"I can't keep ignoring it. Ye hear me?", a loud voice could be heard from within the room, as Rowena turned to Ava, who had been beside her the whole way from the eastern wing of the mansion.

"Ye act as I'm a daft cow, but I really don't know why it happens", someone else said, in an accent she had heard a few times in her old life, "Ye gotta believe me!"

"I try. But look at this bloody mess ye made!"

"I'm sorry", said the other, who clearly sounded like Charlotte, but her words were drawn in a way similar to the brits back in her old world.

"I didn't know Norina was from the north," Ava commented nonchalantly.

The countries below Arlen were more similar to Britain, while up at Arlen it was a mix of different influences, among them Germany. Rowena knew that she was from the Nerena Marquisate.

'She, or her biological parents, might actually be from Kanaria or Edengard', she thought to herself as she finally opened the door to reveal a "bloody mess" on the floor, which was in fact a broken vase full of beautiful blue flowers, scattered everywhere and staining the precious carpet.

Shocked, the blond maid looked in her mistress' direction. "Oh dear… I apologize, Milady", she said, then corrected herself, "My lady."

"It's fine, just clean it up." As she looked at the child who would work so diligently, she realized something. "What are these flowers?"

They had been at this mansion since the day before. The hunt would finally start today, which meant they had to go soon. She had been trying to get to her brother since their arrival, but couldn't.

Now, she knew that he was supposed to take over the family, but she couldn't understand why they would suddenly hand him all the reigns on the security of the Hunting Festival, even if their father looked over his every step.

'Again, something changed', she noted with a sour expression on her face, as she realized she didn't understand why this change occurred, just like Colin being called back to the Vatican, which hadn't happened in the novel either, 'and again, I know nothing. Was it because of what happened in Kadena?'

Norina, who saw her lady's face, hastily grabbed something off the floor. "There was a card attached, when the servant had brought them in earlier. And that box on the bedding as well."

"Thank you, Norina." She took the card, opened it and it read: "After I had them go out of stock because of your brother, I finally got to give some to you myself. I congratulate you on your debut, although it is late, as I couldn't make it in time to the Capital. But be careful among the socialites, as you never know who bites. " Rowena had no idea who it was from, as the card was plain white, with nothing to adorn it.

Putting the card down, she opened the box, wrapped in white with a lavender ribbon, resembling her hair. On top of two bottles, there was another card.

"This is for when you decide to have another incognito trip with your brother. Maybe you should try to be a bit more subtle then", it said, and then it clicked.

"I know who this is", she absentmindedly claimed aloud.

She also had an idea what the bottles contained, as she looked at them and one was closed with a lid that had a pipette attached to it. It wasn't very big, while the other bottle held a lot more liquid.

It seemed to be an oily base with something a glittery substance in it that would start swirling like a cosmic storm inside the glass when she shook it lightly. It was finely ground Mana Stone.

They couldn't shape it yet, but just like diamonds, Mana Stones pulverized slowly when ground up against one another. The powder would have the same effects as the stones themselves, but they couldn't be maintained, so once used up, it became useless. It was also less efficient, because some Mana inside was lost in the process as well.

It was, overall, an art that was an unsuccessful try at forging Mana weapons. But as so many things – the failure of one will be the win of another, and thus, less useful Mana Stones were ground up professionally and managed to aid as ingredients in tonics and cosmetic products.

This here, specifically, needed to be made with something of a little higher quality. 'This is used to change the color of your hair and eyes.'

She didn't need to see the label with a black raven on a red rose, dangling from the bottlenecks, in order to know who supplied these. Only one person could have sent this.

"And who might that be?"

Surprised, Rowena turned to look at her eldest brother, who now stood in the doorway, looking at her with amusement.

He didn't quite know what was going on, but since the door had been left open, he came closer to see if something had happened. Though his worry wasn't needed, as it seemed.

"I got a bouquet from Anya Epstein, as a congratulatory present for my debut."

"That is quite nice", he said without meaning it, "but still be careful with people you don't know."

He walked further in, closing the door in his wake.

"I couldn't get ahold of you since yesterday", Rowena stated in an involuntarily accusing tone.

A small laugh could be heard in response. "I'm very sorry, I will make it up to you", he apologized, "but I came as soon as I was able to."

Rowena walked over to the dresser she was using for the short time of their stay, taking a small wooden box that sat there. "There was something I wanted to give to you, but you don't have to take it, if it isn't to your liking."

She had put her all into this one, but she couldn't say so when she knew better than anyone what it looked like. And by him stepping closer, the object she had taken out of the box and offered to him had become more clear to him as well.

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"This is a present for me?"

"Take it or leave it", she let her tongue slip once more.

But he only laughed as he took the tassel. "It's beautiful", he said, "just like you."

She had been wearing one of two dresses made specifically for the Hunting Festival. It was a pretty dress, as one would expect from the Empire's currently most wanted tailor. But that wasn't why this dress was so important for the Festival.

The dress she wore today was more puffy than usual, with another skirt underneath. But there were openings sewn into the upper layer, hidden well beneath some elegant decoration, closed with a simple button.

When she put her hands through those openings, there were compartments sewn into her underskirt and the seams were shortened, in order to hide where it hung lower than the rest, due to the extra weight it had to carry.

Nona had neither told anyone about her job, nor had she asked what it was for. She had simply done her job and she had done it wonderfully, if Rowena had any expertise to say so.

Then she remembered something. "Right, I don't need to hide this from you." She took out her compound bow from one of her pockets and a few silver arrowheads from the other, together with a knife. "They are pretty cut resistant pockets. Many layers of cloth."

She had only taken the heads, which she had sent one of her maids to procure when they were in Avarinth. In the end, she could attach them to the arrows they would have more than anything of at the festival site. But she couldn't hide entire arrows in her skirt.

"You don't wish to hunt yourself, do you?" His expression became serious, all of a sudden.

"No, but I want to make sure to be able to defend myself." She lied, but what else could she do? "Brother, I can tell the future", wasn't exactly a phrase to say lightheartedly, especially since her information was wrong one too many times.

But she was sure they would attack, there's no better situation than this, outside the Capital, with less manpower than in the center of the Arlen Empire, with even foreign royalty on board.

"You're right, still…", he said and trailed off, "I heard about something that happened when you were invited to the Princess' tea party."

"Word really does travel fast around here."

"What happened?" He wasn't having her change the subject or make light of it.

For a second, she had to think about how to put it, but he was the man who stood in front of her when it had happened. 'He was there, when that fever dream was going down, he would know best. But then again, Norina and Sean had also been there and didn't see it.'

"You can tell me anything, I will not judge you for it."

"That's not what I'm concerned with, brother", she replied truthfully this time and she saw his surprised expression, "I trust you wouldn't judge me in this regard."

"Then tell me, Rowena", he almost pleaded.

All he had heard was that she had a mental breakdown of some sort, but she looked fine, and he hadn't heard of her going back to her socially awkward days either. If he hadn't been so immersed in working on the safety measured in the mountain range, he could have been there for her.

"I just… there was this man, at the tea party. A servant", Rowena said, but sighed, "not just any servant, but the Saintess' – Scarlett Baldwin's servant. A treasured one at that. When I saw him, I lost my head, so I had to go early. There were no hard feelings and the Saintess even looked as if she was worried about me. She wasn't angry at all."

She had put that last part in in order to make it seem less troublesome, but her brother hadn't even considered that. Instead, he worried about what she might have seen.

She could have only meant one man. Scarlett had been of similar age to Alan, also of similar status – at least before she had outranked him by becoming Aurora's Saintess.

When they were younger, they would often get together, their parents even briefly talked about them marrying one day, though he had never quite connected to her. And there had always been a boy, a servant's child, pitiful and not much to look at, but he was important to her.

He had become her personal attendant, following her nigh everywhere she went. And now, he had a head that was a bit bigger than it should be, getting her in trouble more often than not, with his only saving grace being his loyalty and the fact that people now tended to overlook things, when it came to the Saintess and her close confidants.

"He's a bit of pai-", the older brother started, and cleared his throat, "he's sometimes a bit rude, but he doesn't do harm. I believe his name was Illic."

"No, Alan, I know. I saw into his face; I saw into his eyes, and I know it was him."

"Who?" He was just as lost to her words as the people at the tea party were.

"The man with the water Numbered." She couldn't say "Leviathan", because she would have to tell him about how she had known of him. Suddenly, she slapped her hand against her forehead. "Leviathan."

"What's that?"

"My Numbered, Pandora, told me that is the name of the Numbered that controlled water the way that man in Kadena did. It's Number 34, the Ruler of the Seven Seas, Leviathan."

How could she forget? Everyone in this room had seen her contract Pan at the Lodden Capital.

"That is incredible information", he stated.

'She's right, you know', someone else involved herself at this point.

'If you knew that, you could have told me as well.'

'Well, you never asked.'

'Hmpf', was all he could counter at that remark, but shook his head. "And you are completely certain?" He couldn't say he saw anything like it.

He also didn't remember ever looking into his eyes. He had been more focused on anything else. But could it have really gone past him? He had known Illic for many years now.

"It's a bit dodgy, no?" Norina mumbled, lost in thought, but even as quietly as she was, both siblings could hear her clear as day.

"What does?"

"Oh God, I didn't mean to speak loudly, I'm very sorry." Of course, she bowed deeply for it, but Rowena went over to pat her on the shoulder, as Charlotte had already gotten rid of the shards between them. "You weren't loud at all. I was just wondering what you meant."

"Uhm, I know this is preposterous of me to say, but…", the girl with the frilly hair had visible trouble finding the right words for her thoughts, "didn't it seem as if the boy was really important to the holy lady?"

"He has been with her since their childhood, so it isn't something to worry about."

"Yes, but, I mean, if she has been with him for so long and taken care of him, how come he looked so sickly?"

Suddenly confused, Alan blinked and looked at Rowena, who had been just as taken aback.

'She's right', they both thought, hilariously in tune.

"I can't believe I didn't notice that, but it's true. He was incredibly scrawny. Does the Saintess not feed him well?"

Alan put a hand to his chin and considered the statement. "No, there's no way. He had always been on the thin side, that is true, but he has been very scrawny for about ten years now."

"So, what are the odds that he started learning to utilize Mana back then?"

The theory seemed way more likely than he wanted to believe. "We can't decide on that rashly."

"You're right. Especially since there are things to figure out first."

Rowena's hand wandered to the small crevice on her collar bone, just to find that nothing was there and twiddled her thumbs instead, as her dress had sleeves made out of lace that ended shortly below her elbows.

"He must have come here with the Saintess while we were in Lodden", the young master deduced from experience and knowledge of the facts that were present in his mind.

"Yes, he would have had to be in two places at once."

"Exactly. But I really don't like what is happening here. As I thought, there's someone I have to introduce to you." Thankfully, they were on the ground floor.

"What do you mean?" Rowena was a bit confused by the sudden shift in their topic. "Who?"

There was no glowing circle, no great fanfare, nothing special, just a woman with dark, shining skin, and a mystifying gaze, adorned by ivy and flowers, coming up from the ground behind her brother. The blessing wasn't broken, because in reality, it was as if she wasn't even there, and if she opened her mouth now, nobody but her brother would hear.

"Evergreen…?" was the only thing that came over Rowena's lips, as she looked at that beautiful and legendary Numbered from the files back in Celia's world, who had now appeared before her very eyes.