25 Camille Croiss

Time is incredibly fragile, a small change can alter many things, if when I was a baby they had spread the rumor that I am the witch, then there would have been maids who would have never wanted to work at Croiss mansion, but things don't end there, they would have ended up working elsewhere, and perhaps they would have taken the job of another who was supposed to have been in her place, and let's say that this maid who was left without a job had to be the one responsible for the divorce of her bosses, or the mother of the bastard son of the lord of the house, and if that son in turn in a few years was supposed to return to claim his position as the true heir of the family, and this in turn was responsible for saving his family or perhaps even the world from ruin.

It may seem that I am exaggerating, but I have seen the strangest changes as a result of the simplest decisions, everything would be absolute chaos if it weren't for the fact that in this world there are things that are predestined to happen.

I must be born as the witch, the protagonist must be recognized as the legitimate daughter of the arch duke of Kinner, she and the other capture targets must go to the royal academy, and Leonora must die...

The world conspires for these things to happen, but again, my presence alone ruins the fragility of the timeline, I have discovered that even though the world wants it that way, these events aren't inevitable.

That's why, when one anomaly occurs, it's normal that it triggers many more.

In front of me, there is one of the biggest anomalies I have ever seen, I've never in all my lives had a younger sister, the dukes are too disgusted with each other to bear another child besides Leonora.

The girl was sitting on a chair right in the middle of the room, when she saw Aisha she barely reacted, but when she saw me she seemed to get scared and ran to hide behind her chair.

I approached her and put her face in front of mine, I wanted to examine her features and check if she was my sister or not, but the girl must have been too scared of me, because she fainted.

(Aisha) Leo, today isn't your best day.

(Leonora) Quiet, I told you I didn't want to come, shit shit shit shit, what do I do now, co.... Irma come quickly.

At my call, Irma entered the room.

(Leonora) Irma, take care of her and make sure she's all right.

In the room there was a small bed that should be where she sleeps, so Irma carried her and laid her on it, and began to examine her.

(Irma) young master, the little one has only fainted, she hasn't any wounds or fractures, but she seems to be a little malnourished, by her appearance I calculate that she must have been a prisoner of the bandits 2 days, so her malnutrition is the result of her lifestyle before captivity.

(Leonora) well, at least she doesn't have anything serious.

Like a little girl with a new toy in her grasp, Aisha approached the little girl, and smiled at her.

(Aisha) hmm your little sister is very adorable Leo, you should keep her if your parents treat her so bad.

(Leonora) First of all, there's nothing that assures us that she is my sister, and secondly, she is a human being, I can't just keep her.

(Irma) Young master, this child is the daughter of the duke and duchess as confirmed by the color of her eyes and hair, making her the legitimate daughter of the Croiss and master's younger sister.

(Leonora) And how do you know this, Irma?

(Irma) I haven't lost sight of the movements in the Croiss mansion, in case young master requests to know about them I-

(Leonora) Wait, so you're telling me you knew I had a younger sister, and you didn't inform me?

(Irma) My young master never asked.

(Leonora) I haven't heard that sentence in a long time, well anyway, tell me everything you know about what is going on in the mansion.

Irma gave me a long and detailed report about everything that was happening in the mansion and in the duchy, in short, due to the good opinion of the people had of the dukes, and the failure of the inquisitorial squadron to capture me, my unfortunate parents came out well from the church's accusations, and upon returning to their territory they ordered the construction of a larger and more opulent mansion, although, I left things in such a way that it could sustain itself even if I were not there, it was impossible for me to contemplate the incredible expense of a new mansion.

My parents saw my absence as a blessing in disguise, since there was no one to stop them from squandering the money, and besides this now seemed incredibly abundant, to give the whole list of what they bought would take too long and Irma herself summed it up, to sum it up even more, the expense was so incredible that all my efforts were in vain, in little more than a year the fortune I could gather was squandered, it was then that my parents seemed to react, and realize my value.

Thanks to the titanic effort of the treasurer Milccery and a young Liz who took on the task of taking charge of the duchy to the horror of her profligate parents, a kind of stability was achieved, but the conscience of the dukes was short-lived, because secretly, they continued to spend money generating a secret debt.

The debt was eventually discovered, and the creditors claimed their money, but Liz refused to give them a single lily to cover my parents' debt, so they had to use the insurance they conveniently had.

It's hard to know when it was, perhaps it was around the time they were prisoners of the church, but my parents became strangely close and ended up having another daughter, Camille Croiss.

In this world there are certain traits that are completely hereditary, in my father's lineage, it's gray eyes, and in the case of my mother, who was the third daughter of a marquis, it is black hair, that is why you can tell that my sisters are not legitimate daughters of both dukes, and in turn confirms the legitimacy of my sister.

Just as they tried to do with me, my parents searched for some extremely rich nobleman to whom to betroth my sister, so they could pay their debt and have enough money to continue with their life of excesses for a few more years, their search ended when a count known for his incredible fortune and his predilection for little girls, offered them a gigantic figure to marry his daughter on the spot.

And before Liz could find out and defend her sister, the despicable couple put Camille in a carriage and sent her to the count's territory, but the carriage never arrived with the count, leaving us right where we are now.

(Aisha) So Irma, let me get this straight, you always knew that Leo's little sister was here?

(Irma) No, until this morning the girl's whereabouts were unknown to me, and I didn't have the free time to find out, but when we met the group of bandits, and since this was the same route that the carriage took, I could deduce that the little girl was the hostage.

(Aisha) And why didn't you report it?

(Irma) Because they never asked the identity of the hostage, and when they did, Miss Lenua asked not to be informed of the identity, since she wanted to find out for herself.

A bit annoyed, and strangely, Aisha complained about Irma's behavior.

(Aisha) Leo, your maid is a bit strange.

(Leonora) I need to get her a hobby.

(Aisha) Well, what are you going to do with the little girl? If you give her back your parents will sell her again.

(Leonora) My parents can still be useful to me, besides I have to give her back, if I keep her it would be considering kidnapping.

(Aisha) A kidnapping is not the worst thing you have done Leo, or do I have to remind you that you just murdered a man?

(Leonora) For the last time, I didn't mean to, I thought it wasn't mortal ammunition.

(Aisha) Come on Leo, she's so cute and she reminds me of you, besides we can't leave her here.

(Leonora) for now we will take her with us, later I will decide what to do with her, but there's nothing that tells me that she can be useful to me.

(Irma) Young master, may I have the word?

(Leonora) What is it Irma?

(Irma) This girl has an unusually high amount of mana.

(Leonora) hmm, interesting.

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We returned to the carriage and the coachman didn't take long to wake up, so we continued our journey, on the way we were lucky as we found soldiers patrolling the roads, these soldiers are too easy to evade as they always patrol at the same time and it is not difficult to outwit them.

We informed them about the bandits and made up a story about a group of traveling heroes, to avoid trouble.

After a while the girl woke up, she looked quite confused as she had no idea where she was, but when she saw me she seemed to get scared and hid behind Aisha.

(Aisha) Good morning little one, you are safe now.

The girl looked at Aisha when she spoke to her, but out of the corner of her eye she saw me and hid again.

(Leonora) Child, what's your name.

The little girl looked at me, I think she must be quite afraid of me, as she didn't dare to look at me head on, but she gathered her courage and finally spoke.

(Camille) Cami.... Camille.

(Leonora) So Camille, good.

She for the first time looks me in the eyes and asked me.

(Camille) Are you... Are you going to take me home?

I've had some time to think, I have no way to check if she has rare magic, but if Irma declares that she has a high amount of mana, one way or another she can be useful to me, but I can't just tell her the truth about me, I'll keep her for a while and check if I can trust her.

(Leonora) No, you will come with me.

Camille lowered her head and nodded, I thought I saw her smile slightly, it's very likely that she does not like life at Croiss Mansion or perhaps she had a notion of where she was going when our parents put her in a carriage, whichever way it went, she spoke little for the rest of the trip.

The days passed without further mishaps, and thanks to Camille, Aisha had something to distract her, so she wasn't bothered either, and we finally arrived in the capital.

Karris, the capital of the kingdom, is a gigantic city. Originally it was a walled city were small agricultural villages prospered in the outskirts of it, but the great prosperity of the north of the kingdom made those villages grow until they ended up surrounding the city completely, so those villages ended up being officially part of the city, increasing its size, this caused Karris to be a monument to social inequality, since it can be interpreted that only the poor live outside the wall and the rich inside it, and even if you live your entire life in Karris, it's likely that if you're poor, you will never set foot inside the wall.

All that, plus the fact that the royal academy and that woman are here, makes me hate this city.

We went through the streets of the outer sector until we reached the gate of the wall, when we arrived in front of the guards the coachman showed the letter with the royal seal where they requested my presence, so we were removed from the road while it's authenticity was verified.

It was then that the woman appeared.

(Eris) oh honey, you're finally here.

Eris arrived and made the guards let us pass, then escorted us to the castle, when we arrived, while the palace servants took care of the luggage, she told me the itinerary.

(Eris) Your audience will be in 2 days from today, but you can stay in the palace as long as you wish so that you can enjoy our beautiful capital.

(Leonora) After the audience is over, I will look for another place to stay, I don't want to stay here longer than necessary.

(Eris) oh!! if so, you're completely free to stay in my house, my dear.

(Leonora) I refuse.

(Eris) Well, at least I tried.

At that moment she noticed Camille standing next to Aisha watching people work.

(Eris) oh!!! Is that your little sister? When her carriage didn't make it to Count Lucius' territory I was worried, but I am calmer knowing that her older sister went to rescue her.

This woman, to what extent is she aware of everything around me?

(Leonora) Eris, you need a hobby and stop meddling in my life.

(Eris) You are my hobby sweetheart, in whatever way you can, have you thought of what to do with her? If you get caught you can be charged with kidnapping, but if you ask me nicely I could....

(Leonora) no need, I'll arrange it myself.

(Eris) Oh honey, your indifference breaks my heart.

(Leonora) I'll make it clear Eris, I don't want your help.

(Eris) Really? Oh honey, you're going to ask for my help sooner or later you'll see, and we will end up being very close, it's just a matter of time.

(Leonora) That remains to be seen.