Not long had passed since the group had lunch and returned to the palace for their rest and in preparation for the dinner.
While most of his friends retired to their rooms, Kaze stepped out of the palace to where the courtyard he saw Lunaria training with the grey-haired male dragonkin was. In his hand was Felta, whom he had just received from Lunaria not long ago. As part of his routine, which he had neglected since coming to Aravel, he was going to swing his sword for a bit to both train and test Felta out for himself.
"Brr, I don't think I will ever get used to the fact that we are so high up," Kaze muttered to himself, glancing at the side of the building where the town was located below. "This cold environment should provide a new challenge for me."
"Do you always talk to yourself?"
"Not really, but speaking my head helps to clear up my mind."
Turning his head to his side, Kaze smiled at the sight of Lunaria gently descending from the sky.
"How did you find me?"
"I can retrace your steps if I just locate your magic signature. It isn't hard, considering that we only have a few human guests with us."
"Heh… I forgot you are capable of doing that."
"Aren't you going to rest? The rest have already returned to their rooms."
"Nah, I felt like swinging Felta around."
Sighing at this, Lunaria walked up to Kaze.
"Do you… feel upset about the gift?"
"Far from it. If anything, I don't feel myself deserving of something as elegant and exquisite as this."
"Say, how did you know about Felta?"
"Hm?"
"Well, I have never told you about the sword's name before, yet you called her so naturally as if you had already known about it."
"Ah, Lucentia was the one who introduced me when she showed me Evo."
"Lucentia did…? I never thought she would talk with you, among the rest of my sisters."
"That just goes to show she does open up to people like me, don't you think?"
"Hm, I would say that her impression of you has changed since rescuing me. Otherwise, good luck trying to strike a conversation with her."
"You make it sound so scary to talk to Lucentia. Sure, she might be a little cold and unfriendly at times, but I wouldn't go so far as to call her a loner."
Giggling at this, Lunaria sat down on a stone bench at the side of the courtyard.
"It's good that you think of her that way. I figured it would be Lunatea who would tell you about Felta and Evo."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know Lunatea longer than you have with Lucentia. One would assume that Lunatea has gotten friendlier with you."
"She's still tsun when it comes to matters like talking with me, unfortunately. Lucentia opened up much faster."
A short pause followed after Kaze finished his sentence. With Lunaria staring at him, Kaze found himself observing Lunaria's outfit.
Unlike earlier, Lunaria had changed into something a lot more comfortable than the official body-sticking outfit she had. Her clothes had long sleeves that lingered all the way up to her fingers in the colour white, matching her white pleated skirt that narrowly revealed her thighs. The contrast between the white was made with her black kneesocks, causing her thighs to get further emphasized since the kneesocks squeezed her flesh.
"Hm? Pervert."
"A-Ah, no…"
Kaze immediately looked away when Lunaria called him out with a sly smirk on her face. Of course, she traced his gaze and looked down to see where he was staring at. It wasn't like she minded Kaze looking at her, but she just did so to tease Kaze. It was unlike him to stare or have immoral thoughts about her after all this time she had exposed herself to him, so Lunaria took his gaze as a compliment that his thought of her was changing to that of an opposite gender. One would argue that it had always been that way from the start, it simply got more obvious as time passed.
"Do you like my thighs?"
"Uhh, that wasn't the reason I was staring at it."
"Oh, so does that mean you do like it?"
"No?"
"Well, because the way you answered was like admitting you like them, but it wasn't the reason you stared."
"They are a-alluring after all… especially with how you are sitting…"
Clearing his throat, Kaze drew Felta from the sheath and began swinging. He did so in an attempt to distract himself from picturing Lunaria's smirk at him perving on her. As much as he wanted to deny it, Kaze found himself constantly staring at parts of Lunaria's body he previously didn't care about since the day before. Staring at her thighs was just a more… lenient example.
For a moment, the only sound that filled the courtyard was the repetitive swinging of Felta cutting through the air along with his grunts. Each swing and thrust of his was filled with a 100% of his concentration. Along with his pace and the way he moved about, it could be inferred that he was simply trying to train his basics.
Lunaria had watched Kaze train long enough for her to know the way he moved. With her observant pair of eyes, she watched even the flow of mana around Kaze as he trained. As dragonkins, Lunaria was naturally born with a more special pair of eyes than that of humans, allowing her to observe the mana gathering and fluctuating in the air like water.
Based on what Kaze was doing right now, Lunaria could tell he was simply testing out how it felt to use Felta. If he truly was training, it wouldn't be moves as simple as what he was doing. Plus, he wasn't infusing mana into his attacks, instead simply allowing it to flow past him while he swung Felta.
"Kaze, do you mind talking while you train?" Lunaria asked, breaking the calm silence.
"Uhh, not really," Kaze answered without diverting his attention from taking stance. "What's up?"
"Um, I hope you won't get bothered by what I want to tell you," Lunaria took a deep breath. "It's about the story of the little girl."
Kaze froze when he heard Lunaria's words. Gulping nervously, Kaze knew perfectly well what Lunaria was referring to, for there was only ever one story that Lunaria had mentioned before regarding a 'little girl'.
"… Why so sudden?"
"I figured it would be better if you knew sooner. It would only become complicated if I continue to hide it."
"Are you going to share it with the others?"
"Yes… As close friends, I don't think I can continue hiding it from them. Of course, I will be emitting certain details whereas you would get to know the full story. Are you okay with that?"
Taking his momentary silence as acceptance, Lunaria looked away in slight guilt.
And so she began with the second half of her story.
From where Lunaria had left off, the days of despair began for the dragonkin girl.
There were many things that weren't made clear when Kaze heard the story the first-time round was who exactly were involved. Now, one of the things that was certain was that most of it involved humans.
As was said before, birth rate in Aravel was extremely low, to the point that there could be decades without a newborn. For the dragonkin's case, the situation wasn't so bad after centuries of growing the nation. Still, compared to humans, the students in school were 90% humans and only 10% dragonkins. A rather stark contrast, considering the nation was a dragonkin nation.
When it came to classmates, the dragonkin had little to no dragonkin friends because of her status. Instead, more humans wanted to get associated with her. She often received marriage proposals from all sorts of people of different nations due to the dragonkin nation being a powerhouse. After all, they had the best military strength with a superb princess. What sort of nation or person wouldn't want to have a hand in this?
Unfortunately, with the way things turned out, the dragonkin girl received envious treatments because of that. As someone with the title of a 'genius', she had done nothing to flaunt her talent or knowledge to others, but merely accepted help when requested from her. It had gotten her into a rather isolated place on her own in school, especially when a coup was reigning overhead.
A few weeks before the coup between both factions happened, the dragonkin girl received the brute end of the jealousy through assault and bullying. It was further worsened by the fact that they were not allowed to retaliate against the humans at the moment. Not wanting to burden her parents, who were in a power struggle and insecure position, the girl took this all in for herself.
It wasn't until the coup broke out that things took a turn for the worse.
As it turned out, the mastermind behind the coup was a result of a deal between the devils and certain members of the human race. By exploiting the weak parts of the humans, the devils were able to turn allies into enemies, reigning the nation into a state of chaos. One part of the deal promised the humans power and land, while the other part contained the greatest desire of the devils at the time: the dragonkin girl's life.
For 3 days and 3 nights, the dragonkin submitted to the worst of treatment imaginable by humans in an attempt to break her. After getting kidnapped from school, she was brought far away to the borders of the mountains where a hideout was located for an inside faction containing both humans and devils.
It was later found out the reason for requiring the dragonkin was due to the wishes of the devils to summon their Lord from a realm beyond the living and the dead.
After the coup and everything was over, investigations noted signs of there being a remnant of the past, a faction within the devils that was a leftover from the war between nations. It sparked great conflict among different nations at the time when it was found out humans were working together with devils, more importantly, assisting with the very thing that nearly wiped out hundreds of thousands of lives.
In other words, the dragonkin girl was to be used as a sacrifice to summon a Demon Lord.
A Demon Lord, according to the legends of the past, was a being so powerful that it was a literal incarnation of pain and suffering. While not much was known about whether such a being existed, or even was real, was beyond anyone's understanding except for the devils who were devoted to serving this master of theirs. It was practically a cult devoted enough to ruin relationships between nations and take advantage of the weak without caring about the consequence.
The reason for requiring the dragonkin girl to suffer was part of the ritual. To summon a being as evil as that, the vessel itself had to be something of so much pain and anguish that it literally devolves itself, utilizing said emotions to summon the being. Of course, everything being said was just what that was recovered after interrogating the captured ritualists and worshippers, so nothing was definite. After all, it was just a belief according to scriptures of the past.
To the dragonkin at the time, she was nothing but an asset for the humans cooperating with the devils to vent their lust on. Degrading her to nothing but an animal, she was subjected to inhumanely desires and treatment of the worst kind, all done to break her mind and spirit. It was the perfect excuse for humans to cooperate with the devils since they could lay their hands on a princess as they wish, but not as far as to kill her.
"Lunaria!"
When mentioning until this part, Lunaria suddenly held her hand to her mouth and keeled over. This prompted Kaze to rush to her side immediately.
"I-I'm fine…" Lunaria muttered, gagging again before vomiting.
Retelling the tale itself was something that Lunaria voluntarily did. In doing so, all her past trauma and memories resurfaced like cutting open an old wound. Instantly, she was hit by nausea and uncomfortableness, prompting her to vomit in respond as her stomach got queasy from thinking about her past.
Kaze stayed by Lunaria's side, holding her close to him and making sure that she did not collapse. While unable to empathize with what Lunaria had gone through, even he knew that it must have been something horrendous enough to cause such a reaction from Lunaria. How she did not go insane from that was already amazing enough, especially for her to be able to recover from it to this extent.
"Lunaria…" Kaze muttered her name softly, holding her close to him.
Taking a few more deep breaths, Lunaria used magic to get rid of the mess she made before leaning to his side.
"Sorry, I don't think I can continue," Lunaria made a weak smile. "And to think I was confident enough that I had gotten over it…"
"Please don't push yourself, I got the idea," Kaze said, hugging her tightly. "Lunaria… you have said enough."
"Kaze… the point of me telling you this is in hopes of giving you an idea about the past that Aravel has suffered to reach the stage we are today. As good a nation as we may seem, there is always a dark past behind it," Lunaria stifled a sigh. "Tonight, you and the others would undoubtedly be faced with some form of prejudice from more than a few officials. You would know that it was already controversial enough to reinvite humans into our nation after such a traumatic event happened. Please, try not to worsen what we have accomplished any further. No matter how much you or the others are tempted, don't do anything rash. As the princess of Aravel, and as someone who had suffered first-hand the effects of human jealousy… I beg you."
Clenching his hand tightly, tears began leaking from the side of Lunaria's eyes. Seeing her in such a state crushed Kaze's heart to the point that he felt like he would cry from Lunaria's current self. It was like pain beyond anything he had felt, to see a girl so strong be diminished into someone so weak and fragile. It had already happened many times before in the past, each moment further reinforcing the fact that Lunaria only want to be happy.
The complete story that Lunaria told finally connected many of the dots that had Kaze wondering before. How she and the royal family knew about the devils immediately when they attacked Tristania was from the events of the past. Things that made Lunaria uncomfortable, such as with how weak she was towards the devils, were also because of what she had experienced that made it into a trauma. Further, it also made Kaze aware about the past between each nation that he was not aware about.
After staying with Lunaria for half an hour or so, with her leaning on him, she eventually fell asleep. It seemed like crying silently had exhausted her mentally, accumulated with trying to bear with the constant reminder of the past earlier this morning. It was moments like this that made Kaze appreciate Lunaria for being trusting of him that she was able to confide in him. More importantly, in exposing her weak self.
Kaze knew how hard it was for a person to admit when they needed help. Even when Lunaria didn't directly ask for him, she still was able to show that she was not always strong. The charismatic front she had up with everyone was just to reassure them she was fine when he became a shoulder for her to lean on behind the scene, also referred to when she gripped his hand tightly while trembling at listening about the Czech-Aravel Agreement.
Lifting her into his arms, Lunaria instinctively snuggled herself to his chest so he could carry her around in a literal 'princess carry'. While this would normally have made Kaze blush from the embarrassment of being seen in such a position with a beauty like Lunaria, he now felt nothing but sadness and a moment of relief. If seeing Lunaria's relaxed sleeping face was what that calmed him down, he was willing to accept a temporary moment of shame like this.
"Lunaria-sama?!"
"Kaze-sama, what happened?"
When walking back into the palace, Ilesta and Tuarle noticed him carrying Lunaria in his arms and hurried over to his side.
"Shh, she's asleep," Kaze told the two, in which they checked themselves and sighed once they confirmed it was true. "I think she needs to rest."
"Yes, please come with us," Ilesta nodded and immediately led the way.
Taking him back to Lunaria's room, Kaze placed Lunaria in bed gently before leaving the area with the two head maids.
"Thank you for looking after Lunaria-sama," Ilesta bowed politely to Kaze.
"We will take care of the rest," Tuarle smiled. "Please return to your room, Kaze-sama. Dinner will begin soon."
"Ah, shit," Kaze sweatdropped when he realized that it was already so late. "What time do we have to gather."
"I believe that would be 6.30, Kaze-sama," Ilesta stated with a similar smile. "Once again, thank you for taking care of Lunaria-sama. We will see you tonight."
The two maids then went back to their duties, leaving Kaze by himself. He remained standing there, lingering on his previous thoughts about Lunaria.
With a sigh, Kaze collected his feelings and left, returning to his room for the next few hours.
- - - - -
When Lunaria woke up, she realized that several hours had already passed.
The first thing that came to mind was the dinner. Looking at the clock, Lunaria stripped bare and quickly headed over to the bathroom to wash up and get ready.
By the time she was well-dressed, a knock came from her room door and in came Lunatea.
"Lunaria-nee, you're ready," Lunatea smiled after seeing her sister. "I figured you were still sleeping."
"Ah, I woke up," Lunaria nodded in reply. "Come on, we have to hurry. The guests should be arriving anytime soon."
The two left to the main hall, where they would be greeting any guests who showed up. When they arrived, everyone else had already been there and getting ready for the guests including Kaze's group.
When Kaze's gaze met hers, Lunaria shrugged off the butterflies in her stomach as a result of remembering what she had told him and walked up to her parents.
"Lunaria, how do you feel? You don't have to attend if you really can't handle the pressure," Laevia asked in a soft tone, not wanting the others to overhear them.
"Mother, I'm fine. I will let Tuarle or Ilesta know if I can't," Lunaria reassured her mother with a firm tone. "More importantly, the guests?"
"They should be arriving soon," Reginsleif sighed, placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Still, you gave me a scare when Ilesta suddenly reported that Kaze had to carry you back to your room."
"Ah… that…" Lunaria's eyes darted to the floor as soon as she heard what was said about her, her cheeks heating up. "D-Did… Ilesta tell you… that?"
"Of course. You know that you haven't fully healed yet, so moving around too much is already pushing your limits," Laevia lectured her daughter. "I hope you don't overextend yourself again, otherwise you are forbidden from leaving the palace for a week."
"I understand mother, father," Lunaria bowed politely. "I will take my position."
"Make sure you thank Kaze properly for bringing you back. He could have just left you where you were," Laevia reminded Lunaria. "Geez, how could you be so careless as to sleep wherever you want?"
"Um… right," Lunaria gulped, knowing that her parents must not have known the full context. "I will take my leave."
Soon enough, the guests began showing up in pairs and groups. Since this was a formal dinner with the royal family and foreign guests, the event was taken very seriously with guards stationed all around. Everyone was dressed exclusively, whether it be in their national attire or something formal.
"Man, this is the first time I see guests flying up to the front of a palace," Chris commented to his friends, who all welcomed the guests one by one.
"You don't say. They make arriving in carriages look like something only peasants would do," Yuuji chuckled politely. "Ahh, I can already feel my logic being redefined after only a few days here."
"Shh, you're supposed to be greeting the guests," Irene stepped on Chris' feet, causing him to gasp in pain. "Why are you all unable to act serious when you should?"
"W-Well, we are serious, but we just talk softly when there is no one around," Chris winced after suffering the brute of his girlfriend.
"If anything, I feel bad that even though we are the guests to a superior nation, they still treat us so formally," Mitsui sweatdropped. "Everyone here's at least a few centuries old."
Once the last of the guests had arrived, the door to the front entrance of the palace closed. Everyone gathered in the dining room, which was splendidly designed along with rows and rows of food. Since dragonkins were big eaters, it only made sense that food suitable for hundreds of people were so casually being displayed already.
"Formal dinner in Aravel is to be conducted buffet style," Luniel explained to her friends, who were still new to the custom. "Please, take anything you want to eat. The entire idea of not confining ourselves to a table is so that we can move around as we please and talk with anyone we want."
"Haha, that really is a stark contrast to Tristania," Noel smiled at this. "For any formal events, everyone eats first before spending time drinking and socializing."
"We don't do that here. It will take ages before we can get up and talk since we eat a lot compared to your race," Luniel giggled. "Don't mind us. Feel free to eat as you wish and talk with whomever you want!"
"Hello, pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Yuuji Thros Bivel, crown prince of Czech."
"Ho, so it would seem."
"Fair lady, I'm one of the Council Members of Aravel…"
"Ehh, is that so?"
With the interactions happening faster than anyone would expect, dragonkin after dragonkin were eagerly lining up and surrounding their new guests for a chance to talk with them. Needless to say, those who were already used to having this sort of interaction handled it spectacularly, namely Yuuji and his friends.
As for people like Kaze, who was either not the chatty type or lacked experience in formal dining with executives, it was a struggle to try to maintain a calm attitude. It was all the more nerve-wrecking knowing that they were representing the face of Czech as foreign guests. None of the dragonkins seemed too imposing, being understanding, and got along easily with them. Despite 50 years or so, they still remembered the appropriate way when it came to interacting with a different species much younger than they were. It only went to prove that dragonkins were not one to hold a grudge when it came to their guests.
In the meantime, Kaze kept glancing around the room, looking out for any signs of conflict. After hearing what Lunaria had said, he felt compelled to make sure nothing bad happened that would cause another misunderstanding from ruining the mood. As of right now, it was clear that things were going smoothly.
"Something to eat?"
"Oh, uhh, thank you."
Kaze turned around to see who it was that addressed him. Smiling when it was a familiar face, Kaze accepted the offer from him.
"I saw you walking around and looking at everyone without eating. Don't you feel hungry?"
"A little, but I'm feeling nervous around people of your status."
"Spare me your kind words. You are our guest; it is normal for us to treat you well."
The person who Kaze was talking to happened to be the dragonkin male whom Lunaria trained with when he found her on the first day. Dressed in a suit, the dragonkin shrugged lightly as he spoke.
"Sorry, the name's Ash."
"Kaze. We met when Lunaria jumped at me."
"Yes, I remember. Nice to meet you Ash. I honestly didn't expect to see you here, but I don't feel surprised."
"Eh, I would be too. Care to enlighten me why?"
"I mean, if anyone is able to enter and exit the palace with the goal of training with Lunaria, I would expect your status to be somewhat important."
"Hm, interesting perception. Unlike everyone here, I don't have a super important role to play when it comes to running the nation. I just happened to be acquainted with Lunaria."
"Oh? How so?"
Ash paused when Kaze asked about his relationship with Lunaria. With a slightly puzzled look, Ash stared at Kaze before widening his eyes in realization.
"Ah, I see, Lunaria didn't tell you huh?"
"Sorry. Neither of us mentioned you after we left…"
"No no, I understand. She must be excited to see her friends arriving."
"From that, I would assume you are already aware about our origins?"
"Sort of. You and your friends were the talk of the nation. After all, it had been half a century since we had outside guests from the human race."
"Well… I happened to have met Lunaria when she came to Tristania for an exchange between nations."
"Ah, so that's the story. Well, while I don't come from such a humble background, I wouldn't deny my relationship with Lunaria and the royal family comes off a bit special."
The next words that came from Ash became an icy pierce through Kaze's heart.
With an embarrassed look on Ash's face, he made a light chuckle and admitted the truth.
"I was Lunaria's fiancé."