Seeing the short woman made of light and hearing Solus's voice gave Bytra a headache that usually led to a fit of Blood Madness and to recover unpleasant memories.
Yet she had long learned how to repress those urges along with her memory.
"In a minute!" Bytra replied in frustration.
She had come to the party hoping to meet Xenagrosh's little brother and take work off her mind, yet it was all she had been talking about ever since her arrival.
As for Solus, she had never seen her own killer due to the original Bytra backstabbing her heart before Elphyn could even realize what had happened. On top of that, during her first life, Solus had only deep spite for Bytra.
Elphyn Menadion had considered the Raiju as a phony Ruler of the Flames since Bytra had not only given just a derivative contribution to the Forgemastering arts, but she had also been incapable of making a tower of her own.
For those reasons, the two women had very few shared memories, making Bytra's human appearance as relevant as a wallflower in Solus's mind.
"What about my lessons?" Like a hound on a bone, Lith refused to let go.
"Hey, big sis, how have you been?" Xenagrosh mimicked his voice between spoonfuls of ice cream. "I'm fine, Lith. I was worried for you as well."
"Okay, fine. I'm sorry for being a jerk." Lith sighed. "Why didn't you reply to the message I left Tezka? I started to think you had dropped me like a bad habit."
"I was busy. I always am due to this damn war with the undead." She sighed. "I couldn't even come here earlier because Da- I mean, the Master was busy. We came here together once we were done with our respective jobs."
"The Professor is here? I was starting to think he had been dragged away again to do the Kingdom's dirty job." Lith said.
"Don't worry, he is going to keep his word. The Master is at Zinya's." Xenagrosh replied. "He will keep them company and make up for everything they are missing tonight due to… You know."
"I'll call him tomorrow first thing in the morning, yet I'd appreciate it if you thanked him on my behalf tonight." Lith didn't even look at Xenagrosh's nod while he stared through one of the windows.
The sounds of the party become a dull noise to his ears while he sighed deeply, thinking back at everything he had lost from the day Kamila had left the tower without looking back.
Meanwhile, far away enough from Lith's house to escape being detected by the ancient monsters assembled there, a blue-robed man stared at both households in hatred.
The state-of-the-art cloaking devices he wore were the only reason why he was still alive.
'I wanted so badly to inflict more pain to Verhen during his very birthday, but at this point, writing a sob story and sending the manuscript to him is the only chance I have to make him cry.
'There's so much mana in the air tonight that just being near Lutia is akin to staring into death's face. His break up with Kamila was supposed to make it easier for me to kill those whores, but even the Yehval household is a fortress!' He thought.
Aside from the lowest tier of standard protective arrays, Zinya's house actually had few defenses. What the man perceived as a threat was the presence of the Abomination hybrids that had followed the Master.
"I know that I shouldn't drag you into the mess that my personal life is, Professor Vastor, but do you think I could go to Lith's just to give him my present? I bought it in advance and I can't return it anymore." Kamila asked.
She held a carefully wrapped gift box the size of a book while moving her eyes from the window to Vastor non-stop.
"Absolutely not!" He and Zinya said in unison.
"I don't know why you broke up with him but I can see that you're still a mess. Until you sort out your feelings, seeing him again is a terrible idea." The Master said.
"It's the same thing I told her countless times during the last few days, Zogar." Zinya nodded. "I hoped that Kami had at least opened up with you, but it seems you know even less than I do."
A few days after learning about Solus's existence, Kamila had moved to Zinya's house because everything inside her apartment reminded her of Lith. On top of that, whenever she was alone, Kamila couldn't stop wondering how much of those last three years had been a lie.
The silence of her home in Belius drove her crazy and the take-away food only cut deeper into her wounds because she always ended up buying food for two out of habit.
"I'm so sorry for troubling you so much, Zin. Yet I'm barely holding myself together and I'm afraid that if I stay alone for too long, I'd fall apart for good." Kamila sniffled while clenching the gift box.
The break-up made her suffer much more than Lith. While he could talk about the issue with his family, friends, and his mentor, Kamila was completely alone. The only people who knew about Lith's secret were part of his life, not of her own.
She couldn't vent her feelings to anyone, not even her sister.
Telling the truth had set Lith free, yet it had also trapped her in a lonely dark place. It made it hard for Kamila to think about anything with a calm mind whenever she wasn't busy with work.
"Don't you dare to thank me for so little, Kami. Not after everything you've done for me over the years." Zinya stopped cooking to hug her from behind. "This is your home too and you're free to stay here for as long as you need.
"You can tell me what happened when you're ready. We have all the time in the world. I can use a hand with the kids and you can use some homemade food. It's a fair trade." Zinya was worried by how much weight Kamila had lost before moving to Lutia.
"Speaking of kids, I know that I'm not exactly a toymaker, but I hope you'll like them anyway." Vastor took several presents out of his dimensional amulet.
Some he had enchanted himself, most were Lith's handiwork that he had asked Vastor to deliver in his place.
It took Kamila a glance to recognize who had crafted what. Vastor's toys were more expensive while Lith's enchantments had the flair that Frey and Filia loved.
Vastor had yet to spend with them enough time to know their taste and even though Kamila wasn't an Awakened, she could almost feel Lith's energy signature.
The familiar feeling made her weep a silent tear that she wiped before anyone could notice.
"Why can we play with the others but uncle Lith never visits anymore?" The kids asked after thanking and hugging Vastor for the beautiful gifts.
"It's complicated. Go wash your hands, dinner is almost ready." Zinya tried to change the subject to not pour salt on Kamila's wounds.
"Why is Auntie hurt? Is Lith a bad guy like Dad?" Frey and Filia held each other in fear.
