Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2740: Corey, Princess of Scots (Part I)

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Kingdom of Scotland, Lothian, Edinburgh, Palace of Holyroodhouse

A figure shot into the training yard at terrifying speed, so fast that the air only reacted seconds after he had already crossed the distance. By the time the gust of displaced wind swept across the hall, he was standing at its center.

King James’s eyes immediately landed on Martha lying on the floor. Then he saw the tall, naked woman crouched beside her.

Feeling his presence, she slowly looked up. Their eyes met.

”Father!” the twins exclaimed, they lifted Martha and held her in front of them, using her body to cover their own.

For a brief moment, something fragile flickered across King James’s face. ”Corey!” he called instinctively, the name left his lips without thought.

But as the word settled in the air and he processed what he was seeing, confusion replaced that impulse. The woman before him carried a presence he recognized. A gaze he had seen countless times.

”Coryn... Reven?” he corrected, disbelief evident in his voice. ”Is that really you two? What happened?”

”A strong assassin attacked us,” they said steadily. ”He nearly killed Martha. We awakened our chivalry at that moment. It is called conjoined, and it allows us to merge our bodies into one. We managed to drive the assassin off and used the flare to signal you.”

They kept Martha positioned carefully in front of them, using her body to shield their own exposed form. Though their voice did not waver, Martha could feel the tension in their grip. She was ashamed and confused, unable to understand how the princesses were able to heal and protect after everything she had said and done.

”This is my fault,” King James said, closing his eyes briefly and letting out a long breath, before continuing, ”I should never have spoken about naming you my heirs so prematurely. Word must have spread faster than I anticipated.”

Without another word, he removed his overcoat and stepped forward, tossing it toward them. His gaze darkened as it returned to Martha’s bruised figure and the morning sky visible through the fractured ceiling above. He had so many questions, but first he needed to make sure his daughters and Martha were safe and secure. So, what if the assassin escaped, he would find their masters. Quietly, he added, ”I will find out who dared to send an assassin into my palace.”

”That’s right, Father. Don’t let them off,” they said, shifting their stance to catch the overcoat while still supporting Martha with one arm.

Just as they reached for it, a pair of hands floated out of their body. The hands caught the overcoat effortlessly and draped it over their shoulders, fastening it neatly as though guided by an unseen attendant.

They froze and King James stared at the manifestation, his gaze widening as he asked, ”Is that part of your Chivalry as well?”

”We... don’t know. Maybe,” As they answered, the air behind them stirred again. A faint distortion formed, then condensed into a floating head identical to one their combined body had. It hovered at shoulder height, turning slowly as if adjusting to its own existence before drifting in front of them.

”Reven?” Coryn’s voice emerged from the unified body staring at the floating head, tinged with disbelief. ”How are you doing that?”

The floating head blinked and replied in Reven’s voice, ”Yes, it’s me. I’m not sure how. I just can.”

King James watched in silence, uncertainty written plainly across his face.

Coryn’s curiosity overshadowed her earlier tension, as she asked, ”Alright then. Switch with me. It actually looks fun.”

The floating head gave a small nod, and the energy around them shifted subtly as their shared consciousness rearranged itself. What had once been an inseparable division was now something fluid—capable of rearranging, redistributing, expressing itself in entirely new configurations as long as laws of symmetry and similarity were maintained.

Their chivalry, Conjoined, was still revealing what it truly meant to be two and one at the same time.

King James kept his composure with visible effort. The sight of floating arms fastening coats and a disembodied head speaking in his daughter’s voice would have unsettled any man, let alone a king raised on order and lineage. Still, he forced his expression into something steady.

”Girls,” he said carefully, glancing up at the fractured ceiling, ”would you care to explain why the roof is gone... and why it appears to be noon at midnight?”

The twins followed his gaze. Through the jagged opening above them, the sky still blazed unnaturally bright. Coryn’s eyes widened before she exclaimed, ”Oh... it’s still burning!”

Reven’s floating head turned sharply upward as well. ”I told you it was too much,” she muttered. ”We barely contained it. If we hadn’t adjusted the convergence at the last second, we might’ve taken the entire palace down with us.”

She sounded more annoyed at the calculation than frightened of the destruction.

”Let’s call that technique, Mortal Star,” Reven added dryly. Coryn rolled her eyes in disagreement, saying, ”I still prefer ’Let There Be Light.’ It sounds more dramatic.”

King James stared at both manifestations in disbelief. ”You mean to tell me...” He gestured upward at the blazing false dawn. ”You two are responsible for turning midnight into morning?”

”Yes,” they answered together. The weight of that single word hung far heavier than the shattered ceiling above them.

”Good thing you chose to launch it into the sky rather than at the assassin,” King James said slowly, forcing his voice to remain steady. ”Otherwise, you might have wiped out everyone within a mile of this palace.”

The weight of his words settled heavily on Martha, still supported in their grasp. She shuddered faintly at the implication. She had felt the heat of that miniature sun despite being contained by their mental field. She understood how close to death she had come.

”Yes,” Reven agreed with her father dismissively, while Coryn tilted her head slightly and asked, ”By the way... who is Corey?”