In the imperial palace corridor, Sophia walked, her footsteps light against the floor. Whenever she encountered a palace servant, she would stop, straighten her posture, and begin her inquiry.
"Excuse me, have you seen the prince around?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Sophia, I haven't seen the prince for the whole day."
She gained nothing from them.
Sophia kept walking and kept stopping every servant she encountered.
"Excuse me, have you seen the prince?"
"...I'm sorry…"
And kept receiving nothing.
She stopped by a maid who was cleaning a marble vase.
"Excuse me…"
'Nothing.'
She stopped by a butler who was carrying some papers.
"...have you seen…"
'Nothing again.'
She stopped by—
"Excuse me…"
'No one?'
"...the prince?"
'How come no one saw him around?'
"Sorry, have you…"
'There is at least one servant every twenty steps. How come no one ever saw him pass by?'
***
Already on her knees, Sophia was breathing heavily, her palms pressed against the cold floor for support. At this point, she was practically running around the palace. And now, she was completely exhausted, her shoulders rising and falling unevenly.
"Cal, were you not at the palace?" she muttered under her breath, her voice trembling as she pushed herself up.
Sophia began to walk toward the nearby window, one hand trailing along the wall, and watched the scenery outside, her breath slowly steadying.
"It's past midnight, what business might he have outside during this hour…" she murmured, her forehead resting lightly against the glass.
And then, her eyes landed on a specific location. She stiffened, her fingers pausing mid-motion.
"That place…"
Sophia then walked toward a nearby door and opened it. Immediately, a chill wind cast upon her, tugging at her hair and clothes. But the cold didn't seem to bother her.
Sophia began to walk outside, wrapping her arms around herself as she moved. Her surroundings were filled with lush plantations and colorful flowers. It was a beautiful place, especially during the night, where the moon cast a dim light upon the blooms, shadows swaying gently with the breeze.
She reached a bench. She stared at it for a while, her steps slowing, before taking a seat there, hugging her knees tightly.
"Cal, you will find me here, right, like what you did back then?" she muttered softly, her chin resting on her knees, a small cloud forming from her breath.
For Sophia, this bench held a special memory. It was the place where she first met Cal, or to be exact, the place where she was found by him.
Slowly, a small smile formed on her shivering lips as she closed her eyes.
***
On a quiet night, inside a lush garden filled with plantation, Shira sat leisurely, one leg crossed over the other, drinking tea. It was a moment of calm after the storm, which was the incident with the imperial guard in the palace. She lifted the cup slightly, the faint steam brushing her face.
"Thilda, are you there?" Shira called using telepathy, her fingers tapping idly against the porcelain.
She received nothing.
After the incident with the imperial guard, specifically right after the Nine-Stroke Beast unleashed its devastating aura, Mathilda had been in a state of hiding. During the incident, Shira wasn't paying much attention to her own beast, as she herself was too focused on the Nine-Stroke Beast in action.
"Mathilda?" Shira called out again, tilting her head slightly.
Still nothing.
Shira let out a chuckle, shaking her head as she lowered the cup. For her, knowing how monstrous and even prideful Mathilda is, seeing her in this state was quite a sight.
"A Nine-Stroke Beast was indeed something else," she muttered, her eyes narrowing with interest.
Still, there was a lot of unknown regarding the beast that she hadn't uncovered.
Shira slowly took a sip of her tea, then set the cup down, her fingers lingering on the rim, and began to think deeply.
"That beast contract mark, was that even a contract?"
After investigating Sophia's beast contract pattern, Shira uncovered a problem that was both questionable and utterly absurd. Normally, when a beast makes a contract with a human, the agreement must be mutual, negotiated on terms of benefit or constraint, and inscribed using both parties' unique mana signatures. However, within Sophia's contract pattern, Shira sensed only a single mana signature. This meant the arrangement was never a mutual contract, but a one-sided imposition, something that could only originate from the beast itself.
The implication is clear: Sophia had nothing to do with the contract, or, to put it another way, the Nine-Stroke Beast was never controlled by her. But still, the fact that the beast was still following Sophia's command was evident from the incident, which made things questionable for Shira.
"There is no way the beast was following that child's command by choice, right?"
That was the most absurd notion she could entertain. The idea of a being clearly far superior to anything she had ever encountered, choosing to obey another without any benefits, was incomprehensible. Even with Mathilda, she had to spend nearly eight years negotiating the terms and conditions just for her to agree to form a contract.
And that wasn't all.
"That pattern is practically a blank sheet of paper."
Even after investigating the pattern, Shira couldn't find any information on it; nothing regarding the beast's 'race', 'gifts', 'curses', or even the 'realm' from which it originated. In a way, that contract was merely a mark without any usable data.
Despite practically getting more questions than answers, Shira wasn't feeling down. She was, in fact, even more excited. This just went to show that a Nine-Stroke Beast wasn't something that could be understood through conventional means.
"I guess I need to be a little rough next time," she said softly, a faint smile forming as she lifted her teacup once more.