The next day all three of them woke up, Emerthelil and Mesanth pretending that yesterday’s last moments didn’t happen. Not even one word was spoken about either Spera’s unusual intelligence or her reaction to their discovery of it.

Spera herself didn’t want to talk about the matter since she couldn’t really explain her extreme reaction and she was very glad that they avoided the topic.

After both her parents had gotten dressed she asked her father to visit Warthon, he agreed however wanted to take care of another matter beforehand so that they could take their time with Warthon.

Not understanding she just looked at him while tilting her head but he didn’t say more just smiling at her knowingly.

Her father picked her up after they had both said farewell to her mother and carried her down the stairs to the office that was hidden behind the stairwell.

When they entered Mesanth’s office it was still like how it looked when she was first there, even if it was a year ago.

In it she could see three young people. Two men and one woman stood rigidly in front of her father’s desk. When the door closed her father called out “At ease,” making the three people relax their posture and stand more comfortable.

Mesanth carried her to the table, sitting in his chair and placing her on his lap.

Spera was now able to study them openly.

Their features resembled each other quite a bit so Spera was very certain that they were related to each other, their coloring and body type, however, was very different.

The woman was slender but with defined legs and arms speaking of a regular workout. She had dark brown hair with black eyes and a light tint that gave her a very warm aura.

One of the men had light brown hair, green eyes and white skin with very slender body build that seemed to blend into the surroundings making no noise of his own reminding Spera of Loraine while the other had black hair, brown-green eyes and caramel skin with bulging muscle that emitted a very strong aura.

All three wore casual clothes, made out of linen, that had earthen colors.

Both men wore a light brown tunic and dark brown pants with black tight fitted boots, while the woman wore a dark green A-line dress with a brown jacket and dark brown loose-fitted leather boots.

“I have to thank you three for coming …” her father began but was immediately interrupted by the woman that seemed to be the leader of the group, standing a step in front of both men.

“Cut the crap Mesanth, we grew up together, of course, we help you. And you know if we didn’t, Mother would have our behinds for it,” she said with a smile.

“Daphne … I see you are still your usual charming self.”

“Oh, you want to waste my time! If it’s nothing important, I have to go back to my studies.”

She said turning her body slightly towards the door.

“Sis … Mother said you should behave …” The slender man stopped her.

“I know …” the woman seemed to take a deep breath and turned to her master.

“Daphne … I am sorry but the whole situation is quite taxing.” Mesanth apologized.

“It’s ok … now please tell us what the matter is.” Daphne seemed content with the apology and became more friendly.

“Spera …” her father looked down on her and smiled slightly,” I would like to introduce you to Daphne, Samuel, and Leon. They are Jeanne’s and Loraine’s children and will be assigned to guard you for the foreseeable future.”

Spera looked at the three and could see them gaping at her father in utter shock. Seemed like he just dropped a bomb at them.

“Master! I don’t have the time … I have my studies!” Daphne erupted, just moments away from shouting at her father.

“I agree, I have to train!” The burly man named Samuel agreed with his sister.

“It’s going to reduce my time for training as well.” The slender man, Leon, reinforced his siblings stand.

“Haaa ~ all three of you are really …” Mesanth rubbed his forehead muttering curses underneath his breath.

“Daddy … no good?” Spera turned around on his lap and asked him with upturned eyes.

“Sorry, Darling, these three are the best warriors in our country, but they have quite an excessive behavior regarding their hobbies …”

Spera turned back to the three siblings, inclining her head to the side as if contemplating something.

“Whey no change avter a new our?” She asked, making question marks appear in the sibling's expression.

“Oh Sweetie, you are a genius !” Her father exclaimed hugging her and patting her head, which made Spera giggle.

“Master … what did she say?” Daphne asked, still taking the lead.

“My beautiful daughter suggested that you three take turns protecting her. This will make her saver and still give all three of you enough time to follow your hobbies.

But to be sure I will assign her two shadows for constant protection. With your powers, it will be easy for you to locate them but this will give my daughter another layer of security.”

Leon perked up at that, taking a step forward.

“Which two unit agents did you think will be good enough? If it helps with the situation, I am not against giving them a few pointers.”

Her father quieted down, thinking about the question for a moment.

“Well I would like Number 2 and 5 to take the job but they are right now in Solaris. The next option would be Number 7 and 8 … but they do need a bit of training for this particular job. Are you all right with taking them under your wing?”

Spera not being able to understand at least half of that sentence, just ignored it, being sure that her father would enlighten her if he thought it would be better.

“No problem Master.”

“Samuel, what do you think?” Her father asked, the burly man having stayed quiet since his one sentence before.

“I have nothing against that if I still have time to train … And I think our mother would welcome our participation as protection detail for the princess.”

“Yeah, father would also be pleased … He says we should take a more active role in our work for you, master.” Daphne relented.

“Great! Well, then I would like to introduce to you my daughter Speraenya. I hope you will keep her safe.” Mesanth set her on the floor and she toddled to the three, grabbing onto Daphne's skirt and tugging on it, wanting to be picked up.

Not understanding and panicking a little at the close proximity of such a fragile creature, Daphne looked at her brothers in confusion.

“Sister …” Leon looked at her, wanting to laugh but knowing that he would get hit if he dared, so, with slight vibrating shoulders he tried to keep is voice neutral. “She wants to be picked up … just lift her to sit on your hip and stabilize her with an arm under her buttocks.”

Making Daphne blush a bit at her ineptness.

However, Spera didn’t take her inactions as a rejection, just once again tugging on her clothes and smiling up at her.

Daphne stiffly crouched down, slowly picking Spera up and awkwardly holding her against her side. Her expression betraying her discomfort.

Samuel and Leon looked at their sister, trying their hardest not to laugh at her, knowing that if they did their immediate future would be filled with unimaginable pain, their sister having found a way to cause immense pain with minimal injuries to her opponent.

After a few minutes, Spera being very quiet and just enjoying the feeling of being held, Daphne slightly relaxed when a knock could be heard on the door.

Spera was immediately set down on the floor, the three straightening their posture and a look of apprehension crossing their features. What kind of enemy was on the other side to be so respected by the three of them?

The door opened and revealed Lorain who walked into the room with a smile on her face.

Seeing her most favorite person after her parents and Mesana, Spera immediately toddles to her smiling and reaching her hands out to her to be picked up.

Settling her against her hip and stroking her head, Lorain turned to her children.

“It seems like you already met. Princess, what do you think of my children?” Genuine curiosity could be seen in her eyes.

“Like!” She immediately replied smiling back at her. She could hear three collective sighs behind her and her smile widened.

“Oh really …” she said suspiciously looking at her children and since she was their mother knowing them better than anybody else. “Why?” making their body stiffen again.

“Like ou an Jeanne ~ “ Spera answered earning herself a very tight hug.

“Master I would like to have a word with my children…” seeing him showing no reaction to her indirect question she added “... alone.” giving him a pointed look.

“All right …. Spera didn’t you want to visit Warthon?” He asked immediately standing up and moving towards Lorain holding his hands out for his daughter. Feeling the shift in the atmosphere she reached for her father, turning a blind eye to the begging looks of her new bodyguards.

Giving them a pitying look Mesanth carried Spera out of the room.

But just moments before the door closed Spera could hear Lorain ask “How come you three didn’t listen to me?” and she could feel her father hastening his steps to leave the premises faster.

Taking a deep breath, the unemotional mask that he always wore slipped onto his face once again and she could feel him emit a cold and unfriendly air.

Out of the corner of her eye, Spera could see a maid that seemed to be cleaning one of the vases in the hall, however, her eyes were more on them, then on the vase giving the indication that she was one of the spies that the Draconian Queen had planted in the castle.

Her father repositioned her on his hips so that she could see her surroundings and carried her out from behind the staircase, but didn’t take the stairs upwards, walking out of the palace.

They were now on the road that led to the training field, but instead of walking down the road, they turned left and walked along the palace wall to their right side, the hedge shielding them from view.

After a while they reached the corner of the palace, turning left Spera could see another building that was built next to the palace but still encased by the hedge. It was a two-story house made out of grey stone with red shingles on top of it.

The door was a dark blue, as were the window frames of the two windows on each side of the door.

She could make out light blue curtains behind the windows, but couldn’t see into the house.

The second story was of the same composition, but instead of a door, a large window was in the middle.

There was no hedge or fence just a wide open area of grass which was neatly cut.

Dark red roses were planted in front of the house making it seem like right out of a storybook.

She couldn’t see a way from the palace to the building so she could finally understand why they seemed to have taken such an unusual road.

Remembering that her father told her that they would be going to see Warthon she turned her questioning eyes to him and pointed at the building.

“Ish Wafon liwing ere?”

“Yes, darling. You know Warthon is my right-hand man. He would have been entitled to live in the castle but he is very conscious of his position, demanding to at least live in a separate building from me even if it is on the castle premise.”

“Posion?”

“Position, love. He is a draconian of the Water tribe and given that I am the son of the draconian king who was of the fire tribe we shouldn’t have a good relation. If you ask me that is such a worthless misconception. However, it would complicate our situation … sorry, dear, I am rambling again. Even if you can understand it, you are too young to be burdened by our worries,” he said, giving her a sad smile and stroking her head with his hand.

“Everi hing goen u be alight!” She said with conviction, smiling up to him. She had the protection of three Gods. Even if at the moment she couldn’t do anything about it, in the future she would do anything in her powers to help and protect her family.

Seeing her determination and feeling his heart warm at her smile, Mesanth cuddled her tightly after he had looked around to be sure that nobody was around and could see his gesture of affection.

“Thank you, sweety. I know. Everything is going to be ok. The only thing that matters is that your mom, you and our friends are alright.

Now do you want to see Warthon? I have to warn you, Fon didn’t go easy on him.”

“Goen, Goen! Haf o chair im up!” She said raising a fist in the air and smiling at him.

Her father let out a small chuckle as he walked to the door, knocking and immediately entering the house, not waiting for an answer from within.

The first thing Spera could see was a big living room, which was decorated in brown and blue colors. A staircase was on the right side of the room, a door underneath it.

Behind a big worn out brown leather couch, which was placed almost in the center of the room, was a high counter made out of dark stone and light brown wood. Over it you could see a kitchen with dark wooden cabinets and a black stove, the walls being painted in a light yellow color.

In front of the couch seemed to be a low table, however, the table top was see-through with a blue sheen to it. Spera had never seen such a table before. The four corners of the table were made out of dark wood and the tabletop was enclosed with delicate dark brown wooden carvings of plants.

The whole floor was completely laid out with parquet that was made up of different wooden hues bringing the colors together.

Here and there she could see blue carpets on the floor.

Spera looked around in interest but couldn’t survey the whole first floor, a few doors that led from the main room being closed of.

Seeing no sign of Warthon Spera looked up to her father, but before she could ask him a question they could both hear a noise from the second floor.

Staring at the stairs only moments later Mesana appeared at the top of the stairs, smiling at both of them with surprise.

“Mesanth! Good to see you. And how is my lovely niece?” She asked coming down the stairs and pressing a kiss to Speras forehead.

“MANA!” Spera exclaimed in excitement. She had missed her aunt terribly.

“Oh, you still can’t pronounce my name?” She smiled at her in indulgence, the nickname being only for family members. If somebody outside of the family even dared to think about calling her that, they would have a rude awakening.

“Mesana … It’s good to see you.” Mesanth said, hugging her with one arm close but letting go when she pushed lightly at his hip.

“What’s up?” He didn’t understand why she denied the affection. Here was the only place where they didn’t have to be careful with their interaction.

“I have to make dinner … Warthon can finally eat solid food again and he nagged the whole day that he wants to eat a good piece of meat.” She explained herself with a slight blush on her cheeks.

“Oh? I didn’t know you could cook …” Mesanth said looking at her in inquiry.

“Oh, shush! As if I would ever compete with Lorain in the art of cooking. I would be utterly defeated. Warthon is a very easy target to practice on.” She said but to both Mesanth and Spera, this sounded like a load of excuses.

Smiling indulgently at her Mesanth kept quiet, changing the topic to the man in question.

“Speaking of Warthon, we would like to see him. Spera asked about him yesterday and I promised her that she would be able to meet him today.”

“Chair im up!” Spera cut in with a huge smile on her face.

“Oh, you are so adorable.” Mesana smiled down at her “Of course you can see him, follow me. I just need a snack for the grumpy dragon upstairs,” she said, winking at Spera and disappearing into the kitchen for a second, only to reappear with a bowl in her hands.

“What is that?” Her father asked, looking interested at the content.

“Nothing for you!” She said, shielding the bowl with her body as she turned towards the staircase.

“Are you coming?” She turned back to them when she realized that they hadn’t followed her.

“Of course!” He said hurryingly moving to her side.

“Well, seems like my sister is growing up.” He muttered under his breath, so softly that only Spera could hear him.

Looking at him and seeing his complicated expression, that she couldn’t make out if it was a good or a bad thing, she patted his cheek smiling up at him.

“Darling, promise me never to grow up!” He said cuddling her close, which earned him a laughter from his sister as they moved up the stairs.