Insult Me

A subtle twinkle in Artie's eye showed as she moved down to reach out. 'If I will be teaching Miel how to connect with his father better, I will have to teach you girls better manners. After that, I need to let Larkin learn how to properly handle his family… or even just give an idea of how to do it. He's just a little pitiful at times.'

"Cla—!" Callum almost spat at the intended, but he saw Artie lean down. Not only him, even Miel—who glared dangerously at his sisters—was shocked by her action. The ducal knight appointed to guard Artie whispered in worry, "Lady Shen..."

"You're right. The shoes seemed to have been soiled by the stones on your path. As the archduchess, I must oblige to help." Artie hid her smile as she leaned down and slipped the shoes off of their feet. Her action was so fluid and enticing that none of the girls actually managed to move until it was done.

However, she only held onto the pair with a very big smile as she straightened her back. She raised the shoes over the chest and shook them a little. "Worry not, it would be an honor for me, the future Archduchess, to wash and shine these shoes for the Archduke's daughters."

Clarissa only stared at her as much as Marissa did. At first, the one in pink readied her ridiculing laughter when Artie acted like she would clean it herself. However, as it was, things seemed to be… wrong. She then stared at the shoe on Artie's hand, then at the devilish smile on her face, and finally at her own foot… which was left bare.

How was she supposed to walk without one shoe? Weren't they supposed to be just wiping it while it was on her foot? Was there a need to take it off?

"There must be some mistake, archduchess. You need to clean it while I'm wearing it." Clarissa glared at the angel, but Artie only responded with a shocked expression. She even dared to say: "Oh, but our cleaning method is quite very meticulous. I'm afraid I might have to take it off of your feet lest you will get hurt."

As if flipping her hair, Artie then turned away before Clarissa could speak again. "I'm off to get them clean. Miel, please lead them to the waiting room. Larkin would be seeing them in a bit."

"My shoe! Give it back, you wench!" 

Clarissa quickly put her foot down and tried to chase Artie, but the unevenness on her feet made her stumble down after three steps. She felt her world slow down as she fell forward and braced for the impact against the marble flooring. However, Artie spun again and caught her with just one arm.

When Clarissa looked up at her to glare at the insolent archduchess, Artie only descended her glacial gaze down at her and spoke, "Be careful, Clarissa Wessel. You might hurt yourself."

For a moment, everyone in the lobby felt a chill run up their spine. Even Miel's hand trembled in response. The red figure that he once saw seemed to surface in his mind again. He gulped down and walked to collect his sister from the archduchess. "Lady Shen, the shoes..."

"Ah, yes." Artie then changed her expression and flashed a grin before leaving the group. Miel blinked at the response; he meant for her to return the shoes. However, they couldn't even fully move until she was gone. The seneschal then looked down at the pink sister who was clutching at his clothes in fear. He wanted to say something, but he decided to take Artie's side on this one.

"Now, now, are my warnings unjustified?" Callum sighed as he picked up Marissa and carried her in his arms. "I already asked you to heed my words, and yet you decided to pick a fight. Lady Wessel, I hope you won't dare to humiliate yourself in the future."

"Humiliate?" Clarissa twitched, but Miel turned to the ducal knight who was holding onto the blue sister. Since Clarissa's hold on him continued to tighten and shake, he had no choice but to disperse further arguments. He then spoke, "Sir Princesley, please. It's not proper to scold a lady in public. Moreover, Lady Wessel is betrothed to you. Let's just proceed to the waiting room."

Callum twitched and looked away before carrying his legal sister to the waiting room. He had lost his cool at the display of disrespect, but he decided not to apologize. There was nothing to apologize for. They had all seen how Clarissa tried to harm her blood brother, and she was made to know her place. He was responsible for these two women, and he felt like he was letting down the two families based on how Clarissa acted.

The pink sister gritted her teeth and pushed Miel away before grabbing her other shoe off. She then stomped barefoot along the castle in rage. Dragen couldn't even decide what kind of action to take so he just went to check up on Miel before they both headed to the place where the archduke was waiting.

…

Minutes earlier, Larkin had already sat down in the waiting room as soon as he saw the carriage approaching. His daughters would always come the earliest every time there was a big gathering in Ellis Plains. Be it to be the first ones to take a look at something as they were privileged guests of the archduke… or to cause chaos for the other guests to witness. Either way, their arrival had always given him time to savor their hostile company.

He sipped on his tea before the door opened. The light footsteps told him that it was not the proud twins, and so he looked up to see Artie smiling mischievously at him. She then placed a pair of mismatched shoes next to his chair before joining him on the couch. He only took one look at the shoes before getting back to his tea.

"You made off with their shoes?" His hum sounded with curiosity.

"Oh, you can recognize your daughters' shoes? Have you seen those before?" Artie was a little surprised. She didn't even say anything about it, and it was almost the same size as her own feet. However, Larkin could still tell that those belonged to Clarissa and Marissa instead. Well, it's not like she would be walking around in mismatching shoes...

"Not yet. Clarissa has a unique taste, and the size of their feet didn't seem to change." Larkin didn't take the thievery to heart. Artie had no use for those shoes, and so Miel could just return those the moment they came to the waiting room. "Did they insult you?"

"Insult me?"

Artie was about to grin and relay what happened earlier, but she heard the fast warning of the system. She suddenly pulled back and evaded the pink projectile that would have hit her face if she didn't move. The archduchess turned to the projectile that made a loud thud against the wall. A pink shoe.

"Hmph, you forgot to collect the other one."