And so a full two weeks went by before someone knocked on Noire's door.
"You may enter," Noire's voice resounded.
"Well, allow me..." A gentle voice that Noire has never registered in his consciousness broke through the silver door, and an ice-cold beauty strode in.
She wore a white palace dress accentuating her curves, short sleeves that revealed her slender and delicate arms. She had long white hair that descended into a long tousled style, thin bangs dangling over her forehead to overshadow her crystal blue eyes.
The Phoenix Queen.
Noire was surprised at first, he didn't think this coward would step forward to ask his help directly, he more or so thought she would send Kirin over like last time.
Noire said, "Oh? The Queen?"
His expression somehow transmitted all his thoughts, and the Queen could only clench her fists and slightly bow her head.
"Elza, calling me Elza is fine..." She uttered softly. It was very odd to have someone way higher than her in the bloodline hierarchy address her as 'Queen'. Even though his bloodline seemed to be sealed to a great extent, even a lowly Flood Dragon would still topple over her current generation.
Noire didn't care much so he waved his hand to clear the dust that amassed due to burnt-out Qi crystals before asking her to sit.
It took a moment before Elza finally decided to design a chair of ice and take a seat.
"I'll be brief," Elza said after taking a calm breath, "I'm a fake Queen."
"..."
This type of revelation shocked Noire to the core as he digested the amount of information that sentence carried.
In orthodox cases, the only way for a fake queen to emerge is when someone outside the Royal Bloodline takes over the throne.
And that would be nigh-impossible due to the bloodline hierarchy, a Royal Phoenix would suppress a normal, even if the former was a newborn.
Mainly because the difference in the bloodline is so vast, usually a phoenix would require to reach a certain age and bloodline purity in order to inherit a humanoid physique.
However, a Royal Phoenix would hatch with her physique as the bloodline purity would have already gone past the threshold during the hatching process.
For example, the child phoenix used to accompany Lady Feng.
Noire never gave it too much thought because the bloodline he sensed from these phoenix birds was so thin it didn't qualify to be labeled as Royal Bloodline.
Still, just as there are many branches in the Dragon Clan, the same went for the Phoenix Household, so Noire simply assumed the so-called Phoenix Palace is another side branch that somehow fell into this lackluster realm.
Still, the word 'fake' carried a lot of shocking and hidden facts behind it. For instance, there can never be a fake phoenix in a side branch, the only exception is...
Noire took a deep breath, "You used to be the handmaiden of a Royal Phoenix..."
Now it was Elza's turn to be stunned.
She simply mentioned the term 'Fake Queen' yet, judging from the constant change in Noire's facial expression the past dozen breaths of time, although she realized he was shocked, she thought that he was orchestrating his reflections to ask her some questions.
There was never a thought in her life that Noire could actually deduce the facts, these were ancient secrets and orthodox traditions of a Phoenix Clan, the only explanation behind Noire's knowledge is him being close to Orthodox Royal Phoenix Households.
Caught in her trance, Elza almost forgot her purpose of coming.
At this point, Noire's mind went plus ultra as he linked and digested the current facts.
Taking another deep breath he then asked, "In the restricted chamber, is it the egg of a Royal Phoenix descendant?"
- - - -
Around the same time, countless kilometers away, Luhei Household Manor.
Ding...
An iron plate fell from Luhei Kami's trembling hands, his face was void of all color, turning as white as paper as he muttered in disbelief...
"W-what did you say?"
"T-tianshi... She's gone..."
Anastasia stood in front of her husband like a timid mouse. All her arrogance and pride of a warrior declined as she clad herself in a full black dress, preparing herself to mourn for her daughter for 40 days.
She only revealed the fact about her daughter's death after revealing the information regarding Arima, a second Celestial Entity. Not only that, but both this entity and the Phoenix Household seem to be in close relationships with Noire.
She spoke of some facts while simultaneously keeping other facts a hidden factor.
For instance, she didn't dare tell her husband that she was the main reason their daughter died, she only told him she died during a breakthrough attempt to the Eclipse Realm.
She also refused to disclose any sensitive information about Noire, lest her husband would make stupid decisions due to his current mental state.
The news of Noire taking shelter under the protection of two Celestial Entities inside the Northern Region was quickly distributed between the Nine Households, but they leaked false information to the public.
'Noire has been held captive by the Phoenix Household under the request of the Nine Families.'
The only reason they took this bold approach is that they know how the Phoenix Household doesn't care about human business, they don't even have an information network throughout the remaining Regions, unlike the Nine Families.
Of course, Luhei Kami could tell that his wife is concealing something, there's just no way that she learned nothing after staying in the Northern Region for about two months.
Currently, she's mourning over her daughter. In three days, he will further 'question' her about facts.
The reason he has a bad feeling about this is the knowledge that she left their daughter's body back inside the Northern Region, which in itself is a good reason for him to seek attendance at the Phoenix Palace for a clear explanation.
New about Yu Ning and Luhei Tianshi dying in collateral damage during a huge battle in the Northern Region caused a huge turmoil throughout the three Regions.
Of course, the 'collateral damage' was another lie of Anastasia's, she didn't dare confess that Ning'er and Yue also died simultaneously through the breakthrough phenomenon.
Tianshi's condition was special, her dying through a breakthrough due to bloodline combustion is understandable. However, if two other people also perished spontaneously for the same reason, even an idiot can see the shady lines.
Not to mention, if she lied and said Yu Ning was alive, the Yu Household, urged by the Eight Families, will try and take advantage of Ning'er being close with Noire to establish diplomatic relations with the Northern Region.
What would she do if they sent envoys and eventually unearth the truth?
- - - -
"In the Core Continent, the Imperial Family gained some bloodline restriction methods from Vortex Ruins Temple, or so the rumors say."
"Truth be told, no one knows exactly what is in the Temple, some rumors dictate that there's a Spatial Vortex connecting to the Medium Planes, but the natural and artificial arrays require a team of Celestial experts to explore, and even then safety can't be guaranteed."
"Thousands of years ago, the Liu family elders gained some harvest, the records claim that they found the legacy of some Elder that transcended beyond the Celestial Realm, and they found scrolls that speak of a higher plane and some treasures."
"Amongst these treasures was a golden crown with a bloodline essence stone embedded into it, that essence stone seemed to belong to a Monster Mount from the so-called medium plane."
"Even if it was a mount, its bloodline is still higher than that of every monster in this world. The Liu family used that essence stone to subdue the other monsters, including our Phoenix Ancestors."
"Many Monsters fled the Core Continent that era, but those that were subdued were used as weapons in a full-scale war that eventually allowed the Liu family to establish their imperial hierarchy."
"I'm a descendant of the Phoenix Queen's personal Maiden, and my ancestors successfully fled all the way here with the egg of a Royal Phoenix."
"Still... The bloodline is very thin, and the egg has been barely holding on for thousands of years by now. Our only duty was to maintain the safety of that egg and hope for it to hatch, but the vitality and bloodline are too thin..."
Here, Elza looked Noire in the eyes. She knows he's astute enough to realize her request, she even had a faint feeling that the only reason he listened to the full story is out of curiosity.