Chapter 43 : Since you want to pursue excitement

“Miss Meira, did you have fun?”

Felt smiled as he looked at Meira, who had just returned with his daughter.

“Thanks to your daughter, I had a wonderful time.”

Meira bowed slightly and took a small step forward. “Mr. Felt, I wonder if you have seen my… sister?”

“Miss Nia? She went upstairs and hasn’t come down since. She’s probably resting.”

“Resting?” Meira paused after hearing Felt’s words. “She’s not coming back down?”

“It’s already so late. Going back to EI now would be troublesome and dangerous. Just rest here for the night. I’ve already prepared a room for you all.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Felt.”

“EI’s friends are our friends; you don’t need to worry about that.” Felt chuckled as he patted his daughter’s head. “Helen, take Sister Meira to rest.”

The little girl understood immediately and hurried out from behind the bar, reaching out her small hand to Meira.

“Sister Nia, I’ll take you to your room.”

Meira smiled and held her hand. “Thank you.”

“I’ve got this!”

Helen led Meira upstairs and walked to the end of the corridor, then opened the second-to-last door.

“Sister Meira, you’ll rest here tonight.”

“Alright, thank you, Helen.” Meira bent slightly to meet Helen’s gaze. “Helen, do you know where the other sister who came with me is staying?”

“It’s the very last room inside.” Helen’s voice was sweet and childish. “Dad said these two rooms are for you all.”

“I see.” Meira gently patted the girl’s head. “Sister needs to rest now, and Helen, you should go back to sleep too.”

After sending Helen off, Meira didn’t head straight to her own room.

She lingered for a moment by her door, then took a step toward the innermost room.

Knock, knock, knock.

She lightly tapped on the door, cleared her throat, and softly said, “Nia, are you asleep?”

No response from inside, as if no one was there.

“Nia?”

Meira raised her voice slightly, because she thought she heard Nia’s groan.

“Nia, are you okay?”

Another silence.

Just as Meira was about to call her name again, Nia finally responded.

“Hmm… Miss, um, why have you come?”

“What were you doing just now? You didn’t make a sound for a long time,” Meira asked curiously.

“Um. I fell asleep and didn’t hear anything.”

Nia’s voice came from the other side of the door, thick with a nasal tone. Meira thought she could also hear her heavy breathing.

“Nia, are you alright?”

“I’m fine~ Ah!”

Suddenly, Nia’s voice rose sharply.

“Nia, what’s wrong?” Meira asked, pushing on the door with more force.

But the door was locked from the inside, opening only a narrow crack.

“It’s nothing, Your Highness, why are you coming to see me so late?” Nia’s voice returned to its original tone.

“No reason, just wanted to see if you were back,” Meira said. “Also, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Your Highness, um… can we talk tomorrow instead?”

“Do you have something going on right now?”

“No~!”

Meira heard a scream stretched out for five or six seconds with a strange, drawn-out sound.

“Nia? What’s wrong? Why did you suddenly shout so loudly?”

“Something jumped out in the room, maybe a rat.”

“You’re afraid of that?” Meira was puzzled.

It was the first time she heard that Nia was scared of anything, especially such a common creature found in the forest.

“Of course I’m not scared, just startled because it suddenly appeared.”

Meira could hear Nia’s uneven deep breaths, and her voice slowed down considerably.

“Nia, open the door. I need to check on you right now.”

She felt something was off. Meira thought it necessary to confirm her condition.

“Miss… I really am fine. You should go back to sleep. If anything’s wrong, um~ can we talk in the morning?”

“Hurry up.” Meira wasn’t going to let her brush it off. “Open the door. I’ll check quickly and then go back to rest.”

After a long hesitation, Nia finally responded.

“Alright.”

After a brief wait, the latch on the door clicked, and the door opened just a small crack.

Nia’s head peeked out through the gap, strands of hair plastered to her forehead and neck, her cheeks flushed an unnaturally deep red.

“Miss, now, now you believe me, right?” Nia looked at Meira. “I really am fine.”

“Why did you just stick your head out?”

“Because I was sleeping and wasn’t wearing clothes…”

“Oh.”

Considering Nia’s usual behavior, Meira didn’t think much of it. After responding, she reached out her hand.

“If you’re shy, I won’t come in, but give me your hand so I can take a quick look.”

Nia said nothing but immediately extended a bare arm through the door crack.

Meira took hold of her arm and gave it a rough check.

There really didn’t seem to be anything strange…

Wait.

Why did her magic detect two different auras on Nia’s body?

That was odd.

How could there be two auras on one person?

“Miss, what is it?”

“Why do you have another aura besides your own?” Meira frowned.

“Let me look carefully.”

The green light glowed again, but this time, it didn’t detect the second aura on Nia.

“How is it?”

“It was my mistake just now.”

Meira breathed a sigh of relief.

She had thought so—how could there be two auras on one person? Nia wasn’t a two-headed demon; there shouldn’t be another person inside her.

“Miss, is that okay now? I want to rest~”

“All done.”

No sooner had Meira finished speaking than Nia quickly pulled her hand back, followed immediately by her head retreating inside.

The latch clicked shut, and the door closed again.

Meira: “…”

That tired, huh?

Shaking her head, Meira turned and went back to her own room.