As Emily and Joanne went to the kitchens to get platters for everyone to eat, mother, Jessica, and I all sat on my bed while talking about all the gossip worthy topics going on in the castle. Mother told us of how she knows about a specific apprentice and one of the guards are having a steamy relationship and it seems it is going to become an official engagement in the coming days. Jessica spoke about how she saw a few guards cat calling a few women going by the gates and instead of getting in trouble, the women actually came towards the guards and seemingly spoke sweet nothings to those men. Mother and I gasped, wondering how Jessica could have possibly heard any of this and how she didn't get caught. She grinned from ear to ear at that.
"The guard captain in charge at the time knows those two are always calling out obscenities to women outside the gates, but since their both fairly handsome, they never get complaints from the women outside, especially because they do it to everyone except children. The captain made a deal with me that I wouldn't give out they're names, and in turn, he wouldn't tattle about how I climbed the walls to get to his secret spot above the gates to listen to his subordinates argue."
Mother and I sat there in a daze, soaking in all the explosions of information she dropped on us at once. Mother managed to calm down first before coldly asking:
"What makes you think I won't punish you now for this information?"
Jessica smiled even more mischievously at the question.
"Easy. You can't be mad at me, because I'm cute."
She put on a puppy dog eyed expression on her face and proceeded to put one finger on her left dimple, giving an adorable wink. I immediately vomited blood.
'Where does girl manage to pull this cutesy crap out from? The shamelessness is uncanny.'
Mother on the other hand had a nosebleed from cuteness overload.
'Is this really my kid? I made this? What in the nine hells? Can such a cute creature even exist? Wait, am I that good looking to make such a child? Umu umu, must be the case.' Mother started to nod her head after a few moments of what seemed to be a mental dilemma.
Jessica in her mind was maniacally laughing.
'Hmph, after Lucy flung me earlier, I know how to use my powers quite effectively after figuring out her new bottom line is her flabby hips and fat ass. See how this young GODDESS rules over your miniscule actions. Hehehehe.'
~
In the dining hall, King Aaron, for the third time in his life, had gotten a cold chill to run down his spine. 'Has a new Beast God emerged? What was that feeling just now? I'll look into this after I finish dealing with Lucian.'
~
After mother recovered, and Jessica dropped her act, they both looked at me expectantly. I tilted my head in confusion, as though I were asking: 'What is it?' They both looked at each other and shook their heads. In unison they both said:
"She's a lost cause."
Now I was even more confused. Seeing as I still wasn't understanding, my mother sighed before pulling my head into her lap.
"Sweetie, how can you be so smart, yet so unbelievably dull? We know you don't really like socializing, but there is only one thing we could possibly be waiting for you to talk about. Magic, sweetie, magic. We want to now how it is progressing and if anything interesting has happened, as we know you ascended to master mage this morning."
A candle light seemed to form above my head, then I hid my face in my hands, while Jess giggled.
"It is not my fault most people only see me as crown princess. I don't get to have the excuse Jessica has, being young and oblivious to social standing. Every time I try to make friends they always either try to curry favor to raise their own standing or they simply two-faced vixens trained by annoying old bats to try and cause me trouble in public."
I paused for a moment, calming myself down to continue.
"While I ascended, I guess I created a new mana type Father hadn't known or used before he saw me create it. I call it aurora mana as it looks like it's namesake when it is passively sitting in my hand. I have a general idea as to how I can use it considering I am the one who made it, but it is what it is."
While my mother and sister digested what I said, I recalled another thing that happened.
"Oh yeah, father said I have a longer life span now that I've ascended to master rank, because I broke something called a Chain of Mortality or something."
Their expressions froze after I left that comment hanging in the air. With slow movements, mother had me sit up and face her.
"So are you immortal like your father now sweetie?"
She seemed a bit worried when asking me this, so I shook my head.
"He said that isn't how that works. I guess all of us have a certain amount of chains attached to us, and each chain marks the limits of someone's lifespan. Let us say if I didn't break one, I would have lived until I'm 70. Now that one is broken, I can now potentially live until I am 150 to 200 years old. each race has an average amount of years they'd gain if they break their own racial chains. Do you understand?"
Jessica was having a little trouble trying to draw a picture for herself, but mother had a satisfied look.
"So long as you continue to ascend, you'll reach closer to immortality right? Which means your father won't be alone anymore...."
Mother had a very sad look as a somber mood settled into the room. Jessica was looking back and forth between us before getting annoyed.
"Hey! What do you guys mean? Explain this shit so I can understand!"
Mother snapped out of her sad mood and instead morphed her face into a sinister smile. A malicious aura enveloped us, as though a high demon had manifested himself in the vicinity. With glowing red eyes, she looked at Jess.
"Oh? It seems a child has forgotten to not have unsavory words on the tongue. What little bitch taught such shite words to their child I wonder? It seems discipline was lacking in her lessons. Don't worry though, I am certain I can fix the cunt of a mouth that was used in due time."
The malicious aura strengthened tenfold by the time Emily and Joanne arrived with the platters, pushing them along on a cart. When they opened the door, they felt the heavy mood and smartly waited outside, hearing the screams of despair from the youngest daughter of the queen. They stood outside waiting for the screaming to end, only to open the door and see my pale face and the unconscious Jessica in the corner of the room, foam billowing out of her mouth.
'What the hells happened here?!' They screamed in their minds, but alas, even poor Anna wasn't spared from the blood curdling screams effects, as she was drawing circles in the opposite corner, muttering prayer after prayer.
As I finally remembered how to breathe and color came back into my face, mother calmly walked over to the cart to grab her plate and silverware, acting as though she wasn't the one who made everyone in the room act this way in the first place. With the elegance of a queen, she walked elegantly over to table by my bedside. With a complete contrast to how she walked over however, she through the lid off her platter, took a juicy looking drumstick off the plate, and started to barbarically tear into it.
I just looked at her as though she were a complete stranger, after she shattered all the memories in my head of how she usually acted at dinner in the dining room. She looked back at the group in the room, wiped her mouth, and sighed once again.
"It seems y'all have forgotten I was from the country before your king of a father decided I'd be a queen of a country. I told you already, I hate this stupid title, and when in private, I make that very clear."
The only person in the room who wasn't absolutely shaken by my mother's actions was Joanne, the eldest person in the room.
"I knew you were going to drop all the pretenses when the food arrived, but seriously Sophie, couldn't you at least take this step by step in front of your own kids? I mean, poor Lucy over here is starting to have a nervous breakdown. If Jessica was even awake, I know she would take this even worse."
My mother just shrugged and loosened her robes to let her belly breathe. By no means was she fat, but she wasn't as slender as I remembered from my youth. She saw me eyeing her, and chuckled like some bandit.
"Who do you think gave you the traits you have? I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want, and still look amazing. It is called being blessed sweetie, and I know you get the best traits from both your father and I, so shut your mouth before you attract flies, and eat something. Your stomach has been growling, since I got in here."
I shook my head to clear all my thoughts before grabbing my food, wolfing it all down like my savage of a mother apparently. Both of us asked for seconds and thirds before she was satisfied, while I ended up asking for a fourth and fifth serving, finally feeling like I was at 70% satisfied. My mother looked at me funny when she saw me clean my plates.
"Sweetie...you getting round around the edges?"
I froze in place, before looking at my mother mortified.
"No.. Why do you ask?"
I looked at her suspiciously, putting my plate down and feeling a panic settling in.
"Oh no reason sweetie... Just thinking about how lovely your hips are getting after all these years of.. development?"
She couldn't even complete her statement without hesitation, finally forcing me to acknowledge the problem. I dropped to the floor in a daze, before I started throwing a big tantrum:
"I'm not getting fat! I swear I'm not getting fat! I workout lightly and my hips are perfectly fine! Yes I eat a little extra every meal and yes I do laze around a lot while reading but I swear there isn't any fat I haven't noticed! Please please please understand my hips are just a healthy fluffy like how the head baker said! She said all men like a little extra meat to hold onto during their night activities and that it is completely reasonable and acceptable! I even do squats, like so many squats because some of the ladies from the noble houses said that is how they keep their butts firm instead of saggy! Waaahhhh.... Mommy why would you say that?! I am not fat! I am nooootttttt!!!!"
If there was a portrait perfect moment to portray an ugly cry, then this here was it. Snot dribbled out of my nose while I slammed my hands on the ground, tearing up my hands while I bawled like an enormous baby. All the while, mother was slowly having my rock back and forth while Emily went to fetch any of the royal physicians to bandage my hands.
My crying got so loud, that while it was inaudible from normal ears, my father, who had just wrapped up dinner in the dining hall, heard it, and promptly yelled at the top of his lungs.
"WHO DARES MAKE MY DEAR DAUGHTER CRY WHILE I STILL DRAW BREATH?!"
With an explosive stomp and the sound of glass breaking, his domain spread out in a torrent of mana as he flash stepped all the way to my room. The volatile mana blast knocked some of the servants into the air along his path, and his domain expanded as far as the eye could see. The continental sized domain broiled with anger and malice, forcing everyone, including the few Divine level powerhouses in the continent, to the ground, groveling just to barely sustain some face. Everyone had one thought:
'Who the fuck pissed off this monster????!!!!'
Back at the castle, the moment he heard the whole situation from his wife, he calmed down immediately, and retracted his vast domain as quickly as he had launched it out. The poor divine level powerhouses were still trying to regain their breath after being suffocated by his oppressive aura. A few of those old monsters decided to go straight to the source to force some answers out of the culprit while the newer and younger divine beings simply shook their heads, knowing the old coots had it under control.
I had finally calmed down after watching father get berated by mother for having injured some of the castle's workers in his moment of rage. I shakily stood up, before muttering:
"Well, it seems all the physicians will be busy tonight.."