Royal family had been hiding the fact of Oriana being Orian and this little girl was about to expose everything. Other than people working in the palace of thistle, no one exactly rembered Orian and lest dare try to connect a lowly servant to their Crown Princess.
"Rayjin," Alvera knelt before her daughter, her tone gentle yet firm, "Do not say a word. First listen to , okay?"
Rayjin, feeling a sense of injustice, nodded, her mouth still covered. She clearly rembered that Orian who she had t once and even offered her favourite candy to that young man. When she said she was beautiful woman, her uncle had corrected her saying she was a man and his na was Orian. Then, where was she wrong?
Alvera removed her hand from rayjin’s mouth and spoke in a hushed voice, "She is a woman. Before, she was just pretending to be a man for a specific reason."
"What reason?" the girl asked innocently.
Alvera chose her words carefully, "She was trying to hide from so bad people. But now, she’s safe, so she doesn’t need to dress like a man anymore."
Alvera was calling a her own family a bad people but to let her daughter understand, this was the only way.
"Understand?" Alvera asked, hoping her daughter would create any more trouble.
"Yes."
"But it’s a secret. Promise you won’t ntion it again," Alvera pressed, "or we will put her in danger again."
"I won’t, mother. Promise."
"Good girl," Alvera patted her head. "Now, go talk to your aunt. Don’t upset her."
"I won’t," Rayjin smiled and turned to Oriana as if nothing happened. "Aunt, you are so beautiful."
Oriana returned the smile, "Thank you, Rayjin."
"I praised your beauty, so Aunt won’t be upset with , right?" the little girl said, attempting to diffuse the situation with flattery. She sensed that her previous question might have upset Oriana, given her mother Alevra’s reaction.
"I won’t," Oriana reassured with a warm smile.
"Who can be upset with our sweet little Rayjin?" a familiar voice chid in.
Rayjin’s eyes brightened with recognition. "Seren!" she exclaid, turning to look at her.
"How are you, Rayjin?" Seren asked.
The little girl rushed toward her and hugged Seren’s legs. Her small face propping up to look at the beautiful purple eyed woman, "I am so happy to see you, Seren."
Seren patted her head. "I am happy as well."
She glanced at Drayce and inquired, "Where is the baby?"
The question left everyone in shock.
Drayce, feeling puzzled, looked down at the bright eyed girl, "Baby?"
"The last ti we t at your wedding, didn’t you say that the next ti we et, I can play with your and Seren’s baby?" Rayjin asked innocently. "Then where is the baby?"
Alevra felt a new headache coming on just after overcoming the previous one. "Rayjin, there is no baby yet."
Others were left speechless, baffled by the innocence of the child who always managed to surprise them with sothing new.
Rayjin gazed at her mother, "Why? My nanny told after the marriage, a deity blesses a woman with a child?"
Alvera couldn’t help but wonder what Rayjin’s nanny had been teaching her behind her back. "Your nanny told you this?"
"I asked her about the baby when my brother was about to be born. I was worrying why the baby was not coming out, so she also told it takes nine months for a baby to grow in its mother’s belly before coming out," Rayjin explained.
Before Alvera could respond, Rayjing began counting on her fingers. "One, two, three ... hmm, it’s not nine months yet since Dray’s wedding?"
She hurried to touch Seren’s flat belly with her hands, taking Seren by surprise. "It’s flat. There is really no baby yet." A look of dejection crossed Rayjin’s face.
On the other hand, Seren was relived that her face was covered with the veil to help her hide her embarrassnt, her both cheeks seemingly turned red with antics of little girl, leaving her speechless, making her hide sowhere.
Alvera sighed and exchanged a glance with her husband. "Will you be fine if I lock your daughter away for a few years and not let her out in public?"
The Duke chuckled. "My daughter? Are you disowning her as your daughter?"
"If this continues, I might just have to," Alvera admitted, feeling utterly helpless.
The others, though shocked, others left out soft chuckles as they glanced at Seren, uncertain of how to address Rayjin’s unique perspective on the matter.
"Seren, didn’t the deity bless you with a baby? Shall I pray for you? My nanny said deities listen to kids," Rayjin inquired, her eyes wide with innocence.
"You should pray to King Drayce instead," Lenard, who had arrived there a while ago with his wife and heard his sweet niece, teased, a playful smile on his lips.
"Dray?" Rayjin turned her gaze to Drayce. "What did my second uncle an? Are you a deity?"
Though Drayce loved seeing flustered at the matter of having a child, Drayce decided to spare his wife any further embarrassnt.
Calmly, he lifted Rayjin into his arms and said, "You don’t need to do anything. Seren is too young to have a baby, and she is delicate. We shouldn’t expect her to have one." He then glanced at Lenard and Arlan, who were clearly enjoying Drayce’s predicant in front of the young girl. "You should ask your two uncles to give you cousins as soon as possible."
Rayjin turned her attention to her uncles and then to her aunts. "Aunt Oriana, you are married now; the deity will bless you with a baby." She shifted her gaze to Miera’s flat stomach. "Second aunt is not blessed yet as well. I am sad."
Oriana and Miera were left speechless, empathizing with Seren’s discomfort.
"Rayjin, enough now. We already have a baby in the family. Go and play with Ryan," Alvera intervened, her tone stern.
"I play with him every day. I..."
"Rayjin, why don’t you go to your uncle Slayer? You can pester him to get another aunt for you," Arlan suggested, attempting to divert his niece’s attention and prevent her from facing her mother’s reprimand.
She glanced at Slayer, who stood two steps behind Drayce and had clearly overheard the conversation. His gaze t Arlan’s, and a silent glare passed between them, only for Arlan to respond with a teasing smirk.
"Okay," Rayjin agreed, and with that, she gracefully descended from Drayce’s arms. She approached Slayer, who looked down at her, his expression softening even though he knew he was in for trouble.
Before she could utter a word, Slayer anticipated, "Rayjin, you must be hungry. There are delicious sweets served."
Her eyes lit up, imdiately forgetting her previous inquiry. "Umm, yes, I am. Is there anything I like?"
"Your favorite sweets are being served," he replied, extending his hand for her to hold. Happily, she took his hand.
As the tall man and the tiny figure strolled away, Alvera comnted, "Slayer is better at handling her than you three," addressing her brothers with a knowing look.
"He is knight for a reason," Lenard comnted, "Always ready to resolve any kind of trouble."
"And you are always ready to create one, don’t you?" Alvera glared at her younger brother and then to Arlan as well, "You two are responsible for spoiling my daughter. Always feeding her with weird ideas, talking whatever in front of her."
The two brother awkwardly cleared their throats and looked away, as they knew their sister was right.
Oriana who had been silent, there was a light smile on her lips seeing this family teasing each other like this.
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