CHAPTER 36 - ELISE AINDREA P6
~36.6~
*****
“What would you have done after your fireworks display had I not arrived to overrule them?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“You would have come soon enough after that fireworks display regardless, no?”
She chuckled. “That was the true purpose of your display, then?”
“It was both an attempt to get the attention of either your self or the second princess, and an attempt to have the third prince back off knowing he’d never get away with executing somebody capable of such magic.”
“Two ways to end it peacefully with one method. I’m quite impressed, Lady Elise. I’d like to get to know you better, if you’d be alright with that.”
I held back a smirk. “Get to know the Crown Princess of Gallia, whom I am-”
“I don’t mean that.” She caught me by surprise. “No, I’m not asking as a royal to her subject. I’m interested personally. I want to become friends.”
“Your Highness wants to become friends with me?”
“No. Eglantine wants to become friends with Elise. I told you before you relayed your side of things. I’m a little biased toward you now. I like the way you think.”
“Two friends in one day, huh.”
“So it seems. Let’s talk more later. I need to hear their stories now, however redundant they are.”
“Heh.” I snapped my finger and dismissed the barrier, after which she heard which she went to hear the story from each witness, starting with Maya, and including both princes, the guards, and Captain Reddick.
While she was speaking with the others, Maya stood next to me and waited. “By the way, congrats on making a new friend.”
Eglantine had told her that when she relayed her take of the story. She knew very well I could hear through the barrier. “I take it you already know each other?”
“As I mentioned, my family has close ties with the royal family of Weltwald. I’ve met Eglantine before. I didn’t really think of us as friends before, just acquaintances, but she used the word friend on me just now, too.”
I smiled. “Despite the princes throwing a fit, today has been a good day.”
“Yeah.”
Once finished, Eglantine clapped her hands and said, “Wallace, Allan, you and I are going to be speaking with Their Majesties about this. This nonsensical punishment will not be tolerated. Do not forget that while Lady Elise and every other noble have sworn an oath to the royal family, so did the royal family swear an oath. What the two of you have done here today is unacceptable. To think you would try to execute somebody for this pettiness. Thank goodness she is so powerful and refused your punishment. But what of others who are not powerful and would not have made it through this unscathed as she did? Or what of others who are powerful and would have retaliated with force, rather than a few stray words? Expect very strict etiquette courses in your free time. For now, guards, the princes are hereby stripped of their power to pass any sentences. Captain Reddick, escort my brothers to the palace.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
She smiled at the two students who returned with the instructor and gave them permission to leave after thanking them for their honesty. Then she turned to the instructor. “Instructor Wilson, the safety of students is your responsibility, even when royals are involved. If ever a similar circumstance happens again, immediately report it to someone with a level head and higher rank. My parents and I will never abide such pettiness.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Dismissed.”
Only the princess, her guard, Maya, and I remained. She turned and gave us a smile.
“Tea?”
*****
“May I interrupt the story for a moment?” James asked.
“What is it?”
“Everyone here is privy to how long you’ve lived... or been dead? Whatever terminology. How long you’ve been King of Elysium. From what I gather, you lived for a while in the living world before that, but you also mentioned a Transcendent World that you were exiled from. That was before Alexandria? Or is that the Alexandria you mentioned originally?”
“I’ve never told anyone anything about the Transcendent World, except what you’ve heard me say today. As I mentioned, I was exiled from there. My identity there is my first identity, Elysia Alexandria. I wasn’t sent to any world in particular during my exile, this one was chosen at random.”
“‘This one’ being collectively the living world and all the realms of the afterlife that you created with it?”
I nodded. “Yes. At the time it was just the living world and Purgatory, but I’ll talk about why I expanded it toward the end of the story. So, I landed here and was born to Countess Evelyn Aindrea and Count Consort Elliot Aindrea, who later became known as Xera Alexandria and Zaldin Alexandria. My grandfather was there, too. Before he was known as Zalen Alexandria, his name was Elton Aindrea.” I glanced at Allison.
“Before I renamed to Xana Alexandria, my name was Alice Aindrea.”
“I hadn’t met Maya, Luma, Adele, or Adara until I started the academy. Maya found me first.” I glanced at Alethea, then at Mavel.
“James, I can hear your thoughts, you may as well ask your question,” Mavel said. He looked at her, confused. She shrugged. “I’ll just answer it, anyway. He wants to know if any other Transcendents came to this world. The answer is yes. Alethea here and I are the Maya Rosenwald in the story. Rosenwald is...” She glanced at Mabel.
“You’re asking permission?” Mabel asked. Mavel nodded. “Very well. We don’t use the name anymore, but Rosenwald is a ducal household in my country that had close ties to my family. We borrowed their name for my daughter to go to school in Weltwald without the weight of royalty behind her name, but still high enough ranking to wave off childish young nobles and challenge international royals. We decided together to keep using it when she went to the academy in Gallia.”
“Right,” Mavel shrugged.
“What did you mean by you and Alethea were Maya Rosenwald?”
“I mentioned that in the story already.”
“We’re like Eli. Rather, Kye and Sanae. You know that Elysia split her soul in two. So did we. While Eli stayed whole until toward the end of the Alpha Worldline in Elysium, we split back in the living world. We are Transcendent, too. Our name is Maya Velinova. We were born here as Maya Nacht Weltwald, and later Maya Alexandria. After the split, I gave our name to my daughter and became Mavel Nacht Weltwald. Mavel is just the first syllable of our original first and last name together.”
The confused looks across the room were somewhat amusing to me. Mabel and Velarus looked exasperated. Velarus enough to say, “I still have trouble wrapping my head around your relationship. My daughter split herself in two, and now one half is still my daughter and the other have is my granddaughter. You even got yourself pregnant to accomplish that.”
“When you did that, it was quite a shock, I’ll admit,” Mabel added, glaring at Mavel before glancing at Alethea. “But I also don’t deny I have a soft spot for my beautiful granddaughter.” She smiled, then looked at Atalante. “To think you, of all people, would become her mother here.”
“Me?” Atalante asked. “What do you...” She stopped abruptly and held a hand to her head.
*****
Revision: 2025-2-7