As if someone had flipped a switch, silence fell over the kitchen.
"Forgive my sister's… personality," Jiho said bluntly, breaking the quiet. "She's the type to say whatever's on her mind—no filter. Half the time, you'll want to stitch her mouth shut on the spot."
"Hey! You don't hold back either!" Ariha shot back, scowling.
"We're talking about you right now. Or are you saying I'm wrong?" Jiho retorted.
"Pfht—" A sudden, quiet laugh escaped Senko.
Everyone at the table froze. They'd assumed the prince would maintain his stoic facade around strangers, but here he was—amused. Ariha burst into giggles beside him.
"Let's not rush to 'solve' anything," their mother interjected, smiling. "We'll help His Highness adjust step by step. For now, just make him feel at home." The three siblings nodded in agreement.
Later, in Ariha's Room
With Jiho's room declared a disaster zone ("As usual," Ariha sighed), they'd retreated to hers. Senko sat stiffly on the edge of her bed, Jiho slouched in the desk chair, and Ariha plopped onto a floor pouf.
"Honestly, outside of history teachers, I doubt anyone remembers Archivagia's royal lineage anymore," Jiho mused.
"True," Ariha agreed. "The crown prince's story is 300 years old. And technically, it should be 2023 now—if the planet hadn't started spinning slower that day."
Senko's brow furrowed. "It's not 2023? The planet's rotation… changed?"
"Jiho," Ariha said pointedly.
Her brother grabbed a sleek device from the desk—a computer, as Ariha explained when she noticed Senko's puzzled stare.
"Think of it as a… super-powered theater," she said, seeing his confusion. "You know plays, right?"
"I've never attended, but I'm familiar," Senko admitted.
"Perfect! Imagine if you could capture those performances as 'moving pictures'—we call them videos. They're everywhere now." She pulled out her phone, showing him bite-sized clips. "This 'magic' lets us document everything."
As Senko watched, wide-eyed, Jiho queued up a historical documentary. "This'll explain the whole 'slower Earth' thing better than we can."
"We'll teach you about this era piece by piece," Ariha added softly. "Starting with why time itself seems to have… stuttered for you."