"We have arrived, Young Master, Your Highness."

The sound of the head butler, Hayward's voice was heard as he knocked on the carriage, informing the two lads inside the carriage as soon as it stopped in front of the mansion. Ashton gently closed the book he was reading and uncrossed his legs, preparing to exit the carriage, of course, waiting for the prince to step out first. The white-haired lad who has been staring outside the window the whole ride was the first one to know that they already reached the estate.

The ride wasn't awkward since the two have known each other ever since they were kids, being the heir of the most important families that rule the Empire and all, but that also doesn't mean that they were friendly enough to talk to each other about things that don't involve important businesses hence there was only silence for they are both known for being quiet and perceptive. Besides, they may not say it out loud but neither of them is willing to be in a closed space with one another, just a mere coincidence that Ashton arrived the same day as the Prince who came from the Northern Kingdoms.

And they were both going to the same destination. That is the Arkwright Estate.

As soon as Ashton stepped out of the carriage, a hint of disapproval was displayed on his face. He immediately knew something was wrong. He is for certain that the people inside the mansion were informed about him coming back home with the Prince since he made sure to tell Hayward to deliver the message that morning before they departed. But the servants who went out to greet them looked nervous and somewhat bothered. They may think that they are doing a good job hiding their emotions, but a little bit of information is enough for the oldest child to know. He's pretty good at reading the room after all.

"You're back a little early, brother." he turned to his right where the voice of his younger brother came from. Judging by how the young boy looked at the moment, he figured that it was indeed about the lady. He knows their youngest, and he is not the type to lose his composure, unless of course, if their sister is involved.

"I was just about to call you," Ciel added, bowing a little at the Prince who returned his gesture with a nod and glancing at Hayward as a form of acknowledgment which the old man replied with a respectful bow.

"Is it a matter beyond your means?" Ashton asked and the youngest just nodded his head. His face formed a slight grimace for a second and looked at the second Prince standing next to the raven-haired boy. "I hope you're faring well, your highness."

"You should ask your brother that question." the second prince told him, "But I am fine, thank you." he then looked at Ciel whose face was looking like a sick patient. He has been leading the search for more than three hours and he still hasn't taken a breather and the young prince concluded that if the boy had many stress factors, the biggest one would be his sister, she would be the death of him and that is not a joke.

"I've caught a gist of the situation." Ashton started talking again when the crown prince suddenly stepped back, looking in the direction of the path leading around the estate.

"Is there something the matter, your highness?" asked Ciel who stared at the man curiously.

"...something..." the prince answered, akin to a whisper that the people present weren't able to comprehend what he said. He gestured for them to proceed inside the mansion before leaving, trailing the path with the same curiosity that the spectators had, as they watch him walk away.

The others just let him be, knowing that there was a more serious matter at hand.

"What did she do this time?" Ashton asked as they walked through the front doors.

"Nothing," Ciel replied flatly, they were greeted by Mariel accompanied by Avy's personal knight and other maids who just stood there fiddling with their hands.

The young Arkwright broke the silence and spoke, "What can a missing person do?" answering for the servants who kept their mouths shut.

Silence engulfed the whole mansion as the employees shivered slightly by how cold the young master's eyes looked. If only it wasn't a cessation that day, surely they would shiver from physical coldness, thank the Goddess the young master was somewhat made magicless that time.

"Was it not your job to keep an eye on Avy, Ciel?" he stared down at his brother who just kept a poker face whilst the others were already dying of guilt because they were not given the same unnerving gaze from the Arkwright heir.

"You were left in this house for a reason."

Light, who could no longer bear the sight he was seeing finally stepped forward and spoke.

"Putting the burden of watching over a sixteen-year-old on your youngest is not good, young master. This guy has been sleepless for days," he said, slightly shielding the other Arkwright from the older male's vision.

"It would be appreciated if you do not meddle on family matters, your highness." the servants cowered slightly in the background, but the young master's monotonous voice wasn't enough for the prince to retreat, but a little tug from the household's youngest was.

Ciel tugged the hem of his clothes as if telling him to stop, and although hesitating, he eventually did. To be honest, if another noble were to talk to the Imperial family like how the Arkwrights do, they would immediately be imprisoned for disrespecting the crown. But the perks of being a dangerously important piece on the board back them up. They are a family who cannot be replaced, losing their favor also means creating an opening for other kingdoms and empires to steal the gem of a family the Kriseon Empire protects and does the same to them and their people.

"I am not running away from consequences, brother. But wouldn't be a better option to find sister first?" Ciel looked up meeting another pair of bloody red eyes. "Everything else can wait," he added, completely shutting down the winter cold gaze that the older was giving him.

"She's here."

A familiar voice made everyone stop, it was no other than the Prince's voice.

"Behind the mansion."

It was enough for them to pause on their little chat and quickly head to the place where the prince told them to. The servants of the Arkwright Duchy are no longer unfamiliar with this since the Prince has been visiting the lady for the past years, for obvious reasons, and they are aware that he is more than capable to be able to do things that only veteran mages can do. Lightning type mages are given the ability to communicate to other people at a limited distance using the waves to transmit the sound of their words. But not everyone can do it, in fact, it is a one-in-a-million chance to meet a Lightning type mage who is able to do such, and there are only three people in the Empire who are known to have this ability.

On their way to the back of the mansion, they came across the servant who was running really fast to inform them about the lady. But seeing that he doesn't need to, prompt him to halt and follow the others back to the lady instead.

And there they found the lady on the ground looking like she just fought a bear in the forest.

~~~

Avy was immediately escorted back to her room with a couple of maids trailing behind to help her clean herself. It may not be too noticeable by normal people but the servants, especially Mariel smelled blood on her. In fact, there were some stains on her hair that weren't washed of as if the attempt to clean herself was rushed and not done carefully. Her unruly seaweed-like hair was tied in a messy ponytail and the clothes she was wearing, although still high quality and somewhat expensive, were still only common people wear.

Guilt seeped through Avy's skin as she listened to her maid who was talking about how grateful she was that she came back unscathed after they searched for hours. Yes. Hours. It turned out that they were notified of the Young Master and the Prince's arrival early in the morning thus Mariel entered her room much earlier than usual to help her prepare and found her nowhere near her bed, worse, not in her room or anywhere inside the mansion. Ciel, who was exhausted after taking care of the things needed for the total magic shut down day was forced to get out of bed and start searching for his missing sibling.

Avy is not someone who feels sorry for people. That is how she grew up in her past life. She didn't care about others nor did she have the luxury to look at her surroundings, the only ones that mattered are the people and the things that were inside her small bubble. Besides, she was an only child, as long as she didn't inconvenience her parents, she did whatever she liked, and she wasn't reprimanded by them since she was doted on by the family. Even though she looked quite mature for her age and was the one who played the role of a mother to Lucy, the truth was she was the one who needed to be taken care of. She just came out as dependable because she is smart and technically a know-it-all, but she's aware that everyone adjusted to her selfishness.

She's always that irresponsible child no matter what world she was in. How dare she burden a child out of her own desires? She doesn't want to use the 'she's new in that world' card as an excuse. She didn't adapt to her surroundings as quickly as other characters who transmigrated to different worlds did, she may look like it, but she was still a complete stranger to everything that was presented to her during her first couple of days. It's just that, forcing herself to learn and adapt as soon as possible is her way of coping with the current reality that fate shoved in her face one day. Studying is the only thing she knew would help her from surviving, she was confident that knowledge would shield her from the unfamiliarity and longing that she was feeling. She totally forgot. As desperate as she was to have the basics of living, her common sense disappeared.

Common sense becomes uncommon as you dig through things.

The servants finished washing her, and to their surprise, Avy didn't protest nor did she reject their touch. She just stayed silent until they were done and prepared comfortable clothes, a set of clothes only suitable for sleeping.

Bold of them to do that knowing that the Prince is there.

They don't care whether the prince waits. The lady looks tired, then the lady rests.

"His Highness is here, I should dress up."

Ah. Of course, she would choose him over herself. The servants thought the same, although hesitating, they didn't disobey and quietly complied.

Seeing the worried face that her personal maid has, Avy slightly pinched herself. She just doesn't want to cause any more trouble and stress for the tired servants, especially Ciel who had enough for the day.

"I was wrong. And inconsiderate."

The servants halted. Looking at their lady in surprise. She did not apologize, but did she really say that to them? Servants? Lower ranked people?

"M-my lady-"

"I'm stubborn and a handful." she started, and not a single servant made a sound and just listened to her. "But keep putting up with me even though you're probably fed up."

"I'll improve." she looked down, "But I don't want to change. Not anymore."

"Please. Keep being patient."

Although the first word was just a whisper, it was enough to send Mariel over the edge. She pulled the lady into a hug and even though the others were having second thoughts, thinking that the lady might get mad, they shoot their shot and joined the hug, muttering sorrys and apologies, as well as oaths and promises to do better, they comforted the lady gently, slowly erasing the memory of her bad days.

Aside from her best friend, Avy isn't used to physical warmth since her parents are always away, although they were close because her mom and dad never let a day pass without them talking, may it be on the phone. And she's not a touchy person, she never liked people, but the touch of others wasn't that bad after all.

She and the original lady were not the same people, and it would be wrong for her to act too rudely towards the servants just because of real Avy's mindset that was corrupting her own. Besides, these people did nothing wrong and it was Avy who was not good to them, but she didn't want to apologize, not for the things she didn't do. But how do you know? She just created an opportunity to apologize (not really).

She would definitely be better, maybe, but she doesn't want to change.

If it's because of Avy's own emotions or hers, who knows?

~~~

If you're wondering why I updated again, it's because I read all the comments discussing things regarding the characters. People just have to poke a stick at my creativity and I would stay up all night writing. Bruh I'm a big fan of debates and discussions and I would either write a whole paragraph supporting my claims or just write stfu and there is no in-between. I feel appreciated whenever I see you guys talk about the things I write and I would be more than happy to join you but I have a big mouth and that means I'm a spoiler sprouting dumbass.

If you have a twitter account, let's interact there. My name is slvrvoid and I promise to go active everyday for y'all. Now feel special. (imma put this on the comment sec so that I can delete it later. I put too many notes after chapters I'm so annoying)

I'm so very sorry for updating so late that you forgot the characters lol. But because you asked for the list, I'm giving it to you with a bonus. Their heights!

So Avy's full name is Vin Avanaveronica Seara Arkwright Idk why I made such a long name it sounded cool then but now I don't want to utter a single word about it and at the same time I want to write a whole essay why and how this might irk the readers lmao, just remember her as Avy, either way, she doesn't care about our existence whatsoever. We're just bugs.

Also, special thanks to mikmolkmilk, charliemilo, and resceeraya013 for inspiring me to write. I loved each of your comments and I badly wanted to say 'yeah' 'agreed' 'say more' but I remembered, I am the author lmao. Don't hesitate to comment things about this story, it's the only reason I live to this day, I swear I read all of them.

Btw here it goes (I made it an image since it's so long you're gonna hate me for it.)



I'll add the others some other time, I'm lazy. I'm out. Goodnight I hope you're still alive in the morning. Suffer by living, ciao.