Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

Chapter 854: New Friend [Bonus Chapter]

The hallway seemed to freeze for three whole seconds.

Lia’s mouth fell open, Kaede’s jaw dropped so fast her ribbons fluttered while Penelope stared down at the top of Bridget’s crimson head with an expression of total disbelief.

’Silas Graves...’ Bridget thought behind the curtain of her hair.

For the past few months, her older sister had been completely unbearable.

Every call home, every message and every rare dinner together had been dominated by one name.

Sera, the untouchable genius of House Bloom, the girl who had bonded with a Primordial Fire Spirit at five years old, the pride of their mother’s heart, had talked about this boy nonstop... She’d declared him her prospective consort... She’d bragged about his strength, his nerve, and the humiliating infuriating fact that he’d actually beaten her...

That alone had driven Bridget’s curiosity through the roof.

In House Bloom, men were meant to be conquered so for some outsider to defeat Sera and still have her sister completely obsessed with him made no sense at all.

For that, she’d asked their mother for a transfer into Junior Cohort Class Three for one purpose... to befriend Lia Graves, the heart of Silas’s household.

Through Lia, she’d get close to Silas, watch him, and decide for herself whether he was worthy of her sister.

’I expected the sister of the man my big sister wants to marry to be special...’ she thought, studying Lia’s soft face, her delicate hands and her gentle timid posture with critical disappointment.

She looked completely ordinary. She was sweet, polite and didn’t seem to have a single ruthless bone in her body.

’I won’t tolerate it,’ Bridget thought, her jaw tightening stubbornly. ’Sera is the brightest flame our family has... For someone as special as my big sister to end up with a completely normal person would be a crime. If this Silas Graves is just some lucky nobody who tricked her, I’ll expose him myself.’

She opened her mouth to issue her next demand.

Before she could, Lia’s whole face lit up.

”Wait... you want to be our friend?” Lia asked, her soft eyes suddenly shining with sweet innocent joy. ”Really?”

Bridget’s mouth stayed open.

”Yes!” Kaede gasped, clapping her hands together. ”A new friend! We’ve never had a new friend before... This is the best day ever!”

”Hold on, hold on,” Penelope said, though her scowl was already crumbling under the sheer absurdity of the situation.

She leaned down and squinted at Bridget’s face. ”If you’re gonna hang out with us, the first thing we’re doing is fixing this hair... How do you even see where you’re going?”

Penelope didn’t wait for permission.

She reached out and gently nudged the thick crimson bangs back an inch from Bridget’s forehead.

”Hey!” Bridget squeaked, her composure shattering as she slapped at Penelope’s wrists. ”Unhand me! My hair is a family tradition! It helps me focus!”

”It helps you walk into doorframes is what it does,” Penelope said, rolling her eyes as the four of them started walking toward the doors. ”And look at your shoulders! You’re so tense you look like an angry teapot! Relax, shorty! You’re like a doll...”

”I am not an angry teapot!” Bridget fumed, her cheeks going pink as she marched between them with her short legs working double time to keep up with Penelope’s long strides. ”And I’m not short! I’m going through a late growth spurt!”

”Did you eat lunch today, Bridget?” Lia asked gently, leaning down with pure, motherly concern. ”You look so small... The dining hall makes really good dumplings on Tuesdays, We can save you a seat tomorrow so you don’t have to eat by yourself!”

”I... I had a perfectly balanced meal prepared by our family chefs, thank you very much!” Bridget stammered, completely overwhelmed.

Why were they fussing over her hair and asking about her lunch, and why was Lia Graves looking at her like a lost kitten...?

In House Bloom, girls her age measured each other’s power or bowed... Being dragged into a circle and nagged about her posture was so alien that Bridget’s sharp tongue stalled out completely.

They pushed through the big glass doors and stepped out into the crisp golden autumn afternoon and standing beside a sleek dark-blue car near the fountain was Martha.

She was a petite woman in her middle years, and as always, she looked immaculate in her crisp black-and-white maid’s dress with her hair pinned in a tidy bun.

Her hands were folded neatly over her apron, and her warm face lit up the instant she spotted the girls coming down the steps.

”Lady Lia! Miss Penelope, Miss Kaede!” she called out warmly. ”How was your day, my dears?”

”Martha!” Lia beamed, running down the last few steps to throw her arms around Martha’s waist. ”It was good! And look, we made a new friend today! This is Bridget!”

Martha blinked down at the tiny stiff girl standing beside Penelope, clutching her satchel like a shield.

”A new friend?” Martha’s face softened with genuine delight. ”Oh, how wonderful! Welcome, young lady. Any friend of Lady Lia’s is always welcome in our home.”

She smiled. ”And what brings you along with the girls this afternoon?”

”She wants to hang out with us!” Kaede said before Bridget could open her mouth. ”She said so! She said she’s joining our friend group...”

”I... I didn’t formally accept an invitation,” Bridget began stiffly, trying to reclaim some dignity. ”I only meant—”

Martha didn’t wait for the speech.

With the gentle instinct of someone who’d spent years looking after children, she bent her knees slightly and reached out with two warm hands.

”Oh, my dear,” she murmured. ”You can’t even see the pretty leaves with all this hair in your face...”

Her fingertips brushed the thick crimson bangs aside and tucked them gently behind Bridget’s ears.

Martha stopped dead as her breath caught in her throat.

”Oh, heavens...!” she breathed, her eyes going wide.

Beneath the curtain of red hair, Bridget’s face was an exact copy.

She had the same high proud cheekbones, the same small straight nose, the same pale skin, and the same burning crimson eyes as the young lady Martha had met before, the one with the fierce terrifying pride and the way of looking at Master Silas like he was something she intended to keep...

Under that messy red fringe, Bridget Bloom was a perfect miniature copy of Lady Sera.

Bridget flinched, her cheeks going bright red, and she slapped her bangs back over her face and ducked her chin into her collar.

”D-don’t stare at my face like that! It’s very improper!”

Martha recovered quickly with a warm knowing smile.

”Of course, dear... Forgive an old woman’s clumsy hands.” She turned and opened the car door. ”Come along, girls... In you go.”

”Car ride!” Kaede cheered, scrambling into the back seat first with her ribbons bouncing. ”I call the window, and nobody’s allowed to argue!”

Penelope picked Bridget up by the back of her blazer like an unruly puppy, ignored her indignant squeaks, and deposited her firmly in the middle of the back seat between herself and Lia.

”Buckle up, shorty,” Penelope said, reaching across to tug the seatbelt down for her. ”Martha’s a careful driver, but I’m not peeling you off the windshield if she brakes.”

”I’ll have you arrested for assault!” Bridget hissed, though she buckled her seatbelt anyway and smoothed her skirt with as much dignity as she could manage.

Martha slid into the driver’s seat.

The car, the sleek family car Harper had bought them a while back, hummed quietly to life, and the navigation tab projected a soft glowing map of the city above the dashboard.

She pulled out through the ornamental gates of the Academy onto the broad, tree-lined avenue.

They hadn’t gone three blocks when a melodic chime rang through the car’s speakers.

DING!

The navigation display flickered, and an incoming call banner lit up with a familiar name.

...Master Silas.

”BIG BRO!” Lia squealed, clapping her hands.

”It’s Silas?” Penelope practically leaped forward over the console, her eyes shining. ”Answer it! Answer it, Martha!”

Martha’s own face lit up with a radiant smile.

She tapped the sensor on the steering wheel, and the call came through the car’s speakers.

”Master Silas!” she said warmly. ”Good afternoon! I’ve got Lady Lia, Miss Penelope, Miss Kaede and a lovely new guest in the car with me right now.”

Silas’s deep voice filled the car, and Lia felt herself relax the way she always did when she heard it.

”Hey, Martha,” he said, chuckling at the cheering in the background. ”Afternoon, munchkins. Listen, Martha... I came home earlier today, and the car was gone. The kitchen was empty, too.”

He paused with his voice turning mild and curious.

”Where were you all afternoon? Everything okay?”

Martha’s hands tightened on the wheel.

Her back snapped ramrod straight.

”I... oh, Master Silas, I must beg your forgiveness,” she said, her voice trembling with formal distress. ”I took the car without leaving a note on the refrigerator, and I... I went into the city to spend my salary on something very important.”

She bowed her head toward the dashboard in a deep, sorrowful apology, taking her eyes completely off the road.

”I’ve failed in my duties! I humbly offer myself up for any punishment you see fit, Master Silas! You may dock my wages for a month, you may—”

”MARTHA, YOU’RE DRIVING!” Lia shrieked from the back seat, waving both hands in panic. ”LOOK AT THE ROAD! LOOK AT THE ROAD!”

Martha gasped, snapped her head back up and swerved the car away from a decorative curb just in time.

SCREEECH!

From the speakers, Silas burst out laughing.

”Martha, please don’t crash the car while you’re offering to be punished,” He said with his voice full of affection. ”It’s your salary. You earned it... Spend it on whatever you want, and you don’t owe me an explanation, You don’t need to worry at all.”

Martha let out a long, shaky breath of relief and pressed one hand to her chest.

”Thank you, Master Silas...”

”Now,” He said as he then sighed. ”I’m sending a location to the car. Come there now, okay?”

DING!

The map above the console rippled as a new route drew itself in a bold golden line, winding away from Silverleaf and climbing up through the switchbacks of the high ridge to the very top of the city.

[Destination: Celestine Heights, Parcel 1.]

Martha blinked, her brow furrowing. ”Master Silas? Celestine Heights?”

”Just follow the map and bring the girls up,” Silas said, and they could all hear the grin in his voice. ”I’ll be waiting... See you soon.”

CLICK!

The back seat instantly exploded into frantic theories.

”Celestine Heights?” Penelope gasped. ”That’s where all the super-rich people live! Is he on a secret mission? Is he guarding someone important?”

Lia leaned forward, staring at the glowing golden line with wide, curious eyes.

”Big Bro sounded so excited... I wonder what’s up there?”

Bridget sat squeezed between them in silence, her arms folded over her satchel, staring at the map through her hair.

’Celestine Heights...’ she thought.

...What in the world was Silas Graves doing up there?

Martha followed the golden line up the winding private road through tunnels of scarlet maples.

At the very top, a pair of enormous star-iron gates stood wide open.

Martha rolled through and up a long drive through towering evergreens, and the car came out onto a wide plateau with the whole city spread out below.

Parked on the gravel drive ahead was a sleek, low, dark violet supercar that every girl in the back seat recognized instantly.

”That’s Sis’s newcar,” Penelope said slowly, pressing her face to the window. ”What’s she doing all the way up here...?”

And standing at the edge of the terrace, in front of the most beautiful house any of them had ever seen, was Silas.

His hands were in his pockets, his dark hair was ruffled by the breeze and sitting proudly on his left shoulder, looking down on all of them with the haughty air of a small black empress, was a cat with glowing violet eyes.

The car stopped, and Lia, Penelope and Kaede tumbled out onto the gravel, with Bridget climbing stiffly out behind them and Martha stepping out last, smoothing her apron.

Lia slowly lowered her eyes from the mansion, to the balconies, to Harper’s car, and finally to her older brother.

”Big Bro...?” she whispered, her voice small and trembling with dizzy confusion. ”What... what is all this? Why are we here?”

Silas smiled.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and spread his arms toward the terraces and the lawns and the glittering city stretched out below.

”This is our new home,” he said. ”I just bought it...”

Before any of the girls could make a sound, the front doors of the mansion swung open behind him.

Harper stepped out onto the terrace with her hands on her hips, her glasses gleaming in the sun, and tossed her violet hair over her shoulder as a triumphant villainous cackle tore out of her throat.

”Kekeke...!”

She leaned against the stone railing and pushed her glasses up her nose with a dangerous victorious smirk.

Her violet eyes flashed, and her thoughts flew far away across the southern sea, practically glowing with smug satisfaction.

’What’s that Bloom woman even doing about now...?’