A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.1****1"Why did I marry Watts Xirquit?"
She asked the same question again now that she's soaked in the bubbly water. She rubber ducks stopped when they bumped her chest, so she pushed them back to swim again.
She closed her eyes, trying to remember the reason why she married Watts Xirquit. She's just suddenly wondering how he became her first husband, the first Emperor of Warlock Empire, too. Yet, no matter what remembering she does, nothing comes up about her past with him. However, her heart tells otherwise. It's beating a story so unreal. It's excited like an ambitious dreamer.
She don't understand. Is there something wrong with her?
What she could only recall were the words of others. Though she could remember Zodiac, his father, none. It's strange.
"My Zodiac..."
How did she knew that Zodiac is hers again?
Then, her adviser, who is Grand Duke Breuce at that time, told her,
"It seems the heartache is too extreme that it force you to forget about His Imperial Majesty, Watts Xirquit. His Imperial Majesty was murdered by who he believe were his brothers, the Princes of Vernignac. He went to them for peace, but he returned as a corpse. You lost the Prince at the same day of his return, Your Imperial Majesty. It truly is heartbreaking, for the Prince was almost born."
And she believe him.
Others said that they were a perfect couple. Though the first stage of their marriage was rough, it gone smooth after knowing each other. They told her how they are madly in love. And during their short reign, the world felt safety under the Emperor's protection. He managed to tame her. She entrusted everything to him, listened to him, believed everything he says, and let him do what must be done for the sake of their empire and family.
If only the Vernignac didn't took his life away.
Thus, her tyranny the late Emperor is slowly curing reigned once again. She burned the world, fed her people to Veils, and the people has never seen the same warm and bright light. They blamed the Vernignacs for it. If only they didn't kill their Empress's beloved, the world will rotate with peace and the sun will never have to hide behind the darkest clouds.
"Madly in love, they say..." she mutter and opened her eyes.
She feel the beating of her heart.
"Watts Nikola Xirquit-Warlock," just by hearing his name, it brought a shocking effect to her heart. Thus, proving it true that she must have loved him.
Then, why can't she remember him?
Watts finally showed his face to them again. They don't know how long it's been since his fight with his brother, but what's important is he's back.
"I may not be able to tour you around my office. We're running short in time. Follow me."
It's time.
Wattroid left to bring the missing people in his office. Instead of leaving Elektra's family under the twin's care, she entrusted them to Wattroid instead. Wattroid brief the Princes and Duke Paris about what may happen in their gathering so that they would not be left out. Additionally, he told them the fight between the brothers in case one of them asked why Ohms is missing. While he's outside, Watts told the people he's with to follow him in the library. Past the bookshelves is a door that requires a passcode and handprint. When it opened, a futuristic interior amazed them.
"Conference Room mode," said Watts Xirquit and clapped his hands.
The office-line interior changed. The ground opened up. A long table with sets of chairs rose from below. As Watts set everything up, his family made themselves comfortable and sat down. The Xirquits were gathered on the right side while King Liorei is sitting alone on the left side.
Watts took a remote control attached to the wall beside the light switch and pressed a button. The ceiling opened up and a large board descended. It looks like a TV to them.
The door opened. Wattroid went in, followed by Prince Maxigaufeas, Lord Thirdy, Emperor-to-be Claxiord, and Duke Paris.
"Please be seated. Wattroid, prepare snacks for us. It will take us a long time."
Wattroid smiled at his Master and left.
The newcomers sat on the side where King Liorei is, but there's an empty seat between them and him.
Watts gave them pens. Stylus pens. Then, he pressed another button and the table in front of them light up into a screen.
"Damn. This is so fucking cool!" Prince Maxigaufeas drew and was amused when it worked. His brother nudged his waist and erased what he drew using a feature on the bar below.
"We'll start from the very beginning, the truth, King Liorei's story about her legitimacy, then mine until now."
The lights went down and a project descended from the ceiling. The screen flashed the Imperial Family's family tree. From Daro down to their descendants who are among the people the Empress revived and brought to Cosmo-Vale.
"Princess Holy Azarese Elyzena Dragunovv-Warlock is the Third Lady of Heart, tenth offspring of Siofra Warlock and her husband, LIFE Dragunovv X. Though the wives of their sons birthed daughters, the Princes refused their daughters to be acknowledged as a Warlock Princess vying for the throne. However, the Empress refused as it will destroy their culture, the culture that the Matriarch began for the ladies born in their patrilineal lineage. So, she made a decree about it."
He opened a document showing the copy of the decree made by the Empress. The same thing also flashed on the table, much closer and readable.
"As it stated there, as long as their daughters does not possess their Bloodline, then they are allowed to not vie or be in line for the throne. Thus, the Princesses went through a process to test their magical abilities and were proven not to be carriers of the Warlian Bloodline. With that, they still get to be called Princesses and enjoy the privileges of belonging to this family."
"But this decree was revised years after three Princesses were born at the same time. It happened that the twin Princesses, Princess Eowyne and Princess Aeverie both possesses different magic. On the other hand, Sun is still manifesting hers little by little. The Grand Duke wanted his daughters to be recognized as Princesses vying for the throne and title of the Empress, so the Empress had to revise the decree to make things fair for the twin Princesses."
Everyone nodded. They know about it. How stressful it was, truly. The Grand Duke will really do anything just to solidify his claim, power, influence, and authority.
"Now, let's proceed to the myth between Sun and Moon."
The two Princesses' portraits flashed on the screen.
"The Empress birthed Sun 'naturally' as we all know. However, the empire turned upside down when King Liorei showed up with another baby who he claimed to be the real Third Lady of Heart. Various rumors were created by the people, and the most famous one is said to be Moon is Sun's twin, born from the darkness during the Empress's last cry when she's birthing Sun. They said she was Sun's counterpart. If there's an Ancient, there must be a Veil for the King is one. If there's a sun, there must be a moon. King Liorei strongly disagree and fought for Moon's identity, only to be shut down, disregarded, and ignored."
King Liorei nodded.
Wattroid sneak in with the snacks he made.
"Like King Liorei, I strongly believe that we were brainwashed during her first birthday. For the hundredth time, I am saying this: Sun is the impostor."
Franchetti Xerene smiled at her son and nodded, "Then, show us your proof."
Watts Xirquit held his head high and showed them what seems to be his proof: his painted portrait of her when he 'saw' her. He put it beside Moon's image. First, Sun's, then Moon's, and lastly, the image when he saw her.
"I believe this is how the Third Lady of Heart truly looks like." He zoomed her image and sent it to the table in front of the. to give them a better look.
They were mesmerized.
"That's what I saw. I saw the truth when she touched my bare hand, back when I'm still using Wattroid. After seeing her, I was enlightened by the truth. Her skin gleams on its own like precious stones, then sparkles when hit by sunlight. Her hair is so golden and glowing. It's so...beautiful. It's like the sun's surface was kept in every strand, like golden lava is flowing in it. And her eyes... Oh, her eyes. Everything about the Princess is breathtaking."
They smiled when he saw how fascinated he is.
"He's in love. How nice," Lord Thirdy teased, making him blush so hard.
"S-Stop!" He turn around to hide his red face.
But looking back, the beauty before their eyes is so familiar.
"This is so much like Siofra in her god form. Especially when we first saw her like this when Sinister Phantom took Baby Tyrant. We knew right then that she did not belong on Earth. She's not from Earth," Duke Paris looked back with a bitter smile.
"And the first time we saw Van transformed as well. They almost fought to death because their son went missing. Crazy," Voltage Xirquit sighed. Remembering it gives him the goosebumps.
[A/N: Baby Tyrant - Prince Izaac. Van - King LIFE X.]
"But how come?" Prince Maxigaufeas got their attention. He look so curious, "I mean, how did it happen? Does the same thing happen to King Liorei whenever he touches her? Or is it only you who can 'see' her?"
King Liorei shook his head, "The past must have something to do with that. He was her husband and even conceived a son. Maybe that made him an exception."
"But Maxigaufeas became her husband, too? Does it mean he would've seen her if he were to touch her?" Emperor-to-be Claxiord clarified, and they knew he pressed a wrong button.
Prince Maxigaufeas widened his eyes at his brother and pointed Watts whose back is still facing their way.
The Emperor-to-be lately realized what he just said and covered his mouth.
"That...may be possible..."
Prince Maxigaufeas closed his eyes tightly and looked away when he heard how cold Watts's voice become.
Voltage Xirquit saved the atmosphere with a fake cough and moved on with, "Since that's all we know so far about Moon, that she's the true and real Third Lady of Heart and a traveler, perhaps a reincarnation of herself but of different appearance, let's proceed with Sun."
"Nice save, Volt," the Duke mouthed with fear.
Watts showed himself again.
"Now that we know that Sun is the impostor, that leads us to questions like: where is she from? Who are her parents? Also, why is she doing this?" Spike.
"That we still don't know. One thing for sure, her knight is suspicious as hell," Elektra.
Watts flashed the subjects of their talk on the screen.
"Her knight is one of the Princes who survived the purge. My instincts are telling me so. I don't know which one, but he's definitely a Prince," Watts seriously input and they couldn't describe the look on his face.
"Then he's probably doing this as revenge. He infiltrated the Empire and used Sun, and he is using her to destroy us in exchange for destroying his life," Duke Paris.
"The Deverean and Sacremorean committed crimes, but to purge their lineage is just...even the children..." Franchetti Xerene picked her cup to drink the tea. It's still warm.
"The deed has been done. They conspired to kill Siofra before that why she was thrown. They imprisoned her parents and tortured them. Not only that, they used Clastigaufeas's people as feed to the Veils to save themselves. We euthanized the children. Because if we left them be, alive, then the future would only torment them for the sins their family has done," King Liorei melancholy stated.
"But what about the Axeores?" Elektra pressed, "Auntie Clast entrusted her Empire to them. Their Emperor pushed her to bring the Eternity to Empress Siofra. Don't you find it shady? Aren't they the ones who proposed the purging, too?"
That made them fall into the pits of silence.
Duke Paris's forehead furrowed, "No, because you're actually right. Clast left her Empire to their protection before traveling between worlds just to bring the Eternity to Siofra. I never felt friendly with them. I and Max sometimes talk about that. We knew they're shady. We just couldn't get along with them. And one time, we tried to open that topic to his wife, but she instantly shut us down. It very freaking weird!"
"Reality Warping Bloodline..." King Liorei mumbled but he's supposed to only think of it.
"The Deity once called Clastigaufeas a 'traitor'. Not exactly her, but her family name since they instigated the Created be fed to Veils. Looking back, the only families who are always involved here were the Warlocks, Axeores, and the Vernignacs. Are they not?" Spike looked at everyone, trying to get their approval.
Seems like what they're weaving is a web.