“My apologies, I may have misheard, Ms Alice did what now?” Amore inquired, his throat tightening from a rush of anxiety, Mandy made herself look as small as possible as she tried to hide under her coat in shame. “Mnn… She told her babysitter about my royal status and I don’t know what to do! H-How do I tell mum?” Amore cleared his throat as he kept his composure, “Well, the most logical thing to do is to ask if you could speak with her and be upfront about it.”

“Oh jeez, can’t we just run away to… Nnnhg… Leafdon? I really don’t wanna tell mum about what happened.” Mandy squeaked, earning a small scowl from Amore. 

“Doing so would not be very kind, not to your mother or your sisters. I am certain she will understand, she is not known to be irrational towards staff when minor incidents like this happen, let alone to her own daughters.” Amore gave Mandy a sympathetic grin. “And besides, a young Princess must learn how to be responsible before she takes over the throne. Go talk to your mum, I will be nearby if you need anything.”

Amore ushered an unwilling Mandy over to the ornate gate of her family's abode. It certainly wasn’t massive, not to the degree that would raise suspicion to the average onlooker. Although grand, the gate and the villa mere paces behind it gave an air of a family that was well off, but not rolling in their money. 

Mandy sighed, taking in a deep breath from her chest before finally psyching herself up enough to ring the doorbell, a classic tune Mandy had heard since she was small rung out, clear and strong despite so many years. She always feared it would be loud enough to wake up the neighbourhood. Through the other end of the doorbell's microphone she heard the distant pitter patter of footsteps, seemingly getting quieter.

“Ms Ciara must have gotten spooked, such a flighty thing she is.” Amore thought to himself, audibly squeaking when Mandy gave him a silent glare. “My apologies! I… Forgot you could do that.” 

“Hmph, it’s fine, honestly feels a little invasive looking into your thoughts like that.” As Mandy finished her thoughts the footsteps from before drew louder once again. The gate rumbled and an apologetic Ciara, or rather, holographic avatar of the aforementioned sister greeted the two of them as it flickered to life. Mandy couldn’t help but snort to herself noticing Ciara’s newest choice, an odd… fish person? Whatever it was, its face was riddled with guilt as it huffed tiredly and bowed. “I am so sorry I just heard the door ring a-and I got spooked because of what happened at the Gala and-“

“It is not an issue Ms Papayalkoi, just try to wait for someone to speak before you run off next time.” Amore snickered, Mandy nudged him lightly and gave the hologram in front of her a sympathetic smile. 

“U-Um… Do you think you could let us in now..?” Mandy played with her hands and Ciara gasped, the hologram glitching out as she practically squealed out an apology, the gate rumbled once more as it heaved itself open and finally the young Princess and her guard could make their way to the front door.

The two made their way up the steps and the door clicked open, and Mandy snickered as she saw the rather goofy fish person as she opened the door shyly, the little Princess wrapped her hands around Ciara as Amore closed the door behind him, and Ciara let out a chuckle, slipping out of her funny disguise and hugging her younger sister tightly, her mask falling back into place.

“How’d your day go? I heard you went with Alice to stay at her babysitter’s for a while.” She asked quietly, letting a wobbly Mandy go, the young Princess seemed a little nervous and Ciara picked up on it pretty quickly. “D-Did something happen…? You’re not hurt are you? Oh goodness don’t tell me you got hurt!” Ciara squealed and began to check Mandy from her head down to her legs to the young demihumans subtle annoyance, and Mandy put her hands on Ciara’s shoulders, getting her to stop. 

“MmmI’m not hurt, I just messed up today… I-I mean Alice did, not me! …But uh, maybe also me…” She mumbled, and Ciara gave her a head tilt of confusion as she stood up, offering her hand to the young ruler and Mandy held on. “Let’s talk in my room, yeah? I-I know it can be a little slippery, but you might want a bit of privacy.”

“I will come as well Ms Ciara, if you do not mind.” Said Amore, putting his arms behind his back as he followed behind, “Mn– yeah, I want Amore to come too, he knows what happened.” The three proceeded to head into Ciara’s room and the youngest looked around, the sound of droplets meeting with water up ahead where a body of water surrounded Ciara’s bed. The eldest daughter of the Wimmerson family had the largest room below the first floor, and Ciara wasted no time with making renovations to suit her desires as a water demon growing up, this could even be proven with the furniture as her bed was made out of water resistant material.

But, there was a small area just by the entrance of her room that was splash zone free for those who would rather stay dry, and especially served as a safe area for anything fire demon related. The other two demihumans walked behind closely as they got up to the ring of water, and Ciara sat herself down at the foot of her bed getting comfortable. “A-Ah–! I don’t think you’d want to sit down here, it’s a little wet.” She giggled, earning a pout out of her sister, “That’s ok, I’ll just stand with Amore.” The water demon crossed her legs and thread her fingers together, resting her hands on top, “So,” she started, “what happened?”

Mandy glanced up at Amore nervously and Amore nudged her lightly to go on, with a shaky sigh Mandy spoke, “So uhm… I was with Alice at her babysitter’s place,” Ciara nodded, “And uh… Alice may or may not have told her babysitter who I was…” The older of the two tilted her head, “S-Sorry, what was that? You’re starting to sound like me a little,” she giggled, “Could you speak a little slower? Maybe louder?”

Mandy gulped, “Alice…! She– She told her babysitter who I was!” Ciara put her hands over her mask as she gasped, “Like— Like the real you?” She squeaked in shock, and to her horror her youngest sister nodded. Everything in the room saw Ciara surround herself in a hard-like bubble, the water demon squealing in fear as she rocked herself back and forth in the floating sphere.

With a drop of sweat rolling down Mandy’s cheek she gave the bubble a small knock, and an unresponsive Ciara only mumbled to herself, adding onto the young ruler’s unease about the whole situation. “I-I’m…” Mandy started, “I’m gonna let the others know, uh— Just hang in there okay?” The smaller Princess’ ears went down as she was left with no reply, and with a deep breath in she scurried on outside with Amore by her side, feeling terrible for scaring the daylights out of her sister.

Amore followed closely behind as Mandy wobbled on over to the next room, this one belonged to the 2nd youngest of the sisters, Nadia, whose room was typically unvacant due to the ruler living in her own home nowadays along with her twin Nora. Mandy knocked on the door and a familiar voice that did not belong to her sister told her to come in, the voice belonging to Nadia’s guardian Amira, who has been speaking for the ruler for over a decade now.

The two entered the room and Amore closed the door shut, watching Mandy slowly walk up to her sister. Nadia seemed to be occupied with checking her outfit out in the mirror, turning around a little too much and playing with her hair to signal that she seemed rather anxious about how it looked on her, and Amira picked up on this, telling her Princess that she looked just fine to her relief. 

Nadia paused as she saw her little sister’s reflection in the mirror, she turned her head around to look at the real thing, and through her mask Mandy could tell she had the brightest smile ever upon seeing her dear sister come back, rushing to hug the young demon where she stood.

“H-Hi, uhm…” Mandy was quick to trail off as she felt the vibrations on the floor from Nadia’s constant foot thumping, “She was worried about you.” Amira spoke softly, and Mandy frowned at the fact that her sister could be rightfully concerned for her. “…I have bad news then.” Nadia ceased her thumping and pulled away, pondering in fear over what could have happened to her sister while she wasn’t present. 

“Mn… Ciara knows this already, b-but Alice told someone about my real identity, w-well not just anyone! It was her babysitter, but still!” She cried, Nadia jumped back in shock and began to check her body from head to toe for any bruises and cuts to Mandy’s dismay. “I-I’m fine! You’re making me more worried by doing that!” Nadia stopped and dropped her head, standing back up with shaky hands. She held one of Mandy’s and walked around with her in search of their mother, but Mandy tugged at her arm, seeming nervous.