"Oh, Magnius the Mighty..." The Emperor even deliberately leaned into her cousin's chest. "A woman's instincts are always stronger than a man's. You must admit this."
Although he did not quite agree with the Emperor's words, Magnius simply nodded. After all, it was the emperor himself, his beloved cousin, who said it.
"Very well," Magnius said. "Please tell me, what exactly worries you, Your Majesty?"
"It is time for you to know this. Come with me, Magnius!"
Magnius nodded and then followed the Emperor who left the balcony of the South Tower.
***
"Just go!" Carl said to Vir when they had reached the point where they had met for the first time in the forest. "And if you can, don't mention about us being here to anyone else."
"Remember, man!" Sebastian said with a sharp look at Vir. "We'll always be watching you!"
"Yeah, of course!" replied Vir with a subtle smirk at the corner of his lips. "All right," he continued then. "I think that's about it for our introductions. And please pass on my thanks to Mr. Raemon."
Vir nodded and was nodded back by Carl while Sebastian was still looking at him sarcastically.
Well, Vir had decided it would be better this way.
The thing was, even if it was true that Raemon and his people were building a force, an alliance, or whatever it was called to overthrow the Emperor's power, Vir just wasn't used to doing things in groups, not at all.
He just preferred to take his vengeance into his own hands. It was as simple as that.
Although he returned with only two partridges and a rabbit, it was better than not getting a single animal.
"Damn!" he muttered with a half grin. "Looks like I'll really be a virgin for the rest of my life. Stupid fish... Why did you have to go extinct?"
On his way back to Daisy's house, Vir got an extra wild rabbit and was quite happy with it.
***
What kind of place is this? That was the first question that came to Magnius' mind when he was brought into a vast room by the Emperor.
Magnius remembered with certainty that he had never known of this one magnificent room.
In the center of the room, supported by giant pillars, were seven stone tombs arranged in a large circle.
At the top of the stone tomb covers, each had a carved figure of a person. Of the seven figures, there is only one that indicates a woman.
The big and muscular man had absolutely no knowledge or understanding of the seven stone tombs.
"Your Majesty, what is the meaning of all this?"
The Emperor stepped slowly, circled around the seven tombs, then stopped in front of a stone tomb with a carving of a female knight.
"Inside this stone tomb," said the Emperor. "There are the bones of a mighty young woman. She was an Asurry... and she was my mother."
Magnius the Mighty widened his eyes. "No such possibility! You must be joking, right? Your Majesty?"
The Emperor smiled. "No, my dear cousin. I am not joking with you."
"Is this the reason that you—"
"Yeah!" replied the Emperor. "The reason why I have a different iris color than our people."
"Oh, God..." Magnius rubbed his forehead. "So, that story about the Blue Star overshadowing your birth is just a bunch of nonsense?"
"I think it was my father who deliberately spread that story."
"Why?" Magnius felt that all along the al-Banix had been lied to by the previous emperor, Rulca Vuellra's father the Emperor now before him.
"I don't know if that really happened or not," said the Emperor. "But certainly, thanks to that, the al-Banix have accepted my condition without suspicion or prejudice."
"Does anyone else know about this?"
The Emperor shook his head. "Apart from me, you are the first to hear about this fact, Magnius."
And this was also a test for Magnius himself that the Emperor had deliberately given.
What attitude Magnius would take after this, would determine his good and bad in the eyes of the Emperor.
Whether Magnius deserved to remain as her right-hand man and a cousin she could trust. Or should the Emperor cut the neck of Magnius the Mighty if he turns against her? It all depended on what Magnius himself would show.
"You know that I like and love you very much, don't you?"
"No, that is not what concerns me, Your Majesty," Magnius replied. "I know you're not fooling me, but... I don't know, I just didn't expect it. And the previous emperor was very good at keeping it all under wraps."
"My mother," said the Emperor as she stroked the face of the carved female knight before her. "One of the Seven Knights, Magnius."
"Seven Knights?" repeated Magnius almost silently.
"Together with my father and five other knights, they were the foundation of the Central Empire. They were the initiators of all that we enjoy today. And most importantly, the al-Banix are no longer being used by other peoples as they once were."
"I think we have been lied to from the beginning."
"No," said the Emperor. "Don't blame them. At the time, my father was in love with my mother. And when that goal was finally achieved, the elders of al-Banix naturally wanted my father to have a wife of the same race."
"Yeah..." Magnius sighed heavily. "Not as simple as we've been told, huh?"
"It is!" said the Emperor. "Because the main reason was to elevate the status of the al-Banix, my mother gave in to the urgings of the other five knights."
"What happened then?" asked Magnius. "Is His Majesty's lawful wife aware of this?"
The Emperor smiled. "You should know better in these matters, Magnius."
"That's right," said Magnius. "If she knew, then you would have been executed."
"Thank God, that didn't happen."
"Wait a minute!" Magnius massaged his throbbing forehead again. "What about the children of His Majesty the Emperor's second marriage?"
"There are none."
"None?" Magnius the Mighty was continually bewildered by every word that came out of his cousin's mouth. "Your Majesty... This is impossible. Everyone knows, I also saw with my eyes that the empress was pregnant back then. Oh, no... No, don't tell me!"
"Don't think badly of my father and mother, Magnius."
"Tell me, what exactly has happened?"
"The Empress was actually pregnant at the time," the Emperor replied. "And yeah, they got a sweet baby girl."
"Where is she now?"
"She's dead, Magnius."
"Your Majesty?" Magnius' eyes tightened on the Emperor.
"No," said the Emperor. "I told you, didn't I? Do not look unfavorably upon my father and mother."
"It's hard for me to believe this!"
Of course, thought the Emperor. This was not about Magnius not believing the story, but rather suspicious of what the Emperor's biological father and mother had done in the past.
"Do you remember when she or I celebrated our fifteenth birthday?"
Magnius frowned. "Wait a minute!" He became nervous. "I remember now," he continued. "You were being very strange and it was as if it was someone else who suddenly became familiar with me."
The Emperor smiled. "Because it was on that day that I came to know you, Magnius. Not the one who had always played with you as a child."
Magnius grew even more confused. His mind and heart were thrown into turmoil by the Emperor's revelation.
"A week before she turned fifteen," the Emperor continued. "The young princess was playing in the North Garden with her maids. Unfortunately, the maids were too ignorant of the surroundings, and the princess was bitten by a venomous snake."
"Bitten by a venomous snake?" repeated Magnius.
"Cauda Aurea."