Blinking her eyes in confusion at him, Pietro eventually seemed to notice his grip, letting go belatedly. Not that Delphina was, in fact, hurt in any way. She was thankfully rather sturdy.
"Ah, my apologies… Sister."
"I didn't believe what you said yesterday. But if you truly want to go back to the way we once were…"
Here Pietro paused, looking down and smoothly extending his hand once again to stroke the wrist he had grabbed, gently.
"I'm sure you can forgive me for this much; you won't hold it against me, will you?"
"Wow, what a sly bitch."
Here, in all his white lotus glory, was someone who was indeed a descendant of Elvira de Velasques. It was something Delphina knew she'd have to keep an eye on. Even if Pietro was potentially no Past Liver, he clearly could not be trusted.
Was this the reason the original Delphina distanced herself from him?
Yes, whilst he was indeed parroting her very words back to her, the fact he'd kept it to heart and immediately retaliated- albeit in a tame way. Didn't escape her notice.
She now didn't think he was responsible for Delphina's deaths in-game; he didn't have enough malice behind him for that. But the disappearances? That was a different question.
Pietro certainly gave the vibe that if pushed, his retaliation would have a sadistic twist to it.
"Brother, out of the two of us. Who sticks to their words the most?"
Raising an eyebrow at her retort, to the outside viewer, the twins facing each other now formed a mirrored image with their expressions. Each was vaguely displeased with what the other had just said.
"Sister, I would like to think we're both capable enough to stick to what we say. Besides, we both know you're not quick to forgive."
"Well ~brother~ how many years has it been at this point? Several? Do you honestly think I'd keep a grudge for that long?"
"In around 3 months, we'll be officially celebrated adults. Don't you think it's time to move on, admit our mistakes, and grow the fuck up?"
"Several years, what do you-
"Pietro, do you think I just snapped at you one day and decided to never speak to you again? No, ever since you stopped properly training…"
Here it was, her pièce de résistance- emotional blackmail.
Looking down at the floor slightly, a look of pained sorrow passed across her face. Squinting her eyes, they began to tear up. Delicately pooling without falling, her tears glistened on her eyelashes.
Reaching out to grab his arm, she drew her verbal bow.
"Let's be honest. You didn't exactly congratulate me for becoming a Sword Master, I mean, why would you? You'd become one much earlier than that."
Originally flickering from concern to panic at Delphina beginning to cry, Pietro's face now had a delightful shade of blue pasted across it. Clearly, her words had hit the target.
"Yeah, read between the lines, you piece of shit."
Stepping back a few paces, Delphina noted Pietro's hands now had a slight quiver to them, before he quickly hid them behind his back. Deciding that pushing too far for today would backfire, she wiped her eyes gently. Giving him time to compose himself.
"So you… That's why you stopped coming here?"
"Brother, you can hardly say you treated me as a sister when behaving that dishonestly, can you? And then, from my perspective, you seemed to sweep my achievements under the rug."
"I just thought, Delphina, I…"
Shaking her head at his stuttering, Delphina walked past towards the breakfast area.
"Leave it, brother. Apologise with actions rather than your words. After all, I reached my hand out first."
********
The breakfast area that Pietro had set up was, in fact, quite nice.
A few automata stood on standby by the side of the glass platform, which was surrounded by various leafy plants and flowers- these were separate from the trees and large plants that reached up from below to the second floor, and were placed in decorative planters that could be moved with ease.
Having seated themselves at a wrought iron table reminiscent of the one on her bedroom balcony, the twins had been sipping at cups of tea for some time now.
By the second cup of (from what Delphina could tell) pure Ceylon tea, Pietro had calmed down. No longer wringing his hands or tapping at the table top. He finally seemed to come to a decision.
Whilst she hadn't eaten yet out of consideration, her patience was starting to thin again. There was a veritable smorgasbord of finger foods placed next to them on an enclosed tray, and yet the plates in front remained empty.
Jenkins had briefly taken the automata aside and then come back, but hadn't made any moves to start serving them. Instead, her butler remained behind at an angle where it was just within her eyesight.
"Is that the famous Jenkins?"
Snapping out of her thought, Delphina was mildly confused. Jenkins knew who Pietro was, but he didn't know Jenkins?
Well, she hadn't introduced the two yet.
"Yes, Pietro. Meet Jenkins. Jenkins, as you know, this is my brother."
Yes, my Lady. We are meeting for the first time, young master.
Stepping forward and giving a Knight's salute, Jenkins seemed incredibly uninterested in the affair.
Shall I serve breakfast now?
"Ah, yes please, Sir Jenkins. Please give my sister a good balance of protein and vegetables. She tends to eat too many sweets in the morning."
"Sir Jenkins? Hold up, was there an automaton corps as part of the Knights?"
Whilst she blinked in confusion at the situation, Jenkins seemed to pick up on her thoughts.
My Lady, I am indeed part of the Soldiers, so I hold the title 'Sir'. It is understandable you didn't know, as you have only exclusively worked within the Hunters and Information network.
"I mean, that's understandable, but Sir Jenkins? Doesn't that imply you're not… Dame Jenkins?"
All of the Soldiers identify as male, my Lady?
No, she couldn't do this right now. What an utter can of worms! Automata could identify as a gender, and her personal, close, had just washed and changed her whilst unconscious last night, butler. Was in fact male.
"Well, y'know, worker bees are actually all female! So I just thought, even though there's definitely an 'ant' vibe going on with your military form… That I shouldn't assume…"
Her eyes were slowly sliding down towards Jenkins' crotch. She couldn't help it; every time she tried to look elsewhere, it was like a magnet drawing her gaze back repeatedly.
Of course, there was nothing there. Just a smooth armoured plate.
"Should I ask No.69 about the possibility? I feel like knowing about sex robots or the like would probably be important, so it wouldn't be a waste of a question. I don't fancy coming across a 'spirit in the shell' situation."
Clapping her hands together almost nervously, Delphina tried to deflect the awkwardness she felt.
"So! Are all the Soldiers based on ant-like designs, or do they vary? Do you have a Queen who leads the Soldiers?"
Jenkins responded by filling up both Pietro's and her plates with various leafy greens and sliced meats.
"I can answer that, sister."
Pietro seemed somewhat left out as Delphina accidentally concentrated on Jenkins for too long. Perhaps wanting to bridge the emotional gap she had bluntly pointed out earlier, he seemed eager for connection now that he had calmed down.