The girl from the palace

"Good morning Mom!"

Aurelia quickly moved to hug Jyllene. Under normal circumstances, Jyllene would be able to catch her.

"Agh!"

But Jyllene's physical state was far from normal. Aurelia's hug and Jyllene's inability to catch her caused the two of them to fall over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"It's alright dear. Shira got us."

"Huh?"

Wondering what Jyllene was talking about, Aurelia looked at Shira who was still standing over by the wayside. As she was about to ask what her mother meant, she felt her hands grab something cold as she got off her mother.

'Snow?'

Only then did Aurelia understand what Jyllene was talking about.

"Do you mind getting off me now, Sweetie?"

"Oh sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Nice save by the way Shira. Mind helping me up?"

Jyllene stuck out her hand from atop the snow pile. 

"Of course Empress."

Shira walked over and promptly helped the hungover Jyllene.

"Seems like you've gotten worse at handling your liquor, your Majesty."

"More like I had a lot to drink last night."

She stretched her stiff body before sitting down at the table.

"Speaking of you might wanna go check on Pyron. He was matching me drink for drink last night and he wasn't looking too good when I got up earlier."

"I'll bring him up an ice bucket."

"Thank you Shira. And you might want to bring a mop with you as well."

"Understood Empress. I hope you have a pleasant meal with Princess Aurelia."

Shira bowed as he exited the kitchen with a bucket in his hands. Aurelia wondered what the bucket was for but then she remembered the servant from earlier.

"Is dad gonna be ok?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah. He was matching my pace last night so he's now suffering those consequences."

"Is everyone really like that?"

"Well, considering we don't often let the booze flow it's understandable."

To think that the emptiness of the palace earlier was a result of a mere drink, Aurelia failed to understand why they liked it. She sat down and crossed her arms as she remembered when she had snuck a sip of alcohol before.

'Bitter…'

Even the mere memory of that time was enough to make her want to hurl.

"I don't think I'll ever want to drink."

"Hahaha…"

Jyllene laughed at Aurelia's words.

"Wh-what?"

"Hahaha, ha… oh it's nothing dear. I just got reminded of my childhood. I was like you back then too. I didn't understand why people would drink something that made them lose their manners."

"And now?"

"Hoho… I understand it fully now. And someday I think you will too."

Before the conversation could continue a loud rumbling noise came from their stomachs.

"How about we start eating, hmm?"

Not waiting for an answer, Jyllene grabbed some of the steak and began to bite into it. The juices that flowed down from her mouth made it look like it was really delicious. 

Odds are it was and Aurelia knew that. It was made by her chef after all but looking at Jyllene eat it made it seem even more so.

Wanting to grab a bite of her own, Aurelia grabbed a steak from the pile and started to munch on it. It was just as good as Jyllene was making it out to be

"This is nice."

As they were eating Jyllene broke the constant sounds of chewing and tearing of meat. Aurelia tilted her head and looked at Jyllene with a piece of steak in her mouth as if to ask what she meant.

"Eating breakfast with my daughter again."

She made it sound like it's been a long time since it happened but that seemed odd to Aurelia. Her little sister was right here so there should be plenty of time for them to eat like this.

"Mira tends to wake up a lot later than us, so we don't really get to eat together in the morning like this. Well, it's more like brunch now but still."

"When does she normally wake up then?"

Jyllene took a look at the clock on the wall.

"Hmm. It's just before noon so she'll probably be up in another hour."

"Actually Empress, Princess Mira was already here earlier."

A large man exited the kitchen with a garbage bag in his hands.

"Is that so, Agaram? What time was that then? Just before I came down I assume?"

"It was around four hours ago actually."

"Really? She was up four hours ago? That's odd."

"Where's Mira now then?"

"That, I am unsure of Princess. I have not seen her since that time. Now if you'll excuse me."

With no more to say, Agaram left to presumably throw away the garbage in his hands.

Aurelia found something strange. She had walked around for quite some time looking for people earlier but was unable to find anyone. If her sister had been awake this entire time, where was she?

"I wonder where she's been…"

"Well maybe she went back to her room to sleep. I wouldn't put it past her. She does like to sleep in after all. And with this snowstorm, your teachers can't exactly get here so there's not much for her to do."

"Hmm… Maybe…"

Though that might be true for her sister, She actually does quite a lot even without her teachers. 

"By the way Dear, how've you been feeling?"

"Hmm? I'm feeling ok, just a little tired,"

"You know that's not what I mean Dear."

Jyllene looked at her with a somewhat sad look as if she was expecting the worst. That look told Aurelia all she needed to know what her mother was talking about.

'Looks like it's time.'

The very reason she was asked to come back to the imperial palace, the death of her fiance.

"I'm… "

She wanted to claim to be fine but she knew that everyone had already heard that she was saddened by her fiance's death. Though to what extent they knew, remained to be seen.

"I'm… doing better I guess. It's just… hard to accept."

Ivan tended to be sick most of the time that they met. She quite disliked him due to that. Far from being the prince that she wanted, it was a stretch to even call him an average person. His only advantage was that he was of noble descent. Apart from that, a commoner would be a better partner.

Well, that was until they spent more time together. She saw him as a nuisance first but overtime she had grown fond of his constant presence. And now that he was gone, she really felt it. As Aurelia was thinking more about him, a small tear fell from her eyes.

"I miss him."

"I'm sure you do Dear. And I'm sorry."

Jyllene pulled Aurelia into a warm hug. And perhaps it was because it was from Jyllene, Aurelia felt an overwhelming sense of comfort. She cried softly in her mother's arms for a little while.

****

After having a rather heartfelt brunch, the two parted ways. Jyllene still had quite the workload on her plate so after eating she went to her office to deal with it. With nothing that she really wanted to do at the moment, Aurelia went towards her sister's room. 

It had been some time since they last saw each other and as they were both tired last night, she wanted to spend more time with her. Walking up to the doors, she knocks and calls out to her.

"Mira? Are you there?"

Much like yesterday however, there was no response again. Feeling a sense of deja vu, she opened the door to confirm her hunch. And just like last night, her sister was once again nowhere to be found in her room. Her bed was still unmade and the dress that she was wearing last night were strewn about as if it was just snakeskin that was tossed aside.

"Oh come on Mira."

She felt slightly annoyed at the sight but still decided to clean up her sister's messy room. She made the bed and was about to grab the dress to take it downstairs when she heard someone come into the room.

"Princess?"

It was Emma, one of her little sister's maids.

"Oh, Lady Mythea. Good morning."

"Oh u-uhm, Good morning."

Emma hurriedly bowed towards Aurelia.

"U-uhm If I may, May I ask what you are doing here?"

Her voice was shaky and panicky as she asked.

"I was just looking for Mira. Do you know where she is?"

"Pardon, i-is she not there?"

Emma fully thought that the girl would be there in bed still sleeping soundly. Aurelia's unexpected presence had grabbed her attention, but as she looked closely at the bed, the girl was indeed not there.

"No. Mom said that she might've gone back to her room to sleep but it seems like she isn't here anymore."

"She was awake earlier?"

That was even harder to believe. Her waking up early rarely happened but it has before. But the fact that she was not in bed sleeping afterwards was shocking.

"According to Sir Agaram, yes. But he doesn't know where she is now."

"Is that so?"

"Do you know where she could be?"

"Hmm…"

Emma rested her chin on her hand and started to think. She was having a hard time believing that the girl was already up without anyone waking her, she also had to figure out where she was at the moment. There was a place that immediately came to her mind but she thought that with the weather outside, there was no way the girl could be there.

Though as she tried to think of a different place to go to, none came to her mind.

"Maybe the garden? We always find her there when she disappears."

"I thought of that too but would she really go outside in this weather?"

The two of them took a look at the window. The snowstorm was still raging so going outside right now should be impossible. Then Aurelia's eyes opened wide.

"You said you always found her there right?"

"Yes, that would be correct."

"Oh Goddess, She might still be outside then."

"That's not possible. Even Princess Mira wouldn't go outside like this no matter how much she liked the sun lotus."

"Maybe not right now, but when I was awake earlier it wasn't snowing this heavily."

It took time but eventually Emma realized what Aurelia was saying. If the snow was lighter early in the morning, it was entirely possible that she did go outside. And given that the girl liked to stay there until someone basically dragged her back inside, getting caught up by the snowstorm was not impossible.

Understanding the danger that the girl could be in if that was the case, Emma bolted off in the direction of the garden without waiting for Aurelia, although she was sprinting right behind her.

With the stairwell coming into view, Emma started to give off a red glow. Reaching the central stairwell, Emma jumped over the railing and fell three stories down. Just before she landed, she cushioned her fall by expelling a moderate amount of fire from underneath her.

Landing safely, Emma continued to dash towards the garden. Aurelia was in awe of what she just saw her do.

'Was there a spell to do something like that? She didn't even chant, she just did it too. How'd she not set the carpet on fire?'

Aurelia was in awe at Emma's display. She knew that more powerful mages could omit the chant entirely but seeing it was a different story.

Though she was amazed by the sight, she followed Emma after getting her bearings.

"Damnit!"

Reaching the doors, it seemed that she was unable to open it normally. So Emma covered herself in her mana and forced the door open by kicking it.

A strong gale carrying snow entered the palace but Emma let out an aura of fire that melted the snow almost instantly. The water would freeze the carpet and ruin it but there were more important matters at hand.

"Lady Mythea, wait up."

As Aurelia caught up with her preparing to head out into the garden, an aura of warmth was surrounding her. She stopped to catch her breath before speaking.

"I'm coming with you."

"I'd rather you stay here Princess, I will go look for her on my own."

"No, I wanna help look."

"Who are you two looking for?"

Emma and Aurelia look in the direction the voice was coming from. There off to the side was the girl that they were looking for, safe and sound holding a book.

The two could only look at her with mixed emotions in their eyes.