between Kathleen and Sara, Colette dragged me out of the princess’ room. We were heading towards the middle of the castle, where a tall tower stood. Sylvie and Queen Brianna were waiting for us next to a towering door, with the latter being the first to notice our arrival.

“Good morning, Director, Lady Hanna. For what reason were we invited here?” Did sister have time to send someone to Her Majesty while healing the princess?

“It’s the matter of the tournament, isn’t it, Colette?” asked Sylvie before Colette had the chance to answer.

“That’s one of the topics I want to talk about, but let’s save that for after getting in the tower. Way less curious ears there.”

“Ah, Master Sylvie, could you get Eva then?”

“Meh, not in the mood to walk that much. Why do we even need her?” the head maid asked, tilting her head.

“To get us into the tower, obviously. I might be the queen, but even I’m not able to open the door. She never registered me with the mana signature lock.”

“We don’t actually need her then,” shrugged Sylvie. There was a loud click, then the door started to open. “Both Colette and I can open it.” My sister was standing next to the door, with her hand on some kind of crystal embedded in the wall.

“I can understand the director of the Royal Academy having some privileges, but is a maid having higher authority than the queen normal in this era?”

“Sure it is,” replied Brianna.

“Only in this country,” corrected Colette. “Siegel’s royal family is a bit of a special case, with this cocky maid and Eva raising them from childhood. Her being above them is pretty much imprinted by the time they learn to speak.”

“But it is like this in Oase too, so it must be normal,” claimed Brianna.

“It’s great to know that Oase still exists, but I’m pretty sure King Patrick didn’t have maids above him back in our time. Has he changed this much since then?”

“Did you know Eva’s father, Lady Hanna?” Brianna’s eyes started sparkling again, marking the possible start of another history class.

“Did? Oh, are you saying the old man has already passed away?”

“He passed away a little over a hundred years before Eva unsealed me. Are you not even surprised by Eva being his daughter?” asked Colette.

“Him having children is more of a surprise than Eva being one of them,” I shrugged. “I always thought that man leaned the other way. The only woman I have ever seen him show interest in was Clara. I barely avoided being executed when I beat his ass for that.”

“Can’t really argue with that observation of yours. Eva said he gave in under the pressure from his retainers, and married two of Clara’s granddaughters. His children are Eva and Oase’s current king, Oscar Pesok, who is both Eva’s half-brother and cousin at the same time.”

The tower’s door closed with a click behind our backs.

“So then, what is it you wanted to talk about, Director?” Brianna was suddenly in business mode.

“I want to report on an accident that happened last night.” I was screaming internally.