The girls placed the unconscious would-be assassins against the bed before they turned to each other. "Despite her incompetence, Lira had gone on my nerves for far too long." Aqua's voice cracked.
Sheira stepped with her eyes widened as Aqua's illusion seemed to unravel, yet just as it started to fall apart, like a piece of rotten wood, it sewed together and returned to the illusory maid uniform.
"Please… give a chance for my Mom to finish what she had started… for me?" She leaned forward and stared at her with a puppy stare.
The heat that started to rise plummeted instantly to what it was. No matter how much Aqua was annoyed, Sheira was dear to her, and a request from her was something she would consider.
"Sheira, do not push my good grace; that woman sent people to kill you. Every breath she takes is a testament to my mercy."
"I know…" The princess brought her hands together. "But… I know you do not tolerate enemies, but just give a chance to Mom! You promised her already!"
Aqua sighed. She is kind of right. Yet…
"And the assassins didn't even activate the heart you placed on me, so what's the harm of doing it the Queen's way?"
"That does not matter. Anyone who dares even attempt touching what is precious to me deserves a fate worse than death… that woman had already crossed that boundary by kidnapping Azure… and now attacking you…" Aqua clenched her fist and bared her teeth.
"Please…" Sheira did not have much leverage; all she could do was appeal to Aqua's grace toward her, so she was willing to even beg the heroine. The princess forced a tear out of her eye.
The scene before her forced Aqua to calm down, her face relaxed and fists loosened, "Not fair, you are abusing the fact that you are dear to me."
"I know, it works on my Mom too~. Are you mad at me for it?"
"No…" Aqua blushed slightly before quickly turning her gaze away from Sheira.
"Heh~ I knew it." Sheira gained a smug expression before jumping on Aqua.
"Eh?!" Aqua reeled back as she found a princess attached to her like a leech.
Sheira pushed her head into Aqua's chest and rubbed up and down. "I am so glad you love me enough not to go murdering Lira, even if she deserves it."
A loud sigh escaped Aqua's lips as she closed her eyes and hugged Sheira tightly. "I do love you, I do not want anyone to dare touch you, Azure, Soleah, and even Lucia. I have lost those I hold dear too many times to count." Aqua gripped Sheira's back as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Yet, Sheira was not blind to this; after all, she was a self-proclaimed genius when it came to people. Her hands wrapped around Aqua and tightened. "Momm… no, Aqua. You are really wonderful, I might have said it so many times; however, I still harbored a fear of you… How stupid I was." She giggled.
"You should be scared, I told you that I too was divine. I would feel better if you didn't blindly trust me."
"No~" Sheira separated and spun with her hands behind her back. "I don't think I will. By that stupid logic, you should hate me and distrust me, yet you really care about me. Mom was right about you."
"Right about me?" Aqua tilted her head in confusion.
Sheira's lips widened into a grin, "While Azure would trust you with her life even if you throw her off a cliff, I felt fear of you… But Mom told me that you were nothing more than a sweet girl, and as usual, she was right." She stopped for a moment, making sure that Aqua could process the information.
Sweet girl? Me? She wanted to laugh; the things she had done in her previous world brought her great shame. Despite them being necessary, she had not regretted burning down the corrupted civilization.
Yet, someone calling her the sweet girl was the first. "Your mom is… unique."
"Just like you, Mommy~" Sheira approached Aqua's bed and sprawled herself over it.
Aqua put her hand in front of her mouth and giggled. "Thank you…"
This world… It's beautiful. In less than a month in this world, Aqua had found more joy than she had in centuries. The adoptive daughter and a small group of friendly faces. If she had lost them, it would be a heavy loss.
For them… I would turn back the time… consequences be damned. Even if she wanted to deny it, her attachment to new people that she liked had grown too much.
"Tho, Mommy, while it would be good to not kill Lira now, perhaps in a day or two you can get your pretty elf hands on her."
"Any particular reason?"
"Well, I heard the council was ordered to gather. So it's likely time when Lira will try to checkmate us, yet she does not realize how badly her plans were messed up~"
Aqua nodded, yet her face darkened. "It's fine… I have a payback for her, and she will be useful to me."
Sheira shrank back for a moment before relaxing, "I understand… So what do we do for the rest of the night? Can I sleep here? I am not overly keen to see if Lira will be stupid enough to send more people after me."
"Sure, the bed is free."
"Aw! I wanted to cuddle with you!"
"Sheira…" Aqua facepalmed, then she approached her table and pulled out the chair.
"Hah! I know I am endearing~ Come on, just a little cuddle, it will make Azu turn red for days!"
"No, I am trying to figure out Rolan's trick. My foundation theory is ready, but I need to refine it and then get something to test it on."
"Oh?" Sheira sat on the bed for a moment as she tilted her head.
"It's a spell that will, in theory, prevent Rolan from body hopping."
"Ah… that man who killed my Azu!" Her face contorted in disgust, then she relaxed and hopped off the bed and approached Aqua.
Aqua went silent for a moment. "Yes, exactly."
"It's a new spell?"
"Yes."
"Of course you can do that…" Sheira leaned over Aqua's shoulder and stared at the strange parchment. It was filled with weird symbols and text.
"I will teach you how to do this eventually. It's mostly just a matter of learning the fundamentals and mastering the aether… and divinity."
The princess nodded excitedly, then she pulled out a chair and took a seat next to Aqua. She placed her hands in front of her and lay with her face to the side. "I think I will just stay awake and watch you research."
"Feel free to knock yourself out. I don't really have much else to do with this." Aqua's hand glowed softly.
"Why don't you knock me up with one of your spells~"
"Why would I?"
"Gosh… you are so innocent." Sheira ignored Aqua's confused expression as she stared at the paper.
The runes that were inscribed were unknown to her, yet they radiated power.
"Why do you have them inscribed?"
"Because it is easier to optimize and edit the spell when needed if we have the instructions of its weave written, of course, I don't need it, but I want the document so I can teach you eventually."
A giggle escaped Sheira's lips.
"Got it. So are those runes? I do not recognize them." The princess placed her chin on the table and stretched her right hand toward the paper.
"Not really, well…in a way they are, but not as you know them. These are Aether circles; they are much like mana circles or runes you might know, but they are used to store aether in any shape you wish without turning it to mana." Aqua's lips stretched into a wide smile as she spoke about the magic.
"Oooo!" She reeled back and pushed her back against the backrest. "Could you tell me about your theory? Maybe I can help, who knows?"
"Well, I planned to create two spells. One is to trap the mind parasite that is Rolan, and I suspect Lira is of a similar nature… and another one I called [Poison the Well], If my parasite theory is correct, it will allow me to locate their real body as soon as the current host is dead."
"Oho… so you can straight up create a spell if your current repertoire doesn't cover it?"
Tap.Tap.Tap
Aqua tapped her fingers against the table. Sheira was curious, and it was something Aqua found great joy in.
"Spells are a way to automate a task, Sheira. Everything a spell can do, you can do manually. When I met Rolan for the first time, I was blinded by Anger, thus he escaped… I will not make the same mistake again." Aqua dragged her finger over the Aether circles.
The princess nodded. "Understood, so if I am diligent, I can create something very cool?"
"Exactly so, for example [Beyond the Veil]." The moment the words left Aqua's lips, she disappeared.
Her presence, sound, and even smell were gone. "Wh…WHAT?!" Sheira looked frantically; however, Aqua reappeared.
"What's that?!" Sheira jumped out of her chair, knocking it down.
"That is my invisibility spell. I created it when I learned illusion."
Sheira blinked slowly. "Teach me, please?"
"All in due time, but first, we deal with Lira."
"Understood! Ma'am!" Sheira saluted.