Obey me

The stomping of horses slowly approached the gate.

Remesis stood up and looked towards the approaching carriage from the window. The intricate sword and eagle pattern let it be known that this carriage belonged to the Duchy of Carter.

— It looks like my brothers and sister have returned. I should go and greet them.

As soon as the girl said that, a slight excitement was reflected on Seyla's face. No doubt, the maid had always been well aware of the strained relationship between the members of the ducal family. And now that tension was only going to be exacerbated. She was surprised that Remesis reacted so calmly. Though, though... Hadn't that child's heart always been cold?

Suppressing her slight confusion, Seila stood up and bowed to the lady who was about to meet her relatives downstairs. Since this was a private family moment, Seila had not volunteered to accompany her, and Remesis intended to go alone.

— Good luck to you ladies... — The maid only murmured excitedly to her last.

Remesis gave a faint chuckle at her words.

'I wonder which of us all will need luck the most?'

With that, Remesis made her way towards the front entrance of the Duchy.

She walked slowly and gracefully, causing those around her to turn around to follow her. The Duke's youngest daughter elegantly held the hem of her dress. In fact, she was in slight anticipation of this meeting.

Just in time, the carriage came to a complete stop in front of the front entrance as Remesis descended the marble staircase.

A servant was the first to hurry up and open the carriage door, whereupon the young gentlemen left the carriage in turn. Michel Carter, who was the first to leave the carriage, stopped as soon as he saw Remesis. The expression on his face froze.

She could see the Duke's successor's eyes harden and his cheeks begin to tremble with a strange nervousness that appeared.

— Greetings big brother, ' Remesis greeted him courteously.

Michel looked at her, saying nothing.

— I came home not too long ago.

— ...

— I complained that it would have been nice if you could have met me, but I'm even more glad that I was able to see you all today, ' the girl continued with a smile.

This situation was incredible. The long awaited reunion of the Duke's children was taking place in front of many witnesses, and they were all excited to see what was happening. When Katrina and Livius also left the carriage and stood next to each other, Remesis shifted her gaze to them. All four had matured and changed expectantly since their last meeting.

In her previous life, Remesis had not had the opportunity to meet her siblings when they were adults, so the scene that was happening now was indeed kind of unique.

From the immature teenager he had been at that time, Michel Carter was now a dignified noble lord. Katrina Carter, who had recently become a member of the Dehsin family, had grown into a graceful young lady. And Livius...

When a similar pair of topaz eyes met each other, Remesis looked at him silently, and the young man reciprocated. Neatly styled hair the colour of the dark night sky and a calm expression on his face. It seemed to Remesis that the same shy boy was in front of her, except that now Livius Carter was a head taller than her.

The duke's second son looked at her, trying his best to hide his joy.

'... Sister.'

The younger sister he met after a long time was very beautiful. She was dressed in a dark, not too flashy dress, and had a strangely hypnotising appearance.

His heart strangely hammered as Livius felt embarrassed by this encounter. He wondered, 'Why do I feel so strange? ' Was it all because it had been too long since they had seen each other?

Unlike the conflicting thoughts of the Duke's son that arose in his mind at this moment, Remesis was just glad that she was able to meet him. After all, it was for the sake of meeting her second brother that the girl had travelled all this way.

After exchanging glances with the young man, Remesis gave him a barely perceptible nod and then shifted her gaze to the Duke's successor who stood nearby.

Instead of responding to his sister's greeting, Michel, after hesitating, said to Remesis:

— What are you... doing here?

The intense tension still lingered on his face. In turn, Michel's half-sister, with whom they were so similar in appearance, stood behind him, with an expression on her face as if she had filled her mouth with water. Katrina also did not say a word of greeting to her.

Remesis gave them both a dazzling smile.

— The anniversary of our mother's death is very soon. I thought that as the daughter of this family, I should come home at such a time to honour her memory. There's nothing unnatural about that, is there? — those words came out of her mouth easily.

Fortunately, the two events happened to overlap. Thanks to the fact that it was the anniversary of the Grand Duchess' death, Remesis didn't have to strain her brain to come up with a suitable excuse for her unexpected return home. After all, it would indeed be strange that it was a child like Remesis who would express her desire to return to her paternal home.

— You... mean you really came back here just for that?

Michel's brown eyes twinkled as soon as he heard her explanation.

— I wanted to honour my mother's memory. Isn't that strange?

After saying those words, the guy frowned slightly. Unlike in the past, he was in no hurry to get into a conflict since, after all, they were all no longer children. In order to preserve his dignity as a high lord in front of people, Michel replied to her with restraint. Besides, one should not forget that the position of the Duke's youngest daughter was no longer the same as before.

Meanwhile, despite the cold and tense aura around her, Remesis continued to speak extremely carefree.

— ...And as I recall, my sister told me to come home to visit my family as soon as I had the chance, ' she smiled slyly, 'Unfortunately, I've been too busy all these years and couldn't carve out the time to come. But now I can finally do it. Isn't that wonderful?

Katrina flinched as soon as her name was mentioned by Remesis in the conversation. For some reason, she felt awkward, and especially when Michel looked at her disapprovingly at that moment.

— ...Yes, it really was.

After hesitating, she had to agree with her past words. A charmingly gorgeous smile flashed on Remesis' face once again. It seemed that she was the only one who still retained the ability to smile in this situation.

— I wanted to say that it was truly a pleasure to meet you.

'...'

It was the expression on Remesis' face that the Duke's children had never seen before. In their memories, the younger sister had always rather resembled a small adult and had never acted so directly.

It was shocking.

'What the hell?'

'Not the fake polite smile. And not that cold expression, indifferent to everything. So, what is she trying to show with that?'

While the Duke's older children were amazed at the apparent extraordinary change in their sister, and tried to unravel whatever secret intentions she might have had, none of them realised that it was actually a winning smile.

***

The staff of the estate, who were seeing the Duke's family almost in their entirety for the first time in a long time, were in a state of chaos. This event was truly extraordinary for this house.

— Oh, my goodness.

— The young gentlemen and ladies are really going to dine all together?

— This is so incredible that it takes my breath away.....

— Who knows what might happen at dinner?

The maids were gossiping, trying to whisper as quietly as possible, which was almost indistinguishable to the rest of the people, but Remesis, who had quite sharp hearing, heard it all.

She had not thought deeply about it until now. But this would indeed be the first time she was going to eat together with her siblings. There was a strangely exciting atmosphere between them, at least that's how it looked in the eyes of the staff.

— Have a seat, sister.

— Yes.

Since it was just about dinner time, they headed straight to the dining hall. When Remesis sat down in her seat, she saw a neatly folded napkin on the table. The mood was so strange.

'Am I really going to eat here?'

Remesis had often used the dining room of the northern castle. But she had never been to the ducal family's dining room before. Back when she had lived here as a child, the duke's youngest daughter had always eaten separately from the others, in her room. It was seen as something natural. As it was unacceptable for a cursed child like her to sit at the same table as the Duke's family.

In her past life, when Remesis had tried to eat with her family, she had faced scorn, as if she didn't deserve to be here. The cold eyes of the great duke were still in her memory. And in her second life, Remesis had not aspired to anything like that at all from the beginning and had been eating in her room on her own since she was very young.

Therefore, she never thought this moment would ever come.

Now Remesis sat at the long table in the duchy's dining room and took a seat that she could not even dream of in her previous life.

— I have ordered a lighter meal to be prepared today. It will be better for your body if you get motion sickness on the journey.

— I'm fine now. Thank you for your concern, big brother.

In the Duke's absence, Michel held the main position in the house, and accordingly, it was also his responsibility to receive the guests of the duchy in a dignified manner. Remesis, who was now a high-ranking princess of the north, was undoubtedly among the particularly honoured guests. And even if few of those present were thrilled about it, they still had to observe etiquette.

Remesis was increasingly pleased with the changes that had taken place since her return to this house.

The flavour of cherry jam spread thinly on small pieces of bread, hot onion soup and fish fillets covered in a sauce unknown to her were very tempting. Remesis felt even better and took a spoonful. As expected, the delicious food was the best.

It seemed that at this time, the girl was the only person in this dining hall who could eat so comfortably.

Katrina and Liana Daehsin, who had also joined them for a family dinner, and Michelle. The tension between them was obvious. Livius was calmly eating a seafood salad, and it seemed that he was also one of the few who had maintained a good appetite here.

After a while, the empty plates were carried away. It was the turn of flavoured tea and sumptuous desserts.

— Sister, I would like to know how long you intend to stay here? — Michel's subdued tone soon reached Remesis's ears shortly after the tea began.

Ah, that formal, polite tone that was completely out of character with their former interactions. A strange and awkward atmosphere. Remembering how this same boy had often bullied her as a child, Remesis looked at her older brother once more, and really noticed how he had changed.

Did time really change people that much? It must be true that people become very different as they got older. But anyway...

— I don't know yet. — The girl lowered her eyes to the cup, pretending to look at it, 'I still have business to attend to up north, but at least I'd like to be here until after my mother's wake. I apologise if my sudden arrival may have inconvenienced you, brother.

With an impassive expression, the duke's successor set the cup on the table and looked at her again.

— You have nothing to worry about. We are all here to honour mother's memory. After all... we are still family.

At those words, Michel Carter's voice faintly trembled.

'Family? Have you ever considered me your family?' — The ironic chuckle that Remesis managed to hide was the epitome of the entire absurdity of the conversation at that moment. So instead she said.

— Yes, you're right.

Remesis smiled innocently, as if she had no conflicting thoughts, and the tea party continued at a relaxed pace. Or rather, it could only seem that way from the outside. In fact, after a long time, the atmosphere was still as strange and unnatural as ever.

At one point, the princess of the north accidentally dropped the napkin that was on her lap. As Remesis leaned forward to pick it up and hand it to a servant, a small bundle suddenly caught her attention.

'What is it?'

Squinting her eyes, Remesis reached out to the wrapper. As it turned out, it was the same napkin that had been folded and carefully hidden under the leg of her chair so that other people wouldn't be able to find it so easily. It was this that eventually caught Remesis' attention.

When she carefully pulled it out and discreetly picked it up along with her napkin, she saw that there was something scribbled on the back of it.

It was a short note.

[Library. To-morrow at midnight.]

Remesis' hand holding the note trembled slightly.

She slowly raised her head and looked at the young man in front of her, who at this moment was also looking directly at her.