Allegiance

Chapter 17

Arthur's smile faded, and his brows raised in curiosity and concern seeing Tessia's widened gaze. He quickly turned around to see what she was looking at and grunted loudly, barely having time to process what just happened, as a figure ran into him and wrapped their arms around Arthur in a tight hug.

"BROTHER!!!"

Catching his breath from the sudden sneak attack, Arthur smiled warmly, seeing his younger sister Eleanor Leywin, and returned her hug. Eleanor was a feminine, adult-like teenage girl with beautiful features, grayish-brown hair, and brown eyes.

Tessia smiled and physically relaxed, hearing Eleanor calling Arthur her brother and seeing her hugging him. It didn't take long for her to deduce she was Arthur's younger sister. She placed the bow on the stand beside her and watched Arthur and Eleanor warmly.

Sylvie shot up, standing happily on the chair with her fluffy tail wagging back and forth rapidly, seeing Eleanor again.

"Hey, Ellie, I didn't expect to see you here," Arthur said jovially.

Eleanor chuckled, "I can say the same about seeing you here." She and Arthur broke the hug, and she looked at Arthur curiously, "I thought you would still be in the floating castle."

"Kyu!!"

Eleanor, Arthur, and Tessia all looked at Sylvie as she jumped off her chair and ran to Eleanor.

Eleanor's gaze widened, and she happily smiled, "SYLVIE!!"

Sylvie jumped into the air, and Eleanor caught her, nuzzling her head against Sylvie's. Eleanor loosened her grip on Sylvie, and Sylvie climbed onto Eleanor and settled on her shoulder.

Arthur chuckled warmly, seeing Eleanor cuddling and petting Sylvie, "It was getting a little boring and stuffy." His lips curved in a joyful smile, "So we decided to leave and have an outing."

Eleanor's brows furrowed a little in confusion, "We? You and Sylvie?"

Arthur's brows raised, and he mentally facepalmed, seeing he forgot to introduce Tessia. "No," He said, smiling happily, and gestured behind him to Tessia, who stood with her hands clasped to her front, looking at Eleanor with a friendly smile, and waved.

"Ellie, this is Tessia," Arthur said and looked at Tessia, gesturing to Ellie. "Tessia, this is Eleanor, or Ellie for short. My younger sister."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Eleanor," Tessia said kindly, with a warm smile.

Eleanor tilted her head slightly, curiously looking Tessia up and down. Her eyes flicked to Arthur, then back to Tessia, and her lips curved in a sly smile.

"Hello, Tessia!" Eleanor greeted with excitement, and Arthur's brows furrowed curiously, seeing Eleanor was obviously up to something. Eleanor avidly approached Tessia and took her in a hug.

Tessia stiffened slightly, and her brows raised, initially surprised by the sudden hug. But Tessia soon relaxed, smiled, and returned the hug.

Arthur raised a brow, looking at his sister suspiciously, 'She decided to get close to Tessia awfully quick.'

'She probably wanted to make a good impression on your date,' Sylvie snickered.

'Yeah, I guess,' Arthur replied, and Sylvie's brows raised in surprise as she smirked. Arthur's eyes widened as he quickly realized what he had just said, 'I mean, this isn't a date!!'

Sylvie rolled her eyes, recounting everything that had happened on their outing so far, 'Oh, of course not, my mistake.'

'Your sarcasm is noted,' Arthur snapped.