Adelasta didn't take me to any of the more obvious places someone would go if they wanted to drink. Instead, she led me deeper into past rooms that were rarely used.
She stopped in front of a simple door—far less ornate than the others—and pushed it open without ceremony. I stepped inside and blinked.
It was a bedroom but not one fit for a Grand Duchess. The furniture was smaller. The decorations were simpler and the walls still held faint childish carvings, little weapon shapes and clumsy stabbing attempts that had clearly been made by someone still learning how to control their weapon.
"This was your room?"
"My old one," Adela said, already walking toward the bed. "I stayed here as a child."
That made sense. She used to visit Richinaria to escape her family's… less-than-loving environment. Her father always ensured she had a place to stay within the palace.
She knelt beside the bed and reached underneath it, pulling out a huge treasure box. It was carved from black wood and reinforced with bindings etched in protective runes. It looked far older than the rest of the room.
She drew her dagger without hesitation.
Before I could ask what she was doing, she dragged the blade across her palm. Blood dripped onto the lid of the box. The runes etched into the wood flared to life, drinking in the blood before her wound sealed shut from her Body Reconstruction.
The lock clicked open with a soft, sound. Adelasta lifted the lid.
Inside were several black glass bottles. Their surfaces were frosted slightly by the intricate Cold Runes carved into them. A thin layer of frost clung to their necks, keeping the contents perfectly preserved.
"That's not normal alcohol."
"Of course not."
She picked up one of the bottles, turning it in her hand. The black glass reminded me uncomfortably of the cube that had trapped everyone earlier.
"Since I lived through hell as a child, I became an alcoholic."
"You're just going to drop that like it's a normal conversation starter?"
She shrugged, but there was a stiffness to the motion.
"My brothers tried killing me more times than I can count and my mother hated me enough to make sure every day was miserable. Richinaria was the only place where I could breathe without constantly watching my back."
Her fingers brushed over the bottle's surface as she spoke and for a moment, her usual composure cracked just slightly, revealing the tired girl she used to be.
"My father stayed in the palace most of the time. So when I escaped to Richinaria from time to time to train with Darling in the morning, I found out about this from the servants."
She held up the bottle for me to see.
"It's made by Dynasty Fedres. It's completely illegal and highly addictive. For mortals, a few drinks can make them extremely drunk. Higher doses can kill them."
She popped the seal with a small twist. A sharp, sweet scent filled the room instantly. It was stronger and more potent than any wine I've ever smelled.
"For Divine beings, it just makes us… drunk."
She tilted her head back and took a long gulp. I watched her throat move as she swallowed before she exhaled slowly.
"I used to drink this every time my brothers and mother tortured me. I think it was when I was ten?"
The casual way she said it made me worried.
"It alleviated the pain both physical and mental. It dulled everything just enough for me to survive another day."
She reached into the box again and pulled out a second bottle, holding it out toward me.
"When I became Duchess of Richinaria, it became easier to smuggle them in. I handle most of the Dynasty's economic routes so slipping a few crates past inspections wasn't exactly difficult."
I hesitated, staring at the bottle in her hand.
"It's been a while since I last drank but… I think this is a good occasion."
I took the bottle from her. The cold glass sending a chill through my fingers.
"Does Darling knows about this?"
"No. I'm good at hiding things. You seem to forget I'm an assassin. Concealment is literally part of my job description."
That… was unfortunately true, even though I don't understand how being an assassin involved hiding this. I twisted the seal open. It smelled strong enough to intoxicate my senses.
"If I die, I'm haunting you."
She actually laughed at that. It was a genuine sound that I haven't heard from her all day.
I took a cautious sip.
The moment the liquid touched my tongue, it burned. I swallowed reflexively and the sensation spread down my throat and into my chest, My vision tilted slightly.
"Whoa…"
I grabbed the edge of the bed to steady myself as the room seemed to sway.
"For a first-timer, it must be hard."
My balance returned after a few seconds, though my head still felt pleasantly light. times.
"Okay, that's… stronger than I expected."
She lifted her bottle again and, without hesitation, gulped down nearly the entire thing in one go.
"You're going to kill your organs."
She rolled her eyes, "Our organs don't work in the mortal sense, Phaenora."
"Still feels wrong."
We ended up sitting on the floor with our backs against the bed and the open treasure box between us. For a while, we just drank in silence as the strange, potent alcohol warmed my body.
"So, about what happened earlier…"
Her expression changed but she didn't stop drinking.
"Leones should have reported the native immediately. I should have double-checked her decision. You should have scanned him properly. And Veneri was forced to clean up the mess."
"Yeah. He looked so… disappointed."
"He always does when it comes to Richinaria. This Dynasty is his responsibility. It's the one thing he never treats lightly."
"He said he's punishing me by not letting me help. That hurt more than the Divine Presence."
"Hey, he's doing that because he knows helping him is how you express your affection. Taking that away is the most effective way to make you reflect."
"That's… emotionally manipulative."
"It's effective. It's the same for me too you know."
We both fell quiet again.
"You really hid this from him all these years?" I asked after a while, gesturing to the bottles.
"He never asked and I never volunteered the information. As long as it didn't interfere with my duties, it wasn't his concern."
I leaned my head back against the bed and stared at the ceiling.
"You know, if he finds out, he's going to give us another lecture."
"Then we simply make sure he doesn't find out."
"You're a terrible influence."
"And yet you followed me here," she said, raising her bottle in a small mock toast.
I clinked mine against hers with a soft laugh.
"Yeah, I guess I did."
°°°°°°
The next few hours were… a blur. That was the only way I could describe it.
One moment we were sitting on the floor, casually sipping from black glass bottles and talking about childhood trauma and assassination techniques like it was a normal bonding session, and the next moment everything had turned hazy and soft around the edges. The alcohol was way stronger than I'd anticipated and apparently, so was my ability to make terrible decisions under its influence.
I vaguely remembered laughing. A lot. Adela had laughed too, which was already rare enough to feel surreal. There were half-formed memories of us complaining about Veneri being too strict, of toasting to surviving the day, and at some point, the world had tilted sideways and the floor had started feeling suspiciously comfortable.
After that, my memory just… cut out.
When I woke up the following morning, my first coherent thought was that my head felt like it had been split open and stuffed with molten metal. Every tiny noise felt like someone was stabbing my skull. I'd heard the word hangover before—from Veneri's memories, no less—but I never actually experienced one myself.
Now I understood why mortals in his past world complained about it so much.
That was when I realized I was lying on a bed and I was… practically naked. Very slowly, I turned my head to the side.
Adelasta was lying next to me, sprawled on her back with her crimson hair spread across the pillow. She was also barely clothed. One arm was flung over her face as if even unconscious she was trying to block out the light.
My brain, already struggling to function, began to realize what happened.
"Oh no."
I pushed myself up slightly, wincing as the movement made my head pound even harder. That was when my gaze landed on her neck.
There were bite marks.
Small, crescent-shaped bruises and faint teeth impressions scattered along the curve of her throat and collarbone like someone had gotten really enthusiastic and completely forgotten about basic restraint.
My stomach dropped straight into my feet.
"No. No, no, no, no..."
My memories were still a foggy mess but the visual evidence in front of me was extremely incriminating. Before I could spiral any further, Adelasta groaned beside me.
"Mmgh… why is the light so loud?"
She blinked her eyes open, squinting at me. It took her a second to process my expression, then another second to notice the way I was staring at her neck.
"What?"
"You have bite marks."
She slowly lifted her hand to her throat. Her fingers brushed over the bruised skin.
"So do you."
I used my holograms to reflect where she pointed at. I had multiple bite marks along my neck, collarbone, and—judging by the faint soreness I could feel—probably in other places I wasn't currently brave enough to check.
We stared at each other in silence. Then, from somewhere in the room, came a very deliberate, very unimpressed cough.
We both turned our heads in unison.
Veneri was sitting in a chair near the window. One leg was crossed over the other, holding one of the black glass bottles between his fingers.
"Darling, hey…"
He didn't look up immediately. He swirled the remaining liquid in the bottle, watching how it clung to the glass.
"I came to check up on you two and instead, I discovered that you managed to get drunk on an illegal Fedres beverage and start making out."
The way he said it somehow made it ten times worse. He finally lifted his gaze to us.
"Who knew that two of my beloveds would cheat on me."
I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
"It—It wasn't cheating. We were drunk! We didn't even remember what happened!"
"That does not change the outcome, Phaenora. Did you forget my warning?"
"Which… warning?"
"The one where I told you not to go after any of my beloveds, even if you're into women."
Oh. That warning.
"I… might have forgotten it in the moment. Darling, I'm really sor—"
Before I could finish my words, he had already drawn a Sound Enhancement Rune.
"Stop."
It wasn't physically louder in the traditional sense, but the rune amplified the perception of sound, making the single syllable feel like it had been screamed directly into my skull. I clutched my head and groaned. Adelasta wa doing the exact same thing beside me.
"Ah—okay—okay, we'll stop talking!"
Divine beings already had enhanced senses. Experiencing an amplified voice while hungover felt like someone was scraping the inside of my brain. Veneri dismissed the rune with a small flick of his wrist.
"You will both wash up and then you will meet me outside. We are going to move around the island."
He paused near the door and glanced back at us.
"It's a good thing that you didn't go beyond kissing."
My face went completely red. He left the room without another word. The door clicked shut behind him. For a full five seconds, neither Adelasta nor I moved. Then we slowly turned to look at each other.
Her expression was just as horrified as mine probably was.
"We're fucked, Adela."
"Yeah we are very, very fucked."