“What happened?” Edward looked at the wound, dumbfounded.

Syllis had expected him to question it but was it really that absurd? Of course it was not an everyday injury but was it so out of the norm for a doctor? She did not think so.

She smiled and tilted her head slightly. “Experiment.”

“Experiment?” Edward muttered more to himself than to Syllis. “What the hell do you need to be ‘experimenting’ with to this degree?” He didn’t seem to be in the greatest mood.

‘Fair enough.’ If Syllis had needed to treat four people she would already be upset. Needing to treat a fifth after the fact, being kept from her own research would be burdensome. It made it even worse that she was already one of his patients. It would have been much better for her to have ‘experimented’ before her sparring match. Then she would have avoided the second visit.

Seeing her reluctance to speak, only a sigh escaped from the man’s mouth as he gestured for her to sit.

The man worked quickly. This was both unfortunate and lucky. Syllis needed to quickly make her way to the banquet hall. She was already fashionably late to eat after all. Although, the pain rushed to the surface much quicker.

When Edward worked slowly, his patient would incur the total pain of the areas he healed, when he healed them. Since Syllis’ wound was concentrated in one spot of her hand, he did not have to take long, so nearly all of her pain bubbled up at once. Almost like the eruption of a volcano.

After getting stitched, she thanked Edward before opening the door to his office.

Syllis turned and paused for a second.

“What now?” Edward scowled, turning his chair back towards the troublesome nymph.

“Where can a nymph get a lantern around here?” Syllis stopped speaking for a moment. “Or a candle. A candle would be fine as well.”

Syllis had not intended on asking Edward. Instead, she was going to scour the manor on her own. However, she figured he would probably find it too much of a hassle to tell anyone about it, he wanted to focus on his work! So she decided it would be fine to ask him.

“Why? We have electricity. What reason do you have for needing a candle?” Edward squinted slightly, as though he could glean her intentions through her eyes.

Syllis’ mouth twitched slightly.

“F-for fun?” She did not sound especially confident in her own answer. It was especially odd for her to have needed either a candle or lantern. Both served the purpose of illumination so that was clearly her need, but what was the justification for such a need inside a fully fitted manor?

“Uh-huh…” Edward flicked his gaze to and from her, momentarily. “The manor isn’t actually completely fitted yet. The cellar doesn’t have electricity yet, the servants light the wall braziers every morning at dawn.”

Syllis thanked him before leaving.

“Wait!” Edward called out, stopping the nymph in her tracks. “You had better not cause any trouble down there. Don’t venture too far outside of the basement entrances. You might get lost.”

Syllis nodded and left Edward to his work.

‘A brazier huh… That should work, but not now!’ Syllis had more important things to do than satiate her curiosity. Actually, she had a singular, more important thing to do. That was to attend the banquet that she presumed was being held for her.

Finding her way to the banquet hall was not nearly as problematic as locating Edward again. She had run into the banquet hall on her way to his office, several times actually.

‘Am I that terrible at directions?’ Syllis thought back on it. No, she was not hopeless at navigating. It was just that it was her first manor that needed to be navigated. She was perfectly fine at perusing the various streets of the outer ring.

Stolen novel; please report.

The large door to the banquet hall shifted and creaked as it swung open. Who had pushed open the heavy, wooden door? It was none other than Syllis.

Everyone within looked towards the tall woman with confusion. This included the typical ensemble she had expected, as well as some new additions.

There was a tanned couple, seated beside Aura. They were very evidently her parents. Her mother was alluring and her father…

‘Nothing short of frightening… Would he take kindly to an invitation to spar? Maybe he would, something about defending his daughter’s honor?’ Syllis entertained the thought within her mind but promised herself not to ask about it. She had no clue about the traditions of nobles after all.

Her current situation was evidence of that… The fact that not only the newcomers were staring at her meant that she had done something wrong, deftly so.

‘Oh well.’

Keeping with the trend of family being seated together were two titans beside Korman. His mother’s face was slightly pudgy, she looked cute. As for his father, he looked out of place at the dinner table. The man wasn’t as refined as the rest.

He seemed to have arrived in a hurry, his hair was slightly ruffled and his clothes weren’t the typical formal attire that Asanoch held by the teeth. Instead, he seemed like a hunter, his clothing was prepared to camouflage in a forest.

‘Neat.’ Syllis remarked before glancing towards the head of the table, Clark smiled awkwardly.

“I apologize if there is a custom that I did not know about.”

Syllis stood there, unshifting. She wouldn’t take another step without gathering a response. It was not the greatest idea to offend these new attendees.

Of course, it would not be good to offend the Boornes either, but they were already somewhat acclimated to Syllis’ quirks. After all, they saw her drag one of the talented kindred in Asanoch across the dirt by her collar, with her calves slashed.

‘I wonder how her parents would react to me dragging their daughter across the ground?’

Korman’s father was the first to speak. “Only a slight one. It is customary to have the maid standing watch outside announce your name before entering. It’s a dated tradition anyways. Perhaps you are the catalyst to do away with it for good.”

Unlike Korman who hardly spoke, his father was lively.

‘How welcoming…’ It was almost alarming. Syllis had expected the upper class to be snooty and disrespectful. They had essentially disregarded outer Asanoch, only bothering to ‘take’ a small section that they wanted to transform into Aklilan. ‘Maybe it was entirely the government’s fault?’

“I for one think it is a testament to your character that you did not bother asking the servant outside if there was anything to be mindful of.”

The bewitching beauty scoffed as she finished her sentence. It was Aura’s mother. On first interaction, they seemed like birds of a feather, or maybe crows of a feather?

‘It was only logical that some of the upper class would be rude, and it makes even more sense for the first one I meet to be the mother of that witch!’

“I think that it’s a testament to your character that you let your daughter get dragged across the ground by a random nymph from the outer ring.” Syllis spoke snidely.

Syllis had been afraid of offending the people in this room, but not anymore. Korman’s family already appeared to welcome her. As well as the Boorne family. They even offered her a contract! So the secare nymph was not afraid to anger the family of a girl that already hated her.

‘Two out of three is good enough!’

‘Although…’ Syllis looked around the room, gleaning complex expressions that dared not interrupt the current silence. ‘This might have been a little too large an impact. Did I really manage to anger the others with that, relatively tame comment? It’s not too late, I can play it off as a joke…’

As Syllis was about to open her mouth, a hearty laugh rang out through the grandiose hall.

“If there is one thing that we have been lacking, it is in comedic timing. You are brilliant, Syllis, I haven’t seen Cora that speechless in many years! Come, take a seat. The food is already growing cold.”

Korman’s father saved Syllis. At least that was how she interpreted it. Perhaps he had really just found it funny, either way it helped her.

‘I like this guy.’ Syllis thought as she took a seat next to Clyde.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “It’s also customary to leave a seat of space before and after each separate family.”

Syllis shifted a seat down before turning towards Clyde. “I am starting to wish you had taught me these ‘traditions’ the last time I was here.” She smiled and spoke passive aggressively.

He answered with a slight apology before turning away.

‘That guy…’ Syllis stabbed at a piece of meat, beginning to assemble her plate. ‘He had better be thinking about what the hell I’m going to do to him later… I’m his sparring partner now, this is going to be fun.’

Syllis finished assembling her plate. The food was even better than the last time she had eaten it. The chefs truly shined tonight. Her earlier transgressions slowly faded as the entire room conversed and gorged on delicious dishes.

Syllis’ heart warmed over the course of the dinner. It felt nice to be eating in a group so large. ‘It feels nice to—have a family.’