Chapter 471: 471. That Bitch Starlight Finally Sends A Letter, But One Of Them Is Suspicious

Diana made a sound that was almost a laugh and redirected it into a cough.

Elizabeth said, "That’s a very thorough endorsement."

"I’m thorough," Lily said, and her earnest delivery made it difficult to determine whether she was being deliberately funny.

Based on his experience, Rex assumed that Lily was not being deliberately funny, which made the situation even funnier.

"Confirm it again, Elizabeth. Is he in or not?" Diana asked while looking at her and then at Rex.

"Actually, yeah, it’s fine," Elizabeth said after they had resumed walking and the silence had had a moment to establish itself. "Rex is welcome at the Starlight household as well, if either of you wants to host him."

"It would be convenient for the review work."

Diana’s eyebrow moved a fraction.

"It would be," she said neutrally.

"You’re actually inviting Rex to stay at home," Lily said to Elizabeth in the tone of someone confirming something they want to have confirmed. "Mother would never approve of that."

"I’m observing that the invitation is available," Elizabeth said. "It’s Lily’s household and Diana’s as well."

"I’m not extending an invitation that isn’t mine to extend."

"We’re extending it," Lily said immediately, looking at Rex. "If you want to, you can stay."

"The room beside mine is actually empty," Diana said, looking at some fixed middle distance that happened to be in Rex’s general direction.

"He’s staying in my room—" Lily whistles just to be interrupted by Elizabeth.

"No!" Elizabeth said with her high voice.

"I’m just joking," Lily laughed.

"That’s settled, then," Elizabeth said, which came out with a precision that communicated several things, including the fact that she had anticipated this exact sequence and was satisfied with its arrival.

Rex observed something intriguing about Elizabeth: she was utilizing Lily and Diana as a structural buffer, carefully arranging their proximity in a way that allowed her to maintain plausible distance from the situation, even while she orchestrated it. He found her skill in this regard to be more adept than he had anticipated.

"What are you two doing at the Academy this early?" Elizabeth asked, redirecting the conversation with the practiced efficiency of someone who had said what she needed to say and was ready to move on.

"We were going to find Rex," Lily said, which was direct and complete.

"And it appears we found both of you," Diana said, which was slightly more diplomatic and meant the same thing.

Elizabeth exchanged glances with both of them, remaining silent for a moment.

Finally, she asked, "Does your mother know Rex is coming to stay?"

"Mother is still away," Diana said.

"I know she’s still away. Does she know, though?"

"She will," Lily said. "When she gets back."

Elizabeth absorbed this with the expression of someone deciding whether to spend energy on a concern she knows she won’t resolve in the next three and a half minutes. She decided not to.

"Fine," she said. "That’s a problem for when Helena gets back."

"It’s not going to be a problem," Lily said, her confidence either completely genuine or entirely feigned, making it truly impossible to discern the truth.

Diana said, "It’ll be fine," delivering her words in the same manner she used for most statements: as an assessment rather than a form of reassurance.

Elizabeth looked at her niece for a moment. "You’ve thought about this."

"A little," Diana said.

"And?"

"And it’ll be fine," Diana repeated, using the same tone as before. It was not evasion but rather the precise efficiency of someone who had already reached a conclusion and saw no need to explain the reasoning behind it.

Elizabeth accepted this with the demeanor of someone who knew when a line of questioning had reached its productive limit. She gazed ahead at the Academy gate, which was now roughly ninety seconds away.

"If anyone asks," she said, "the reason for the arrangements is the review work."

"I would rather not have a different conversation with three different people about why the arrangements are what they are."

"We understand," Diana said.

"The review work is the reason," Lily confirmed, her tone conveying that she recognized it was only a partial explanation and that she was at ease with that fact.

"Good," Elizabeth said. She straightened slightly, which was the small adjustment she made when she was transitioning back into a professional register. "Then let’s get through the gate before I have to explain to anyone why I arrived at the Academy at this hour with two of my students and a guest."

"Three students," Lily said. "Rex is your student too."

"Rex is everyone’s student in some technical sense," Elizabeth said. "He is nobody’s student in any practical sense, and we are all aware of this, including him."

Rex said nothing, because there was nothing to say that would improve the observation.

"Oh," Lily said, with the tone of someone who has just remembered something they had been carrying around all morning and had not yet found the right moment to produce. "But we’re both graduates already."

"Okay, Lily, I get it."

"By the way," she reached into the small bag she had over her shoulder and took out a folded letter sealed with the Von Starlight family mark. "Mother wrote a letter."

"The letter arrived last night."

Elizabeth stopped walking.

Not dramatically. She just stopped and looked at the letter in Lily’s hand, and something in her expression went very slightly still.

"Last night...?" she said.

"After dinner," Diana said. "We were going to tell you this morning."

"We thought it was better to say it in person."

Elizabeth took the letter from Lily and examined the seal for a brief moment before breaking it open to read.

The morning street stretched out around them, filled with people passing by and the low hum of the city going about its daily business. The Academy gate loomed ahead.

Rex observed Elizabeth as her eyes moved across the page, giving it the kind of attention he reserved for things that might prove significant later.

"She’s well," Elizabeth said, though it was clear that this was not the full summary. Lily and Diana both waited for more.

Elizabeth folded the first page back and continued reading.

"She says your father is alive," Elizabeth stated, her voice steady yet subtly altered in a way that was nearly undetectable. "She found him."

Diana fell silent. This was not the thoughtful quiet she typically used for evaluations; instead, it was a deeper silence, the kind that indicated something significant had struck home.

"Is he all right?" Lily asked.

"She says he’s well enough," Elizabeth said. "She doesn’t give details, but she says she found him and that he is coherent and functional and that the situation was what she expected."

She folded the letter once and looked at both of them. "She also says she won’t be back as soon as she thought."

"The situation there is more complicated than her initial assessment. She is asking for patience and says she’ll send another letter when she has a clearer timeline."

"How long is more complicated?" Diana asked.

"She doesn’t specify. She mentions that it’s unsafe to put a particular date in writing." Elizabeth paused. "She advises not to worry."

"She always says that," Lily said, her tone flat, indicating that it wasn’t really a complaint but rather an observation she had made many times before.

"She always means it," Diana said, which was not disagreement but just the other half of the same observation.

Elizabeth refolded the letter, and that seemed to be the end of it. Rex watched her put it in her robe pocket.

Then Lily pulled out a second letter. "There’s another letter for you to read."

This letter was smaller, had a differently pressed seal, and featured Elizabeth’s name written on the front in Helena’s handwriting; it was not in the family notation but in a personal style, similar to how someone writes a name intended for a specific individual rather than for general record-keeping.

"She sent this one separately," Lily said. "She said it was only for you."

Elizabeth looked at the letter in Lily’s hand for a moment before she took it. "Huh...?"

She did not open it right away. Instead, she examined the seal and then turned slightly away from the group. This was not a dramatic gesture; it was simply the natural movement of someone who recognized that a letter addressed to one individual was intended for that person alone.

Rex observed the street. Diana focused on the Academy gate. Lily kept her eyes on Elizabeth’s back, not out of a desire to decipher anything from her posture, but because she naturally maintained awareness of those around her when they were engaged in something important.

The silence lasted about thirty seconds.

Then Elizabeth folded the letter.

She folded it along the same crease it had arrived in, a precise movement that suggested she needed to keep her hands busy. She tucked the letter into her coat pocket, opposite the first one.

She turned back around, and her expression reflected the quality Rex associated with individuals who have just received information requiring contemplation and have chosen to postpone their thoughts for a more suitable time and place.

"Everything all right?" Diana asked.

"Yes," Elizabeth said.

It was not a yes that encouraged further inquiries. Diana understood this and refrained from asking anything more.

Lily looked at Elizabeth for a moment, with the specific attention she used when she was reading something she wasn’t going to comment on yet. Whatever she read, she filed it.