I Became The Extra King With Seven Wives

Chapter 105: Asthenia’s Thoughts [2]

After a pleasant dinner with my mother and sister, I finished my meal rather quickly. Exhaustion was finally catching up to me, and I was eager to excuse myself and get some much-needed sleep.

However, before I could make it far down the corridor, Lenora’s footsteps echoed behind me as she hurried to catch up.

"What is it, sister?" I asked, continuing my walk down the hallway.

"Did you see Cynthia?" She asked.

"Cynthia? No," I replied, letting out a sigh. "In fact, it seems she is actively avoiding me. She did not even offer a simple ’welcome back.’ When I received a warmer reception from Ravenna of all people, I must admit, I was left quite disappointed."

In response, Lenora reached out and tried to pinch my side in retaliation.

"Ugh... usually there would be plenty of soft flesh here to grab, but now you are as hard as stone," she grumbled, her fingers failing to find any fat to pinch against my newly hardened physique.

What a truly wonderful, supportive sister I had.

"Shouldn’t you be happy about my improved health, you foolish sister?" I asked, swatting her hand away lightly.

"The old, fat Lumiel would have definitely spoken to Cynthia by now," she argued, crossing her arms. "After the way your last conversation with her ended—"

"Do you want me to beg, Lenora?" I asked, coming to a halt and glancing down at her. "I may have a few gaps in my recent memory, but I am fairly certain that she was the one at fault." I tapped a finger against my temple to emphasize my point.

Lenora immediately reached out and grasped my arm, forcing me to fully face her. She fixed me with an unusually serious gaze.

"You can act like this with other people, but this is Cynthia, big brother," she said, a bit upset.

"Did Cynthia ask you to play the intermediary to force a reconciliation between us?" I asked, my voice cooling slightly.

"O—Of course not!" She stammered defensively.

"Good. Because if she had, I would have been disappointed in her," I replied, turning my back to resume my walk toward my chambers.

"Brother!" Lenora called out, her shout echoing down the corridor.

I paused, speaking over my shoulder. "If Cynthia has something she wishes to say to me, I will always be available to listen."

"You do not have to be so bitter about it, brother," she said, her voice softening. "What, do you resent her just because she does not love you back?"

I let out a long, weary sigh and slowly turned back around to face her.

"Who exactly do you take me for, Nora?"

"Then you do not need to be this cold toward her," she insisted, her arms crossed tight against her chest. "Do you hate her simply because she lied to you that one time?"

"Of course not," I answered softly, a small curling on my lips. "I love Cynthia. I love her both as family and as a woman. And it is precisely because I care for her so deeply that I am so upset she refuses to be honest with me."

Lenora’s posture finally broke, and she let out a defeated sigh. "You have certainly become terribly brazen since your awakening, big brother. Speaking such things without an ounce of shame."

"I am immune to shame," I replied, turning around for the final time.

"Yes, well... we all know that," she chuckled.

I merely smiled to myself as I continued my walk back to my quarters.

While I understood perfectly well that a serious discussion with Cynthia was inevitable, I had no desire to force her hand, nor did I want to appear as some desperate, clinging fool. Besides, my mind was already occupied with far more dangerous matters. With an assassination plot looming over my head, there was simply no need to add further complications to my plate just yet.

Heading back to my quarters, I encountered Sienna in the corridor, in conversation with a few of her knights.

Such a serious and hardworking woman. She was truly deserving of love.

"Sienna," I called out to her.

"Your Majesty." She immediately broke off her conversation and turned to face me, standing at attention.

"I will be heading to my quarters to take a long sleep. I would greatly appreciate it if you could post your most trustworthy guards outside my door," I said.

"At once, Your Majesty," she replied with a nod, respectfully placing a hand over her heart.

That brief assurance was all I needed.

I had ordered Leilah to take a well-deserved rest, meaning there would be no personal shadow stationed in my room to watch over me while I slept. Given that the impending assassination attempt by the Black Sun could strike at almost any moment from here on out, it was safe to say I remained quite on edge.

I doubted they would make their move tonight, of course, but one could never be too careful.

Nevertheless, finding some peace of mind in the knowledge that I would not be sleeping unprotected, I stepped into my chambers and shut the door behind me. I shed my travel-worn coat and unbuckled the belt holding Hyperion, carefully setting the weapon aside. After placing my crown upon the desk and kicking off my boots, I collapsed onto the plush mattress and let my eyelids fall shut.

Starting tomorrow, I will have to be really careful.

In truth, that vigilance needed to begin right now. But Helios above, I just wanted to surrender to a deep, undisturbed sleep. I was bone-exhausted.

◊◊◊

Meanwhile, in the quietness of her own quarters, Asthenia sat at her desk, carefully reading a letter that had just arrived from her father, Duke Solaris.

He had completely ignored her recent correspondence, and while this missive was technically a reply, it did not actually answer a single one of her pressing questions or demands. She did not find this entirely surprising; her father was, in many ways, just a more formidable, older version of herself, but she still found it odd just how distant and dismissive he had been over the past week.

It was highly uncharacteristic of him. Asthenia knew perfectly well that her father trusted her judgment and held her in the highest regard. Why, then, the sudden wall of silence, followed only by this abrupt demand?

Asthenia narrowed her yellow eyes at the message. The message was brief, essentially commanding her to depart for Luminar by tomorrow morning. Luminar’s gates did not officially open for another two weeks, meaning she still had an abundance of time to prepare herself.

Of course, the concept itself was not entirely shocking. There were always overly ambitious parents who sent their children weeks, or even a full month, in advance so they could acclimate to the prestigious city. Yet, given her father’s usual pragmatism, the sudden urgency felt distinctly strange from Asthenia’s point of view.

’He ignores me completely, only to suddenly order me away to Luminar? ’

She continued to stare intently at the neat ink strokes.

’Could this somehow be his doing?’

She pondered for a moment, thinking whether Lumiel was involved or not.

The thought seemed almost absurd. Her father was currently so occupied with protecting and reinforcing the southern borders of Kastoria that he had not even found the time to travel to the capital for Lumiel’s coronation. It would be highly irregular for the two men to have established any sort of private correspondence.

Moreover, Duke Solaris was not a man who obeyed blindly or foolishly. He was loyal to Kastoria and, naturally, to the Crown, but that was precisely why he would insist on evaluating the new King face-to-face before deciding whether or not to place his trust in him. Therefore, it was unlikely that Lumiel had orchestrated this.

’And even if it were his doing, why would he wish to send me away so soon?’

Now that she considered the matter more carefully, Morgana had also been sent to Luminar unusually early, had she not?

Arges, had sent her packing the very next day after she had been ruthlessly humbled by Lumiel.

When Asthenia had first heard the news, she had not been particularly surprised. If anything, she had always believed that Morgana possessed neither the sharp intellect nor the disciplined temperament required to step into the royal courts of Helios Castle. The girl was simply far too immature and hopelessly self-centered to walk those halls.

At the time, Asthenia had merely appreciated that Arges possessed at the very least some understanding and shame to remove his daughter swiftly, thereby sparing both him and her any further public embarrassment.

Yet, regardless of Morgana’s glaring flaws, it was still strange for a man like Arges, who loved his daughter that much, just to send her away quite this early, without even letting her heal properly, both mental and physical wounds.

Could that also have been Lumiel’s doing? Asthenia wondered for a fleeting moment, her brow furrowing slightly.

No, surely she was just overthinking the matter, drawing invisible connections where none existed. And even if it were the Lumiel’s doing, why? What possible reason could Lumiel have to quietly orchestrate their sudden departures?

"...."

She stared at the letter a moment longer, turning the puzzle over in her mind, but she could not quite deduce a satisfying answer. Regardless of the underlying mystery, she had no intention of disobeying her father’s direct orders.

"Prepare a carriage and pack my belongings for tomorrow morning," she ordered her waiting maid, who offered a swift, obedient nod. "We are leaving for Luminar."