When Aries and Sunny left the forbidden mansion, the two of them stopped in the middle of the hallway. Aries's eyes widened, watching Conan stop several steps away from them. Conan furrowed his brows, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"What are you two…" Conan raised a hand, pointing at the way where the two of them came from. "Did you come from the forbidden palace?"
"It's Tilly's house," said Sunny in a knowing tone.
"Sir Conan, Abel toured me around the forbidden mansion, but he suddenly left because he was... a little bit upset. Yes, upset," Aries explained hurriedly, marching towards Conan and stopping in front of him. "What about you? Where are you planning to go?"
"Ugh… obviously to the only place where I can be at peace without people being cruel to me." Conan scrunched his nose up, glaring at Aries to remind her of how harsh she was to him. "I'm done for the day. Hmph!"
Just as Conan walked past Aries, the latter clumsily held his arm in panic. He arched a brow, glancing at her hand on his arm, and then up to meet her eyes.
"What?" he asked with an ugly frown.
"Handsome Uncle, you can't go there because —" The rest of Sunny's words were shoved back her throat when Aries suddenly covered her mouth.
"I can't go there because?" Conan's frown deepened, darting his eyes between Aries and Sunny. Aries had already let him go when he covered Sunny's mouth, standing behind the little girl while she smiled unnaturally. "Lady Aries, what were you hiding?"
"What am I hiding?" Aries feigned innocence, tilting her head to the side.
Conan narrowed his eyes once again, but then smacked his lips. "You look even more suspicious now, but never mind," he said, shrugging. "As if you listen to me."
Conan shook his head mildly, still disappointed and upset that Aries didn't even give him a chance to hear his side of the story. He knew she would still get angry either way, but she should've at least given him the chance.
Seeing that Conan turned on his heel to walk away, Aries's alarm bells rang in her head.
"Wait!" she called without thinking twice, stopping him just when he took a step forward. The latter looked back at her, frowning, getting even more peeved now. "We're going to have dinner. You should join us."
"No, thanks." Conan snorted. "I'd rather sleep than get bullied again."
"I didn't!" Aries breathed out in distress, but her desire to stop him from going to where his father was sleeping reigned in her heart. "I didn't bully you."
"What?"
"You went too far." Aries held Sunny behind her, raising her chin, standing toe to toe with him. "You're the one who bullied my husband and brother, and you're lucky you only got a piece of me."
"Hah!" Conan scoffed, facing her squarely. For a moment, he was rendered speechless and could only let out a dry laugh.
"Even if, let's say, Abel and my brother aren't entirely correct, you shouldn't have chained them where they get electrocuted," she continued with a huff, eyes glinting with anger. "They don't do that to you."
"Wow… they don't do that to me? How did you know they didn't?"
"I just know."
"No, you don't." Conan let out a low snarl. "You won't get angry if they were the ones who did that to me! Right… you were never my ally."
"Hah!" This time, Aries was in disbelief at his audacity to even speak about the alliance. "Sir Conan, let me remind you ?I stick around with you even when you shoved me inside the lion's cage multiple times in the past!"
"What? Are we talking about the past now? Lady Aries, allow me to also remind you I stopped His Majesty from slitting your throat multiple times in the past! If not for me, you would've died a long time ago!"
"You…!" Aries ground her teeth. Her face flashed in red, just like his face. Both their eyes glinted in anger, and before she could think rationally, Aries raised a hand and grabbed a portion of his hair.
"What did you say??" she barked, and Conan snorted. Just like her, Conan didn't hesitate to grab a portion of her hair, raising his chin to taunt her.
"What? You're the first to dig the archive. Why are you angry now?" He snorted, grinding his teeth angrily.
Sunny clutched her hand closer to her chest, taking a step back as the two barked at each other like cats and dogs. She darted her eyes between Aries and Conan, drawing her lips into a tight slash.
Aries and Conan were acting like children, arguing while holding each other's hair. They were just waiting for who would pull whose hair first before they actually fight.
'They look like Sunny and Sunny's big brother,' Sunny thought before frowning, hearing her stomach grumble. She rubbed her tummy and looked at the hallway. 'Sunny is hungry…'
Sunny had been roaming the imperial palace since coming to this place. Hence, she didn't hesitate to saunter off, following the mouthwatering aroma coming from the kitchen far away from the forbidden palace.
Aries was so busy arguing with Conan that both of them didn't notice Sunny already left to eat.
******
When Sunny reached the inner palace, she bumped into Roman. The latter stopped and gazed at the little girl, tilting his head to the side.
"Strong Uncle, are you looking for grandmama?" Sunny asked, blinking innocently.
"No, but the Marquess was." Roman furrowed his brows when Sunny pointed in a direction.
"Grandmama is there with Handsome Uncle. They were fighting," said Sunny, watching Roman glance in the hallway she pointed at. "Strong Uncle, I think both Handsome Uncle and Grandmama are in danger."
Roman's already knitted brows creased even more, but when he gazed down at Sunny once again, the little girl already walked past him. He pressed his lips into a thin line, wondering if he should help this little girl to where she was going or check Aries and Conan. In the end, Roman followed his instincts.
Sunny was a capable young girl; Roman knew that since the blood in him could tell, the little girl could snap his neck if she so pleased. Hence, he followed the direction where Sunny said Aries and Conan were.
Much to his dismay, upon reaching a certain quiet hallway, he heard angry voices echoing. When he turned into the hallway, he caught two figures fighting while holding each other's hair. Roman narrowed his eyes, recognizing Aries and then the person she was fighting, Conan.
"What…" Roman trailed off, watching Aries and Conan fight like children. "It doesn't… look life-threatening, though."
He watched the two and listened to their shouts before he decided to turn on his heel and saunter off. Roman pretended he wasn't here and saw nothing; it wasn't his problem.
As Roman walked away, a shallow breath slipped past his lips. He had imagined what sort of hell the imperial palace of the Haimirich Empire was. He had even considered the worst, telling himself beforehand to tread on thin ice and be ten times more careful than when he was back in the Maganti Empire.
However, what he had seen so far were… just too many ridiculous things. The emperor and the Marquess are chained so they work their asses off, everyone avoiding the emperor's chancery, and then now, Conan and Aries having a cat fight.
'What a strange place,' he thought, shaking his head, wondering if he arrived in the correct Haimirich Empire because this place wasn't what he expected in his head.
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