*Knock Knock*, Zagan firmly knocked two times on the door.
After a few seconds, a feminine voice answered from inside the room, "Who is it?".
"Zagan Von Asherion. The youngest prince of the Empire.", Zagan replied in a clean and decisive tone.
After a pause, the voice answered, "Come in.".
Zagan immediately opened the door and was greeted by a sight that would mesmerize any soul that lays their eyes upon it.
There was a dark-oak table in the back of the room, with a huge window behind it. There was a woman sitting on a chair behind the table.
It wasn't even the first time Leon had seen her. Even after coming to the game world, Leon had seen her once while having breakfast, but he didn't really get a good look at her, as Zagan's personality wouldn't allow it.
Annabelle, Isabelle and even Sophia aren't as beautiful as the woman sitting on the chair.
The word 'Angel' would be an understatement to describe the beauty of the woman.
'FUCKING HELL! I'M SO JEALOUS OF THE EMPEROR!!!! HE GETS TO SLEEP HER EVERYDAY!!!', Leon screamed inwardly, although his expression never changed.
'If I had taken over the body of Lucious... Could I have been able to share the bed with her...?'. Leon questioned himself.
'Urgh! This actually hurts!! I'm having dirty visions of my new body's mother!!! Fuck! I'm sick in the head!', Leon cursed himself.
Anyways, after the questionable thoughts, Leon calmed himself with the help of Zagan's personality traits, and started talking.
"Good Morning, Empress."
"Good Morning, Dear Zagan."
"I don't want to waste time, so I'll be direct. Is that a problem?"
"No, but there is a problem, though..."
"May I ask what it is?"
"Its the fact that you're talking so formally to your own mother!"
"I don't see how that's a problem, though."
"Oh, Zagan... come here and take a seat first.", Evangeline said, pointing at a dark-oak chair with red cushions, placed in the corner of the room.
"As you wish.", Zagan obliged, and pulled the chair to the front of the table, opposite of Evangeline and sat down on it.
"Now, can I tell you what I came here for, Empress?", Zagan asked in the same monotonous tone he had been using.
"Not until you call me 'Mom'.", Evangeline pouted and leaned back into her chair.
She would always do this every time Zagan had something to ask of her. Usually her demands would get ignored by Zagan, and she would listen to his requests anyway.
The old Zagan would've never agreed to something like this. However, the current Zagan had Leon's knowledge. So He knew that Evangeline had sacrificed a lot just to protect the infant Zagan. It was a tremendous debt that Zagan would have to repay throughout his life.
One could even say Zagan was starting to care for his mother, even if it was only slightly.
"Okay... mom...", Zagan said while looking away from Evangeline's face, as he was getting flustered and embarrassed.
Evangeline's eyes widened and a slight gasp could be heard from her.
'No way... after all these years... he finally called me 'mom'...', Evangeline thought.
If she was a normal mother, she would be balling her eyes out, but being the Empress of the most influential empire in the world, she had honed the control over her emotions quite well.
"Wow... you actually said it... what's with the change of heart, Zagan? you didn't call me 'Mom' ever before... what happened suddenly?", Evangeline was confused at the sudden change Zagan was showing.
"I... I found out... what you did for me back when I was born...", Zagan's gaze was on the ground.
"Oh... did you...", Evangeline was trying her best to control her emotions from suddenly remembering a part of her life she had wished to forget.
She also turned her gaze towards the ground and asked, "How... did you find out?"
"I don't want to elaborate.", Zagan replied.
"Okay... I get it... You can't trust me, huh? haha... its fine, Zagan... I would do the same if I were in your shoes...", Evangeline said.
Zagan could hear something like water drops falling to the floor. Confused, he looked up to see Evangeline's beautiful face with tears raining down her cheeks, from her crystal-like eyes.
For some reason, Zagan felt his heart crumble after seeing Evangeline in that state. He couldn't understand why, but he felt like complete shit after seeing his mother cry.
Zagan had never cared for any of his family members up until now, and he knew from Leon's memories that in the future he would have killed them all. He still didn't care about any of the other family members, but the same couldn't be said for Evangeline.
Zagan loved Evangeline. Deep down, he was always aware that someone was helping him survive through his childhood. When he would get sick, miraculously, a servant would help him get better. Or when he was targeted by assassination attempts, he would be protected by some knight that just happened to be close-by. He wasn't so foolish as to think that it was all a coincidence. He knew that someone was helping him from the shadows.
He realized that, that 'someone' was indeed his own mother, Evangeline.
"Don't cry mom... It makes me feel like shit...", Zagan said in a shaky voice, his gaze still stuck to the ground.
"I'm sor-"
"Don't you dare apologize. You've done nothing wrong.", Zagan interrupted Evangeline.
"I'm the one who hurt you for all these years... I am well aware that no apology can ever heal the wounds I've caused you. And I am also aware that no gratitude in the world can make up for the debt I owe you. But... I promise you... I will work as hard as I possibly can to repay my debts to you.", Zagan meant each and every word he said.
Evangeline's tears slowed down gradually and she nodded.
Then after a few minutes of silence, Zagan spoke up, "Have you calmed down, mom?"
"Yes, Zagan.", She wiped her tears with her hands, which was very ungraceful for an Empress such as herself, but neither she nor Zagan cared about it.
"What is it that you wanted to ask of me?", Evangeline now had a warm and motherly smile on her beautiful face.
"I want to go to Stahl. I have something I need to get from there.", Zagan said.
"...hmm... that is quite far away from here... may I ask what you want to get from there?", Evangeline asked in a curious tone.
Now suddenly, Zagan's expressionless face got a devilish smirk on it.
"You'll get to know when I return, mom...", He answered.
------------------------After The Talk, in Zagan's Room-------------------------
'Whoooo!! That went smoothly...', Leon sighed in relief.
'But damn! Zagan wasn't as bad a guy as I thought, huh?'
'He really cares for his mother now... Its like he can topple entire countries, if they ever threaten to harm Evangeline...', Leon thought.
'Anyways, the real reason to improve my relationship with Evangeline wasn't just to make a mother-son bond with her. No, it was something very materialistic. Evangeline is one of the best material mages in the entire world, and she will make me my Elemental Crossbow, since I don't want to grind Material Magic...', Leon recalled the real reason to contact Evangeline.
Evangeline was a 'Material Mage', or in other words, her 'Crafting' skill's level was maxed out. Any item she would create would have its stats boosted. That was the real reason.