[Eon's POV: ]
"Shall we?"
"Zoe, please look after her dear."
Rein smiled at me, and then at Quin, confusing her a little more.
Quin practically had no idea why grandma said that she was a big part of this family. Or how she was still new to the things here.
She had only been here once. For an orphan like her, this household was a completely unfamiliar place.
She had only been with these people for a few days and though she was close to us, it was not like she was close enough to be called part of the family.
'Certainly not when we were one of the most important families of one of the most important empires of this world.'
From her perspective, us being nice to her was just a formality or, something that they would normally do with their guests.
'The last time she was here, she was a guest of ours. And this time as well, she was just a guest of Chry and the others.'
But now the head of the house was calling her a family member. Of course she would be confused as much as she was right now.
"So, Quin..."
Since earlier when the two of us joined the rest of them in the city from where we all teleported here, we had been in our original form.
We weren't Lucifer and Uriel who had gone to some place that they would not contact any of them for a while but instead the representatives of Heliox and Atraxia.
We were Reinelle and Axion when she met us, and later, we travelled here, and things had been just like they were when she was here the last time.
'She did not know what we were doing there or why we were coming back with them or why everyone was acting as if we were coming back after a long time, but she knew when it came to nobles, things like that were pretty common.'
She was respectful to us once again, she was more careful when she was around and when she was uncertain of things, and she found it difficult to find the right response to many of the situations.
Just like this time.
"There has been a little secret that we were hiding from you."
She was finding it difficult to act too close or too open with us since even though she was with the family of her friends, she was still just a guest in this place.
At least, that was how it was from her perspective.
"So, the thing is..."
We wanted to hide it from her as much as we could, but then she got close with Chry, and with us.
She did not have a family and until we met her, she did not know how to speak the common languages of this world either.
All she knew were the things that she had learned from the person that took care of her and things that she could do naturally.
There were things about herself that she did not know yet and there were also things about this world that she was oblivious to.
Still, she knew her two friends, her two first and good friends that she had been with the entire time she was in the academy.
"Celes."
[{ Yes! }]
The two sides that we wanted to keep separate were not for the family members. And somehow, being with us, being with Chry, and after becoming close with Anna as well, she was pretty much part of this family as well.
In fact, we were lying, making things up, hiding things, we were even making it seem like what we were doing was nothing more than a natural thing.
"You're... Lucifer?"
She was looking at me with a complex expression.
On one hand was the reality that she knew while on the other hand was the things she had known until now.
"And... you are Uriel?"
Even the way she was looking at Rein was something unique.
"Sister Quin...?"
And for hiding something so important from her, she was looking at the rest of the people present around this table, at Anna who was suddenly concerned about her.
"Is this... some kind of a joke?"
She knew how nobles were, so she knew we were different from them.
Since the time she had known the two of us— and by that I mean the representatives of our respective houses, she knew we were just as unique as her two dear Friends.
'We did a lot to make her believe the four of us were different people, that the ones she knew from the school and the ones she knew outside were separate individuals, but now it was all crumbling down.'
She knew the truth now though, so it was understandably unbelievable for her.
"I... but then..."
All this time, she was being tricked by the very people she was the closest to.
Even Chry, who she considered a close friend, never said anything about this.
And the two of us just kept lying to her even when we were departing this time.
"But... why?"
She could not understand it.
"There is a lot we will have to tell you before we answer why we were doing this... but how about you answer Anna before that?
She asked you something first, right?"
The explanation was going to take some time even though it was simple things.
She would need to know a lot of backstory before she understands why we had to disguise as someone else, how we were even doing it, or how there was a lot she did not know about both of us.
"There's no need for that sister Quin! You can answer later! Please calm down first alright?"
Anna was worried about Quin so she placed the teapot back on the table and climbed the chair beside hers— the same chair where her sister Zoe was sitting, apparently.
But she did not care about etiquette at that moment.
"I know they lied to you, sister Quin. But they had reasons, and they are sorry for it as well."
Quin was still in a daze, but when Anna asked her to take her, she gently took up the little kid and placed her on her lap.
"Big brother and sister Elle aren't bad people... so please don't hate them."
Anna kissed her sister Quin's hand that was holding her, and then... all of her negative emotions and complicated feelings were washed away as a new wave of calmness graced her trembling heart.