Corridor

  The question she would pose was quite specific and there was a chance Noah knew about it, but if she was right in her assumption he shouldn’t.

  “Do you know what a quillion is?” Veronique ended up asking even if she felt a bit bad about it

  “A what?” Noah looked utterly confused as if he had never heard about such term before.

  “I thought you knew everything” she tauted him with his own words, but she wouldn’t make an habit about it.

  She didn’t want to utterly humiliate him and completely antagonize her own guard against her.

  “Anything regarding my role!” he had pointed out, which wasn’t at all what he had said earlier and he knew it.

  “But it is relevant to your job” Veronique ended up giving him a clue, but it flew over his head as he was too mad

  “If it was I would know about it!” he didn’t even try to think about it

  “So you admit to not knowing what the parts forming the cross guard of your sword are called?” the redhead gave him the answer

  “You made that up” Noah didn’t want to admit defeat, but Veronique had made her point so she didn’t insist on it and let it go

  “I didn’t, but whatever makes you feel better” she had said then decided to add “if you were to judge a bird only for its ability to swim it would always look inferior to a fish”

  “I hope we get some sea fish for dinner” Rhea ended up commenting, the whole altercation completely flying over her head

  “Yea that would be nice, we can’t have it often so it’s a special day when we can enjoy it” Veronique agreed ‘I wonder if Mos and Bos would like it, it’s a shame monsters make it difficult to get and we got to rely on the Avians and Undead for sea fish’

  “I think it’s selfish to wish for such an expensive delicacy” it seemed as if Noah really wanted to pick a fight today

  “Noah!” this time Vincent had warned him to stay silent in a louder tone, but it was too late as those words were uttered and everyone had heard them.

  The redhead lightly frowned in annoyance at Noah’s satisfied expression knowing she had no choice but to humble him again

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  “Didn’t I just say we can’t have it often? It would be selfish of me to demand to have it everyday, or should I wonder you are merely jealous we get it at all?” Veronique really hoped that the Knight would stop running his mouth since she wasn’t enjoying this back and forward with him as much as she would have liked.

  The fact Noah was clearly grieving didn’t make this fun for her one bit.

  “But we can still have lake fish” Rhea interjected still not knowing about the light argument unfolding before her

  “Yea we got plenty of those and they are delicious as well” Veronique had to agree once again, even if a slight wave of disgust went over her ‘eh? But I like fish, were did that come from?’ she wondered out of confusion

  “I think it’s a bit late to tell the chef to prepare it, but I can talk to him tomorrow” Penelope had offered

  “Yes please do!” Rhea had basically begged her maid to do such thing

  “I will see if I can have some pastries made as well” the maid sweetened the deal earning a big smile from the child

  “You are the best Lope!” the child was over the moon, and if she didn’t have to stay proper she would probably jump all over the place out of excitement.

  Veronique had to stop herself from giggling at Rhea, so she just smiled and looked ahead.

  Her smile only souring when she glanced at Noah and saw his sour expression.

  Outer Garden

  The ceremony was going to take place in the canteen at the Knight’s Barracks, which had been rearranged for the occasion.

  The Knights’s Barracks were in the Outer Garden, so this was also the first time Veronique had stepped there.

  Unlike the almost maniacal care given to the Inner Garden, the Outer Garden was more wild even if it was clear it wasn’t completely natural and was still maintained by an human hand.

  Bos and Mos got a little excited when they got there but Veronique was fortunately able to reign them in before the rest of the Aurelia had caught up with them.

  Yea, for safety reasons they hadn’t been allowed to just reach the Knight’s Barracks by themselves, despite having four knights acting as their bodyguards.

  A few months ago Veronique would have called it stupid, but given what she knew now it was understandable.

  What if there were some giant common swifts next? Or something cute like a sparrow?

  ‘There could be giant bloodthirsty corgis as well for all I know’ she had thought even if from what she had learned dogs had got the better part of the deal by simply getting a significantly longer lifespan so there shouldn’t be such thing.

  ‘What about giant chickens? Those could be a menace…I wonder if they could have devolved all the way to Dinosaur stage’ she started going on a weird tangent, absently watching as her hallucinations followed her from a distance ‘Did evolution even work the same way as in my old world? Maybe we evolved from kangaroos or something instead of monkeys’

  The rest of the family had reached them, so they started marching towards their destination.

  Veronique wished she could see the path they were taking, but her view was blocked by all the people surrounding her.

  ‘I hate being this short’ she thought knowing she might at the last see something if she wasn’t child sized ‘the one time I am allowed there and I can’t even look around’ she calmed herself up, as she would probably be allowed to roam there when she grew up ‘with all the shit that will come my way as an adult I shouldn’t wish to become one sooner just to watch the scenery’ she chastised herself for the thought and kept walking while trying to keep her disappointment out of her face.