A week had passed since Carl awakened, the other children from section B had also awakened, their distrust the same as the two girls who awoke with Carl. The only thing that seemed to change was that the two girls were now attached to my hips.
The children in the orphanage were illiterate for the most part however only the children from section B were unable to communicate verbally, they were only able to express themselves with at most 3 words, except for Carl who had memories from the past like me.
"Master would you like me to help schedule swordsmanship training I can help the children train too," Carl called out to me who was struggling trying to write with the 2 girls stuck close by my side.
"Carl I told you to not call me that, just call me by my name and yes please, I would appreciate the help but make sure you don't push yourself too hard. I'm not sure if the monster core you were fed has been neutralized by my divine powers yet." At times like this, I felt glad that Levern had given me the powers to purify.
"Not to worry mas… I mean don't worry I can feel that the monster core for the most part has been neautralised." He spoke, correcting himself. I wondered if he was subjected to such torture in our past too, if so was that why he was always on my side without a second thought?
In the past week, Carl has told me many things that Levern had told him almost like instructions on how to keep me alive when I am unable to do so myself.
'Why is there so much that, that bastard failed to mention to me before he went off to live a new life with his lover? I've worked in Inn's that had better training than this…' As the days went on I couldn't help but flip between being grateful and critising Levern and his communication skills.
I had learned through Carl that the more fragment of God that I swallowed the more dangerous it will become for me, the main reason Levern told anything to Carl in the first place was to prevent my death before I had fully swallowed all of his powers.
Carl and any other archangel are able to create a divine power shield that will block all mana from entering as well as blocking the enmeshment of divine power that'll occur during my next 4 fragment fusions. Without the shield, I could destroy the whole continent and every living being within it.
On top of that Carl informed me of Levern giving me the task of selecting 4 additional archangels. By the time I have my 7th fragment fusion, I will need all 7 archangels to hold up the shield with their divine powers combined.
Seeing as how Levern allowed Carl to remember his past I could guess that the other two archangels chosen by Levern have a high possibility of also remembering the past.
'Maybe I also know the other two archangels, should I make a list of possible candidates?' I thought to myself as I continued to write the plan with the twins, the girls, and Carl.
- - -
I stood in front of the Emperor's office wondering if he had slept enough today to make sound judgments, I opened the door and was met with a dark and grungy room with documents skewed across every surface that it could reach.
"Your majesty…" I spoke out to get his attention as he sat in his seat dazed staring off into the corner.
'When was the last time he slept a full night's sleep? He might collapse at this rate…'
"She doesn't even want to see my face anymore… Do you think she hates me now? What have I done wrong?" He hasn't looked this broken since the death of his own mother… the previous Empress consort.
"Your majesty… I'm sure her majesty will come around sooner or later, you mustn't rush it." I beckoned, as I walked over to the curtains to let sunlight through then opened the window for some much-needed fresh air.
"When? Every time I visited the Theodore estate, she refused to even meet me to talk… When will she return?" The Emperor has always been possessive over the Empress which is a very well-known fact, yet the Empress was publicly protesting and most had no idea what for.
"Count Wendon cancel everything this afternoon and go tell the ducal family of my arrival." The Emperor had started showing lapses in his judgment, he had made a 180 from a thoughtful caring Emperor to one that was almost tyrannical.
"Your majesty!" I yelped, confused at how he was able to come to such an ineffective solution.
"Do as I say… and tell Eva to get ready, I'm sure the Empress will have a change of mind once she sees our daughter." If I were the Empress and saw the very person I believed to be an imposter, I would faint.
"Your majesty… Perhaps that's not a very good idea considering…" I was prepared to lay out my reasoning as to why I thought this was a terrible idea and yet was cut off.
"Lance, go do as I say." He spoke as he stood up and looked out of the freshly opened window and rubbed the dead flowers between his fingers.
"Your majesty, I am your aid my very job is to advise you and put a halt to anything that will cause a heavy pushback and damage to your reputation…" The Emperor once again had me by my collar, lately, this has been the situation I have found myself in. I wondered how he was even able to reach me so fast.
"Do as I say! The Empress just needs to see our daughter once more, she'll realize then that she was wrong about Eva." I simply looked down without saying another word and the Emperor released his grip on my collar.
- - -
I looked out of the window and found the Emperor's carriage coming towards the front gates of the duchy once again, this was the 4th time this week alone. I walked down the stairs and stood next to the duke and duchess, ready to help send him back before he met with Mother and disturbed her rest that she was barely getting lately.
"Your majesty… you're here once again." The duke spoke confused and worried as to how the Emperor had the time to be visiting the duchy almost every day.
"Yes, where is the Empress?" He asked and to my shock and horror, he had brought along Eva… Or the imposter that showed up in place of our sister who was on her way to the temple.
"Stop right there your majesty… you aren't thinking of bringing her with you right?" I asked haphazardly not caring about the imposter's feelings.
"Al, why are you talking about your sister in that way… you'll hurt her feelings." I looked over towards the fake, replica, the imposter, and in my eyes, she looked nothing like my twin that I used to know. The gaze she held towards me sent a chill down all throughout my body.
I hadn't noticed before I left the palace but there was now a black aura I'd never seen before permeating from the fake. The aura alone felt like it held me in a chokehold.
'How did I not notice this before? More importantly, does no one else see this?' I wondered searching everyones faces.
"That thing isn't my sister, if you take her with you to meet Mother she'll go into shock. She's already suffering as is." I spoke, now confirming that it could not be my sister, upon my confirmation it seemed as though her face and body twisted into nothingness, I could no longer see the features that once replicated my twin sister perfectly.
'Is her disguise falling apart? Why? Because I internalized that she wasn't my twin? More importantly is this how Mother sees this fake?' I wondered what kind of phenomenon could create such an illusion.
"Alistair Maximus Faulner, is this how I and your mother have raised you?" His voice started to fade as I watched him cover the ears of the thing while yelling at me, I wondered if he had gone mad, it was a well-known fact that he was overly possessive of Mother.
"Do you truly not see what you are holding in your arms? Father do you truly not see that black aura around her?" I asked, I saw a slight shift in his eyes as he looked down towards the imposter his eyes glazed with a glint that matted over as soon as the imposter started to cry.
"Daddy, why is Brother Al saying I'm not his sister? Did I do something wrong?" She asked looking up, in my eyes she was barely human but in his eye it seemed like his heart broke at the sight of his precious daughter.