After exhausting her eyes crying, her eyes turned swollen red. Astrum handed her a tissue.
"Here...wipe yourself clean."
"Where?!"
"Your nose is leaking."
"...huh!"
Processing what he said, her face turned bright red; she quickly turned to the other side in embarrassment, wiping her nose clean.
She slowly turned her face, pouting at him. "Hmph...How can you say it like that? No wonder you're still a single dog."
"Stop, it's just that I still haven't met the right person."
Bella didn't say anything for a few seconds, processing his words, but in the end she bluntly said, "Single dogs for life."
Astrum released a loud sigh and asked her calmly,
"Feel any better?"
Bella's eyes widened; she realized he was trying to divert her attention all along. She smiled faintly.
"Much better, thank you!"
"Good"
"A single word," he said, got up, and was about to leave, but Bella grabbed his hand. He turned to her in silence, seeing she still didn't make up her mind. He didn't shake her hand but silently sat back next to her.
"I am here; speak whenever you're ready."
Bella was glad he said that, but time kept passing, and Bella was still hesitant to speak; her grip on his arm kept getting stronger.
'What kind of secret is she hesitating to say?' He thought.
Astrum extended his large hand over her head gently, saying, "If you're afraid what you say might get out, I can swear on it if that's going to reassure you."
Bella let go of his hand and directed her gaze outside the window.
"No matter which way I use to explain, you will be the first to aim at my head, Astrum."
She gave him a side eye full of hostility coldly saying ,"my secrets can only stay with me"
"Something you can't tell, or I will kill you," you say... Astrum frowned after she looked at him with such eyes. "It only means it's related to my work...and if it truly is, then I'm afraid I insist I need to know more details."
Both kept glaring at each other; none of them wanted to yield. In that atmosphere full of tension, Bella was the first to look away after showing a sarcastic look on her face, full of confidence. She said,
"Your sister seems to already know."
"What?!"
"If you want to know, try asking your sister and see if she might tell you."
Bella's words shut him down immediately; he couldn't go any further, or he might implicate his sister unknowingly.
He turned his head away clearly displeased. "Tch...it's clearly a dead end; there is no way in hell she's going to tell me."
Surprised by his confidence, she asked,
"Why so sure? Isn't she your little sister?"
"It's mainly because she is my sister." Astrum leaned forward, rubbing his eyes. "My sister is a woman of her own mind; if she wants to hide something, she might sew her mouth shut just to keep the secret."
Seeing the look on her face, she didn't believe him at all, but he couldn't help but think of the past, 'My little brother Aries was a victim of that game for most of the time they spent together...man, I sympathize with his situation every time without a fail.'
Bella rubbed her chin, thinking hard about what he said but couldn't understand anything. 'The Princess Serenity I know is an idiot, good for nothing, but the one I talked with today was a mature, cruel, and clearly an observational person, far from the one I met at the castle. Something is clearly not right.'
She turned at Astrom to ask,
"Why does the sister you're talking about feel so foreign to me?"
Astrum's mood turned upside down remembering the past; he clenched his fists together.
"Let's just label it as an accident along the way."
Seeing how much of an impact just remembering had on him, Bella didn't dare to ask any further. 'It seems like this royalty also has some unspoken secrets.'
Bella crashed on the bed with open arms.
"Whatever...same same but different, I guess."
Astrum turned at her in confusion. "Same?"
Bella didn't talk further in unrelated matters and directly asked Astrum what she truly wanted to ask.
"How can I answer her question?...What am I?"
"Actually, it could be anything," Astrum calmly spoke. "Since the question came from Serenity, then the answer has many possibilities. From what I know about her, she doesn't usually look for your kind or race but usually something else, and she always gives a clue. "
Bella slowly sat, carefully listening to Astrum's words.
"What do you mean a clue?"
Astrum explained, "According to what she says when asking...the hidden meaning in her words, if she asks this question in particular, she already has an answer of her own; the other party's answer isn't going to be perfect but at least close."
"But why? Is there any use of confusing others to such an extent?"
Astrum's tone of voice suddenly got louder and fiercer as he delivered the words from the past.
"If my questions are truly worthless, then it wouldn't make them turn around in circles. If someone is standing in front of me not facing his true self, then I will buy him a ticket to face his inner demons in person," is what she said.
Astrum slowly got up and stood in front of the window, hands in his pockets, feeling nostalgic about the past. 'This situation feels quite familiar; wasn't I in the same spot as her?... I think it was our first meeting after she came back from the celestial realm.'
"What she said..." Bella got deep in thoughts, thinking carefully, trying to remember what Serenity told her, but she seemed confused.
"As a natural-born mariposa recognized by all, I always held my head up in the sky, knowing I am a special person myself, yet she came denying my pride in one sentence...to be honest, I feel like shit right now," she said, clenching the edges of the mattress under her.
'I have little to no information about the situation myself,' Astrum calmly tried to clear her thoughts.
"I can't accurately judge your situation, but I can tell one thing fully confidently: Serenity isn't lying...she might have seen something in you that maybe you're yet to realize."
Not understanding anything, she felt lost in his words. "What does that even mean?"
Astrum leaned on the glass window. "You know her senses are strong, but one thing for sure: her words hold something for you; it's just...you need to think about them yourself. I can't really help because when the question comes from her, it means more than it appears."
"Do an advice search about yourself from the beginning, and who knows, you might find what you're looking for," he said and left, closing the doors behind him, leaving her alone to think about the solution herself.
'She said I was never a mariposa, but I clearly am.'
Bella collected her mana in between her hands. Once it was enough, she closed her hands on it, and small sparks of light started coming out of her body one after another, turning into beautiful golden butterflies.
Staring at the few golden butterflies that are circulating around her, she felt lost. "Why did you say this wasn't a mariposa?...Although my mariposa is quite strange, it's still a mariposa; otherwise, what ca—"
Here the realization hit her: 'The mariposas mentioned in old textbooks are pure golden sand, like with a pure golden aura, yet mine are...'
Bella stood up and summoned one of the butterflies in her hand and carefully observed her.
'Solid gold and a hint of red aura ...it really isn't a mariposa.'
Bella collapsed on the ground from the shocking realization. Holding the butterfly in her hand, she kept spacing out.
'Back then when the elders said I had a mariposa, I didn't think much of it. A mariposa is considered a sole healer with 100% fixing ability, but the more I used it, the more my body felt weakened. The text didn't say anything about any side effects for the mariposa; they even said it might be because of my mother's unpure blood. I had enough of the pain and indifference, so I decided to leave that hell of a place.'
Bella looked outside the window in a daze, then raised her pants, looking at the mark on her left thigh. 'Even the mark is no longer a butterfly...but seeing it with my mind right now, it's either a sword or a scepter; either way, it's not a butterfly.'
In the middle of her frustration she hardened her grip on the butterfly she was holding and threw it onto the wall.
-crack-
"What's that sound?"
Bella kept spinning around searching for the source of the sound till she finally caught sight of the golden butterfly on the ground.
"Is it from there?...For real?"
Doubtful, yet she moved forward towards the fallen butterfly and held it in her palms; with eyes wide open, she stared in disbelief.
"This is no longer a mariposa...what the hell is this?"
The outer shell was mostly cracked, and a mix of gold, red, and purple liquid was clearly visible inside. Bella collected the broken pieces along with the butterfly into a box and closed it.
" I'm afraid there is only one way left."
.....
Back into Ash's room.
After the effect of the chanting wore out, his expression darkened. Barely able to stand, he collapsed on his bed with a spinning head and an uncomfortable stomach.
He kept sweating heavily; he couldn't bear it himself, so he collected all his strength and went to take a bath, but he was barely able to stand and crashed into the huge bathtub that's the size of a swimming pool.
-splash-
Ash's whole body got soaked in water just like that; luckily the bathtub wasn't deep, so he just leaned on the side, keeping half his body under water and the other half still dripping.
He held the Lotus crystal tightly in his hand and kissed it; keeping it tightly in his hand, he raised his head, facing the ceiling, and closed his eyes.
In the dark room, suddenly a blinding light came out of the crystal in his hand. Sparks of light came, forming a ring of light. The next second, someone appeared, falling from the ring.
Ash quickly held her before she hit the ground and quickly turned around, making her fall on top of him, but as a result, both ended up fully soaked.
-splash-
"Ugh..."
"Why doesn't it hurt?"
The room was completely dark, and she was carelessly moving her hands around, and Ash couldn't take it, so he held her hands and quickly sat down.
"Stop doing that."
She had no idea what was going on, but her body suddenly started glowing, and a fair amount of crystal butterflies lit up the darkness in the room.
Serenity was sitting on Ash's lap, and the expression on his face was off, with red ears; his doll-like face and dark-blue long hair were dripping water on his wet chest muscles, and the sharp, intense look in his eyes were like a hungry beast looking at his prey.
'My most attractive rose is showing her thorns,i see' ,A coy tilt of the head accompanied with a flicker of amusement in her eyes, she gently lowered her eyelashes, followed by a slow knowing smile,
She moved her hands forward, and Ash's grib lost its strength as she placed her right palm behind his neck, all while slowly moving the other one up slowly from his chest all the way to his Adam's apple, then behind his neck.
She pressed her body against his, whispering in his ears in a mysterious, alluring tone, "Don't like it?"
In such an atmosphere built , ash finally snapped; he grabbed both of her hands and pinned her under water, forcibly planting a kiss.
-splash-
"Umm?!"
Serenity's eyes widened; she never expected her teasing to make him do such a thing ,'really?..at least give me a heads up'
but under the faint light of the crystals ,feeling the heat of his body while their lips were pressing against each other ,she gave up melting into his arms, letting him do whatever he wanted.
Under the quiet of the night and the cool of the water, a world completely separated from the outside, a world only for them.
'This feeling is so familiar...a longing I can't explain but I am yearning for...more ...i want more of her' He kept forcing onssesed with kissing her over and over again, emerging in the satisfaction that familiar feeling is giving him, till he finally snapped back.
'Shit!!?' realizing what he was doing. Under the urgent need to breathe, he quickly rose with her to the surface.
"Bwaah...haah, haah, haah, haah.."
"...cough...cough...cough..."
Seeing how much out of breath Serenity was, he felt guilty and quickly carried her into the room.
"Waaa...what are you doing?"
She looked at him in confusion, but he only glanced at her and carried her into his arms, moving out of the bath, keeping a straight face, embarrassed in his mind. 'If we don't get out of here, I am afraid a kiss won't be able to settle things down.'
Serenity's face turned as red as a tomato recalling what just happened; she held on tight and didn't dare to make a sound.
Ash placed Serenity onto the chair, asking her calmly,
"Do you have a spare cloth on you, or should I get you something?"
Serenity shook her head, "No need."
She removed her right-hand gloves and simply touched her cloth; the next second it was covered in thin layers of ice. She simply flicked it, and it crashed on the floor, leaving her cloth back to its original state.
"Or you can do that... How exactly did you do it?" Ash asked.
"Hush now..." a soft, comforting command of silence softened his expression; he smiled slightly and went into his dressing room to change his wet cloth.
Serenity, sitting on the chair, slightly touched her lips, recalling Ash kissing her; she was overwhelmed with emotions.
"It's been so long, AUSTIN."
She held her hand high and kissed her index finger slightly, all while looking like she was about to die, emerged in thoughts, and didn't realize Ash when he came back standing right behind her.
Ash changed into a black set of pants and oversized long sleeves shirt, holding his hair up in a opnytail
'Serenity Alkan...what kind of connection do you actually have with me? Why can't I just ask you, and what are you really afraid of? And why... why am I afraid of losing you?!' Ash stood there for a while, leaning on the walls, also recalling the familiar yet foreign feeling from just now, afraid he might forget.
Serenity, without any prior warning, walked toward the glass window, staring at the sky blackly, and started talking.
"I know what you want to ask, but...can you bear with me for a while longer...just for a while...just till everything is ready?"
Ash could feel it in her voice; she was afraid, a feeling that hit him like an arrow. He quickly hugged her from the back, his head leaning on her shoulder, his deep warm voice as he spoke giving her a shivering feeling as if speaking into her ears.
"I won't ask...don't forget I already promised to wait, and i always keep my promises"
Ash turned her to face him; looking straight into her eyes, he assured her,
"I won't do such a rush job without understanding the full picture and indirectly hurt you; I would never do such a thing because I would be hurting myself."
Those words were more than enough to make her smile and rush into hugging him ,'sure enough even without your memories, you never change when It's me'
"Thank you."
Ash smiled and hugged her back.
"Don't mention it."
'Thank you for trusting me, following that faint string of feelings...when you clearly remember nothing about us.' Serenity grabbed into his cloth tightly.
Ash turned the chair around to face the bed and helped Serenity sit on the only chair in the room while he sat on the bed.
With eyes full of concern, he gently asked her, "Are you okay now?"
Serenity nodded her head lightly, "I am fine; no need to worry."
"Good," Ash wanted to change the subject, "so about the sword art thing."
"Oh, that...the dragon sacrifice. Do you know it's connected to you?" she said.
Ash's expression turned ups and downs in one second: "What do you mean, related?"
Serenity's expression turned serious as she carefully said those next words, "Have you ever wondered where your family's power to control the order of natural tribulation came from?...the meaning behind your eyes...the true secret of your birth..."
Ash dared not make a sound, attentively listening to Serenity.
"The ability to control a disaster phenomenon such as lightning needs more than just luck. The first generation of the Vulgate made a nexus with the original king of dragons, and so they were granted a strong, tough physique not as strong as a dragon but strong enough to control the divine lightning, not to mention the whole dragon inheritance."
Ash asked, full of confusion, "Isn't that common knowledge in Avalor?...I still don't understand. What does any of it have to do with me?"
"Well, here's the twist...just yesterday I realized there is no such thing as an inheritance; it's mainly a sacrifice"
The seriousness in her speech made it hard to deny her wrong; all he could do was to listen.