"I crown the Guardian of Death to be the third known Aethalgard." Justice declared while placing the heavy crown down on her head. It was just a momentary thing—the crown goes right back to its glass case to keep it safe for the next coronation of Aethalgards.
And Aefia was truly happy it was back off the moment it was on. It was so heavy, she couldn't even think about anything else. Maybe her pride made it heavier to wear. But pride, power and reputation mattered more than a crown honestly.
As soon as that part of the coronation was gone, the three Aethalgards went to sit at the long dining table for the first of the banquet. The high chair was reserved for Justice, the one to his right was for Victoria and the one to his left for Aefia. Then the rest for the remainder of the Guardians.
Of course because Erebus was also a child of Justice, he sat right next to Aefia.
"You know Fina? That there is a fountain behind our quarters where we low to sometimes fill with chocolate? Well it is just the two of us so we try to have as much fun as possible." He whispered while poking at a glazed steak.
"Also Destruction?" She asked in confusion. Looking across the table length towards the man with a muscular build and incredibly serious face. It reminded her of some guards from her uncle's business when she was younger. As soon as they made eye contact, she looked away, gulping comically in fear.
"Well yes." Erebus declared.
What? Aefia thought, choking on her own saliva. She immediately wanted to take a second look to clear her doubts, but she held back. No why am I honestly scared?
"So uhh... Erebus... How is work?" She asked to drive the topic out. Hoping he won't be irritated.
"Well, tough. But manageable." He answered. "I am thirteen years into ruling afterall."
"Thirteen... That is when Seraphina died."
Aefia whispered to herself. Erebus said he didn't change his look since Seraphina died. He looks like a twelve to thirteen-year-old. The Guardian Realm has been frozen in time. Seraphina also happened to die right when the Guardian of Silence appeared. The Guardian of Silence wanted to become an Aethalgard. The Aethalgard seat needs to be confirmed by the other guardians too.
My position as a Guardian wasn't even thought about nicely. I was about to be used of if I hadn't drawn blood. But that enraged a certain someone a little more. Then, Puppet's advancement was stopped all of a sudden... Puppet doesn't like to tell me about much.
Why it went to the Guardian of Health in particular... Is fishy.
There were many others to go to. Justice could have been the first one. But also, it could be just random. But why would Victoria chain it up for just wandering, even after saying I didn't order it too.
Isn't it... All too coincidental?
Her grip on her fork was tightening. Enough to bent the silverware. She was practically trembling as the all those events came rushing back to her.
Puppet can access more details about my element than I can. It can also access some of my hidden and forgotten memories. It handed me a replica of a key that Victoria had—and it was supposed to be a secretive one too. There could be many keys... Why only one set?
I have checked it twice... Thrice... Four times. They are all almost the same. Just a different shape at the top, which is used to turn the key inside the gap.
She then glanced at Erebus's cheerful side profile. Her eyes widening as she looked back at Victoria. Then carefully placed her silverware down to drag her attention specifically to Aefia.
Health looked at the girl opposite to her, then immediately broke into a cold-sweat.
She glared back at the woman opposite to her. Her head tilting towards Erebus slightly, then leaning forward, propping her chin on her palm. She finished the exchange off with a smirk.
All those to say, 'I know it was you'. Without opening her mouth.
Then slowly, Aefia leaned back on her chair while lifting the wine glass up to her lips to sip the drink inside it. She was a Guardian afterall. And the winery in the Guardian Realm is so not like it seems. The taste is just a replication, but the thing that intoxicates someone's mind—is non-existent. That is why even Erebus was drinking it.
Although both of them were honestly just disgusted.
Victoria leaned back against her chair too, taking she glass while swirling it around. Indirectly asking, 'what are you even saying?'.
'I just need some time.' Aefia answered back while roaming her eyes away to the window. Victoria looked away too, cutting off whatever conversation they just had.
Just then, Aefia pushed back from her seat.
"What happened? Is the meal not to your liking?" Justice asked with a furrow of his brow.
Aefia politely offered a bow, adding a gentle smile to make it sound more genuine. "No. It definitely is to my liking. But I have a slight injury at my neck and my wrist I had received just before the coronation happened, I would like to rest up first."
"Injuries?"
"Yes." Aefia spoke while looking through the corner of her eyes to look at Victoria who was visibly gritting her teeth.
"How?"
"I am afraid I can't disclose. But I assure you I am alright." She answered, while taking a step backwards. She lifted her head towards Erebus, then bent down to cup his chin as she tilted his head to meet her face. She pressed a kiss to his hair right there. Making it a public display. And a last conversation with Victoria.
'Relax... The game just started.'
With that, she walked away. Exiting the gilded doors with Matthew trailing behind her. Erebus sat still at his place, flushed as he watched a carbon-copy of his sister walk away.
Aefia was rather very proud of her for doing that. She set fire on a gasoline, right where the engine of the car was. Now she was waiting for it to explode while Victoria was on it. While Aefia sat back at the witness's seat looking rather... Full of the sight.
At her sash was her sigil that she had just acquired. A shield with a crown on top of it, on the center was a red butterfly and behind the butterfly was a sword. Weird but... Elaborate. It gave Aefia a personality.
"My sovereign. I see you look quite delighted." Matthew whispered while smiling behind her.
"I am." She answered without turning back. Coming to stop by the exit of the door. She tilted her head up to stare at the sky, where the sun and moon was up at the same time. Then, she let out a fulfilled smile.
"You know Matthew?"
"Yes?"
"When I was young... I used to watch cartoons where there was a main character who slowly become someone of a higher ranking. I just didn't know... I was going to be a main character to one too. Imagine I tell that to my younger self. She would be like... Are you hallucinating? Do I have a mental illness in the future?"
Matthew nodded as he glanced up at the same place that she was watching. "Aren't kids supposed to believe in fantasies when they are young?"
"Do I seem like that though?" She asked with a smile as she glued her eyes to the distance.
"Certainly not. You seem like you had a childhood surrounded by danger. That now you are the third Aethalgard in another world."
"True... I did grow up in danger." Aefia let out a sigh as she flipped her gaze to Matthew. "Thanks for reminding me."
"Of what, my sovereign?" He asked while falling her down the stairs.
"When I was young... My parents used to tell me that if I was proud of myself, I am not good as a person. But they didn't tell me that a little bit was not a bad idea. I do feel ashamed that I am acknowledging myself as a Guardian... But I decided to say otherwise."
Matthew smiled at the back of her head. Then let out a deep breathe. "My sovereign... You want to know something?"
"Sure?" She turned to look at his face.
"I once knew someone who was almost like you. I am currently thinking... If she had the same way of thinking as you, she would have survived a better life."
"Sounds like a tragic life she had."
"She did. But seeing you, she would say you had a harsher life."
"Did I?"
"You still do."
Aefia smirked while looking away as the both walked towards her place. "Well I am aware. And I am trying to make it better."
"Then I am relieved." Matthew stated while following a pace behind her.
***
Day Three... The room was silent.
"Ugh!... I want to throw up..." Aefia whispered while slumping onto her front on top of the work on her table, almost like a cat who just woke up and was stretching. "Why do I have sooo much work..."
She tilted her cheek onto her papers as her fountain pen rolled away. She was seconds away from dozing off when a bright flash of light interrupted her sleep. But instead of Matthew, a bright golden-blonde head peaked out of it. Alongside brilliant green eyes that shone like fresh blade of grass on a spring day.
Helio stepped forward with his hands stuffed into his pockets as he took in the sight of her study with a sweep of his gaze.
"Well? Looks like you got quite the gothic place, huh?" He asked playfully. "Hello, human fairy."
"Can you stop calling me that?" Aefia asked while lifting her head up to prop it on her palm. "I am not a fairy."
"Yes, you are. A fairy who holds a dagger." He smiled while walking over to her, pulling out his left hand out of his pocket to trace y over her papers. "Why do you have so much inking to do?"
"I know right?! They are trying to kill me!" She complained while leaning back against her chair as she stretched her arms above her head, letting out a yawn. "I haven't even stood up for three days straight! I have been surviving on salt and water."
"Really? Your desk says otherwise." He smirked while leaning against her desk while tapping his finger at a bowl of pastry on her table.
Aefia immediately froze, then let her hands slump down as she used the fork to stab a bit of cake. She reached up and stuffed the chocolate delicacy into his mouth. "You taste it. It has that very clear yet distant salt taste."
"But is still nice." He whispered while pulling the fork out of his mouth to place it back onto the bowl to pinch out another bite. "Why do you not like it?"
"I don't even know why." She yawned again as she started fidgeting with the papers.
"Did you even try it?"
"I did. Once or twice."
He smiled at her head before blindly shoving a piece into her mouth. "Now try it."
She chewed for a few seconds, then immediately sat straight on her chair as she stared at the pastry. Her eyes widening with shock at the difference in taste then and now. "Wait... It is nice." She whispered while looking back up at Helio.
"I told you." He placed the fork back into the bowl, then running his gaze slowly from the top of her head to her shoes. He frowned a little, them reached out to fix a strand of her hair. "You look like you are done of life."
Aefia looked down at herself. Her hands were stained with ink and a part of her white sleeves too. She had taken off her coat and hung it on a stand, so she was wearing her golden vest, white shirt and white trousers. She rolled her eyes at her disheavled sight.
"God forbid a child from wearing light colours." She whispered while dusting her clothes.
"Nope. You are making that up by yourself."
"Yeah I know that!" She spoke while pulling her chair towards the table, tucking herself in for another round of work.
Helio looked with disbelieve at her. "Are you going to—"
"Yes. I have barely moved past the last month's work. I need to stay sitted a little bit longer." She cut him off, reaching for a spare pen in her drawers.
"Yeah no. You can't just go back to work when I am here! I came here through a lot of trouble." He frowned while leaning back a little to look at her face.
"Well if you want, you can help me around by bringing me a refill from that cupboard, and then fill up my ink bottle." She replied back without making eye contact.
He swept his gaze towards the wooden cabinet far away into the corner of the room. He let out a sigh.
"Or..." He smirked, making her eyes drift off the papers. "I could do something else."
"Do what?"
He didn't reply. He pushed back to sit directly on her table and then pushed her head onto his lap. "How about a moment of distraction? You sleep and I will wake you up whenever you prefer." He started stroking her hair with his fingers, waiting for her response.
Her eyes stayed widened for a while, then she let out a peaceful sigh—pulling her hands away from her papers and leaning into his hands. "Works well."
"I know... I saw when your eyes started to twitch again." Helio stated while watching her shoulders slump.
"You know something?" She asked, sleepily.
"Hm?"
"I have three injuries. One at my neck and two at my wrist."
"Wha—How?!"
"Victoria hired lackeys to kill me. She hit my head to the wall, then tried to stab me two times, them left two men to beat me up." She lifted her head to look up at him. "And then I had to walk down the aisle to receive a very heavy throne. You know how painful it was? They were trying to kill me."
Immediately after saying that, she went back to burying her face on his thighs.
He was left in a state of confusion as he pulled her collar down a little. There were in fact injuries... But what surprised him wasn't that...