Local goddess here, stressing out. Even though I have left the administering to my father and Eleden like in the past, in this current time, things were not as lax as I was before. You know, the time when I was chilling most of the time while practicing my magic skills. But now it was different. I have decided to closely coordinate with the team.

A lot of preparation for the upcoming invasion. Needless to say, Uncle was pretty drained. And we’re done extracting information from the imperial goons we took as prisoners. They were pretty fucked up now, I must say. Of course a pure princess like me wouldn’t know what exactly was done to them.

In any case, despite weeks having passed, there were still a lot of things to be done. We’re far from ready in facing a full scale invasion. But if things go well, we’ll be ready when the time comes.

I have also been reducing my time of training magic, not only because of the time needed for other endeavors but also because considering last time, I felt dizzy already just by using a powerful lightning bolt. That’s not good, you know. Don’t want it to get worse.

At any rate, things have been pretty peaceful, so yeah.

I was on my way to the dining room for dinner along with my two servants, Rogan and Vernon. Yes, there’s someone missing, our ever sweet Mera. Where’s she’s gone, you might ask? She’s been taken! Kidnapped! And now she’s nowhere to be found. Oh my goodness, is she alright?! She must be suffering or something. Oh, what a tragedy!

Just kidding!

She’s actually on leave. After what happened here at the palace, the Wisterian nobles heard of what happened, and her parents requested for her to return to her home. Of course, we didn’t refuse the request, it would be a good time for Mera to chill, you know. After all the deaths she saw, well, to put it simply, she was disturbed, and a bit traumatized.

She was not the only one though, several households requested for their daughters to temporarily come back. I mean, we already told everyone that no aristocratic maids died, but parents always want to make sure everything is alright. We sent a few, we didn’t send them all since we still need the servants. Once the first batch returns, it would be the second batch’s turn.

On the way, I came across Mother. I smiled happily and rushed to her side.

“Estelia, how are you?” she softly said, patting me on the head.

“I’m okay.”

“Really? You’ve been working more recently.”

I shook my head. “Others took care of it, mostly.”

She paused and looked closely at my face. She pouted a bit, quite adorable at that. My dear Mom just gets her cute and beautiful moments when she gets expressive. Like daughter, like mother! Oh wait, it’s supposed to be the other way around.

“You look pretty tired to me, Estelia.”

“Am I? Maybe I just need more sleep.”

“Hmmm.” She wrapped her arm around my head and pulled me into her. “You need to take very good care of yourself, okay?”

I felt her soft and warm embrace as we walked. As I found delight in her arms, I meekly nodded. I didn’t expect this, but it was good. I couldn’t help but smile from the bottom of my heart. Nothing was more peaceful than being in my mother’s arms.

“What about you, Mother? Are you taking good care of yourself?”

She giggled. “Of course, I am. I always sleep on time, I’ll have you know.”

“... What about work?”

“It is not as hard as yours. So I’m completely fine.”

“I see.”

“You need to think more of yourself, my precious baby.”

She rubbed my head, messing up my hair.

“I’m, I’m not a baby.”

She chuckled, amused. “You’re always my little baby girl.”

I blushed, and I lowered my head to hide it. It’s embarrassing when she teases me like this. And it’s so awkward when my servants are behind me! Dammit! Makes me wanna cry.

We arrived in the dining room. But it was only me and Mother that came first. The rest should follow soon. The servants had already placed the food on the table, covered in their respective lids. I yawned as I covered my mouth.

Yeah, I’m a bit sleepy right now.

Mother, who sat beside me, gave me a concerned look.

“Sleepy already? They should arrive in a moment.”

“It’s okay. I’m not too sleepy.”

She nodded. And a moment later, Estevan arrived.

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“Hello.”

“Hello, brother,” I said. “How are you?”

“Great!” He sat down on the chair opposite me. “Things are the same as yesterday.”

“There must be something noteworthy,” Mother said.

“Hm, well, everyone’s training hard. And that’s it, there’s not much going on with me.”

“Brother, you should consider going out sometimes. Perhaps meet other young ladies.”

You’re getting older, brother. You should find a fling or something. I know a friend that will be happy to keep your company. Heh, although I doubt she would contribute much considering that she might get all shy and flustered.

As one of my ladies’ group, I recommend her as a potential partner to my brother!

“Huh? Why would I do that now?” He looked at me with an utterly confused expression.

Of course, idiot brother! Find other girls instead of me! I mean, has he interacted with other ladies? Except for the servants and knights, they don’t count! Some casual stuff, you know, casual! Speaking of which, I kinda expected he had already found some spark, at least from the lady knights, but nope!

None that I’m aware of, at least! If there ever was, Rogan should’ve told me already. The lady knights are all cute, brother! At least try picking one…

“Why? To socialize, dear brother.”

He placed a hand on his cheek with a pout. “Don’t want to.”

I smiled, a bit amused. Oh well, I know in time even you will change, my dear brother.

“How about your own training, brother?”

He grinned widely. “I pushed myself even harder today! My body almost gave up earlier.”

I heard Estevan has been training harder. Definitely in preparation for the war that was to come. Although I don’t have much information about his development, I’m sure he was doing well.

“That’s amazing. But you shouldn’t overdo it.”

He paused for a moment and shrugged. “I’ll try. I should be saying that to you, you already look drowsy.”

I adorably frowned. “It’s night, of course I’ll be.”

“You need more sleep,” Mother said. “Want me to sing you a lullaby while you sleep?”

The both of them grinned.

They were teasing me.

“I-I’ll be f-fine.”

“If you say so.” She chuckled.

It was then that the last two had finally arrived, my father and eldest brother.

“Is something the matter?” Father asked while glancing at the blushing me.

“Oh nothing, just making sure Estelia takes better care of herself,” Mother said as she caressed the top of my head.

Father thought for a moment as he sat down. “Want me to sing you a song to sleep?”

I deeply frowned.

Why are you suggesting the same thing?!

Am I so obviously sleep deprived or something?! I’m certainly not! I’m just sleepy right now…

“I-I’m fine!”

“Want your dear eldest brother to tuck you to bed?” Eleden said with a wide grin.

“N-No!”

So embarrassing, and they all just laughed at me! Especially you Estevan, you traitor! You’re laughing so loud! Just you, you’ll regret making fun of me. I’ll set up something embarrassing for you!

Amidst their laughter, however, I couldn’t help but closely look at them. This joyful and casual atmosphere, this time of family, it was nice. These kinds of moments… It just makes me forget the bad things. I never thought I would get to experience something like this in my life, and here I am. And I was glad.

Every dinner, every lunch, and breakfast was a valuable memory. Wonderful memories.

Father, after taking a breath from his laughter, cleared his throat. “O-Okay, let’s eat.”

As they chuckled a bit, we began eating. As always, the dishes were colorful and smelled so pleasant. Needless to say, they taste delicious! I’m satisfied with this. Along with a nice and familial environment, nothing could make dining more awesome.

As the dining proceeded, the family made talks, fun, and interesting ones. Casual, serious, plenty of things that would fit with the time we had for tonight. And I watched it all with a smile, and listened to their words and voices.

And before I knew it, I was full.

Sometime later, dinner was done.

“Alright,” said Mother. “It’s time for everyone to rest up.” She looked at me.

I meekly nodded as we rose from our seats. Mother caressed my cheek, and she moved close to tenderly kiss me on the forehead.

“Especially you.”

“Okay.” I mildly smiled.

She’s too caring.

We all left the dining room, and I headed straight for my room. After saying goodnights to my two servants, I closed the door and leaped into my bed. I grabbed my pillows and gave them a tight hug. Keeping one in my embrace, I heaved a long sigh.

So tired.

I inhaled and smelled the fragrance of my pillow. It smelled good. Either be the fragrance from the washing, or mine… been using this for a while now so… Anyways, I looked up at the ceiling.

Yeah, guess I should seriously sleep a bit more early.

I shut off the lights and closed my eyes. In order to sleep, I forced myself to clear my mind and put myself at peace. It took an hour before I fell asleep.

Suddenly, in my deep slumber, I jumped awake when I heard a loud sound. I was a bit confused, but then I heard another sound. It was distant, echoing, but it was a booming sound… Explosive.

Another, then another.

What the hell?

I pushed my sheets aside and immediately headed for the door. A few of the knights on guard were rushing to the front of the palace. I grabbed one knight’s arm.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Princess, we still don’t know.”

I let him go and there he went running.

Another explosion in the distance. Shit, I felt like we’re getting bombarded or barraged by bombs. But it can’t be, who would attack us now? The Empire? That’s impossible, how could they even do that? This early, and without us noticing? Impossible.

Impatient, I ran to the front of the palace. It took no time for me to arrive at the staircase, but then a bright white light broke through the roof.

“Wha—” I sensed a fast object incoming, and I immediately used my wind to move aside instantly. A wave of light tore and crumbled the roof, before an object broke through the multiple floors and stopped to the ground, leaving a large crater and destruction in its wake. Debris scattered all over the place.

I went on to check what it was, standing at the edge of the broken third floor.

The thing that broke and pierced through the floors and walls, destroying a chunk of the palace and injuring the few knights caught within it, was an arrow. A normal arrow made of metal.

“How could that…?” I was shocked to see the damage it caused.

Multiple explosions then erupted from the distance, endlessly echoing in the night. I used my wind to lift myself up and hover at the roof. I looked at the city. My eyes widened at what I was seeing.

“It can’t be…”

The city, the capital city… was on fire. My city… was burning. A sphere of fire launched into the air, free falling into the buildings. And it exploded and sparked into different colors upon impact, destroying all caught up in the explosion, and setting the rest on fire.

Several more hurled in the air and again exploded into multiple colors. Almost like fireworks. No… they were fireworks, made more lethal. I have learned information about the Empire, and there was detail about them possessing something like it. But I didn’t expect something like this! These fireworks were too lethal.

More buildings were set afire, and I saw magic being fired in certain places. People fighting.

It can’t be… How did they do it? How? Now? They’re attacking now? And with their weapons of war? How was that even possible? How did they get through without being discovered? And directly here in the capital…

I took a deep breath. I didn’t expect this…

War… has begun.