CHAPTER 10: EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY (10)

~10.10~

*****

Kye screamed in pain. Several tried to rush closer, but Alfia stopped them. “Stay where you’re at! Guardians, keep the room under control!” Alfia saw her pupils had contracted. “Eli, close your eyes! Focus only on me.”

Alfia looked up at Alethea and all but yelled, “Maya! Snap out of it! Now is not the time. She needs a guide! Talk to her. Guide her through. I need all of my mental capacity for the spell I’m about to cast.”

Several of the council members began asking what was going on. Layla and Zen had already rushed over and were standing close enough to have a clear line of sight, but no closer.

Alfia grimaced. “This is too early. Dammit! All of you, quiet!” She snapped a finger and covered the entire room in a layer of white coated black mana. Everything quickly lost its color, becoming gray scale. Everything and everyone except the immortals in the room became frozen in time. Alethea was shocked when she noticed Allison stand up and walk around the table to join them.

“Alfia, can you stabilize her?”

“Yes.” She looked up at Allison, anger in her eyes. “Seris, why the hell is there a planet named that? We planted you here to ensure that once Elysia came, she would be safe. That included obvious reminders of outer Elysium.”

“What are you two talking about? Did you say ‘Seris’?” Alethea asked.

“You, focus on Eli. Keep her guided.”

“To what end? What is happening?”

Alfia sighed. “Her memories are flooding back. Everything that she used origin magic to lock is coming back to her. I have to stop it before too much comes through.”

“Why not let it happen?”

“I’m under orders not to. When she sealed them, she told me that if the seal broke while she was inhabiting a mortal body, it would kill her and force her soul back to her real body. As much as I would like that, she ordered me to stop it.”

Alethea nodded and kept talking to Kye while Alfia casted her spell with origin magic. A few minutes later, Kye struggled to her feet. The flood had stopped.

“How do you feel?”

Kye looked up and met Alfia’s eyes, but didn’t say anything. She shook her head.

“Do you remember what just happened?”

Kye shook her head again. “The last five minutes are a blank.”

Alfia breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the goddess.”

“What happened?”

“Something triggered a memory leak. I resealed it. The thing that triggered it should no longer be an issue now. I added an extra layer of sealing over that part.”

“My head feels… full. As if…” she couldn’t focus. “I need to sit.”

They guided her to the table, and Alfia fetched the chair she had knocked over for her while Allison returned to her own seat. “Take your time, Eli. You’ll be fine.”

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Alfia gave Allison a look that said more than a thousand words before unfreezing the rest of the room. Alethea used magic to create a soundproof barrier around Kye. “Everyone, silence. You need not worry about what just happened. Everything is under control. She just needs a moment to recover. In the meantime, we were wrapping things up.”

“Right,” Atalante said. “You two are married now. Go enjoy a honeymoon. I understand that Adele and Michelle will likely want this as well. I will go speak to them with their mothers and take care of them. I expect they’ll join you on Atlas rather quickly.”

Draenara suddenly jumped up. “Oh my. They were running late and probably just missed you two in New Tokyo by minutes. I will go call them. Excuse me.”

“Running late?” Alethea asked, looking at Draelana.

Draelana laughed dryly. “Well, you see… Danielle, Elizabeth, and Michael do not approve of their relationship. They don’t know anything about the immortal stuff, so in their eyes… they’re seeing their sister and cousin dating, and now that marriage is on the table… Elizabeth may have gotten a little upset. She was willing to fight to keep them from leaving the palace.”

“Oh. Wow.” Alethea wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Yeah… they finally managed to leave right before we got called in for this meeting, and I think you may have left right before they arrived there.”

Atalante chuckled. “It seems I’m going back to Nippon Sekai. We’ll get this all sorted out so-”

The sound of a barrier being shattered rang out, and everyone looked at Kye. “I’m fine. Where were we before… whatever that was that happened?”

“Going to Atlas for your honeymoon.”

“Right. Thanks, Lanti. Where are Adele and Michelle?”

“Likely waiting for you in New Tokyo right now.”

“Okay. We’ll go pick them up and…” She glanced back at Alethea. “Since they weren’t here, we couldn’t add them to the marriage license.”

“I’m coming to Nippon Sekai to handle that.”

Kye nodded and turned to Alethea. “Are you ready, love? I’m ready for some time alone, just the four of us for a while.”

“And your retainers…” Liliana added in.

“And some guards…” Alexandra added in.

Kye raised an eyebrow. “We will have some time alone!” She turned to her pink-haired partner. Alethea looked at her but couldn’t form words. Her face was red and there was fear in her eyes. Kye immediately knew what was wrong. “Oh goddess, I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

Allison sighed, “That is a rather difficult hurdle.”

“I… uh…” Alethea could only mumble.

“What’s the problem?” said Kolodka, one of the council members. “It’s Kye that’s talking about getting pregnant, not Alethea. Why is she so flustered?”

“Silence!” Atalante ordered in the most commanding tone any of them had ever heard. She took Alethea’s hand and led her out of the room. Kolodka was too scared to speak again even after they left.

“Well, that was about as insensitive as you can get,” Alexandra said. “Kolodka, why did you have to say that?”

“What? I don’t understand the problem.”

“You’re on this council and you don’t understand why there’s a problem with what you just said?”

“I’m sorry, but I do not know. Could you explain it to me?”

Alexandra sighed, but it was Astarte who spoke up. “Look at her file, the one that’s only available to royals and archnobles.”

Kolodka was confused but pulled up the file on his phone. His eyes widened when he looked at her sex and gender. “WOW, she’s transgender? I am so sorry. I did not know. She is so beautiful, nobody would know just by looking at her.”

“Yes, she is very beautiful, and I’ll take that as a compliment in her stead,” Kye said. She narrowed her eyes. “I expect you to make up for this blunder.”

“Y-yes, absolutely. I will. You have my word.”

Kye stood up. “If you’ll excuse me,” she headed to the door and added as she walked, “I have a daughter to adopt and a wife to have a very difficult conversation with.”

I suppose he wouldn’t have known. It’s been a secret this whole time, and only a handful of people even have been told even after she decided to reveal it to the Drachenheim nobles. Seems they kept their mouths shut, too.

As she reached the door, she turned around and added, “You should check Doran’s profile. If you were wondering who the one we referred to as Adele is, you’ll find out there.” She left without another word.

“Yes, well,” Allison said, “with Atalante gone, I’ll go ahead and move to end the meeting here. We’ve covered the immediate concerns. We can work out the details of whatever is left in the next scheduled meeting. All for concluding?”

“““Yes.”””

With a distinct lack of no’s, the meeting was ended.

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Revision: 2023-1-19