Friday, February 10th, 2045
Demiliore Manor, Sameran City, Agnolia, Netheria
The rays of the rising sun peered through the windows and the lady in the big round bed opened her emerald eyes right at the moment the clock hit 6 am.
She sat up on the bed in a meditating position, and after circulating her Aura throughout her body, she took a deep breath before getting out of bed and heading into the dressing room.
Half an hour later, at exactly 6:40 am, she exited the dressing room, having taken a shower and wearing a baggy casual shirt and grey jeans.
It was a day off from the office, so she did not bother much about what she had to wear today. Well, she never really bothered much about it.
"My Lady," As always, Viola was there to do her duty. "May I be of any help?"
"It's fine." She smiled before she picked up her watch from the side table and wore it on her wrist. "Is everyone up?"
"Lady Rebecca and Lady Kiara are still in bed. They stayed up late last night. But everyone else has woken up."
"Ingrid and Marianne?"
"They are in the gym together with Sibyl, and the three of them are sparring against each other," Viola informed her with a smile.
"Sibyl? Mother had returned home?"
"Yes, My Lady. She returned last night after you retired to bed. I think it was five past one in the morning."
Amelia nodded her head and then walked out of the room, followed by her personal maid.
"Anything that requires my attention?"
"No, My Lady," Viola answered.
"Thank you, Viola. You may return to preparing the breakfast."
"Yes, My Lady," Viola stopped and then lightly bowed before walking down a separate hallway that led to the kitchen.
She entered Vanessa's wing and then knocked on a door once before entering and closing it behind her.
There, on the big bed, two beautiful girls were soundly asleep. And Amelia could not suppress her smile when she found Rebecca wrapped around her giant teddy bear.
Kiara looked cute too as she hugged a pillow, but unlike Rebecca, she was a lot more graceful.
Though she had come here to wake them up, she could not bring herself to do it, so she decided to let them sleep in for some more time.
Breakfast was not until 8 am, so she could let them get half an hour more of their precious sleep.
Kiara would not mind being woken up, but Rebecca loved her sleep a little too much. Which was ironic, considering she did not have a set time to go to bed.
Walking over to sit down at the coffee table, she looked at the board of chess and smiled when she saw the pieces set in a familiar game.
The whites had lost, and she knew that Rebecca always picked blacks. It was something she did because she liked emulating and building up on Keith's moves, and their dear husband liked choosing blacks over whites.
She set the pieces back in their starting positions and then started playing a game of chess by herself. However, the moves she made with blacks were the same as Keith had made against her in their last game which was a couple of months back.
He had improved a lot since the first time they played chess, but still, he had not improved as much as Rebecca did.
Amelia knew that it was mostly because Keith had not played chess in the two and half years he had been away from home.
She reached the point where he had made the first mistake, and then she started taking charge and competing against herself.
Time passed, and she stopped the game right after she made a move with whites which ended all hopes for the blacks. There was no point in playing beyond that point, and she wrapped up the board and got up, walking towards the bed.
"Kiara..." She softly called out to the girl who was hugging a pillow and shook her shoulder lightly.
The girl woke up on the third call and immediately shot up in the bed, turning to look at the clock on the wall.
Amelia smiled when she saw her take a sigh of relief. It was clear that she had plans for today, or she would not have been so worried about what time she was waking up.
"Good morning, Amy!" She brightly said and hugged her waist.
"Good morning, Kiara." She gently patted her hair and then pointed at Rebecca, which prompted the blue-eyed girl to break into giggles.
"Rebecca, wake up!" Kiara was not really gentle when she woke the blonde up, and both of them giggled as their lazy sister-wife groaned and complained every time her name was called out and begged to be allowed to sleep for a few more minutes.
"Get up. Keith's returning home tonight." Amelia suddenly said, and then smiled when the blonde immediately shot up and looked at her with her big eyes.
"He's returning today?" She hopefully asked, and it was so clear in her eyes that she was excited and expectant.
"Yes. He will be back by evening." Amelia informed them, and Kiara immediately got up and rushed out of the room.
"I will see you guys at the breakfast table!" She left behind those words, and Rebecca too got up, not as enthusiastically, but still quite happily. She gave Amelia a hug, and then headed into the dressing room.
"Give me 20 minutes." She said, and true to her words, came out twenty minutes later, dressed and ready for the day. "Let's go!" She happily grabbed her hand and pulled her behind her, leading her to the dining room where the family had breakfast every morning.
"Mother has returned too," Amelia said, and Rebecca nodded her head.
"I and Kiara received her last night."
"Is that why you stayed up late?"
"Mother sent us to bed at 3." She pouted, and Amelia could not help her smile.
"I see."
"Hey, Amy."
"Yeah?"
"Did you observe that Mother now has a very noble Aura about her?" The blonde glanced at her and asked, making her frown.
She did notice it when the last time they saw Venessa, but now that Rebecca had raised the matter, it meant that she had discovered something.
"You have a noble Aura about you too."
"Yes, and it is because I am the True Inheritor of Hectate." She nodded her head and said meaningfully. "It's the same for you."
Amelia knew what she was trying to imply and nodded her head.
"What happened?" She straightforwardly asked.
"She's different. As if changed..." Rebecca frowned as she recalled the exact feelings she experienced last night, and the last time she met Venessa, "Her presence is... suffocating."
Amelia knew that she did not mean those words in a disrespectful manner, and it was probably the right word for the feeling that she had experienced as well.
"It is different from our presence and our Aura of nobility. It is as if it is deeply rooted in her, and even if she is merely sitting around looking at her phone, there is this Aura about her that makes you think twice before you say anything in front of her." She stopped and glanced at her. "I tried looking her in the eyes last night, and I felt a weight press on my heart. I don't know how to put it, but it felt like she was not human anymore. It was as if she was Divine, and I had to observe my respect before her."
After she said those words, the two of them kept walking side by side, lost in their thoughts.
"I have felt the same or similar feeling from three other people." Rebecca suddenly said.
"Who?"
"Nyx, Keith," The blonde turned to look at her again, "and Minami."
"What's your guess?" Amelia already had something in her mind, but she wanted to know if Rebecca was onto the same thing.
"Keith is not a human, Amy." She simply said with a smile. "And now Mother and Minami are no longer humans."
"What are they?" She interestedly asked.
"Something very noble." That's all the blonde said, and Amelia could tell that she was holding back something, but she did not ask anything more about it.
"You plan to confront Keith about it?" She guessed.
"No." Rebecca shook her head and shrugged. "He would tell me sooner or later. And since he has not told me anything about the changes in Minami, even when I inquired, it means that he can not speak to me about it just yet."
Amelia nodded her head to her words and glanced at her sister-wife again.
"What's cooking in your head?" She curiously asked and watched the blonde bloom in a bright smile.
"I was thinking that maybe we should challenge Mother to a spar. The two of us against her."
"Right." Amelia could not help her smile and shook her head.
"Come on! Aren't you curious about how strong she is?" She insisted. "And it could give us some more insight into her... truth."
"So you are curious."
"Of course, I am!" She brightly smiled. "And so are you."
Amelia could not deny her words and kept looking into her eyes for a few seconds. And then she nodded her head.
"We will ask her after breakfast."
"Thank you!" Rebecca gleefully said and then brisked forward, pulling her into the dining room.
"What's Kiara up to today?" Amelia asked after they entered the room and found out that no one else had arrived yet.
"She's working on Keith's birthday present."
"Have you decided on it?"
"Yes." The blonde nodded her head. "You?"
Amelia smiled at her words and shook her head.
"You don't have to necessarily give him something that he already has or likes. A gift that is meaningful to you would mean a lot to him. He loves you." Rebecca smiled at her and told her, and something finally clicked in Amelia's mind.
"Thank you, Rebecca." She gratefully said, and the blonde simply smiled at her before engaging her in a conversation over their Business.