Ellowyn proceeded to summon the best knight scouts in the Vestein estate to her chambers. One for the other three Karagon provinces headed by the rest of the duchies: the Mir Roysas, the Eldeiths, and the Solieres.

“Please check for any unusual activity from the families or rumors spreading in their lands. From afar should be enough. Observe and do no more than that.”

“Yes, Lady Ellowyn!” They all bowed towards her.

With the help of the butler, she arranged their overtime paychecks and promptly sent them off. Just as she was writing down the transactions to be made from the duchy’s treasury, the doors to her chambers burst open with a certain type of disregard not present in the manor’s servants.

“Elle, you’re up already?” Her foster sister, Florencia Vestein, yawned. She was still in her nightgown, twinkling red eyes dulled by fatigue. “I just saw Sir Joel and some other knights leave your room. What’s going on?”

Ellowyn unhurriedly set her quill back in the inkpot and clasped her hands together on top of her desk. “Before I answer that, were you staying up late again last night?”

Her sister scratched her cheek whilst grinning sheepishly. “It’s not like I’m trying to hide it, you know…”

“You have plenty of time to read novels during the day, Florencia.”

“Ha!” She huffed, knowing she couldn’t deny that. Ellowyn knew that if she had not said that first, her sister would use the excuse of studying for the Murwic Academy’s entrance exams. It was a flimsy excuse. She still had months left to do that, after all.

“Come here,” she said as she stood, “I need to tidy up your hair. You should have waited for the maids to come to your room.”

Florencia practically hopped over and replaced her seat on the chair. “Why would I when you can do my hair the best?”

She hummed. That wasn’t true in the slightest. Her sister simply liked when she quickly neatened down her hair into neat braids without any fuss. Neither of them preferred wearing too much jewelry as they both moved around a lot everyday but for different reasons. She bent over to take out the brush she always kept in her drawer at her desk, and without another word, began to untangle her bed hair. In truth, Florencia’s natural beauty outshined any flaws she may have had or gained. The maids greatly enjoyed dolling her up, but that would often take hours, which wasn’t necessary for a mundane day like this. But Ellowyn knew that the moment her sister stepped out of the manor, all eyes would be on her–with her intense red eyes and shimmering violet hair, along with the splattering of brown freckles over her face and down her arms. She was the duke’s biological daughter who belonged in the light, and the same girl who stubbornly reached out to Ellowyn when she was nothing but a reclusive child. She had even managed to entrance a painter so much that he had sent a most peculiar gift to the estate years ago.

Ellowyn smiled as she finished tying up her sister’s hair into two long braids over her shoulders. “Done,” Ellowyn said with unconcealed satisfaction.

“Thanks, Elle! But…” It was then that she noticed how Florencia’s eyes rove over the documents on her desk multiple times. “Are you sending some of the knights someplace else?”

Florencia was the heir to the Vestein Dukedom. Ellowyn had zero intentions of hiding their family’s affairs from her. “Father’s suspicious because a strange letter arrived from the royal family. We’re just checking to see if the other duchies have gotten it as well.” And if they did, they themselves would definitely send spies their way. She must keep a lookout for the estate’s surroundings as well.

Her sister’s face lit up in understanding. “Right, the horn I heard! So that’s what it was about.” Ellowyn nodded and proceeded to tell her about what was written inside it. She frowned in confusion at what she heard. “So there was no way to tell who actually sent it? Are you sure it wasn’t from Ca–I mean, Prince Calypse?”

“No. It looked nothing like his summons from all those years ago, at least.”

“Hmm.”

Florencia remained silent. It was unlike her. She was the type to voice her thoughts aloud as she valued others’ inputs very much. “Don’t worry about it,” Ellowyn assured her. “We can’t do anything if we don’t have any more knowledge.”

“I guess you’re right. It’s just that, I expected this type of letter to be about His Majesty’s passing–may he live long.” She uttered a short prayer as it was bad luck to talk about these types of things so openly.

That was what had occurred to Ellowyn before as well. Even then, this was the situation they were in, so she had to deal with it as much as she could. She could only hope the scouts would not bring any unexpected bad news. Not wanting to concern her sister any longer, Ellwoyn gently grasped her shoulders from behind. “What happens will happen. Besides, you haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right? I’m famished from training, so let me grab a quick bite as well while we’re at it.”

With the new topic brought up, Florencia all-too willingly agreed. Seeing her lovely smile pushed all other thoughts of work to the back of Ellowyn’s mind.

And so the two daughters of Vestein–one the cherished heir and the other her protective foster sister–left to go to the dining hall. Their father was already holed up in his office with work, and their mother had chosen to remain in her bedchambers for the time being with the promise of seeing them for dinner. It was an occurrence that had seemed to increase with frequency over the last few years.

Nevertheless, Ellowyn peacefully ended up eating a full breakfast along with her sister.