Guess who's back with a new chapter?
Yeah, I'm pretty excited too since I worked really, really hard on this chapter. No, seriously. I had to go through a lot of research and character making to make this possible. That's why the update is so late.
So, questions!
Is being petrified the same as being dead?: Yes and no. Actually, petrification is just the act of turning someone into stone. It depends on whether Yasmine decides to completely turn someone into stone or simply encase the said person into stone if they die or live.
Will Titus be apart of the Magnostadt arc if Sai is already going?: Titus will be in the Magnostadt Arc. (Of course I will include him! I have plans for him, you know! Big ones!) He's the "spy" mentioned in the previous conversation with Scheherazade.
Are you going to add more antagonist oc? Or are you going to make judal being brainwashed by al thamen?: (Mad cackling.) You shall find out soon...
Will kouha be okay? He won't have a crazy scene like hakuryuu did?: I can't assure that he'll be fine since he went through pretty rough stuff, but I'm pretty confident that no one can top Hakuryuu's crazy scene. I mean, seriously. Overzealous in cutting off heads, much? Though I can't really defend Kouha. He's pretty bloodthirsty himself.
Given Jamal's reaction to Kouha, I'm guessing he'd never allow Yasmine to ever get married? Or be with someone?: I would have to say, if things goes his way, yes. But realistically? The end decision all depends on Yasmine herself. If she decides on a guy, Jamal would back off and respect her choice but would prepare his weapons if there is any chance that their relationship goes awry. In Kouha's case, Yasmine doesn't really consider him as a love interest (yet) so he's open season for Jamal to torment and insult. Really, Jamal just wants Yasmine to be happy. Even if his way of doing it is a bit...too much.
In what chapter will the baby born?: Ah, that. It all depends on the pacing. It could be at the next two chapters or way more than that.
Also, a shout out to jankitty13/jangirl183 for her wonderful two comics: "Before the Meet" and "The Meet". Check them out with the links in my profile!
Now, Onwards!
Children of Solomon
Chapter 35: Cursed Children
"Camilla?"
Somehow, Shion's frazzled mind recognized the name. It took him a few seconds to actually match the name to a certain memory. Hadn't she been the maid Kougyoku warned him about in the past?
Dammit. Shion had been too careless by overlooking Kougyoku's warning. He should've kept a closer eye on that maid.
"Why?!" Ja'far, who had recovered from his shock, pulled his blades closer to Camilla's neck. "Out of all of the maids in the palace, you were the last one I would have expected to do something like this, Camilla. Why?"
"I don't expect someone like you to understand." Camilla stated shortly as she somehow managed to escape from Ja'far's grasp. She took a vial out of her pocket and glanced at Sinbad's direction for a moment before throwing it onto the ground.
A bright, flashing light exploded from the vial upon impact, temporarily blinding everyone. Shion stayed close to Kikiriku and blinked quickly in a vain attempt to gain his sight back more quickly.
A hand landed on his shoulder and dug its nails deeply into his skin, undoubtedly drawing blood. Shion swallowed a pained hiss and did his best to angle himself as far away from the woman as possible. The hand roughly yanked him away from Kikiriku while the other covered his mouth.
"Keep quiet, little prince, and listen well." Camilla hissed into his ear. "I will let you live…for now. But it's not out of pity or mercy. Al Thamen has plans for you, so don't you dare let your guard down for a moment. And don't you think that the other Cursed Children will let your actions go as easily as I did. Be sure that we will not give you a moment of peace."
Shion stiffened at Camilla's words.
Cursed Children?
'They already exist in this era?' Shion thought in panic. 'This is not good. They were the ones who were the main perpetrators of the creation of that thing.'
This was definitely something that he would have to relay to the Blessed Children. Their enemies were already gathering power to oppose them. Shion had underestimated the amount of preparation Al Thamen made up to the creation of the Black Bird. They must have planned on making that thing for years. Undoubtedly, Sindria being the first country to be destroyed had been their intention too if one of the Cursed Children was here. It was a good thing that his presence was able to reveal Camilla's stance with Al Thamen sooner.
'But first, I need to deal with this one.' Shion thought wryly as he snapped his head back sharply into Camilla's face before making his escape. He heard her make a sound of pain as he scrambled away. Shion was not against hitting or hurting a woman out of self-defense. Displaying chivalry like that usually got you killed, especially if the said woman was threatening your life.
Shion did not feel guilty for possibly breaking the woman's nose.
(Personally, he thought that she deserved it. She tried to kill a nine-year-old in his sleep, which was totally not okay. Not that Shion was actually nine years old in spirit, but he digressed. What really mattered was that she intended to kill a kid in cold blood.)
Not that he ever found out that he did. By the time all their sight came back, Camilla was already long gone, leaving only glass shards from the vial and remnants of black rukh in her wake.
Amani relaxed in her husband's arms as their bodies hit the soft mattress of her bed. She sighed contently at the familiar feel of Balbadd fabric. Of all things, Balbadd prided itself for having the best quality fabrics. Even the white rolls of cloth that the people of the slums used were comfortable. Amani had to face that she had been a little spoiled in that sense when she experienced the less-than-comfortable blankets and clothes in Kou. "Ah, I missed the comforts of my old bed."
"This was your room?" Koumei stated in alarm. It took Amani a moment to realize why her husband reacted in such a way. That's right. That had happened in this room, hadn't it? "I will immediately see to it that you will be moved to another room. I apologize for overlooking something like this, Amani."
"No, no, moving will not be necessary." She quickly assured her husband. "I'm not the sort who would allow one bad experience to overshadow the good ones. The bedding and sheets were all immediately burned if that was what concerned you." She added when she caught Koumei eyeing the bed as if it had committed some unforgivable crime.
"Are you sure?"
"I had to capture a dungeon to get this room, so I'm pretty sure that I would like to keep it." Amani said dryly as she forced him back down with a hand. "Now please…calm down. I'm too tired to argue over something as pointless as this. You also said that you wanted to rest. Right, dear?"
"But-!"
"I said, right Dear?"
"…"
Koumei sighed in defeat and Amani knew that she had won.
No sane or smart husband would ever be gutsy enough to argue with his pregnant wife. That would usually result with either lots of tears or death. Thankfully, Koumei was both sane and smart.
With a satisfied smile, Amani wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. Koumei reluctantly did the same.
Both were out in a second.
Despite common belief, petrification didn't necessarily mean death.
"She's just encased with stone, that's all. I wasn't aiming to kill, so she's still alive." Yasmine assured the angered pirates when they saw the state of their 'mother'. She picked up Gamigin and raised the weapon at the statue's neck. "But…I can easily kill her right now. Surrender yourselves and I will return her to her original state. If you don't…well…"
Making them surrender ended up becoming an easy business. Subduing the still-controlled Kouha had been a greater issue. Both Yasmine and Alibaba had to fight him until he fainted from magoi overuse while Aladdin and Morgiana watched over Umm Madaura's statue.
It was horrible to see Kouha in such a broken state. Yasmine didn't even know what demons haunted him, so she had no way of soothing his nightmares with the right words.
In the end…there were things about Kouha even she didn't know.
'I won't pry into his past when he wakes up.' Yasmine decided as she asked Morgiana to carry Kouha's unconscious body. 'Even I have some things about my past that I didn't tell him. I'll just support him, since he went through something traumatic.'
Yasmine looked up and inspected the petrified Holy Mother.
'Now, about the issue of bringing a heavy stone statue and hundreds of pirate-children back to port…'
It turned out that transportation wasn't an issue when the group resurfaced from the Pirate Fortress.
The Akita Kingdom Fleets, who were forced to gather since the allies of Sindria were involved, were shocked to see Yasmine, carrying a stone statue of a woman, leading all the pirates into their shackles.
"Shackle this woman for me." Yasmine ordered the nearest soldier curtly while gesturing over to the petrified Umm. "I would like her restrained while I question her."
The soldier sweatdropped at her request. "But doing such a thing would be…" ridiculous "…strange, sir. Can't we focus our energy on the other prisoners instead of that statue?"
Yasmine turned her glare at the man, forgetting for a moment that her eyes were uncovered. "Do as I say."
The soldier stiffened up under her gaze.
"Eeep! Y-Yes, sir!"
And so, Umm was shackled and broken out of her stone prison. Though Umm had struggled against her chains first, the sight of a glaring Yasmine quickly subdued the Holy Mother. As the rest of the group recuperated from the recent battle, Yasmine interrogated the woman in her cell.
She asked her questions like: "What was your aim with that magical vessel?" "Where did you get the magical tools?" and "Who was your supplier?"
The first two questions were easy enough to get. To control all the future rulers. Magnostadt. But then, Umm became silent at the mention of her supplier. Despite her fear of Yasmine, a greater fear kept her silent. In the end, Yasmine had to give up on the matter.
(Was it Al Thamen again? It seemed like it was the sort of thing they would do, but the answer seemed too easy.)
Instead, she asked a different question.
"Those children…what are your true thoughts towards them? Did you truly care for them or was that all a lie?"
She knew what her answer would be, but she needed to hear it with her own ears.
"Those little brats? They were only magoi-suppliers for the greater scheme of my plans. Aside from that, they're useless trash to me. What could they ever offer me? They're not of noble birth. They have no powerful connections. They're only orphan children who were as good as dead when I found them. Honestly, they annoy the hell out of me with their constant whining and crying."
And that was it. Yasmine asked Umm no more questions and waited outside for the ships to reach the Akita Kingdom port. With those words ringing in her ears, she calmly accepted the fact that she might have to kill the woman in Hakuryuu's place. Sai had warned her that the gruesome deed would have to fall onto her hands, since Hakuryuu followed Amani back to Balbadd. She had some doubts at first since the deed went against her morals, but now she was certain that what she was about to do would be for the better.
Such a woman shouldn't continue living in this world.
Yasmine heard a soft shuffling behind her. She sent a cursory glance behind her in acknowledgement before reaching for her blindfolds to cover her eyes. "Alibaba."
"You caught me again, Yasmine-sensei." Alibaba said sheepishly while inching away from his hiding spot when he was sure that her eyes were covered. "Are you feeling fine? Any bad injuries?"
"I'm fine." She said dismissively. "The wounds that you got from fighting Kouha are far worse." Yasmine eyed the wrapped bandages around his arms and shoulders before smiling proudly. "You held yourself well against Kouha back there, Alibaba. I'm impressed."
Alibaba flushed at the compliment and scratched the back of his head. "Really?"
"Yes. You've improved since the last time I saw you." Yasmine's smile thinned when she thought about her pink-haired friend. "How is he?"
"He's fine aside from a few scratches here and there. Your friend is pretty tough!" Alibaba praised with a laugh. "He should be waking up pretty soon."
Relief swelled in Yasmine's chest and she released a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Thank Solomon." She sighed to herself.
"…That Kouha guy is pretty important to you, huh?"
Yasmine looked up in surprise and found Alibaba smiling back at her with a look of pure understanding.
'…? Why is he looking at me like that?'
"Of course." She stated simply, still not understanding why Alibaba was giving her such a look. "He's my friend."
Alibaba sweatdropped. "A-Ah. So it's like that. I see. Wow…poor guy."
"What?"
"Never mind. It's not something I should say." The blonde shook his head. "Anyways, I guess you haven't heard the good news about Amani!"
"What good news? And it's about Amani?" Her curiosity was immediately piqued at the mention of her good friend and she leaned in to listen to the good news, forgetting Alibaba's strange words from before.
Yasmine wasn't disappointed.
By the time Kougyoku and Tao got off the boat, the Blessed Child was noticeably calmer and more confident amongst crowds of people. The thoughts that she now occasionally heard didn't bang into her eardrums as much thanks to the tips Tao gave her through Ping's ghost.
It was comforting to hear Ping nagging again, even if it was only through Tao.
"How do you differentiate ghosts from humans?" Kougyoku asked him after they found a caravan that directly traveled to the Tenzan Plateau. She chewed on a piece of meat jerky while offering Tao the other piece. "Do they look transparent-like or something?"
Tao accepted the food and tilted his head in consideration as the caravan began to move. "Not exactly. If there's a good way to explain it, I'd say that they look more like smoke than anything."
"Smoke, huh?" She hummed thoughtfully. "And you help these ghosts fulfill their last wishes so they can rest peace, right?"
"Pretty much, aside from the murderous ones of course. Those wishes I prefer to stay far away from."
Kougyoku plopped a dried fruit into her mouth and casually asked her next question. "Are any of the ghosts…reincarnated with your help?"
"Hmm, funny that you say that. I recently had to help a ghost do something like that." Tao chuckled to himself at the memory. "And to answer your question, yes. If the ghosts have strong enough of a will, they can choose what form they will be reincarnated into."
"Really? Do these ghosts ever remember their past lives?"
Tao tilted his head. "Aside from brief moments of déjà vu and random bouts of nostalgia, no. That defeats the purpose of being reborn, don't you think? Why?"
Kougyoku avoided Tao's inquiring gaze.
"Nothing. Just curious."
Meanwhile another caravan departed from Reim. The driver glanced at his passenger and jovially tried to start a conversation with him. "So, a potential Magnostadt student, young man?"
"Yes." The passenger clipped out shortly. His whole body was hidden by the shadows in the caravan so the driver couldn't see his face.
"It must be nice that you have a prestigious family backing you up, eh? I'm sure that you'll gain entrance as a student quite easily." The driver pushed on, trying to get a response from his quiet passenger. "Are you nervous?"
"No."
"So a confident one! You must be talented! So, what made you decide to go to Magnostadt Academy of all places? It's pretty far from Reim."
The passenger snorted. "I never got my letter from Hogwarts so I decided to go to Magnostadt instead."
"…Pardon me?"
"Never mind. You muggles would never understand." He sighed almost dolefully. "Kou-chan, Jazzy-chan and Bee-chan would probably get it."
"Sir?"
"Just shut up and drive." The passenger ordered shortly, making the man automatically shut his mouth with a loud 'clack' and focus on the trail in front of him.
He never attempted another conversation for the rest of the trip.
"Thank you, young man! Thank you very much!" The old woman cried out while holding her grandchild closely to her chest. Meanwhile, the traumatized child was sobbing and clutching onto her grandmother, mourning the loss of her parents. "Bless you and your children and their children."
Around them, many other children were reunited with their families.
Yasmine inclined her head politely to the old lady before returning to where the pirate children were gathered. Most of them glared at her as she passed.
She ignored them completely.
"Kouha." Yasmine greeted her now-awake companion. "Are you feeling better?"
The pink-haired prince remained silent and still. He hadn't spoken a word or reacted to her voice since he woke up, which concerned her. Selene, when asked to properly patch Kouha back up, wrote to Yasmine that Kouha was in a state of shock. "He'll snap out of it soon." She had assured the Blessed Child in writing.
'But when?' Yasmine wondered privately. She had never seen Kouha this…silent for this long.
"Rude." Jamal had sniffed at Yasmine's first attempt to communicate with Kouha, but said no more about the subject. Even her overprotective brother had sensed that something was off about Kouha and backed off from harassing him for the time being.
'Something is wrong.'
Yasmine opened her mouth to question Kouha again, but was interrupted by the sound of stone hitting metal. She turned her head to see a mob of people gathering around the bound Umm Madaura.
"Kill that woman immediately!"
Yasmine stiffened at the amount of killing intent pouring from the crowd. The hateful glares were, for once, not aimed at her, but at the Holy Mother.
"She's right! Kill her! She did terrible things! You don't have to transfer her!"
"Give me my husband back!"
"Give me my wife back!"
"Kill her!"
"Kill her!"
Like a wave, the crowd descended upon the Holy Mother and began to tear at her. They rained stones, clubs, blades, and fists upon the woman, continuously pulling shrieks of pain from her. Horror curled in Yasmine's gut as she caught sight of the pirate children crying out for their mother.
Yasmine promptly picked Gamigin up and strode toward the crowd. She pushed through the screaming people to reach her target. By the time Yasmine reached Umm Madaura, the woman was almost unrecognizable. Hair, skin, and ornaments were ripped from her body. At this rate, her body wouldn't even look human by the time the crowd was through with her. Yasmine gripped the handle of her scythe. This…this wasn't an execution anymore.
This was a mercy killing.
Before she could properly make the final blow that would end the suffering woman's life, Yasmine felt herself being pushed back into the crowd. She let out a surprised gasp when her eyes caught sight of a flash of pink before the sound of blades clanging met her ears. The whole crowd was struck dumb at the sight of Kou's Third Prince standing defensively in front of the Holy Mother.
"K-Kouha?!"
'What the hell is he doing?! Wait…is he still under her influence?!'
Umm Madaura saw her chance at survival in Kouha's act of defense. "Ah, child! You are such a good boy! I believed in you. You came here to help me! Come quickly to your mother's side!"
At her words, Kouha smiled sweetly and knelt down to her level. Stricken by the scene, Yasmine ran over to his side and pulled him away from Umm. "Kouha!" She hissed into his ear. "Snap out of it! She is not your mother!"
Behind her blindfold, she turned her eyes toward the Holy Mother, making her stiffen in fright. "And you, whatever you're doing to Kouha I suggest that you cut it out."
She angled herself as far away from Yasmine as she could. "E-Eepp! I did nothing to the child! It's his own doing!"
"She's right."
Yasmine blinked in surprise at the sound of Kouha's voice. He smiled at her assuredly and pushed her hands away. "Don't worry, Yasmine. I'm fine now. Sorry for the trouble I gave you before. That won't happen again. But for now, let me take care of this."
"But…" Before she could argue any further, Kouha pushed past her and knelt in front of Umm Madaura once again. Yasmine had no choice but to let him be with the woman so she could keep the villagers back from interfering.
As she cowed the crowd into submission through intimidation, Kouha murmured things to Umm Madaura that were too low for even Yasmine to hear. This went on for a while. His murmurings were interrupted many times by desperate praises of 'pride' and 'love' sung by the Holy Mother. Finally, with his one free hand, he grabbed her hand and silenced her 'motherly' blabbering with a sentence that seemed to horrify her.
"I'm sorry, 'mother'. It seems that this is the only way that both you and I can be happy. I hope that you can understand."
And with that, Kouha let the soldiers haul her aboard the ship.
"No...NO! You cannot do this to me, my child! You cannot! There must be another way! Do not let them take me away! My child! There must be…PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE YOUR MOTHER TO THIS KIND OF FATE!"
Umm Madaura's shrieks and pleading kept the mob's anger in check for the time being. Yasmine was only relieved that her friend hadn't replaced Hakuryuu's role as the Holy Mother's executioner.
But then, there was the matter of keeping Umm Madaura alive. Yasmine had lost her chance to take her life when Kouha intercepted her. It would be pure madness to attempt an assassination now with everyone watching, so she had no choice but to watch the Holy Mother being hauled away to her prison. What sort of backlash would this outcome cause?
'Let's not think about that for now. She was stripped from her magical weapon so she's harmless for the time being.' Yasmine tried to assure herself before shaking her head. 'No…the risk of her causing harm to Shion's plans is too high. I guess I'll have to use my eyes to kill her silently when no one's looking.'
A bitter smile crossed her lips.
'Planning the death of another human being without a second thought. How low have I fallen ever since my rebirth into this world?'
"Wow, I can't believe your friend managed to take control of the situation. You were very good at calming the crowd down too, Yasmine-sensei." Alibaba said, impressed with Kouha's performance. Morgiana simply appeared relieved that pointless blood wasn't shed.
Aladdin, on the other hand, looked uneasy.
"Aladdin, is there something wrong?" Yasmine asked the blue-haired boy in concern, feeling just as uneasy.
The boy shrugged helplessly. "I feel as if something bad is going to happen."
"Something bad, huh?" Yasmine's eyes wandered over to Umm Madaura's form on the ship and froze when something caught her eye.
Noticing this, Aladdin began to pull at her sleeves in concern. "Miss Yasmine? Did something happen?"
"Stop her!" Yasmine suddenly yelled, gaining the attention of everyone closest to her. "Stop her before she-!" Her cries were cut off abruptly as a scene that only she could see played across her eyes. "No…"
"Nee-chan?" Jamal was at her side at an instant. "What did you see?"
"Umm Madaura…she…"
"SHE'S DEAD!" A soldier cried out from the ship, finishing Yasmine's sentence. "The witch killed herself!"
The moment Judal saw a handful of black rukh flutter past his eyes, he immediately assumed that he had somehow fallen back into depravity.
But then, he sensed a familiar presence that followed the birds.
Al Thamen.
Judal stopped what he was doing altogether and rushed over to the source of the tainted rukh. He was unsurprised to see that it came from Prince Shion's room. 'What kind of trouble did you get into this time, Chibi-er Chibi?' He wondered with a hint of frustration as he prepared himself to face an Al Thamen member. 'And what kind of crappy security allows enemies to sneak into this country twice?!'
"Oi, Chibi-er Chibi! You alive in there?" Judal shouted when he rushed in.
Sinbad, Ja'far, and Kikiriku jumped at the dark magi's entrance. Shion, on the other hand, was too tired to acknowledge Judal's call other than to grunt out an affirmative "yeah".
Ja'far rounded on Judal. "You knew about this, didn't you?"
Judal reared back in surprise. "What?"
"Camilla! You knew she was one of you!" The freckled advisor snarled, angrily. "You purposefully kept that information away from us so Shion would get hurt!"
The accusation stung Judal. "Hey, wait a second, just because I used to be Al Thamen doesn't mean I know every fucking mole that they plant all around the world. And even if I did, I never heard about any member being placed in Sindria. Who is this 'Camilla' person anyways?"
"I think she was a maid." Kikiriku spoke up helpfully.
"Okay, fine. So she's one of ten thousand of your maids. How the hell was I supposed to pick her out from all those women? Huh?"
"He has a point." Shion admitted. "Judal was never good with names or faces. It took four years for him to not forget me. And he still doesn't call me by my name."
"Well, that's true." Sinbad agreed. "You have to admit that it's pretty clear that it's not Judal's fault, Ja'far. Leave him be."
"But Sin! Shion's life is in danger! He was almost killed!"
"Ja'far, stop it. That's an order."
Judal blinked at the sharp command. He wasn't the only one. Both Ja'far and Sinbad looked at Shion in surprise. The child stared back at the advisor and his father challengingly. "This is not the time to squabble with allies. I know that you're upset about the attack, but don't let it out a Judal. He didn't do anything wrong. Actually, Judal has been spending all this time to help Yamraiha with the barrier. Isn't that right, Judal?"
Judal nodded. "That's right."
"He's also been on his best behavior ever since he came to Sindria. All this time, Judal has been making the effort to be good even without Tao or Kougyoku around."
"That's right."
"And I also have some questions to ask him, so I would appreciate it if you don't anger him too much." Shion added. "He tends to get all pouty when you get him upset and I need him to talk."
"That's – Oi!"
Ja'far looked unsure. "Well…if it's like that…"
Shion beamed at the advisor. "Thank you, Ja'far. I knew you would understand."
Judal huffed at the performance that the young prince played in front of the advisor. It unsettled him sometimes how good the boy was at manipulating people. He was sure that the advisor knew what Shion was trying to do since it was similar to the tricks that Sinbad used himself, but Ja'far submitted to Shion's charms anyways because of his young age.
Judal knew better than to underestimate a person simply because of their age. He killed people at that age, maybe even younger. And he was sure that the little prince did more than that, judging by the hardened look in his eyes that children his age usually didn't have.
But that was a thought that Judal thought was best not to pursue until later. The kid was still only nine. He'd give it another ten years before he worried about the little prince.
"I'm going to have to warn you that I had no interest in what those old geezers planned. I just destroyed shit and let them do all the planning." Judal informed Shion bluntly. "I might not have an answer."
Shion sighed. "Yeah. I know."
"Okay then. Shoot."
"Do you know anything about the Cursed Children?"
The air crackled in warning before Judal grabbed Shion's shoulders. The prince forced himself to calm as the magi shook him roughly. "Where did you hear that?" He demanded with a wild look in his eyes. "Where?"
"Judal!" Sinbad shouted sharply, snatching his son away from Judal's grip.
Ja'far pressed his blades at the magi's throat in warning.
Judal seemed completely unfazed by the reprimand and the blades. He kept his attention on Shion, waiting for his answer. "Well?"
"Camilla said something about how the 'other' Cursed Children wouldn't let me get away as easily as she did. What is it? Do you know something about them?" Shion asked with a quiver in his voice.
Judal would have noticed that little detail, but his mind was in too much of a frenzy to take note of anything.
"Cursed Child, Cursed Child…that maid was actually – oh man, you fucked up royally this time, idiot king. You fucked up." He pushed Ja'far away and began pacing around the floor. "Not only did one of your people turn traitor, you were actually housing a fucking Cursed Child in your country this whole time!"
Sinbad ignored Judal's insults, focusing more on the wording. "So you know what Shion is talking about?"
Know? If course I know about them, idiot king. The Cursed Children were Al Thamen's creation, their experiment.
Actually…they were Falan's idea. I was only a brat when she brought up the idea of creating weapons that could counter the abilities of the Blessed Children. At some point, the organization decided that the Blessed Children were too 'dangerous' to remain in this world. I think they tried to take a Blessed Child and brainwash them like they did with me.
Don't give me that dirty look, small fry. You know who I'm talking about.
That's right. She was that old hag's teacher. Your sister. Fatima.
"AMANI-DONO! Are you harmed? What did they do to you? Amani-dono!"
Amani woke up from her nap from the sound Hakuryuu frantically calling her name. She tumbled out of her bed to greet her visitor before he came to his own conclusions and broke down the door.
Amani opened her doors to her concerned brother-in-law.
"Hakuryuu." She greeted him with half-awake eyes.
"Amani-dono, I have heard from the servants that you were attacked!" Hakuryuu panicked as he looked for any serious injuries just as Koumei had done. "Are you unharmed? Is the baby okay?"
"I am fine." Amani had to assure him many times before it got through his head.
"I will be your bodyguard from this day forward." Hakuryuu decided resolutely. "I promised Alibaba-dono that I would keep you safe. I already nearly broke that promise. I will not let that happen again."
Oh dear. He really was serious about this.
"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself when it comes to small arguments, thank you. Honestly, you're just like – oh. Hello there, Tiare."
Tiare grinned. "Hello, Amani!" She chirped. "Tiare here with Master! Baby okay?"
"Yes, the baby is okay." Amani said for the third time.
"Amani? Who's at the door?"
An exhausted Koumei dragged himself out of bed and came over to Amani's side. To her amusement, his hair was a complete mess, making it very difficult to see his face. Hakuryuu appeared unruffled by his stepbrother's appearance.
Tiare, on the other hand, was frightened by Koumei's bizarre appearance. She let out a small shriek and hid behind Hakuryuu. "B-Broom Monster!" She cried out in Toran.
Koumei did not appear amused.
"That was rude." He promptly informed her in Toran, making her blush in shame. "I am not a broom and I am not a monster."
Hakuryuu tried to hold back his laughter. He really did try.
"I'm so sorry Koumei-dono. Tiare really didn't mean any – pffft! – harm. She's only a – snort – child. Please excuse my Household Member." When he finished, Amani thought that he looked to be at the edge of falling into uncontrollable giggles.
Koumei seemed to see what she saw since he shot Hakuryuu a dark glare.
'Not. Funny.' His expression seemed to convey. 'Stop laughing.'
'Make me.' Hakuryuu seemed to taunt back.
Amani felt a small migraine coming as she saw the antagonism between the two.
When did their relationship become so strained? Amani thought that their relationship was completely fine before her trip to Sindria. What happened? Amani hoped that whatever it was, they would resolve it soon.
But they failed with her.
Unlike us Magi, Blessed Children can't control their powers without the help of their predecessor. Not only that, her ability was the lowest of the low out of all the Blessed Children.
Their failure taught them that even the weakest Blessed Child wouldn't bend to their will. Whether they knew it or not, the Blessed Children were set on going against whatever mission Al Thamen had in store for this world.
So, they decided that eliminating the Blessed Children was the best course to follow.
As terrible as it sounded, Yasmine was relieved that Umm Madaura was dead. Any possible trouble or repercussion that would have followed if she left Akita Kingdom alive was gone.
Yasmine was almost tempted to pass Umm Madaura's death off as a suicide and look no further into the matter. It wasn't her problem anymore, so why bother?
But she did bother. Because she was able to catch glimpse of the blade as the Holy Mother drove it into her chest. Because that same blade disappeared before she could reach the dead body to inspect it.
But she saw it for a moment and that was enough.
Yasmine knew who the perpetrator of Umm Madaura's death was, but she needed to know…why? Why did he do it? Hakuryuu had executed the Holy Mother because he had seen her as his own mother.
What was Kouha's reason?
(What had he seen when he was placed under the Holy Mother's illusion?)
Yasmine broke off from her thoughts when she heard someone barreling toward her at a frightening speed. She lifted her weapon just in time to intercept a strike from a sword. To her surprise, she was met with the hateful glare of Olba.
"You! It's because of you that our mother is dead! Die, you monster!"
SLAP.
For a moment, Yasmine believed that she had instinctively slapped Olba away in self-defense. But then she remembered that she delivered proper punches when she hit a person, not slaps. 'It must've been Kouha who came to my defense.' The pink that covered her vision confirmed her suspicion.
Olba clutched at his stinging cheek and glared up at Kouha for his intervention. From behind, Yasmine couldn't get a clear view of Kouha's expression, but she knew that it was something akin of a glare.
"If you're going to point fingers, point it at the right person." Kouha told Olba, keeping himself planted in front of Yasmine. "That witch killed herself. Didn't you hear? She sliced her own throat because she was too scared to pay for her sins. Prison life isn't pretty for women, you know." Then, he began to smile as he gestured over to himself. "But I was the one who gave her the knife."
All the pirate children gasped at Kouha's confession.
Olba snarled at Kouha and raised his sword once again. "Then I should kill you to avenge mother!"
His feeble attack was batted away by a causal swing delivered by Kouha. Olba was disarmed in moments.
"Forget about it." He told the boy solemnly, advancing toward him and the other children. "That woman was a filthy witch who used you until the end. You must've realized by now, right? Not once did she ever think of you as her own children. In her mind, you were only a tool to be used and disposed of. She's not worth your tears or your blood."
He looked at Olba with consideration before withdrawing his blade.
"You're a gutsy one. I don't hate that." Then, his expression darkened. "But you raised your blade against Yasmine. Do that again and I won't hesitate to cut you down, brat."
Kouha left the scene with Olba defeated and bleeding on the ground.
Yasmine didn't hesitate in following.
The result was the creation of the Cursed Children. They were supposed to be the executioners of the Blessed Children. Al Thamen tried to force their test subjects into completely assimilating with these specially made black metal vessels. I never really got the gist of how they worked, but I heard that, when successfully assimilated, even the subjects wouldn't die from using a full djinn-equip.
No…it would be more like those experiments would be able to use their dark djinn equip in full power whenever they wanted.
Not only that, they would be able to continue looking and acting like any other human being.
They could easily fool even your eyes, Idiot King.
"Accio, stick."
"…"
"Mou, I can't believe that it didn't work. Don't they have Latin as Reim's special language? Then it should work…" The Blessed Child pondered about the workings of magic in this world compared to the one in his beloved book series. "…Hmm, maybe I should focus more on desiring to make the stick move. Children in magic world always start out with things like accidental magic, right? That would make more sense if I start with the basics."
Sai took a moment to silently will the stick to move toward him. To his surprise, the stick began to wiggle and jump toward him. Instinctively, words jumped out of his mouth that he had never spoken before. "Tali hone, stick."
The stick flew into his hand in an instant.
"…Arabic?"
Sai tossed the stick away and focused his energy onto the stick once again.
"Accio, stick."
The stick remained unresponsive. Sai repeated the spell in Arabic, causing an immediate reaction from the stick.
Sai pouted. Well, there went his dream of using all those spells J.K. Rowling provided him with her wonderful books. Oh, what a tragedy it was for all those beautiful spells to be wasted. He had always wanted to try the 'Wingardium Leviosa' spell, ever since he first saw it in action in theatres. Did that mean that re-inventing Quidditch would be a pipe dream for him?
...Nah. Flying in broomsticks should be totally possible.
But the whole thing was a complete failure.
All the subjects that they chose were supposed to be 'strong-willed' and 'compatible' and all that shit. But they all ended up dead in the end.
The majority of Al Thamen decided to trash the whole project all together.
I guess Falan never gave up on the project. She was a stubborn bitch, so I wouldn't be surprised if she continued her research independently. I'm sure that bastard Ithnan was in on it too.
But that's not the point.
The point is that they somehow managed to make the experiment a success. I don't know how. I don't even care how. It won't change the fact that Princess shouldn't go back to Kou now. I'm pretty damn sure that one of them is planted there so they can take her down.
And I don't even know if any of those Cursed Children are acting under Al Thamen's orders or independently. Either way, they're dangerous.
Kougyoku looked outside the caravan and admired the stretch of land unfurled right in front of her eyes. Beside her, Tao dozed. She knew that mountains would eventually give way to small hills and then into sand. It was the way to the Tenzan Plateau so the desert was unavoidable.
But she missed this: The outside, the camping, the traveling
Though the journeys were always long and arduous, Kougyoku thought that it was definitely better than the stuffiness of the palace.
'Hakuei must be having the time of her life out in the plains.' Kougyoku thought wistfully. 'I can't wait to see her again after all this time. I haven't seen her since I left for Balbadd.'
Kougyoku was broken from her thoughts by a scream.
"BANDITS!"
The scream woke Tao up. He picked up a weapon and sent her an inquiring look.
Kougyoku had her Butterfly Swords unsheathed within a moment. A bloodthirsty grin overtook her features.
"Let's see how these beauties work in battle, shall we?"
Underestimating them would be a bad idea. They were created to kill, to eliminate. They were created to be as strong and destructive as I was to get the 'pests' taken care of. I bet that they can take you down at full power, Idiot King, so don't even try.
The Blessed Children aren't safe anymore.
"And one is after Shion's life." Ja'far concluded with growing horror.
Shion turned to his father to see the immense worry that settled on his features. He shared that same panic. This was something that was completely out of his control. Without intending to, Shion's presence had revealed an enemy that he doubted the others were ready to face.
'We're dead. So dead.'
But then, there was something, a small fact that Judal gave him, that made him stop and think about the situation for a moment.
"…Wait. You just said that they can take Father down, right?"
Judal grunted with mild frustration. "Yes. What of it?"
"Camilla mentioned Al Thamen when she made her threat. I think that Al Thamen is already aware of the Cursed Children's existence. They're already working together, probably already have for a while." Shion deduced.
Judal scowled. "Then why didn't I know about her?"
"They probably thought you would gloat and blow Camilla's cover."
Judal looked like he wanted to argue with Shion's logic, but stopped himself. Since Shion was right. "So what? That makes them even more dangerous!"
"Or not." Shion said thoughtfully. "If Camilla had to run away before Father made his move, I don't think she's as dangerous as you think. All the terrifying things you said about the Cursed Children…they're only theories, right? They're only outlines of what they're supposed to be."
Judal quirked his head to the side, calming down and considering Shion's words.
"I don't think they're complete yet." Shion said. No, he knew that this was true. It took them a few more years for them to reveal themselves and bring out the Black Bird. The Cursed Children that Shion remembered fighting were barely human. They had just been…husks of what they used to be. They were constantly in their dark metal vessel form, flying about like robots programmed to kill the Blessed Children.
(They managed to kill Yasmine and Jin before Shion got rid of all of them the last time around. Their compassionless gaze seemed so inhuman to Shion. It scared him.)
"I think they still need time to actually fully assimilate with their dark vessels." Shion continued his theory, shaking away the past. "You said that the others failed and died, right? What did all of them share?"
"…They tried to force the dark metal vessel to…connect with them." Judal recalled slowly. "They tried to make them take it all in one sitting."
"That's right. Camilla and the others are probably taking in small doses so their bodies won't fall apart from all the stress. That's probably why Camilla ran away too. She couldn't risk being caught and imprisoned. It would prevent her from fully assimilating with her dark djinn vessel. We still have some time."
"What," Judal gritted out, "would you have me do, then? Stand around and let them do what they like to Kougyoku?"
"…The Great Rift."
At Judal's quizzical look (and the shared looks of confusion from everyone else in the room), Shion repeated what he said. "The Great Rift. You wanted to find Uncle, didn't you? Your greatest bet is look over there. Morgiana should be there too, so you won't have to go down there alone."
Judal looked conflicted.
"Go." Shion encouraged him. "If you want to protect her, you should try to get stronger so you can take them all on. But it's your choice in the end. I can't make your decisions for you. They're your own."
Judal left the room, mulling his options over.
Sinbad sighed and patted Shion's head. "I hope that you're right about this, Shion. Those Cursed Children sound pretty dangerous, especially since one of them" 'Camilla' Shion's mind supplied, but he didn't say it out loud since he knew his father was purposefully avoiding her name "attacked you without reason –
"Actually." Shion cut him off sheepishly. "About that."
Somewhere in the middle of the Ocean:
Camilla silently seethed as she re-broke her nose to properly straighten it.
'The damn brat.' She cursed as blood continued to steadily flow from her broken nose. For a moment, she had underestimated the child's strength and received a humiliating injury as a result.
'Never again.' She promised herself.
"Want me to help you heal that?" The Al Thamen member manning the ship asked pleasantly. Camilla knew that he was laughing at her predicament.
She glared at him fiercely. "No thanks, Banker."
"Now, now, no need for that. You wouldn't have been able to sneak away without my help, not that your ability to make it that far without being caught wasn't impressive. It's a pity that you were found out so soon." He sighed regretfully. "You were our best."
"I'm still the best." Camilla asserted, ignoring the stinging sensation of her nose as she spoke.
"Of course."
"Don't patronize me. I hate it when I'm patronized." She snapped, silencing the Al Thamen member for the time being. She recalled with bitterness the way he had treated her in the past. How childish she must have seemed during that age. She had paddled after him with stars in her eyes and hope in her heart.
'Silly girl. You had no chance.'
Bitterness swelled in her heart at the image of blonde hair and laughing blue eyes flashed in her mind. She mercilessly crushed the tiny emotion of guilt that accompanied the image of the person.
'Never again.' She silently repeated.
Heliohapt:
Within a luxurious room in the Heliohapt palace, Queen Eirenne primped herself in front of the mirror. Around her, slaves moved about. Some focused on brushing her hair while others busied themselves with adding jewelry and flowers onto her body.
Eirenne herself focused on painting her face perfectly so she would appear her best for the arrival of her royal husband.
"Just put the flowers in. Don't bother with the jewelry. My dear Armakan doesn't like it when I have heavy things in my hair." The woman tutted before lightly slapping away a slave's hand when it wandered too close to her face. "I said no touching. I'm not done."
The slave withdrew her hands in alarm. "I apologize, your Highness. I won't do that again."
"I'm sure. Guards." The Queen promptly called, summoning a pair of big, imposing men. With a flick of a finger, she ordered, "Dispose of this little chit and bring in a better one next time. Dismissed."
Oh, the screams that the nuisance made were so annoying. They made her head hurt. It didn't help that the other slaves were too shaken up to do the rest of their jobs properly.
Eirenne sniffed and waved the others away. "All of you are dismissed. I'll do the rest myself." When they left her alone, she sighed to herself. "Slaves. Such bothers. Why keep them around if they can't do their jobs properly?"
Eirenne gave out another sigh before giving her attention back to her appearance.
"Mother? We have returned."
The Queen whirled around and greeted her firstborn child with open arms. Hakkan obediently walked into her embrace while Askan waited at the side to be dismissed. He knew that there would be no hugs or kisses for him.
No, those were reserved only for the firstborn child.
"Hakkan, my darling! Welcome home! Your mother has missed you so much."Eirenne wrapped her lithe arms around her son lovingly.
Hakkan wrinkled his nose as he breathed in the scent of perfume and make-up. "Putting all that stuff on yourself again, Mother?"
"You know that your mother has to stay beautiful to keep your father by her side." Eirenne scolded lightly. "It's a hard job for women to stay beautiful."
"But you're the most beautiful woman in Heliohapt!"
"For now, darling." Eirenne said, accepting the compliment with grace. "But men's attentions tend to be drawn…elsewhere when new faces show. It's my duty to keep your father's attention where it belongs, with his family."
And with his family his attention would stay.
Eirenne didn't want to risk another bastard child endangering her perfect son's right to the throne.
No, she didn't.
Kou:
"Did you hear about the Emperor's health? It's been deteriorating recently."
"Oh dear, does that mean Prince Kouen will finally be taking the throne?"
"Hush. Are you mad? Saying things like that would be treason! You could have your head taken for less."
"But it's correct, isn't it?"
Ming Hua delicately added butterfly to her peony handkerchief as gossip flew about. She attentively decided to make the features of the petal sharper and added the proper shadings with a different color thread.
Yes, red and pink would most definitely suit her skin tone. But this tone of green would be better with her dress…
"Emperor Kouen. It flows much better than Emperor Koutoku, doesn't it?"
"Curse that Ri Seishin! She knew that I had my eyes on Prince Kouen, that greedy slut! Not only did she take Prince Hakuren's heart, she had to move onto Prince Kouen after her fiancé died!"
"Not only that, she still flings that silly sword about every morning. Did you see her? Sweating like a pig in the middle of the courtyard."
"What a shameless woman!"
"I think you should have been chosen as Prince Kouen's wife instead, Ming Hua. Unlike her, you have the perfect qualities of a proper wife. Even Empress Gyokuen thinks the same."
Eyes landed on the woman of subject as ears waited for her answer.
In response to the comment, Ming Hua placed her embroidering down and sent the person a beatific smile. "Thank you, Jiaying, but I think that I am unsuitable for Prince Kouen. I am neither as strong, nor as capable as Princess Seishin. Personally, I think you are a better choice than me, Jiaying. You have talent with the lute and you are beautiful in appearance."
Jiaying tittered at the compliment. "If Ming Hua says so, it must be true!" She crowed. "She always tells the truth!"
Ming Hua picked her embroidery back up and continued to stitch, modestly accepting the compliment.
"Thank you, Jiaying." She said lifting her sleeve up to her lips. "You know that I hold the royal family to the highest regard, so I hope that a suitable Empress takes the seat. Though, I have heard some…concerning things about the Princess Kohaku of late. They are just rumors, of course."
All heads nodded. "Yes, of course. Tell us!"
Ming Hua's smile curled up into a smirk behind her sleeve as she began to speak.
'She always tells the truth!'
Not always.
Some Province in Reim:
Somewhere in Reim, a man scribbled furiously into a journal, disregarding the loose pieces of paper scattered around his desk. After he was finished, he set his quill down and sighed in relief.
"Aaah, I thought that I would never get the notes finished. There were so many interesting things discovered today! I never knew that the body of a Imuchakk native could hold so much useful information!"
Raul scratched his hair and stood up from his seat. "Now…"
He turned to the bound prisoner sitting on a chair right across from him.
"What should I do with you?"
Raul clicked his tongue and shook his head at the unfortunate person who had stumbled into his laboratory a week ago. The person struggled against their chains, desperate to get out.
"Now, now. Don't do things like struggling. It will only get more uncomfortable for you. I designed the chains, you see. They'll only get tighter and tighter and tighter until –
Pop.
The prisoner let out a keening wail from behind their gag when their wrists were dislocated. Their hands were already turning a disturbing shade of purple as they hung uselessly.
Raul regarded the person with bemusement at their predicament. "Oh dear. It seems that my warning came a little to late, ne? Well, no problem. You won't be needing those for what I have in store for you."
"Mmmf! Mmmm!"
"Oh, how rude of me. I forgot to remove your gag. Forgive me. I can't focus very well with screams. I hope you do understand." Raul apologized sympathetically while taking away the piece of cloth.
The prisoner wasted no time in begging for their life.
"Please, please, please, let me go! I promise that I won't tell anyone what I saw. I swear! So please…please…"
Raul hummed. "I'm sorry. Doing that would be a problem for me. How would I know that you'd keep your mouth shut? For all I know, you might be working for that troublesome Scheherazade. I can't risk you…tattling on me."
"No! I promise I won-
The gag was roughly shoved back into the prisoner's mouth, muffling any more cries that they would make for their own life.
"Hush, you're making my head hurt with your pathetic begging. We all know that you're only lying and I do hate liars."
The prisoner looked at Raul with growing terror as he slowly smiled.
"Also, how could I ever pass up the opportunity by letting a potential test subject go? Tut tut, that won't do. It would be quite a waste."
Shion shifted nervously as he watched his father slowly flip through the pages of his mother's journal. He resisted the urge to snatch it back in fear that his father might destroy his mother's memento out of frustration or anger.
'It's not mine.' Shion reminded himself as he tried to calm his nerves. He fingered the bandages around his neck nervously. 'It's originally mother's message to Father, after all. I can't be possessive or selfish. This is important to him too.'
Sinbad finished leafing through the pages and sighed, making Shion jump. He gently set the book down and rubbed his face, looking weary.
Beside him, Ja'far's eyes crinkled with worry. "My King…"
"Ja'far, did you find anything in Camilla's belongings?" Sinbad asked tiredly.
The freckled advisor bristled at the traitor's name and nodded reluctantly. "Yes." He gritted out, shooting Sinbad a sympathetic look. "…It seems that she has been blocking all of Ranya's attempts to contact you." Ja'far held out a bundle of scrolls. "I found these amongst her belongings. They are all in Ranya's handwriting."
One of the scrolls rolled out of the bag. Shion bent over to pick it up and return it into the bag. He paused when he saw a certain line in the letter.
'…know that you're angry with me, but please, don't leave our son out of your life because of my choice to keep his existence from Al Thamen. He needs his father, Sin. Shion is already walking and saying simple words like "Mama" and "Uncle". I would like to hear him say "Papa" too. Please…just see your son once. That's all I ask. I will be waiting –
" – at the edge of the Great Rift, fifty stone throws towards to the West of the nearest Toran Village. I will be waiting there with our son on the first day of this coming month." Shion read aloud before swallowing thickly. "At the edge of the Great Rift." He repeated slowly, growing numb at each second.
"Shion?" Ja'far asked.
"We were wandering around at the edge of the Great Rift when Al Thamen tried to get me." Shion said suddenly.
Ja'far continued to look confused while realization crossed Sinbad's face. He made his way toward his son as Shion crumbled. Sinbad wrapped his arms around Shion as he babbled. "Why? Why?! How could she do such a cruel thing?What did Mom ever do to her to make her give that information to that organization? We waited there for hours because she believed that you would come! If it wasn't for that, Mom would still be –
Shion cut himself off with a sob and covered his face.
"Oh." Ja'far murmured, shuffling the bag filled with letters away from the pair. "I'll take these things away for you to read later, Sin."
"That would be for the best." Sinbad agreed as he tried to console his grieving son. "Leave us be for the time being."
"Yes."
When Ja'far left the room, everything was silent, aside from the occasional shuddering sniffles that came from Shion. Since Sinbad's room was far bigger in size than Shion's, the sounds bounced off the walls, making the silence all the more apparent.
Neither really knew when Shion finally broke that silence with an inquiring call.
"Father?"
"Yes?" Sinbad was sure to answer as quickly as he could. "What is it?"
"Were you and Camilla ever…?" Shion trailed off, too afraid of the answer to finish the sentence. It had been a very far stretch of a guess, but something in Shion's intuition told him that it had been jealousy in Camilla's voice when she was choking him.
Shion hoped that it wasn't the case. It wasn't that he was against his father having his affairs. (What went behind the closed doors of his father's room was none of his business. Shion was all too aware of his father's reputation.) Shion just wanted a better reason why Camilla would do this to his mother than a petty thing like jealousy.
Shion prayed and waited for his father to speak.
"…"
As the silence continued for a couple more beats, Shion received his answer.
"So you two really were, huh? I thought so." He said resignedly. 'So it was out of bitterness for taking Father away from her after all. What a stupid reason. Mom didn't deserve to suffer because of that reason.'
Sinbad drew back from the embrace with guilt and alarm flashing through his eyes. "It was before Ranya." He was quick to add, mistaking Shion's grim expression as anger directed towards him. "She and I…it was a mutual agreement that our relationship would be temporary." A nicer way of saying that Father only looked at Camilla as a bed-partner, nothing more. "We ended our relationship around the time Ranya…your mother began to reciprocate my approaches. Camilla seemed to understand."
"She apparently didn't take it as well as you thought." Shion stated dryly while wiping his wet face. Bitterness coursed through his veins at how superficial Camilla was being over this.
But more than that, Shion felt a crushing sense of sadness.
"I miss Mom."
Sinbad squeezed his son's shoulders tightly with grief and guilt written all over his features.
"I'm sorry, Shion."
'It's okay.' Shion wanted to assure him, but he didn't.
Since it wasn't okay.
It really wasn't.
Poor baby. He's going through a lot right now.
Some clarifications:
The Cursed Children: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you this story's villains. I have no originality, I know. But the other names I had in mind sounded either lame or crazy complicated. So I decided to play it safe and stay with the basics. As explained before, the Cursed Children are pretty much designed to eliminate the Blessed Children. They also have unlimited dark djinn abilities. So, it's like Dunya X 100. Pretty scary.
Camilla: She's a palace maid who used to have a relationship with Sinbad. Though she doesn't appear that way, she has talent in the art of fighting. Ja'far had taught her to defend herself when she was younger. She's a bit prideful about her abilities and feels bitter because of a certain series of events in the past. She blames Ranya for her misfortune and, by and extension, hates Shion.
Eirenne: She's the wife of a the Pharoh. She's vain and ambitious, willing to cut down as many people as she could to reach to the top. She does not love her husband since their marriage was purely political, but has to uphold her beauty so her husband wouldn't be swayed by the other beauties in the palace. Her only interest is the throne and getting Hakkan to sit in the position. Anything that goes in her way will be crushed.
Ming Hua: She is the minister's daughter mentioned at Chapter 17. She is well known for 'always telling the truth' because of her modesty and always following the requirements of what is expected from a Kou wife. As you can see, that is not the case. She just knows when to speak up during gossip hours and when to keep silent. Her lies that she spread always teeters to the truth but not quite. And to avoid being pinned for 'spreading lies', she would always begin with "I heard from someone and I didn't know if it was true" so she would appear more like a concerned bystander instead of a gossip-spreader.
Raul: I think you recognize his name. If you didn't, don't worry. He's Sai and Selene's biological father, the mad scientist magician who tried to leave Sai for the dead when he was born. He travels around the world a lot and gathers as much information as he could. He has an uncontrollable lust for knowledge and would perform any atrocious act to discover the information. He hates liars and unintelligent people.
Kouha's Mother: I love character development. I especially love deepening a canon character. Did you ever notice that almost no females in the Kou family are fully characterized? No one? It drives me crazy when stories do that. Women are important too! You'll learn more about Kouha's mother and Kouha in general in the next chapter.
Harry Potter: Oh yes I did. How can I not do this? The parallel is literally right in front of me! As a Harry Potter fan, I absolutely will not allow this whole arc go without shamelessly dropping Harry Potter references from left to right. I will assume that all of you reading this know what Harry Potter is. If not, then please buy or borrow the first book immediately. You are being deprived of a wonderful world.
Helping Yamraiha: Remember how Mogamett said that Yamraiha would die at an early age because of the barrier magic that she's holding up over Sindria? Jamal made a handy contraption so she wouldn't have to drain herself from her magical energy. Problem is, it needs to be charged like a phone. Fortunately, Judal is a magi, which means he has an endless supply of rukh. He's just 'charging' the machine before he leaves Sindria so he wouldn't have to owe Sinbad for letting him and Tao stay in Sindria.
Finding Yunan: So Judal won't be wandering around the world like a headless chicken after all. Good job, Shion
Sinbad and Shion: Their relationship might be strained a little because of some of the revelations.
That's about all. Thanks for reading and for the support! It's always appreciated!
Be a friend and drop a review!