Chapter 42

Luna Lemuria

I watch my daughter turn into lighting and completely disappear after panicking. I feel completely dumbfounded because she just started panicking all of a sudden before disappearing with her crow for no reason. I look over and see that Anne is sitting where Eva was with teary eyes while rubbing her butt. It seems she dropped down, so I walk over and pick her up before placing a kiss on her forehead. I then looked towards my husband for an explanation. He notices my stare and puts on a very serious face, but I notice some pain in his eyes.

“Luna please do not ask me. I will not tell you where she's been or what she has been doing. If you want to know she has to tell you herself, but I suggest you do not ask her. If you push her, she will just run away again. She has her scars both physically and mentally it seems. If you push her and treat her the same as when she was a child you will definitely run away again.” Christen

“What do you suggest I do then? Did you not see how she acted right now? Why was she like that just from something I said? How am I supposed to treat her when I don't know whats wrong? Just tell me what I should do!”

“Luna, you just need to speak to her like you normally would, but remember she has already started living her own life and experiencing her own things. Also in the future, I want you to know I will be asking Eva for help with the fighting. Before you say anything you should know she's already at the strength of a 3rd tier adventure maybe even a 2nd tier adventurer. She is strong in both body and mind, but that doesn't mean she is perfect. She has many problems that for now she wants to work on by herself.” Christen

Christen simply starts walking out of the throne room after giving Anne a kiss. I thought of calling to him, but it doesn't seem he will tell me anything. I then look towards George who's been sitting on his throne looking at something that isn't there. I know he hates Eva terribly and he also has a deep fear for her for some reason. I know that, but he should have at least seen her fighting earlier and might be able to tell me something so I call out to him.

“Mother you should just leave her alone. I can't understand why you people worry about her. She could just be here for a specific reason before she leaves again. All I know is that someone with her strength does not need others. I hate to admit it, but she is incredibly powerful. Far more power powerful than you. Earlier when you hit her she could probably easily have remained completely unharmed, but she let you do what you want. Remember Mother that she's dangerous. On the battlefield, she killed hundreds easily and she also took down almost all the elites by herself. With her abilities, she can be almost anywhere anytime, but it seems she hates being held down. If you want her happy never speak of anything that could hold her down or this castle could be destroyed in a black inferno.” George

George also gets up and walks away after that except he looked far more frustrated than my husband. George is probably frustrated because his goal for power is to become stronger than Eva, but it seems like Eva has come back with monstrous strength. I want to know what Eva’s experienced to get a power that only most veteran adventurers gain. She's only nineteen, but she has the strength of an adventure at least forty years old. I wish I could say that she's probably just a genius, but I know that it's more than just that. I can tell she's suffered through things to get to where she is.

“Mama, big big sis?” Anne

“You want to still see your big big sis?” Anne nods her head “Then let us go find her. We will start checking all her old places she would hide. Julie lets go to her room first.”

Julie nods but she still looks very sad. I can't blame her since Eva basically ignored her existence since we've walked in. She really has done a good job with Anne though. Anne is also subjected to her attacks, but Anne just finds it funny. I do sometimes question my decision to have this shadow guard become a maid, but it seems she was a good choice. Behind her perverted nature is a very serious person who wants to always protect those she cares about. She even still considers herself to be Eva’s maid as well as Anne’s.

We begin walking out of the throne room and first head towards Eva’s room. Inside we find signs that she was definitely here earlier since we find her bag in the room. I can't help myself and walk towards her bag to peek inside. I find clothes that are all a similar style to the ones Eva was wearing earlier. Beneath those, I find mana hearts ranging from the 5th tier to 3rd tier. I keep looking and I find a flask at the bottom of her bag. I open it and smell alcohol. The flask was definitely used and I realize that Eva seems to have picked up her father's habit of drinking as I find a rather expensive bottle at the bottom of the bag. I put everything back and leave her room.

We then start to walk around the other places that Eva use to frequent when she was younger. We finally make it to the training grounds Eva used to go to all the time and we see signs that she was here. There are clearly footprints in the dust and it looks like she had also sat down for a bit, but now she's gone again. What I can tell is that just by sitting here in the dust she's probably really dirty now. There's only one more place she could be at this point and I am glad it’s our favorite place.

We all start walking towards the baths. Anne seems to notice where we're going because she starts to squirm in my arms for some reason. I don't know why but she really hates baths for some reason. Well, I just hold her tighter and continue until I notice that there are several maids surrounding the door to the baths. I approach them and they all quiet down until one of the veteran maids steps forward while making a slight bow.

“Your majesty I am sorry if you are here to use the baths, but they can't be used right now. We can't get the door open and if we force it we could do damage to the whole wall. We will go and contact the carpenters in a bit. I apologize for the inconvenience.” Veteran Maid

“No, it’s all right to just ignore this. I am pretty sure that Eva has just locked the door somehow as to not be disturbed in the baths. You all can go for now and do not worry if it is like this in the future. Eva likes privacy so just keep that in mind for when it involves her. Oh, but if anyone slights her or anything I'll kill them and maybe even their families.”

Some of the new maids go pale with fright while the older ones who've been around to remember similar threats nod their heads before walking away. I noticed once that some maids were planning on mistreating Eva before so I got rid of them in the past and new maids came in where I informed them not to mistreat anyone. They all scurry off and I stand in front of the door thinking about what I should do.

“Your majesty, will we wait here for Princess Eva to come out? I am sure we could get the door open, but it would definitely be broken for a while. I don't think anyone will really be willing to use the baths when there no door.” Julie

“There are many secrets to this castle. We will use one of the ones that the last perverted King used in his free time. Come follow me.”

I lead her past a couple of doors away until we got to a simple study room. There are a desk and some bookshelves surrounding the walls. I walk to the fireplace in the back and reach into it as I press one of the bricks. The brick indents a little and I inject some mana into an old enchantment. The bookcase next to the fireplace shakes a little and then it slides back. I walk into the dark tunnel that has been revealed and I have Julie light a torch as I press another enchantment to close the bookshelf. It wouldn't be good for some random maids to stumble upon these secret passages. It's not that they will lead to a secret treasure or an escape tunnel, but it would be embarrassing if people found out their real purpose.

“Your Majesty how come I as a shadow guard don't know about these tunnels? They seem like important information for your safety.” Julie

“Hah, that's because they're not escape tunnels. They were made by the last king in his youth so that he can peep. They lead to several guest rooms and the baths. There are multiple peep holes that have been enchanted to not be noticed from the other side and doors so the king could enter the rooms if he wished. Do not tell anyone about these! Not even Shadow knows about these tunnels and peep holes because only my husband and I know about them. Also, I guess you and Anne know as well, but I guess Eva will find out soon as well.”

Finally, we reach the right marking on the wall and I spot a slot I can open up and look through. When I do I can tell that I am in the right place because there is a lot of steam blocking my view from actually seeing anything. I can roughly make out the shape of someone on the opposite sides of the bath, but I can't see any details. What I can see is the shape of Eva’s crow Munin flying around the baths while looking down at Eva. All of a sudden Eva stands up and my eyes go wide as I can see the silhouette of two arms shooting up and catching Munin before Eva sits back down.

“Munin stop playing around until I can wash you clean. I will be gentle and use my left hand, so don't worry. Geez, I am already almost empty so I guess I'll have to raid fathers stash later.” Eva

I've heard enough so I look at the wall next to the peeping hole and spot a brick with a familiar enchantment so I inject my mana and then hand Anne to Julie as I wait for the door to open. The door shakes and then slides over as steam rushes into the tunnel.

“What the fuck?! Who's there?” Eva

I walk into the baths and then use my magic to force all the steam to fall. The room is now clear and I get a good view of everything inside. I first notice that where Eva was before is a bottle of alcohol and her crow Munin, but Eva has jumped all the way back to the wall and is now covered in her flaming black armor so I can't see anything, but her black eyes. What I do notice is she has two arms right now and Eva truly has become a fully grown woman, at least physically.

“Eva how can you take a bath without us? You had run off earlier during our discussion, but if you wanted to take a bath first we could have done that. I also notice that you've picked up your Fathers habit of drinking and even in the baths.” I look over at the door and notice she's used her halberd and dagger to lock the door. The door is definitely going to need some repairs later. “Eva that's not really a good place to leave your weapons. You could have leaned them against the wall instead of putting them into the door. Oh, I also noticed that you seem to have a perfectly fine arm there. Care to explain these things to me, Eva? I am just your mother so what do you need that flame armor for?”

I try to use my sweetest voice possible but she just keeps slowly backing up and looking all around. Her flame armor is very strong, but it's one defect is that her eyes are perfectly visible so I can see them looking all around for an escape path. It’s a good thing we are in the baths and every inch of the room is wet. As soon as Eva’s hand touches the wall I condense the water where she touches and I form a barrier. Eva notices that her armor is creating steam and she stays away from the wall, but her eyes don't stop darting around.

“Mother, why are you here? How are you here? Are there seriously secret tunnels in this castle? Why didn't I know this?!” Eva

“Sweat heart the tunnels are just for peeping so..”

“You had tunnels made so you can peep on the baths?! I can't believe this! Did you get the idea from that perverted maid Julie?” Eva

“I didn't have them made. They were made by your grandfather in his youth. Either way, the tunnels are not the point here. Stop trying to change the subject. Eva drop your flame armor and talk to your mother.”

“NO! I refuse. Don't think I won't destroy half this castle just to run away. Mother a while ago you were talking about locking me up and now you are even using secret tunnels to sneak up on me in the baths. Mother this is ridiculous! I have my secrets just like how you kept those tunnels a secret.” Eva

I bite my lips because I know Eva has a point and her father even said the same thing earlier. I notice that Eva releases a little lighting, but with how much moisture is in this room it would defiantly hurt us if she used any lightning so she stops. She just stands there looking for a chance to run away. All of a sudden I hear Julie scream and then I look over as Anne runs around the baths.

“Stop!” Eva

Anne runs up straight to Eva and right before she's about to jump at her Eva drops her flame armor. Eva had told me before that her Flame armor will burn anyone it touches if they get too close so Eva would either have burned Anne or dropped her armor. Anne hugs Eva by the waist and Eva turns her body to the side and covers her chest. No, she doesn't cover her breast or anything, but she's covering a black spot. I run up to Eva and grab her hand that's covering her chest. I look at Eva’s chest and see that there are little black scales covering where her heart is. I then look at the left side of Eva’s body that is covered in more of these black scales that reach all the way up to her jaw. I hold Eva’s shoulders as I look over her body and I feel tears form in my eyes. I am not crying because of Eva’s body but because of the amount of pain I see in my daughters crying eyes. No mother wants to see their daughter have so much pain in their expression. I quickly pull Eva into my arms and I held her tightly as I pet her head. Eva keeps struggling to get out of my grip. I am holding her tight enough that she would have to hurt me to get rid of me so I know she won’t. She suddenly stiffens and I look at her right arm and see Anna is hanging from it.

“Big big sis! Whats this? It's cool.” Anna

I notice again that Eva doesn't know how to respond to the situation. Mostly because she always expects peoples fear and disgust. When someone shows her something besides those two emotions she doesn't know how to respond. Anne’s basically grown up worshipping the big sister she's never met so something she doesn't even understand is simply cool to her just because her big sister likes it.

“Eva it’s ok. No matter how much you change nothing will matter. You will always be my daughter. Even if you've grown scales it won't matter. We will go to the other countries and see their research on mana mutants. No matter what you will be fine.”

“I’m not a mana mutant. I am something else. These are dragon scales, not a lizard or snake scales.” Eva

Eva’s voice is really low, but I can still perfectly hear her. I pause a second to think of whats she said. Dragons do not have mana mutants and no mana mutant will mutate into a dragon. It's one of the main arguments that dragons aren’t monsters but a proper race. If Eva has dragon scales then something besides a mana mutation happened to her and I am more confused now. I look at Eva and see that she looks so tired and doesn't even seem to have any strength anymore I lower her into the bath again. I take off my clothes while I whisper a few commands to Julie. Julie takes off Anne’s clothes. As soon as Anne is free she runs to the bath and hugs Eva’s right side. Eva freezes and then just reaches over to her bottle and brings it to her mouth and takes a good gulp. I notice that Eva is glaring at the hole that's still in the wall so I signal Julie to go close it as I get in the water as well. I look over at Eva and I wait for her to start speaking.

“Fine. I do not want you running off to start a war after this though. It started about six months after I initially ran away………” Eva