Aurora felt that her talk with Dante went extremely well. She managed to get him to reveal all of his cards.

At first, she had planned on telling Dante about her power to see the future, but it turned out he already knew? She didn't expect that.

She was equally surprised to learn that her maid, Lyra, knew about it too.

At first, she suspected Lyra as a traitor, but looking at her past behavior, she didn't seem like the type to scheme behind someone's back.

The maid was probably just curious and ended up eavesdropping, but there was no ill intent behind it, just for her own amusement.

That means the information is being leaked by someone else, possibly back in her home.

Lyra knocked on the door and said, "Miss, it's me."

"Come in," Aurora replied.

The maid entered the room, her expression looking terrible. She didn't dare to look Aurora in the face.

"How did it go?" Aurora asked.

"As instructed," Lyra said, "I already told your father what you asked me to."

"Did you tell him about my meeting with Dante?" Aurora asked.

"No," the maid replied, "I didn't mention anything unnecessary."

"Good," Aurora said, "now come here, Lyra."

Her voice and tone sounding soft and kind. But Lyra was still terrified.

"What's wrong?" Aurora asked, "I won't hurt you."

That's exactly what people who are going to hurt you say, Lyra thought to herself.

But she obliged and approached Aurora, who was sitting on her bed. Anxiety filled her mind.

Aurora gave her a hug.

"You silly maid," Aurora said, "you better reflect on your mistake and never do it again."

Lyra cried. "Yes... I'm sorry, miss."

"I have plenty of other secrets you don't know," Aurora said. "Are you going to try and sneakily find out?"

"No, I won't," Lyra replied. "Unless you tell me yourself."

"And when I do," Aurora said, "you better hold that secret to yourself."

"I will," Lyra promised.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I won't stop you from fooling around," Aurora said, "but know your limits, okay?"

"Yes," Lyra said.

"Good girl," Aurora said as she released her hug.

"Now stop crying," Aurora said as she wiped the tears from her maid's cheeks. "I have something you need to do."

The maid nodded. "What is it, miss?"

"Go meet a guy named Nicholas Wolf," Aurora said. "He is a merchant our family works with. I want him to look for a book titled 'Cheerful Mysteries'. It's a rare children's book that's hard to find. I believe it comes from the other side of the land."

"Cheerful Mysteries," Lyra repeated. "Understood, miss."

"Tell him I need it soon," Aurora said. "If he can't find it in less than a week, I will cut off business deals between him and my family."

***

Viscount Starlight stood in his office, his face an unreadable mask. He had just received some devastating news from his daughter's maid. It seemed that information about his daughter's clairvoyant powers had been leaked, and someone within his household had betrayed them.

He couldn't believe it. Everyone in his house was like family to him. How could someone be willing to betray him and his daughter in such a way? He clenched his teeth in anger and frustration.

He was already swamped with other responsibilities, and now this had to happen? He couldn't help but wonder if the traitor had taken advantage of his busy schedule. Maybe they thought he was too preoccupied to pay attention and that's how they were able to pull it off.

A knock on the door interrupted Viscount Starlight's thoughts.

"My lord, are you calling for me?" the butler's voice called from the other side.

Viscount Starlight tried to compose himself, "Yes, come in," he said.

The butler entered the room, "Is there a problem, my lord? I noticed that Lyra had returned not long ago. Is this somehow connected?"

"Yes," Viscount Starlight said, "She brought some bad news."

"What news?" the butler looked curious and worried.

"Aurora's power has been leaked," the Viscount said, his expression grim.

"Leaked...?" the butler repeated.

The Viscount laughed bitterly. "Yes, my daughter has been carefully keeping it a secret, she didn't even tell her closest friends or her maid. I'm the only one she told, the only one she trusted. And now I've gone and messed it up by telling you,"

"My lord..." the butler started to panic, "What are we going to do? This is a disaster!"

"Get out!" The Viscount screamed, "Get out of my house!"

"Please, let me explain--"

"Shut up! I don't care about your reasoning! I gave you my trust and this is how you repay me? Get out of my sight right now!" the Viscount shouted, the anger and betrayal clear in his voice.

In a fit of rage, the Viscount threw his glass at the butler, but it missed and shattered loudly against the wall.

The commotion caught the attention of the nearby maids, and they quickly opened the office door to investigate. Inside, they saw the butler lying on his back, with shattered glass scattered around him. The butler looked pale.

"Wha-what happened...?" one of the maids asked, looking startled.

"Is everything alright, my lord...?" another one asked, looking worried.

The Viscount tried to compose himself, but his expression remained stern. "Call everyone. If I find out that any of you were working with this traitorous butler and betraying this family, I won't let you live in peace."

***

Ruby sat alone in the academy garden, feeling bored. She had nobody to keep her company.

She obviously doesn't want to watch Finnick train, she's done with that. Meanwhile her new ally and friend, Marina, was not yet back from the Magic Association lab and would possibly be absent for a few days.

And then, the most important one, Aurora, said she had something to do in town and rejected her when Ruby asked her to join. That made her sad, but she had learned from experience that getting offended over something small like that was stupid.

And who knows? She might bring her another gift. Ruby smiled as she touched her necklace.

"You seem to like that necklace a lot," Nova said.

Ruby was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice Nova was around. She immediately looked at her, annoyed. She might be bored and want some company, but that didn't mean she wanted to spend her time with THIS girl.

"That's weird," Nova said, looking at her closely. "I thought you didn't like wearing them."

Ruby didn't like how Nova acted like she knew her. They weren't friends, of course not, they were enemies. Nova's friendly act just irritated her.

"So what?" Ruby said, not hiding her displeasure. "It's special, Aurora gave it to me."

"Oh, is that so?" Nova said. Ruby could tell by her expression that this information seemed to give her an idea.

"What?" Ruby said, confused.

Nova smirked. "You're so happy just because of one piece of gem when she stole from you a whole mine?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ruby said, her annoyance growing.

"As far as I can see, it seems you consider her a close friend?" Nova said. "But she's hiding a lot of secrets from you."

"Can you not talk about Aurora like that?" Ruby's anger was now clearly evident. "You don't know anything about her!"

Nova smiled as if she had heard something funny. "Oh, you're such an innocent girl, it almost makes you cute. I know a lot more than you might think. Probably more than anyone else."

"Lies!" Ruby yelled, her frustration boiling over.

"I did not. I know her a lot, even if I don't want to." Nova walked forward and plucked a rose flower. "I didn't plan to tell this to anyone but it might be interesting to tell you. After all, we used to be friends."

"Friends? Is that a joke? Because I'm not laughing."

"It's true," Nova said. "We used to hate Aurora together. After all, you're the one who came to me and asked to be an ally."

Ruby stared at her in disbelief. "Are you crazy? There's no way something like that happened! Not even in your dreams."

"I believe you noticed too," Nova said. "You're not that dense. You could tell that me and Aurora have a history."

Ruby hesitated. Their relationship did confuse her. Like they knew each other, even though they had just met and were supposed to have no connection whatsoever.

Nova threw the flower up in the air. "I and that girl have been regressed," she said. "It means we're going back a few years to the past."

"What--?"

***