Somewhere inside a forest that was dimly lit by the silver moon, the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard. Amidst the sea of trees, a black-haired lone woman could be seen running through the forest. In her arms were two babies whose features were very distinct and resembled each other, they were most likely twins. In particular, they both had two tiny horns protruding from their heads.
"Haah... Haah.. Oh no, what should I do? If only I could get to the beast territory, then perhaps, we could." The woman lamented, as she panted hoarsely for breath, her feet's felt heavy. She was utterly exhausted both physically and mentally. After running a whole day without rest, she was fast approaching the limits of her body.
'What should I do? No matter how far I run, there doesn't seem to be any end to this forest.' She thought, her beautiful face twisted gravely. She didn't even know where she should be running, or if the forest was nearing its end. Her heart thundered in her small chest as she desperately searched for a solution in her current situation.
"Please... look after those girls, although we won't be able to be the happy family you wanted. At the very least, I hope you all can be happy."
Those were the last words of her husband, before he had sacrifice himself for them to have had a chance to escape. Remembering the words of her husband, tears trickled down her cheeks. "Why? Why did something like this had to?" As her legs gave out, she had sunk to one knee. However, fearing she would be caught, after catching her breath, she got to her feet and started running once again.
As she ran, monsters would occasionally attack her, drawn in by the sound of her heavy footsteps, but she used wind magic to keep them away.
Finding a tree near a lake, which reflected the sight of the moon, she vigilantly observed her surroundings before sitting down beneath the tree. The twin babies were both fast asleep in her arms.
"No matter what, I promised him, I wouldn't let anything happen to you." With a motherly smile, she kissed the cheeks of the twin babies gently. The woman was a human who had inadvertently fallen in love with a demon. Mixed species between the demon was dishonourable to their race. As the infants born between the two races would be weakened significantly compared to the pure bloods.
Demons were the most aggressive race in the world, they valued strength above all else, it was shameful to stain their kind with any other race. And so, it was a taboo for a demon to have a child with any other race.
The families who had committed such a taboo would be hunted down and killed mercilessly.
Her daughters were mixed between a human and a demon, they had lived peacefully in a small village together away from the demon race. However, the history between humans and demons were painted in blood. It was a natural instinct; humans feared and hated the demon race who were followers of the goddess of death, Eva.
It was very rare for both specie's to get along with each other. The child born between them had characteristics mixed between both humans and demons, it was only recently those within the village had notice the horns sticking out of their heads and had branded them a heretic. Her husband used illusion magic to hide his demon features. Unfortunately, the twins were too young to be capable of using such magic.
"I can't stay here." She decided to move, after gently wrapping both the twins into a blanket to protect them from the cold night air, she got to her feet, however—
Swoosh!
"Argh!" An arrow came shooting from the many trees and pierced into her back mercilessly. Her body staggered from the sudden impact as she gritted her teeth, enduring the pain. The woman turned her head and glanced over her shoulders. From the distance she saw flashes of light between the leaves.
"Tch, they caught up with me already." She muttered in frustration. After pulling out the arrow from her back she once again started running at a tremendous speed using wind magic.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Multiple arrows came shooting out at an impossible speed with lethal precision. It seems whoever fired those arrows were also a skilled wind user as the arrows were within a vortex of wind which allowed the arrows to move at overwhelming speed. However, the woman skilfully used the trees as shields as she ran between them.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The arrows, moving at such speeds bore through the tree trunks with such ferocity that small gaping holes were left behind. "Tch, there is no end to them." The woman mumbled in frustration; to avoid the arrows she had erected a magical barrier around her. However...
"Ugh." As she ran through the uneven ground, her leg was suddenly caught between a vine that had blended in with the plants splendidly. Unable to catch her balance, she tumbled to the ground while hugging the twins in her arms.
"... I... I am sorry." The woman mumbled to herself; tears filled her vision as she gazed at the two babies who had woken up. The oldest of the two started crying, while the youngest was strangely calm. With a warm smile she gently caresses their heads.
"Trisa, please don't cry. I want you to always smile. And Suzu please grow up big and strong and take good care of your sister." She whispered into their ears.
And with a look of determination, her lips began to move, she whispered an incantation to activate a spell. A gentle gust of wind envelops the bodies of the twins as they floated into the air, their bodies kept rising further until they were several meters above ground.
As the flashes of light grew closer in her gaze, she glanced into the direction of her children with a sweet smile.
"Please live, both of you. Live and find happiness." With those last words, she closed her eyes seemingly satisfied.
....
Inside the dragon clan, Alan's room.
Two days had passed since the incident with the Oblong family. Naturally, the incident had caused a huge commotion between the dragon clan and the sun clan, that was to be expected, as not only was the youngest son and heir to the dragon clan attacked, but even the heir and the second daughter of the sun clan.
The dragon clan and the sun clan had demanded compensation from the Oblong family, even with the moon clan backing them from behind, it was impossible to appease the wrath of both the dragon clan and the sun clan alone. In the end, the Oblong family had no other choice but to give into the demand of the dragon clan and the sun clan.
As for what those demands were, Alan naturally had no idea.
Alan was put under house arrest for wondering off alone during their visit to the market. Furthermore, both Trisa and Suzu were to be punished for allowing the young master to wonder away unsupervised. However, Alan couldn't allow them to be put in trouble when he was at fault, so he explained to his mother that all responsibilities fell on him.
It is to be mentioned Amelia was naturally surprised by Alan's action that was so unbefitting of his age and had agreed both Trisa and Suzu weren't at fault with the current situation. In those two days Alan couldn't train with his sword and had been secretly practicing his control over his spiritual energy instead.
"Fufufu, you really made your mother mad, huh?" Akane's soothing voice suddenly resounded, a bright flash of light filled the room as she materialized into her physical form. Her long snow-white hair fell down to her waist as her sapphire-like eyes stared at the young silver-haired youth, it was Alan, the heir to the dragon clan, he sat on his bed in a state of meditation.
"She had all right to be angry, If I didn't wonder away, If I hadn't intervened when Lennox was abducting those girls' things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand." Alan replied, as he opened his eyes. His usual bright emerald eyes had a hint of gloominess to them. "Are you perhaps thinking of that girl again?" Akane asked, those beautiful eyes of hers seem to be able to see right through him. As though she could see directly into his soul.
The one she was referring to was most likely the maid, Trisa. After she had fallen unconscious, she hadn't woken up in the last two days. Alan wasn't allowed to leave his room, so he couldn't check on her even if he wanted to. "Even though her physical body was healed thanks to her demon blood, she still showed no sign of waking up, if only I had killed Lennox when I had the chance, then." Alan clenched his fist, with a smear of guilt shone in his eyes.
Seeing him like that Akane sighed, "What's done is done. No point feeling regret now, just be glad she is still alive." Akane said. Suddenly, her expression changed as she turned towards the door, her body disappeared as she retreated back inside Alan's soul as though hiding from something, or someone. At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
"You may enter." Alan said in a calm tone. With his permission, the door opened up with a creak. The one who had entered was the younger sister of Trisa, it was Suzu.
She pushed a food cart as she entered the room, dressed in a black and white maid attire, her shoulder length black hair swayed with her graceful movements. She was truly beautiful.
"Young master, your dinner is ready." Suzu said in her usual emotionless voice.
"I see... Umm sister Suzu... I—!"
"Your apologies are unnecessary."
Alan was about to apologize reflexively but was cut off by Suzu who seems to have anticipated his words. "But... It was because of me that sister Trisa was hurt." He said in a shaky voice. "Indeed, it was because of the young master's thoughtless actions that caused elder sister to be injured. But like I said, you don't have to apologize. Because that's not what Trisa would've wanted. She truly loves you, so it was only natural for her to act the way she did." Suzu said bluntly.
The corners of Alan's mouth twitches slightly at her bluntness, but he didn't dislike that side of her. "I see... Are there any changes, has she woken up yet?" He inquired. "No, while her injuries have already healed, it seems it will take some time for her to wake up." Suzu explained. Even though her voice held no emotion, it was obvious she was worried about her older sister from the frown on her face.
The room fell into a state of silence after that, until Suzu decided to speak up again. However, she had a troubled expression on her face, as though she had a question, she wanted to ask but wasn't sure how to bring it up. Perhaps seeing through her hesitation, Alan spoke up first, "Is there something wrong? You can ask whatever you want."
"... In that case, the young master is now aware of our lineage, yet the young master still treats us the same, I am very thankful for the young master's kindness." Suzu said, holding the hem of her dress while gracefully bowing her head.
Considering the relationship between humans and demons they had always been very worried about his reaction once he had learnt the truth of their species. They had decided to reveal it once he had come of age, but the revelation came much sooner than she had expected.
Then, from Suzu's head two horns suddenly protruded as her usual golden eyes became crimson. The aura around her also change and had become darker and more oppressive. Alan swallowed his breath at the change. "In order to live peacefully, we had to hide our demon features." Suzu explained solemnly.
With her demon features now exposed, instead of looking like an elegant maid, she now seemed like an alluring beauty with a wild appearance to her. Alan's emerald eyes stared into those crimson pupils of hers. His brow furrowed when he notices her soft, slender body trembling slightly.
It seems she was very nervous of his reaction once he had learnt the truth. It was already very unusual seeing the normally level-headed, and graceful maid acting so sheepishly. But Alan could tell she was very happy from her expression.
"I see... At first, I was naturally surprised, but I recovered from the shock very quickly. Maybe It was because of everything that had happened up until then? In any case, your race doesn't change the way I see both of you, to me, you are you, nothing else." Alan said, tilting his head cutely. With his memories of Ellard, he had a lot of knowledge about all species that exists.
Ellard had met with several species of mixed races before, so Alan wasn't that surprised. However, he acted innocently, as to not bring any suspicions onto himself. Suzu blinked blankly at Alan for some time when she heard his words, a sigh of relief escapes her lips, that sigh seems to carry all her bitter emotions as her shoulder finally loosen as though it had been liberated from a heavy load.
"For as long as I remember, humans were never particularly fond of our kind. It was lady Amelia's kindness that allowed us to stay here in this mansion. Back then, we had lived in the capital stealing food from vendors in order to survive. Despite being the older one, Trisa didn't have the personality to steal from others. I had to look after our food myself. If she had not helped us, I would've been thrown in jail and Trisa would've most likely starved to death, so we are eternally grateful." Perhaps she was reminiscing on her past memories, but her frigid expression had mellowed down in the slightest.
She had never met her mother before, as long as she remembered they were always alone. Despite that she persevered until the end, she had to, it was all for her sister's sake. If it means her sister can smile, she was even willing to dirty her own hands.
'Come to think of it, these two were already working here for as long as I can remember.' Alan hummed in thought, he had grown up with them taking care of him, it was no wonder Trisa got so angry when the dragon clan was insulted. For her, the dragon clan was her real home. Amelia was her mother, and Alan was her little brother.
"I see... I feel the same way, for me both of you are my older sisters." Alan said, scratching his cheeks nervously.
[Ufufufu... Your cheeks are so red, are you embarrassed, perhaps?] Akane's playful voice resounded.
'I'm not!' Alan retorted. Suzu's crimson eyes widened for a brief moment, before a beautiful smile appeared on her lips. "Thank you, young master, we appreciate your kind words." Was it his imagination, the smile on her face looked exceptionally brighter than usual.
"Oh, right. There is something you should know that happened while you were in house arrest." Suzu's smile gradually receded, and her expression became serious.
Seeing that, Alan's expression also became serious as well. For some reason, he had a bad feeling, "What is it?"
"It's about your arrange marriage with lady Elena, the second daughter of the sun clan, it seems she has accepted the marriage and fully intend to support you as your wife." Suzu explained.
"E-Ehhh!" Alan's face froze as he let out a hysterical sound he would normally never make. He was stunned.
[Pfft, Hehe he... Looks like things will get more interesting from here.] Akane giggled in amusement.
....
The sun clan was one of the largest territories that span a distance of roughly several kilometres. Large mountain lush with greenery could be seen surrounding the mansion.
Inside the beautiful garden of the sun clan, a pond with fishes of various colours could be seen swimming. The lawn was wet as the scent of grass filled the area, seated on a stone was a young girl who seems to be in her mid-teens. She wore a fiery-red dress. The young girl had long glossy, raven black hair that cascaded down to her waist like waterfall.
Her figure was both elegant and slender, as she played the zither that rested on her lap. Each time her slender fingers plucks each of the string, a beautiful melody echoed through the vicinity. The tune could easily steal the hearts of the listeners. The young girl was naturally endowed with an alluring beauty. It was the second heir to the sun clan, and Alan's fiancée, Elena.
However, at that moment, Elena's long eyelashes suddenly quivered softly, as she opened her eyes. She had felt a familiar presence appeared silently behind her.
"My lady, your uncle has come to see you." A beautiful woman dressed in a black gown, who seemed to be in her early twenties, Ava, who was the attendant serving as Elena's caretaker bowed as she reported respectfully.
"Hmm, my uncle, is here?" Her beautiful golden eyes widened in a show of surprise as she got to her feet.
Her uncle who had been away from the clan had finally returned; her lips curled up in delight. She didn't ask anything else as she quickly made her way back inside with hurried steps.
Meanwhile, Ava's brow was furrowed into a frown as she mumbles to herself, "I wonder why Sir Arthur had decided to come home at such a suspicious time."
Although there has been heavy tension between the moon clan and the sun clan due to the incident relating to the Oblong family. The Elrod family are also pressuring the Oblong family to ensure their destruction.
During these past few days, the sun clan and moon clan relationship had been declining. However, when Elena had declared she will marry the youngest son of the dragon clan, the sun clan became very lively.