Chapter 45 - The High Elf Descendant

Katherine Evenhart:

“Cylla!” I called out to my almost-daughter who was hiding from me in the lake room.

Cylla and I had grown very close over the past few years, as we shared the task of keeping an eye on a certain little someone who always managed to get hurt. Nathan loved to practice with swords, which meant he often showed up with a new injury.

He only causes me trouble... Why can't he just stay quietly in his room?

Sifu told us that Nathan was very skilled in fighting and had great potential. Margie and I would sometimes watch their training sessions, and it was true that Nathan stood out with his fighting abilities. But I wished he would dedicate less time to that and just be my sweet little boy.

Soon, he’ll be trained for assassination...

Nathan loved to train every day, even when Sifu advised him to rest. My son told me he wanted to become strong to protect me. I was happy to hear that... but also worried. It’s my duty to take care of him, not the other way around.

Something happened recently that shocked me, something I had to deal with. It was news that caught me by surprise, and I didn’t know how to react. I wasn’t prepared to hear it, and I don’t think anyone would be. My first thought was to protect my son... but I didn’t even understand what it could mean for both of us.

I continued walking through the lake room and sighed.

I am a terrible mother, first the engagement, and now this.

I leaned against a tree, trying to push those thoughts aside, but I couldn’t.

"Aaagh!" Cylla jumped out of the bushes, trying to scare me.

She ran towards me and lay at my feet. I sat beside her to rest a bit.

“So you were really hiding from me?” I said, petting her.

Our little phoenix was growing, and she looked entirely different from when I first met her. She had four small legs and a body that resembled an animal. She looked like a red Carnellian cub with wings and a phoenix’s face.

As I petted my partner in keeping an eye on my troublemaker son, I sighed again, remembering what had happened.

I looked at her, noticing something odd about her appearance.

“Is it just me, or is your beak changing shape too? It’s becoming less sharp and more like a jaw…”

Cylla shrugged and then ran off to play.

“Not today, Cylla. Today, I need to rest. I have too much information to process.”

These were things that even I, as an adult, wasn’t prepared for. I couldn’t imagine how they would affect a child.

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I finally met the High Elf I had heard so much about, who introduced the basics of magic to the Evenhart family. Adrihna was a famous elf who had become a friend of the family in the past and would visit whenever she was in the area. She had introduced Nathan’s father and uncle to magic.

When she saw me, she rushed over to ask me a series of questions about my family. I was a rare human with the Plant element, which meant I had a close High Elf ancestor, as she explained. Not even the normal elves had such a direct descent, as they had all descended from common elves for millennia.

Lady Adrihna was an important figure in the Kingdom of Nemesia, the daughter of a Duke. She tried to ask about everything in my family tree. I told her I didn’t know much, as I came from a poor peasant family, but my mother always said that even though we were commoners, there had been talented mages in our past.

She continued talking to me, saying she had been waiting for me to contact her when Nathan awakened to magic, and I found those words strange.

Adrihna explained what she had to reveal in a practical manner. The High Elf took a stone and conducted a genetic test using a drop of my blood, and I was astonished by the identity of the person my blood matched.

What did Adrihna mean by that… how could Nathan and I be related to the Elven King?

In the Kingdom of Nemesia, common Elves rule, but there are also High Elves. High Elves are a race that lives for 300 years and maintains their purity to prevent their species from dying out. The ancient High Elf king married the daughter of the Founder Emperor, and the royal family of the Elves today are Common Elves, resulting from this millennia-old union of humans and High Elves. However, the High Elf king’s brother continued to marry High Elves to preserve their species. The royal family has their High Elf relatives, known as Archdukes, who hold a prestigious position in that kingdom, living even longer than the royal family.

I found out that the elven royal family has two branches because of this. The branch of common elves and the branch of the High Elf family. There was only one High Elf left, the last of his lineage. This High Elf was the Archduke of the elven kingdom, but he died, taking the family lineage with him.

Adrihna is the daughter of a Duke who served under the former Archduke from the High Elf king’s brother’s lineage, who married the Founder Emperor’s daughter millennia ago. When they learned of our existence, she was tasked with finding us.

High Elves don’t feel many emotions nor the need to reproduce, which is why they are becoming increasingly fewer in number, but they respect tradition above all else. The Archduke died without leaving any children. When checking his possessions, they had to examine his entire family tree to follow the burial tradition and discovered that this Archduke’s uncle had fled after falling in love with a human. Most likely, the royal family covered up the scandal of a High Elf royal truly falling in love, especially with a human from the Kingdom of Teresia.

Since he was from a race that lives 300 years and was the uncle of the old Archduke who died, this must have happened around 400 or 300 years ago. All we know is that this High Elf, who abdicated being an Archduke, had a small family that split into two branches. One branch stayed in Teresia, and the other went to Renesia, the demi-human kingdom.

Adrihna tracked down the only heirs of this Archduke… Me, Nathan, and Kinue.

I just got out of a dispute over a Duchy, and now another one appears?

I let out a laugh at the irony of fate.

“At least it’s only about the right to be treated as members of the Elven royal family and not a territory to be claimed,” I sighed in relief.

“How am I going to tell Nathan? Another secret to keep from my son…”

I already feel guilty for hiding the engagement, and now this.

Cylla flew over to me and lay by my side as if somehow understanding my dilemma.

Adrihna told us not to tell anyone. She said she would keep an eye on us and promised that if we needed any help, we would have the support of the Elven royal family.

When the royal family learned of our existence, they said they wanted to see us and even offered whatever we needed, whether here in the human kingdom or in the elven kingdom. Adrihna even told us they offered people to provide security for us.

That made me very nervous, and I didn’t know how to react.

The High Elf calmed me down and said she would give me time to understand what it all meant, but that I needed to understand that Nathan and I were not just ordinary people and that it would be imprudent for them to leave us without support.

“In the end, Margie and I were so shocked we couldn’t even talk properly…” I murmured.