Chapter 61 - Somehow

"You should go rest." Sir Grand said after seeing Venedette watching over Gem at four in the morning with eyes as sleepy as a panda's.

"Watch over her please." 

"I will." Sir Grand said and grabbed a blanket from the nurse's cabinet to put on Venedette.

Venedette laid down on Gem's bed and immediately fell asleep after that.

The longer Sir Grand stayed beside his family, the more he realized how little he actually knew them.

Venedette was obviously still suffering from the loss of Demi. And although Demi was also Sir Grand's daughter, he was not able to spend too much time with her to miss her as much as Venedette and Von did.

Her loss was not much of an impact for him, which only proved how bad of a father he was for his family.

While watching over Gem and Venedette sleep, Sir Grand noticed a faint cyan glow under Gem's blanket. 

He was aware of the magical gemstone in her neck but he was not informed much about it. He would only ever hear it from Venedette when she tends to overshare sometimes, or from the kid's conversations. 

But because he was not considered important enough by Halma to be aware of these kinds of confidential information, his curiosity peaked while seeing the cyan light in the midst of this darkened room.

Sir Grand was not in favor of sending his wife and son to this dangerous tournament. But at the same time, their involvement with the tournament gave him a rare opportunity of being able to spend time with them. He could still work on his image while staying beside them and knowing more about them.

But this gemstone. It was the key item for this mission to succeed. Either because of its extraordinary powers or its tendency to attract danger from those who were aware of its capabilities. 

"If only I could get it to be mine." Sir Grandoise thought.

He wouldn't need to involve his family anymore in this tournament and Venedette could even keep Gem safe and alive in the castle with Von and the others while still being able to make her dreams come true of turning this castle into a school. Without the need of risking her life first.

Could that be possible? Sir Grand's knowledge of the gemstones was still far inferior to those around him. But if that was possible, he thought, then shouldn't the gemstone be in Halma's possession by now?

Sir Grand stopped his hand from reaching the gemstone.

That's right, he shouldn't underestimate the Queen's shenanigans especially after seeing her emotional outburst earlier. That unexpected action just made her more unpredictable than she was before. But also softer. She might change her mind and spare Venedette and the kids' lives because of this.

He just needs to make sure Halma would form an attachment with the kids so she would have no choice but to provide them the best for the tournament. And even let them back out of it entirely if his plan works perfectly.

***

The next day, Halma was the first one to arrive in Gem's room. She was carrying the sleeping Petunia in her arms which surprised Venedette to life after that short slumber.

"What's happening?" said Venedette while rubbing her eyes.

"Come, Gem is going to get blessed by me today." Halma urged Venedette to stand up and leave the room with them.

The sun was already at its peak when Venedette woke up, it was also the same time she noticed that she was alone in the room and was now lying on the bed instead of Gem.

Surprisingly, Halma was in a good mood today, making the sun seem more cheerful than it usually was at this time.

"What are you planning to do now?" said Venedette to Halma while Petunia was just rolling her eyes from Halma's arms.

"You are going to get dressed for today's event."

"What event?"

Venedette was still half-asleep but her instincts were already telling her Halma was up to something not good again.

"Just go eat breakfast first and… Take care of her." Halma ordered the maids behind her, giving up on answering Venedette's question about what her actual plan for today was.

The maids immediately moved to take care of Venedette, and when she was gone, Gem approached Halma and Petunia in the middle of the hallway, seemingly energetic and feeling better as if she didn't just come back from the dead.

Somehow, her dying and waking up from the dead was becoming more and more common for her even without her noticing it.

"Where did Venedette go? I'm sure I just saw her here earlier."  Gem said.

"Oh, she's preparing for the ceremony honey." Halma smiled at Gem.

Somehow, Halma was able to land a good first impression on Gem, without being aware of her shady past and present, Gem was able to immediately feel secure and safe around her.

"Okay!" Gem said and brought her attention back to the toy in her hands. 

It was a circle that retracts whenever she drops it due to the rope connecting its body to her hands. It was a heavy LED mint green yoyo with handwritten designs of flowers all around it. This was the first thing Gem saw from Halma's porcelain hands when she woke up.

Gem was caught off-guard so she tried to wake Venedette up immediately after seeing someone unfamiliar, but when she recognized Petunia sleeping in Halma's arms, she was able to calm down and put the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind.

She was informed that there would be a special visitor in this castle right before she was transported to the Solitude but she was only able to recall it now. The woman's attire screamed royalty which really helped Gem guess who it was.

"Halma?" Gem said cutely which made Halma laugh under her breath.

"How did you know my name?" Halma answered, basically confirming Gem's assumption which shocked her even more.

In Gem's mind, Halma was an old woman with a wrinkled face, like their history teacher or the other old maids in this castle. But Halma looks waay younger than her supposed age. 

It was confusing at first, but when Gem saw the similarities between Halma and Venedette's sleeping face, she became more convinced of this.

As expected, the Queen really was on a whole other level than everybody else on this planet, even Venedette included.