Page 181 of The White King's Favorite

“Last night. Just in time to save our younger sister, who was also trying to save you.”

“...I see.”

“You’re welcome, by the way,” grunted Darsan.

“I don’t remember inviting you here.”

“We invited ourselves,” retorted Kassian. “From what I understand, Cessilia and Tessandra weren’t here by your invitation, either. Yet, they still got into a life-threatening situation because of you. Again.”

Ashen went silent, probably pissed. Cessilia sighed. She hadn’t expected the relationship between her brothers and him to suddenly be all good, but... there was a time when they did get along. She had hoped this would help a bit. Right now, though, they only sounded pissed at each other.

“Where is Cessilia?” Ashen asked, suddenly sounding nervous.

“Upstairs. She deserved some rest after everything she went through because of you.”

“I did not ask her to come here, I did not ask her to get in the middle of our political affairs, and I did not ask her to put herself in danger because of me! She chose to stay and she chose to stay by my side. If you’re not happy with that–”

“There you go again. Blaming everyone who’s putting their lives on the line for you.”

“You–!”

“K-Kassian,” said Cessilia, stepping forward. “Stop it, p-please.”

Her brother was leaning against the window, arms crossed and looking just like she had left him the night before. Ashen had managed to sit up on the table, holding his waist injury with his hand, while Darsan was seated on the other side of the room, in a chair, busy drinking from a large mug.

“...Cessi,” muttered Kassian. “How are you feeling?”

“B-better,” she said, her eyes on Ashen.

She walked up to him, checking on his state. Ashen immediately grabbed her hand, looking her up and down too, his expression getting darker for each scratch he spotted on her body.

“...I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“I’m f-fine. How about you? D-does it hurt a lot?”

“I’m fine.” He shook his head.

“Hey, hey, hey!” exclaimed Darsan. “Why are you holding hands? Stop holding hands with my sister!”

“Beat it, Darsan, she’s a grown-up,” yawned Tessandra, stepping into the room.

She had also changed outfits, although her hair was an utter mess.

“I don’t care if she’s a grown-up, she’s my little sister! That guy can’t touch her like that. I said let go!”

Tessandra rolled her eyes and walked over to grab a piece of fruit from the little plate that had been left there, most likely for them. From the smell and greasy stains, there also used to be beignets, but Darsan had obviously only left crumbs behind him.

“How l-late is it?” Cessilia asked, a bit worried.

Now that she was downstairs, she could tell the darkness outside was mostly caused by the terrible weather, the sky very dark once again. The rain was much lighter, though, just quiet drops hitting the cobblestones in a pretty melody.

“Not that late,” said Darsan. “Sunrise just began, it was still completely dark only minutes ago. I was about to come upstairs to get you but he woke up first.”

His green eyes exchanged a glare with Ashen, and Cessilia sighed.

“He watched over you all n-night,” she said to him, a bit annoyed.

“...Sorry,” muttered Ashen, looking away first.

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