Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

I spent the next couple of hours playing with Vifal, who grew once again, and eating the nutritious meal Mildred prepared for me. My body felt a little sluggish, obviously for exhausting my energy reserves, but I was quite well already. It was two hours later when the door to my room opened and revealed my comrades from the Grand Academy Games. Well most of them. Freya did not come with them. They brought fruits which I happily accepted, and a bag of gold coins.

“This is?”

“Your share of the reward for defending Azte and fighting against the demons. We already took our share so no need to worry about.”

I just nodded my head and put the bag in the bedside table where Vyfal was trying to reach it to play with it. But then I suddenly realized something and looked at Senior Trent and the others.

-Why are they ‘here’?

Torii, who was with the group and who seemed to have realized the look on my face, glanced at me and smiled.

“Aunt Zaira told them about you.” she said in her usual stoic face and monotone voice.

“WHAT?!”

-And she just called Aunt Zaira ‘Aunt Zaira’! Do they know she’s also-

“They also know what my relation to the archduchess as well.” Torii added.

“Knowing Torii’s connection with Archduchess Celestine is no surprise since everyone knows her father and the archduchess’ late mother are siblings.” Senior Anastasia said. “There were already rumors, now it’s just clarified. You on the other hand…”

“Luna, you’re the archduchess’ adoptive daughter!” Senior Trent exclaimed, excitement written all over his face. I could even see a few tendrils of electricity buzzing around him uncontrollably because of excitement. “That is so sweet! Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Well…”

I did not know how to answer that.

Well, I did but the reason was sort of confusing and unbelievable. Even I did not understand fully why I had to hide that specific standing and identity at the academy. I did understand one thing though, Aunt Zaira- no, Elthesia, did not want me, or any of the children under her wing, to be treated differently whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Besides considering we were a lot better in terms of combat and magic than most of our peers, could already cause us to be isolated.

I’m pretty sure there was more to it though.

“It’s classified.” Torii simply uttered in which I followed with a nod of my head.

“Oh. Then if you want to share it, tell me okay?”

I was pretty sure Senior Trent was a bit disappointed when he heard that news from someone else. After all, the two of us were supposed to be the last surviving members of the Lyxi Clan, so we had to stick together.

We spent the rest of the day talking about the recent happenings in Azte while I was unconscious. There was nothing much different really, just people rebuilding anything that got destroyed during the demon army invasion as well as sorting a new army to watch the valley where the demons were temporarily trapped for ten years.

-Why ten years though? Elthesia could’ve easily wiped them out.

There were a lot of questions in my head regarding that topic, but it could only be answered by one person. I wasn’t sure if she really was busy or she was just trying to avoid me, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be seeing her unless she showed herself.

The next day, my friends came to visit. My body was finally back to normal conditions and it was no longer as sluggish as the previous day. With that in mind, Andrea invited everyone to eat at their restaurant, which surprisingly survived the invasion!

The food in Andrea’s family restaurant was to die for. There were many varieties and the taste was probably the best I’d ever had! It definitely beat Imperial Academy’s dorm and cafeteria food, as well as roasting meat in the middle of a forest!

It was when we had dessert that Senior Andrei arrived. Alone.

“Luna, I need to talk to you.” he glanced at my friends. “Privately.”

I gazed at my friends who were looking at Senior Andrei suspiciously. I for one was a bit baffled at him. Still. He did say he wanted to talk to me or something but we never really got the chance to do that. We were both busy with the G.A Games and then there was the trying not to die in the middle of the demon invasion.

“Sure. Andrea, is there any place we can talk privately?” I asked my friend who was petting Vyfal and feeding her meat.

“Err…”

“It’s fine. Senior Andrei is no longer an enemy. I mean, he did also help us during the fight you know.”

Kai, who fought with us in the same battle, nodded his head, assuring everyone that Senior Andrei could be trusted.

-Why did they even have to be that guarded with him?

Andrea led us to a booth on the second floor of the restaurant. Fun fact about the restaurant the Ijinia Family ran, it catered to the common people mostly. But a few nobles would venture their restaurant and sometimes would choose not to mix in with the common people, so the second floor was converted into private booths the nobles could reserve and use away from the prying eyes of the public.

Well, they do have an image to maintain.

Senior Andrei and I settled inside. We were covered in a silent and awkward atmosphere for the first few minutes. It was honestly unnerving and suffocating.

“First of all, I apologize.”

-Ohkay? He’s acting weird. Weirder than usual.

“Why?” I asked, taken aback at his statement.

“I feel like I offended you or something. I wanted to be your friend but I’ve only caused you to hate me.”

“I don’t think that-“

“It’s also unfathomable that I have disrespected my teacher’s granddaughter.”

I froze on my seat, trying to process what he just said.

“’I beg your pardon?”

“I apologize for not telling you immediately, but remember the name; Hilda Hysi?”

I remembered him telling me the name before. I found it a little intriguing since the name bore the same last name as Luna, but I actually forgot about it because of the recent events.

“Yes?”

“Hilda Hysi was my tutor as well as adviser. She was also your grandmother.”

I was even more surprised. I thought only me and Senior Trent were the remaining members of the perished clan, but there was actually another? But I stopped myself. I notice something of how he said it. He said ‘was’ not ‘is’, and I did not want to get ahead of myself.

“You said ‘was’.” I pointed out.

“Yes. She passed away three years ago.”

I didn’t know what to feel. I mean sure, Hilda Hysi was Luna’s grandmother but ‘I’ did not have such memories nor affection. I feel said for her death, after all she was a clansmen, but the sadness was not enough to actually make me bawl my eyes out.

“Before her death, she told me to find any survivors of her clan, the Lyxi Clan. And if possible locate her granddaughter, Luna Hysi.”

-Oh.

I couldn’t think of anything else. I was practically speechless.

“And she also instructed me that when I find her granddaughter, I must give her the Spirit Ball, as her last gift to the next ruler of the Lyxi Clan.”

From his pocket, he fished out a black orb the size of a fist. Senior Andrei offered it to me which I immediately accepted.

The moment the orb fell into my hands, it started to glow into a bluish-white hue and for a split second I could feel the familiar energy of myself inside it. Only one thing crossed my mind…

-A tail… My tail… My third tail…?

But I paused. How did I know it was my third tail?