Helio gasped from behind Aefia. His eyes widening in sheer disbelieve. "Holy—is it just me or... Does this story seem familiar?" His eyes darted to the Sovereign sitting on the chair he was leaning on.
Aefia stared with her eyes wide at whatever she just heard. Matthew was standing in front of her desk—he was the one telling them the story.
"Wow that is... Intense." She stated. Feeling astonished that now she was on the throne of someone who suffered a little more than her—in her terms. "So how long was her reign?"
"She died at thirteen, Aefia." Helio answered while looking down at her.
"No. She took office at thirteen. That doesn't mean she is died at thirteen." She cleared while tilting her chin up to meet his gaze.
"Oh, my bad. Guess I am suddenly getting dyslexia." He cleared his throat while looking away in embarrassment. "But then... Wasn't it stated she died young?"
"Yeah... She did. Based on the Guardian Realm it is young if you die within twenty years of your reign. Seraphina barely made it past thirty-years-old. She actually died during her late twenty-nine. Which makes her reign exactly around seventeen years." Matthew explained.
Aefia and Helio shared one glance. Then Aefia let out a deep breathe and opened her mouth to speak.
"For all that I can recall of... There are four Roman Emperors in history who share seventeen years of reign. Septimius Severus, Zeno, Leo I, Valentinian II. So... It feels normal for me."
"Yes it may seem that way. But a Guardian's rule lasts for dozens of generations. Seventeen is the smallest reign yet." Matthew let out a deep sigh. "Sovereign Seraphina's death was the first to spark light over the other Guardian's dissapearance."
"Wait. But you said Seraphina heard that Khione and Athena died? What is dissapearance?" Helio asked.
"Because of a Guardian dies, they leave the throne empty because Death is sudden—not transfer the name to another trusted Guardian."
"But it still makes no sense. It could have been the last breathe?" Aefia asked back. Her eyebrows furrowing in question.
"It is a thing. But there is another thing to take into mind. When a Guardian dies or leaves their reign, their lands rot away. Remember that empty land you stumble upon? That land belonged to Seraphina before she died. Because a Guardian uses their power to restore the land's condition, once they die, their land is just too harsh to live on. However, the Smod Empire, the Mides Kingdom, the other Countries—they didn't rot away. Nikoan is a small yet large planet. Fifty different territories to govern and fifty Guardians. At the beginning and at the end of the Schism Era, there is only one territory that stopped being fertile—which later stood back up after Sovereign Aefia took over."
"The Schism Era? I heard it was the Attrition Era." Aefia leaned forward.
"Well yes. There were a few major years in between when the Guardian Realm suffered the most. Losing ten or so Guardians in the matter of three years. Then at the end of the Attrition Era, we now have only nine Guardians. Including the death of the Guardian of Silence and the reign of the new Guardian of Death."
"Ah! I see! That all makes sense now." She tapped her chin. "So I only have one more question."
"Go ahead?"
"When did Seraphina's name change to Seraphina Evgenia Vespera?"
"The first Aethalgard felt guilty for having not been there for his first daughter's naming ceremony. So he later signed the remaining half of her birth certificate with her name written as 'Seraphina Evgenia Vespera'. With her middle name meaning she was well-born or noble."
"Hey! Evgenia is a Greek name!" Helio yelped in excitement.
"Well true. But in the Guardian Realm—Guardians tend to name their child whatever they find has a very good meaning."
"And a very long name?" Aefia asked again.
"Yes. If it has a very catchy meaning."
"Wow... A rather intense politics going on here." She let out a deep breathe. "I would say... I feel like I just heard a Roman story."
Helio looked down at her with a quiet look of confusion and curiousity. "Wait, I had a very itchy question for you. How do you know all that? The Roman Emperors?"
"Because parts of Romania like the province of Dacia was conquered under Emperor Trajan in 106 AD. So we normally came to know about the Roman history from there." She answered straight-forwardly.
"Oh yeah... You are from Romania." He looked away while scratching the back of his head. "Since when did you study Roman history?"
"I thought you were supposed to supposed to know more since Greece was under the Roman Empire from 146 BC. It started with Ancient Greece gradually being conquered by the Roman republic following the battle of Corinth in 146 BC. It stayed a major part for over thousands of years—Greece heavily shaped the culture of Byzantine when Romans shifted east. Later, the Ancient Roman rule merged with the medieval Byzantine Empire which was Eastern Roman back then. And later, Greece was under the Ottoman Empire for nearly four hundred years following the fall of Constantinople in fourteen-fifty-three. Which then resulted in modern day Greece taking independence from them on January fifteen, eighteen-twenty-two. The uprising had started on March twenty-five, eighteen-twenty-one with the Greek War of Independence."
Both Matthew and Helio stared at Aefia with wide eyes.
"Did you happen to memorize the Greek history?!" Helio shouted in disbelief. "I know you are into historical politics... But I didn't know you liked to this much?!"
"Well it proved fruitful since I am having to use it right now. Am I not?" Aefia shrugged while picking up her pen again. "Besides... Som Romanians like to think of themselves as Romans. So who am I to judge?"
"Yeah but I only said 'since when did you study Roman history?'!" Helio threw his hands up into the air. "And you are from Southeastern Europe!"
"Same thing. East and Southeast are not so far. Besides... Greece and Romania have a hundred-fourty-five years alliance—and it helped Romania rise by spending billions of euros. And Greece also helped Romania join the NATO. So... Why won't you expect people to teach all these history at school?" She raised an eye-brow at him. "They say this is a way to send respect to you and your population."
Helio flushed a bit. "Why? Thank you."
Then a light-bulb clicked in his mind. "But wait... You don't live in Romania, do you?"
"No. My grandparents had a very successful business that they spread across the entire globe. My father are five siblings. Two brothers and three sisters. Seeing this, my grandparents invested in five different ideas to hand over each siblings. My father—being the youngest—got handed a small pharmacy that he later expanded.
"However, he didn't want to stay in Romania where his parents' and siblings' businesses were. So he came to South Asia. After saving enough money, he built a literal mall which he planned on using only one large shop for his pharmatical business and the rest were rented out to high-end brands for a branch. There were many designer brands which allowed my family income that rounded up to about a million each month. So that way, we somehow become a 'native' family to the locals and started living there."
"Then how did you come across Roman history from 'schools' if you were not in Romania?" Helio asked.
"Well, when I was about ten, my father received a call that one of his sister was bankrupt and in huge debt while his oldest sister was barely making enough to raise her sons. But my grandparents wanted their children to learn more about the world and didn't give them financial support. And here is the thing—my youngest aunt is five years older than my father. So then my father sent me, my brother and my mother back to Romania to my grandparents to give my aunts a place to stay while he cleared their debts.
"While there, I couldn't just sit there and waste my time, so then I was sent to a school there. For about two years, I studied. Meanwhile, at home my grandfather loved to tell me and my brother stories he had heard from his grandparents about the Roman Empire. Besides that, I was honestly captivated by anything that involved historical politics and myths. And since I had a fascination for Greek mythology, I accidentally dug too deep about the country itself. So that is where my knowledge comes from."
Helio looked at her astonished and completely baffled. "Y—You memorized nearly everything about my country just because you were fascinated?!"
"That isn't even the smallest amount of what I know about Greece." Aefia spoke while still gliding her pen across the papers. "Like I said, parts of Romania was part of the Roman empire. And I am actually a very proud Romanian."
"You didn't need to say that! You are just too deeply in love with history!" Helio exclaimed back while leaning onto the desk to look down at her face.
Aefia stared back at his face for a small amount of time. "But why are you surprised? I just happened to memorize everything about your country."
As if a circuit clicking back to place, his face dropped his comedic expression and he was just silent for a very awkward amount of time, before slowly retracting away.
"Yeah well... Fair enough." He blushed while using his hand to cover his face. The dots clicked into place inside his mind.
Matthew quietly cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses, pretending he hadn't just witnessed the third Aethalgard completely fluster her boyfriend.
"If I may steer us back to the matter at hand..." Matthew began, his tone perfectly smooth. "The history of Sovereign Seraphina's reign holds a rather crucial lesson for our current political climate."
Aefia slowly set her pen down. Her gaze travelled back to Matthew who set an easy serious tone for her to completely forget about whatever they were just discussing.
"You mean the fact that the Attrition Era left us with only nine Guardians," Aefia said, her face relaxed with a subtle hint of focus. "And that the Rise faction has spent generations pretending to be pure, benevolent protectors while letting the Eclipse faction bleed out to keep the Realm's foundation from crumbling."
Helio finally dropped his hand, though his cheeks were still slightly warm. He stepped up beside her chair, resting a hand on the wooden backrest.
"If Seraphina was managing three titles at once—Death, Frost, and War—just to keep the planet fertile.. " Helio said, his voice dropping an octave as if the walls had ears. "What happened to the authority of those missing thrones after she died? Did the Rise faction just absorb them, or are those seats still technically 'vacant'?"
"They remain unassigned like how Sovereign Aefia's was for a very long time." Matthew answered gravely. "Which is precisely why Victoria and the remaining Rise faction leaders are so desperate to monitor Sovereign Aefia. When a new Sovereign of Death takes the throne and resurrects a dead territory, it threatens the narrative they have built for decades."
Aefia leaned back in her chair, steepling her gloved fingers beneath her chin. "So there are currently fourty-one unoccupied thrones and only one unfertile land that resurrected after I came to this world? And Victoria has been suspicious with me from the time I stepped it on this Realm. Now... It can't be just a coincidence like this."
"Like how?" Helio asked again.
"The two Guardians who went missing... What were their territories, Matthew?" Aefia asked.
"It is in another continent. But the Smod Empire occupied it."
"And that area is?"
"Cannlowri."
Immediately, she pulled out a fresh piece of blank paper.
"Great! So that is a very fertile mountain region area. People there are striking better then in the capital. And they say it had never once suffered from poverty since their harvest are always paying off. Which proves Matthew's point as valid." She answered while writing it all down in a single piece of paper.
"The Guardians are just 'missing'. They aren't dead like Seraphina. Which actually clearly states Seraphina fell victim to another person but that person may or may not be Victoria since she hated her from a very young age. However, I recall Silence saying she remembered me as the Guardian of Death from a very long time ago and that I was supposed to be dead—since she killed me with her own hand."
Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she immediately stood up and hit her palms into her table as if excited. "Bingo! Silence killed Seraphina under the orders of someone who she cannot defy. It must be one of the Aethalgards then! My answer says Victoria!"
Aefia immediately looked up at Matthew who was amazed by her thinking speed. Then at Helio.
"Wow. You just... Found out in the blink of an eye!" He answered after seeing her anticipated face. But why was too shocked to make an expression for the second time that day. "That is amazing."
Hearing his praise, she immediately hugged him and pressed a kiss to his cheek before running our the door, shouting, "I just solved a mystery! I am a genius!"
Both of them who had remained in the room stayed frozen for exactly one entire minute. Then slowly recalled whatever happened in the last five minutes.
"So... Silence killed Sovereign Seraphina under the request of the second Aethalgard who is known as Victoria?"
"Yes. Well I am guessing you didn't expect her to find out this fast?"
"No. I have never seen her solve cases like that. This is the first and I think I am way behind her—despite being nearly an year older than her."
"Well? Get used to it, sir. I am thinking she is about to blast the entire Guardian Realm next."
"I... Think so too." Helio spoke while finally shaking his head. Then walked over to the chair and pulled it back to sit on it. His fingers immediately reached for the pen as he pulled out another document.
"Sir? What are you doing?" Matthew asked.
"Aefia made me memorize every thing about her work so that when she wasn't around, I would have to take after. So I am currently signing these... With her signature." He stated without lifting his head from the papers.
"Ah! So my Sovereign already prepared you as her consort without actually stating anything else! Haha! Anyways. Enjoy work, sir! If you need anything, just inform me." He grinned while walking out the door.
Helio stared at the wood for a very long time until it clicked into his head.