Chapter 197: JEALOUS

Aristia woke up feeling better than earlier. She looked beside her, noticing that Alaric was no longer there.

She leaned back into her bed, her lips twitching into a faint smile as she remembered Millie’s voice echoing in her mind.

A soft knock broke her from her thoughts.

"Princess?" Adeline’s voice came through the door. "You have a visitor. Oh no, pardon me, I meant visitors." Her words ended in a chuckle.

Aristia frowned, sitting up straighter while Millie immediately transformed into a fox. They had learned from their mistakes.

"A visitor?" Aristia asked the shook her head. "No, visitors? Who?"

Before Adeline could reply, the door burst open.

"Tia! How are you doing?" Serina appeared with her arms up and spread wide. Adeline followed carrying two baskets. Aristia didn’t have to guess to know what it contained.

Trailing behind them were Ivan, Beatrix, Liam, Lauren, Lilith and Alaric.

Aristia was stunned for a while. "Oh, you all came?"

Seconds later, the door creaked open slightly, and Catherine poked her head in, a somewhat mischievous smile on her face. "Well, they insisted, so I thought I’d let them explain themselves..."



***

"You brought all these sweets and cakes?" Aristia asked incredulously.

"Mm-hm." Lauren shrugged. "This is our basket and this is their highnesses’. We’ll all eat it. Is it too much?"

Aristia glanced at the baskets and sighed.

They were sprawled out on her bed; all her cousins. Aristia had guessed correctly— the two baskets were indeed filled with sweets and small cakes.

[At this rate, I’ll add too much weight.]

"You’ve been falling unconscious a lot lately," Serina popped a cherry into her mouth. They had heard that Aristia was unconscious again.

Previously, Wilson and his family were supposed to go to the royal palace on the day she visited Wade, but it was pushed to a few days later.

In the end, they ended up not going up till a few weeks later when Aristia now fell unconscious, making them not go in the end.

Hearing that Aristia was now awake, her royal cousins decided to visit. It coincided with her ducal cousins who also had planned to visit and they ended up appearing at the same time.

"I know, right?" Aristia said rhetorically.

"Is it because of your daemon?" Liam asked bluntly, not smiling.

Millie let out an indignant huff through her nose.

"Wha—no! I mean... well, not exactly. It happened because I was about to break the chains." She defended her daemon, even though they knew it was the opposite.

[So, it’s directly related to Millie, but when he puts it that way, it sounds like it’s Millie’s fault.] Aristia thought, glancing at Millie who was settled on her lap as usual.

Millie had become more or less accepting of most of the members of her extended family. But she seemed to have a bit of a special dislike for Ivan for reasons unknown to Aristia. However, she also seemed to have a special liking for Liam.

Once again, Aristia was also not aware of the reason. She couldn’t get an answer from Millie then, but now that they had formed a connection, it would be possible.

"You broke them?" Liam and Ivan echoed, their faces lighting up with shock.

"Uh... yeah. That’s why I fell unconscious? Mama didn’t tell you?" Aristia asked curiously, before she continued. "Only partially, though." She clarified.

The boys nodded, looking more than a bit amazed and admiring. After all, Aristia was only six years old.

Ivan had only found his daemon and partially broke the chains at seven, but Aristia had at six.

"I don’t understand what the three of you are talking about, but I don’t want to." Serina moved a strand of hair behind her ears.

Lauren laughed and Beatrix shook her head with a small smile.

Alaric and Lilith weren’t even paying attention to the conversation— at least they didn’t look like they were. She didn’t know what they were talking about.

She turned her attention back to what Serina was saying.

"...but I know one thing," Serina continued, while picking up a piece of cake from the basket. "You’re going to be the coolest princess ever with this daemon thing even though no one will know. I used the word correctly, right?"

Aristia chuckled, shaking her head. "Yes, you used the word correctly. But it’s not about being cool, Serina. It’s different."

[They’re probably the only ones that will see it as cool. I’m literally the only girl this has happened to. Others will probably see me as strange, different and... an abomination, maybe?]

"Everything’s different with you," Serina said, popping the cake into her mouth.

"Seri’s not wrong," Beatrix chimed in.

They meant what they said. With their cousin, it was different. They took classes meant only for males, were now allowed to air their opinions on some policies after she formulated a plan for a possible famine, she’d manifested aura, and now she had a daemon, doing everything that only males usually did and were allowed to do.

Aristia rolled her eyes, but there was a small smile on her lips.



Liam cut in. The expression on his face was too serious for his age. "If Tia’s partially broken the chains, that’s a big deal..." he paused and looked at Aristia. "Did I use that word correctly?"

Then, he continued. "It’s not something that everyone can do."

Aristia chuckled. "Yes, you used it correctly." Then, she tilted her head and asked an obvious question. "You know about breaking the chains?"

Liam glanced away. "I’ve heard a lot."

Aristia nodded in understanding. He didn’t have a daemon, but as a boy, he would have been taught about them. They’d expect him to manifest one given his pure lineage.

Ivan nodded. "Liam’s right. It’s a big deal. If you didn’t succeed, you’d have died."

[Ouch!] Aristia winced.

"Yeah, that’s what the captain and papa said." Aristia said. She guessed that was what was told to every boy.

Lauren piped up, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. "You’re going to try to fully break them, right?"

She didn’t know about daemons, neither did she fully understand what they were saying. But she thought that since whatever chains they were talking about could be partially broken, then it must be able to be fully, right?

"What?!" Liam and Ivan yelled, flabbergasted, both of them staring at Lauren as if she had grown two heads. Didn’t she just hear what they said about dying?!

"What?" Lauren glanced at them, confused at their strong reactions.

"Those who have tried to break the chains fully and succeeded can be counted on one hand." Ivan rolled his eyes.

"Oh," Lauren blushed, staring at Aristia. "I didn’t know that." But she still strongly believed that Aristia could do it.

Her starry gaze made Aristia unsure of how to react. She settled for smiling.

[Thanks for the confidence.]

"What happens if you fully break the chains?" Beatrix asked softly, her wide eyes fixed on Aristia.

"I’m not sure," Aristia admitted. "The books I read said our bond will be completely unlocked."

"Yes," Ivan nodded. "Each daemon has its own abilities. Breaking the chains will unlock the daemon’s potential, but its abilities will still work even without unlocking it fully, just not as much as when it’s fully unleashed." He explained smartly.

Before Aristia could ask Ivan what abilities his daemon had, Alaric, who had been busy whispering to Lilith, suddenly turned toward her. "Does Millie talk to you now?" he asked, as if he suddenly remembered now.

Earlier, he had been too worried about Aristia to even think of asking anything.

"She does." Aristia nodded.

"Can she talk to us too?" Lilith asked softly. Her cute round eyes were wide with fascination and curiosity.

Aristia shook her head. "I don’t think she wants to, yet."

Millie let out a soft sound of amusement at Lilith’s disappointment. ’You can tell her I said hello,’ she said in Aristia’s mind.

Aristia chuckled. "Millie says hello."

"Hello, Millie!" Lilith said, her face lighting up.

"Oh," Ivan remembered something. "Now that you can communicate with Millie, you can form a link with Shadowfax so that we can be able to communicate." Ivan added.

[Oh, yeah!] Aristia thought. [Our daemons make it possible for us to communicate with other daemon owners whose daemons have formed a link with each other, much like a cell phone.]

"Alright, brother Ivan. You can give me your numb— I mean, you can ask Shadowfax to form a link with Millie when I come to the palace with Millie." She caught her slip up immediately, restraining the urge to smack her forehead.

Before the conversation could continue, Catherine’s voice called from the doorway. "Children, that’s enough for now. Tia still needs to rest."

A collective groan went up from the children, but they began to gather their things.



"Thanks for coming," Aristia said, smiling at them. "I’ll see you all soon, I promise."

[This time, we won’t keep moving our visit to the palace.]

"Rest well, Tia," Ivan said, giving her a nod before heading out.

"Don’t fall unconscious for days again," Serina teased, winking as she left with Lauren and Beatrix, but not before hugging her.

Lilith and Alaric left too. "Bye, Tia," they both said, giving her one last hug. "Bye, Millie."

"Bye, Al, bye, Lily." Aristia replied, ruffling their hair.

Liam remained in the room, hesitating. Finally, he stopped in front of her.

"I’ll soon manifest my daemon and be able to communicate with you. Bye, Tia." He patted her head before leaving.

Aristia was speechless. Was Liam jealous of Ivan being able to communicate with her through their daemons?

The door closed behind him, and the room became quiet again. Millie stretched in her lap, her purple eyes gleaming.

’What?’ Aristia asked with raised brows.

But Millie shook her head and cuddled into her lap before closing her eyes.