The silence that followed was heavy, it felt like someone dropped a dead body in the middle of the room out of nowhere. They were all staring at me expectantly, probably waiting for my reaction to the fact that my uncle wasn’t my uncle.

What was I supposed to say though? “Oh, cool. Sup, buddy! Can I call you bro?”

Yeah, no.

With my mind pretty much drawing a blank, I decided it was better to just let things play out a bit. So, I leaned back, allowing my default, deadpan face to shine through—yep, nothing to see here, folks.

‘Uncle’ Tenard adjusted his glasses as he cleared his throat. I swear he had adjusted those glasses fifty times already. If the frame was that loose, just get a new one! You rich ain’t you?

“Well, um… As I mentioned earlier, I’m not your father’s brother by blood.”

He paused, probably to check if I’d react. I didn’t. I just quietly grabbed the almost empty cup of tea and began sipping away.

It took a while before he continued. “My family comes from a branch line. So, while we share ancestry, my connection to the direct line is distant at best.”

Now that I had a question about.

I set the teacup down, letting the faint clink punctuate my words. “Then why does Father insist on referring to you as family?” My voice came out naturally cold and sharp, surprisingly like Mother’s. It wasn’t something I did on purpose—it just happened.

…Don’t tell me her sadism is hereditary.

Tenard, predictably, adjusted his glasses again. “Well, we did grow up together when we were kids. But trust me, Lady Carine. It’s a one-sided thing. I’d prefer him to call me like he would any other servant, really, haha.” Tenard let out a meek laugh.

Hmm… Self-deprecating humor. How original.

…sip.

Oh, I’m out of tea.

I slowly put the empty cup back down as the room fell into silence once more. Before I could think of a way to break it though, Father got ahead of me.

“No need to worry about that for now! We’re here to celebrate Carine’s invitation to the First Prince’s party!”

He acted like he didn’t start this whole awkwardness in the first place. But oh well, a change of topic was needed anyway. I even forgot that we visited to celebrate too.

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

“Yes, of course.” Tenard nodded, his glasses dropped slightly, and he pushed it back up again. I wondered if it was because of my eyes that I was paying attention to these things.

“It is truly an amazing sight to see the Sareid name be invited to such an exclusive party.”

Mother gave a nod as well. “She is my daughter after all. Nothing but perfection is expected.”

“I was just lucky.” I tried my best to downplay what happened. I didn’t want Mother to up her expectations of me even higher than it was now, if that could even happen.

“You shouldn’t do that, Carine,” Mother said.

“Do what?”

“Downplaying your achievement. Hold your head high. You’ve achieved what generations of our family could not. Be proud of that.”

But seriously, it was just luck. The Third Prince had shown up uninvited to my birthday party, we’d exchanged a few words, and then he handed me the invitation like it was candy. There wasn’t even any effort on my part, I just sat there! Honestly, it felt like I didn’t even deserve it.

“If I may ask, how long will you be staying here, Your Grace?”

“A day and a night,” Mother responded. We’ll leave the next morning, Carine needs to go back to her schedule as soon as possible.”

What? No time to rest after all? Ah, who am I kidding? I already had enough rest with all those days in bed recovering. I wanted to go back to training as soon as possible. The postponements were starting to get on my nerves.

“Very well, I shall inform the staff. Also, Your Grace,” Tenard turned to Father. “Regarding the celebration, shall I have the chefs prepare a grand feast for tonight?”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I’m sure it’ll be difficult for them to start preparing the feast this late in the day.”

“There’s no need for worry, Your Grace.” Tenard pushed his glasses up again, its lenses flashed as he did. “I’ve had the chefs prepped for this day for over a week now, they are ready to bring you our region’s best cuisines!”

“Is that so?” Father looked impressed. “Well, in that case, I suppose it’s only right to let them do their thing.” Father gave him a hearty clap on the back. “You’ve really outdone yourself, brother!”

He won’t stop calling him that, won’t he?

…sip—oh right, the cup’s empty.

Tenard stiffened up but quickly masked it with a laugh. “It’s nothing, Your Grace. I simply wanted today to be perfect for Lady Carine.”

I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Over a week? For this? A fancy dinner for the five of us? It seemed a bit… excessive. However, what part of my family isn’t excessive?

Everyone continued to talk about the feast’s potential menu, but then a knock came through the hallway doors, turning everyone’s attention and stopping the chatter.

“Father,” a muffled voice came through the doors. “I need you to verify some documents.”

“A-Ah! Ranette!” Tenard quickly adjusted his glasses and rose from his seat. “I’ll be there in a moment—”

The doors creaked open before he could finish. A girl peeked in hesitantly, her messy, faded green hair falling over round glasses. She had the same tired look as Tenard, though something about her expression felt sharper than his.

“Father, how many times have I told you to—ah.”

She froze, caught halfway between entering and retreating.

Clearly, she didn’t expect any visitors today. But I believed it was something more than that. After all, her surprisingly familiar looking dark red eyes were staring straight at me, as if my gaze turned her to stone. What was I? Medusa?

Wait, don’t tell me that’s part of the package for my super eyes.

Seriously though, how long will she stand there?

image [https://i.imgur.com/eNwUVVG.png]

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image [https://i.imgur.com/RdC5Gde.png]