Both

Deep within the Luxnix Estate, there was a calm river of flowing golden waters. Sometimes, it would appear to be a liquid and at other times it would appear to be a gas. It flowed unpredictably, even often rising into the air in defiance of gravity. And yet, it stayed along a controlled path, circulating in silence.

Near the center of this ethereal garden was a middle-aged woman who was getting on in years. It seemed that it wouldn't be very long before the term middle-aged no longer suited her. However, her features still radiated a calm beauty that touched the soul.

Even though she didn't have a smile on her face, her presence seemed to make all those around her feel relaxed and cheery, the gentleness of her golden gaze soothing the heart.

She sat in a rocking chair carved of white wood. Every time she swung back and forth, a delicate fragrance that tickled the nose would be released. It smelt like the cross between a less invasive pine scent with a touch of cinnamon.

At that moment, a shadow was suddenly cast over the older middle aged lady.

Despite the sudden change, she looked up quite slowly, her pace still leisurely. As far as she was concerned, anyone who could sneak so far into the Luxnix Estate was an individual who was definitely supremely powerful. Reacting any more quickly than she was no would only give her whiplash in her old age and not be very helpful at all.

However, when the older lady saw who it was that stood before her, she was dazed for a moment before her gentle eyes glistened with tears.

"… Alienor? You've returned?"

Before the older woman was a beauty gorgeous beyond words. She had white gold hair that reached past the small of her back, shimmering emerald eyes that seemed capable of piercing through anything, and delicately sculpted features that appeared to have been formed by a master artisan. Nothing about her felt out of place, not even the alternating soft and hard armor she wore that clung to her curves.

The patterns of white leather that looked like dragon scales and silver plate armor gave her the appearance of a valiant Empress that had just returned from the battlefield, and yet none of her enemies had dared to drop even the slightest hint of blood on her.

"Mother."

The voice of Alienor was just as sweet as one would expect. It matched the refreshing atmosphere of her mother with an incredible ease.

The older woman's gaze dimmed somewhat hearing her daughter's short greeting before she sighed lightly, her gaze becoming somewhat vacant again.

"It seems that it's that time, again." She said lightly.

"Yes." Alienor replied.

"It's good that they've allowed you to return. Their standards are too oppressive."

"It's the only way the Human Domain can remain safe."

"I understand. I've already said too much." Alienor's mother nodded as her chair continued to rock back and forth. She seemed to have returned to a state where nothing could affect her.

"My Little Lion will be coming soon. I thought I would tell you."

Upon hearing this, the older woman trembled beside herself, her wrinkled hand clasping down on her rocking chair's arms. Maybe if it wasn't for the hidden strength of this white wood, it would have already been shattered. It had definitely taken a great master to even carve it to begin with.

"… Is he doing well?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't get to raise him like I wanted to."

The older woman's face turned several shades paler, something that felt almost impossible given the fierceness of her earlier reaction.

"… I'm sorry. It's all my fault…"

Alienor remained silent for a long while, staring down at her mother.

"Even now, you're apologizing for the wrong reasons. Rather than blaming those who should be blamed, you blamed yourself because if not for you, their reaction toward another one of their daughters marrying an outsider wouldn't have been so fierce, when in reality, this family has never been so understanding to begin with."

Alienor shook her head.

The Luxnix family had a poor reaction to her choosing someone they hadn't chosen, and that reaction was compounded by the fact her mother had likewise chosen someone they hadn't chosen. In part to prove that there was nothing wrong with marrying outside expectations like this, her mother had gone out of her way to try to side with the family, trying to prove that just because a daughter married out, didn't mean that she'd forget the wellbeing of the family that raised her.

Of course, this was only part of the reason, but it was a part nonetheless.

"I only hope that this time, you don't allow foolish sentiments to stand in the way of things. I hear that my Little Lion has a temper even worse than mine and even my husband's. I wouldn't mind seeing this family lose its overinflated self of worth one peg at a time.

"In the past, they saw it fit to bully my son because they thought themselves to be stronger and they thought their own purpose to be grander. They had no idea who my husband was, and even now they have no idea that if not for me, let alone their estate, even their entire galaxy may have been massacred down to its last person.

"But if there is one thing I will thank you for mother, it is this opportunity for the Luxnix to experience what it truly feels like to be bullied. I wonder how they'll be able to lay a hand on my son while I'm here?"

Alienor looked up toward the sky, her expression seemingly blank but her irises painting a picture of a thousand words.

"You will have another choice to make, mother. I hope that you don't choose incorrectly, again."

Alienor vanished, leaving her pale faced mother slowly rocking in her chair.

Empress Fawkes slowly closed her eyes, her trembling taking several hours to come to a stop. They were both her family, but which family would she choose?

**Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

Back in the Milky Way, the tension of a situation countless light years away had nothing to do with them. Rather, they had their own tense atmospheres to deal with. And, these, rather than just being complex moral dilemmas, truly took on the weight of life and death.

In the depths of space, several ships stood in a long chain. Upon one of these ships, exposed to the surrounding vacuum, was a silent Leonel.

[Just one more chapter coming today]