Chapter 18

“Sister!”

“Goodness gracious! Mia, I was just joking. Don’t look at me with such scary eyes. But… Mia’s eyes are pretty even when she’s angry ♡.”

Ashmia pushed Elizabeth’s hand away as it was grabbing her cheek.

“My, my. Our Mia is all grown up. She knows how to rebel now.”

“It wasn’t Vanessa’s fault! Stop it, both of you!”

“A dog that can’t protect their owner is a worthless one. Anything with no value should be thrown away.”

Donovan supplied a few words after being silent for all this time.

“Woah. It must have been at least a hundred years since I’ve last heard you chime in on our conversation, Brother. Or so I believe? What do I do, it’s three versus one.”

Vanessa hardened her expression, as if preparing herself.

“Do you know what my ability is?”

Sizzle—

Heat rose from Damian’s foot.

“It’ll be pretty hot. Don’t scream. If you do, I’ll burn your throat.”

The moment Damian raised his foot.

“I told you—”

Ashmia rolled the wheels of her wheelchair with all her might.

“To stop!!”

Wham—!

“Ugh?!”

Damian was hit by the wheelchair, causing him to stagger and grab the table.

“What are you doing, you brat!”

“You’re crazy, you bastard!!”

As she screamed, Ashmia grabbed the armrest of her wheelchair and leapt to her feet.

“M-my lady?! You can’t be standing…!”

“Let go!!”

Shaking off Vanessa’s arm, Ashmia stood firm, her bandaged legs trembling.

“Look! I’m fine! Are you done now?!”

Seeing the blood slowly seeping out of the bandages around Ashmia’s legs, Elizabeth tapped Damian’s shoulder and went to her seat.

“You lost, Dami. Go sit down.”

Damian scoffed out of speechlessness with a fed-up look in his eye. Without sparing Ashmia another glance, he roughly dragged a chair out before sitting down across from Elizabeth. 

“M-my lady!”

As Vanessa hurried to help her, Ashmia collapsed onto her wheelchair.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry Vanessa, but could you go and wait at the car?”

“…Yes, my lady.”

As Vanessa left, an even more awkward silence engulfed the dining room.

“Don Kalashniel has arrived.”

However, everyone stood up at Leonardo’s following words. Ashmia tried to stand up again, but Damian’s hand slightly pressed Ashmia’s shoulder.

“You just sit down.”

“…”

Soon, the door opened, and a tall man in a dark suit and a black lion fur coat walked slowly into the dining room.

He had long black hair and eyes red like blood.

His appearance looked much younger than his age and he had a well-built figure.

Those who had seen this man had even said.

‘You can feel the dignity of a king in him.’

‘Richard Kalanishiel…’

Even when she was Michael, she had never seen him so close.

‘…Indeed.’

She could feel that the people’s stories were not just inflated rumours.

“…”

Richard sat down silently, looking at Ashmia in the wheelchair, Damian with a hand on her shoulder, and the bloody bandages on Ashmia’s legs.

As everyone followed Richard to take their seats, servants began to deliver food in perfect unison.

As the long and large table was filled with great dishes that could only be seen in an imperial palace, Ashmia unknowingly moved her hands and mouth.

“My, my. What’s happened, Mia?”

She stopped her hand after hearing Elizabeth’s voice because she thought she did something wrong, but everyone’s eyes were already on Ashmia.

“How come you’re eating so well today?”

At Elizabeth’s words, Ashmia quietly put down her knife and fork and wiped her lips with a napkin.

“I have a good appetite today.”

As she said that and smiled, Ashmia felt Richard’s gaze on her.

In an instant, a cold sweat ran down Ashmia’s back because of the eyes that seemed like they could see through everything. But, Richard soon turned his gaze away and spoke as he sliced the steak in front of him.

“Eat a lot.”

“…Yes.”

Damian watched the scene and burst out laughing, as if thinking it was ridiculous, then tapped his head with his index finger.

“Aren’t you supposed to go to the hospital to get checked again? Especially here.”

At Damian’s words, Elizabeth sighed and looked at him.

“Dami! Why are you always like that, no matter what she says?!”

“What?! I just said it was weird because it is weird. You saw what happened a moment ago. And even now! The kid who used to make even the person next to them lose their appetite is eating everything she’s given like some pig! Isn’t that strange to you, Sister?”

“You’re in front of Father. Watch your mouth.”

Damian clicked his tongue at Donovan’s words.

“So screw me if I eat and screw me if I don’t. What do you want me to do?”

A brief silence passed over the table at the sudden sound of Ashmia muttering to herself.

“…What did you just say?”

Damian glared at Ashmia, but Ashmia chewed vigorously while gesturing with her hand to wait.

“…?! Now you’re?!”

“Wait a moment… I’m almost done chewing this.”

As Ashmia murmured, Elizabeth burst into laughter, and Damian’s face flushed.

“You really!”

Gulp—

As soon as she swallowed what was in her mouth, Ashmia spoke quickly.

“What the hell are you complaining about? Don’t be shy and speak straight. So you think I’m weird? Then why don’t you come back alive from the brink of death twice? Then let’s see if you still don’t eat like a pig.”

“Oh my goodness! This is the first time we’ve seen Mia talk so much!”

“Ah, someone’s mad. Okay then, eat, eat. When did you get so foul…”

“Damian!”

Damian turned his head at Donovan’s shout.

“I get it! No need to scream at me, Brother!”

But once the predicament was over.

‘Looking at this, he’s acting like a child.’

Ashmia felt ashamed at the sudden thought that the empire was devoured and even destroyed by such a guy.

After another brief silence, Elizabeth opened her mouth.

“Come to think of it, Mia, you became a celebrity?”

At the topic she expected would arise, Ashmia smiled awkwardly.

“News tends to be exaggerated.”

“What are you talking about? You’re the ‘Hero of Diony Hall, Ashmia Kalanishiel’! I was so proud when I saw it? Daddy, you saw it too, right?”

At Elizabeth’s words, everyone’s eyes turned to Richard. Richard put cream pasta on his plate and said bluntly.

“I saw it.”

“As expected, our Mia is a Kalanishiel too. Isn’t that right?”

Elizabeth continued her words with a meaningful laugh.

“I saw it a while ago, and I could feel mana from you. Mia, you… awakened, right?”

“…”

Ashmia took a sip of water to hide her nervous expression.

“I’m very curious about what kind of ability you have… Can you show it?”

Of course she couldn’t show it.

If she showed her ability to embody an unknown man with mana, it was clear that they would immediately start being suspicious of her.

Ashmia said with an awkward smile.

“I have awakened, but I still don’t know what my ability is.”

“What? That’s possible?”

Oh, that little bastard.

He should’ve accepted it when she said it, but he just had to say something.

It was when Ashmia glared at Damian.

“It’s possible.”

“…!”

Richard’s indifferent words made everyone speechless. However, the person who was more surprised by the unexpected support was none other than Ashmia.

“…”

Damian began to shove his food into his mouth as if he had nothing more to say, and Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her wine.

‘Phew.’

She thought she was finally out of the centre of the conversation, but as Elizabeth looked at her with her jaw clenched and eyes squinted, Ashmia realised that it was too early for her to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Without this ability, you did ‘that’ at a ‘place like that’…? Okay. Well, that’s possible. I’m already excited about what our Mia will surprise people with next.”

“…”

“By the way, Mia, what kind of magic did you use to become friends with the princess?”

She had wondered why it wasn’t mentioned.

Ashmia shook her head with a smile on the outside and bit her lip internally.

“It was just by fate that we got to speak a few words at the horseback riding track.”

“However, you were able to get invited to the ball? Our Mia has quite the unusual talent.”

Elizabeth’s fingers ran slowly across the rim of the wine glass.

“As soon as our Mia came out after not going out of the house for several years, your actions were so flashy that I’ve become jealous. What should I do? Can you take me with you next time? Sister also wants to make some aristocratic friends. Is that okay?”

“…Yes. Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be? I’ll introduce you later.”

“Oh my, really?”

Elizabeth stared at Ashmia, eyes still narrowed, but Ashmia didn’t shy away from her gaze.

As the two of them continued to stare at each other, a helping hand came from an unexpected place once more.

“Please refrain from trying to gauge your own family with your words and actions, Sister.”

“My, my. Dono, why are you talking so much today too?”

“I don’t think it’s right to do this to a child who had been badly hurt a few days ago.”

At Donovan’s words, Elizabeth swept her long wavy hair and turned her head back with a duller expression.

“That’s true too. Mia, I’m sorry ♡ Sister was too temperamental.”

“No. It’s okay.”

Damian glanced at Donovan and grumbled.

“I can’t seem to figure Brother out sometimes.”

“Stop talking and eat. The food will get cold.”

There were no more notable discussions after that, and when the dinner which seemed to have become a hearing finally ended, Ashmia breathed a sigh of relief.