Villain: The Play of Destiny

Qingyue remained quiet during the lunch, and it had taken Ayesha a lot of convincing to get her to sit at the table with them.

Fed up with her melancholic behaviour, Kiara grabbed her by the hand and took her to the training room, and the rest of the girls followed them as they decided to train with her and make her feel comfortable around them.

At first, the grey-eyed girl was quite hesitant to truly engage in spars, but she never expected what was about to happen to her.

What happened was that she was humiliatingly toyed around in the sparring sessions by Kiara.

She lost miserably, and was shell-shocked at the sudden leap in her dearest Sister-Wife's progress in just a few months she had stayed with Keith.

In the end, with Kiara's assistance and convincing, she did stop holding back because of the fear that she might end up poisoning someone again.

It was only because Keith was around that her heart was at ease.

She knew that if any accident happened, he would take care of it.

However, even if she was not holding back, she ended up on the receiving end of the beating despite her superior Cultivation Realm.

Later, when she watched Minami spar with Nana and Ayesha, she became even more depressed.

Even she had found herself hard-pressed against the two when they went all out, but Minami handled Nana and Ayesha without much effort, and she even made her wince at the beating she gave them.

The ever-so-lovable girl in their family was truly very decisive and harsh when it came to spars.

However, to her surprise, both Ayesha and Nana refused to give up, and for the first time, she noticed something that she had not paid attention to before.

Both of them were enjoying and having fun even if they were getting beat up. They were just thrilled to be able to go all out and to be pushed to their limits.

Qingyue realised that she was holding them back in the last couple of months, hindering their progress, and it made her feel even more depressed.

She felt like everyone around her was working hard and improving, and she was the only one who was a liability. She was the one who was lacking since she did not have much success in controlling her Physique despite all her efforts.

Keith had told her it would be a very long and arduous journey, but she still felt bad and sad about it.

She feared that by the time she would achieve some success, she would be left in dust by her sisters.

The mere thought of her existence becoming an inconvenience in their life ached her heart. And her mood led her to exude a very disturbingly untraceable Poison from her body which everyone in the room inhaled, but it was only Yingying, Amira, and Reina who were affected by it.

The three of them fell into a very depressed state, with their mind playing games with them, making them feel useless and questioning their place in Keith's life.

Kiara, Minami, Ayesha, and Nana were dismayed at finding the four girls sitting on the side with their heads lowered and their expressions sullen and downcast.

And when they inquired what was wrong, the ever so blunt and vocal Reina honestly told them why she was sad.

Kiara and Minami immediately sensed that something was wrong. After all, it was not the first time Amira, Reina, and Yingying had watched them train and use Magic and Aura in such fascinating ways.

And when they questioned why it made them feel sad since it was not the first them they witnessed their training session, the three girls too felt that something was wrong with them.

Yes, why were they even sad?

And it did not take long for them to get to the root of the matter.

Qingyue was surprised too when the girls surrounded her and started teasing her about this new phenomenon.

It was not something she had noticed before, and since she had been staying by herself most of the time since the incident with the maid at the Manor, it may as well have happened for the first time that she was influencing the mood of people around her.

However, she was also curious why the others were not affected.

When they approached Keith in his room, he confirmed that they were indeed mildly poisoned and that it was a harmless one, likely to fade on its own in an hour or two.

"Your Poisons are growing stronger at a much faster rate than the progress you are making at controlling your Powers." He smiled as he told her what was going on with her.

"I am trying..." She lowered her head, feeling more depressed, but even if she wanted to change her mood or control it, it was easier said than done.

"And you must keep trying." He nodded. "It's not something you can get a grip on right away, but if you keep trying, you will be able to achieve what you desire. You are talented enough."

She nodded her head to his words, feeling immensely relieved in her heart that he was not upset.

"Wait!" Reina suddenly exclaimed, making everyone turn to look at her. "If her mood is what leads to her exuding these strange poisons, don't we just have to always keep her happy?"

A few were surprised at the sudden idea of hers, likely considering it, but the rest just smiled at her.

"She's like a sister to me, but she is not my pet, Reina." Kiara straightforwardly told her, making everyone frown at her words. "The last thing we want is to make her dependent on us. It might work for a few days, but her mood will sour again as she will start feeling like she is a burden on us despite our best efforts. And knowing Yue, she is not the kind of person who will be at ease with all of us going out of our way to keep her happy all the time."

"Also, she will fall behind the rest of us if she leads such a life. She won't be able to grow stronger and will fail to live up to her potential as she would be entirely dependent on others to keep her mood in check." Minami added to make the girls understand things better, and the twins now realised that the idea was not brilliant at all.

They recalled the stories that Minami narrated to them, and they knew that an Auror needed to be mentally strong and able to control their own powers if they wanted to make progress on the road of Cultivation. If not, then they would never be able to reach the heights they should, regardless of how talented they might have been at birth. Neither talent nor hard work was enough on their own.

"Sorry..." Reina apologetically said and sighed, and it made Keith chuckle.

"Even though the idea is not practical enough, we can still try our best to help her."

His words prompted the younger twin to look at him in surprise.

"How?"

"She needs to surround herself with people and not live in isolation." He said and met the grey eyes of his wife. "Perhaps, having you all around her will help her subconsciously stay mindful of her Powers."

He showed her the way to take things forward, and Qingyue's eyes turned a little misty as she felt warm in her heart.

"Oh, and one more thing. It's very important." He cut off her changing mood and smiled at the girls. "Beware of making her overly happy."

"Why?" Reina asked, but her sister had a thoughtful look on her face.

"She will exude a Poison that will make us all happy?" Amira voiced out the answer she found and watched Keith nod his head.

"And it will be very addictive. You don't want to turn into some junkie, always looking for a dose of happiness, do you?"

His words alarmed all of them as they realised the gravity of the situation, and Reina now paled at her earlier idea.

Keith laughed at their sudden change in expressions, and it made the twins pout at him.

"Just be normal." He told them, and then stretched his arms on his sides. "Now, excuse me, I need to get some sleep." He told them as went over to sit on his bed.

He was a little tired.

Owning the Steele of Time & Space came at a price, one that he would have to pay for the rest of his life by letting it feed on his Aura and Mana.

It was not too outrageous. In fact, it was not much of an inconvenience as he could replenish it at a slightly faster rate than what the Steele was consuming. The issue he had was that it was an alien feeling, and he was not quite used to it yet. It was something he needed to gain control over.

He knew that it was only a matter of time before the drain would become negligible, but it was going to take a long while before it would happen.

The girls pouted at his laziness, but they knew that he could be as lazy as Rebecca on certain days, so it was nothing new to them.

However, it did not seem like Keith would be allowed some rest.

"Brother!" Ingvild suddenly came running into the room, wearing a smile, and Ingrid too walked inside. "Grandma is mad at you!" She informed him.

"Why?" He raised his brow, and even before she answered, he understood the reason.

"It's New Year's Eve!" She informed him. "She's not happy that neither you nor Mother made any plans. And Mother won't be returning as she's busy with the launch of her first Space expedition to the Moon. So, Grandma was upset when she did not find us at the Manor in the morning."

"Sounds like she's just as upset with you and Ingrid." Kiara smiled at little Carmilla Princess.

"Not me. She does not get mad at me." And Ingvild immediately shook her head, happily smiling.

"Right." Keith sighed at her words and got out of bed. "Pack your stuff. All of you."

"We are going to Essra?!" Amira and Reina asked in unison, having guessed where they would be going.

"Yes." He smiled at them. "We will leave tomorrow with Grandmother. And tonight, we will have a dinner at the Manor." He said and glanced at Kiara.

"I will invite them over!" She excitedly said and then took Ingrid with her, planning on going to the Angelini Estate to meet Danielle, little Ben, and the baby who was born early this year.

Before walking into the dressing room to get changed, Keith also sent a text to Julian and Naomi, inviting them and Rebecca's parents over for tonight's dinner.