She Scares Me

"What I think Artie Shen is?" Marissa only frowned at the strange question of her older sister. Then again, she figured something must have happened if Clarissa was reduced to cowering behind the woman in question. To relieve the other, Marissa decided to give a ridiculous answer: "A god from Kolorantha..."

"Kolorantha, huh..." Clarissa pouted as if she took the answer to heart. "We have no knowledge of anything of Koloranthan origins, but the stories about that place tend to be more bizarre than those of Tetroka. Even the demons of Tetroka elude speaking of their neighboring continent. Marissa… I saw her wield a bow made of snow… and she could blow up—no, light emerged from her body like an exploding bomb..."

Marissa's eyes widen at the confession. She knew that Clarissa would never lie to her. However, the things that she said that she had seen…

The younger twin narrowed her eyes in suspicion and intrigue. She then smiled curtly before speaking, her hand stroking at her sister's hair. "Clarissa, follow my lead later..."

The older twin only lifted her face to take a look at her sister who seemed to be a different person from the one she was used to; however, Clarissa only nodded. Marissa would never place her in danger.

Before long, Larkin and Artie had returned to the resting stop along with the hunters. Callum quickly went to check up on his sister and his betrothed while Gustova squeezed herself between the archduke and his wife. It's just that Artie didn't fight for the space and left to find Wusso who only watched her walk towards him. He then smiled strangely, but no words came from him.

"Duke Miral, if you may… can I ask you a few questions?" Artie didn't ask Larkin first. She wanted to know how the situation looked to a regular duke. "What do you think it means when demons send their scouts to an area?"

"Ah, you've must run into the scouts' pets. Those things could be quite a handful." Wusso only stroked at his beard. "Miral Valley is in constant watch of the demon scouts because it lied at the edge of the kingdom. However, it's the first time they had been so blatant in their scouting—in Ellis Plains at that. Something in the area must have piqued their interest. Moreover, I heard that the emperor is not coming to the wedding."

"We figured it has something to do with the war. Do you have news of it? The war?"

Wusso only smiled at her before reaching out to fix a stray strand flipped to her face. "Lady Shen, the seventeen devildoms are slaves to Tetroka. Do you expect a master to discuss their affairs with slaves? Here now, we knew that the war efforts are growing, but only those of the north could tell if the war is real.

"For the rest of the devildoms, we only knew how to live the lives we have and in the way we've been told. We really don't ask too many questions."

"And if they forfeit the lives they've let you live, will you ask questions for your children and their children?" Artie spoke so softly, but Wusso could only continue to smile. However, she began to hear whispers in his voice: ["I wish I can help you understand why they attacked, but I am as ignorant as the next person. There are things that the demons are scared of, and if you really very curious, I only have one word…"]

"Kolorantha."

Artie was shocked when the voice sounded like it came from Wusso's lips this time. However, the old duke only smiled before nodding to excuse himself from her. She then frowned at the leaving duke's back view. 'Could it be that he knows I can read his mind? Does he know I am an angel?'

From Larkin's perspective, he could tell that Artie was poking her nose in the wrong places again. Since he was much taller than Gustova, he had no troubles seeing her even if Gustova was animatedly speaking in front of him. He was letting her say what she liked… until she dared to embrace him. He didn't care what she said while doing so, but his eyes glowed red. His left hand twitched, and a black vine shot up to her neck…

Until it paused and retreated.

Larkin moved his eyes and cleared the glare when he saw Marissa smiling at him. This daughter had never smiled at him, and her smile reminded him of that cursed creature. Regardless, it was his daughter… not that woman. He used a hand to push off Gustova and spoke to Marissa, "Is something wrong, Marissa?"

"Uhm, we… we want to talk to you. Is it alright if we discuss with you alone later?" She then held her hands and brought them to her chest. "Please? Father?"

"Absolutely." 

Larkin didn't reflect the smile, but his eyes had gone warmer than normal. Even if it wasn't Clarissa… even if it was a very suspicious act… he couldn't care less. He would react differently if it was an unspeakable topic, but he didn't want to spoil the sweetness of hearing his daughters call him with a title he thought he never deserved. How good was it that it wasn't just Miel anymore? He even worked hard for that one as well.

The hunt had ended in bad ways, but no one complained. They were disrupted by the demon scouts, and they couldn't say anything towards those things. Nonetheless, the scouts didn't show up at all. Miel was left to clean up everything else while Larkin waited for the twins in his study.

Just like normal, he tended to be nervous when facing them. The last time, he was with Artie and their encounter had not been pretty. This time, it might be a lot different. A maid led the twins to the study and left with a tray of tea and cookies. Larkin joined them in the couch area and anticipated a lot of questions that they might ask him. Then again, he figured it was going to be about Artie anyway.

"Father, you must have your guesses as to why we want to speak with you." Marissa seemed to change whenever she was the first person to talk, like a coin flipping from heads to tails. It was the same face and features, but some things were definitely off. "It's about Artie Shen. I hope you don't mind telling us why you chose to marry her all of a sudden. She might be quite a charming lady on the surface, but…

"She's a monster, isn't she?" Marissa's sharp gaze flicked at his eyes, their sharpness doing their best to resemble his very own glare. Then again, the maiden looked down again. "She scares me. There are things about her that we cannot wrap our heads around. She seems to be different from the rest, but… isn't our mother just the same?"