An unwanted interruption

Neither of the two moved. Both seemed to be frozen in place, each needing to contend with their own inner conflicts.

Dahlia was still trying to figure out exactly why she was reacting the way she was, while Valentina was doing whatever mental gymnastics were needed to prevent her from going further and scaring Dahlia away.

Both felt an innate draw to each other, and both were holding themselves back due to their own unspoken anxieties. Despite those lingering concerns though, they seemed to be content to stay where they were. With the archduchess' hands holding Dahlia's waist and caressing her face, there was something incredibly comforting to it all.

As someone who never experienced proper affection or care, these recent minutes had shown Dahlia a world that she desperately wanted more of. The gentle whispers of reassurance, being stood up for and protected, and viewed as something precious and valuable; all of these different factors have all added up to make her feel like she was living a dream

At this point, no one was saying anything, but it was a comfortable silence that neither wished to leave. While there were still many unknowns, the two had come to a tacit agreement to deal with those issues later. What finally made that moment fall apart wasn't the fault of either of them. Instead, someone cleared their throat a few steps away.

With narrowed eyes, Valentina quickly turned to tell off whoever dared interrupt her, but the moment she saw who it was, she froze in place. Dahlia looked as well, and the person there looked familiar, but she couldn't tell quite who it was.

'If I actually knew her, I should recognize her. She seems to be very distinct and in more ways than one.'

The person the two were now staring at looked to be a young teenage girl. She stood at about five feet tall and had a shocking pink hue to her skin. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a thick elaborate braid and tied with multiple hair ornaments, revealing long pointed ears covered in piercings. Her irises had a strange swirling azure and gold marble pattern with no pupil, and that gold in her eyes seemed to glitter, reflecting the stars and dim lamp light as if they were suns instead.

Just based on those few features alone, Dahlia knew this girl was either an actual monster, or someone nearing a pure blooded bloodline. She's so distinctive that these features alone should have revealed her identity, but the rest of her was even more intriguing in Dahlia's eyes.

First of all, the girl wore an ornate set of scalemail with a matching battle skirt, paired with a long lavish cape trailing behind her. The armour and cape each held the blue and gold colours of the Kallisto Empire, as well as bearing its crest. Between these features and seeing she was armed with a sabre at a supposedly weaponless event, the chances were this girl was some noteworthy knight of the empire.

The second notable aspect for Dahlia however, and what drew her attention the most were the mystery girl's huge amounts of gems and jewellery. Not in a tacky 'show off your wealth way' that some nobles do, but rather in an absurdly abundant way.

Piercings, rings, hair ornaments, and necklaces could all be seen. Some were actually embedded in her skin. The fashion isn't what grabbed her interest though. It was their magical attributes. Dahlia looked at the hundreds of pieces of jewellery while trying to detect their magical attunement and at that time she nearly blinded herself from the overflowing magic in the air.

She almost collapsed from the mere density of the mana, but Valentina quickly covered her eyes and supported her to prevent her from falling. It took a few moments just to process what had happened.

'What the hell was that? Were each of those magic items? But they felt different… Don't tell me they're a schema. If that's the case, the amount of mana within that girl's body is enough to be used as a weapon of mass destruction.'

While still lying within the hands of the archduchess, Dahlia savoured the feeling of being held while she thought about it a bit more.

'If just looking at the mana directly causes me to almost faint, then I can't properly analyse her schema but… if I had to guess, each and every piece of jewellery is part of an array that directs and amplifies her mana. Which means, not only is it incredibly volatile and precise, it's honestly a miracle the girl hasn't blown up under her own self induced pressure.'

All while these thoughts were being processed, Valentina was struggling to hide her displeasure.

"Esmé, what the fuck are you doing here? I thought you were in the capital. Did you come to this backwater just to waste my time?"

The girl, or rather, Esmé raised an eyebrow at the cold welcome but her voice was friendly and mellifluous. She did an exaggerated bow before looking back up with a smirk.

"Your Grace! A humble servant such as I would not dare to interfere with another of your worthless trysts. You might not believe it, but I'm actually here on official business today, Lukresh."

While the first was playful and mocking, the last part was spoken with authority. Valentina let out a groan of frustration and glanced down at Dahlia who had now comfortably taken up residence in her arms. Sighing, she propped her up to stand on her feet before turning back to Esmé.

"Alright, I get it. Before anything else, I want to clarify that she isn't like the previous ones, so show her some respect. Besides that though, I assume we'll be leaving immediately?"

Esmé nodded slowly, trying to hold back a number of questions regarding the new girl. Now just wasn't the time for gossip.

"That's right, we'll need to hurry too. I can't go into detail here, but others are waiting for us and it's time sensitive. You won't be able to take your new girl either. No matter how much respect you ask me to offer her, she's still an outsider."

Nodding, Valentina looked down with a sour face and sighed. She could see understanding in Dahlia's eyes, but that didn't mean she felt any less bitter about parting so soon. Leaning forward, she spoke softly to her, hoping to quell the anxieties that frequently showed in her body language.

"You heard the lady, yeah? I'll have to be leaving immediately. Knowing her, it'll be for a while too. I'll come back for you though, I think our conversations have just begun and there's far more we need to discuss both practically speaking as well as just for the sake of getting to know each other."

The archduchess was fidgeting a little and she was clearly bothered by leaving on such short notice. After having started to feel numb to the world, she had finally found a refreshing sense of purpose and letting the source of that purpose go felt nearly sacreligious.

Of course, she would easily be able to find her again. Being in a position of power has its privileges after all. But just thinking of getting back in touch made her realise something. She had no idea what the girl's name was. Not even her family name. She let out another dejected sigh, deciding to just research her in the meantime to figure it out. That was much less awkward than bringing it up now.

Dahlia smiled a little. She hadn't expected the day to go so well, and even with countless doubts weighing on her, she couldn't help but look forward to seeing the Archduchess again. Hearing that they had to part felt unfortunate, but Dahlia had long since taught herself not to ask for too much. If she could go years hoping for a single ounce of praise, then surely she could wait a bit longer for this.

Frankly, the small amount of affection she had received was far more than what she had in the rest of her entire life. With that small amount of affection, Dahlia could even die happy. But no. No dying. She had become greedy for the affections of Valentina after all and had no desire to cut her future short. Instead, waiting a few days or weeks, or whatever it would take would be well worth the reward.

Dahlia leaned forward, almost reaching out to hug the woman in front of her, but her body faltered and she quickly pulled herself away.

'A hug? Am I serious? Who'd want that from me? No, I just need to be good and not push my luck. Don't want to get carried away after all.'

Had Valentina heard her thoughts, she might have ditched Esmé right then and there to pamper her, but only seeing nervousness and hesitation, she instead figured that Dahlia was still uncomfortable with her presence.

Trying not to push boundaries, Dahlia bowed, once quickly to Esmé, and then the second, much deeper toward Valentina. After a quick sigh, she smiled and looked into the vampiress' eyes.

"Ok. You go then and do whatever work that needs done. I have no plan to run away from you, but… Try not to take too long. I'd happily wait as long as you need, but my current circumstances at home may put a time limit on me."

Doing all she could to behave like the position of archduchess required instead of running away from work, she just nodded and had a bit of a bitter smile on her face.

"In that case, I'll come to you as soon as I can. Take care of yourself until then and stay safe."

Barely restraining herself, she turned her back on Dahlia, glaring at the chuckling Esmé to the side. She took only two steps before she felt a warm breath on her ear and a soft delicate whisper.

"My name's Dahlia by the way, Dahlia Lionysus. Don't think I wouldn't notice that you didn't know."

Valentina quickly turned and saw Dahlia standing there with a playful smile on her lips. Her ear burned red from where the voice and breath touched it, but instead of flustered, she was just ecstatic.

'This girl might be even better than I thought!'

Turning once again, now wearing a genuine smile, she waved back as she walked towards Esmé.

"In that case Dahlia, I'll see you soon. Just keep that cute smile of yours waiting for me~"

The silly giddiness that comes from the early stages of love was clear in her voice, filled with excitement, flirtation, and anticipation. Esmé just rolled her eyes at it all.

"Young love is gross. I can't believe I was once like this."

With those words, the small pink skinned girl thrust a heel out as she kicked the air and suddenly a massive sound of shattering glass could be heard as the air fell into fragments, leaving a silvery void behind. Without another word, the two lept in and the shattered air quickly knitted back together.

Dahlia remained behind, reeling from the sudden showing of power in such a casual manner. Whoever that girl was, she was terrifying. She was mulling over all the events that had happened to her so far, when after about half an hour a set of footsteps arrived behind her.

"Well, your plans certainly went well, didn't they?"

Her mother arrived, snickering into her hand. There was some rosyness to her cheeks.

'Seems like she's been having a good time. But it would have been nice if she didn't come out to badger me. Go, leave, keep having fun far away from me!'

Dahlia kept those thoughts to herself however, instead going for a more diplomatic approach.

"Mother, I'm surprised to see you away from mixing in with the other nobles. Is there an issue?"

Sabrina smirked. The girl may have said it in a perfectly respectful tone, but she knew there were plenty of layers of resentment mixed in.

'Really, my kid is just a snarky brat in disguise, isn't she?'

Shrugging, she got to the point. No one would be listening in, so she knew they could speak candidly.

"I was figuring something like this would happen the moment I saw your notes talking about the Archduchess. She's so well known as a playgirl that I thought she would eat you, give you a sense of hope, and then spit you back out. Seeing that she took an actual liking to you though…"

She trailed off, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. What she had just said was true. She basically had no expectations for her daughter in actually gaining Valentina's favour, but now that she had, this had a huge amount of potential. After a brief pause, she continued.

"We'll have to play it by ear. And don't give me that look, no, I'm not going to interfere or get involved. While I do plan to benefit from this, I have no intention of interfering and drawing the Archduchess' ire. That's just a one way ticket to an early grave. Instead I'll just sit back and watch for now and see where things go. The one you actually need to worry about is your father."

Dahlia agreed with that. Her father really would be a problem. Of the three in the family, it turned out he was the only one that cared about her engagement, but unfortunately, he *really* cared. Sighing she shook her head.

"It won't be awful… He really wanted this connection but he still has two other suitors lined up for me, so there will still be options from his point of view. Meanwhile, I assume that the Archduchess will be back before anything goes south too fast. I'll just need to survive until then."

Hearing her mention the Archduchess, Sabrina raised an eyebrow and looked like she was hesitating to say something, but finally she spoke up.

"What… exactly happened after you came out here? I was able to see most of it but suddenly my magic was interfered with by something. It was well hidden, so no one should have noticed, but out of nowhere my mana was just wicked away like nothing."

Dahlia was surprised that she was being so honest about her surveillance, but by this point it sort of made sense. They were both well aware of each other, so they had built some weird sense of openness. Thinking about it for a moment, she looked back at it all and could only guess one answer.

"It was probably that knight girl that showed up. Honestly, she was terrifying. She had this schema set up that made her entire body look like a ticking time bomb of condensed mana. Do you have any idea who she is? She looked young, but was probably an elite knight from the capital or something."

The Baroness' body had gone rigid early on in that description, but she remained silent, not wanting to jump to conclusions.

"Dahlia… could you describe her a bit more? If it's who I'm thinking of, she should be easy to distinguish."

Seeing what she meant, she nodded and quickly filled her in.

"Pink skin, blond hair, long pointy ears, tons of piercings, and crazy blue and gold eyes. Oh uhh, I think her name was Esmé?"

Feeling a little shaken, her mother let out a slightly nervous, almost crazed laugh. As time went on mixtures of fear and anticipation could both be seen in her eyes.

"Girl? I don't know how you do it, but you're shockingly skilled at forming connections with those in positions of power. Who you just met was Grand Dowager Empress Esmé Kallisto. The founder of the Empire."

'Oh.'