“And who do you think put them there? How do you think they became slaves? How do you think they fell into the hands of those men? Did your daddies ever apologize for it?!”
This time, even Tessandra was rendered mute.
“...Our fathers had n-nothing to d-do with what happened t-to the Rain T-Tribe,” muttered Cessilia.
“Really? How did you think they got to meet your mothers in the first place?”
“Uncle, please,” muttered Ishira, uncomfortable too.
“Silence, Ishira,” the man hissed. “My wife spent her whole life traumatized by the men who had beat her, raped her, and sold her. They did the same to her whole family if they didn’t kill them. Do you think I’ll tell anything to two girls who have the blood of those rapists?”
“Hey!” roared Tessandra. “Don’t you fucking insult our fathers! Who the fuck do you think you’re talking about? The Eastern Kingdom was the one who raided the Rain Tribe!”
The man brutally slammed his glass against the table, making even his niece go white.
“...Say that again?” hissed the leader.
“You’re not scaring me, old man,” retorted Tessandra. “The Rain Tribe was raided by the Eastern Kingdom, not the Dragon Empire. Get your damn facts straight before you start insulting our dads!”
“You damn little–”
“Uncle!” Ishira shouted, panicked. “You can’t insult the Princesses!”
“Princesses?” scoffed the man. “How dare they call themselves princesses, when they are the daughters of wretched murderers...!”
“...That’s enough, Father.”
They turned around to see a young man who had just opened the doors wide, out of breath, with a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. He was strikingly handsome, with his long, black hair over his shoulder, his muscular silhouette, and his simple but beautifully embroidered blue outfit. Even more striking was the contrast between his olive skin, and his clear blue eyes.
“Holy shit...” muttered Tessandra.
“Hephael,” sighed Ishira, relieved to see her cousin.
The young man’s eyes quickly circled the room, changing into a brief glare when he met his father’s, and softening when he met Cessilia’s green irises. To her surprise, he bowed even more politely than his cousin had.
“Princess, it’s an honor to meet you. ...I apologize for my father’s rudeness.”
“Hephael,” hissed his Father, “you shouldn’t get involved in this.”
“And you shouldn’t be rude toward these ladies, Father. As far as I’m concerned, they are my relatives.”
His words surprised Cessilia and Tessandra once again, but in a good way, this time. The young man seemed about their age, but he had no issue overpowering his father’s anger with his composed but firm tone.
“...The Princesses are my guests,” he said. “I’m sorry there seemed to have been some miscommunication.”
“Ha! Is that what Oroun set up? Does that bastard think I am not the leader of this family anymore?”
“...I did not ride all the way here to hear your nonsense, Father.”
“These women are–!”
“My mother’s relatives,” said Hephael. “...She’d be upset at how you’re treating the few people left of her family.”
The anger on his father’s face literally melted away. Instead, it was as if the man had been slapped with humongous guilt. He slowly stood up, glaring at his son, and without another word, left the room. They heard his steps going away, and an awkward silence was left behind until Ishira let out a sigh of relief. Tessandra scoffed.
“Well, I officially like you better than your dad,” she said to Hephael. “Now, what the heck just happened?”
“I apologize,” muttered Ishira.
“I’m the one who should apologize,” sighed Hephael, who walked around the table to take his father’s seat next to his cousin. “It seems like my father intercepted my message... I am the one who wanted to meet you and sent Ishira. I forgot my father has a bad habit of butting in.”
Next to him, his cousin looked mortified. They barely exchanged a silent greeting before she helped him take off his coat and poured him tea. Hephael looked at least much nicer to his cousin, briefly patting her shoulder as he took the drink.
“We did not come here to hear our dads be insulted.”
“I offer my most sincere apologies about that too. The truth is, my mother spent most of her life coldly rejecting his love, even after he freed her, married her, and gave her a son... and it is much easier blaming the other party involved than his own nation for what was done.”
He drank the tea in one shot, while Tessandra and Cessilia exchanged a confused look.
“...So you d-don’t b-believe the D-Dragon Empire was the one t-to attack the Rain T-Tribe?”
Hephael sighed.
“It’s not a question of belief, Princess. There was a war, and a small tribe’s village was caught between two rival nations. You and I are proof the survivors ended up as slaves in both countries, didn’t they? ...Although it might be hard to admit, it’s easy to know what happened. Both the Kingdom and the Empire were responsible for the disappearance of our mothers’ homeland.”
“...That’s not exactly what we heard,” hissed Tessandra, visibly upset.
Next to her, Cessilia didn’t say a word. In a way, Hephael’s words made complete sense. If the Eastern Kingdom alone had raided the Rain Tribe, how would their mothers have ended up in the Dragon Empire...? That was a part of their past that their mothers had never talked about much, either. There was too much trauma behind those memories, and it was too soon to talk about some things. Cessilia was old enough to know her parents’ history, and so was Tessandra. In fact, both girls had experienced hardships because of it. Despite the accomplishments of the Water Goddess, it didn’t change the fact that her skin color was foreign to most people, making it nearly impossible for the girls to have a childhood like others. Not only that, but once their mothers had found some survivors from their tribe, only a handful, they had met people who had gone through real hardships and heard tragic stories.
