Differing views (2)

"It's you guys who are all acting weird."

The girl's voice was small and it was barely audible. There was a lot more meaning to her words but her father had no way of knowing that.

"It's because of the booze. Everyone's… a lot less serious today. And because of the weather, most of us can afford to be."

He slouched down and rested his head on the table while still eating. It was unbefitting for an emperor and the girl could only stare at him in shock.

It was somewhat excusable last night as people were celebrating her sister's return. But today there was no such event that called for such behavior.

'All this because of a drink?'

The girl was amazed by the power of the drink. People who were normally sticklers, were now somewhat detached from it all.

"Speaking of Mira, what are you gonna do today? You're teachers can't come by and I don't think Selena and Felix are gonna cut through that storm, so what are you gonna do today?"

"I'm gonna study in the library."

"Oh? Nova and Syrias gave you homework?"

"N-no… I just want to…"

"R-Really?"

It was a simple response, but her father's eyes widened as he heard those words. For a moment his mind was free of the alcohol's influence.

'She wants to study by herself?'

He always wanted the girl to be just more studious than she was and it seemed to him like it was gonna happen.

"..."

As he was silently celebrating the small win, the girl was confused as to why her father was staying silent. After a bit of thinking, she came to her own conclusion.

'He doesn't believe me.'

The girl averted her gaze from her father and looked down on her plate. She took another bite of her steak and this time, it was as tasteless as before. It felt bad to know that her father had such little faith in her but she justified his actions in her mind.

'It's because I've never been there before on my own, right?'

It was a fair assumption given her past actions. She was always vocal about not liking her studies, so to hear that she was doing it on her own accord was undoubtedly shocking.

'Hoo… it's fine. It's fine. I can just show them I'm being serious with this. Yeah. They'll see then.'

The girl nodded to herself as she reassured her thoughts.

"That's… great Mira."

His wide smile was full of happiness and surprise. He never thought that the girl would take an interest in her studies, yet here she was planning to do so by herself. 

"You should… ask Aurelia to join you. I'm sure she doesn't have all that much to do today…"

"I don't think she wants that today…"

"Why would you think that?"

"I asked her if she wanted to have lunch with me. She said no and ran away from me…"

"Hmm…"

The man sets his chin on his hands and thinks about what he just learned. From yesterday to now, the amount of times that they interacted was at least two. They were on good terms yesterday which meant that whatever happened, happened just today. 

"What did you do?"

A simple question but to the girl it was like a knife to her heart. With very little context, her father seemed to already assume that it was her in the wrong rather than her sister.

It was true that she was probably the one in the wrong, but still.

"I-I don't know… We were just talking."

"Just talking? Hmm…"

The emperor took a bite from his steak as he tried to piece together what happened.

"Goddammit my head…"

Unfortunately, his hangover had reared its head again causing him to rub his temples in pain and stopping his train of thought. He wanted to help mend the situation but that was now out of the question. 

"Just… just go talk to her. If she's mad at you just apologize and move past it…"

Feeling the need to go lie down or maybe see the imperial doctor, the emperor turned and left the dining hall in a hurry, leaving the girl by her lonesome.

"What was that about?"

Everyone was acting strange today. First there was no one around when she woke up. Now everybody was running away from her like she had the plague.

"Am I doing something?"

She took a look at herself thinking she just looks unkempt since she dressed herself this morning. Though given that her yellow dress was something she had worn before, the girl had to rule out the problem being her looks for the moment.

She thought of what else could be the problem, but she failed to think of anything else. With a frustrated feeling, the girl continued to eat her lunch thinking of what she could be doing wrong.

Even after she was finished eating, the girl's mind was still on the topic. As her mind continued to wander, she was beginning to become restless.

"Haa…."

With a heavy sigh, the girl walked out of the dining hall with heavy steps accidentally leaving behind her book.

'What could I be doing?'

She walked through the halls of the palace with that question in her mind. Though no matter how long or how hard she thought, she was really lost on what it could be. It was very frustrating for the girl as her mind would constantly go back to the topic.

'I can't read like this.'

She woke up early today to figure out a way for her to awaken and to help Felix manifest his mana. There was no way she could focus if this was going to be on her mind.

'I should ask someone.'

It was a good choice, but the problem was who to ask. Her main maid, her sister, and her father were out as they were the ones who ran away. Her second maid was still nowhere to be found so she was out. There was only one choice that she could think of.

'Mom…'

Her mother was the only person she could probably ask about this situation. The girl had no clue if her mother was awake by now but with her father out and about it was a safe guess to say that she would be too.

'Though where could she be?'

The palace was rather massive. If one were to not tell anyone where they were, a person could effectively not be seen for a few hours. So she would have to ask the servants where her mother was.

But that had its own problems.

Aside from the chefs who were stationed in the kitchen and her maid that ran away, the girl had yet to see a single servant roam the halls. The girl's only real choice was to hope that she could find her mother in the usual places where she would normally be.

She had no guarantee that her mother would help her but she had to try at the very least. Three people have basically run away from her now so there was no harm in asking her. With a plan on her mind, the girl walked towards the empress' office hoping she was there.

****

After having a very late brunch with Aurelia, Jyllene was trying to power through some work that she had. It was a bit of a struggle but she had worked while hungover before so she was still able to do it to some extent.

"Goddess my head is killing me…"

Though her mood was not the best during it. A little while later as she was reading through her work, she heard a small knock on her door.

"Who is it?"

"Mom? Can I come in?"

"Mira?"

"Yeah…"

This was odd. There should be no reason for the girl to come here.

'Why do I feel a bigger headache coming on?'

Jyllene's gut instinct told her that letting the girl in was inviting some trouble that she was in no state to deal with right now. Though turning her away was probably a worse choice. Under her breath she asked for help from the gods.

"Dear Goddess, please let my gut be wrong. Come in Mira."

Giving the signal for the girl to enter, the doors of Jyllene's office slowly opened. A girl with obsidian hair wearing a yellow dress entered her room. It was clear that she had put the dress on herself but calling it bad would be wrong.

"Good morning Mira or I guess afternoon now. Uhm, what brings you here?"

Jyllene was tired and slightly irritated which was not the best mood to be in when dealing with a child so she tried to be as blunt as possible and get to the point of her daughter's sudden visit.

"..."

Though after entering her office, her daughter just… stared at her. She waited for a little bit to see if the girl would talk but even after what seemed to be a long time, the girl was still standing silently by the entrance.

She had a lot to do and was very much not in the mood for these mind games. So once again, Jyllene called her daughter.

"Mira!"

She snapped her fingers as loudly as she could. The girl broke out of her daze as she did so.

"H-huh?"

"Mira? I asked what brought you here."

"U-uhm… I-I…"

'What is happening right now?'

The girl seemed to want to say something but it seemed like she was scared of something. Off the top of her head, Jyllene failed to see what the girl was afraid of, but it was clear that she was afraid of something.

'Oh come on…'

Though her head felt like it was being pressed and there was a vein clearly visible on her forehead, Jyllene stood up and walked toward the seemingly terrified child, letting out a tired sigh as she did so. Reaching her daughter at the entrance, she crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Mira? Are you alright?"

Softening her tone, Jyllene finally got a response out of her daughter.

"Y-yeah… Yeah, I'm ok."

The girl looked down as she responded.

'Not the best answer but at least it's an answer.'

"Alright then. Sit down."

Jyllene ushered her daughter towards the couch in front of her desk. Sitting down next to each other, Jyllene grabbed a tea pot to pour some tea for them. It was cold to the touch but she gathered her mana around her hands and manifested a small fire.

Mixing a hangover and any type of magic was not recommendable but Jyllene was able to handle that much. After about a minute of holding the teapot, a small stream of steam came from its spout filling the air with a unique herbal aroma.

"Want some?"

Her daughter nodded her head slightly in response. After pouring two cups of tea, they both reached for it and held it close to their stomachs. Whether they felt the same or not, there was just something about having a hot beverage close that calmed both of their nerves.

While her daughter put the cup closer to her nose before slowly taking a sip, Jyllene simply downed it in one go. For a time, the two just sat there in silence enjoying each other's company.

"So, what brought you here Mira?"

With her mind calmer and her hangover not as bad as it was earlier, Jyllene sounded much more relaxed. And perhaps because of that, her daughter seemed to be more relaxed too.

"I think I did something bad…"

The girl looked down on her reflection in her tea cup.

"What makes you think that Mira?"

"They all ran away from me."

"Hmm? Who's they?"

"Dad, Sis and Emma."

It was an odd combination of people.

"Really? Hmm?"

'What reason could those three possibly have to run away from her?'

"What happened, Mira? What did you do?"

"I don't know…"

"Hmm…"

It was clear that the girl felt that she had done something wrong, but Jyllene's gut was now telling her something else.

"Why don't you tell me what happened, Mira? We'll figure it out together."

With a nervous sigh, the girl downed the rest of her tea and told Jyllene what happened with the others. Her gut was mostly correct this time. With both Pyron and Emma it was clear to her that they were just dealing with their hangovers. 

"I talked about Felix with sis."

"Oh…"

But with Aurelia, it was another story.

"I understand now. None of it was your fault Mira. Pyron and Emma are just hungover."

"Really?"

There was happiness and relief in the girl's voice now that she knew she was not at fault.

"But it's better to not mention Felix to Aurelia for the time being."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"It's because… your sister lost her's."