Several minutes after the explosion had occurred, Lakshman had used the Restoration spell to restore his clothes back to the way they were previously. He did this quickly before Ondine could notice. Unfortunately, Ondine had already known about their destruction from Cantia and she, immediately, demanded an answer to why they were, suddenly, repaired. Unable to withstand her might, he revealed that he had used a spell to repair them, causing Ondine to look upset.

“I’m sorry! I’ll make sure not to let that happen again!” he said repeatedly to try and reassure her.

After that, he had invited Atem, Sonia and Natasha into the house and they, hesitantly, entered the building while receiving stares of incredulity from his wives. Before they can sit, however, Silvera brought his other wives away to talk to them privately about something and they decided to head over to the kitchen.

After bidding them goodbye, Lakshman turned and was surprised to see Atem standing in front of him with his head bowed down deeply. Sonia and Natasha stood a few meters behind him with guilty expressions on their faces.

“I’m deeply sorry, Phoenix Titan!” Atem sincerely apologised. “Please, find it in your heart to forgive of what just happened to you.”

“Oh,” said Lakshman shortly and nodded his head in understanding.

He, quickly, understood that Atem was deeply distrait by the attack that his race had conducted upon the Phoenix Titan. Such an act would have condemned their entire race to war against the Phoenix Clan, whom he was sure their race will have difficulty defeating. Lakshman understood this fact and he merely smiled at how desperately apologetic Atem was.

“That’s alright,” reassured Lakshman with a smile on his face. “I suppose; the other angels weren’t that happy with me manhandling the Commandment of Justice like I did. Seriously, the fault is mainly on mine for losing my temper on him when I tried to form friendship with a disconnected race after a long time.”

“Yes, but—!” Atem began in a fluster when he was shoved aside by Sonia.

“Stand aside,” she said in a commanding voice that made them look at her in surprise. She lifted her skirt slightly in a princess-like way and introduced herself by saying, “I am the Angel Princess, Sonia Angloid and on behalf of my race, I sincerely apologise for the danger we put you in.”

Lakshman’s eyebrows raised in surprise as he thought, “Princess? Angel Princess? That means she is the daughter of the Angel King, Zex Angloid. She’s the daughter of that guy, who got pushed aside so easily by the Nine Commandments of Light?”

While he was in deep thought, Atem turned to her and sharply asked, “Princess, what are you doing here and why?!”

She glanced at him for a moment and smiled slightly before she replied by saying, “I take it you’re an Angel Guard assigned to escort the Phoenix Titan. Don’t worry because I am merely here to assess the Phoenix Titan for myself to see what kind of man he is.”

At the end of her dialogue, she turned slightly to make eye contact with Natasha, who nodded slightly. Before arriving to meet with the Phoenix Titan, the two of them had agreed upon a story to follow for their reason into being there. This way, both of them can assess the character of the Phoenix Titan and then decide whether it is healthy for the princess of the angels to marry one related to the Phoenix Clan.

Lakshman was abruptly brought into reality when his Elemental Sense detected that she had lied. He stared at her for a moment through narrowed eyes filled with suspicion and decided to be cautious of her. She was, indeed, the last Destiny Queen, but the fact that she lied so easily made Lakshman suspect her because he was not sure if she meant to do good or bad by being there.

“Anyway, let us sit down and talk,” said Lakshman and he gestured for them to sit down.

Lakshman and Sonia sat down opposite each other while Atem and Natasha decided to remain standing. The two of them stood on either side of the chair that seated Sonia as if they are her pillars of support. Lakshman did not try to convince them to sit down because that would make the princess lose face and pride in front of him.

“Customs can be annoying, but we have to follow procedure,” thought Lakshman with an inward sigh of exasperation.

He turned around to look towards the kitchen before saying loudly, “Emilia. Three cups of tea and one glass of water.”

“Working on them,” came Emilia’s reply and Lakshman smiled before turning to face his guests.

“She won’t be long,” said Lakshman and Sonia nodded in understanding.

“Well then, while we wait for our drinks, shall we begin discussing the events that have occurred in the trail room?” Sonia asked with a curious look on her face as she stared at him.

Lakshman nodded his head once and replied firmly by saying, “Of course.”

***

In the kitchen, Emilia and Ondine got the tea ready and listened to Silvera inform Cantia, Sumara and Erza that Sonia Angloid was the last Destiny Queen. The five girls expressed their feelings in different ways; Emilia shrugged her shoulders in indifference, Ondine was a bit surprised, Cantia was so shocked that her mouth hung open, Sumara blinked in disbelief and Erza sighed as if she knew this would happen.

“That woman is the last Destiny Queen-nyaa?!” Cantia exclaimed in a shocked voice. “T-That’s… mindblowing-nyaa!”

“That’s not all,” said Silvera and she paused for a moment before she dramatically said, “She is, also, the princess of the angel race! I know because I met her just now and talk to her. As it turns out, she’s a really nice person.”

Emilia shrugged her shoulders again and Ondine glanced at her in surprise while Cantia and Sumara stared at her in disbelief. Erza was the only one who seemed unperturbed by the news of the last Destiny Queen being the princess of an entire race.

“Don’t be so dramatic!” Tetra scolded Silvera severely.

Silver shrugged her shoulders and said, “It has to be dramatic because she is part of the angel race, whom the Phoenix Clan had a clash against since the ancient times.”

“Perhaps…” said Tetra slowly with a disapproving expression on her face.

“Oh well,” said Silvera casually and looked curiously towards Erza. “Anyway, what is up with your reaction, Erza? I know Emilia wouldn’t care, but the others, at least, showed signs of shock, surprise and disbelief. So, why are you looking so uninterested?”

Emilia handed the tea over for Ondine to pour them into the three glasses and wiped her hands before turning to look at Silvera.

“It’s not that I don’t care, Silvera. It’s just that no matter how many women Lucky marries, I know that he will always love me.”

Silvera stared at her in surprise and said, “That’s an odd reaction.”

Emilia shook her head and said, “No. It’s called having trust in your beloved husband.”

With saying that sentence, she took the tray with four glasses on it from Ondine and headed out of the kitchen. Silvera stared after her with a surprised look on her face before she shrugged in resignation before turning back to Erza.

“Why isn’t your reaction anything like the others, Erza?” she asked her curiously.

“Well,” began Erza slowly and she thought for a moment before she continued speaking. “You could say that I, sort of, expected the last Destiny Queen to be a princess, although, I didn’t expect that she’d be an angel.”

“Nyaa?” Cantia asked while looking confused. “Why’s that-nyaa?”

Erza smiled at the humanoid cat and said, “Think about it for a moment, Cantia. So far, the most of us that Lucky married, either, had great influence upon history, or, have great influential positons in society.

Take Venezuela and me for instance; she’s the queen of Floria Kingdom and I’m the princess of a kingdom in the world called Alzard. If that’s not enough, take you and Tetra for instance; you’re the Demon Slayer and she’s the Phoenix Blade. Both of you have great influence upon history while we have influential positions in society.”

“Oh!” Silvera said in amazement.

“Mmm… When you stop and think about it, you’re right,” said Sumara as she rested her chain on her hand. She, suddenly, frowned and asked, “If that’s the case, then what about me, Ondine, Cantia and Emilia? I doubt any of us has either had any influence on history or have influential positions in society.”

“That’s right,” said Ondine and she wore a really sad expression on her face. “I don’t know the background of my parents and I was transformed into a Water Spirit by my saviour, who saved me from death. That is, probably, why the other Water Spirits at the village detested me so much; for being a human that has become an incomplete Water Spirit.”

“Ondine…” said Tetra soothingly and she walked over to pat her gently. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. All of that happened when you were just a baby and you were almost killed if it weren’t for Ondine the Water Spirit. Anyway, in the end, you ended up being where you should be; with Lucky and us, your family. So, don’t think you have no worth!”

Ondine shed a small tear as she was emotionally happy from what Tetra told her. She remembered the times that she fought and insulted the Phoenix Blade, ever since she had awakened to see Lakshman as her master. Those memories caused her to regret her behaviour towards the Sacred Spirit and she wished to develop their relationship, as sisters, into a well loving one.

“You sound so mature now, but you sounded so much like a kid back when Lucky was still young,” said Ondine while smiling at her.

Tetra raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you suggesting that he isn’t young right now?”

Ondine opened her mouth in surprise and was about to say something when Cantia took to speaking first.

“Well, technically, he’s twenty-eight for sleeping in a barrier for ten years, but he’s still eighteen due to his timing stopping and the same applied to us as well-nyaa. So, in a sense, we did not age one bit-naya,” said Cantia and she beamed at them.

Tetra and Ondine stared at her incredulously before she replied by saying, “Cantia… Don’t complicate things…”

Cantia shrugged her shoulders while Erza and Silvera laughed while Sumara chuckled with grins on their faces. Tetra and Ondine also laughed and Tetra turned back to face Ondine in order to speak to her.

“Coming back to what you said to me,” began Tetra and she formed a smile on her face. “I thought it’d be cool to act like a kid than by being cool and mature.”

Ondine raised her eyebrows in disbelief and asked, “How does that make sense?”

Tetra smiled smoothly and said, “Before my memories awakened, I wanted to do it because… well…some feeling in me told me that I should. I must do it for him; for Lucky.”

“For Lucky?” Ondine asked looking surprised while Erza, Cantia, Silvera and Sumara looked bewildered. “Why?”

This time, Tetra smiled sadly and said, “It seems the memories of Lucky and mine are the only ones released while the rest of you remain in the dark. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to answer ‘why’ I did that.”

She took a deep breath and said, “In the ancient times, Lucky first killed at the age of eleven.” The girls looked really shocked by that piece of information, which was seen by their widened eyes.

“He was, originally, a happy, loving and peace loving innocent young boy until he watched his parents get killed in front of him. At their loss, he flew into a mad rage and began killing all of their enemies and at the end of it, all of them died and Lucky was covered in the blood of his enemies. Since then, he never enjoyed his life as he mercilessly killed all those that opposed him.

That all changed, however, when he met the nine of us; the original Nine Destiny Queens. Love began to change him and he began to consider uniting the world under one single banner; the Phoenix. Then, came the time when our fathers, who were kings of neighbouring kingdoms, came to appease him by giving us as his wives.”

“We were all princesses, huh,” said Silvera with a look of amazement on her face. “It must’ve been a tough decision for our parents to send us over.”

Tetra nodded in agreement and said, “It was, well, for my father. He was desperate to try and save his kingdom from getting crushed from the might of the Phoenix Clan. As such, he, including the other kingdoms’ kings, decided to send over their daughters as wives of the Phoenix Titan in order to appease him. I didn’t like it at first, but after getting to know the Phoenix Titan, I came to love him very much!”

She was smiling warmly as she remembered the happy times that she, along with the women, had shared with their husband in the ancient times. Erza, however, brought her back to reality by asking her a question with a serious look on her face.

“That’s well and good and all, but how did you know all of this, including what happened in his childhood and the feelings he had for us? You’re telling us so much detail that it sounds, as if, you were there when it all happened.”

“It’s simple; he shared his memories from childhood till then with all of us,” said Tetra with a smiling face and the others blinked at her in surprise. “He was happy to have us as wives, but doubted whether we’d want to be with a killer. So, he wanted to earn our trust and develop love with us by showing us everything that he had been through.”

“I see…” said Erza slowly and she nodded in understanding.

“I suppose we all cried and went to hung him on reflex of learning that our beloved husband had such a sad past-nyaa?” Cantia asked curiously.

Tetra nodded in ascent and said, “We did, but there was one who was a more loving and very devoted to him. Can you guess who it was?”

The girls looked at each other for a moment with puzzled looks on their faces before turning back to Tetra. They were unsure whom it was when Ondine, suddenly, looked as if a thought had struck something within her. Realising whom it was, she smiled as he responded to Tetra’s question.

“Emilia,” she said and Tetra nodded in agreement as she smiled in return.

“Yes! Emilia!” Tetra said firmly with a wide smile on her face. “Back then and even now, she is a devoted husband because her love is far greater than the love we share for him.”

“Mmm… I thought it was because he had rescued her from slavery and from a Dark Spirit,” suggested Sumara as she recalled about Emilia’s past that Lakshman told her after their marriage.

“That is partially the case,” conceded Tetra with a single nod of the head, “however, her devotion and great love for him from back then, transcended time itself to be here in this timeline.”

“Yes and I’d appreciate it if people don’t talk behind my back,” said a familiar voice from the entrance.

They jumped in surprise and turned to see Emilia standing at the entrance with a tray that she clutched with her side arm. She stood there and eyed them with one eyebrow raised, causing them to guilty look at each other.

“It is fairly rude to talk about someone behind their back,” stated Emilia as she entered the kitchen and passed all of them to put the tray down on the kitchen desk.

“Well, that’s true, but we weren’t talking negative. That would be a really rude thing to do,” replied Silvera with a small grin hovering at the edge of her face.

“Funny. Very funny. It’s so funny, I’m laughing. Hahaha,” said Emilia and she half-heartedly laughed as she turned to look at them with a sardonic expression on her face.

They smiled sheepishly at her, making them view themselves as little children caught doing something naughty.

“Anyway-nyaa… Where is Lucky-nyaa?” Cantia asked curiously as she attempted to change topic.

“He’s just gone out to head into the capital to see what’s happened,” informed Emilia as she began to clean up the dishes from that morning’s breakfast. “That girl, Sonia Angloid I think, also went with him, along with her attendant and that guy that came to get Lucky’s clothes this morning.”

“Oh…” said Ondine and she, suddenly, looked serious. “I hope that he can handle the things there.”

“You can bet that he will,” said Emilia in a confident voice. “Now, either, help me cook, or clean.”

At that moment, one of the twins came down the stairs and asked, “Vadina! Is there something to eat?”

“Ah!” Emilia responded, knowing that the young girl was asking her. “I’ll get you some in two minutes. Can you wait that long?”

“Yes, Vadina. Thank you!” the girl replied and she beamed at her before, quickly, going back upstairs.

Emilia was about to take a bowl from the staked dishes when Ondine intervened.

“Let me do this,” said Ondine and Emilia left it to her while exchanging smiles.

Ondine took a plate from the neatly stacked dishes before she headed over to a large jar, from which she began to pile the bowl with yummy treats. Once the plate was full enough to feed two to three people, Ondine closed the jar and left the kitchen to head upstairs.

“Yup… Definitely, housewives,” stated Silvera with a small smile on her face.

Emilia looked over her shoulders at them and asked, “And? What about you?”

“Yeah, but… Is this really the time to be doing this?” Silvera asked with a hesitant look on her face. “I mean… Someone, close to us, just died…”

“Yes, I know,” said Emilia with a hint of sadness in her voice, “however, that is why we must try to lift the mood, otherwise, the deceased will never be happy to see us mourning over their deaths. Surrounding ourselves with positive energy is what any deceased would want us to do. That is what, I believe, my parents would’ve wanted and I’m sure Venezuela’s parents would’ve wanted the same thing.”

The girls looked at each other in surprise as Emilia continued to move dishes and plates around.

“You’re free to go and visit Venezuela to mourn for the deceased while I prepare our dinner,” said Emilia in a quiet voice and she became silent as she began cutting up the vegetables to make the food.

“I will help,” said Sumara firmly and she headed over lend Emilia a hand in cooking up the vegetables.

Tetra, Silvera, Erza and Cantia watched them for a moment before looking at each other and nodded silently in agreement.

“We also will,” they said in unison before joining in with Emilia and Sumara in making dinner.

Author's Note

Vadina - Elder brother's wife.

Hello readers and thank you for reading this chapter. Nothing much to say, except that I hope you liked it and will read more as the story continues!