"MISS LUNA, what exactly are we going to catch?" Kiho asked Luna while silently following behind her. Right now, for a reason unknown to him yet, she brought him in a long, dark, and empty alley. "You weren't talking about real rats, were you?"

Luna stopped walking. Then, she turned around to face him. But her gaze went past him. "Caught them," she said. Then, she raised her palm and pointed it at his direction. "Boo!"

He was surprised when an energy wave was released from her palm. It was too late for him to avoid but thankfully, he didn't have to. He wasn't hit by the strong wave. But he heard some people groan behind him.

Huh?

When he turned around, he was surprised to see two men on the ground.

How come I didn't feel them following us?

Luna seemed to have read what was on his mind because she answered his questioning look. "They have been following you since we arrived here. And you probably didn't feel them because they were covered with high-level pieces of equipment. Most of all, your mind has been all over the place because you're worrying too much about your wife."

Oh, that made sense.

And now, he felt ashamed of himself.

I shouldn't let my guard down.

Kiho stood in front of the two "stalkers" clad in dark blue cloaks. He stomped his feet on the ground, causing a thin layer of ice to literally freeze the strange men on the ground. He made the ice go up to their chest. No wonder the two looked afraid of him. "Who sent you after us? State your purpose and the location of your other companions if you want to live."

"W-We don't mean any harm, Your Grace!" one of the men said, his voice shaking from fear and cold. "We were sent here to protect you!"

Okay, that was totally not the answer he was expecting to hear.

And I am not weak to be protected, thank you very much.

"P-Please believe us, D-Duke Nystrom!" the other pleaded. "C-Captain Sherwood sent us here and told us to m-make sure that no one would attack y-you, Y-Your G-Grace!"

To say that he was shocked to hear that would be an understatement.

"Captain Sherwood?" Luna asked in an amused voice. When he turned to her, he realized that the witch was already standing beside him. "The captain of the Blue Dragon Knights?"

"Yes. Captain Sherwood is the leader of the Blue Dragon Knights," Kiho confirmed with a nod. Then, he turned to the two men. "Did Captain Sherwood say what kind of threat do you need to protect me from?"

***

"THE MOON Serpent?" Tilly asked curiously. She didn't want to admit this but the title sounded so cool that it made her heart thump in excitement. Or maybe it was Winter who was excited and not her? "That's the first time I heard of it."

"Let me share with you a myth that's almost unknown to the empire now, Your Grace," Howard said, still kneeling in front of her. She wanted to say that he may sit properly but he looked quite comfortable in that position so in the end, she didn't say anything. "In a time way before the Moonchester Empire was built, there used to be seven moons in the sky. Six of these moons decided to leave the sky and come down to earth, taking the form of humans. Only six were able to come down because sky god required one of them to stay and light up the night."

She didn't know why but she felt sympathetic of the moon that was forced to remain in the sky while their companions were able to live a different life.

"Each of the moons that took a human form eventually built their own kingdom," the High Priest continued. "But every single one of the six moons became greedy. Each one of them wanted to invade the others. Eventually, a bloody war among the six moons began. The chaos that the war caused awakened the sleeping sky serpent. The appearance of the giant silver serpent forced the six moons to return to their original forms and gain back their powers. But still, the angry silver serpent was too powerful for them. In the end, the silver serpent swallowed the six moons one by one. Thus, earning its title as the "Moon Serpent.""

Her forehead knotted in confusion. "Why didn't the Moon Serpent swallow the last moon, the one that was never given the opportunity to come down to earth as a human?"

"The sky god intervened before the Moon Serpent had the chance to eat the last moon," Howard said. "The sky god granted the "essence" of the moon– something similar to a human's soul– a life of its own. To simply put, the last moon became a human but its "shell" remained in the sky. And that shell is the moon that we see now."

"Oh, I see."

"The sky god made a deal with the last moon," the High Priest continued. "If the last moon succeeded in slaying the Moon Serpent, he would remain a human forever. But if he failed, he would have to return to the sky as a moon."

"So, the last moon managed to slay the Moon Serpent?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "The "last moon" that killed the Moon Serpent would eventually be known as Aku Moonchester– the first Moonchester in history."

She suddenly had goosebumps.

To be honest, it was common for the emperors to be named after the previous rulers. But for some reason, she felt uneasy after hearing that. Plus…

"The "first" Aku Moonchester wasn't written in the history books," she said. "If His Majesty, our current emperor, was named after a previous ruler, then he should have been named 'Aku the II.' Am I wrong?"

"There are plenty of things that had been erased in our history, Your Grace," he said. "Emperor Auro, the one who built Moonchester Empire, wasn't the first born son of King Aleo. But his brother was erased from history."

"The first emperor of the empire had a brother?" she asked in surprise. The history of the empire was engraved in the mind of every noble child like her. But she didn't remember that Emperor Auro had a brother. "The only sibling of Emperor Auro that I remember was Empress Elaine Moonchester who was a decade younger than him."

Yes, the tradition of marrying within the royal family started in Emperor Auro's time.

"I don't know what happened to Emperor Auro's brother since that knowledge is only passed down to the emperors," the High Priest said. "I also don't know what happened to the first Aku Moonchester. Obviously, he wasn't the one who built the empire. The only thing I'm certain is that King Aleo, the father of Emperor Auro, was his direct descendant."

She felt a pang in her head. "My brain is about to overheat from too much information. Forget about the history of the Moonchesters. I want to know why my son is the Moon Serpent in the prophecy. Are you telling me that my baby is supposed to slay the current emperor?"

"That's what I saw in the prophecy, Your Grace."

"Does His Majesty know the full prophecy as well?"

"Of course," he said. "But His Majesty needs your son for his goal. Unfortunately, unlike Nia, the emperor doesn't trust me enough to share his secrets with me."

"I can see why His Majesty doesn't trust you completely," she deadpanned. "You're the High Priest and you're supposed to protect the royal family. But why do you seem like you do not care even if my son is "destined" to "swallow the moon?""

"I vowed to myself that I will only serve the true ruler of the empire," Howard said, then his gaze lowered at her tummy. God, he looked like an obsessed lunatic. "I believe that the Moon Serpent is the one that should rule us all, Your Grace."

Tilly covered her tummy with her arms. Winter, we can't trust that "holy" lunatic.

The tiny beat in her chest seemed to agree with her.

***

AKU covered his mouth with his hands when he sneezed. "Argh, someone must be talking about me."

When he didn't get a response, he stopped walking and turned around. He found Captain Sherwood reading a letter with a hawk on his shoulder. Obviously, that bird delivered a message to the captain. If he used a bird instead of a communication device that could be easily tampered, it must only mean that the message he received was confidential.

"As expected of a god," Captain Sherwood said, then he raised his head to face him. "Your Majesty, may I leave early?"

He raised a brow at that. "Why? What happened?"

"I sent my people to protect Captain– I mean, Duke Nystrom," he said. "But he caught my men and he's now demanding me to give him an explanation."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Are you crazy, Captain Sherwood? Ah, wait. I shouldn't have asked the obvious. You and your whole family get crazy whenever you discover a piece of history that only a few selected know about."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty," the captain said cheerfully. "I won't tell Duke Nystrom about his real identity."

"And what would you tell him then?"

"Maybe I should tell the duke that I fell in love with him?" Captain Sherwood declared with a laugh. "My obsession with him isn't that different from love, is it?"

Aku gave the captain a dire stare. God, out of all the Sherwoods he had met, Noel Sherwood was definitely the craziest of all. What was he thinking when he appointed this lunatic as a captain? "I hope Duke Nystrom kills you on the spot."

***

UNFORTUNATELY, Tilly's conversation with Howard was interrupted when the Lilly came and fetched her. The High Priest disappeared when the priestess came so she was relieved.

Anyway, right now, she was in a huge room that she was supposed to clean.

The chamber was huge and in every corner, a statue of an Ancient Beast stood. Of course, she was drawn to the statue of the huge bird.

It's made of pure gold.

While Lilly was explaining her the task that she was supposed to do, she couldn't help but stare blankly at the statue as if she was dazed…

… and she only snapped out of it when the red bird suddenly took a different form.

All of a sudden, she was now staring back at a pair of deep-red eyes that belonged to a very handsome man with red flaming hair.

Tilly gasped when she realized that the statue had turned into a handsome man! "Who the hell are you?"

"How rude," the man with red flaming complained. Then, he pointed a slender finger at her chest. "Is that how you're supposed to greet the celestial being that lent you his heart, descendant of that Supreme Fire Mage with a bad temper?"

***

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