"I thought you were with your friends. What happened?" St. Alice asked, looking at young Vikii with a puzzled expression on her face.
The young Vikii's name was St. Selena Vikii, though St. Alice referred to her as Selena. The shortening wasn't affectionate alone; both women disliked being addressed by their royal surname. The Vikii name for the two carried implications of death, lust, greed, and chaos,
but that's not all the name implied; Officially, however, the name meant something else entirely: wealth, power, and protection. These were the principles the Vikii dynasty had been built upon. Yet with each passing generation, the weight of the title seemed to lose its significance, its meaning eroding in subtle ways that only the royal family itself seemed to notice.
Despite this decay happening, the Vikii family showed no visible fractures, and internal disputes were resolved before they could escalate. Of course, St. Alice was always at the center of everything, doing everything she could to solve everything, including the fact that she was currently the oldest Vikii still residing in Fenn.
Most of the elder members of the family are in other nations, governing their own territories.
Currently, St. Selena was the fourth youngest Vikii residing in Fenn, with two older siblings and one younger than herself.
***
Meanwhile.
"Friends?" St. Selena echoed St. Alice's question. "Oh, you mean Vanessa and Nyx?"
Looking at Alice's brief nod, she continued, "Vanessa was summoned by Bernard, and Nyx just left. She said something about taking care of someone." Selena's expression remained unchanged as she spoke.
"Is that so?" Alice murmured, her gaze drifting past Selena for a brief moment. "Anyway, I was looking for that person I mentioned earlier. But as you can see, I'm still at a loss." She shrugged lightly.
Selena blinked and shifted her eyes to the man standing beside Alice, who returned her glance with a soft, measured smile.
"And who's this, then?" She asked.
"Oh, him," Alice said, pivoting slightly to face the man. "He said his name was Kevin. We just happened to cross paths while I was coming back from the kitchen."
Selena found it hard to believe that the two had merely 'crossed paths,' cause judging from the man's wear alone, she could tell that he came from the laundry room, and that place was strictly limited to the maids. No men were allowed in, due to reasons.
"Do you work for Bernard?" She directed her question to the man, and Alice followed with surprise in her eyes.
"Yes... and no, Sir Bernard hired me for today only, and after the party is over, I'll be out of here like you all."
"So you don't work for Bernard, yet you claim he'd hired you for the party?" Selena said, tilting her head slightly to the right. "From what I can tell, you're clearly not nobility. Why would Bernard hire a commoner?"
Suddenly, St. Alice caught Selena by the shoulder, halting her before she could continue confronting the man.
"Do you mind if I steal you for a moment?" Alice asked, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
A moment later, both Vikii's were talking quietly a short distance from the man who was clearly Kevin. Meanwhile, the lingering stares from the noblewoman grew more obvious, making most of them lose their focus on the party ahead and focus more on Kevin, who clearly wasn't interested in any of them.
Kevin shifted his gaze back to them, then smiled.
What a pain. Why are all the ladies looking at me like that? Kevin wondered, keeping the smile a moment longer and looking at the mansion entrance.
If what that lady said about my sister going somewhere is true, then she must have gone outside or to the bathroom to let out some steam. If that's the case, then Melissa will have to wait for me a little longer.
He took a small step backwards, swiveling and slipping away from the two Vikii's, and then a moment later blended into the crowd of noble men gathered to the other half of the main hall.
The nobles had naturally split into two groups: the men on the right side of the grand hall, chatting among themselves about whatever topics came to mind, and the women on the left. Standing in the middle of the hall were Alice and Selena.
If the Vikii's tried to look for him, they would have no idea where to check first, since they were standing in the middle.
Some moments later, it seemed his assessment was correct, because the moment St. Alice and St. Selena finished talking, they were surprised to see that Kevin was no longer there.
***
Minutes later, Kevin was rushing through the corridors, heading toward the upper floors of the mansion again.
If it happens, my sister isn't in the bathroom, but outside, then I'll just have to take a shortcut at the nearest window.
He run passed a maids who got freaked out after seeing him approach her at the speed he was moving, that she fell to her knees, but Kevin leapt over her, he didn't have time to stop or slow down, at the moment, the only clues to his sister's whereabouts were the bathroom and outside, and he couldn't risk missing her again.
"Sorry!" He said aloud, continuing to dash without pause.
Soon, he reached the bathroom, but luckily, he found nothing. So, he went on to find the nearest window he could find.
There were several windows lined up on the third floor that led directly to the streets below, but as he checked every single one of them, they were all pretty high, and most of them were sealed shut, making it harder for him to even open them.
At last, he found a window that was already ajar somehow. Even so, after stepping on its threshold and looking down, he was perched pretty high, but after observing the ground for a moment, he shifted his gaze and looked at a man below being stabbed to death by a black vehicle, and after carefully looking at who was stabbing the man, he realized that it was his little sister, Nyx.