-Iris Empire-

Klauss Family, one of the 5 noble families in the empire, held an occasion in their household. A grand celebration is prepared for the daughter of the household, Elaine Klauss. A noble's daughter when reaching the age of 18 will have a coronation as she becomes one of the household's key figure holding the candidate title for the next queen of not the noble house, but the empire. On the other hand, the male only limits to becoming the head of the noble family. Moreover, the Queen is the highest or most noble in the empire.

Despite that, competition still happens. For example, if after the queen of the empire is retired, daughters who had their coronation for the queen title will compete. The winner will be the queen, and the others will become queen's aid together with their chosen husbands. On the other note, if there are three brothers in the household and they already had the coronation on becoming the next head, they will compete. The winner takes all and the others will have the right to choose if they will continue to stay in the household or to remove themselves as a noble, living as a normal citizen.

This was the system of nobility built for centuries.

In a certain household, where Elaine held her coronation as she becomes 18, a certain male was also found at a room of the household. The son in the household whose ages is that of Elaine. As their culture, son of the household must also held a coronation as he becomes a candidate for the next head of the Klauss Familia. In this case, the son was never been released to the public nor he has been declared by the house head as their son due to some reason. The crimson eyes of this son was believe to give bad omen to the empire as it represents the monster in the story written by the First Queen of Iris, Zenyr, and he will be targeted by the House of God's Will, whose solely purpose is to remove something that taints the purity of the world.

Demian Klauss is the eldest son of the household as of the moment and had reached the age 18. He has crimson eyes making him a secret to the world outside. It is said that he was the twin brother of Elaine, but their physiques were vastly different. He had silver hair while Elaine has a dark shiny hair. The eyes of Demian was round meanwhile Elaine has an eyes of a demon, quite terrifying and majestic because of its shape. Moving on, Demian was about 6ft at height and Elaine was only 5'5ft. Furthermore, the gender of both twins was different, Elaine as a woman and Demian as a male. The only people who had known Demian was his father, mother, grandfather, Elaine, and the servants of the Kauss Household.

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-Celebration Sounds-

With the noise coming from the steps of people outside his room, shouts of servants due to the mistakes, and also the music for the coronation, Demian was forced to wake up. His room was far away from the main floor. It is located at the last floor at corner of the household where no one can bother to go since the household is a large mansion having 5 floors.

*Knock, knock.

A sound resonated outside his room.

"Good Morning, Young Master. Can I enter your room?"

"The door is unlocked. You can come in, Ronald." replied by Demian as he was still in bed sitting, still wearing his pajamas.

The man entered holding the breakfast for Demian. It was an old man which ages can be discerned to about 60 years old. He wore a black trousers and white long-sleeved polo paired with a black suit and black necktie. His form is that of a butler as he was truly the oldest butler of the Klauss household.

"Good Morning, young master. I have brought your meal." With that statement, Ronald place the meal beside Demian's bed where a table is present. Then, he continued to talk.

"I am sorry for today, Young Master, for your freedom inside the household became more lesser. But the Head, your father, said that you are able to move everywhere in the household until noon, since noon is the time where visitors will come."

It is past 8 for this time being. Visitors arrives at noon and the coronation will start at 3:00 pm, where it is said to be a sacred time. With the sorrow words of Ronald, Demian squeaked and replied him with a smile on a face with these words: "You do not need to say sorry Ronald, we have circumstances we must endure."

There was no helping it. If Demian was to be discovered, it is not just him will be affected but also the household including the servants.

"Anyway Young Master, the former household head, your grandfather said that if you are free today, will you be able to visit him?."

The former household head, Demian's grandfather is quite a man in the eyes of Demian. The nobleness and kindness he had shown towards him made him admire him. Hearing this, Demian smiled as he reminisce the time his grandfather was kind to him.

After a few seconds, Demian was brought to reality.

"Ah. Okay, Ronald. After I have finished my daily necessities, I will head over to my grandfather's room." He replied.

"Okay, Young Master. I will leave for now, there are things that I still need to prepare." Since time is valuable for today because of a certain event, Ronald must hurry and assist in the preparation of the coronation

"Okay, you can go ahead now, Ronald." Demian remarked.

As the figure of the man disappeared in the room, Demian spaced out thinking about the circumstances he has which lead to his thoughts about Elaine.

( Elaine, huh? She had really grown quite a figure. I still remember her crying and calling for my help. Well, it does not matter now. I will just support her back and soon, she will become the queen of Iris empire. It is almost time for her dreams to be achieved.)

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" Demian, when I grow and become the finest of all, I will--------" Demian thoughts stopped as he reminisce about the words uttered by Elaine at the past.

" Nah, it is already in past. Maybe that was 10 years ago, I know she has a new dream she wanted to achieve right now. It was a horrible dream Elaine, I hope it does not come through." These were the words that came out from the mouth of Demian while talking to himself. His emotions were shown not happy nor sad, but rather an emotion of nothing. He does not know how to react from the words uttered by his twin sister, Elaine.

After that, Demian ate his meal and gets done with his leisures, and then went straight to his grandfather's room.

"Grandfather, I have arrived. May I come in?"

"Come, in my precious grandson"

Demian opened the room door of his grandfather, and saw his grandfather sitting at his usual table with books surrounding him. His grandfather wore a white long sleeved polo with trousers, paired with a black suit that is suitable for a nobleman like him. Unlike the room of Demian, his grandfather's room was tidy and more organized.

"As expected of grandfather, your room is really majestic as ever." said by Demian as his eyes shines appreciating the room of his grandfather.

"You flatter me, grandson. Of course, as a former head, I was trained to be more organized. Your father, too, is like me. Maybe soon, you will be like this once you will be the head of the Klauss Family."

"No, you are different than him grandfather. Your level is much more higher. Anyway, in the case of becoming the head, I think it is impossible." At first half of his uttered words, Demian has stars in his eyes but was gone in the second half.

"I am not sure about that, there is no such thing as impossible." As his grandfather said with a comforting sound.

"Forget about that grandfather. Why did you call for me?"

" Quite the haste grandson, I am here to inform you that you are allowed to enter my basement as of today. I told you before, right? There is something there, Gate of Diov. As of today, you are able to make a contract with a Lucid, and acquire strength that of your own."

"Wait, the Gate of Diov. You told me that ages ago. I though it is a mere fantasy you made up. Does it really exist?" For this to hear abruptly, Demian was left with confusion. He remembered the past where his grandfather told him about the story of the Hero who brings values. The existence of the Gate were present there but the name was different.

"Yes, since you are at the right age. Go live with freedom. Acquire power, and achieve your dream to become the Hero bringing values, which you dreamed while you were still a child."

"It was long ago since I have dreamt that, forget it, it is embarrassing. Anyway, in the story, Lucids are evil creature who will devour your soul as time passes."

"Ah, that is the case for unlicensed contract, where the human only wants to use the power of a Lucid by force with no compensation. The contract will automatically take the human's life span. When you make contract, you also must make one desire of a Lucid come true to be able to use its power....... for as long as you live."

With that words, Demian was left speechless unable to comprehend about the situation. His grandfather then continued to talk.

"You know about Nulls, right? We have been fighting that using the power we acquired from that gate." Nulls are beings that for centuries has been hunting human lives. They are the natural enemies of the House of God's Will. With this revelation, it seemed like that nobles also fights in the existence of a Null.

"But, I cannot believe it. Its existence, I mean, I know the supernatural being called Nulls but acquiring power is somewhat different."

"For centuries, we already had power especially for nobles. Your father, to be exact, acquired something from that Gate. In fact, there are few more Gates and each noble has one. This has been a secret to us all......... Demian..."

As Demian's grandfather uttered his name. Chills felt in his spine which made him unable to move.

"Demian this is the power I have acquired from the Gate. Lemiard, the Lucid of Roots." Demian was shocked seeing that he is tied up by an unknown thing, it was black and was encircling his body. After a few seconds, the magic stopped. Demian fell his knees on the floor, having hard time breathing due to the surprise.

"Do you believe me now, my dear grandson Demian. I am sorry for scaring you, it was to bring you to reality and let you believe its existence." Demian looked his grandfather in his eyes. Though he still looked like the passionate grandfather he is, the way he thinks of him became different.

"I know as of today, the way you see me, will me different. But, at the very least, you are aware of the frightening side of the term called nobles. We live differently to normal humans of the empire. We are selfish as some of them will be a food to the Nulls while us protecting ourselves. That is why I told you, whose values I see is incomparable to anyone. I hope you understand why I acted this way today." As of the moment, Demian does not know how to react because in his thoughts keep saying that 'grandfather is a complex person, what he is saying now and how he feels right now is sorrow yet earlier was different'.

After some thought Demian rejected the fact about his grandfather is different and just remained it as a thought that he has discovered a new side of his grandfather.

"Grandfather! I am sorry. I judged you quite early. It is just that it feels quite different for me. Everything you have said. Grandfather, I will try and check it out soon. I will head first to my room to refreshen my head." With that conclusion in mind left the grandfather with a relief face.

"(Yes, that is it. That is my grandfather who I have known.)" This was the words inside the head of Demian as he saw the relief face of his grand father.

"Now grandfather, I must take my leave and refreshen my mind"

"Okay, my precious grandson." remarked by Demian's grandfather with a smile in his face, as usual.

As Demian left the room, the grandfather relaxed himself, uttering the words "This is yet the beginning, Queen"

(I know grandfather acted like that because he believes that there something I can do. But, I just cannot remove the thoughts I have about him that was altered. I hope this action turns out to bring positive reaction. I just need to trust grandfather for now.)

After some time thinking, Demian have arrived at the front of his room. He hasted to enter his room.

As he entered and closed the room, he was left in awe.

"This...is not my room. Where am I?" What Demian saw was a room clearly different from his.

Demian turns back to leave but as soon as he looked backed, the door was nowhere to be found. It became a room with no exit nor entrance, an entrapped room.

"A pleasant greeting, boy or should I call you Demian Klauss, the secret of the Klauss family and he who bears a crimson eye. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Florentina Hallswar and I purposely led you to my domain."

A silhouette was walking towards Demian....... and as it became clearer, the person talking was a woman with blonde hair carrying a stick that looked like a support to her walking. Her height was about 5'4 and she wore a formal crimson clothes, a noble-like clothing.

-At the certain place-

A person is seen in a balcony of a tall building, where that person used a binoculars to survey the Klauss Household.

"Hm? A coronation for a queen candidate? This is a big event. I wonder what will happen during the event. I think I must go visit the household." He said as he was laughing continuing the words: " I am the shepherd. I am he who brings values to reality. I am the Barron."