Not sure how anyone could properly respond to a situation like this, where a woman who had just threatened everyone without hesitation suddenly transford into a disturbingly cute, innocent mother.
The shift felt wrong in a way that crawled under everyone’s skin, because the love she showed for her daughter ran uncannily deep, strangely pure, and terrifyingly obsessive all at once.
Snap.
Snap!!
Snapp!!!
Aqualina, Raven, and Drakhairs stared at Mary with expressions that bordered between confusion and alarm.
Mary held a square tallic box in her hands, her fingers moving with affection as she gazed into it, while soft clicking and snapping sounds echoed rhythmically from the device.
Their gazes slowly followed the direction of her snapping fingers, turning away from her face and toward the scene she had created.
There, laid out beneath the open sky, sat an unmistakable setup filled with porcelain cups, delicate plates, and carefully arranged sweets.
A tea party!
Yes. The mont Mary realised her daughter had actually made friends, even if they were strange, even if they were people she personally disliked, even if every instinct told her they were dangerous, she wasted no ti.
She dragged them all into the garden of their new ho and arranged a tea party with obsessive precision, because no matter how warped her standards were, this mattered deeply to her.
Deep down, she was genuinely happy to see her daughter finally seated at a tea table, laughing beneath the light like true royalty.
Mary sniffed softly, her shoulders trembling as her face twisted with an expression close to tears. The blur around her made it difficult to see clearly, but the emotion behind it was unmistakable.
Her voice dropped into a gentle, fragile tone as she spoke, heavy with longing she had buried for far too long.
"I... I never thought my dear would finally have a tea party with others. I an it... truly never. I dread about it, imagined it, hoped for it, but I never believed it would happen. Aweee..."
The sound she let out afterwards was dangerously close to a sob.
Raven and Aqualina exchanged quick glances before blinking almost in sync, unsure whether they should be alard or sympathetic.
Behind Raven, Drakhairs remained motionless, his posture straight and calm, standing like a silent statue carved from shadow, observing everything without judgnt... that’s right, without judgnt!
Mary continued speaking while the rectangular box in her hands kept releasing cheerful snapping sounds,
"Even with Nyx Shadowfall, it never felt like a real tea party. It felt more like a sister gathering than anything else."
Her eyes softened as mory took hold, recalling how Nyx and Lia would simply sit across from each other in silence, staring without words. Whenever Lia tried to speak, Nyx would only hum or nod, offering no real response unless the topic involved ghosts, souls, or the dead.
She wanted sothing normal for her daughter, sothing simple and cute. She wanted laughter, chatter, clinking cups, and innocent joy.
She wanted a fucking normal tea party!
Mary sniffed again, lowering her gaze as she muttered under her breath,
"She was never invited to any tea party. Not even once. My poor child... I still wonder why."
"Yeah... we wonder why...."
Raven and Aqualina spoke at the exact sa ti, their voices flat and expressions identical as they stared blankly at Mary.
Drakhairs closed his eyes slowly.
Aqualina finally broke the weirdness, gesturing toward the tallic object in Mary’s hands,
"What’s that thing?" she asked.
Mary turned toward her, her eyes instantly brightening with pride before she answered.
"Oh? This is a cara. It is quite wonderful."
"A cara?" Aqualina tilted her head, unfamiliar with the concept.
Mary nodded enthusiastically, her movents quick and repetitive like a woodpecker, before stepping closer and turning the screen toward Aqualina. Her fingers moved lovingly as she scrolled through image after image.
"See, it captures my dear’s lovely movents, her expressions, her existence itself. Every mont worth rembering."
The screen filled with images of Lia laughing freely, eating sweets, sleeping peacefully, fighting fiercely, and then... bathing?
Aqualina froze.
First, the realisation that this device could capture monts with such precision.
Then ca the second realisation, far more unsettling.
Bathing?
Her eyes twitched, her expression turning deeply uncomfortable. Lia wore so kind of minimal bikini-like clothing, but that detail did nothing to ease the creeping dread.
Aqualina’s thoughts spiralled as she struggled to understand what kind of mother docunted monts like that without hesitation.
Mary leaned closer, her eyes glowing with dangerous affection,
"She is gorgeous, isn’t she?" Mary asked, her voice filled with absolute conviction, love, and a truth that allowed no disagreent.
Aqualina gulped instinctively, her fingers subconsciously tightening around Raven’s arm as she gave a slow nod.
She did not fully understand why, but a heavy sense of unease settled in her chest. Sowhere deep down, she felt it with absolute certainty.
Aether had made a grave mistake going after this woman’s child, and whatever consequences followed would not be simple or rciful.
Mary smiled with clear satisfaction, her expression serene as she continued taking pictures of her daughter, each snap carrying a sense of possessive pride that bordered on devotion.
Aqualina and Raven exchanged uneasy glances. Neither of them could decide whether this scene was absurd, disturbing, or outright dangerous.
anwhile, at the centre of the garden, Lia, Aria, and Helena sat together around a carefully arranged table.
The air was thick with the warm fragrance of brewed tea, freshly baked cookies, and sweet biscuits, their aromas blending beneath the open sky.
"It’s good... hmm..." Helena spoke without restraint, munching happily on a cookie as crumbs gathered at the corner of her lips. She glanced at Lia, who wore a gentle smile, then shifted her gaze toward Aria, who stared down at her teacup with a visibly confused expression.
"Do you not like it?" Lia asked as she leaned forward slightly.
Aria shook her head slowly, her brows knitting together as she searched for the right words.
"Well, it’s not that I don’t like it," she said after a pause. "It’s more like... what are we doing here again?"
Lia let out a small, awkward laugh, a faint blush touching her cheeks.
"Well, what can I say... my mom sotis goes overboard," she admitted with a tired sigh before straightening slightly. "Please don’t worry about it. Just enjoy it while it lasts."
She gently pushed the plate of cookies closer to Aria.
Aria humd thoughtfully before reaching for one. She hesitated for a brief mont before taking a cautious bite, her mind flashing with the absurd thought that Mary might have poisoned them.
But when she looked at Helena, who was stuffing her mouth with cookies like an overly enthusiastic hamster... that fear faded.
’I guess not,’ Aria thought, her shoulders relaxing as she turned her attention back to Lia.
"So... how have you been?" Aria asked quietly.
Lia nodded with a warm smile as she lifted her teacup and took a slow, elegant sip, her movents calm and practised.
Snap!!
"I’m fine," Lia replied gently. "What about you?"
Aria offered a weak smile, one that barely reached her eyes.
"Well... we’re fine, I guess," she said, though her tone carried a subtle heaviness that betrayed her words.
Lia noticed imdiately.
"What happened?" she asked, her brows furrowing as she leaned closer. "Why do you look sad?"
Aria parted her lips to speak, but hesitation stopped her.
Lia’s expression softened. She reached out and held Aria’s hand, her grip warm and reassuring.
"You can tell ," Lia said gently. "I’m your friend, alright?"
Snap!!
Snap!!!
Snap!!!!
Aria’s eyes flicked upward awkwardly as she glanced toward Mary, who was currently hanging upside down from a tree branch, gripping a small rectangular box and snapping pictures without a shred of sha.
Lia turned sharply toward her mother,
"MOM!"
"Oops!" Mary replied cheerfully, giving a playful wink before slowly disappearing into the foliage, vanishing among the branches as if she had never been there at all.
"Just ignore her," Lia said with an awkward smile. "She’s been like this ever since she got that weird thing called ra... or sothing like that."
Aria released a long sigh, rubbing her temples briefly before speaking again.
"Anyway, I didn’t an to hide it," she said carefully. "You might not know this, but our empires are in a pretty tough situation right now."
She lifted her hand and pointed toward the sky.
"I an... just look up there."
Above them, golden letters shimred across the heavens.
Lia blinked slowly before letting out a thoughtful hum, her fingers resting lightly against the rim of her teacup as she tilted her head.
"You’re worried that your empire might co last, aren’t you?" she asked.
Aria nodded weakly, her gaze drifting toward Helena, who was still stuffing cookies into her mouth without the slightest concern for the tension around them.
A sharp ntal shout echoed through Helena’s mind, laced with irritation and urgency.
Helena flinched, nearly choking as she swallowed too fast.
"Y-Umpp!" Helena replied through a full mouth, cheeks puffed as she nodded hurriedly, crumbs clinging to her lips.
Aria’s lips twitched.
Lia lifted her gaze toward the sky,
"I’m not really sure what they ant by all that... it feels important, but also strangely vague."
Aria stared at her, surprise flickering across her face.
"Even you don’t know?"
Lia nodded slowly.
"Mother hasn’t told ," she said honestly. "She keeps insisting it’s for my own good, that I shouldn’t worry yet, or... that I’ll understand when the ti cos."
Aria frowned deeply at that answer. After a mont, she shook her head, pushing aside her frustration as she chose her words carefully.
"Still... could you ask your mother for help?" Aria asked, then quickly added before Lia could speak, "Of course, we’ll compensate her properly. Whatever she needs, we’ll provide it."
Lia shook her head almost imdiately,
"Oh, co on," she said gently. "We’re friends, right? There’s no need for compensation between friends."
She paused, then her tone sharpened slightly, an edge of stubborn determination creeping in.
"I’ll talk to my mother. And if she doesn’t listen to ..."
Her hand curled slowly into a fist beneath the table, fingers tightening as if bracing for conflict. It was not an empty gesture. She looked genuinely prepared to stand her ground, even if it ant opposing her own mother.
From beneath the table, a blurry hand slowly erged, pale fingers wrapped around a familiar rectangular device. The cara lens tilted upward, focusing precisely on Lia’s serious expression,
Snap!!!
Aria stared blankly at the hand as it lingered for a heartbeat longer than necessary before retreating.
What the fuck?
She shook her head.
Why does it already feel like I’m getting a headache?
"I guess... anyway," Aria said, forcing herself to refocus, "If you really do that, it ans a lot to . More than you think."
She hesitated, then added carefully, watching Lia’s face.
"And Aether... he was really worried about you, you know."
Lia blinked once.
The warmth drained from her expression almost instantly. Her lips pressed together, her brows tightening as sothing sharp and unpleasant surfaced in her eyes. Soreness twisted into visible disgust, as if the na itself left a bitter taste.
"...What?" Aria asked with a confused expression.
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