It had been one month since Rythica’s ill-fated tour around the estate. Despite Elara’s wretched efforts to twist Julia’s charge into a deceitful political weapon, the young girl held no qualms about explaining to the nanny the true story of what had happened. The subtle reminder of what Rythica was already capable of was more than a little disturbing, but Julia refused to let that paint her views of the scared little girl. She also better understood why Elara was so insistent on providing the impressionable child with dedicated tutelage, even if Julia personally hated the cruel woman’s methods, helplessly watching from the sidelines as Rythica was misled under the guise of protecting her secrets. But Elara’s evident hesitation to let the young vex roam the estate once more could only be postponed so long without drawing even more suspicion.

  A schedule showing the dates Rythica was expected to leave her room was provided to the concerned caretaker. The timetable was interwoven such that the girl would not be allowed to leave her chambers on days when the House was expecting guests or receiving contractors for all the active renovations occurring around the mansion. Elara still planned to keep Rythica’s exposure to a minimum for as long as possible, leaning into her reclusive personality outwardly mirroring that of her adopted father. While her excursions wouldn’t be too frequent at her current age, perhaps a few outings a month, it still eased Julia’s worries somewhat to know that the child would be interacting with other people, rather than being solely at the whims of the deceptive noble’s tainted instruction.

  Julia had no intentions of wasting these opportunities to broaden the sheltered child’s horizons. And that meant carefully choosing an activity she believed the little carnivore could resonate with.

  “Yes, I know it’s an inconvenience. I’m sorry, Reina, but could you please hold the two plates for me? Rythica is shy, and I don’t think she’s ready to eat in such a crowded environment, yet.”

  “Unless you’re planning to eat them cold, I’m going to have to stay back and keep them warm. I do have other duties, as you know.“

  The chef gestured around the kitchen, indicating all the leftover food that still needed to be put away and the piles of dishes that required cleaning.

  “I’m not waiting around here all day.”

  “I know, I know.” Julia’s stomach made its hunger known, and the nanny had to valiantly resist the urge to break her morning fast right then and there. With a sigh, she relented.

  “Fine, I’ll eat my pancakes cold, and Rythica doesn’t eat hot meals, anyway. Will that be enough? I promise I won’t be too long. I’ll be back after the dining room is mostly empty.”

  Reina let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, fine. But you’re cleaning up after yourself.”

  Julia beamed and gave her an appreciative nod. “Thanks, Rein. You’re the best.”

  “Of course I am. Now, get out of my kitchen.” She waved a large wooden spoon in Julia’s general direction.

  Being a full head shorter than Julia, the sight was rather amusing. But the mature woman managed to maintain her composure and refrained from commenting. That dangerous road only led to weeks of burnt meals, half-sized portions, and incredibly salty side dishes.

  Poor Bella.

  The nanny still gave a hearty, good-natured laugh, waving back in gratitude as she stepped out and made her way through the estate. Her stomach growled once more, but she valiantly resisted the urge to turn back and grab some breakfast from the kitchen. Despite its best efforts, a bit of a delay wouldn’t kill her. She refused to look back towards the savory smells in the distance. Her will would not be denied.

  Minutes later, the woman blinked as she realized she had wandered into the practical research wing of the estate. Again. Even after a week, she still wasn’t used to Rythica’s new living arrangements. Muscle memory was a hard habit to break. With a mildly annoyed sigh, she moved on, taking a detour through and back around to the second floor.

  As she walked, she passed by the new beast enclosures and alchemical labs that were under construction, spotting various tools and building materials lying in piles through the open doorways. It was far from the only area of the mansion where such activity was seen. The chaos of such rapid expansion already had heads turning, thankfully keeping eyes away from the things that mattered. She imagined Elara was even now pushing the old scholar to bring in more apprentices, more monsters, more books, keeping the research flowing and their sudden windfall of investments on the rise. Given how little anyone in the House had seen of the man, maybe that was already the case.

  When she passed by Rythica’s old enclosure, she heard a faint, almost imperceptible roar from whatever new creature now inhabited it, the sound muffled by the thick door. It wasn’t any surprise that Elara had already made such efforts to cover her tracks. The schemer had long since made preparations that presented Julia as Randell’s assistant, caring for the subjects of his secret research projects, should anyone dig too deeply into it. Her position as Rythica’s nursemaid was marked as a recent development, according to House paperwork.

  She passed by another servant and politely waved to the recent hire. He was a nevesse, a humanoid species with a lot of fur, digitigrade, and vaguely cat-like features, and one of the two distinctly non-human additions to the staff. The man, still getting used to his position, gave her a curt nod and moved along, his chin high and back straight as an arrow. She didn’t mind the newcomer’s behavior. He would loosen up after a few weeks or so.

  Given how rare non-human adjacent individuals were among noble families, it was beyond doubt that Rythica’s position would draw some unwanted attention. She supposed Elara intended to flood the estate with other figures to catch the eye, drawing suspicion away from the vaneguin among them.

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  It only took a bit of time for Julia to reach Rythica’s new room, one of the recently refurbished storage areas. Julia looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone peeking over her shoulders before knocking.

  “Rythica, I’m coming in, okay?”

  There was a short pause before she heard an answering call from inside. “Come!”

  After one last look around, Julia unlocked the door and stepped inside. Once the door was closed behind her, Rythica slowly peeked out from behind the far side of the bed before finally exiting her hiding spot.

  “Julia.”

  The woman smiled warmly as the shy vex greeted her. Verifying the sudden intruder was indeed a friendly face, the girl wasted no time in plopping back down onto the floor and resuming her previous activities, still facing the caretaker. Julia idly watched as the young hive queen played the memory game with one set of hands while using her other set to very slowly spell out some of the three-letter words that Julia had taught her using letter blocks. It was a bit uncanny how she didn’t need to move her head to face either exercise as she completed both tasks flawlessly, while somehow still wholly focused on the caretaker.

  “Good morning, you adorable little bug. Did you sleep well?”

  “I sleep small better.”

  “That’s good, that’s good,” Julia said, although her smile was strained. She was well aware of how distressed the girl was with her new environment, despite putting on a brave face.

  Julia had long grown used to Rythica’s mannerisms. The vex wasn’t as expressive as humans in many ways, outside of her tantrums. She couldn’t laugh or cry, and her expressions were more muted overall, due to her nature. But anyone who spent any amount of time around her could tell her emotions were no less real. Julia’s tenuously named [Mirrored Emotions] skill screamed in the back of her head how much Rythica did not want to be here.

  Julia longed to help her, but there wasn’t much she could do. Rythica’s concerns had noticeably eased when she was taught how door locks worked, making it clear that strangers could not enter her room on a whim, but being displaced from her old environment still unsettled her.

  Comforting Rythica was difficult, as distractions didn’t work for her anymore. More often than not, Rythica had tended towards spiraling, stewing in her own thoughts in the background as she went through her day as if nothing was wrong. The caretaker was eager to break this worrying trend, but the most Julia could do was be there for the child as she slowly adjusted to all the new changes occurring around her.

  As Julia got Rythica dressed for the day, carefully guiding the vex’s wings through the specialized slots in her clothing and styling her hair into a simple twin braid, the caretaker was relieved to see her Aura easing the homesick child’s fear and anxiety ever so slightly. Julia's strained smile slowly became more genuine as the vex allowed herself to fall into the familiar routine.

  “There we go. You look so cute! What do you think?”

  Julia couldn’t help but grin as the girl admired herself in the mirror, a habit she had picked up alongside her obsession with fashion some weeks prior.

  “I like.”

  “Good! Now, are you hungry?”

  Rythica looked up, nodding eagerly. The vex paused, tilting her head as she presumably realized that Julia had not brought any plates with her into the room. Her antennae wiggled as she sought out the scent of food that wasn’t there, before finally glancing towards Julia’s apron pocket with a furrowed brow, paused, nodded, and waited expectantly.

  “Give food.”

  Julia’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Did you forget a word?”

  Rythica considered for a moment before shaking her head.

  The stern mother crossed her arms. “‘Please?’”

  She wore a brief, confused expression. “Yes,” she gave a nod of assent to Julia’s request. ”Can give food.”

  The nursemaid’s face went neutral for a few silent moments before she ultimately relented. She added this lesson plan to her future projects and shelved it for the time being.

  “Alright. We'll be doing something a little bit different today. We’re going to be eating in the dining room, okay? I know it’s new, but I’ll be right there with you, okay?”

  “Dining room?” she asked, unfamiliar with the term. She looked around before her eyes fell on the door with realization and dread. “Outside?”

  “Yes, baby. I’m sorry. I know it’s scary, but if you want to be part of the House, you’ll need to get used to leaving your room sometimes.”

  Julia’s heart panged again as the child’s demeanor visibly drooped, but the girl offered no verbal complaints. As Julia pulled out the vial from the pouch at her waist, Rythica accepted the glass and drank it in silence before handing the empty container back.

  “I’ll be with you this time, so you don’t have to worry. I’ll make sure you’re safe, okay? I promise.”

  Rythica nodded wordlessly and stood alongside Julia.

  The [Maternal Caretaker] looked at her with regret as Rythica’s slowly building mood collapsed like a house of cards. Maybe it was still too soon? No, she would need to grow more comfortable with it, and that wouldn’t be something that happened overnight.

  On a whim, she tried something she had never practiced before.

  All individuals with the same amount of Essence generated Mana at the same rate, regardless of all other factors. But one’s body could only hold so much Mana, inevitably leading to all excess Mana leaking out. This excess, uncontrolled Mana would leave the body and drift into the surrounding area for a few seconds before decaying into nothingness, applying minor, undirected changes to the world depending on the individual’s Affinity. This was the principle behind an Aura.

  Her face firmed in concentration as she focused on simply pushing out Mana from her reserves, attempting to bolster her Aura for a short period of time. While still in the Blood Stage, she couldn’t sense her own Mana, so she had no idea how much she was moving, how much she had left, or even if she was accomplishing anything at all. This wasn’t a skill or fancy technique; she was simply willing undirected Mana to be moved out of her body.

  Nothing happened for a few moments as the nanny tried to guide the intangible energy. As the silence stretched on, the vex gave a worried look at the tense servant, who remained momentarily unresponsive. A pair of claws gripped her skirt and tried to shake her.

  “Julia? Is what wrong?”

  Finally, there was a change. Instantly, Rythica’s demeanor shifted as she clearly started to feel the emotional component of Julia’s Aura. Julia had stopped channeling her [Mirror Emotions] skill, not wanting to drain her reserves even faster, so she wasn’t sure how much of an effect her channeled Aura was having, but she let herself calm as she found a steady rhythm, studying Rythica’s behavior to gauge its influence.

  “How do you feel? Better?” Julia offered the girl a warm, reassuring smile.

  Rythica looked up at her slowly, obvious gratitude in her eyes. Her muscles visibly eased, and the minor jitters of anxiety in her antennae slowed. She nodded.

  “Good.” Julia beamed. “Now, let’s go get you some food!”

  Julia’s own stomach twinged with hunger pains, giving her a bit more motivation. She wasted no time in guiding the young vainguin outside of the room and down the hall towards the dining room. While she was obviously skittish, it was not nearly as much as Julia would have expected; likely a combination of Julia’s presence and some familiarity with tenuously exploring the estate once before. Regardless, the nursemaid was pleased with the development.

  Before long, the two entered the estate dining room. Surely teaching Rythica how to eat at a table wouldn’t be too hard, right?

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