Science/Magic

The capital of the Kingdom of Alterna, in the palace.

A beautiful black-haired woman was pacing around the garden of the palace anxiously.

Strangely, the woman's appearance exuded calm even when she was pacing around anxiously. Each one of her mannerism was filled with grace, elegance, and authority.

It was the kind of elegance and authority cultivated through years of meticulous execution, showing that the woman was in no way normal.

And she indeed was not.

She was the Queen of the strongest human kingdom.

Normally, the people around her would sigh in admiration of her beautiful grace. But right now, nobody was in the mood for that.

Not the servants waiting for the woman's orders in a corner of the garden.

Not the man that just entered the garden.

"… Are you truly planning to go?" The man asked with a sigh.

The woman did not look at him when she heard his question. In fact, she did not even bother to reply.

The man sighed softly. He opened his mouth to speak again, but in the end, he smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Even though he hated to admit it, their relationship had not been good since that day more than five years ago.

Since the day when they decided to exile their child.

He, the King of the Kingdom of Alterna, did not blame his queen for that. Quite the opposite, he could understand her.

As a mother, nothing was more painful than having to exile her own child, sending him to a place where his life and death was left to fate.

That filled her heart with hatred and guilt. Not only towards him, but also towards herself. She had not been the same since then.

The once warm queen had turned colder and colder with the passing of the years.

And though he had tried to fix their deteriorating relationship more than once, the fissure created that day refused to disappear.

Sighing again, the man approached her, stopping one meter away from her back.

"What are you planning to tell him? That child doesn't have any goodwill towards us."

"Is that strange?" The woman sneered. "What child would hold goodwill towards the parents that abandoned him?"

"Then, you must know that going there this time will most likely be useless."

"Even so, I must go. He is my child. I already let him down five years ago. The least I can do right now is to beg him for forgiveness."

"… I see." The man sighed again. "I wish you luck then."

The woman nodded slightly, not bothering to look at him even once during the entire conversation to the man chagrin.

But he did not turn angry.

Because he knew how much she resented him.

And she resented him more after she learned that he hid the news about her child's whereabouts from her for almost two months.

Fortunately, one of the people involved in the operation was loyal to her and leaked the information, or she would have not learned the news about her child yet.

At that moment, a servant approached them.

"Queen Majesty, everything is ready."

"Great. Let���s depart then." The woman nodded and turned around, leaving the garden coldly without bidding farewell to her husband, as though he was not there.

Once she left the palace, the woman gripped her chest strongly.

Fear, anxiousness, excitement, longing… All kinds of emotions were clashing in her heart.

Since the day she learned the news about her son, she had been engulfed by all those feelings.

The fear of facing her son again, the anxiousness of being met with his rejection, the excitement of finally finding him, and the longing to see his face again.

"My son, Glenn…" The woman whispered softly and put on a bitter smile.

Then, she boarded the carriage

Her destination, Academy City.

…

In the garden, the king of Alterna watched his wife leave with a soft sigh.

At some point, his adviser, butler, and friend had appeared behind him.

"I'm curious about something, Your Majesty. Why did you not tell the news to the empress personally and instead used such a roundabout way to inform her? That was a great opportunity to restore your relationship with Her Majesty."

"… It's better like this, Sebastian. She knows me well. If I am the first one to tell her about that child, she will notice my intentions. That was also the reason I did not ask her to convince the child to return to the kingdom. Only if she meets him without ulterior motives will she have a chance to regain a bit of his affection."

"I see… But, are you truly alright with this, Your Majesty? At this rate, the royal family..."

"… As a king, sometimes you have to make certain decisions even if you don't like it."

The king's butler looked at his king and sighed. Yes, there were some things a king needed to do even if he did not want to.

Such as exiling his child even when he was aware it would mean his child's death.

Such as killing him if he deemed him an instability to the future of the kingdom.

…

Eres Skysword watched her mother leave the palace and her father standing in the garden with an ice-cold look, her brows furrowing slightly.

She knew where her mother was going. And she knew why she was going there.

In fact, she was planning to go there as well.

Academy City.

To find her brother.

"Is everything ready?" She asked the woman behind her, one of her loyal subordinates.

"Everything is ready, Your Highness. We can depart at any time."

"Good. Let's go then. I don't like staying in this place."

The woman nodded respectfully. But then, she put on a hesitating expression before biting her lips.

"Your Highness, forgive me for the imprudence, but, is it not better if we travel together with the Queen? Our destination is the same after a-"

Before the woman could finish her words, her expression changed.

An ice-cold and sharp pressure assaulted her body, making the woman pale.

"I don't like being nearby that woman," Eres said indifferently.

However, when she heard her words, the woman took two steps back subconsciously. Her gaze towards the princess was filled with fear.

Just now, she felt as though a sword had pierced her heart. The hatred coming from the princess was so strong that she almost fainted.

That hatred… It was not something that a sixteen-year-old girl should be able to emit.

She could not believe that the princess could exude so much hatred when talking about her mother.

However, that was the reality.

Eres did not feel any love for her family. She hated her father and mother and was indifferent towards her eldest brother.

The only person she longed for was the person that was taken away from her five years ago.

Her brother, her dearest brother. The brother that her father and mother tried to kill!

"… Glenn, big brother… I want to meet you again…"

With a nostalgic and slightly happy expression, the princess looked towards the east.

In direction of Academy City.