22 An Ambush

The rest of the talk was just the two boys discussing swordsmanship and other things throughout their day. She wondered if she should take notes, the villains in this family could commit a major crime one day, and the very next act like that never happened.

Or rather, perhaps a true villain knew not to spill anything more than necessary. Everyone went their separate ways, acting like nothing happened until the next day. Count Loritz was declared guilty, and the bracelet was found on her daughter who tried to hide it after finding it on her. They were both sentenced to jail, for a hefty time and possibly death, depending on the court's ruling.

Her mother and sibling were deemed coconspirators as they tried to help her, being sentenced to jail until further notice at court. The Argyris family always attended the hunt and stayed by the capital in advanced, some participants even within the palace, but this time during that stay they would be forced to testify during a court case.

She still couldn't piece together why the Duke was being nice, or whether he was in on it. Judging from the way Isaac and Nyx shared a look with Nyx having a small smile, she assumed he didn't.

After a few minutes of the Duke's declaration, everyone split up again and the residence was relatively peaceful, from what she could tell. She would of expected daily screams and slaughtering, but she did suppose Isaac stayed away from everyone else, and Penelope was still under house arrest for several months.

She greatly missed the peace and quiet of Isaac and Nyx playing and training, as after a week, the family packed and begun moving to the capital. "Lady Cyrille, you're dressed too lightly!" A maid gasped, putting on another layer as Isaac and Nyx nodded in agreement. This was nearly the third jacket, shawl, coat, whatever they tried to get her to wear.

As her mother quietly obliged to their unnecessary fears of her even getting the tiniest bit cold, or being concerned for her frail health during the carriage ride that she had to finish an entire plate of vegetables, she was growing quite tired of the preparation. "Stu!" She whined about.

She wanted to stay stop, she's a grown woman already, but only found herself to be the next victim of their concerns. "Don't ya think little elevenths also dressed too lightly?" Nyx asked Isaac, who stared at her for a minute.

She was already dressed cozily in a rather long dress, if anything, she'd die of heat stroke. Nodding at his brother's statement, Isaac ordered a maid to bring her gloves and a second layer of socks.

She really hated not being able to speak, and her face showed it as she refused to let Isaac put on the second sock. She was not trusting him to know how a baby should dress, even if he were her older brother. "This is the first time she's tried pushing ya away," Nyx snorted, holding her up for Isaac as they tagged teamed putting the sock on. "Shut up, bastard." Isaac replied.

After she lost the battle of extra layers, they double checked everything was packed, and she even got to hold onto the tiger Nyx bought for her as they escorted their mother to the carriage. Once again, Nyx chose to stay with them rather than with his own mother and brother, a reoccurring theme she'd notice.

The carriages seemed to be lined up in order of the wives, all behind the Duke's. In that case, Nyx was quite far from his mother, who was sitting in the fourth carriage, as the third wife. It seemed like he really didn't care about her, either.

Another reoccurring theme would be the boys holding onto her instead of her mother, as she sat in Nyx's lap, Isaac beside him and their mother across from them. Nyx begun squishing her cheeks as she hugged the tiger.

"I don't believe I recall the Duke gifting her that tiger." Her mother attempted to make small talk, but the second she opened her mouth a hint of sadness and worry followed.

Piping up, Nyx smiled away. "We went shopping awhile back for first sister's birthday, and I ended up buying her something." He was back to polite talk, it seemed. She could feel Isaac glaring at the tiger for an unknown reason, and held it up to him to see what he would do.

Picking up the tiger, he scoffed. "What poor quality, I could get one custom made with better quality material." It nearly looked like he pouted, but she could see as Nyx turned her away, into his chest and snatched the tiger back, giving it to her.

"Yeah, it's definitely poor quality. So poor quality that it's sold by that one fancy children's shop in your city." Hearing that, Isaac glared but didn't retort as Nyx laughed, winning the argument. She wasn't sure how good quality that store was, but her mother clapped her hands.

"Is that store really still open?" She asked sweetly, almost excitedly. Nyx nodded and begun explaining what it was like to her as Isaac quickly took her into his arms while Nyx was distracted. Reaching her arms up, she was lifted to his chest where she struggled to pat his head. Nyx and their mother were social butterflies, a talkative bunch, but it seemed like Isaac would turn whoever looked at him into dust by his icy stare and quiet nature.

The ride was peaceful for another few hours, up until early evening, still in a thick forest. Almost all the carriages stopped, instead the children of some emerging. Isaac handed her off to her mother, reading his sword as he stayed in the carriage. Meanwhile, Nyx swiftly got up and pulled his weapon out from under the seats before exiting.

She didn't see him put it in, meaning they must of foreseen this happening, a bunch of bandits. Attempts of magic were made by some from afar, while the ones within close range tried to kill with their daggers, not once touching Nyx or any of the children. With his hand raised, she realized Isaac was working on internal control.

The carriage was slightly off the ground with wind harshly blowing around it, stopping anything from leaving or entering the wind barrier. On the outside, Nyx's clothes were slightly dyed in red, but he stood victorious over some corpses. There was damage done to others, but they were safe. After a few minutes of a clear coast, Isaac dropped the carriage, and Nyx re-entered with the stench of blood after kicking the corpses out of the way.

The coachman too, returned to their stations while covered in blood, even they were trained it seemed. Closing the windows, Isaac glared at Nyx. "Remove your coat already, there a reason there are extras."

Sighing, Nyx opened the carriage door, taking off his coat and wiping his weapon tip with a clean part before throwing it out, putting it under the seat and taking out a new coat jacket. They really were insanely prepared for this to happen.

"Did you get it?" Isaac asked, Nyx nodded and threw something at him. "It was the second wife of course, what did you expect?" Nyx responded as Isaac put something into his pocket. Meanwhile, her mother was holding onto her tightly, she nearly forgot she was there.

Looking up at her mother, she looked like she was about to cry but stayed strong. She felt bad for her, strangely. She didn't feel sick after seeing Nyx covered in blood, nor did she find the smell that repulsive to strike fear in her or make her gag, but her mother was the opposite.

Reaching up, she pat her mother's head as her mother's face were in her tummy, trying not to show her weak self. "Ma." She said out loud, messily gripping her once done hair and tapping it. Regaining her composure, her mother laughed weakly, cuddling her. "It's mama."

As Isaac and Nyx tried to comfort their mother, the coachman opened the door and apologized. "Sorry for the delay, my ladies, young masters. The first wife had gotten injured during the attack, we are going to move the Duke's carriage away first, then the first wife's carriage's will be dropped off in a near town. Her children are also reseating, it may be a bit."