Rapidly, Deveralna slide out of her bed, hurried to her mirror to arrange her messy hair, and put on her long white dress.

Escorted by her guard, she went to the throne room. On the way, she asked a question.

"What was mother's reaction?"

"Queen Palarvina wasn't very pleased. She is talking to him at the moment."

"Obviously..."

With a frown on her face, she picked up the pace. After a few minutes, she arrived in front of the throne room's door.

The two guards posted saluted her, but instead of opening the door for her to enter, they simply looked away with a tensed expression.

Puzzled, Deveralna approached the door and went to open it herself. That was when she heard her mother's voice.

"Yes, I understand what you are trying to say, but this won't change anything. My daughter is a lamia, and you are a h-"

Her sentence was brought to a stop by Orion.

"Since when am I a human? Do not forget that I am an Agathion. You should know as a queen not to disrespect the other party. Calling me a human is an offense I won't accept."

"..."

Deveralna noticed a ray of bright light coming from the other side of the doors.

"My apologies. Your appearance, and your real form are somewhat perturbing, in truth."

"That is why I try my hardest not to lose patience. I can be very 'persuasive' if I have to, and I believe you know what I mean."

Orion's voice was very hostile, which made her quite worried about her mother. The mutual respect they previously had came crashing down the moment Deveralna became the center of the conversation.

"Yes, I know."

Palarvina sighed.

"Listen, I stayed quiet when you kidnapped my daughter to do something as dangerous as save our creator. Sure, it ended up well, but what if it didn't?"

"What if something happened to her? Do you have the certainty that nothing will happen to her?! She is the current ruler of this city, of our people, and most of all, she is my precious and only child! As if I would let her, who is unable to defend herself, with you."

"With all the respect I have toward you, realize that you are a walking weapon. Who in their right mind would just agree to send their daughter to such a dangerous path?"

This time, it was Orion who sighed.

"On this, I can only agree. I am not so full of myself as to blatantly ignore it. Yet, I will insist. This is her choice. Find someone else, who isn't a human, capable of defending her in case the world comes crashing down."

"Then, and only then, will I remove myself from her side."

Sounds of fingernails scratching a table echoed.

"Kh! You know how to play your cards well."

Her voice calmed down, as if the previous exchange never happened.

"I will be honest, if not for the danger that surrounds you, I would have approved of your feelings in a heartbeat. For my daughter, I can accept that much, even more if you are not a human, which I had forgotten."

"But this and that are not on the same level. Deveralna cannot use magic like you. Lamias are unable to use it. You understand, do you?"

She couldn't see what else was happening inside, but she could hear the long silence that resulted of her question. At one point, Orion spoke again.

"I do. I also have a someone I consider my daughter now, so it is not difficult to get your point."

"Then-"

But he wasn't done speaking.

"That's where you seemed to have not understand. When have I said that I would send her to fight? In the end, you have no clues about my feelings, which is understandable. No one can truly understand another person, even more when they are from different factions."

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"But fair enough, I am a monster."

Deveralna felt her heart sunk at his words.

'I have never thoughts of him as such.'

She continued to listen while tightly grabbing her clothes.

"Yes, I am a monster. I killed many humans, corrupted humans, to be precise. You could even say that I am heartless toward some people. And I wouldn't have had anything to retort a few days ago."

"I did my best you see, to simply ignore everyone around me. I was on the path of destruction, with only my own death as a reward."

"..."

Palarvina opened her eyes wide in shock. This was the first time she witnessed such unfiltered honesty. There was no lies in his self-analysis.

"But I lived, although barely. So what now? Do I continue to ignore her feelings again? After the blatant question she asked me, do I continue to let her run after a lost case, or do I honestly answer her?"

"As a man, what would I chose?"

"..."

She remained quiet, thinking.

"It is difficult for both of us to arrive at an agreement. You are a mother, who from what I learned before protected her daughter from the trash that exploited you. I will probably never understand how much place she hold in your heart."

"My role in all of that is not to separate you both. I'm not here to steal your daughter and one day return with her dead body in my arms. I do not value her as a weapon, or as a convenient tool."

"If you ask me to keep her in Horizon, I will. If you refuse to even accept that, then..."

With a worried look, Palarvina looked at him.

"Then I would understand. I think I've overstayed my welcome."

The sound of a chair sliding on the floor could be heard from the other side of the door, followed by the sound of Orion's portal.

"If you could excuse me-"

"Wait!"

The doors suddenly opened, with Deveralna hurrying inside the throne room.

"Deve?!"

Her mother looked surprised to see her.

"Orion! What you said, is it true?"

"..."

With his back toward her, he stayed silent. She took it as a confirmation, because silence as an answer will always be a confirmation. That was an universal rule.

"Mama, thank you for always protecting me."

These honest words came from the bottom of her heart. They were so sudden, Palarvina could only stay stunned while she processed the words.

"But you don't have to worry. I..."

*Bzzt*

With a blank look on her face, Palarvina looked at her daughter's hand.

"I am not weak anymore. I will prove it to you."

With a pained expression, she forced the newly acquired lightning element to show itself from the tip of her fingers.

Orion glanced at her from the side, before smiling. He turned around and walked up to her.

"That is surprising. I thought lamias were unable to use magic?"

He smirked at Palarvina, which made her twitch in frustration.

"How?! Tell me?! Are you certain this is what you want?!"

The previous Queen of the Lamias slammed her fist on the table.

"Yes..."

With the little spark of lightning finally stopping, she grabbed her arm in pain. Orion placed his hand over hers, and healed her pain. Moments later, there was no sign of remaining pain, with her expression showing relief.

"This is what I want. I don't want to remain away from him. It was love at first sight for me, for better or for worse. I couldn't care less about other lamias' opinion either!"

"I want to chose my own path, even if it doesn't lead to a happy ending!"

She did her best to convey her feelings to her mother.

'This is the first time that I've decided to go against mama's wishes...'

Even if it was hard for her, as she loved her very much after everything she's done to protect her from harm, she still wanted to be happy.

"..."

Palarvina clenched her fist on the table before pulling it toward her. She grabbed the arm of her chair, and sighed.

"Do what you want."

In the end, she smiled at her daughter.

"Heh? Mama?"

"This might be a good opportunity for you to grow into a better queen than I was. I could only teach you what our lineage learned. Maybe it is time for some changes to occur."

Even Orion looked surprised. This was completely different from what she said earlier.

"But do not mistake my approval as a way to go overboard. I want you to be happy, not sad. And you..."

She stared at Orion.

"I was never against the idea, and you showed me enough of your will to protect her that it made me bend the knee. If anything happen to her, I will have the right to end your life. Remember it."

"I will."

"Leave then. Before I change my mind."

Watching her crossing her arms, he noticed that she was slightly trembling.

'I won't waste your trust.'

He nodded and walked through the portal without giving a single glance back.

"Mama..."

"You too."

With a sad expression on her face, she slithered toward the portal.

"Deve."

She stopped right before entering the portal.

"I don't remember having taught you how to eavesdrop on a conversation."

"..."

They both looked at each other for a moment, until...

"Take care of yourself. Return when you want to see me."

"Sure. I love you."

"Me too."

Deveralna entered the portal after exchanging those last words with her daughter. It closed behind her.

*sigh*

The old queen slumped on her chair and looked at the high ceiling.

"Are you alright?"

She heard the worried voice of one of her subject, looking at her from the opened doors.

"I am. It still feels unreal to me."

The memories of seeing her little baby grow played in her head.

"Mama."

"I'm even hearing her voice again."

"Well..."

Looking in front of her, she noticed Deveralna staring at her with a crooked smiled on her face.

"Why are you here? I thought you had left?"

Palarvina couldn't understand what she came back for after saying goodbyes.

"I can't live in Horizon without any clothes, can I? There's a few things I need to take with me."

"..."

"You're right."

Deveralna watched her mother place her hand in front of her eyes with a smile on her face.

"I also need to tell you something very important... Something related to that magic I showed you."

...

While they shared a touching moment previously, it wasn't as if Deveralna had left her duties. She was, and will still remain, the Queen of her people.

And to start her journey toward becoming a different kind of leader, the first stop was to explain to her mother, that she would become...

"A REMNANT?!"