Treacherous

*tok* *tok* *tok*

"Hmmm...?"

Hearing the sound of someone knocking on his door, Cairn opened his eyes to a peculiar sight. Kaia had slept with him, but instead of laying at his side, he found her sitting next to him, her eyes focused on the door as her ears twitched atop her head. 

Touching his exposed chest, which was warm despite the absence of his usual blanket, various thoughts crossed Cairn's mind before he promptly dismissed them in favor of answering the door. More accurately, he asked Kaia, "Can you answer it? My body feels...heavy."

Though he couldn't see it for obvious reasons, a potent blush covered Kaia's face as she quickly replied, "Of course!" before descending from the bed and scampering to the door barefoot. Technically speaking, she was always barefoot, but since her only piece of clothing was one of his shirts, Cairn's gaze was naturally drawn to her butt, tail, legs, and the pink pads adorning the soles of her feet.

Opening the door, Kaia was unsurprised to find Felix standing outside. She had known it was him from the beginning, so her expression didn't change as she stated, "We didn't ask for a wake-up call. Has something happened?"

"Quite so~" mused Felix, wearing his usual smile as he explained, "A group of beautiful women has appeared, seeking a meeting with our Boss. They have yet to cause trouble, but they give off some terrifying vibes. Check it out; the hair on my arms is still standing."

Hearing the conversation from the bed, Cairn issued an annoyed groan as it wasn't difficult to imagine who had arrived. Very few people knew of his existence, at least in a personal capacity, and he doubted the Baskervilles would do anything to antagonize or offend him unless he pissed them off. Thus, by process of elimination, the group Felix described was most likely Princess Hilde and her entourage.

'Well, at least she grew a brain and came directly to me...' Cairn thought, rising from the bed after equipping a pair of pants. He wasn't bashful, but since Felix had made it clear he played for both teams, Cairn would rather avoid having his package appraised by the sandy-haired youth.

"Tell them I'll be down within the hour," said Cairn, intending to wash up and unwind a bit before inserting himself into a stressful situation. It was also a way to test the limits of the Princess's patience. After all, she had more than tried his own. It was only fair that he returned the favor...

"Are you sure?" asked Felix, his smile cramping slightly as he pointed out, "The leader of their group didn't strike me as a particularly patient person. I'll pass along your words, but if they attack, I doubt I could hold them off for more than a few minutes..."

Inhaling and exhaling audibly through his nose, Cairn resisted the urge to fault Felix and said, "Fine. Tell them twenty minutes. If they make a fuss, tell their leader she's welcome to join me in the bath. If she or her escort attacks you as a result, I'll make sure you're fairly compensated."

Exhaling a defeated sigh, Felix slumped and responded, "Hai hai..." before dragging his feet toward the stairs. Cairn found his reply odd, like his ears were playing tricks on him, but he just played it off as his 'auto-translation' malfunctioning...

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Following a relaxing, thirty-minute bath with Kaia, Cairn meandered his way down to the first floor. The temperature didn't change, but he felt a palpable 'chill' in the air as he reached the base of the steps. When he looked toward its source, he found a pair of familiar, silvery-white eyes staring back at him, set within the face of a lithe, captivating beauty with flowing, windswept blonde hair.

Raising his right hand, Cairn adopted a cheeky smile and offered a curt, "Yo. I'd say 'long time no see,' but even if we met after my return from the Frontier, it would have felt too soon."

Though it was nearly indiscernible due to the distance separating them, Cairn got the distinct impression the woman's right eye twitched. If hers didn't, the eye of the diminutive, stone-faced girl wearing a distinct, bell-shaped skirt at her side most certainly did.

"You're being rude to the Princess..." stated the petite, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, fully-armored loli. Fortunately, before she could manifest her hammer to teach Cairn a lesson, the pale-eyed woman seated between her and a much taller and more dignified beauty stated, "Let it be, Alice. We didn't come here seeking conflict..."

Though she physically stepped back, Alice's gaze practically drilled holes into Cairn's head as he made his way over and sat opposite the pale-eyed woman, Princess Hilde.

"To what do I owe the displeasure...?" asked Cairn, getting straight to the point.

Ignoring Cairn's provocation, Hilde plainly stated, "It is apparent that the Baskervilles intend to curry your favor. I came here to remind you of your own words. I will not tell you who can and cannot make deals with, but do not involve yourself in our nation's politics..."

"You came all the way here just for that...?" asked Cairn, raising his right brow before shaking his head and reaffirming, "I told you before, but I have no intention of wiping your or your Kingdom's asses. You've wasted both of our time by coming here."

"Then why are you looking into the cause of the Dungeon Breaks?" asked Hilde, once again ignoring Cairn's rude remarks. Her fists were clenched tight enough that her nails were digging into the material of her fingerless gauntlets, but her expression was a mask of cool indifference.

"Oh, that?" asked Cairn, his smile becoming even cheekier as he added, "If you're curious, feel free to ask the President of FreeCo. She's the one who put me up to it."

Knowing who the President of FreeCo was, Hilde's near-perfect mask wavered, her blind eyes widening before a faint, contemplative frown marred her face. She had no problem exhibiting hostility to an 'outsider' like Cairn, but not even her father could afford to offend Maa Viraja, the Grand Architect of the Dwarves. 

Feeling the slightest bit of nervousness, Hilde swallowed, her expression and tone becoming marginally more polite as she asked, "You've been in contact with Maa Viraja? To what extent...?"

"You tell me," Cairn retorted, tapping the collar around his neck. It made him cringe every time he saw his reflection, but to those who understood its significance, it bore more weight than the Royal Seal.

Paling in realization, Hilde felt a sudden and intense desire to get as far away from Cairn as possible. Maa Viraja was one of the most respected individuals in Cliabhaan, but to those who had met her, she commanded far greater fear. Hilde had only met her once, as a very young girl, but the experience had left such a deep impression on her that, even twenty-two years later, she still occasionally woke up in a cold sweat...

"Man, if that's your reaction to knowing I know her, you'd probably have a heart attack if you knew the specifics..." said Cairn, seriously considering whether he should call out Vira to give Hilde a jump scare. The latter was blind, but due to her Mana Sense, she likely saw Vira as an all-consuming void or a mass of Mana brighter than the sun.

"I don't want to know," Hilde responded. Then, rising to her feet rather abruptly, she added, "We were never here, and this conversation never happened."

Without waiting for Cairn's response, Hilde produced a crip sound by snapping her fingers, prompting Amelia and Alice to follow behind her as she beat a hasty retreat. Their forms gradually vanished as they departed, but Cairn could still sense them until the entryway doors opened and shut behind them.

"Just what did you do to her...?" asked Cairn. In response, Vira surprised him by appearing directly atop his lap, arms linked around his shoulders and her face less than ten centimeters from his own as she explained, "I was once summoned to the castle in the hope I could treat the Princess's blindness. When I arrived, I noticed that her blindness wasn't the result of a congenital defect but a mutation in the rods and cones of her eyes. She could still make out the rough shape of objects, but since that would have hindered her growth..."

Bringing her lips near Cairn's ear, Vira sent a shiver through his body as she whispered, "I robbed what remained of her light to open her mind to the infinite possibilities she had lucked into."

"Seriously?" asked Cairn, going from surprise to disgust as he remarked, "You're even more fucked in the head than I thought..."

"Not really. You're just being deliberately obtuse," Vira contended. "You know I don't do anything arbitrarily, so do you think I would have robbed the Princess of her sight without making the proper arrangements? Once I explained the situation to her father, the King, he readily consented to the procedure. After all, the ability to sense and discern the flow of Mana is rarer than conjoined twins. Most born with the ability eventually lose it as they develop an aversion to places with dense Mana, so the Princess is an exception among exceptions."

"I don't like it..." said Cairn. "Even if he's the King, he shouldn't have been allowed to make such a decision for his daughter. And if you truly weren't fucked in the head, you wouldn't have proposed the procedure, much less gone through with it..."

Loosening her hold on Cairn, Vira sat straight atop his lap, her abyssal-black eyes holding his stare impassively for several seconds before she responded, "I can understand the point you're trying to make. But what would you have me do? Even if I were to offer to restore her sight, I can all but assure you that the Princess would refuse. The world she sees is far 'broader' than what can be perceived with ordinary sight. If you think blinding her was callous, crippling her Mana Sense would be like plucking the eyes directly from her head..."

Shrugging his shoulders, Cairn replied, "The important thing is that you give her the option. Since you didn't, you and her father owe her a debt that, by now, has accrued an ungodly amount of interest..."

Furrowing her brows, the somewhat menacing smile that usually adorned Vira's face was nowhere to be seen as she considered Cairn's words. She could excuse her actions using the logic of her world and the structure of Cliabhaan society, but, in the grand scheme of things, there was no 'merit' in such arguments. Genuine understanding was achieved in the pursuit of impartiality and indisputable objectivity. In that regard, while it was a fact that the King had sovereignty over Runegraad's citizens, his authority was beneath the Church's doctrine and Restia's will, both of which argued that people were born free to choose their own path...

'How troublesome...' thought Vira, even as a devilish grin returned to her face. Cairn's words the previous evening had struck a chord with her, so while she absolutely loathed having her actions questioned, she found it humorous that someone so young and ignorant could challenge her with such brazen disregard for the consequences.

"This is why I adore those from other worlds..." whispered Vira, licking her lips before nestling her face in between his neck and shoulder, giving him a distinctive, rune-shaped hickey before adding, "Few in this world would dare to meet my gaze, much less question me. Keep it up, and I might not be able to let you go..."

Punctuating her words, Vira sprouted a second set of arms, wrapping them around Cairn's body and preempting his response by slipping her tongue into his open mouth. Every action had its consequences, and by challenging her at every opportunity, Cairn was rapidly securing his place as the individual Vira most hated and adored, second only to herself and Restia...

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