𝟐𝟗
(FAAAAHHHHHHH)
(Whew)
"Ian, Ian, look! A sword!"
"What? A sword? Let me see!"
The two children rushed over to an ancient and worn looking blade, staring at it with sparkling eyes before the boy quickly realized that something was amiss.
"Anya, this isn't a sword," Kilian mumbled, "It's a rock!"
"What?! It's definitely a sword! Look at it!"
"It's not!
"It is!"
"No way!"
The two yammered back and forth, Kilian pointing to the piece of stone while Anya unsuccessfully tried to help him see what she saw.
Alessandro and Loid were lingering nearby, the old man failing to be discreet with his staring as he fidgeted and eagerly awaited the perfect moment to ask the big question.
On the other hand, Loid was acutely aware of the old man's burning gaze on him the entire time. It was... extremely unnerving. He couldn't quite tell what the man was thinking, staring so damn much...
"Ahem," Alessandro cleared his throat, "I'm not one to be discreet about things, so I'll just be clear when I ask you this."
"Ask me... what?" Loid questioned with a small frown, 'He's been eyeing me way too intently, from the moment we got on the plane to when we landed and got here. What could he possibly have to ask me? I've never met him before, and I don't know enough about him to tell what he may want...'
"You know my daughter's husband, Yuri, right?" the old man inquired with a sidelong glance, his expression like steel.
Loid paused, processing the question before giving Alessandro a wary look, "Err, I've met him. Why?"
"Oh, thank goodness! It's absolutely awful how my she devil of a daughter treats me! Refusing to introduce me to her husband, denying me the upmost honor of walking her down the aisle on her wedding day..! She didn't even have a wedding, it was in a courthouse—!" Alessandro cried, Loid flinching at the sudden switch in the older man's attitude, "Can you believe it? My y/n. My sweet daughter. With a courthouse marriage! Of course, there's nothing wrong with it but I've been setting aside funds for years so we could hold her dream wedding! She used to cry and cry and scream my ears off when she was seven about how she absolutely had to have a ceremony where her and her partner ride away on horses and I finally managed to find someone to arrange it and she— goodness! He must've talked her out of it. That must be it! He didn't have money for it and she didn't want to burden him so she settled for the courthouse! My daughter is just so considerate and kind!"
Oh. Oh wow.
"She tells me all these lovely things about how much her and her husband love each other, but I don't believe it for a second! I love her more! Fathers always love their precious daughters more— and if not, then they're not real fathers! I want to have a proper competition where he can prove his love for my daughter! Not to mention Kilian! He gets to help raise my adorable grandson, but I can't join them on outings and show them all kinds of cool things! Damn it, how does my daughter expect me to spend my final years in misery where I can't even have breakfast with my daughter and her family, huh?"
"O-Oh, I see..." Loid mumbled 'I'm sure those two would get along. The similarities are uncanny.'
"It's horrible! Unjust! Downright diabolical and malicious!" Alessandro declared before pausing to take a deep breath, "Whew... I apologize for rambling. Anyways—can you tell me what you know about my lovely son in law? I've been dying to meet him, but I taught y/n how to gatekeep too damn well-!" Alessandro whined, plopping down to take a seat on a conveniently placed bench, "You say you've met him? What do you know?"
'He seems like just a concerned father trying to learn more about his son-in-law, but I wonder why she didn't introduce the two...' Loid thought as Kilian and Anya were trying to free the supposed sword from the rock, 'I wouldn't want to unnecessarily insert myself into their father-daughter disagreements, so I should be careful when answering.' "Well, I'm not sure where to start..."
"Nothing crazy, of course! You know, just his place of work, phone number, date of birth, two generations on his mother and father's side, maybe even his favorite food and color—" Alessandro paused when he took in the baffled look on Loid's face, "Erm... let's just start on first impressions."
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"Yor! This is my girlfriend, y/n! Y/n, this is my big sister!"
Yuri was practically glowing as he glanced back and forth between his sister and girlfriend, the two staring at each other in silence.
Yor smiled first, "It's so nice to meet you, y/n! Yuri's been telling me so much about you!"
There was definitely some differences between how he'd described y/n and how Yor was seeing her.
E/c eyes... h/c hair, s/c skin— that all checked out. But the whole "innocent eyes sparkling with benevolence and divine beauty" thing was... erm.
''Maybe I'm overreacting...' Yor blinked as she took in y/n's gaze. Empty, vacant—the kind of look one would wear when they were just barely able to keep it together. Yor almost hadn't noticed. She was good. But not good enough.
'Those eyes don't exactly feel innocent nor benevolent, though she is very beautiful.' Yor thought, 'There's bloodlust there.'
Bloodlust. Anger. Despair.
Y/n smiled politely, "It's nice to meet you, big sis Yor! Yuri speaks very highly of you—so I've been looking forward to meeting you."
"Big sis?" Yor and Yuri gasped.
Y/n tilted her head, "Oh— sorry, was that too forward?" she chuckled before glancing at her boyfriend, "I fully intend to marry Yuri, so we're going to be family in the future, no?"
Yor blinked, eyes widening as she took in y/n's eyes. Something shifted, that shadow that seemed to hover over her gaze clearing up at she glanced at Yuri.
She noticeably relaxed, and that mask-like expression of hers eased up. That look in her eye... it was as if everything from before had vanished.
The look she gave Yuri was familiar.
A look that Yor had seen before.
Yuri squealed with delight, swooning and swaying from side to side in delight as Yor laughed and nodded eagerly, scooping the h/c haired woman up into a hug.
"Absolutely! I don't mind at all! Please call me big sis as much as you'd like, y/n!" Yor exclaimed.
'I'm not sure where that bloodlust of hers comes from, but she really loves Yuri. That's enough for me—I'll be the best sister-in-law ever!'
"You... look tired."
"Mm. I'm sure you are, too."
The two women sat together in front of a cafe situated right by the sea. Neither had said anything since sitting down, Yor being unsure if she should say anything at all while y/n seemed to be pondering over what she intended to say.
No longer did Yor see that unfamiliar woman wearing a familiar face—cold and hollow eyed. Instead, she saw her sister in law. Tired, defeated, grieving.
"I am... very sorry about what happened. It's been years and I've worked so hard, and I was so certain I finally figured it out but..." y/n chuckled with a shake of her head, "I'm quite the fool, and a horrible sister in law... but clearly we both have things we haven't told Yuri, so... can we start over?"
"Start over?" Yor echoed and the younger woman nodded. "You don't have to tell me everything about you, but you deserve to know the things about me that have caused you trouble. Is that okay?" "Of course, you can tell me anything, y/n!"
The woman across from Yor made a face, something caught between a smile and a grimace, "Here goes."
Y/n cleared her throat, "I'm... Y/n Briar, obviously, but my maiden name is.. was...? Erm... it's Y/n Leone. I'm sure you're familiar with that last name. I don't work at a casino—I actually own one. Several that I've overseen since before I met Yuri. And no, before you ask, I'm not some... rich business man's daughter. Not in the typical sense, but... yeah."
'I never would've thought y/n would be related to such dangerous people, but then again... here she is with an assassin as her sister in law...' "Are you... involved in that sort of thing?"
"Mhm, I took over after my brother passed," y/n murmured before leaning forward a bit, "But I swear, I'll never let my work bring any harm to Yuri! I'd sooner give up my own life than let that happen!"
"Don't worry, I understand. I don't doubt for a second that you'd do everything in your power to make sure Yuri is safe." Yor assured her, "But, I will admit, I do have some concerns..."
Y/n forced herself to settle back in her seat, taking a deep breath before nodding, "I'm sure you do. Please, share, I'll do everything in my power to help ease your worries."
"...what about you?"
The h/c haired woman hesitated, "What?"
"I mean, I'm sure this sort of work leaves you with lots of enemies. And I'm sure you're constantly in danger. Will you be alright?" Yor questioned, "If anything were to happen to you, Yuri would be..."
"Unfortunately... that's a risk I just have to take. My father is enjoying his retirement—relinquishing this role to him would probably do more harm than good to him and other people, and I never want Kilian to have to end up like me or my brother," y/n admitted, "I can't just hand it off to anyone else, so I can't promise to leave this life behind or anything like that."
"Sounds like you've got a lot on your back," Yor murmured, frowning at the woman across the table.
She'd be lying if she said she didn't mind this.
She definitely minded this. All of this.
There was no ignoring it—y/n was a danger to Yuri whether she was careful or not. Those gunfights the couple had apparently gotten caught up in, the numerous injuries Yuri would return home with after their dates—that alone was concerning to Yor back then but now that the pieces were finally coming together.
As if reading Yor's mind, y/n glanced down with a soft, "I, uh... I'll understand if you're not comfortable with me continuing to be with Yuri. I should've informed you of this before we started dating, so... whatever will make you comfortable, I'll go along with it. I understand wanting to protect your family and I won't get in the way."
Yor searched y/n's expression as the woman finally lifted her cup, taking a sip of his drink. Her hands were trembling and her brows pinched slightly.
"Please. For Yuri's sake. Break off your marriage.
Yor had half the mind to ask that. It probably wasnt what her sister in law wanted or needed to hear at the moment, but knew deep down that y/n wouldn't push back, the woman loved Yuri and if protecting him meant leaving him behind, she'd likely do it.
She would understand that the request wasn't meant to be malicious. Yor just wanted to protect her family.
'But, at the end of the day...'
The ebony haired woman reached out, placing a hand on the top of y/n's head, giving her a gentle pat. The woman hesitated before glancing at her sister in law in confusion, surprised to find a smile on her face.
"You're my family, y/n. You have been ever since that day Yuri first introduced you to me." Yor assured her, "So, I wouldn't ever ask you to leave Yuri. Just try to be careful, right? I'd hate it if anything ever happened to you. Oh! And if you ever need someone dealt with, don't be afraid to ask me!"
Y/n gave her a dumbfounded look and Yor flinched.
"I... I mean! Not that I just going around stabbing people whenever I'm asked! I'm just saying if you ever need help you can always ask me—!"
"Pfft..." y/n began to laugh, "No no, I'll definitely come to you if there's anything I need, but I have everything under control. I promise. I won't have any other slip ups from now on."
Yor relaxed a little with a small nod, "Remember, we're sisters now, so you can come to me for anything. Assassinations or no assassinations."
"Yeah, I'll be sure to remember that... thank you. Truly," y/n let out a soft sigh, "I feel much more at ease now."
'I consoled my sister in law! I did it! We're bonding!'
"Yor? Let's go get ice cream. I don't like the coffee here."
"Ice cream? Sure, let's go! We should grab some for Anya and Kilian while we're there, too!"
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"Mhm, I'm serious. They're closer than ever. It's actually quite cute... but I wouldn't say she's gone entirely soft. You should've seen the look on her face on the cruise. It was intense."
Elena was stood a couple feet away, content to just watch as Kilian and Anya were sorting through their haul from the spot his grandfather had taken them to.
Kilian had voiced his concerns about whether they should even be taking stuff from there but Alessandro couldn't care less, assuring him it was fine.
He'd never been one for worrying about rules as long as he could deal with the consequences. Another reason why he was so insistent on pestering Loid for more information on y/n's husband.
The Nanny had stepped away for a moment—it was unlikely that anyone would've tailed them after flying off somewhere else and back. A quick call wouldn't hurt.
Elena jolted a bit when she heard the voice on the other end, "Ah— sorry, I wasn't listening. What was that?"
She listened for a long moment, eyes slowly trailing back to Kilian with a raised brow, "Really? What if something happens? We don't want to risk a death, do we?"
She listened patiently, nodding along before she paused, raising a brow, "What the? You're kidding."
"Not at all. If she's anything like the old man, it'll knock her into shape." "And if it doesn't?"
There was a long moment of silence.
"Hm. The kid already lost his father. Losing his Aunt should seal the deal. You'll see it through if it comes to it."
The call cut off abruptly and Elena scoffed, giving the phone a frown, "Gosh, what a piece of work. It's just adding a load of trouble going through all this effort."
She turned away with a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck before putting on a bright smile and strolling over to where the others were waiting, "Alright! It's time we head back, no?"
Kilian suddenly whirled around, "Miss Elena! Quick! What sort of jewelry should I have these made into?"
The woman tilted her head, taking a look at the boy's hand and gawking. Gemstones?! No way!
'Surely there wouldn't have been anything like that—!' she glanced at Alessandro and paused, 'Ah. Actually. Knowing him, he probably buried them for these two kiddos to find. That's sweet.' "That depends, who are you going to give them to?"
"I want something for Auntie, but also something Anya can wear." Kilian admitted, "Something for Becky, too."
"Anya wants a sparkly bow!" the little girl chimed.
"So that just leaves Auntie, Becky... oh yeah, Luka too. But he'd probably want something like cufflinks, so that's decided." the boy continued, "What do you say, Miss Elena?"
"Mm... I suppose a pair of earrings for Miss Y/n. I'm sure she'd love that." "Yes, it's perfect, you're a genius!"
"And... perhaps a bracelet for Miss Becky? It can be a simple one, you turn one of those gems into a charm and give her a bracelet she can attach more charms to."
The two children exchanged a look.
"Miss Elena is good at this stuff."
"You're right, it's impressive."
Kilian smiled up at Elena, "Thanks a ton, Miss Elena! I'll be sure to ask you for help more often from now on!"
The woman let out a laugh, "I'm honored to be of assistance. I'll do my best to help in the future."
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