The sky was still dark when the children woke up. There was something special about the early morning that made me feel refreshed. The fresh scent of foliage hung in the air, mixed with the smell of burnt wood from yesterday's campfire. Gray and Grace were more active than ever, doing morning exercises that their mother had taught them.
When they got off the carriage, they saw that their companions were already training. Chris swung his huge sword from side to side. His muscles were clearly defined, and large beads of sweat were rolling down his face, showing his tension. Kaguya and Aika were sparring under the supervision of Cassius, who promised to show them the basics of close combat.
It was unknown how long the twins had been watching their training. By the time they finished, the sky had already become a few shades lighter. It's time to hit the road.
The rest of the trip, though long, was uneventful. All the group encountered were a couple of monsters with average combat power, which were quickly dealt with by Kaguya's group.
The children were sitting in the carriage with Kaguya and their mother, playing a card game called "Old Man." This game was very easy to play. One of the jokers was removed from a regular deck of playing cards, after which the deck was dealt to the players.
Then each player removed all the pairs they could from their hand. When only those cards that could not be paired remained in their hands, the players took turns choosing cards from each other's hands. If a player chose a card that he could pair with one of his cards, he could discard that pair. The winner was the one who got rid of the Joker, which could not be paired, and discarded all his cards.
Children often played this game with their mother or with each other. It was a game in which everything depended on luck, judgment, observation and cunning of the mind. Katerina taught the children the basics in the hope of instilling similar qualities in them.
It was Kaguya and Grace's turn now. While the girl's hand was slowly moving back and forth between the two cards, the neko girl's face showed no emotion. But with every movement of Grace's hand, her heart jumped in her chest.
She really felt terrible. At first, the woman agreed to play with the children just to make her friends happy. For an experienced woman like her, this game was too simple. She was an excellent judge of character, and her ability to analyze a person was beyond praise.
But in all the time they had been playing, she had never won. Not once! Kaguya was rapidly falling into despair, her face plastered with paper that revealed her history of defeats. She was willing to do anything to win at least once. Just once, and it will stop, and it will. Kaguya repeated it over and over in her head.
Her eyes were placed on two cards in her hand. When Grace touched the Joker, she felt elated, when the girl's finger touched the nine of diamonds, her inner anxiety ate her up.
"Maybe this one?" Grace said. Her small hand reached for the Joker card. Kaguya's pulse quickened…
[Take it! Take it!] — she was screaming madly in her soul, but she didn't let her emotions show on her face.
Suddenly, the girl changed her mind, grabbed the nine of diamonds and smiled.: "This one, after all."
A muscle twitched in Kaguya's cheek. Her fingers gripped the two cards tightly, preventing her from picking up the nine. Seeing that the opponent didn't want to let go, Grace didn't know what to do. She let go of the nine of diamonds and took the Joker card: "In that case, I'll take this one."
Kaguya was delighted and loosened her clawed grip.
"Damn, now it's your turn," the girl's frustrated voice rang out. Kaguya's mood lifted at her words. The ashen tail wagged from side to side, revealing the cat girl's elated mood.
"Language, dear," Katerina commented from the side.
Grace forced a smile and turned to face Kaguya, waiting for her to make a choice.
The cat girl gritted her teeth and stared at the two cards. She concentrated, as if she could read something on the back.
She had just touched the nine, so it was possible that some instinct deep in her soul was leading her to victory. Kaguya desperately watched the face of the cards in hopes of finding the slightest clue, but the beast God only knows what kind of material these cards were made of. They were thin as paper, but she couldn't see any footprints that could identify them. The neko girl's eyes seemed ready to pop out of her skull.
"Are you going to choose or not?" asked Grace impatiently.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" replied Kaguya with her own question, but still stretched out her hand to select the card on the left. She looked at the girl, hoping to see some kind of clue in her eyes.
"If you want her, then just take her."
Hearing these words, Kaguya decided to change her mind. She only played with a pair of twins for a couple of hours, but during that time she managed to understand that the words of little tomboys could not be trusted at all. They might seem innocent and cute, but they played the game like first-class tavern cardsharps.
[What does Katerina teach them anyway? Don't try to trick me, girl, it's not that easy. Kaguya thought to herself as she chose the card on the right.
However... When she unfolded it, it was as if she had been struck by lightning. It was a Joker card.
"Kaguya, you should trust your friends' words more. Adults are so complicated. I don't understand you." Grace shook her head sadly.
Kaguya's ears twitched, and there was a gnashing of teeth, but she didn't say anything. Shuffling the cards behind her back, she drew them out and said: "Now you, girlfriend."
"This one." — the little girl snatched the nine of diamonds without thinking for a second.
"Ahahahaha, Mommy, I won again!" the girl threw the nines, grabbed a piece of paper and put it to Kaguya's face, imprinting another sign of defeat on it.
"Let's play again," the cat girl demanded.
"Fu fu fu, dear, it's time for us to stretch a little, very soon we will leave the forest and arrive at the port of Stormdale," advised Katerina, who understood that Kaguya's patience was about to come to an end. Not wanting to spoil the relationship with the neko girl because of a stupid game, she came up with a reason for her to stop.
Kaguya decided to take the advice of a woman who might become her sworn sister in the future. Saying a quick goodbye to the children, she jumped out of the carriage, as if running away from something terrible. As soon as she went outside, she felt a long-awaited relief. She did not even suspect that she would be subjected to such stress when communicating with her little "friend". She still felt a tight knot of resentment for her constant defeat.
[I will never play with that little demon Anna again. Apparently, Luvia confused the children when she gave them nicknames. How can this monster in a child's body be called a "little angel"? Why is Grey such a quiet and obedient "little devil"? Oh, what a poor child. It's immediately obvious that he was very active before, before he got injured, which he's now even afraid to mention.]
The cat girl has been traveling for two weeks now, accompanied by her newfound friends. Communicating with the children, she understood a lot about this company. They all began to seem mysterious and curious to her. Luvia was clearly the leader of the group, even though she didn't have the slightest bit of strength.
Anna was a little demoness. She loved to tease others, but she was always cheerful and cheerful. Whatever she did, she did with childlike spontaneity and carelessness. It seemed impossible to take offense at her.
Alex surprised Kaguya the most. His sad eyes, which sometimes flashed dark thoughts hiding behind the mask of childhood, stirred her heart. The baby seemed to be completely different before that sad injury, the details of which everyone kept silent. She looked at him and wondered how a child could be so smart and vulnerable at the same time. She understood that their new friendship was something important to him. After two weeks of communication, she wanted to protect him, no matter what the cost.
With every step towards the port of Stormdale, Kaguya felt her attitude towards Alex change from simple interest to deeper care and tenderness. She wanted to know more, to understand what had hurt him so deeply. She saw how he became animated at times during the game, and this made her become more and more attached to the boy.
Cassius was a quiet and taciturn man, but he became completely different in the company of children. Sometimes she got the impression that he had a split personality. One personality was harsh and laconic, which he showed to everyone, and the other, a cheerful, cheerful personality, was intended exclusively for the twins. This personality especially often got the better of the other one in Alex's company.
This attitude only fueled Kaguya's nascent feelings. This man was handsome, brave, and very caring. Her interest in him did not fade, despite his aloofness. His every action, every movement, aroused vague feelings in her. It seemed to her that he was the living embodiment of her childhood fantasies about the perfect man. The girl did not know that she was sinking deeper and deeper into a place from which there would be no return.
When she looked around for Cassius, to habitually ask him about something meaningless in her eyes, just to start a conversation, she froze. She had a scenic view of the port city of Stormdale, which they were getting closer to by the second. The majestic ships anchored, the quiet rustle of the sea waves and the colorful sails fluttering in the wind created an atmosphere of liveliness and bustle. Everything around them reminded them that the world was alive and breathing with its own laws, despite their own inner feelings.
However, upon seeing this scene, Kaguya's heart skipped a beat, but not at all from her beauty. It was like being doused with cold water. It was only now that she realized that this was where they would have to part ways. This realization hit her like a thunderclap. It was only now that she really realized that very soon she would stop seeing Anna's mocking face, that she would have to break up with her new friend Alex, that Luvia would no longer save her from the attacks of children, that she would never be able to fulfill her dream of living with Cassius. She just froze in place, not wanting to move on and watching as the horse-drawn carriage continued its rampant pace.