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Rayburn kept typing the armrest while he watched his sister sitting on a couch in front of him. Hoya was visiting without notice, as usual. It was not just that. She had brought Sir Theriod along, and, despite knowing that the knight only followed orders, Rayburn wasn't so keen to have him that close to Angela or Anna.
The only reason Duke Espelind permitted the knight's presence in the house was that Sir Theriod was watching his sister's back.
Nevertheless, the moment couldn't be worse.
It's almost time, he thought annoyed.
Instead of informing her reasons for the visit, Hoya was chattering randomly about her life in the castle. Despite her complaints, Rayburn could tell that instead of being vexed by the constant attention and machinations, she was thrilled by them. And even high-spirited by the way she dealt with them. However, she stopped halfway through a sentence when the sound of footsteps and giggling in the hallway began.
Ah, she is waiting too.
Rayburn couldn't help but smile at the sound. It was hectic, reckless, and so... homelike.
When the door opened, they were there, disheveled and cheerful, wearing flower crowns on their heads and twin smiles, absurd and lovely.
His heart hammered at the sight.
Anna was just like her mother in many ways. The appearance, for example. She took nearly everything after Angela, from the blond locks to the bright smile. If it wasn't for the golden color of the Emperor's eyes, looking at her would be like seeing Angela as a kid.
"Crown Princess!" Even if his wife had been the first to notice the visitors, it did nothing to change her course. She walked directly to him without a second of hesitation. Sat by his side, Angela beamed as if Hoya's visit was the most pleasant of surprises.
Whereas Anna, who had already walked halfway towards him, stopped when she saw the Crow Princess. "Aunt!"
Hoya smiled. "Won't you greet me properly?" Then her niece ran towards her delighted.
The girl climbed the sofa, threw her arms around her aunt's neck, and kissed her cheek. "My greeting, Little Sun of the Empire."
Hoya wasn't just smiling anymore but laughing loudly with honest merriment while Sir Theriod’s expression became stiff.
It wouldn't be imprecise to say Anna's behavior was unruled. Angela's way of educating wasn't strict in the slightest. And there weren't many who could deny something to Anna while looking at her angelic appearance. She was a very considerate child, nevertheless, it seemed to make little difference when everyone around her was willing to give in to her desires.
Rayburn wasn't too different from Angela in terms of education ways. While he grew up in the palace, proper behavior had been a requirement from a very young age. Nevertheless, they weren't living in the Imperial Court but in the duchy. And he liked to see his daughter's cheerfulness and to hear the laugh hidden in her voice. Anna had the same brilliance as her mother - and he didn't have the heart or the desire to quench it.
Hoya, on the other hand, encouraged unruly behavior in her niece. Sometimes she even incited it. She wrapped her arms around the small body and then squeezed until the girl struggled out of it.
"You are still so small." She said while holding the girl's chin to check her expression. "Aren't you supposed to have three years by now?" She teased.
"I have five years! Five!" Anna bickered, and Hoya's smile just spread wider.
"Aigo. So why don't you grow up?"
"I'm growing! You don't notice it because you are too high!"
While the two of them chatted a little more, Rayburn murmured an apology in Angela's ear that became shining red.
"Anna missed her." She whispered back cheerfully.
His noisy siblings, austere mother, stoic father, the responsibility for the duchy, the Espelind's name notoriety. Rayburn would like to spare her of everything, but above all, of political intrigues, power struggles, and enemies of such a long-standing that no one could remember the reason for the vendetta.
Though he hadn't always succeeded.
"Well. What are those for?" Hoya took something Anna had brought. She needed to study them to believe her eyes. Those were flower crowns, as flowered as the spring.
Anna beamed proudly. "Dad and Sir Mano couldn’t play with the flowers today because they have to work in the office, so I made these for them!"
Hoya smirked. "You should give it to them, right? They are so pretty!"
The compliment did not cheer the girl up. On the contrary, it made her downhearted. "I'm so sorry, auntie. I didn't know you would come, or I would have done one for you too."
"It's fi-" Before Hoya could say more, Anna pulled out her flower crown, letting her blond locks even messier, and placed it over her auntie's dark hair.
"You can have mine."
The girl came down from the sofa and ran towards her father's shadow before her aunt could react. The knight, used to the little Lady's behavior, got down in one knell to accept his gift with the same solemnity he would present in a formal ceremony.
He maintained his composure as the child proclaimed his new designation - something made out and completely absurd.
The crown princess was choked with laughter. While the mother of the child turned into a tomato. "I'm sorry, Sir Mano."
The knight raised himself with dignity. "It is an honor to serve the little Lady." His words delighted Anna, who cried "Kyaaaah!" and ran to her father.
Rayburn pulled his daughter out the floor to inside his embrace so she could hide her embarrassment burning her face on his shoulder as usual. Hoya watched that scene very pleased. She thought that peace suited his brother. If that pandemonium could be really considered peaceful.
"Anna," Rayburn spoke kindly, "you said you brought something to me. Can I have it?
"Yes, Dad." The girl stood over the couch to reach her father's head and placed the gaudiest flower crown over his hair. "Here! Yours is the prettiest because you are the prettiest!"
“Thank you.” He brushed her bangs out of the way and kissed her forehead. “Now go get ready for dinner.”
“But-!”
“ Anna .” Her mother called getting up. She stretched out a hand towards her daughter. “If Her Highness decides to stay for dinner, we can't keep her waiting.”
“Will you, aunt? Will you stay for dinner?”
“You can bet I will, kid.”
“Okay!” The girl got off the couch and looked at her mother. “Mom, can you give me your crown? I just need to do one last thing.”
In a move very similar to the one her daughter had made earlier, Angela pulled the flower crown off her head, disheveling her hair. However, before she could place it over Anna’s head, the child lifted her arms and grabbed the ornament. “It is not for me. I don’t want Sir Theriod to feel left aside.”
Angela’s smile shattered. “I don’t think-”
Hoya held her laughter and said, “My knight would be delighted to receive a gift from the little lady of the Espelind Duchy.”
To her mother's horrified embarrassment and her father's extreme concern, Anna approached Sir Theriode just as she had done to Sir Mano earlier and waited for him to kneel before her. What he did, after being encouraged by the Crown Princess' cough.
“Now we should go, Anna.” The mother rushed the girl.
Before the two of them could leave, Hoya declared “Not you, Angela. You must stay.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Anna said her goodbyes cheerfully and ran off. They could hear the girl asked 'Mrs. Lizzie' to get her prettiest dinner dress.
"Sister-in-law, come here," Hoya said with a friendly smile when Angela turned to go back to her husband.
"Yes?"
The Crown Princess patted the spot at her side. "Sit with me."
If Rayburn could reach out and grab Angela, he would have brought her to his side, but, because she had tried to escort their daughter to the door, she had strayed too far from him.
"Yes..." Angela sat on the couch three palms away from her sister-in-law.
"Come closer," Hoya said between her teeth, which made Angela move. As soon as the Duchess arrived at her side, the Crown Princess wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her. "Thanks to you I have such a fun niece, and Rayburn stopped to scowl." They looked at him. "Well, he doesn't do it as much as he used to. You are a truly precious sister-in-law."
"Haha." Angela's eyes were screaming for help. “Thank Your Highness for your kind words, but I don’t think I deserve such praise.”
“Yet so humble.” Hoya pinched the other women's cheek with fondness and strength that didn't quite match each other. "Modest, pretty, likable, and persuasive .”
"Hoya, why did you come here for?"
"There is going to be a party at the palace soon. And the guest list has people who are hard to please. So-"
" No ."
"I wasn't talking to you," Hoya replied through gritted teeth before turning to Angela and proceeding affably. "Sister-in-law, being part of a family as the Espelind means contributing. Won't you help out your Unnie?"
"My Unnie ?" Angela whispered. Her eyes sparkled as if they contained one thousand stars.
"Yes, yes," Hoya smirked. "Your Unnie needs your help."
Damn it.