Not long after changing into their swimsuits, Kye and Alethea met up with the others in the lobby, everyone wearing their own swimsuits. Liliana and Aliana wore bikinis the opposite of their hair color, so Liliana’s was black and Aliana’s was white. Hannah chose a purple bikini with a frilly top and bottom that matched the shade of her hair. Alexandra went with a dark red and black one-piece to go with her dark red hair. Ginchiyo and Akane mimicked the Venturi sisters and went with black bikinis to contrast their own white hair. Astraia went with a black frilly bikini to contrast her blonde hair while her sister chose a white one-piece with a frilly skirt like Alethea’s. Being only a day old, baby Kaede was not allowed to be in public so she had to remain in a private room.

“I take it Alethea coordinated for us while my half of the group went to Yokohama Sekai?” Kye said. “What about baby Kaede? If all of us are going, who’s staying with her?”

“I may have coerced Allison into coming to babysit for the afternoon,” Hannah said. “Technically royal children can only be in their home palace when apart from their parents, but I think we can bend the rules a smidge since this is your honeymoon.

“I see. One moment.” Kye quickly began tapping her fingers in the air to send a message.

Kye >> Allison, are you here?

Allison >> Yes. I am taking care of Kaede while you and the others are at the beach. I’ll be leaving once you return.

Kye >> May I ask you to stay? I’ve been sensing a very faint bit of mana across the sea. I can’t tell exactly what it is from here. It’s too faint. What tiny bit I can sense feels out of place.

Allison >> If it’s enough to warrant your concern then I shall stay. I’ll watch for the mana and let you know if I figure out anything.

Kye >> Thanks. What about talking with Layla and James about the... things.

Allison >> We discussed it immediately after you left yesterday and have come to a conclusion. We’ll wait until your honeymoon is over, though, so go have fun.

“Okay, that sounds good,” Kye said. “Let’s go!”

“Wait, hold on,” Alethea said. “I’m having second thoughts about my suit.”

“Do you want to take a detour to the shop and let the others go ahead of us?”

“No, I just need to run back up to our room for a minute. I picked out a second one in case this one didn’t work out.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I’ll be right back!” Alethea quickly ran off up to their room. Once there, she shed her one-piece and fished her backup from her bag. Now wearing a white bikini with a frilly bottom, she rejoined the others. Before they left, she swiped her hands in the air and set her phone to record a photo. She pulled Kye in and said, “Cheese!”

“Oh my, what a sight!” Hannah said with a grin. “You’re such a cute couple!”

“Indeed, they are,” Akane agreed. “But...” She rapidly formed her manasteel bracelet into a katana and slashed at Kye, who was just barely able to transform her aethersteel bracelet and block it, earning a smile from her white-haired grandmother. “Very good, dear granddaughter.” Both returned their weapons to bracelet form. Ginchiyo watched the heartwarming scene with a tear in her eyes.

The beach was a beautiful sight. People were scattered about enjoying so many different things. Barbeques, volleyball matches, watermelon smashing, a large beach shop with the resort branding, and so many other things were all over.

“This is incredible!” Alethea had stars in her eyes as she took everything in. “Shi-chan, look! There’s watersports!”

“Oh hey, look at that. I see... waterskiing, kneeboarding, wakeboarding, oh and there’s somebody over there making a big wave for surfers!”

A sudden blast of mana skated across the water’s surface far on the far-right side of the beach that threw up a small wall of water on either side, soon followed by another slightly larger.

“Are they competing?” Alethea asked.

“For heaven’s sake, those boys never learn...” Hannah sighed. “You all go ahead. I need to go discipline a couple young royals.”

“What’s going on over there?” Kye asked.

“Your dear cousins, Johnathan and Joseph, like to run a competition that’s basically ‘who can make the biggest wall of water’. The winner gets a prize. But they know damn well that most people can’t beat them. They’re royals, and they graduated the academy a few years ago, so they’re pretty good. They hold back and only do just enough to win.”

“It sounds like they’re just stringing people along. That’s... not nice.”

“Yes, and both myself and their mother have punished them many times for it, but as soon as I’m distracted...”

“Hmm. I’ll go with you. I have an idea.”

Hannah smirked. “Yeah? Alright then, this should be good.”

A few minutes later, Kye, Alethea, and Hannah showed up where the two boys were competing with random strangers.

“Come one, come all!” said Johnathan.

“Test yourselves against a royal!” said Joseph.

“And win a prize!”

Kye and company were hidden in the crowd. Kye smirked and said to Hannah, “I can beat them. Shall I embarrass them?”

“Oh, I like that. Give them a taste of their own medicine. Do it! I’ll just stay back here so they don’t scram right away.”

Kye nodded and jumped forward over the crowd with Alethea right behind her. “Heya boys, you’re royals? Mind if I try? I’ve been practicing!”

“Hey there, pretty lady. Of course! Our challenge is open to everyone!” said Johnathan.

“Hey, don’t you come on to my girl!” Alethea shouted.

“Oh, the pretty blonde is taken? Too bad, Johnny,” said Joseph.

“Yeah, but what’s a guy to do? Guess I’ll just have to win the challenge and impress everyone else instead.”

“Hey, don’t count the lady out just yet, you never know!”

“Right you are, brother. Okay, miss, go right ahead. All you gotta do is shot a blast of mana across the water and make a splash! The bigger the better! Do you have a manasteel weapon or do you need to borrow a sword?”

Kye nodded and stepped up, transforming her aethersteel bracelet into a katana. “I’m good!”

“Going with a katana? Nice. We haven’t had a katana wielder join the challenge in a while. Let’s see what you’ve got! After you go, I’ll see if I can top it. If I can’t, you win a prize!”

“Oh, what’s the prize?”

He pointed at the resort branded beach shop. “All you can eat on us. But you gotta let us eat with ya.”

Kye smiled and asked Alethea, “What do you think, babe?”

“I don’t like sharing you, babe, but if it’s all you can eat on them then okay.”

“Alright, here we go!” Joseph said. “How big will it be?”

Kye nodded and poured some mana into her blade before swinging it. She launched a small blast of mana across the surface. It threw up a splash about twenty feet high on either side.

“Alright, we’ve got our challenger’s entry. Now let’s see if she can beat a royal!”

Johnathan stepped up and launched a stronger blast of mana that generated a twenty-five-foot-tall splash.

“Oh, too bad, miss. But you’re welcome to try again if you think you can do better!”

Kye nodded. “Okay, let’s try again. But what do you say about making a bet out of it?”

“Oh, now we’re talking,” Johnathan said. “What do you have in mind?”

“If I win, you’ll give us your regular prize... and you’ll arrange an audience with Lady Hannah!”

“And if you lose?”

“My partner and I here?”

“Uh huh.”

“We’ll go on a double date with you boys.”

“What?!” Alethea added, putting on her best pouty face to add to the act.

“You got a deal, missy! Alright, go ahead! Let’s see what you’ve got!”

Kye nodded and stepped up. This time, she channeled an enormous amount of light aether for about twenty seconds to give the boys a moment to figure out how over their heads they were. Kye held her sword above her head, and quickly brought it down. “Seiken!” She unleashed an enormous wave of light aether from her blade that blasted outward at an incredible speed and threw up water over a kilometer in the air. Alethea unleashed her white aether to quickly generate barriers on either side to prevent the sudden tsunami from reaching anyone. The path Kye’s attack took left the water parted for several kilometers out to sea, all the way to the sea floor. A thin film of white aether could be seen across the sea floor, indicating that Alethea was protecting everything from Kye’s overwhelming attack.

The crowd roared, having never seen anything like Kye’s performance before.

“Holy shit!” “What the hell?!” The brothers were wide-eyed and mouths open.

As the water splashed back down and began to settle, Kye spun around and flicked her sword to the side, before spinning it around a bit and sheathing it in a very boastful fashion. “Okay, boys, that’s my real entry!” She gave them a grin with her fingers held up in a ‘V’.

They slowly turned their heads and saw the grinning blonde. Joseph was the first to react. “How?”

“Who even are you?” Johnathan asked. “That was...”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I think you won,” Joseph said. “We can’t beat that. Where did you even learn that move? Seiken is an epic-tier spell, and you didn’t even use an incantation!”

“And your partner threw up such enormous barriers to block the water... hold up that was divine mana!” The brothers suddenly realized what just happened. “And those barriers! That was WHITE MANA! You’re?!?!”

Alethea smirked. “Alethea Atlantis of Terra, at your service!” The crowd gasped at Alethea’s introduction.

“And you...” Johnathan looked back at Kye. “Of all people that could be hanging out with the legendary white mana user... someone that can instant case an epic spell... a spell that was invented by-”

“Goddess of Light, Kye Akari of Nippon Sekai, at your service!” May as well use my stupid title in my favor. This should really get them.

The boys’ eyes suddenly darted around, quickly finding the person they were most dreading to see. Hannah emerged from the crowd behind Kye and Alethea with the evilest smile anyone had ever seen. They immediately tried to run.

“True binding.” Kye wrapped both of them in chains of light.

“So, here we are,” Hannah said as she approached. “Once again, my idiot grandsons are promising rewards for people, giving them false hope by holding back so much that you just barely beat the challengers. How did you like your cousin’s performance? You should take note, boys. That is how a proper royal performs. So, now that somebody has beaten you, I believe it’s time to pay up. And wouldn’t you know there’s a lot of mouths to feed! Come now, boys, time to make good on your promise!”

“B-b-but, Hannah, we’re-”

“Uh huh? But?”

“We don’t have that much contribution! We can’t feed so many!”

“Then you’ll have to work! And I know just what you could do!”

“Oh my, they’re royals and they don’t have much contribution?” “How shameful!” “They’re nothing but showoffs!” “They’re giving royals a bad name!” The crowd quickly turned on the shameless brothers.

Kye and Alethea joined Hannah with their own evil smiles.

After claiming victory over Johnathan and Joseph, Kye’s group rejoined the others, and everyone went to the resort branded shack for lunch.

“Mmm, what shall I have?” Kye pondered aloud.

“Oh, Shi-chan, we should get some barbeque!”

“And ice cream!”

The looks on Johnathan and Joseph’s faces were growing more and more glum as the girls named more foods. They looked at each other and wanted to cry.

After they ordered, they started looking for seats. Kye noticed a lone woman wearing sunglasses sitting in the corner. She looked up and met Kye’s eyes. Kye smiled and waved. The woman pulled her glasses off and smiled. Kye froze.

What the hell?

“Shi-chan? What’s up?” Kye didn’t respond. She was like a statue, her eyes locked on the mystery woman.

What is she doing here?!?!

“Shi-chan?” Alethea followed Kye’s line of sight and froze the instant she laid eyes upon the woman. The others soon began to notice.

“Princess?” Liliana said.

“Princess, what’s wrong?” Aliana asked.

“Yeah, are you okay?” Hannah asked. “You feeling dizzy?” Hannah followed their line of sight and saw the woman. “Oh! What a surprise! Evelyn!”

The woman stood up and walked over. “Hello, Hannah. You have quite the entourage today.”

“Quite! Have you met Kye and Alethea? They seem to recognize you, though I don’t know why they’re just standing there like statues.”

“Oh, yes, we’ve met before.”

That face. That voice. Those eyes!

“Lady Kye, Lady Alethea, greetings! Layla told me you are on your honeymoon. Congratulations!”

Kye and Alethea met Evelyn’s eyes again. They were having trouble pulling themselves together.

“Are you feeling unwell?” She casted a healing spell on the two. “Better?”

“Oh yes, much, thank you,” Kye said. She actually did feel better. Did she just...

“Thank you very much!” Alethea said, unsure why the spell eased her anxiety. She and Kye shared a quick glance.

WHAT IS LADY EVE DOING HERE!?!?