Chapter Text
Ianthe and Coronabeth Tridentarius were sitting in awkward silence like at all family dinners. Their parents were talking about nothing of importance as per usual. Ianthe was picking at her food like she would rather eat anything else while Coronabeth was scraping up the remains of hers. Ianthe looked up at her twin, cocked her eyebrow, and slid her plate towards Coronabeth. She quickly slid hers back and started wolfing down her second serving. Sadly she was unable to finish it because her father happened to look over and notice that Ianthe had “finished” her dinner, while Corona was still working on hers.
“Girls!” their father said angrily as he stood up, “What did I say about this?”
They both looked up sheepishly and parroted back, “Sorry father.”
“To your rooms! Both of you. I’m not in the mood to have this conversation right now.”
The twins got up and leisurely walked out of the dining room. Ianthe looked very pleased, but Coronabeth seemed a little disappointed that she hadn’t been able to finish her meal, and she was still slightly hungry.
“Do you think the kitchens will give dessert if I ask? I’m sure they had something planned for tonight, Coronabeth casually asked.
“I don’t know. Go ask. It’s not my problem.”
Corona flipped her hair over her shoulder and said, “I will and I won’t even get you any.”
With that Coronabeth left her sister in search of more to eat. She quickly arrived at the kitchen and the cooks were happy enough to provide her and “Ianthe” with some dessert. There were chocolate cake slices and some fruit filled pastries. She just had to get two of each because she didn’t know which Ianthe would prefer or which she would like better. At least that was how she rationalized it towards herself. Like she knew Ianthe probably wouldn’t want any dessert, but she would feel like a terrible sister if she didn’t even try to get some for her.
She carried the tray back up to her and Ianthe’s shared room. When she arrived, Ianthe was reading a book on bone magic fundamentals in her bed. It was always the part she struggled with most. Coronabeth sat down next to her, put the tray on her lap, and started eating her chocolate cake. It was really really good and she was glad she would likely get two pieces to herself. She quickly finished her two desserts and looked up to offer some to Ianthe.
“I got you some chocolate cake and a fruit filled pastry, if you would like.”
Ianthe rolled her eyes and said, “When have I ever wanted the desserts you’ve brought me?”
Corona giggled and reached down to take a bite of the pastry.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want some now!”
Coronabeth looked up with a distinctly disappointed expression and said, “Oh, okay,” as she slid the tray over towards Ianthe.
At that Ianthe started cackling and said in a very mocking tone, “You should’ve seen your face. Of course you can have my stupid desserts.”
That of course made Coronabeth scowl, but at least she got to finish the desserts. Once she finished her food, she felt a sharp pang of pain in her stomach. She looked down and noticed how bloated it looked. She poked it and moaned in pain, which made Ianthe look up and laugh.
“Looking a little full there Corona. Eat too much again?”
“Ugh, I should not have eaten that last piece of cake, but it was so good.”
“Really?! But you never gorge yourself on desserts. This is such a new experience! I wonder what you’ll do? Unbutton your pants or change into stretchy ones? I’ll die from suspense.”
Coronabeth blushed at that and lifted up her shirt to show off a very tight already unbuttoned pair of pants, “I haven’t been able to button any of them for the past week, but I don’t want to ask for new ones because dad will be mad and it will turn into an embarrassing scene.”
Ianthe just stared at her twin. She did not remember her having such a big tummy or such thick love handles. In fact she didn’t remember her having a tummy or love handles at all. She leaned over and pinched her love handle and said, “When did this get here?” It wasn’t even in a mocking tone or anything, She honestly was just curious. She guessed her twin had been eating quite a bit of food lately, but compared to her almost everyone ate quite a bit of food. She still felt like she should’ve noticed her twins weight gain before this and was quite surprised she hadn’t. She normally praised herself on how observant she was, but she was starting to reevaluate that claim.
Coronabeth swatted her hand away and shrugged, “My weight fluctuates quite a bit. This will all,” she said gesturing to her stomach and love handles, “be gone in a few days.”
Ianthe highly doubted that, especially considering the way she’d been eating recently. She knew her twins' usual weight fluctuations, how couldn’t she, she talked about them all the time, and she knew that this was quite a bit more weight than usual. She’d never been unable to button her pants before, but she didn’t say any of that, she just said, “If you say so,” which wasn’t that much better considering the look Corona gave her after.
Corona huffed and sat up, her stomach folding into three tiny rolls, “Whatever. I’m gonna go put pajamas on.”
She then grabbed her pajamas and went to the bathroom to change. After the talk about her weight, she didn’t want Ianthe to see her fully undressed. She took her clothes off and admired herself in the mirror. She could definitely tell that she had gained some weight, but in her opinion, it went to all of the right places. Her boobs had definitely gotten bigger, and so had her butt. Her hips were wider and her thighs were thicker, but she had managed to keep her hourglass shape, so she wasn’t very worried if her belly curved out a bit more than it had in the past. She was sure it would be back to normal soon. Her dad always put her on a diet when it looked like she was gaining weight.
He had some weird idea in his head that Coronabeth and Ianthe had to be as similar as possible, hence why he forced her to pretend to be a necromancer, and eat like one. She honestly didn’t understand why Ianthe, or other necromancers, ate so little food. She would starve to death if she ate as little as her sister. It just wasn’t healthy. Young women needed food to grow and keep their looks, it was the main reason she was considered the more attractive twin and the better necromancer by most (even if she wasn’t one). If Ianthe would just eat enough, she knew she would be left in the dust, which was the main reason she didn’t push Ianthe to eat more.
She quickly finished changing and went back to her room, not noticing how even her stretchy pajamas gave her little love handles and was too tight around her bum and how the buttons on her shirt were strained a bit more than usual.
As Coronabeth walked back into the room in her mostly fitting pajamas, Ianthe was even more surprised she hadn’t noticed Corona’s weight gain before. It was quite obvious. If even her stretchy pajamas were too tight, she must have been practically bursting out of her normal clothes. With all of this new evidence, Ianthe was even more ashamed of her observation skills than before. There was literally an inch of exposed skin in between the end of Corona’s shirt and the waistband of her pants. How could anyone miss this?
Suddenly they heard a knock on their door and their father announced himself. Ianthe quickly told him he could come in. He was about to say something, probably something critical or mean, but he stopped once he saw Corona in her ill fitting pajamas. He spluttered for a few seconds before finally getting out, “When did you get so fat?!”
Corona’s face flushed and she stuttered out, “I don’t know what you mean,” as she obviously sucked in her stomach.
“Coronabeth! This is what happens when you eat your sister’s meals,” he said as he gestured to her rounder figure. He then looked over at Ianthe and saw that she was even thinner than usual, “And look at your sister, she’s practically starving.”
Ianthe blushed at that and said, “This is how I normally look.”
He then sighed and said, “This isn’t even what I wanted to talk to you girls about. The Third House has received an invitation from the Emperor Undying to come to his palace. There will be a competition of sorts for Her Divine Highness’ hand in marriage. The two of you will obviously be sent, with Naberius and other retainers as well. It now looks like we will have to get some better fitting clothes for the both of you. You leave in a week.”
With that he left.