Breezewind Castle, Staflake.

It's been three weeks since her ordination, and Beatrice can finally get out of bed. Throughout the room, Beatrice felt fear all the time. But stepping out of bed doesn't mean she's completely healed. Beatrice now had to put on two layers of fur shawls to avoid the bone-chilling cold of Ubberst.

It had also been a while that she did not stop to observe the daily scene at Breezewind Castle. Today, when she was able to walk, Beatrice stood silently watching everything unfold as it was supposed to. But one thing she didn't anticipate, was Damiana who did not know when to come and stand beside her.

"Do you think Uncle Talbot would love my appearance?", Dami stood looking out of the Ice Gate with great enthusiasm.

"Even if he doesn't like it, he won't say it out loud," Beatrice replied.

"Can't you stand it if you don't confront me every day?", Dami said loudly to Beatrice in annoyance.

“Dami! You have no right to raise your voice to me!”, Beatrice was also annoyed with her brash attitude. She could sympathise with it, but absolute chaos she would never approve.

"I do not care! You only did it because Uncle Talbot likes me, not you!", she said angrily.

"What? I don't need him to like me," Beatrice felt amused by her words. Strictly speaking, Beatrice had never paid attention to Uncle Talbot.

“I won't talk to you anymore, I'll go find Evelyn. Why isn't she my real sister?" she said as she walked away, leaving Beatrice alone standing there exasperated.

At times Beatrice was really jealous of Evelyn. She's always been liked by everyone, from her parents, Dami, to everyone at the castle. No one has a grudge against her. Sometimes Beatrice has bad thoughts, that if she wasn't here, would things be different? That she would be liked more, and Dami would have no one else to rely on? Every time Beatrice thought that, she blamed herself for being stupid. But in life, how can one always play the role of an all-good person? There are moments when people have to be mean and selfish. And everyone has a bit of darkness.

Dami was angry and ran to look for Evelyn, but before she could find her, the Ice Gate suddenly opened. And that's what she wished for, Lord Baldwin's hunting group has returned. Dami immediately forgot all her troubles with Beatrice, she immediately galloped out of the gate. Dami ran while shouting:

“Uncle Talbot! Uncle Talbot!"

And as if Talbot also saw Dami running towards him, he jumped off his horse, let the servant hold the reins, and ran to pick Dami up. Talbot laughed like a ray of sunshine and asked:

"So what? Did Dami miss me or not?”

“I miss you every day”, she is happier now than ever.

Talbot put Dami down. She wanted to hold on to Talbot a little longer before going inside, but she remembered she hadn't said hello to Grandfather Baldwin, and that shouldn't be the case. Dami ran to Balwin, who was guiding the man to bring the hunting items into the kitchen, with a welcoming smile.

"Grandpa Baldwin, do you have anything for me?"

Baldwin saw such a lovely child, he couldn't be rude even if he wanted to. He put his hand over her head, joking:

“My stupid son, you want him not?”

"My pleasure, grandpa! By the way, my father is looking forward to seeing you.”

"Really? Yet he did not come out to meet this old man. All right, you go play, I'll come see him after the meat is delivered."

"Yes!"

When she was done, she was relieved to cling to Uncle Talbot and continued. Despite being only fifteen years apart, Talbot was used to treating her like a child, and Dami seemed to like it too. After this trip, they will have more to talk about.

“I have to say that you got us a favour this time.”

Frankie sat at the front of the table, glasses Baldwin with a glass of wine sitting at the opposite end of the table.

“We got lucky. A herd of deer was eating nearby, roughly counting more than thirty. You know Wolfclaw, there's never a shortage of animals, it's just a matter of hunting or not," Baldwin raised a glass of wine with Frankie and took a gulp.

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

“Thanks to you, our castle has survived this winter's hunger. I owe you a thank you."

Baldwin laughed out loud, banging his fists on the table in delight. He drank wine like he drank water. Lunch had only just begun, but his face was already as red as a chicken comb. Frankie chuckled, then drank his own glass of wine. Baldwin's not even conscious enough to talk to!

Elena took a seat to Frankie's right, noticing that Talbot sat across from her silently, slowly cutting the meat off the plate, and the glass of wine still untouched. Elena started a conversation:

“Talbot, you seem so quiet! Tell us about your hunting trip. Your father is already drunk."

Talbot heard the question and immediately put down the knife and spoon. He always smiled before saying something, to show politeness. Talbot replied:

“Nothing new either. Ferhern picked up the scent of a deer and led us to its herd, which was eating the dying grass in the snow at Wolfclaw. But these animals are fast, we only managed to catch a dozen of them.”

“That's impressive,” said Frankie, raising the wine to Talbot.

"You know you never let anyone down!" Dami sat next to Talbot, always smiling.

"I'm afraid you can't do it alone. The whole group worked very hard. Animals are getting smarter. They know how to dodge, run in all directions to disperse us.”

"I think you should take her compliments, or she'll just keep nagging," said Beatrice, sitting to Frankie's left, bored to see Dami do it. Only blind would not realise that she has feelings for him.

Damiana put down her spoon, she didn't forget to glance at Beatrice. But then Damiana seemed to have found something that would silence Beatrice, and she smirked, sarcastically:

“Beatrice, I think you should give your little sister a compliment too!”

"Praise what?", Beatrice pretended to be surprised, holding the knife to cut the meat on the plate, smiling.

“That is, I will replace you to do that important tax collection job, and will not cause any more incidents like before.”

The whole atmosphere at the dining table sagged, only Baldwin's snoring was alive. Beatrice put down her knife and fork, the sound of the plate hitting the plate with a sharp, hard to hear sound. Beatrice's face softened slightly. She glanced at her father and mother who were also making a serious expression, and Damiana was extremely pleased. Talbot, like an outsider, didn't know what was going on, but he was able to make some guesses.

Beatrice pondered for a moment. She suddenly recalled a conversation she had with her father a few weeks ago. Beatrice chuckled softly, she should have noticed it then. She turned her gaze to Damiana who was overjoyed at her struggle. Beatrice realized that she couldn't even show her anger, because that was exactly what Damiana needed. She longs to see her fall into the abyss, no longer a perfect child in the eyes of her parents. She needs her to get angry, and do bad things, for example, overturn the table or whatever. But the more because it was what she wanted, the more Beatrice wouldn't allow it to happen. Temporarily suppressing everything in her heart, Beatrice continued to eat the food on her plate. She put a piece of meat in her mouth, slowly savoring it. Oh! The softness of the meat seemed to melt in her mouth, spreading the scent of sweet rosemary. Damiana was a little annoyed that Beatrice kept her composure. Beatrice ate that delicious piece of meat before pretending to remember Damiana's story. She showed a smile that couldn't be more fake, clapping her hands to congratulate Damiana:

"Oh, my lovely sister! That's an important thing! Congratulations, Damiana.”

This was not really what Damiana wanted in return from Beatrice. She thought Beatrice was someone who couldn't keep her cool, but who knew that person was Damiana. She continues to challenge:

“Of course it matters! I won't be like you, you'll only bring trouble to this family!"

Both Elena and Frankie put down their knives and spoons at the same time. Frankie's face turned gray, and one of his hands hit the table so hard that his and Elena's and Beatrice's glasses fell, thankfully there wasn't any wine left. Dami knew that she had failed, but before she could apologise, she was scolded by Frankie:

“If I had to hear any more of your antics towards Beatrice, I wouldn't mind giving you a slap on your beautiful face!”

Elena was next to him, trying to calm him down. The whole table was silent, no one dared to say anything, only Baldwin was snoring and snoring. Elena couldn't defend Dami either, immediately signaling her to leave the table. Dami looked at his father trying to hold back his anger, she really wanted to apologise but didn't dare. Reluctantly, she suppressed her ego and left the dining table and returned to the room. Everyone heard the little girl whimpering and climbing the stairs and disappearing, but did not dare to say anything. Beatrice also felt suffocated, her words just now seemed to touch her taboo zone. Beatrice forced a smile, saying:

“I have eaten enough. I feel like I'm still not feeling well. I'll go back to my room."

After saying that, she immediately left, but could not hide her sadness. On the way back to her room, Beatrice passed the training ground. She looked in, there was an arrow still stuck in her target. Apparently, she hadn't been to the training ground for the past three weeks, and it was even more impossible to forget the arrow on the beer without cleaning it up. But just from a distance, Beatrice knew whose arrow it was. She snorted coldly, her face filled with displeasure. Beatrice's arrowhead is blue, while Damiana's is red. Guess what color the arrow is? Any other color other than Damiana's red?

It didn't take long to think about it, Beatrice didn't want to be a good sister to Damiana anymore. She wore the cold weather and her weak body, immediately grabbed her arrow and bow. Beatrice stood up straight, no need to aim for too long. As if she was extremely familiar, Beatrice stuck her nose into the bow, adjusted her posture a little to aim, then released her hand without hesitation. The arrow left the bow, tore through the wind in front of it, and flew forward.

Beatrice's arrow single-shot split Damiana's arrow in two, replacing it and shoving firmly into the target's heart. Without stopping, Beatrice walked over to Damiana's stele. She sneered, then took out three more arrows. It's time for Damiana to review who is the brighter person in this family.

With just one eye closed, all three arrows were completely inserted into the heart of the target. Under the snow, the blue tip of the arrow's tail shone like some sort of magical light.

Powerful and magnificent!