Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 256: Frozen Hearts

"Sienna." Cecilia began, calm and unhurried. "You will be sent to the Aurelian Academy of Arcane Studies to continue your education."

"It’s a boarding school similar to the Athenaeum, located in the eastern reaches of the continent. Your studies will not be affected."

Sienna’s face stretched, shock contorting her features into something almost unrecognizable.

But she wasn’t alone in her reaction.

"Wait!" Ines shot to her feet, her chair scraping violently against the floor. Her finger pointed at Cecilia, trembling with outrage. "What are you talking about?! Who are you to make this decision?!"

She whirled on her husband, her voice rising with disbelief.

"August! What is the meaning of this?! I don’t understand!"

"Sit down, Ines." August said. It was stern and absolute.

Ines froze.

Even though she was the lady of the house, even though she had shared his bed and his name for years, never in their marriage had she dreamed of defying this man. August did not love her, not like he had loved his first late wife. But he respected her. She had always known that was enough.

But this—this came out of nowhere!

"Don’t worry, Mother-in-law." Cecilia’s voice was gentle, soothing, like honey over poison. "If you want to stay close to Sienna, you can follow her to that region as well. But she will not return here until her studies are concluded."

She watched calmly as the two women’s faces contorted. Ines’s with outrage and confusion, Sienna’s with dawning horror.

"And after her studies are concluded," Cecilia continued, "I will send her to the temple as a nun. Or keep her at home, never married off. She is our family’s problem now."

"Wh—what are you—how dare you?!" Ines’s voice cracked with fury.

Cecilia’s smile didn’t waver.

"I hope we can get along," she said softly. "I said that, didn’t I?" A pause. "Or should I ask my Father-in-law to divorce you? Please make a good impression on me."

Ines’s mouth flapped soundlessly. Words wouldn’t come. She turned to her husband, her lord, the man she had married, the man who had given her everything, and found him staring down at her like years of marriage meant nothing.

"Sit down, Mother-in-law." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Cecilia’s voice was a perfect mirror of August’s own command.

"If you do, I will explain to you why."

"You—!"

Ines was about to fire away again, her mouth opening, her fury building, her finger already rising to point and accuse and demand—

But Sienna suddenly stood and ran.

The white dress billowed behind her. Her footsteps echoed against the stone floor, faster and faster, until she disappeared through the dining room doors, leaving only the soft click of them swinging shut behind her.

Ines’s heart broke.

It was a crack in her chest, a splintering of everything she thought she knew. Her daughter. Her baby. Running away in tears, driven from the table by this stranger, this girl, this—

She turned to Cecilia.

Hatred burned in her eyes. Pure, undiluted scorn. Her lips curled, her hands clenched, and she was about to run after her daughter, to comfort her, to save her—

Cecilia raised her hand.

"Father-in-law." Her voice was ice. "Make your men follow her from a distance. Don’t let her hurt herself or victimize her situation. But don’t let her know she’s being followed. Not until she does something stupid."

August nodded once and gestured to his men. They moved silently, slipping out of the room like shadows, following Sienna into the night.

Ines stared.

What—what even was this situation?

Her husband was taking orders from a girl young enough to be his daughter. His men, following her commands. The entire household rearranging itself around this stranger like planets around a new sun.

"Mother-in-law."

Cecilia’s voice cut through her spiraling thoughts. Ines turned to face her, hatred still burning in her eyes, ready to fight—

And Cecilia’s next question made her brain stutter.

"Did you teach your daughter to drug her step-brother? To make him rape her?"

***

Sienna ran.

Her feet pounded against the frozen ground. The cold air burned her lungs, seared her throat, but she didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. Wouldn’t stop.

How dare they.

It consumed her, hot and furious, warring against the biting cold. How dare her father side with that bitch. How dare he sit there and let her dictate terms. How dare he look at her, his daughter, his Sienna, like she was nothing.

A lowly commoner bitch.

That’s all Cecilia Araceli was. An orphan. A scholarship student. Nothing. No family, no name, no right to sit at the Dawnoro table, let alone at its head.

And yet her father had moved for her. Had vacated his seat. Had let her take control of everything.

Sienna’s vision blurred with tears, but not of sadness. It was out of rage. The frozen landscape around her blurred into a wash of white and grey and the deep, endless black of the northern night.

Just like eight years ago.

The thought surfaced through her fury, cold and clear.

Eight years ago, she had run into this same frozen night. Had hidden under a fallen tree, blue with cold, waiting to die. And Arkai had found her. Her brother, her prince, had ridden through the storm and found her and held her and warmed her.

He had promised.

Promised to always love her. Promised to never leave her. Promised to always be there.

Sienna’s pace slowed, just slightly. Her breath came in ragged gasps, visible in the freezing air.

That was how this would end.

The faith bloomed in her chest like a flower breaking through ice.

Cecilia knew nothing about her family. But Sienna knew. If she cried, if she ran, they would come after her. They would console her. Comfort her.

Her brother would run after her.

He would find her, just like eight years ago, deep in the winter night. He would hold her. Warm her. And finally they would be one.

Just like that night should have been.

Sienna’s lips curved into a smile, despite the cold, despite the tears freezing on her cheeks.

Yes.

That was how this would end.

When she returned, like eight years ago, the family would be even more lenient. They would see how much she had suffered, how much that bitch had hurt her. They would let her marry her brother. Let her be the lady of the house.

She would be loved even more.

More and more and more.

Sienna ran deeper into the frozen night, not knowing two Dawnoro mages following close undetected, making sure no one would ever come to her rescue.