"You've been quiet. What's on your mind, honey?"
Eunbin looked at the vase of violet tulips on her nightstand next to her bed with a genuine smile that would've made anyone else who hadn't seen her this way faint on the spot. She had brought the flowers back here after her birthday and kept them ever since. It wasn't the first time someone had given her flowers; she always threw them away because they had no true meaning behind them. Over the years, people made shallow attempts in hopes of gaining her good graces; they still did to this day.
She threw them away not only because of that, but also because they never bothered to ask Eunbin herself, or any of her sisters, what flowers she liked before getting them. Not once had anyone bothered to get to know Song Eunbin; instead, they were only focused on the persona she had built up over the years that was the flirtatious, seductive, and aloof Beastmaster.
People never tried to peel back the layers and see the real her. Yes, she knew it was likely out of fear that Eunbin would make them her thralls if they offended her in any way, and they weren't wrong, as she had done it before, so she wasn't free of guilt. But they were not free of guilt either, as she knew that even if they did try it, it was only because of what they saw on the surface: her beauty that turned heads, her body that incited sin wherever she walked, her wealth, her fame.
But then someone came along, and now, this was the first time she had bothered to keep any flowers given to her, and that was because of the person who gave them to her. Someone who had unexpectedly become close to her over the past few months, someone who had seen her vulnerable, seen her cry over her parents being alive, a very ugly cry at that, hadn't judged her on it.
Someone who wanted to get to know Eunbin just because he wanted to and who would've thought that it started when she first walked into his emporium.
Turning to her dad, Eunbin's smile dimmed as she placed a blue card down.
"I miss Sunny."
Jade, who held her cards close to her chest, smiled sweetly at her.
"He's only been gone for three days, and you already miss him? Now what exactly have you two been doing to make you miss him that much? Hmm, let's see, there's definitely a joke in here somewhere. Oh! I got one! Ow!"
Jade yelped as her head suddenly lurched forward, sending her cards flying out of her hand. Snapping her head to her right, she sent a glare at their gloomy sister who sat beside the jesting woman.
Silence ignored the stare and spoke.
"You've been saying that for the past three days, Bin. Give it a rest. Jade, quit being a pervert; her father is here, and wipe that grin off your face. If I wanted to hear awful jokes every five minutes, I would just go see that old man in Bastion like we did when we were friends with Morgan as kids."
Jade scoffed as she picked the cards back up.
"Fine, whatever. No one likes my jokes anymore anyway. Maybe I'll go to Bastion myself; that way, at least I know a particular someone there would appreciate my sense of humor, unlike you. You asshole."
Seishan, who sat beside Jade, halfheartedly glared at their gloomy sister.
"Be nice, silence. I think it's cute you miss him so much, Bin and I like your jokes, Jade."
"Thank you, Shan."
"You know, Jade, she's only saying that to make you feel better."
"How about you live up to your true name for once and be silent, Silence!"
Hel, who was sitting on the edge of the bed while absentmindedly braiding Rhapsody's hair, who sat in a chair in front of their diviner sister, sighed dreamily and moved her hand from Rhapsody's hair to her own head and twirled a lock of her brown hair with a sweet smile.
"Don't worry, Bin, I miss him too. I miss those onyx eyes of his, that smile of his. Good gods, I think I'm falling for him~. Bin, let me have one of his bodies."
Eunbin frowned at the thought of him being with someone else, let alone one of her sisters, and shook her head.
"No."
Hel's smile immediately crumbled on her delicate face and formed into an outraged expression.
"What?! Why not?!"
"Because I said so."
Revel, who was sprawled across Eunbin's bed in a pair of sweatpants and a black tank top, rolled her eyes as she turned a page of one of her romantic novels.
"Because they're dating, that's why; they've been together since they had that dinner on her birthday three weeks ago. Keep up, Hel. Wait, is he even aware that you two are dating now, Bin?"
Surprising. Silence shook her head.
"I doubt it; the guy's head is thicker than a great nightmare creature's skin. He wasn't even aware Bin had been developing feelings for him. So how in the world would he know that they're dating?"
Eunbin couldn't help but let out a chuckle as she placed a card down and looked at her sister, who was absentmindedly humming a tune with a light smile on her face.
"Your turn, Rhaps."
The younger woman looked at her cards, then at Silence, her expression turning devilish before breaking into a bright smile that made her sister frown deeply.
"Don't you dare."
Rhapsody smiled at her as she placed a green skip card.
"Don't look at me like that, Silent; there's no need to get violent!"
"There is when it's the third time you've skipped me. I haven't been able to place a card down in five minutes because of you. What's the point in playing if I can't even get a goddamn turn?"
Veil, who was sitting next to Bin, put her cards in her left hand and cupped her ear with her right with a feigned strained expression as she pretended to listen intently to something.
"Oh? What's that? Do you hear that, sisters?"
Seishan nodded with a smile.
"Yes, I hear it. Do you, Bin?"
Bin nodded as well.
"Yes, I hear it, Shan. Do you, Jade?"
Jade nodded with a grin.
"Yup, I hear it loud and clear."
Silence gave them all a confused look.
"Hear what?"
"Someone's being a whiner."
"I'm not whining. Rhaps is clearly cheating; she didn't shuffle the cards right and gave herself all the good cards."
Rhapsody scoffed.
"You're all talk; how can you say that when you watched me like a hawk?"
"Well, you didn't shuffle them right, you cheater. That's why I told you to let me shuffle them. You always give yourself good cards."
Jade waved her away dismissively.
"Oh, quit being a sore loser. You always find something to blame whenever you're losing in any games we play."
Eunbin sighed at the arguing and looked at her sister, who was on the bed.
"To answer your question, Rev, we're not dating at all. Yes, we've definitely gotten close over the months, but our relationship status hasn't changed. It probably won't for a long while, and that's fine with me; I don't want to mess this up or scare him away by rushing anything."
Revel nodded.
"I don't enjoy reading a rushed romance in any book or just a bad romance in general, and I especially hate the falling in love at first sight trope. Or the trope where only one person seems to be putting in all the work in the relationship while their partner barely reacts. Or the one where the partner doesn't show any affection or emotion towards their lover in public or behind closed doors. Or the one where the boyfriend or girlfriend will do whatever their partner says at a whim as if they have no self-respect for themselves. So take it as slow as you want to, I've been rooting for hi- I mean, I've been waiting for him to start bringing me free food."
Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her, making Revel's cheeks tint in embarrassment before she glared at them.
"What are you all looking at? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is. I get where you're coming from, Bin."
Hel suddenly pointed a finger at Bin with a wide smile.
"Aha! So you can't say no to me having him when you're not even dating him! I only want one of his bodies, not two, not three, not even four! One, just one! Be a dear sister to me and help me out.
"No."
"You can't be serious! This is outrageous; it's unfair! Mr. Kain, please tell your daughter to stop being so possessive about a man she's not even dating!"
Her father turned to face her.
"Eunbin-"
"No."
Her dad shrugged helplessly with a sheepish smile at Hel.
"I tried. Your turn, kid."
Hel pouted and threw a red card down from her set of cards she had set beside her on the bed.
"So selfish! You're stopping him from being with his true love. He and I will run his Emporium together, and then later on down the line we can have seven beautiful children, no, eight! We can get to know each other, and he can find out that I'm more than a pretty face. Maybe whenever the author finishes this fanfiction, he can write a fanfic similar to this one where I'm the female lead instead of Bin; that way, I can finally get some character depth! Yes, it would be perfect. Good things come to those who wait, and I'm willing to wait a long time, no matter how long it takes to finish this."
Silence gave her a rare, genuinely concerned expression and slowly nodded.
"Right, sure, try to get some sleep after we finish this game, Hel. You need it. Anyway, you can have any man in this kingdom; find someone else. You said you wanted before Sunless showed up, so why not go for the handsome songbird again?"
"I don't want one or the other; I want both of them!"
"Now who's the selfish one?"
Hel threw her hands in the air with Rhapsody's hair in her grasp, making the young woman beneath her glare harshly in pain as her hair was yanked.
"Sister! Be aware of my hair, or I will make sure that you feel despair!"
"Sorry!"
"You will be. You'll see."
Eunbin decided not to comment on the slip-up Revel made for now, but she would definitely save it for later as ammo whenever she wanted her sister to do something for her.
"How can he do that when he doesn't even know where you sleep?"
Revel shrugged and flipped a page before looking at her over the top of her book.
"I was going to have you tell him. What makes you want to be so careful about this anyway? It's unlike you to take a man so seriously."
"Because he is the first man I've ever taken seriously, especially in this manner; this isn't a fling or anything like that. I don't want to mess up by pouncing on him like an animal. He's also the first and only man Mother has approved of throughout the years. Mother and you all chased and scared off every single man I've shown any slight interest in, and I can count on one hand how many men have managed to catch my attention throughout my lifetime.
Silence, who Rhaspody had once again skipped, gave a mean glare to the young woman before facing Eunbin.
"Because we knew exactly what those men were after, and so did Mother. They only wanted your beauty, your body, your status, and your wealth. All they wanted was to have your body and get bragging rights to say that they bedded the infamous Beastmaster and then ditch you right after. And if any of them tried to do that to you, to any of my sisters…. Gods help them."
Her Dad spoke up after being silent for the longest time, took his turn, and placed a card down.
"Is that why you don't like Sunny? Because you think that's what he wants from Eunbin? If so, I'd have to disagree. I can get a read on people in just one encounter, and I can tell you now that he's not after any of those things from her. He's a good kid who clearly cared enough to go with Eunbin and support her to go to our house when she still thought Jess and I were dead. All in all, I approve of him. Besides, Jess would know if he had any ill intentions for Bin. It's her dormant ability to sense the intention of someone regardless of what it is, though it doesn't make her a lie detector like that flying kid I've seen around Ravenheart. I've talked to him a few times over the past three weeks we've been here."
Silence glanced at him and finally placed a card down after being skipped over five times.
"To be honest, I actually trust him in that regard. If Bin or any of my sisters are happy, then I'm happy."
Howl raised an eyebrow.
"You get happy?"
Tossing a card at Howl's face, she shifted on the floor to fully face him.
"Shut up. Anyway, It's not that I don't like him, even if he is dense and has terrible naming sense; it's just that I still don't trust him much. Well, then again, I don't trust anyone that much to begin with, not ever since…. never mind, what I'm trying to say is that it was never personal with him. But he did help save Veil when we encountered the skinwalker around a month ago, so I'll give him that, and he makes almost divine waffles and pancakes, and the bow I commissioned from him has been outstanding over these past few weeks."
Her father looked at her with an interested and surprised expression at the praise coming from their usually pessimistic sister.
"Oh? What can it do?"
"It can shoot arrows without so much as a creak when I draw the bow, nor does it whistle when I release them. And not only that, it complements my ascended ability, which completely covers my presence by having an enchantment that makes me completely invisible as long as I'm still for a few moments. And there's the second enchantment that's the same as in Bin's memory. The one where the wielder's footsteps make no sound whatsoever. It's no wonder he named it 'The Bow of Silence.' If any of you tell him I said so, I'll kill you. I'm looking at you, Jade."
Jade smiled silently and put a finger to her chin and tapped it with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"You know, Silence, now that I think about it, he's made two memories that have the word silence in them. The memory that Bin always wears, 'The Silent Treatment,' and the one you commissioned, 'The Bow of Silence. If I had a coin for every time he made and named a memory that has to do with being silent, I would have two coins, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice."
Eunbin gave a strange look at her wise-cracking sister and couldn't help but find herself silently agreeing with her. But it was soon replaced with a smile at Silence's statement as Eunbin was glad to see that she was warming up to Sunny, even if she didn't outright admit it.
"Well, I'm glad you're warming up to him. Now, can we change the subject and stop talking about my personal life?"
They all looked at her and shook their heads.
"No."
"Gods above."
Jade suddenly smiled and leaned forward.
"Hey Kain, you wanna hear a joke?"
"Please say no."
Her father laughed.
"Why? I love Jade's jokes; they're my favorite passing time. Though I have to ask, kid, is Comedic Timing really your true name?"
Jade frowned deeply and scoffed as she placed a red five down.
"Unfortunately, yes, it is. The spell has a twisted sense of humor that I used to find amusing, but now it's not so funny anymore. Pun intended. Anyway, what did the fish say when it swam into a wall?"
"I don't know, what did it say?"
"Dam, Ha! Dam. You get it?"
Her dad and Asterion stared at each other for a moment before they both burst out laughing.
Groans resounded around her room, and Eunbin prayed to the dead gods that Jade and Saint Jest didn't encounter each other whenever the war started or in general. She wouldn't be able to handle there being two of them.
"That wasn't even funny."
"Yeah, it was; you girls just don't have a sense of humor. Lighten up a little! After all, laughter is the best cure, or is it medicine? Oh well, same thing."
"No, it's not."
"Hush."
"Are you sure you're not related to old man Jest?"
"Huh? I'm positive-no wait, you actually might be onto something, Cinnabinbon!"
Her father raised an eyebrow.
"You don't say? Are we sure your flaw isn't that you always have to make jokes?"
Jade looked genuinely shocked.
"Whoa, it… it is. I'm forced to make jokes all the time, and when I do, I have to laugh at them no matter what. It's so terrible that it's funny. But never mind that, how did you figure that out after being here for only three weeks? What gave it away? Was I too obvious? Are you stalking me? Or are you just a genius?"
Eunbin and everyone else in the room stared at her with various expressions, clearly wondering if she was being sarcastic or genuinely serious.
"It was a lucky guess, kid. Your turn, Seishan."
Nodding and placing a draw-four card, Seishan ignored the cry of outrage that came from Jade, who was close to winning, and looked at her sisters.
"Now, onto more important matters. The skinwalker has become more bold over the past three days."
Veil grimaced.
"Should we be surprised? Mordret has gone off somewhere, and the creature is terrifyingly smart; it can speak our language, mimic our mannerisms, and the micro-movements we do unconsciously. It can even use weapons now. So, of course, it would notice the absence of the only person who's been keeping it at bay. That is why Mother has awakened guards at the entrances and patrols with buddy systems; she's likely going to tell us to have Sunless make memories for our ascended sisters, so they have a more reliable way to detect corruption whenever he gets back."
Revel, who had stopped reading her book and was sitting up in Eunbin's bed, spoke up.
"Have the Nightwalkers come to a decision yet? Has Saint Bloodwave said anything?"
Veil shook her head.
"No, they're still trying to be neutral in this upcoming war."
Seishan sighed.
"Well, they still have two years, but the sooner they decide to join us, the better it will be for them in the long run. Otherwise, Mother might be forced to take drastic measures to push them into a position where they are forced to make a choice, and I doubt she wants to do that."
A soft-spoken voice spoke from behind them, making her father, Bin, Rhaps, Jade, and Veil flinch in surprise.
"You would be correct, Shan. I don't want to, not if I don't have to."
"Mother, what are you doing here?"
Mother stood in the doorframe in her real body, and next to her was a woman in a form-fitting dress who looked strikingly identical to Eunbin, except for a few strands of gray hair.
"I was showing Jessandra around the palace."
"Speaking of the palace, Your Highness, is it true that this castle was originally named the Jade Palace?"
"The entire citadel was called the Jade Palace, but yes, it was named that by the daemon of dread, Ariel."
"How did it come to be named Ravenheart?"
Mother smiled softly.
"I named it after my late mother; her true name was Ravenheart."
Her mom's eyes widened.
"I'm sorry your highness, I didn't mean to overstep into personal territory.
Mother waved her concern away with the flick of her wrist.
"It is nothing. I like to have an excuse to talk about her, and please, call me Ki Song; you don't need to be formal; you are Eunbin's parents, so you are no stranger to me, nor is your husband. I would have you call me by my title if things were different; if you willingly abandoned Eunbin as a child, but you didn't. Not unlike some of my other daughters' biological parents did. You should know that I will not be offended if you do not kneel; you don't need to do so, but I will not stop you if you choose to do so."
Her father wiped off his brow with a feigned tired look.
"Whew. Good, I was getting tired of that anyway; my knees are bad at my old age.
What?"
He asked, responding to her mom's look, and got an eyeroll in return.
"Please excuse him."
Mother nodded at her with a soft smile on her beautiful face and a quiet voice.
"I enjoy his humor as I do Jade's. We need more of that around here; this weather is already gloomy enough. As for the Nightwalkers' decision, three of you will go to their citadel and attempt to convince them to join our side. But your main objective of going there is to make sure the skinwalker has taken none of them; you can decide amongst yourselves which of you will go. Veil, you were correct in assuming that I would have one of you ask Sunless to make memories, a more reliable method of detecting corruption, as it will likely find a way to bypass the flower method. Eunbin, I assume that you will be the one asking, Sunless, considering that he is your boyfriend now."
Eunbin didn't even bother denying it anymore; there was no point.
"Yes, Mother. You are correct, I will be the one doing it."
"Good. Know that when you go there, I forbid any of you to use violence, intimidation, or your aspects on them; you will be in their territory, so treat them with respect. Saint Bloodwave is a stoic, reserved man, and Saint Naeve has a wife and child. So they will not be swayed by any seduction methods you usually use. You have two weeks to decide who goes and how you will go about it."
Eunbin nodded, ideas already running through her mind at how she could convince them without using her powers on them.
"Yes, mother."
Jade seemed to ignore everything else she said and smiled proudly at what mattered the most to her.
"You hear that, Silence? She enjoys my humor."
"Really? That's all you heard? Did everything else she said just go through one ear and out the other?"
Walking inside, Mother closed the door behind her and took a seat in a spare chair while her mom sat down beside her father.
"I've always enjoyed your humor; I thought you knew that."
"I did; I just wanted Silence to hear it. Thanks, mama bear!"
Mother smiled at her.
"You're welcome, Asterion."