"I was a ruler and had to do everything to maintain prosperity for my people, but their eyes always darts between me and my brother, even when he didn't have the title of king or understood political matter and conspiracies." Lotus continued bitterly, "We were often compared to because his strength outmatched mine, thus people chose to ignore me for him, and, for that, I envied him and disliked being around him in public."
Her thoughts slowly drifted to the days she spent with her elder brother.
That's right.
She had an older brother, despite being a queen in her previous life. He was not suited for ruling, nor did he have the firm heart that she did to carry out punishments. His heart and soul was meant solely for cultivation and enlightenment while hers has always been for the political affairs of her flower spirit kingdom. In the past, they had been very close. He was also the one who gave her her name in the past just after she finished cultivating into a humanoid form. He was also the first one to be there to pick her up and the one to teach her how to cultivate.
She was only ten years younger than him which is similar to being one year younger in comparison, or even a month, but, no matter where she surpassed him in, she had a weaker cultivation than him and other spirits felt that they could gain his favor to bend her to their thinking.
She sighed and continued, "Despite being the ruler, they thought to curry favor with him, even if he wasn't king, to control me. My brother had been naive and honestly believed in them. For years this went on, until I had enough and threatened him that, if he was going to continue to be used to judge me for ruling a functioning kingdom, I could just go and kill myself so the kingdom can slowly die at the hands of the nobles. If the world was fair, they'd give me strength and my brother a skill for social interactions. In the end, it had to be a third party to step in and break us up."
"What are you trying to say here with all your blabbering?" Leona growled in annoyance.
Honestly, she was already impressed anyway that he actually listened this far. She responded, "That your brother might want you to retain that family connection, but his action were naive and clumsy that he made you misunderstand. That he might've wanted you to be there with him and his wife for the ceremony for his son, but didn't take into account that you would be reminded that you'd be even less likely to inherit the throne which shouldn't be what the ceremony was intended for from the start."
"What are you..."
"People talk of you behind your back, because they either fear you for your abilities or envy you for your capabilities and heritage. You probably know that by now." Lotus explained as she entered the stadium to find that Leona was on the verge of losing the battle against her friend.
She quickly used her ability to hide herself and continued quietly with a needle in hand, "They talk because they have nothing better to do, don't they? From the very beginning, just what do people outside of your family knows about you? And, you're just going to tell them they're right and follow to what they think of you? Aren't you just losing to them, then, and giving them what they want?"
"Shut up!" Leona roared.
Tired, Lotus sighed quietly as she leaned against the tall pillar. She reached out to him once more, "You... Why do you want to be king? Is it the only path you can take?"
"You're going to criticize me too, huh?" Leona laughed, "Then-"
"Enough." Lotus said bluntly startling Leona to shut up, "I can tell, it's not that you want to be king no matter how much you keep talking about it... You want to be number one and be treated similarly to that of your brother. Therefore, you believe that you can gain that respect you weren't given as long as you have the title of king because that's all they ever talked about."
"Shut your damn mouth!"
Lotus frowned as she recalled the image last night shortly after arriving home. She thought long and hard of the images that had been portrayed to her before she spoke up, "You... remind me of Scar very much..."
There was a moment of silence to which Leona finally spoke up quietly, "The King of Beasts...? What about him? You know him?"
"Not personally..." Lotus responded bluntly with a frown, "But, I know what really happened to him in the end and his relationship to his family. You remind me of him in some aspect."
"What do you mean?" Leona said in an unpleasant voice but held a hint of curiousity.
"One that he didn't attend his nephew's ceremony for the same reason you said to your brother." Lotus answered unhesitantly, "And, you can imagine how he reacted... when his nephew was old enough to learn that he would become the next in line for the throne as he foolishly and innocently asked his uncle what that would make him. Not knowing how much that would affect the king of beast's thinking."
Lotus sighed, "How he overthrown his brother... was just like what you've done today... stampede. He fooled them... his brother and his nephew... The outcast lion that survived on bugs... You can guess now, what happened to the King of Beast..."
"Then... The hyenas..."
"He was close to them before..." Lotus nodded, "Till he tried to frame them in his last moments... But, you know..."
Lotus thought for a long time before she continued, "Even when he would always be reminded of his position, his real downfall was that he was sloppy in his rule after ascension. True, there was plentiful of food... for a while. In the end, they were all hunted down and didn't return regardless of the seasons. Even after attaining the throne... he did nothing for the kingdom in reality... But, if asked, it was evident that he had the capability to rule the kingdom and saving the hyenas he'd grown up being around with. Did you know... To the very end, he believed that everyone was against him, but his own nephew who survived the stampede kept believing in him to adulthood till he learned the truth of everything and witnessed the aftermath of his rule."
It was then that Leona recalled something that he called out, "So, then we're alike, then..."
"No." Lotus responded as she watched her friends almost ready to give the shadow a final blow, "You and him aren't the same, no matter what others say. Even if you're alike, you are you and him is himself. Becuase... You have something he lacked. As a lion in the old age, he didn't have any other paths, but to become an advisor and an aide to his brother, and his brother didn't even tried to keep connecting with him... because his brother gave up trying anymore. Also... Didn't you say it yourself?"
"Huh?"
"That it'd be useless if you don't get number one." Lotus responded with a smirk as she recalled his ranting from his memories, "How does that have anything to do with being a king? Isn't that just your real ambition here? To be better than those who's suppose to be strong?"
"... Just be quiet..." Leona grumbled.
However, Lotus knew what he was hiding and stifled back her laughter before stating, "That's probably the most truthful thing I've heard you say. Haha...!"
"Damn it. You just won't shut up..." Leona grumbled as Lotus could see that the shadow was starting to dissipate on the ground.
She knew he was getting tired, so she smirked in relief, "Hey, Leona. Between wanting to be King and wanting to be number one... Which one do you really want the most? Is a single title going to be enough to give you everything you want in comparison to being number one?"
There was no answer as Leona's overblot appearance began to fade.
Suddenly, there was a shine in the distance to which Lotus scowled and whipped out Ying Hui in her gold pendulum and chain form. She quickly shot her at the light and a loud clang could be heard in the distance as the pain returned to her arm. She scowled before approaching the group carefully as they had gotten curious over the strange sound. Hurriedly, she deactivated her ability behind Cater and stated nervously, "Is he okay now?"
"Wahhh?!" Cater shouted in bewilderment, "Lotus?! Where did you come from?"
"I came around after I noticed the sky becoming lighter." Lotus answered, "More importantly, is he all right?"
"He should be, but..." Ace noted with a frown.
Grim daringly poked at him, "Hey... Hey..."
There was hardly much movement as Ruggie began to panic, "H-He's fine, right?!"
Riddle's eyes widen in bewilderment and he hesitated nervously with shaky hands as he reached for the neck. Riddle grimaced, "Um..."
Lotus raised a brow, "Settle down. You won't be able to feel the pulse if all you feel is your own heart rate."
Lotus reached out and grabbed the wrist and began to feel for a pulse before she frowned and flipped him over.
"What's going on?" Riddle raised a brow having searched the side of the neck, "I... I don't think I can feel a pulse..."
"That burst of magic has clogged a nerve in his neck." Lotus responded with a grumble and stuck a needle in the neck.
"So thin...!" Ace muttered in bewilderment.
Lotus silently sent in her energy once again forcefully unblocking the clogged meridian to open as she grumbled, "How in the world did he use so much magic that he clogged his own nerve with it... Seriously..."
She then pulled back the needle out and enveloped it into a napkin with another she had used before and sighed as she said sarcastically, "Two needles in one day. It's going to be a breeze to sanitize them... "
Her words were interrupted as there was a sudden cough.
"Ah! He's alive!!!" Grim cried out in bewilderment.
"He's alive?!" Ruggie gave out a sigh of relief and smirked, "Now, get him back for everything he said..."
Lotus sighed, "I treat him and now you want to beat him again? Do it at a minimum or have him go to the infirmary for an authorized professional to check up on him."
Riddle laughed, "I didn't think you'd use something you consider so precious on someone like him, if you're going to complain about it."
Lotus smirked, "What can I do? I accidentally promised someone that he'd come back in one piece. If I break it now, I'm not going to be able to walk around their presence without guilt."
Ace muttered nervously, "So you do have a sense of guilt, after all."
Lotus sighed feigning pity, "Of course I do. I can't believe you would refer to me as heartless."
Grim grumbled, "Says the person who threatened me with can tuna."
Lotus smirked, "Says the person who actually followed through because I used can tuna."
Grim snarled, "Gahhh! Enough! Hey... Hey...! Hey, wake up!"
As Grim began to prod at the Lion guy, Lotus noticed the headmaster and the others rush in. Lotus sighed, "And, now you're prodding him with your claws..."
"Shut up!" Grim scolded at her before they suddenly heard a groan.
Leona's eyes slowly squinted open as Lotus breathed in a small sigh.
"You're finally awake!" Grim cheered impatiently, "We weren't sure what to do if you stayed passed out like that again!"
"Now then," Grim ordered unhesitantly, "go ahead and confess that all of the accidents were part of your plan."
Yuu sighed in exasperation, but smirked. Lotus shook her head pretending not to know these two.