The Flower of Separation

By the time they reached the central chamber, however, Lillian had raised her hand. "We came too late." She pointed to the door and saw a trail of blood. "The guards might not be dead, but I doubt they got very far."

Ramon sighed. "How could they guess ahead of time? It is not like we let anything slip."

But my brother has not stopped keeping an eye out on me despite my isolation.

Lillian, however, kept those words to herself. From what she could remember, Ramon disliked her brother and her father. She has no time to calm his anger. Lillian opened the large doors slowly.

The smell of fresh blood fills the air. Her little pets, which she kept under control, all swarmed around the room. Anybody walking by may see this as a beautiful sight, a stream of red spider lilies inside a single source moonlight chamber. But she watched as the lilies that slowly danced around the bodies started to pick out their flesh.

Ramon frowned. "Are you not going to keep that under control?"

It seemed he was disgusted with the creatures but maintained his usual stoic-looking face.

"It Is better to let them eat now than have the maids suffer later."

"You use your own maids?" Ramon said, horrified.

"Then do you want me to use myself?"

Lillian knew exactly what to say to make this man back down. Even then, she did not understand it very well, but he seems to be oddly concerned for her. Indeed right after she said those words, Ramon looked away and walked a few steps ahead of her.

"I will check over there."

Still, she wonders what is taking Lucas so long. Contrary to what Ramon thought, she did inform Lucas about coming here. With his magic, it would be easy to spot anything unusual. Although she has gotten better at such things, there are still things she fails to see.

Moreover, it would be the perfect opportunity to have these two meet each other. Lillian glanced down when she caught a glimpse of something sparkling; there lay a man with a long beard, on his hand was a pendant that belonged to a young woman.

It was the caretaker of this place.

"I wonder where your owner got to," Lillian muttered. "Did he kill you all and escape?" She scooped up the pendant and, for a moment, froze.

Ah, now she understood the reason why she was a step too late.

There is one other person who could challenge her despite her shallow way of thinking. It was her other sister Bridget.

"It seems that the woman knew we would arrive," Ramon commented.

"Yes, I guess she told the baron to flee. But," Lillian held up the necklace. "I presume something went wrong for her to leave something precious behind."

"Is that not the jade tears? That is a national treasure."

Lillian rolled her eyes. "The throne has been empty for years. Others would have swept all the national treasures the former Empress kept in her long absence."

"But a necklace of that caliber too.."

Lillian tosses it to him, and he becomes frantic, barely catching it. "Lillian!" He exclaimed.

"Since you seem to be so concerned, you can take it."

"Are you not going to ask?"

"In the first place, I know what I am asking of you is unreasonable, so take this as me returning the favor."

Ramon did not respond, but from the corner of her eye, she watched as he carefully wrapped a handkerchief around the necklace, securely covering it. A particular story came to mind. She heard that the nation's treasures donated to the Empress are stolen treasures from the royal families. That necklace must be something his mother owned.

It was a mere deduction, but this is Ramon; she knew him well enough to understand his way of thinking. The hostility he has towards his father, his brother, and stepmother is due to the death of his mother.

Lilian closed her eyes, and she let out a small amount of mana. In the next second, when she opened her eyes, she could see a large red circle of magic. Now then, all that is left to do is wait for Lucas. But Lillian recalled the soldiers from earlier. Those people may come back once they realize it will not hurt to get a head start.

Besides, if Lucas, who normally rushes to her side, is getting held up, she feels that something may have happened to him. Lillian shook her head. If something happens to him, then she would sense it. Due to the amount of time they spent with each other the last few years, they can detect each other's presence no matter how far away.

His presence seems quite weak; either he is hurt, or he is concealing his presence from the enemy.

She watched as the items in the room floated towards her, and Lilian carefully examined the objects. Is there anything unusual? Something that does not belong here. She needs to use a bit more magic.

Before she could do so, however, Ramon extended his hand out from behind her and pointed. "Up there."

Lillian looked at what he was pointing at and found a small key and a book. The items floated towards her and landed in her hand. While the key is the main item for today, her gaze fell on the book. This is something Lucas needs. Quite some time has passed since she last found it.

A memory from the past came to her. It was shortly after she returned to the Ageha manor. They occasionally visited the magician tower in the forest because Lucas did not want to bring all his stuff over.

…

Several years ago

"The seven mage books?"

Lucas nodded as he furiously looked around the tower. "This is so strange. I am sure I left it here."

"Well, didn't you say I am not the only one who has passed by this tower?"

Lucas sighed. "Well yeah, but all the other people? They are a pile of corpses now."

Right because the sacred beasts would attack them on their way out.

"What kind of book is it? Maybe I have seen it before."

"I doubt it. I hid it in a place that even I would have shard time finding."

"If it is like that, then maybe you just remember it wrong."

"Like that is possible." Lucas trailed off and flicked her forehead. "If you are in a rush to get back, you can go ahead. I know where the mansion is by now."

"That's not it."

"I won't run off," Lucas added.

Well, it seems like he understands her concerns. "Weren't you trying to escape through the window the other day-"

"That is because of your brother. I did not want to be in the same room as him."

"Did you think I wanted to?"

Lucas continued his search and grew increasingly more frustrated as time went by. Lillian observed him from the seats. Now that she thought about it, quite some time has passed since they were last left alone together. Ever since she brought Lucas back with her, father has been unusually harsh.

As for her brother, I cannot leave you alone with an unknown man.

Due to their behavior, there are now odd rumors in high society that the eldest daughter's Ageha family head and eldest son dot on the eldest daughter. Lillian sighed; rumors that portray any of her family members as saints trouble her.

"Argh, I give. If I can't find it here, somebody must have taken it."

"You're okay with that conclusion?"

"As if. You're helping me find them. You're getting better at controlling mana, so it should be easy for you to locate it."