Pat. Pat. Pat. Click. Slam!
Victoria locked herself inside the massive library, trying desperately to catch her breath. Her hair falling forward to cover her face as she drawled over the fact that she messed with someone who had memorized the entire board long before she even stepped down to the basement.
Aefia reminded her too much about Seraphina.
That girl was incredibly silent, but also a genius like her mother. She might have died, but like Aefia, she was ten steps ahead of everyone. She doesn't even speak or hint at it, until seconds before the chaos starts.
A thorough manipulator wearing an innocent facade.
Victoria recalled every single one of the events down in the basement. Luckily, she didn't open the door. Cause if she did...
She slumped down the door while hugging her knees, a drop of frustruated tear fell off her eyes. That plan was meticulously crafted to drive the third Aethalgard away, but it resulted in giving her a permanent place of fame instead.
"Damn it... Argh!" The thought alone was killing her.
At least the destruction was done and she managed to run away, right? Well it that was successful, all that was left to do—
"I thought so, that I could find you here..." A familiar voice cut in, making Victoria panic and look up.
Victoria flinched violently, her head snapping up in sheer panic. "How...?" It escaped her mouth.
"I thought you knew," Aefia smirked while titling her head slightly. Her hands were clasped behind her, and she stood straight despite the injury at her shoulder. The moon hit directly behind her, painting her silhouette dim and covering Victoria in her shadow. It sounded almost poetic.
Her garnet eyes were glowing. Such beautiful eyes a person could have... Was what was inside the ruined second Aethalgard's head that instant. She fell on her knees and palms and started to crawl towards her.
"Spare me..." She spoke while her fingers loosely clenched Aefia's coat. "I have learnt my lesson... Now let me go. I promise to not bother you ever again."
"Really?" Aefia looked down with a bit of disgust. "After all that drama... now you are giving up?"
"I underestimated you for a naive young teenager."
"Well then... Isn't that quite intriguing?"
"I am sorry. To you and to Sovereign Seraphina and Sovereign Vespera."
She stared down at the woman who was finally succumbing to her words as if her life depended in the hands of the very person who had just ruined her moments prior. Aefia let out a deep breath and looked towards the looked door.
"I think you have something else you wanted to say." She spoke, void of any expression. "It would be best to confess any of your remaining crimes or the secrecy of it would have you killed sooner or later."
Victoria didn't lift her head. Her eyes still welling with tears that she refused to drop. "Understood, my Sovereign."
She got up, dusted her clothes and fixed her hair the little amount she could. With hesitant steps, she continued the journey towards the basement quietly.
Down there, the entire room was back to normal. Victoria's lackeys were tied together on the ground, being guarded by Erebus. Astraea was talking to a Guardian while the rest were gone.
Aefia stepped back into the dim torchlight, her arm still resting carefully near her injured shoulder. Behind her walked Victoria—her head bowed, her disheveled dress brushed off, stepping with hesitant, trembling feet like a prisoner walking toward the gallows.
"She has something to confess, my Sovereign," Aefia spoke while bowing her head. "Another crime she caused—which is related to the dissapearance of the fourty-one Guardians."
"What is it?" The first Aethalgard asked.
Victoria swallowed hard, forcing down the suffocating lump of dread stuck at the base of her throat. She couldn't look Astraea in the eye. She couldn't even look at the council.
"I... I have them captured," Victoria confessed, her raspy voice barely louder than a whisper, yet shattering the quiet room like thunder. "They are imprisoned behind that very door... That was why I was so desperate to break it down."
The first Aethalgard narrowed his eyes down at her before looking back at Aefia. "Tell her to open the doors. I will leave the rest to you and Erebus to deal with it. I don't want to see her face."
"Understood, my Sovereign." She bowed her head low.
"And once you are down, have Erebus accompany you to the infirmary," His voice softened as he pat her head. "You too have gone through quite a lot."
Aefia stayed silent for three long seconds. "Yes, my Sovereign."
He nodded, a smile popping onto his face. With that, he turned away and left the Death Castle.
Now left alone, she turned towards Victoria who was already on the verge of crying. She let out a sigh and stepped towards her.
"You had multiple chances, you know? Maybe if you confessed about it earlier, things won't have gotten this bad for you." She spoke. "Well, since the damage is already done, you might as well open that door and let the Guardians out. I already took off the strings from the lock."
Victoria pulled the bloody key out of her pocket and walked towards the door. Before she twisted the key, a small spark of lime-green magic bursted from her fingertip—which she rubbed against the jagged edges of the metal. Then placed it inside and turned the door.
The fact was, even Aefia knew that she had placed some sort of trap that would avoid another person from finding out about the true nature inside. So when she tried to open it the last time, it resulted in her being attacked by a liquid collection negative energy that strike her pure energy. This is because anything consisting of negative energy, always looks for any small amounts of pure magic to try and cleanse itself.
This was almost the same with devils.
When the door swung open, they were met with another horrifying sight.
A cold, damp draft rushed out from the dark expanse behind the open door, carrying with it a heavy, suffocating scent of stale iron and decaying magic.
Inside the vast underground cavern, multiple Guardians lay chained—unconscious. Their breathing were dangerously faint, their skin greying—darker the longer they had stayed captured.
Aefia didn't waste another second. Even if they were probably not guaranteed to wake up, it was still worth it if even one Guardianbwas returned safely.
She clenched her fist while rushing out to the outside if the cavern—where she was finally able to breathe.
"Puppet, Cindy," Aefia commanded. "Get the medical squad down here immediately. Ask my own staff first. Then let them alert the others and to bring at least fourty-one stretchers. Tell them we found the missing Guardians."
"On it!" Puppet squeaked frantically, zooming into the air alongside Cindy as they both vanished into a swift streak of orange, up the stairs.
"And Erebus, I will look after those two. But you will have to get the Guardians unchained along with Victoria."
He nodded and ran inside, like any kids would do.
Meanwhile, her garnet eyes scanned the ancient brickwork. Feeling the faint, unnatural draft sweeping through the space. She knew this floor held more secrets than just a single locked cell, so there was a large probably that there would be some way faster to go upstairs.
Victoria rushed after her with hesitant, frantic steps, eager to secure even an ounce of goodwill.
"There is a passage," Victoria spoke, pointing a trembling finger toward a seemingly solid concrete archway at the far end of the open hall. "There is a hidden path behind that wall. I had hidden small residues to create a portal. It can handle fourty transfers though."
Aefia didn't say a word, merely gesturing for her to open it. Desperate to comply, Victoria pressed her palm against a loose stone near the base of the arch. With a heavy, scraping groan, the wall shifted back, revealing a dim, winding tunnel plunging further into the darkness.
It wasn't long before the medical team arrived, their hurried footsteps echoing through the underground halls. Under Erebus and Aefia's direction, the medics worked swiftly—carefully unchaining the victims, and escorting them out on stretchers one by one.
Only after the last stretcher was carried away and the chaos cleared, did Aefia realize something was terribly wrong. She double-checked her mentally recorded tally, her brows pulling together in a sharp crease.
"Wait," Aefia spoke. "There were forty-one missing in total. Two of them aren't here."
Erebus stopped in his tracks, his head snapping up. "Who is missing?"
"If I am correct... a Guardian named Francesca... and Sovereign Seraphina," Aefia murmured, her eyes narrowing as she turned her head slowly to fix a deadly glare on the trembling woman behind them. "I know that Seraphina may have passed away... But about the other?"
The silence in the corridor turned suffocatingly heavy. Aefia took a slow step toward Victoria, her garnet eyes glowing with instant, sharp suspicion.
"Do you still want to play games with me?" Aefia asked softly. "Where are they, Victoria?"
"No! I don't know where they are!" Victoria tried her best, shrinking back against the damp concrete with her hands raised in absolute terror.
"I swear on everything I have, I don't know a single thing about Francesca! I only captured those thirty-nine to fuel the array! I never touched Francesca—I don't even know where she vanished to!"
She fell to her knees, looking up at Aefia with wide, frantic eyes. "Please, you have to believe me! I confessed to everything else... why would I lie about her now?!"
"I don't know. Because you are relentless?"
"Of course not! I won't hide anything in front of you, I had promised that! I did nothing wrong to Francesca!"
Erebus looked down. "Well then. We shall have the first Aethalgard judge the rest.
"But firstly, you are still bleeding." He added while pointing out at the injury at her arm. Although it was tied up tightly to avoid blood lose, it was still painful to move it around. It was still the left hand.
Even though, honestly, it felt good to finally get rid of the problem.
***
The next morning, Victoria was demoted to being a servant again. She gave up all of her magic into a stone, and was kicked out of her castle—which now belonged to Erebus. All of her property, title and power were under investigation by the Honorary Knights by the help of their leader alongside all those evidence that Aefia submitted.
While also, all knights with the healing element were working as doctors and nurses. Aefia personally offered to hand over a bit of her power to compensate for their help, while the first Aethalgard held a banquet for three days long to celebrate the return of order in the Realm.
With Aefia getting appreciate much for her major contribution in this case. While that was that, some of the recovered Guardians started calling her Seraphina's child—which sparked curiosity and pride inside her of course.
Although this was one mystery she really wanted to solve, later on.
But right now...
"Hah... This feels so much better... Freedom really does taste good." Her voice cut in as she lay across the sofa. Her right forearm lay across her forehead while her left arm was bandaged and stiff beside her.
"Even with that painful injury?" Helio asked while leaning down to move a strand of hair off her face. "If I were you, I would be more worried about my own health... Not my victories."
"No, you don't get it," she answered calmly. "The feeling of finally knowing I have managed to get rid of a long-term enemy, got revenge for two people and securedyself a safe place... Feels more than just a victory."
He smiled while reaching out to cup her cheek. "Alright. So what about me?"
"What do you want to know about you?" She moved her hand away from her forehead and sat up properly. But didn't move away from his hand.
"Am I not something which feels more than a victory?" He asked while furrowing his brows together with a sad smile.
Aefia rolled her eyes before leaping forward to hug his neck. "I thought I was your victory."
He paused for a moment. Then hugged her back while pressing a kiss to her hair. "Well you are."
They stayed silent for a while, then, she pulled back just enough to rest her forehead against his.
"Speaking of which, my seventeenth birthday is around the corner," She spoke in a low voice. "I expect to be surprised."
"That is two months away." He answered back
"Long enough for you to plan something interesting."
"Alright. I already had something planned anyways."
"Wait—what is it?!"
"I can't say it. It is a surprise." He chuckled while lightly tapping her nose. "A surprise is better unknown."
"Fine, fine!" She smiled. She then got off and walked towards her table to grab a set of room keys. "Before that, let's go take a walk. I am tired from being cramped up in this place."
"If that's what you want, then alright." He stood up, opening the door for her on the way.
She locked the study, even though she was just outside. She just didn't want anyone to touch all those pieces of papers that Seraphina had hidden inside her journal.
Because they weren't just about Victoria. Reading further, she realized it was more about her personal life. Not work related or anything. Just some wholesome memories she had written during her free-time between work.
"You are already overthinking," Helio whispered from beside. "You are so loud, I can hear your thoughts."
Aefia looked up at him for a short moment before a mischievous smile took over her face. Using her elbow, she pushed him to the side.
He let out a startled "Ow!"
But the next moment, she pulled him back beside her and laced her fingers with his, then swung their hands back and forth.
"Now what am I thinking?" She asked, looking up at him with a knowing smirk.
He stayed mute and astonished. Then let out a laugh.
"You read something interesting. And you are trying to recreate it, right?" He asked while lifting their hands to kiss the back if hers.
Aefia laughed, fully content as she leaned her head on his shoulders. "I was thinking... That if I truly am Seraphina's daughter, then I would recreate some things that she did in her life."