Klaus left the main estate, the cold grandeur of the Throne Room fading behind him. Even in the short walk to the Annex Mansion, the true state of the Empire was visible. Soldiers hurried across the sprawling grounds, their faces taut with the severity of their sudden assignnt. ssengers and high-ranking officers rushed past him, carrying orders to the farthest reaches of the Rikxia territory. The gears of war were turning with frantic, terrifying speed.
He arrived at the Annex Mansion, a beautiful but humble estate set apart from the main fortress, built for Elisabeth after her husband’s fall from grace. The atmosphere here was quiet, almost entirely untouched by the military frenzy outside.
The first person to greet him was Lina, the kind-faced maid who had served the Annex Mansion for years and had, in her own subtle way, cared for Klaus since he was a young boy.
"Young Master Klaus, it has been too long," Lina said, her face lighting up with a genuine smile.
"It has," Klaus replied, returning a faint, rare smile. "I was pleased to find you back. I thought you might have left for good."
Lina chuckled, waving a hand dismissively. "I was just visiting family in the lower territories, Young Master. But leave? Never. Where else can a simple maid earn more than a high-ranking city official? Working for the Lionhart family has its benefits, even now."
Her cheerfulness was a small, steady fla against the surrounding darkness. Klaus nodded, appreciating her simple, clear perspective.
"Lady Elisabeth and Young Lady Alexandra are in the garden," Lina inford him, guiding him down a quiet, sunlit corridor. "They are having tea."
As they walked, Lina maintained a soothing stream of polite conversation, asking after his health. Klaus answered every question with patience, finding a strange comfort in the maid’s smooth, familiar presence. It was a brief, necessary link back to the life he had known before the cosmic fragnts and the political maelstrom had swallowed him whole.
When they reached the garden, the sight before him stopped him entirely.
Elisabeth and Alexandra sat together at a wrought-iron table, sipping tea. His little sister, Eleara, was seated securely in Alexandra’s lap, blissfully unaware of the continental crisis, focused entirely on eating a cookie with intense concentration. The sight of the three won, safe and warm in this small, quiet sanctuary, created a profound sense of peace within him, a warmth he had not felt since knowing about Arkadius’ true objective.
"Hello," Klaus said softly.
Eleara, hearing his voice, imdiately twisted in Alexandra’s lap, holding up her small hands toward him, her expression demanding to be held.
Klaus walked over. Then, in a spontaneous, unprecedented mont of open self-expression, he did sothing he had never done in front of his mother or anyone outside of the Northwatch chaos.
A small, intricate circle, luminous with soft, grey light, materialized in the thin air next to his sister. It was a First Circle Magic spell, one of the fundantal laws of power that swordsn were never ant to wield—sothing that was simply impossible for them to perform.
Levitatus.
A gentle, silvery energy enveloped Eleara. She rose slowly and silently from Alexandra’s lap, floating weightlessly for a pure, glorious mont, filling the garden with her happy, delighted laughter. The spell guided her perfectly, depositing her gently into Klaus’s arms.
Elisabeth and Lina watched, stunned into absolute silence. Of all the people in his life, only Alexandra, who had witnessed the chaos at Northwatch, knew Klaus was a mage as well as a swordsman—a feat considered impossible on the Runiya Continent.
After a long, suspended mont, the maid Lina simply bowed and, with a silent understanding that great houses kept great secrets, retreated quickly to leave the family alone.
Elisabeth’s shock slowly lted into a profound, almost relieved understanding.
"So, you could use magic all along," she murmured, her eyes wide. She was not angry or afraid, but simply contemplative. "That explains so many of the strange accidents you used to have as a child, Klaus. The tis I found objects floating just out of reach, or the tis you were caught in a place no small kid could ever reach."
Klaus offered her a simple smile, choosing not to deny the truth but also choosing not to explain the impossible duality of his power.
He sat down on the third chair, Eleara nestled safely in the crook of his arm, already falling asleep. He had his mother on his left and Alexandra on his right.
"How was it?" Alexandra asked imdiately, her voice sharp with apprehension, referring to the eting with Roman Lionhart.
"He changed," Klaus said simply.
"How so?"
Klaus looked at his cousin. "You will have to go and see for yourself, Alexandra. I cannot fully describe it."
"Just tell , will you!" she insisted, leaning forward.
Elisabeth watched their exchange, her features softening as she saw her son teasing his cousin with a genuine, open smile. It was the first ti she had seen him so relaxed, so fully present, in years.
The three sat in comfortable silence, finishing their tea. After a few minutes, Alexandra stood, offering Klaus a quick, worried glance.
"I must start my preparations," she said, her voice dropping. "Captain Kalix will be requiring my assistance soon, and I assu the Main Line descendants are already scrambling to execute their political missions. Be careful, Klaus."
Alexandra left, her footsteps quick and decisive.
Klaus was left alone with his mother, Eleara’s steady, soft breathing the only sound in the garden. It was the mont he had been waiting for.
"Mother," Klaus said, his voice dropping to a low, serious tone. "I need to know more about your father. I need to know the kind of man Reizhor Raikra, the Beast Emperor, truly is."
Elisabeth sighed, her eyes distant, focused on sothing only she could see from the past. "He is a very proud man, Klaus. A stubborn and difficult man, who fears weakness more than he fears death."
"That is all?" Klaus asked, needing more, needing personal details that could unlock his grandfather’s rigid will.
Elisabeth gave a brittle, lancholic smile. "Well, I can tell you that he was fiercely protective of . I am his only daughter, and the contrast between how he raised and how he raised my brothers was stark."
She paused, gathering her thoughts. "He was hard on all my brothers, demanding and unforgiving, pushing them relentlessly to beco the powerful Beast Warriors they are today. But he was always soft with . I was extrely talented, but he never once pushed to join the beast Warrior ranks. I think he wanted to live a life far removed from the battlefield, a life that was safe and secure."
The silence stretched, filled only by the rustling leaves.
"When he heard about your father, Ludovic, about the broken mana core... he was furious. He demanded that I break off the engagent imdiately and return to the Raikra Empire. When I refused, we secretly married here in Rikxia. My father’s rage was so profound that he prepared for war with your grandfather, the Ice Monarch, rely over the perceived dishonor of my marriage to a useless man."
Klaus listened intently, processing this critical piece of history. The Beast Emperor was willing to go to war over honor.
"I had to intervene," Elisabeth continued, her eyes growing wet with the mory. "I told him that if he raised a single sword against the Rikxia Empire, I would take my own life before his troops ever crossed the border. He stopped then, but his rage never truly left him."
Is that the true reason he stays neutral? Klaus thought. Because of my mother’s threat? Or is he rely waiting, seeing an opportunity in the coming chaos?
Klaus shifted Eleara slightly, his curiosity focused on the future rather than the past.
"Mother," he asked, his voice low and cautious. "Do you happen to know what his ultimate dream is? The one goal he has always chased?"
Elisabeth looked at her son, her eyes reflecting the sudden, cold comprehension of the political necessity driving his question. She offered him a sad, resolute smile, and nodded.
"My father’s life has been devoted to one purpose, Klaus," she confessed. "The ultimate dream of Reizhor Raikra, the Beast Emperor, is to unite the entire Runiya Continent under his banner, securing the absolute dominance of the Raikra Empire."
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