Chapter 252: Royal Siblings

Theo stepped back, his eyes widening with indignant bewilderment as he glared at the snowy-haired noblewoman who had just snatched his dignity.

"What younger brother?!" Theo sputtered, raising both hands to defend his personal space. "Who the hell even are you, lady?! You’ve got some nerve laying hands on—"

THWACK.

Seraphina didn’t bother using words. Her fist drove straight down onto his silver head with unforgiving crack of an angry older sibling settling a domestic dispute.

Theo yelped, immediately curling over and clutching his skull with both hands.

"Idiot," Seraphina hissed as she unclipped the earring, breaking her illusion to reveal her features.

The instant the illusion dissolved, Theo’s jaw completely dropped. The color evacuated his face. The fierce princess wilted into a cornered pet.

"S-Sera...?!"

"The very same," she purred, her tone dripping with promise.

Theo didn’t think; his survival instincts took total control of his limbs. He spun around and attempted to sprint toward the open gravel road.

"Where the hell do you think you’re going, mister?!"

Seraphina lunged forward, snagged the back of his pristine white mantle, yanked him backward off-balance, and snapped her slender arm around his neck in a chokehold.

"Ack Sera, please—!"

"You’re an overgrown idiot with low intellect!" Seraphina snarled, tightening the lock. "When on earth did you start dressing like a circus clown, butchering people in secret?! Do you have any idea what kind of mess you created?!"

She gave his neck a violent shake for emphasis.

"Because of your unannounced, brainless little crusade in the capital, my entire tactical strike on the brothel went up in flames! The teleportation circle scrambled, and Eren ended up dragged straight into the Rujgard!"

"I was... helping... Alice...!" Theo wheezed, his fingers frantically tapping her forearm in desperate surrender. "Couldn’t... let her... go alone..."

While the siblings engaged in the most undignified wrestling match in royal history, Aria walked over to Eren’s side.

Her eyes darted between the choked prince and the golden-haired girl standing awkwardly.

"Wait a moment," Aria murmured, crossing her arms, her brow arching in suspicious fascination. "If the masked clown who’s been riding with us in gloomy silence for an entire week is the Crown Prince of the Empire... then who on earth is the wounded girl he’s been weeping over?"

"Oh, come on, Miss Aria," Eren replied, his blue eyes gleaming with mischief. "Look closely at her. It’s the very same pious little dove you ruthlessly torment when you were still obsessed with Reinhardt."

Aria went dead still.

Her golden eyes dilated, snapping back toward the girl. Her mouth parted slightly, a rare flicker of mortification cutting clean through her aristocratic pride. "No... that’s impossible. She’s—"

Alice let out a heavy, bone-tired sigh that practically carried the weight of several lifetimes.

"Yes, Lady Reedings. It’s me," Alice muttered, removing the silver earring.

A collective, stunned hush smothered the barrier dome.

Cinon’s eyes bulged to pop out of his skull. Emma’s jaw went completely slack, her storm-grey eyes darting wildly between Eren, the prince getting choked, and the literal Saintess of the Empire standing in front of their carriage in a nightgown. Even Norelia froze.

Emma aggressively massaged her temples. "I cannot comprehend a single goddamn thing happening here," she groaned, her storm-grey eyes glazing over with sheer cognitive overload.

Beside her, Norelia solemnly nodded her head, her messy brown bangs flopping into her face. "I did not prepare myself for the Crown Prince wrestling his sister while the Holy Saintess goes around killing. This is above my pay grade."

"Alice?!"

Seraphina’s voice hit a pitch. She abruptly dropped Theo, letting the silver-haired prince collapse into the gravel with an unceremonious, wheezing heap, and walked to the golden-haired girl.

"Why in the hell are you teaming up with my half-witted little brother to incinerate my covert strike on Baron Kiliyan?!" Seraphina demanded, jabbing an accusing, leather-clad finger toward the Saintess.

Alice didn’t back down an inch. Even pale as a sheet and bound in bloody linen, the former regressor’s spine went rigid as tempered steel.

"Me?!" Alice retorted, crossing her uninjured arm over her ribs and sneering right back. "Your strike ruined my plan, Princess! If your squad hadn’t intervened, I would have extracted Baron in five minutes instead of surviving seven days in Rujgard!"

Theo scrambled up onto his knees, waving his palms frantically between the two women. "Wait—ladies, please, can we just lower our voices and—"

"Shut up, Theo!" Seraphina and Alice barked in absolute, harmonious unison.

Theo clamped his mouth shut.

Aria, meanwhile, pinched the bridge of her delicate nose, her golden eyes snapping toward Eren with simmering suspicion. "Darling... would you care to enlighten the class on what in the high hells is occurring here?"

Eren let out a long, theatrical sigh, idly scratching behind the ear of the purring shadow cub tucked in his elbow.

"Didn’t I mention a while back that there was a possibility of another lunatic wandering around who had read the future’s script?" Eren replied, flicking his blue gaze toward Alice. "Well, meet the other. Turns out Alice has a nasty habit of remembering things that haven’t technically happened yet."

Seraphina’s breath caught. Her aristocratic poise froze mid-breath, her red eyes darting from Eren’s deadpan smirk to Alice’s hardened expression.

"The anonymous letter at my door..." Seraphina whispered, pieces slamming together in her mind like iron gears. "The letter warning me to examine my mother’s tea..."

Theo raised a sheepish hand. "That was me. Alice warned me about the possibility of long plans for the Empress’s assassination."

Seraphina turned slowly toward Alice, the furious edge in her voice dropping into something raw, fragile, and piercingly intense. "You knew about the Empress’s assassination protocol?"

"Yes," Alice replied quietly, her amber eyes softening with grim memory.

Theo gave a firm, solemn nod. "We did."

Before the conversation could plunge into the suffocating depths of imperial conspiracies, Eren cleared his throat with a sharp, obnoxious rattle.

"Fascinating, everyone, truly gripping theater," Eren interrupted, stepping between the royal standoff with a dismissive wave.

"Goldy, how long will it take for you to heal completely?"

Alice tested her core with a quiet, inward breath, her brow furrowing. "If my divine channels stabilize without further exertion... four days. Maybe five to fully mend the tissue."

"Perfect," Eren said, snapping his fingers. He looked back at the huge guy. "Cinon, tell me you still have that instant visual capture artifact I handed you before the raid."

Cinon reached into a heavy leather pouch strapped across his broad chest plate, pulling out a compact, rectangular brass contraption fitted with crystal lenses.

"Safe, Young lord," Cinon said, handing it over.

Eren snatched the brass camera, twirled it casually in his grip, and lobbed it through the air.

Alice caught it awkwardly, blinking at the odd metal box. "What am I supposed to do with a portrait-box?"

"Simple," Eren grinned, pointing between her and the silver-haired prince. "You and Prince are not coming with us. You’re taking a pair of fresh mounts, packing a bag, and vanishing into the southern provinces for a lovely, romantic, seven-day vacation."

Theo’s jaw dropped. "A vacation?! In the middle of an imperial crisis?!"