Alexandra stood just inside the private wing with the door sealed shut behind them, its wards settling with a soft, final hum. The corridor outside might as well have ceased to exist.

Vaelira dangled in the thin girl's grip, boots barely brushing the floor, fingers twitching weakly as her body struggled to remember how to breathe. Her face had gone an ugly shade between red and purple, eyes glassy, mouth opening and closing soundlessly.

Alexandra looked down at her.

And felt… nothing.

That realization hit her harder than the scene itself.

She should have been sick. She should have been shaking, heart pounding, bile clawing up her throat. Violence had always done that to her, especially ever since Maximilian. Raised voices, sudden movements, and even aggressive posturing made her stomach knot and her hands tremble. Especially when a man was present…

And yet now?

She watched Vaelira choking, watched the terror strip her arrogance bare, watched her reduced to a helpless, gasping thing, and felt no revulsion.

No fear.

No pity.

Just a distant, curious calm.

'Why… am I okay with this?' the thought surfaced, faint and confused. She didn't understand it. She didn't like it because she didn't understand it. But the absence of nausea was undeniable. The absence of dread, even more so.

'This bitch is even a bit similar to me, looks-wise… Just a bit uglier face, raggier hair, smaller curves… Yeah, basically a budget Alexandra. That should make my emotions spike.'

Indeed. While the girl was prim and polite, especially when she had the maid suit on, that didn't mean she had no ego at all. Alexandra knew that she was a gorgeous woman and felt proud about it.

For a while, she hated her looks because that was exactly what had caused all her troubles. But since then, since she got together with the Sinners and her heart was reintroduced to the emotion called joy, she has been able to see that being a beautiful woman was a thing to celebrate.

It allowed her to become the best maid ever, if she trained hard enough… She wouldn't bring shame to Kaiden, she reasoned.

Vaelira's eyes rolled toward Alexandra.

Her lips trembled, shaping silent words with the last scraps of strength she had left.

'h–help…'

Alexandra blinked.

Then she smiled.

It was small. Polite. The same practiced expression she wore when answering doors or pouring tea.

"Help?" she repeated softly.

She clasped her hands in front of her apron, posture straight, voice gentle. "I'm sorry, Miss Vaelira, but I'm just a humble servant."

Vaelira's pupils contracted violently.

Rage flared through the suffocating panic, raw and ugly. With what little air she had left, she forced the words out in a shredded hiss.

"F–fuck… you… You deserved… Maximilian…"

The response was immediate.

"I've had enough of you."

Alice decreed.

Up close, there was nothing fragile about her. The predatory calm had fully settled in now, her presence heavy enough to bend the air. She looked down at Vaelira like one might look at something foul stuck to the sole of their shoe.

"No one," Alice said quietly, "is allowed to speak to my friend like that."

And then she moved.

There was no warning. No wind-up before she threw her.

Vaelira's body slammed into the far wall with a sound like a wet sack of meat hitting stone.

The impact was catastrophic.

Bone cracked, audibly. Her spine bowed unnaturally as the air was ripped from her lungs in a single, silent scream. Mana flared once in a reflexive, desperate surge, then snuffed out like a candle in a vacuum.

She slid down the wall, leaving a smeared streak behind her, limbs failing her completely.

Vaelira hit the floor in a heap.

She didn't scream.

She couldn't.

Her chest spasmed uselessly, mouth wide open as she dragged in nothing, eyes bulging in blind panic. Every attempt to breathe sent knives through her ribs. Something inside her chest rattled wrong, each movement wet and broken.

Life hovered on the edge of leaving her entirely.

Alice took a step closer.

Vaelira twitched.

Her body convulsed once, then slumped, consciousness flickering dangerously as shock set in. She lay there gasping, broken, humiliated, every ounce of her former fury reduced to a pathetic, choking wreck on the floor.

Alexandra stared down at her.

Still no sickness.

Still no horror.

Only that same quiet calm, and, faintly, something else she didn't quite want to name.

'Maybe it's because there are no men present…? But I hated violence even if it was done by women… Is Alice special?'

Alice glanced back at her. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Alexandra nodded slowly.

"…Yes," she said, surprising herself with how true it felt. "Vaelira is a very nasty person, I knew that already. Her wishing ill on me doesn't affect my mood… Much."

Then, from one moment to the next, Alexandra's eyes suddenly widened.

"W–wait!" she blurted out, the words tumbling over each other before she could stop them. She looked at Alice with open disbelief, cheeks flushing as the meaning finally caught up. "Y–you just called me your friend…!!"

Alice paused.

She turned slowly, one pale eye and one dark eye settling on Alexandra, brows knitting together as if the question itself was strange. "Yeah."

Alexandra stared, stunned.

Alice straightened a little, a spark of something bright flickering through her usual predatory calm. "You allowed me to surprise my brother with something he never expected. You went out of your way to teach me how to cook!" she declared, suddenly animated, hands lifting as if reliving the moment. "Do you know how rare that is? Kaiden is basically a perfect, handsome, calm, and collected badass hero from the movies! Giving him a present that makes him emotional is very hard! And yet you made it happen! I'll never forget the expression he made when he declared the waffle was 'perfect'!"

She looked giddy, extremely happy. "That alone earns you a special place."

Then her expression softened further.

The manic edge receded, replaced by something quieter. Genuine.

"But… It's more than that," Alice continued, voice lowering. She hesitated, fingers curling faintly at her sides as if searching for the right shape of the thought. "I feel nice around you. I don't really know how to describe it properly…" Her head tilted, that familiar celestial lunatic look of hers becoming muted, thoughtful instead. "The best I can describe it is… you're not Kaiden, yet I'm happy to spend time with you. It doesn't feel like a waste."

The words landed like a shockwave.

"!!!"

Alexandra sucked in a sharp breath.

She understood instantly how enormous that admission was. Alice wasn't just protective of Kaiden—she orbited him. Lived for him. Her world began and ended with her brother; obsession threaded through every thought and action. For Alice to say she was happy around someone else…

It was monumental.

If Kaiden heard it, he'd have to sit the hell down with shaking legs.

Alexandra's vision blurred as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Alice, pulling her into a sudden, heartfelt hug.

Alice froze.

Her body locked up as if she'd been struck by a spell rather than embraced, spine stiff, shoulders tense. Her hands hovered uselessly at her sides, fingers twitching in uncertainty. She knew how to hug, obviously. She hugged Kaiden all the time.

But this?

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