"So Maria and Donovan were also Past Livers."
Medinador nodded. "Yes, it's a secret passed down from Head to Head. That's why the detection devices are set up the way they are."
"Because you were twins, we assumed both of you were past livers once again, just like them. There's always been a suspicion whenever twins or triplets appear in de Velasques."
Delphina raised her eyebrows at hearing this, that was quite the frequent occurrence for fraternal twins, considering their lifespans. But triplets, too? Were they snakes instead of mammals?
With this, Delphina's mind flickered back to the Draconic blood in the Family. Well, it wasn't like humans could lay eggs, so maybe that was the genetic influence. Multiple offspring in one sitting, as much as the person's body could handle?
Mentally shaking her head, she stopped her thoughts from wandering off too deeply into the genetics of the World she was in.
"I see. Whilst I understand why you did what you did. Even though it's only been around a year, it still hurt. You haven't even asked about my system."
Medinador pulled her gently towards him and wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortingly. Clearly trying to bring her some stability, and maybe for his peace of mind, too.
"Right now, Delphina, getting the facts out there is less important than clearing the air and comforting you".
Yeah, she could never let them get even a hint that she wasn't the original Delphina.
"But I'll ask about this 'system' now, as you mentioned it."
She sighed and quickly thought of how to bring up the systems differences without revealing too much. Whilst his reactions hadn't been too far from what she had expected, the facts that were brought to light had thrown her off slightly.
"First, Duke. Can you tell me what the unlocked system is like? I think I'll be able to clarify any differences better if I knew the specifics. I'm only assuming mine is different because it simply awakened one day. But maybe it's just the same, and I happened to have the skills myself?"
Medinador nodded and gave what was quite frankly the most basic system description she had ever heard of. As she listened, simply nodding and smiling blankly, she considered the emotional turmoil she had just been in. Right now, this was almost uncharacteristically calming.
The description boiled down to a transparent grey square that told you how to unlock skills by doing weekly tasks, but they took years to eventually complete. That was it. It didn't give Delphina much to work with, but she could certainly embellish some points to make it not seem too outlandish.
"That's not too dissimilar from mine. So it'll be easier to mention what's different. For a start, my system is more of a rectangle and is a sparkly transparent grey-blue. I can summon it by myself if I so wish, so even if I'm mid-task. I can hide it from my sight."
"Also, it calls my overarching or long-running tasks 'quests'. They come with a percentage completion for the end of the quest. But those quests don't always end up unlocking skills."
Medinador looked quite confused at this point, but she didn't blame him. At this point, Delphina was talking out of her arse, mixing lies with truth to prevent mishaps in the future.
"Hmm, overall I'd say that my system clearly will have more features than the one just unlocked. For example, I completed a quest by reading the history of The Darkening, because of that, I have a quest to have my coming of age at the Imperial National Ball…"
With this, Medinador removed his arm from around her and instead put his hands steepled in front of his face in thought.
"Delphina, do you think that the system you have will have more features after the unlocking ceremony?"
Delphina quickly nodded her head to this.
"From what you've said, I believe my system is just the original version of the system people have to get unlocked for themselves. But as it gave me a quest to go to the Ball, doesn't that mean that the unlocking is likely to also affect it? I'll have to have a coming-of-age ceremony anyway, so maybe it's killing two birds with one stone."
As Delphina spoke further, his frown grew further and his fingers steepled harder together. He then sighed so deeply that she could swear that one of the sofa's corner tables covers fluttered.
"We should have spoken to you much sooner, Delphina. Can you tell me, have you ever felt that someone is speaking to you through the system screen?"
Hearing this, Delphina froze for only a fraction of a second before putting on a lopsided smile. That was enough for Medinador to make many assumptions.
Well, she wanted him to, so it was fine.
Medinador seemed deep in thought and didn't speak for a while before finally standing up and moving towards the study's staircase. As he disappeared to the upstairs landing, Delphina felt herself truly calm down.
No longer feeling irrationally angry, nor having to think a step ahead of herself, she relaxed into the leather that had warmed to her own body temperature. Lifting one of her arms up behind herself as if stretching, she quietly rapped twice in the air.
As she did so, a sparkly blue screen slowly manifested itself just out of view. It gently swept towards the windows before moving in front of Delphina.
[Hello Delphina! What can I do for you?]
Delphina moved a finger in front of her lips in a shushing motion. Scanning the sofa corner tables, she could see some plain writing paper but no pen. This made her actively click her tongue. Gesturing at No.69 to come closer, the screen hovered a little closer to her face.
"Can you read my lips?"
As she mouthed these words, she pointed at her own face as if to highlight what she was trying to do.
[Do you need me to read your lips? Do you require silent communication? Just a moment…]
[(ღ˘⌣˘ღ)]
[Loading keyboard interface…]
[Loading complete]
[Please direct your attention to your wrists!]
Delphina did as she was directed to do, taking a sneaky glance down at her wrists whilst still keeping her senses tuned to Medinador moving around the second floor. He appeared to be rifling through different scrolls rather than books. Perhaps she wouldn't have as much time to communicate with No.69 as she thought.
Hovering just above her left wrist bone, there was now a long and thin rectangular bar that looped around to form a bracelet. Looking closer, she could see it was faintly broken up into individual squares similar to keys on a keyboard.
Turning her upper body to face the window and reclining deeper into the sofa so her back was to the landing above her, she pointed towards her wrist. No. 69's screen swivelled to remain in her line of sight as she did so.
"What is this?"
[Lightly tap the screen with your hand]
After Delphina did so, the bar unfurled along the inside of her forearm and widened to form a narrow holographic screen and keyboard setup. Mildly startled but intrigued, Delphina recognised this as a type of personal computer you might find in Interstellar or Kēhuàn genre novels.
The screen was narrowly split into three vertical sections, suggesting there might be other interface types she could encounter in the future. So without further ado, Delphina began to type on the keyboard. As she did, the left-hand screen began to fill with small, but perfectly legible text.