“What?!”

Everyone had exclaimed such in their own way upon hearing him suddenly announce his protege without warning. They stared at him in disbelief before shifting their focus on the young girl that sat right next to him.

“His protege?”

“She’s his protege?”

“What does this mean?”

Lakshman smiled around at them as he overheard their chatter while Lina sat nervously next to him. He noticed her shaking hands that she kept hidden on her lap so that no one noticed and smiled just as Steve asked him a question.

“Lakshman. Is it really true that she is your protege?” He asked to confirm what they heard was indeed right.

The Phoenix Titan nodded and replied, “Yes. She is my protege. Ah,” he added as if he realized something and continued saying, “if you’re wondering, she isn’t part of the Phoenix Clan.” This surprised everyone as he went on saying, “She’s a noble from our kingdom, the Pricemark. She’s currently attending her first year at Astral Academy, but I wanted her to join this meeting to get accustomed to it.”

Then he turned to her and smiled as he said coolly, “Don’t be nervous, Lina. No one will harm you here, Lina. After all, you’ll be attending these meetings more frequently from now on.”

Lina looked up at him with a concerned look on her face, but when she saw him close and open his eyes once, she understood what it meant.

“Y-Yes. I understand,” she replied while trying her best to smile while thinking, “How did I get myself into this situation?”

She thought back to the events of yesterday and from the time she regained consciousness. At first, she was confused and thought that everything, that had happened prior to her losing consciousness, was just a dream. However, she had to face reality when Belinha McKowen, the teacher of Energy Theory, arrived and confirmed that everything that had happened was indeed real.

“I… can’t believe I was proposed to… in such a way!” Lina exclaimed much to the surprise of her teacher due to the misunderstanding the young girl had about the situation.

“Well… I’ll let your father explain it all in detail since I’m just a bystander,” the teacher replied with a wry smile.

Once the lessons had ended, Lina went straight home and met with her father, who was busily perusing through a mountain of papers. When she questioned him about the Phoenix Titan’s intentions, he confirmed that the current King of Floria Kingdom did indeed want her to become queen.

“No!” She wailed and fell to her knees. “I don’t want to marry an already married man, even if I’m offered the position of a queen!”

Her father took a moment to react with surprise of, “What? Lina. What are you talking about?”

“He wants me to be queen, so doesn’t that mean he wants to marry me?!” Lina demanded her father, on the verge of tears.

Her father, Rudius, could not believe his ears and stared at his daughter’s silliness with a dumbfounded expression.

“Oh, my silly daughter! That’s not what he meant!” He exclaimed, which caused her to become taken aback.

He explained clearly the true intentions of the Phoenix Titan, by wanting to make her the next ruler in his place. After hearing it, the young girl had widened her eyes until they were round like orbs. She could not believe that the mightiest warrior in the world was willing to make her the next ruler of Floria Kingdom.

“But… why me? I don’t understand,” she asked her father, recovering somewhat and getting confused.

Her father shook his head as he did not have an answer to her question. Since then, she was wondering throughout the rest of the day till night about why the Phoenix Titan chose her as the next queen. Feeling restless, she walked out onto her balcony overseeing her lawn and stared up into the sky at the twinkling lights that are the stars.

“Why…? Why me…?” She wondered aloud.

“Why not?” A voice asked back suddenly from beside her.

She whirled around in shock to see the Phoenix Titan standing there with a smile on his face.

He raised his hand in a greeting gesture and said, “Good evening.”

Lina’s mind went blank for a moment from total shock of suddenly seeing the Phoenix Titan there and let out a shrill scream the moment she recovered.

“AAAAAAHHH!!!!”

She took a few steps back in fright from the total shock she felt at seeing the person she had been thinking about to suddenly appear before her like this. He stood with his forefingers pressed against his ears from her scream and looked surprised by her behavior.

“You don’t need to be so surprised just because I came unannounced,” he said and then added with a wry smile, “but you could knock out a few men with that high-pitched scream of yours.”

“P-Phoenix Titan!” She blurted out before coming to her senses and correcting herself with, “I mean, your majesty! Pardon my behavior just now,” and she moved to kneel before him like a knight kneeling before the king.

He saw what she was about to do and said, “Stand.”

In an instant, she felt her body suddenly stop listening to her, and she found herself standing normally. Then she felt the pressure lessen and somehow understood that she had regained control over her body.

“I don’t need a girl to kneel before me in her night wear. It’ll make me look bad,” he said with a wry smile.

His words made her realise what she was wearing and quickly said, “I’m sorry... my appearance, your majesty! Please allow me to change into proper clothing and—!”

“Stop!” He ordered her, causing her to shut her mouth in an instant. Lakshman rubbed his head wearily and said, “I didn’t care about the formalities, which is why I came to you directly instead of taking the main entrance. I have business with only you about what will take place tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” She asked, becoming surprised by his words and at finding that she was able to move again.

“Yes,” he said with a nod of his head. “Tomorrow, I’ll be attending a meeting between the three kingdoms, and I want you to be there as well.”

“Oh. I see,” she said, nodding in understanding before his last words sunk in and made her realize, making her exclaim, “What?! You want me to be there?! In that really important meeting between the kingdoms?!”

“Yes!” He replied firmly with a smile. “I’m also going to introduce you as my protege.”

This shocked her very much, causing her to mutter, “your… protege,” before suddenly feeling like her eyes were spinning. Lakshman noticed this and quickly stepped forward to catch her and maintain her balance with one hand.

“Relax. Seriously. You’ll be out cold at this rate tomorrow during the meeting,” he expressed with a smile.

“Um…” she looked at him in curiosity as he stepped back after making sure she was fine. “Is this in order to project that you will be passing the rulership of the Floria Kingdom to me next?”

“Correct,” he said with a smile. “Though I won’t openly declare it, the fact that I have a protege, and that someone was not from the Phoenix Clan, would clearly send the message that you will become the next ruler.”

“Oh,” she said dully, her face becoming sullen at his response.

He noticed a switch in her mood and asked, “What’s the matter?”

She remained silent for a moment before asking, “I… am confused, your majesty. I am very confused.”

“Confused about what?”

“Confused about why you picked me as your successor!” She asked, looking up at him with desperation. “I am very grateful that you thought I was right for the role as king, and I can do many things with that much power like save my family from poverty, stop the nobles from bullying me, and help the people of our land. But I also don’t believe I am worthy to attain all that power.

I’m just a fifteen-year-old who joined Astral Academy just so that I can attain a great score, get a job with a high salary, pay off my family’s debts, let my sister have better studies, and possibly recover our land. It was never my intention of getting your attention by whatever I might’ve done that possibly had made you misunderstand about me. Like, I’m actually—!”

“—a selfish girl that wants to do things on her own in her own way without any help from others,” he finished her sentence with a smile, causing her to become startled. “Everything you do was to protect your family, your people, your land, and your reputation, and you wanted to do it without any help from others. Where did that bring you? To me.”

She blinked at him in surprise and asked, “Are you saying that I was… predestined to meet you?”

To this, he shook his head and replied, “No. You were destined to become a ruler. You have the qualities of a ruler; all you need now is to actually become one.”

“I… don’t understand,” she expressed, looking confused. “You just said that I am a selfish girl that wants to do things on my own in my own way without anyone’s help! How can that be a great quality fitting of a king?”

Lakshman actually began to chuckle at her words, which made her look very confused.

“Sorry. I just found your way of thinking to be quite funny,” he said to her after recovering, which made her look baffled. Then he smiled and said, “You see, it’s not about your character that matters; it’s your intentions that matter the most.”

“My… intentions?” She asked, looking confused, to which he nodded his head.

“Yes. Your desire to protect your family, your people, your land, and your reputation, and for that, your willingness to put yourself through difficulty and hardship to achieve a solution, to achieve your desires. You would go through this much just for this part of your connection; just imagine what you could accomplish when you are connected to a kingdom? You would do everything in your power to help your people and create a better living environment, right?”

“I…” began Lina uncertainly.

“Stop doubting yourself when the truth is right there!” Lakshman said, and he pointed his thumb to where his heart was and said, “Your heart is in the right place, and putting you in the right place will make wonders happen.”

Lina was surprised to hear him speak so highly about herself, and as she listened to his reasoning, she slowly began to feel that he had a point. It was true that she was indeed a stubborn girl that will selfishly do things in her own way without the help from others. It had always been that way, ranging from arranging her home to getting the work done. It was all to not let anyone know her weakness and plans for helping those she cared about.

“I can understand where you’re coming from,” she finally said as she slowly came to believe in his words, “but I am still confused about one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Why me?” She asked, and looked keenly at him. “You possibly had a lot of people to choose from, and yet, you picked me, someone from a lowly baron rank of nobility that was looked down upon and bullied by the other nobles. Why?”

Lakshman was silent as he watched her stare at him fixedly with great anticipation on her face. Then he smiled and said, “I guess… it was destiny.”

“What?” She asked when hearing such an unexpected answer.

“You see, I knew it was you the moment I got your information,” he told her with a wry smile. “Everything from what you do daily, to what you do in your free time and to what you were striving towards. Everything fit well with what I was expecting from my successor, and so I decided to test you, which you passed with flying colors.”

Lina was amazed by the praise she heard about herself from the Phoenix Titan, which made her blush and say, “I… see.” Then something about his words made her rethink before realizing something and exclaiming, “Wait! You had my information?! Does this mean that you had people spying on me and watching my every movement?!”

“I… um…” he began, realizing she caught him in a sticky spot and did not know how to get out of it. Under her piercing glare, he gulped and said nervously, “I… was only aware of you when I was with my sisters, and after going through investigations, you came to mind, and I asked you to investigate thoroughly.”

She looked furious and said, “No wonder you knew so much about me despite us meeting for the first time at Astral Academy! I can’t believe the Phoenix Titan would disregard one’s privacy and just order his men to monitor their every movement! Seriously! I never expected this, your majesty! Can I say I’m very disappointed in you?”

“I’m really sorry, Lina! I knew it was wrong, but it was for the greater good! And I didn’t do anything malicious with that information at all! Honest!” He expressed desperately as she folded her arms and looked very angry.

At his constant pleas, she finally relented and sighed before saying, “It’s alright. I kind of understand why you had to do that. You wanted to be sure that you are choosing the right successor, which is understandable.”

“I’m glad you understand,” he began happily.

“But this doesn’t mean I’m not angry at what you did!” She said irritably, making him flinch and look scared.

There was a moment of silence before she sighed and unfolded her arms before asking him, “So, I just need to come tomorrow to the meeting between kingdoms at the castle?”

“Yes,” he said while nodding his head. Then he held his hand out and asked, “Can you promise me that you will accept my intention of making you the next ruler?”

Lina was surprised by his words and looked down at his extended hand waiting for it to make the promise. She hesitated, suddenly feeling nervous and thinking if it was such a good idea to become the next queen.

“Please?” He pleaded with a soft voice.

That single word from him made up her mind without further thought. She extended her hand out and placed it on his palm, agreeing to make the promise.

“Alright. I’ll do my best,” she said a little shyly.

He became very happy and said, “That’s great! I’m really happy about this!” and he promptly hugged her much to her surprise. They remained like that for a moment before he broke away and said, “Alright! Let’s meet tomorrow, so have a great night! Sleep well! Goodnight! Bye!”

With that, he turned around and before she could say anything, he surged with power and took off into the night sky. She watched him go and vanish into the darkness before leaning on her balcony support while heaving a sigh.

“I did the right thing, right?” She was wondering to herself, but deep down, she felt a surge of great excitement. Then she looked towards where he flew off to and said, “Still, his majesty’s a wonder.”

Throughout the conversation she had with him, Lina felt drawn to him and wanted to hear him more. It was like she had longed to see him and wanted to converse with him, which gave her a feeling of nostalgia. The same thing happened at Astral Academy when they first met for the first time. She felt a strange tugging in her chest and felt a sense of longing, as if she had finally met the friend she had missed for a long time.

Even when she found out that he had been monitoring her movement, her anger quickly died down. She somehow understood that he had good intentions without knowing full well about him as he was a complete stranger to her. It was as if she had a prior meeting with him, a friendship that she could not recall at all between him and her. Even when he pleaded her to promise, she was spurred on to do it without thinking as she somehow wanted to see him be happy.

“It’s so strange,” she sighed deeply before straightening up. “Well, no point thinking too much now that I’ve promised my future, and tomorrow’s a big day, so I better get a good night’s rest as there’s no telling what kind of drama I’ll get involved in.”

With that, she walked into her room after closing the balcony doors shut and got onto her bed before calling the command to make the lights go off.