Waking up early in the morning, Shiro looked to her side and saw that Attie and Yin were still sleeping peacefully. Lisandra had already woken up and was currently doing some stretches in the room.
"Good morning." Lisandra whispered as Shiro yawned before nodding.
Getting off the bed carefully, so that she didn't wake up Attie nor Yin, Shiro went to the toilet and had a quick shower.
When she came back, she changed into a simple white tank top, black mini shorts, a pair of black tights and some boots.
Tying up her hair into that of a ponytail, Shiro looked in the mirror and nodded her head with satisfaction.
"This should look casual enough." She mused to herself before leaving the toilets.
Turning towards Shiro, Lisandra was rather surprised at her appearance before giving her a thumbs up.
"Looking good mum." She praised.
"Of course, I always look good." Shiro grinned as she looked out the window and saw that the sun was rising.
"Hmm, I'll set a camera down here so that I'll be notified when your brother and sister wake up. For now though, do you want to go grab something to eat and see if the rest of the party is awake?" She asked.
"Mn, sure."
Flexing her fingers, Shiro created a small camera before placing it on the table. Once she was sure that everything was set up, she left the room with Lisandra and made their way downstairs, where the rest of the party rested.
Once she went downstairs, she saw that everyone was up, so they decided to have breakfast together.
"How was your rest?" Shiro asked with a smile.
"Mn, it was good. Though Silvia said something about Yin having a fight with someone. What happened?" Lyrica asked.
"Oh, it's just a small argument between two kids. We were able to resolve it before anything major occurred." Shiro shrugged as Lyrica nodded.
"Anyways, what's with this outfit? It's quite… casual? For a lack of a better word." Lyrica asked curiously.
"Well, I just felt like wearing something a little different today. What do you think?" Shiro chuckled.
"Mn, it looks good on you." Lyrica nodded.
"Not gonna lie, with you looking like this, no one would think that you're a mother of three." Madison smiled.
"Of course not. Hate to break it to you but this lady here is still a v.i.r.g.i.n ok? Do I look like I've given birth?" Shiro rolled her eyes.
"Nope. To be fair, I can't imagine you being all gentle in bed as you talk to your future lover." Madison laughed as Shiro's expression darkened.
"Oi, I'm still a maiden, ok? Why can't this lady act gentle, ah?" Shiro furrowed her brows in annoyance.
"Then can you imagine yourself saying this? 'Ah darling~ why don't you carry me to bed and show me a good time?~'" Madison grinned as Shiro immediately felt goosebumps.
"F*ck! Ok fine maybe not that gentle. God, I'm about to throw up." Shiro shivered.
"Haha, see? I told you." Madison laughed.
Listening to this, Lyrica couldn't help but imagine that scene but with her and Shiro.
Quickly tilting her head back, Lyrica avoided having a nosebleed since it was still early in the morning.
'Too stimulating…' She thought to herself.
"Are you alright?" Shiro asked as she watched Lyrica tilt her head back.
"Mn, yeah, I just suddenly found the ceiling very interesting." Lyrica replied.
'The f*ck? When was the ceiling interesting?' Shiro raised her eyebrows while looking up at the ceiling to see what was so interesting.
There was nothing.
Talking to the rest of the party while they walked, they soon arrived at the cafeteria. Upon arrival, they saw it was rather empty as there were only a few people around.
However, when Chen Yu laid his eyes on one of the people around, he couldn't help but find them quite familiar.
"Wait a minute…" He muttered while narrowing his eyes slightly.
Noticing this behaviour, Silvia tilted her head.
"Is there anything wrong?" She asked curiously.
"Mn… I think I kno- Holy sh*t!" He widened his eyes in shock.
Hearing Chen Yu suddenly curse out loud, Shiro was also curious and glanced towards what he was looking at.
Seeing the familiar figure of a man sitting by one of the tables with his mask on as always, she realised that the esteemed branch master had actually come to visit her.
"Urg…" She sighed before massaging her eyes.
"Shiro?" Silvia was even more confused when she saw Shiro suddenly sighed as if trouble had just arrived at her doorstep.
"Give me a moment." Shiro said before walking up to the table and sitting opposite him.
"So what brings the esteemed branch master to this city? If I recall things correctly, you said you were going to accompany me but decided to stop since some matters came up." Shiro said with a smile as Nan Tian chuckled.
"Sounds to me like you missed me, little snow. Though I suppose that nickname is rather old now considering that you're an empress now." Nan Tian smiled.
"Missed you? Oh please, I was just surprised at the lack of a stalker and couldn't be happier. However, it seems like both stalkers had suddenly re-entered my life. Both you and the shadow stalker." Shiro rolled her eyes.
She wasn't too surprised at the fact that he now knew that she was an empress since her disguise did f*ck all when she was in front of this man.
"So you've met with him earlier?"
"Not really 'earlier' since the last time I talked to him was back when there was an event in Vericia." Shiro shrugged.
"Is that so. Well if you want, I can tell you about some information I gathered about him during my time away. It's quite interesting if you asked me. And also, it seems like your friend has Chen Yu wrapped around her fingers." Nan Tian smiled while gesturing towards Chen Yu and Silvia.
"Well let's just say Silvi and lil' Chen have been quite intimate with each other. I don't think he wants to go back with you any time soon." Shiro narrowed her eyes as Chen Yu's breath halted from shock.
'F*ck my life! Empress Shiro, don't drag me into this and piss off the branch master ok!? My life will be shortened by a few decades!!!' He cried out in his mind but didn't dare to voice out his complaints. After all, on one side was the Empress and the other was the devil.
Offending either one of them out spelled death for him.
"Haha, don't worry. I don't like to force my subordi-"
"Bullsh*t." Shiro retorted instantly with a roll of her eyes.
"But when did I force you to do anything?" Nan Tian tilted his head in confusion.
"Never, but didn't you force yourself into my life?" Shiro said with a deadpan expression.
*Cough
"Well there's no point dwelling in the past now is there? Just know that if Chen Yu wants to stay with you, that's fine. I've been getting some other people to do the work I need. As long as he's not making trouble for you, it's ok." Nan Tian smiled.
"Anyways, enough about that. Why are you here today?" Shiro asked.
"What? Can't I visit you when I'm finally free? You know, I did promise that I'll go on a few adventures with you now didn't I?"
"Oh please, we both know you aren't idle enough to actually accompany me right? Just get to the point already. You know I don't like to beat around the bush." Shiro shrugged.
"Fine fine, I'll give you a break now, 'Empress'." Nan Tian chuckled.
"First, I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted to accompany you. I have finished most of the emergency business that happened at the sect so I'm pretty free right now. After all, the elders owe me quite a large holiday. Second, I'm rather interested in the fact that you now have an angel with you and have even garnered the attention of the church.
"However, the most important thing I want to tell you is that I finally figured out when you felt so familiar for me when we first met." Nan Tian smiled as he looked down at the table.
"You found me familiar?" Shiro raised her eyebrow since she did have a nagging feeling that she knew the man but regardless of how much she looked through Kuromi's memories, she didn't find anything related to him.
"Mn, let's just say I only realised after finding out that you're currently using the body of miss Kuromi." Nan Tian shook his head before reaching for his mask.
Pulling it down, he exposed his face for Shiro to see.
"Holy sh*t it's you!" Shiro cried out in shock since her mind immediately locked onto a memory she had as Kuromi.