At the banquet table, Malenia propped her chin on her little hand, puffed out her cheeks, and sulkily blew air. Every so often, she turned to look toward the entrance, but each time found nothing.
"They've been gone for so long—why aren't they back yet?!" She frowned at the fruit platter, already more than half empty, then clenched her fists and thumped her golden prosthetic legs twice. "It's all your fault. I can't even walk in you—you're completely useless. One day, I'll take you apart and have Lucia breathe fire on you until you're ashes!"
A sudden clamor of lively voices rose from the distance. She abruptly turned toward it and stared fixedly at the entrance. Before long, she indeed saw a large group approaching.
Father, her brother, Knight Ordovis, and another knight uncle walked at the front. The uncle with the particularly handsome armor was pulling her brother along as he laughed and said something. Beside them was a big brother with red hair... Was that Brother Radahn, the one Father had mentioned? He looked a little fierce.
She hurriedly searched for Lucia and quickly spotted several figures walking side by side. "Ah, are those Brother Rykard and Sister Ranni beside him? Sister Ranni, she... eh?"
Malenia grabbed a lock of her own hair, then looked at Ranni in the distant procession, who was speaking to Lucia with a faint smile. She muttered, "Sister's hair seems a little darker than mine... but—she's so pretty!"
Carian's three demigods had all inherited their parents' peerless looks. Ranni, the youngest of them, in particular, possessed not only Queen Rennala's beauty but also some of Radagon's gallant spirit. Coupled with the faint chill around her that kept strangers at a distance, she had already begun to show a beauty capable of toppling kingdoms