Lux didn’t know what to think. She had fled from Noctis, not because she was scared of him, but because she was scared that everything she knew was just a child’s dream. Now she had to wake up and face reality. She had to grow up and look at the truth. Her home was built on the suffering of others.

Lux was proud to be the princess of her kingdom, but now she wasn’t sure how to face anyone she knew. If what the dragon said was true, then her country was not a good place for anyone to live. The people despair at the sight of anybody who holds power. Is that something to be proud of? No. It’s something to be ashamed of.

After a couple of days of traveling without her wings she arrived at the kingdom. If she flew in she would be spotted by someone and they would know she was returning to the kingdom. She wanted to remain unnoticed so that she could have a chance to look at the kingdom’s people.

Lux picked up a cloak on the way back to the kingdom, to disguise herself. She kept a long sleeve shirt on, to hide her contract marks, and pulled the cloak's hood on to cover her hair and facial features.

When she arrived she went into the slums, just to see the lives of the common people. After about 15 minutes of walking through, she felt sick to her stomach. There were people sick, injured, famished, dead, or dying. Their eyes were blank, no light was being reflected, almost if they didn’t want to look at this kind of world.

Before she realized, Lux was already crying. She hated the fact that she didn’t know this was happening, and now she hated the fact that she knew there was nothing she could do at this moment to help them improve their lives. Lux decided to use her magic, without unveiling herself, to help those who were injured. Unfortunately she didn’t have the magic to cure the sick, for that type of magic didn’t exist. It was up to their own bodies to fight off the infection.

After healing as many people as she could, the people looked like they had seen an angel. She was thanked by everyone from the bottom of their hearts. They appreciated that she would go out of her way for people she’s never seen before. These people are used to being ignored by those who have the capability to help them.

Lux was smiling for the first time since she had been with Noctis. She felt joy from the bottom of her heart that she could be of some sort of help to these unfortunate people. On her way here all she could think is that something was wrong. She was torn between her family and her ideals.

She thought back to the look Noctis had in his eyes. There was an unwavering conviction that told the world that he was unwilling to back down from his cause. She wanted to have that kind of decisiveness, but she was unable to come to a decision immediately. After all, she spent her entire life here! That wasn’t something she could just give up on a whim.

Soon after she made her way to an inn, to rest for the night. When the innkeeper saw the noble air Lux had around her, he couldn’t help but question her. The innkeeper was a good man known to help out those who didn’t have a home or food to eat. He looked to be around 30 years old, but some of his hair was already starting to turn white, likely due to stress.

“Are you here on business? If so I suggest that you conclude it as soon as possible and leave the city.”

When she heard someone suggest she leave quickly, she decided to have a chat with the innkeeper to listen to what has been happening. She had seen what the result of neglect and corruption was, but she still had no idea what the root cause was.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why would that be?” She used an extremely polite tone, which shocked him.

“The soldiers here do whatever they want to people, whether they’re locals or travelers. The nobles are even worse. They do it in a roundabout way so it can’t be traced back to them supposedly, but everyone here knows who is responsible for what.”

“Just last week, my own daughter was assaulted by a soldier, and several of her bones were broken.” She could sense the bitterness in his voice, as tears began to show in his eyes. “She’s the only family I have. Just a few years ago, my wife was abducted and killed by a noble.”

“Take me to her. I can help alleviate the physical pain at least.” Lux didn’t think twice before offering aid.

He clasped his hands around hers. “Thank you.” Simple but powerful words. But words alone couldn’t express his gratitude for her offering to help.

He led her to a room behind his counter. There on a bed was a wounded girl, who was probably only around 7 at the most. She was sleeping with a pained look on her face. What little skin was showing was covered in bruises.

“She was playing with a ball and it bumped into a soldier, so he beat her until she couldn’t move anymore.” There were tears running down his face, but it wasn’t due to sadness. She survived so he couldn’t have fallen into despair. It was frustration. He was frustrated that his daughter suffered and he wasn’t there to help her or stop her from being hurt. One of the people who he regularly helped found his daughter bruised and bloodied and carried her back to the inn.

Lux walked over with soft steps. “Would you mind bringing over a chair?” He left the room for a bit and came back with a wooden chair and placed it next to the bed. Lux sat down and willed her magic to cover her hands, and then she placed her hand on the girl's head.

She had developed this healing magic herself. She thought of it after recalling Noctis instilling magic into her to knock her out. Instead of using it wildly to disrupt the flow of the nervous system temporarily, she used it in a much more complex way. When she put magic into someone else’s system, it’s with a specific instruction to “Repair any damage.”

Since her magic was of the light attribute, it was naturally more docile and could be more malleable. Unlike Noctis’ brutish use of magic which was automatically filled with the instruction to “Destroy.” The most eccentric way he used magic was to set down his dark domain where he released a plethora of magic. This magic was fundamentally different from the rest of his spells. It was filled with the instruction of “Optimize user. Oppress anything else.”

Lux spent her time studying magic, with spells already learned from the griffin directly. With guidance from Salus, she learned that there were so many more ways to use magic than she could have imagined. Her magic also wasn’t as overbearing as his so, in turn, he spent the entire time trying to control his power. So she naturally had better manipulation of her magic. It wasn’t to say that he couldn’t, it’s simply that Lux was more talented than him. There was also the fact that in nature, dark magic is almost exclusively used for combat. While light magic can be used in many more ways.

Before long all the injuries had faded and she was sleeping with a calm face. The innkeeper thought she would just use magic to ease the pain for a bit. Never would he have imagined she used magic to heal her. He was about to express his gratitude when he noticed that the mysterious girl had fallen asleep while holding his daughter's hand.

While she was asleep in the chair, he figured the least he could do was place her in the bed next to his daughter. As he picked her up with ease, her sleeves came down and he hood came off, revealing her contract marks and beautiful long black hair. He immediately recognized her as the princess of this kingdom. He didn’t have any particular feelings toward the royal family, but if anything it was resentment.

However, she had just done him something that nobody else could do. His daughter meant the world to him. She clearly was here in disguise, with the intent of not wanting to be recognized. He smiled and put her in the bed next to his daughter and covered her in sheets. Afterwards he closed the inn for the night and went to bed himself.