"SO, WHAT DO you need from me?" Forrester asked Luna while they were having tea in the attic. "I'm sure you wouldn't be here if you have nothing important to ask of me, Luna."

Luna sipped her tea before she spoke. "I'm here to ask you to accompany Duke and Duchess Nystrom in their short vacation in Oakes, Your Holiness."

"Oakes?" he asked, then he nodded his head. "Ah, yes. House Prescott owns the land of Oakes. I didn't know that Lord Prescott was generous enough to give his whole territory to his son-in-law."

"He needed to," the witch said. "Giving that much wealth and power to the duke and duchess can protect them from the royal family."

Well, that was smart.

House Prescott was one of the oldest and the wealthiest families in the empire. Even before he fell into a deep slumber, more than half of the empire's economy already depended on the businesses ran by the Prescotts.

Aku Moonchester wouldn't be that foolish to destroy House Prescott on a whim.

"Why do you want me to accompany the duke and the duchess?" he asked the witch.

"I can't join them so I want you to be my proxy, Your Holiness," the witch said bluntly. "I figured you'd be the replacement since you need to train Duchess Nystrom anyway."

Kids these days sure are rude, huh?

"Alright, I'll join them," he agreed. "Like you said, I need to keep an eye on the duchess."

"How about your duty as the saint?" the witch asked curiously. "You just woke up. I'm sure that there are a lot of people who need to meet you, Your Holiness."

"I'll take care of that," he said. "Is there anything else that you need from me?"

"Your Holiness, you didn't answer my question about your origin."

"Ah, I was hoping you've already forgotten about that."

"I won't force you to answer my question if you can't," she said. "You just have to tell me to stop asking you questions about your life."

"Are you kidding me?" he said. "This is the first time that I met a person who knows my real identity. I have to brag about being a son of the sky god."

"So… you're not denying it?"

"Your reaction is boring."

"I've already talked to a god," the woman said. "Meeting a son of another god isn't that shocking to me anymore."

"You're so brutally honest."

She just shrugged before she sipped her tea. "I'm curious about one thing though. Were all the previous saints in the history your brothers?"

"Yeah, they were my half-brothers," he confirmed. "The sky god is quite the womanizer, you know? He creates as many children as possible with mortal women to have more chances of making the perfect child that could end the Moonchesters for him."

"You sound bitter."

"All my brothers who were sent in this empire to be the saint died in vain," he deadpanned. "Sadly, they spent their whole lives trying to fulfill our father's wish instead of living to the fullest." He sipped his tea before he continued. "I don't want to end up like my poor brothers." Again.

"Are you saying that you're not here to punish the Moonchesters?" she asked with furrowed brows.

"I don't really care about my father's resentment towards the Moonchesters," he admitted. "I mean, it was my father's fault for letting the first Moonchester to trick him into believing that the Moon Serpent was an enemy that needed to be killed. But even though it was his fault, he still wants his children to avenge him? Hah. I'm not his puppet."

"Then, what's your purpose for becoming the saint?"

"I just want to live an easy life," he said casually. "But my peaceful life was cut short when my Holy Scepter was stolen from me. Worse, my divine power was even sealed. Without them, I can't live the way I want to. That's the only reason why I've decided to stand up to the Moonchesters."

"Are the Moonchesters the ones who stole your Holy Scepter?"

"That's my hunch," he said. "But it seems like the emperor lost it after getting it stolen from me. And now, he wants to "help" me find the Holy Scepter to "save" his beloved princess."

"I'm confused," the witch said. "His Majesty lost the Holy Scepter after he stole it from you?"

"He asked another person to steal my Holy Scepter," he explained. "Since I'm the sky god's son and the sky god is the Moonchesters' nemesis, the emperor can't touch my Holy Scepter."

"When did you lose your Holy Scepter?"

"A little after the first Supreme died, I think."

Luna's eye widened in shock. "That long already? I thought you lost it before you fell into a deep slumber."

"I fell into a deep slumber because my sealed divine power got depleted after losing the Holy Scepter for this long," he explained while shaking his head. "It's actually a miracle that I was able to wake up just after two decades of resting. If it wasn't for the new Supreme's flame, I would have still been sleeping in the altar."

"So, Duchess Nystrom's flame was the one that woke you up, Your Holiness?"

"You can say that," he agreed. "The Supreme's flame filled in for my depleted divine power. After all, the Supreme's flame came from the Red Phoenix– an ancient god. To simply put, the Supreme's flame is just as divine as my power."

"Ah, I see," she said while nodding her head slowly. It looked like she was absorbing every piece of information that he was sharing with her. "To be honest, I can't still believe what I'm hearing. I didn't know that you were alive for that long. And if your Holy Scepter was stolen during that time, then His Majesty…"

"The Aku Moonchester that you know right now was also the previous Emperor Auro Moonchester."

For the first time since they started to talk, the witch actually looked shocked. "So, Emperor Aku is the reincarnation of Emperor Auro?"

He nodded as confirmation. "Just like how Kiho Nystrom is the reincarnation of Kalel Moonchester."

"Now you have my respect, Your Holiness," Luna said with admiration in her eyes. "You know everything."

"Not all," he denied. "But I remember everything that is important even after I was reborn."

"You were reborn, too?"

"I was killed in the war that the Supreme and the Black Serpent led," he said. "This is over sharing but I'm actually my father's favorite child. He waited for my soul to recover, then he sent me back on earth. But that's also the reason why I decided to live for myself this time. I don't want to die again and end up permanently like my half-brothers."

"This is shocking," the witch said. "Almost everyone around me was reincarnated."

"The sky god won't stop reincarnating all the people that he could use to finish off the Moonchesters," he said bitterly. "This cycle will only stop once he gets his revenge against the royal family."

"I didn't know that the sky god is a selfish jerk."

"This is why I love witches," he said with a soft laugh. "You're not afraid to be cursed by gods."

"Witches do the cursing– not the other way around."

He laughed again. "Ah, I should have asked you to drink booze with me instead of tea."

"Well, as a saint, you still have a reputation to protect."

Forrester raised his tea cup in the witch's direction. "Luna, let's drink booze once we return from Oakes."

"I can't say 'no' to the saint, can I?" Luna said with a smile, then she picked up her own tea cup and clinked it with his cup. "See you later, Your Holiness."

***

"MISS LUNA didn't go home last night?" Tilly asked in surprise, then she turned to Sentinel. "What did she say before she left the tower?"

��Luna said she'll convince the saint to join your short vacation," Sentinel said while eating Eggs Benedict– which was known as Eggs Royale in the empire.

Ah, yes.

Right now, they were in the dining hall while having breakfast.

"Don't worry too much about Miss Luna, honey," Kiho, who was sitting in the center of the long dining table, said while making edible ice cubes for her. "I'm sure she can take care of herself." He turned to her and handed her the glass full of ice cubes made from his Mana. "And we should start preparing after our breakfast. Father will come and pick us up before lunch."

She put an ice cube in her mouth and ate it first before she spoke again. "I hope Miss Luna returns before we leave," she said worriedly. "And I wonder if she managed to convince His Holiness to join us."

"It's Miss Luna we're talking about so I'm sure that she succeeded," her husband said confidently. "She's strong and dependable. We can trust her."

Hearing those words reassured her.

Yes, Miss Luna is someone we can all depend on– especially during tough times.

"Let's just wait patiently for Luna," Sentinel said. "I'm sure she's already on her way."

"That's right," Kiho said, then he gently patted her head. "Finish your breakfast for now, honey. We can't have Father wait for long, can we?"

Tilly nodded. "Okay, hon."

***

"BY THE way, why aren't you joining the duke and duchess in their vacation?"

Luna stopped staring at the scenery outside the carriage's window to look at the saint who was sitting across from her.

Once again, she was stunned by the saint's new appearance.

To escape the temple, His Holiness had taken the form of a child. After that, she fetched him up using a rental carriage. And now, they were on their way to the Nystrom mansion.

"I have a young Fire Mage to tend to," Luna answered after getting over her amazement by the saint's child appearance. He shrank but he still looked the same. "I need to stay in the tower." She snapped her fingers when she remembered something. "Ah, right. Your Holiness, there was a baby Fire Mage that I find strange. I know that he's a Fire Mage, but for some reason, I can't read his Mana. Do you have any idea why his Mana is like that?"

Saint Forrester gave her an amused smile. "Ah, right. I almost forgot that for a witch, you're still young."

She didn't have a retort for that.

Well, it's true that I'm still young for a witch.

"You can't read the baby's Mana probably because he has more than one," the saint said that shocked her. "It just happens that fire is his dominant power."

"That can't be," she said in disbelief. "I'm pretty sure that his older brother said that both their parents are Fire Mages."

"Are you sure that they are really siblings?"

She couldn't answer that.

Come to think of it, Flint and Julian didn't look alike. And most of all, the baby had red hair while his older brother had a different hair color. Well, there were siblings that had different hair or eye colors. But still, the saint's words had already confused her.

"I think I have an idea of who you are talking about, Luna," the saint said. "Now, let me ask you a question."

For some reason, she suddenly felt nervous. "What is it, Your Holiness?"

"How do you think the Nystroms clan continued to grow if the first Supreme and Kalel's child died before it was even born?"

She gasped aloud when she realized what the saint was trying to imply. "The Supreme died before Kalel," she said. "Are you saying that Kalel had a child with another woman?"

"I'm saying that the Supreme and Kalel had another child," he said seriously. "But another woman gave birth to that child through an ancient magic."

Luna gulped hard. To be honest, she knew what the saint was talking about. But she couldn't wrap her head around it yet. "Your Holiness, what does it have to do with the baby that I'm talking about?"

"If that baby has both fire and ice Mana, then he must be that child," Saint Forrester said. "The child of the Supreme and the Black Serpent that came out from another woman's womb."

***

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