Dust that is exhaled in the air.
From this place I once called home.
Stones in my path, destroyed houses, of a world that is already gone.
And now, they take pride in what little they have.
Just watching these walls, separating everything and everyone.
Do I believe what my mother said?
I don't know.
That's why I've been asking myself, my entire life.
What is my true objective?
Chapter 40:
"A True Queen"
Arc 5: Chapter 1
POV: Luna Lighting
The cathedral doors opened.
Many people were there. Nobles. Priests. Soldiers. Commanders.
Aldert and Luka weren't there. Still recovering.
Descending the stairs, I noticed the looks toward me.
The guilt that poured into me, never in my victory, only in this damned defeat.
Does that matter now?
When I positioned myself among the commanders and important vassals, the priest entered.
Always that robe. Annoying.
Suddenly, they descended.
Leonas, along with the other vassals of darkness, descended with the coffin.
It was dark. With the symbol of darkness stamped on it. That red crest with the black symbol.
Bruce Darking's coffin was placed there.
My grandfather.
My beloved grandfather.
My damned grandfather.
I can't help but feel this rage.
All the knights, commanders, nobles, and vassals stood up.
They looked at the coffin.
"He is gone," the priest began.
"The darkness that taught us all these years."
Hypocrisy.
"To the God of powers," he continued.
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"To the demons in the stones."
Cynically.
Everyone applauded.
The coffin remained there. It was opened. For everyone to observe.
The strongest man in the world is now dead. There, all dressed up in death.
I didn't want to look at him.
I don't want to anymore.
Everyone remained there. Especially Leonas, crying...
Great hypocrite.
The wake was filled with people.
Putting on a face that wasn't my real one, whenever someone passed by.
Two days had passed since the destruction in the kingdom's capital.
In front of the tower, now being rebuilt.
No House leader had decided to look each other in the face yet, after everything.
But the meeting was held, anyway.
Everyone accepted.
Good, because many things need to be said and put to the test.
In front of the door, I saw him.
Great Alfredo Lighting.
He was already recovering. Always with his head down.
He wasn't in the battle.
But that was entirely his fault. He knew that.
No, I'm not being a hypocrite for thinking this way.
His injuries hadn't fully healed yet. He was having difficulty descending the stairs, but it was noticeable. He was already capable, even like that, of defeating 99% of the people in this kingdom.
He came to me. A bit unsteady.
I was in front of that coffin.
I wouldn't look at him until he arrived.
He arrived.
"Luna," he said, his voice very low.
"Alfredo... Have you recovered?"
"Yes, I had many prayers... So, this happened, and I wasn't here."
You're going to blame yourself, uncle. I already know that, you don't need to tell me.
"He said he wouldn't save me. Did you know that?"
"What?" he replied.
Don't pretend you didn't hear.
"He said, my great-grandfather, that he would never regret not coming to save me. DID YOU KNOW THAT?"
I looked at him.
Some vassals might have heard the scream. I don't care. It was just him and me at that moment in the cathedral now. I don't care about more than four eyes and two mouths.
"I..." he tried to speak. He averted his eyes. Couldn't finish.
Or didn't want to. I don't know.
"You were writing your book, weren't you? You were, during the times my brother and I were dying in that hell. Were you trying to find a path to peace? TO PEACE? ARE YOU SERIOUS?! We already have this DAMN PEACE, UNCLE!"
I screamed. With all my strength.
He just kept looking at me.
"I will always regret this... You, your mother..." he said.
"That doesn't solve it. It never did. Because I am, since I was born, the salvation, aren't I? I am not the salvation. I am not this crap! You're just like them... Like all of them. When I returned, I DIDN'T LEAD ANYTHING! Who led was Bruce. From the start. And you read the report, didn't you?"
"Yes..." he admitted.
He knows Bruce used it. Used the stone.
"Then you know... Now you know? And if you always knew?"
I know you might be hiding it.
Then, he began.
His legs are weak. He knelt. In front of me.
I don't know what to think.
He kept his head down.
"I didn't know... Please, let me. You are the path to peace. Now I see... I don't need to write books, keep blaming myself for idiocies and theories. You are the practice now."
He said.
I kept my head up. Without looking at him. Without looking into his damned eyes.
"Since I arrived, I wasn't taught to lead. About laws, about houses, about history, about nothing... Just a tool. No one believed in me. The foolish girl, who, even with the power of many years of waiting, never actually led... Now, I'm forced to see people looking at me badly for protecting the ONLY THING THAT HAD PROTECTED ME FROM SOMETHING YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE! BUT YOU STAYED HERE!... And now, Bruce is even using the destruction stone, killing civilians, they're here, idolizing him... And do you know what they did? They kept secret what he did..."
I said almost everything I wanted to say.
As always.
Never really everything.
Weak.
That's what I am.
But, little by little, I'll try not to be.
He kept looking at me. Even kneeling there.
"All my mistakes, all my failures..."
"You preferred," I continued. "You know what you preferred. When you fought against Bruce, and you chose and decided to go to death, you didn't think of me. You weren't loyal. You betrayed me. Left me alone. My only supporter at that moment. You knew what Bruce was doing. You and Theodora. And you did nothing. And now I ask myself, Alfredo Lighting. What are you going to be now...?"
"I WILL BE EVERYTHING I COULDN'T BE!" he shouted.
"My sword will be yours. I will die for your peace, for your power. The definitive light. I lived on my own judgments of myself, failures I could never fix. But now, I realize what I actually did. I betrayed my house. I offered nothing that I could have offered. And, on that deathbed, I finally understood. Tell me... What will we do? And I will obey."
Now I heard what I wanted to hear.
I looked at him.
"You know what we'll do."
He looked at me, confused.
But now, he already knows.
"I will be... A true queen."
I said.
With steps toward the stairs. To leave that cathedral.
The House meeting would finally be held after everything.
"Are you coming?" I asked him.
He was already standing. Nodded.
"To the end, I will."
That's the look I want.
Climbing the stairs, I go ready.
To face the council.
To finally understand this world.
And to lead as a definitive.
Luna's First POV:
A whirlwind of emotions. Extremely detailed when it comes to the world, its rules, its knowledge, and the conflict against its power, she comes across as chaotic, happy, and an ever-shifting mix of feelings. Her biggest flaw? Her analysis of emotions is deeply flawed—making her utterly unreliable in that regard, unlike "???".