With that said, Lucahn trotted off in the direction of what appeared to be the kitchen entrance, connected to the foyer as well as the dining room.
"That was…disturbing." Tristessa thought and followed him, trying to ignore the chilling wave of cold that caressed her shoulders and ran down her back.
As she entered the kitchen, she saw Lucahn sitting and reading his book at a small table by the window. Embers burned inside a clay oven, and a modest stack of plates and cutlery sat sunk in a basin filled with water. A mechanical pole with a lamp on its top, located in the middle of the kitchen, radiated yellow light with no wire transmitting electricity to it.
Tiara was chopping vegetables and putting them into jars filled with a liquid that was surely vinegar.
"Mrs. Archeos?" The woman turned her head towards the threshold of the entrance and stared at Tristessa as if she were the most disgusting thing walking on earth. Her silence was disconcerting, and forced the girl to react and go straight to the sink. She followed her with that crimson gaze of hers the whole time, increasing her nervousness even more. "I-I will clean the cup and the teapot, if you don't mind. And since I'm here, I will clean and dry the dishes."
It was incredible how a person could cause her so much discomfort. She felt her gaze fixed on her face, from that side. It had been a minute since she heard the sound of the knife against the wooden board, only Lucahn singing to himself as he read, oblivious to the tension that dominated the kitchen, and the splashing of water as she scrubbed a rag inside the teapot.
"You feel confident enough to go through our belongings?" Tiara asked, finally, cutting through the silence like the knife she held in her right hand. "Walk around freely in my house and do whatever you want?"
"N-no, I just didn't want to leave the room wearing a nightgown!" Tristessa exclaimed, turning so quickly that the cup slipped from her hands. In her desperation, she swung her arms in the air and managed to catch it. Her heart was racing, her hands shaking, but the cup was safe. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Archeos. I didn't mean to offend you, I just wanted to thank you for your hospitality…"
"I will overlook your audacity only because I would not want my son to be in the presence of an outsider who does not maintain a minimum of decorum," she interrupted her, then continued with her work. The angry grimace was still static on her face, and it was sure to remain so as long as Tristessa was in her presence.
"Mommy, what is decorum?" she heard Lucahn ask, his face still hidden behind his book.
"I will explain it to you in class this afternoon, sweetie."
For the first time, Tristessa heard that woman speak without hostility. In a way, the tension had dropped, at least in a neutral silence in which both women continued with their chores.
"Do you need help with something, Miss Archeos?" she asked him when she left the last plate, dry and shiny, inside the shelf with the others.
"The lamp will soon need an energy crystal change. Do you know how to do it?"
"W-what?"
Energy crystal? Change? Tristessa didn't understand what the woman was talking about.
"Are you stupid, girl? The lamp's energy crystal." Ignoring the insult, Tristessa looked at the light source and found no crystal of any kind, which drove the woman on the edge: Tiara approached her and, roughly grabbing her by the cheeks, forced her to look further down, towards the base of the device: behind a small grate, there was a tiny phosphorescent blue crystal whose light was insignificant compared to that of the lamp. "See? That crystal."
"Y-yes, thank you, miss…" the girl wanted to tell her, but Tiara squeezed her even harder and made her bring her face closer to hers. She locked her gaze with hers, transmitting her hostility without any kind of hesitation.
"Don't witches use thaumaturgy that doesn't involve dark arts?" She asked in a low voice, her blade an uncomfortable distance away from her neck. It was more than obvious that she didn't want to attract her son's attention, and Tristessa understood that perfectly. "You prefer the company of the night, eh?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I-I don't remember anything… I don't know anything at all," the girl whispered, her mouth feeling dry and her legs shaking. "Seriously, I'm not lying."
The knife closed the distance with her neck a little more.
"What's that curse on your chest? Who did it to you, what do you plan to do with it?"
"N-no… I've had this mark since I was born."
"So it's a Divinity? What effect does it have?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."
"I don't believe you shit."
The fury in Tiara's gaze was comparable to the bloodlust of the Vargs. Tristessa was breathing raggedly, so scared that her hands were gripping the edge of the marble table tightly. If she had intended to gain the woman's trust, she had failed epically.
It was only when Lucahn put the book down on the table to stretch and yawn that Tiara quickly released Tristessa and stepped back, allowing the girl to catch the breath she had never really lost.
"Miss, come and read with me!" the boy invited her, his sleepy but cheerful face completely oblivious to what had just happened.
"What a great idea, Lucahn. You can practice with her to become a professor and follow in mommy's footsteps," the woman told him, gifting him a smile and then looking at the disturbed black-haired girl in the same way. "Besides being ignorant and illiterate, you seem to be harmless so I will let you spoil my son."
Her smile never waned. That was what scared Tristessa the most.
"Needless to say, if you dare lay a finger on him, I swear by the Three Gods that I will kill you."