Chapter Text
“For all intents and purposes, you have become Sothis herself. You possessed her divine essence and while the powers that she once possessed are yet to manifest within you, it will only be a matter of time before they awaken.”
The King of Fodlan’s green eyes opened to meet the ceiling of his bedroom, a bedroom he shared with the lovely queen sleeping soundly beside him, in between her relaxed breathing lay a subtle smile of content. Could it be a dream? Or is she subconsciously smiling at how well the past months have been nothing but a joy for her?
Despite seeing the majestic image of his wife soundly sleeping, Byleth couldn’t help but feel uneasy about having dreams of his conversations with Seteth almost two years ago and to the present when the Archbishop discussed the growing powers of the Goddess that once coinhabited Byleth’s consciousness.
Lately, such dreams have been reminding him of a possibility that scares him yet would sound like a blessing to anyone ignorant of its consequences.
The possibility of him as an immortal being, immune to the passing of time yet would suffer the pain of seeing loved ones live and die each passing generation, scares him.
When his mind is preoccupied on other matters, he does well to ignore such reminders of his unique circumstance… such as now.
Seeing the slim frame of his wife’s body sleeping beside him, her light purple nightgown doing little to conceal the curves of her body. Byleth found himself in a sudden mood to wake his wife up in a more… sensual manner.
Tracing his right hands on Lysithea’s legs leading up to her thighs, Byleth couldn’t help but smirk at how his queen’s body shuddered at his soft touch, retracing his hands back down to her leg and repeating the same motions, feeling his wife’s smooth skin.
“B-Byleth… stop…” Lysithea feebly whined yet on her lips bore a smile as her eyes slowly fluttered to reveal pinkish red orbs that Byleth thoroughly loved looking at.
“Why?” Byleth asked with a small smirk, not stopping with his repeating motions to Lysithea’s legs.
“We… have a busy day today… remember?” Lysithea giggled and touched her husband’s cheek with a sheepish sweet smile. “Good morning, my love.”
Byleth chuckled and leaned down to place a tender kiss on Lysithea’s lips which she returned back.
“Doesn’t mean we can’t have some extra time for ourselves.” Byleth reasoned playfully.
Lysithea shook her head. “I didn’t say we can’t have time for ourselves after all is done, I’m sure that will be the time it is more… worth it.” The queen said it so suggestively that Byleth could feel the near uncontrollable urge to just give in to his baser instincts.
Until eager knocks erupted from their bedroom door.
“Mom! Dad! Breakfast is ready!” An eager upbeat voice spoke from behind the door which was followed by another voice.
“Bweakfast ready.” A voice belonging to a toddler boy spoke to repeat what his older sister said.
Lysithea gave Byleth a knowing smirk after seeing Byleth’s own falter at the untimely arrival of his children.
“You should know by now that Lyla is committed to rousing us up from our sleep at this hour in the day.” Lysithea said, displaying a small amount of amusement from her husband’s reaction.
It didn’t take long for Byleth to chuckle. ”Of course. Lyla’s punctuality at such an age is something…”
“I’m afraid she got that from me.” Lysithea replied as she sat up in her bed, walking towards the basin of water near the vanity where the queen fixes her appearance to look presentable.
“Mom? Dad? Time to wake up!” Lyla spoke once again after she had been answered with nothing but silence from her parents.
“We’ll be there soon, Lyla.” Byleth answered back to his daughter after she attempted a few knocks.
Byleth got out of his bed and briefly glanced at the window door leading to the balcony of their room that oversees the city of Derdriu, the capital and seat of power of his kingdom.
The city itself was beginning to wake up as merchants began to ply their goods, laborers began to carry out their tasks and chimneys began to release smoke signifying its owners were cooking their breakfast.
Byleth sighed as he remembered what he and Lysithea are supposed to do for this day.
“This is going to be a long day.”
One other concern for Byleth and also, Lysithea was progressing physical change in their daughter’s appearance, the young princess’ once teal green hair that mirrored her father’s original hair color was turning more green than teal ever since she started aging from the age of five up until now, her hair color now being turquoise.
Lyla hummed as she applied honey on slices of wheat bread, putting them down on one plate that also contained scrambled eggs with melted cheese on it.
The royal family of Fodlan had always eaten breakfast in the open area of the palace garden, surrounded by the fresh fragrance of the various plant life around them, greeting their mornings and adding some sort of soothing feeling as they ate there.
“Good boy, Jeralt.” Lysithea cooed at her two year old son, who was sitting on a high chair fit for toddlers like him.
Lysithea made sure none of the oatmeal Jeralt was fed with didn’t drop on Jeralt’s clothes as the toddler prince sloppily ate his meal. Lysithea smiled at her son and couldn’t help but feel happy for his growth, his appearance bearing more resemblance to Byleth than her but with his paternal grandfather’s light brown hair.
Seeing how Jeralt is busy with his own food, Lysithea took a bite of her own bread topped with jam and took a sip of her breakfast tea.
Byleth, who was sitting beside her on the roundtable they are eating on, nonchalantly took a bite of bacon while looking through various letters still sealed in their envelopes, each with varying seals from different people, people he knew.
“Lyla, what did I tell you about reading while eating on the table?” Lysithea slightly frowned at her daughter. Lyla looked up from the book she was reading as she munched on her slice of honey bread, her eyes balking at the look her mother was giving her.
“Sorry mom, I have been reading on this encyclopedia--”
Lysithea sighed. “My little sweet, I understand your passion for reading and learning new things,” Lysithea began as an image of her younger self overlayed with that of her daughter.
“But there’s a time and place for everything, don’t do it while we eat.” Lysithea softly scolded.
Lyla paused for a bit before closing the encyclopedia that had gotten her full attention, placing it on an unoccupied area of the table, safe from any traces of food that may dirty it.
Lysithea then turned her eyes on her husband, her eyes looking on in disapproval at how his eyes are fixated on one particular letter that he had opened from its wax sealed envelope.
“That goes for you too as well, my love. No working matters while we eat.” Lysithea admonished her husband. As one of their agreements on that fateful night a few years back, they were to separate thinking about their work on certain times and circumstances, and rather just enjoy their time as a family.
Byleth gave his wife an apologetic smile. “Sorry, it’s just Professor Hanneman.”
This took Lysithea’s attention after she fed Jeralt a small spoonful of oatmeal.
“Professor Hanneman?”
“It’s been some time since I heard from him so I figured if he sent a letter… it would be something of great importance.” Byleth reasoned for his transgression on Lysithea’s sacred table manners.
Lysithea simply looked at him before gesturing to Byleth to read it, she herself was curious on what the aged professor had to say considering the nature of his current undertaking for the people of Fodlan.
“He’s found ways to reverse engineer the Agarthan technology that were scavenged in Shambhala and those that were retrieved from Enbarr.” Byleth said, summarizing Hanneman’s long-winded explanations filled with jargon in the letter.
“A breakthrough? I do hope it’s not weapons, the last thing Fodlan needs are those weapons of mass destruction those monsters had.” Lysithea spitefully said as she recalled the Agarthans and the many atrocities they had committed towards her, Edelgard and many other people who fell prey to them.
Byleth gave her a reassuring smile. “On the contrary, he’s found ways to use their technology as a basis for many ideas he had thought to increase the quality of the daily lives of the people.”
Byleth read through Hanneman’s explanation that he can use the basis of powering up machinery or objects with a power core, the same principle that the Heroes’ Relics were powered by the Crest Stones embedded in them and being triggered by the Crest user.
“Instead of Crest Stones acting as power sources… he came up with the idea of using power cores that are magically charged… he even theorized he could harness lightning itself to use but he needs to find a safe way to do so.”
Lysithea placed her fingers on her chin as she thought. “Did he go into specifics on where such things could be used?”
Byleth nodded as he read on. “Light sources that aren’t lamps or candles… increased sanitation and agricultural production… there’s also matters of easier and cheaper access to personal hygiene…” Byleth raised an eyebrow in question at what he read next.
“Flying ships?”
Lysithea looked at Byleth and the letter with an incredulous frown.
“Flying ships? You’re kidding, right?” Lysithea asked with a doubtful look.
Byleth shook his head, he too was unable to process what Hanneman just referred to in his letter and decided to move on with the rest of the letter.
“He said he also found some old blueprints in Abyss’ Shadow Library about a machine that writes on paper in many quantities, he believes that if this ‘printing’ machine is made, it can greatly aid in the shortage of books and studying materials that your plan on educating the masses is currently facing.”
Now that was something that Lysithea suddenly looked forward to, she had been adamant in her agenda of providing education to the people of Fodlan for all social classes which earned her the moniker of The Scholar Queen for her efforts in improving the quality of life of mostly the commoners by educating them. Knowledge is power after all and Lysithea believes that if the people of Fodlan can think more for themselves, so will their lives improve.
That and they will also be less gullible to blindly believe in the honeyed words of duplicitous leaders.
“Professor Hanneman requests an audience with us in the next month, he believes that he can better show us what he has discovered in greater detail if he can explain and show it in person.” Byleth said before folding the letter back. “He also asked if Lyla has shown any signs…”
Both monarchs looked at their daughter who was happily eating her honeyed bread until the young princess noticed her parents’ stare.
“Did I do something wrong?” She asked with uncertainty, she didn’t know what to make of her parents’ stare at her.
The two realized how their stares had bothered their daughter, they gave her a smile of reassurance.
“Nothing’s wrong, Lyla.” Byleth began. “We were just wondering how fast you are growing up.” He lied.
Lysithea nodded in agreement. “Maybe too fast.”
Lyla looked puzzled. “But I thought it was you and Auntie Mari who told me I should start acting properly as a princess…”
The Queen of Fodlan inwardly sighed, she had nearly forgotten that was equally responsible for the rate Lyla was growing up, she often scolded her daughter for her selfish bouts brought upon by her age and her more carefree upbringing in a world free from strife and dangers lurking in the shadows.
Everything just changed for Lyla one day, she became less spoiled which Lysithea saw as an improvement but in exchange, Lyla is seemingly more occupied in learning new things and trying to prove her worth to the point of detriment.
Lysithea had only wanted to discipline her daughter’s spoiled behavior but at the same time, she wanted Lyla to enjoy her childhood, a childhood that she and Byleth had been denied due to their own individual circumstances. She did not expect Lyla would take her words to act properly to an extent that she had begun to mature way beyond what her age suggests.
Suddenly, Lysithea felt light patting on her stomach. It was Lyla, patting her stomach gently before placing her right ear on her stomach.
“Isn’t the baby kicking like Jeralt did?” Lyla asked as she waited for something that wasn’t possible yet.
Byleth and Lysithea could only warmly smile at their daughter’s innocence.
It’s been a week since they found out that Lysithea was pregnant with her third child, the palace physician hypothesized that she had been pregnant for a month now and thus advised the queen of what she must do to ensure the safe growth of the budding life in her.
This of course, made her husband and daughter excited with Jeralt being the only one indifferent due to his lack of understanding on what was happening.
Despite not planning on a third child of their loving union, Byleth was nonetheless elated to see his family growing while Lyla was excited to help raise and protect the third Eisner child like she did with Jeralt.
“No, my little sweet,” Lysithea giggled at Lyla’s question. “Your baby brother or sister isn’t developed enough to kick yet, we’ll have to wait for a few more months for that to happen.”
Lyla looked mildly disappointed, withdrawing her ear from Lysithea’s relatively flat belly for now.
“I wonder what his or her name is… if the baby is a boy or a girl…” Lyla mused, pinkish red eyes never leaving her mother’s belly.
“Well, what do you want your sibling to be?” Byleth warmly asked as he and Lysithea patiently waited for their daughter to answer.
Lyla shrugged with a grin. “I don’t mind if it’s either a girl or a boy, I will always protect the baby and play with it like I do with Jeralt!” She said with firm resolve and excitement.
“Oh! Oh! Have you and dad thought of a name?” Lyla asked excitedly.
Her parents lightly laughed in glee at their daughter’s clear anticipation of her next sibling.
“Not yet.” Byleth replied after taking a sip of his tea. “But I have an idea, think of a name for your baby brother or sister, we still have seven to eight months before he or she is born, can you do that?”
Lyla grinned. “I will look up for the best possible names!” She enthusiastically replied.
Lysithea giggled and warmly patted her daughter’s head.
“Just don’t give baby names based on sweets, okay?” Lysithea jokingly pleaded only for Lyla to frown.
“Aww but I was thinking the baby’s name would be Cupcake or Pudding!”
At least Lysithea and Byleth are still assured that Lyla isn’t growing up THAT fast yet if she was still thinking of silly things such as naming her sibling over something she eats.
After finishing breakfast and leaving Jeralt and Lyla to be tended by their appointed nanny while they partake in their royal duties, Byleth and Lysithea decided to truly begin their days as the rulers of Fodlan.
“I do miss it when she still calls us mommy and daddy.” Byleth sighed wishfully, his left hand holding the pommel of the Sword of the Creator strapped on the side of his waist.
The monarch walked through the halls leading to their audience chamber where their thrones were situated, as they passed by the halls of the palace, the servants bowed and greeted them with respect.
“She’s growing up way too fast.” Lysithea lamented. “While I do appreciate Lyla’s growing maturity, I fear that she may take in things far above her age. Can you believe what our daughter asked me for last night when I tucked her and Jeralt to bed?”
Byleth merely gave her an inquisitive raise of his brow.
“She asked me if she can stand with us today when we receive petitioners or reports from our people.”
Byleth further gave Lysithea a questioning look. “And you said no? Why?”
Lysithea sighed deeply. “Byleth, I don’t want to burden our children on politics and the stress associated with it at such a tender young age. Unlike both of us, they have the opportunity to live a carefree childhood that we were denied of. I was hoping Lyla would appreciate what we didn’t have…”
The Fodlan King briefly looked up at the ceiling of the hallway before breathing in the air to relay his response.
“And if Lyla truly wants to learn first hand what it means to be a ruler, would you deny her?” Byleth asked questioningly.
This took the Fodlan Queen by surprise, she expected her husband would understand her concern regarding Lyla but it seemed like the opposite.
“If it really is in heart, her passion to both learn and perform her duties as the princess, would you stop her from pursuing it?”
“I…” She couldn’t find a way to formulate her own response to her husband’s words, she had realized that in her wish to give Lyla a better childhood that they both didn’t have, she was beginning to show signs of holding Lyla back to what she may be passionate to do in the future.
Maybe it was just her maternal instincts compelling her to do so. Nonetheless, politics shouldn’t be what a seven year old should think about in her age--
“She had also asked me a few days ago on teaching her how to swing a sword properly.”
“Wait, you too?”
“Huh?”
“She also asked me if she can start learning magic as well!”
A brief moment of silence befell the two monarchs as they stopped at the closed door that would lead to the audience chamber and where their thrones are.
“She said she wants to learn how to protect Jeralt and the baby.” Byleth and Lysithea said almost at the same time when they realized Lyla’s request to teach her how to fight.
The two sighed in unison but decided to discuss this particular matter later as they have arrived at their destination.
Byleth gave the guards that were guarding the door a nod to open it to reveal the audience chamber with them coming out from the back entrance behind where their thrones are.
“His Majesty, King Byleth Eisner and Her Majesty, Queen Lysithea Eisner has arrived!” A crier announced after seeing his lieges’ arrival, the petitioners of both commoners and nobles all gathered as Byleth and Lysithea walked a few short steps up to their thrones and sat down, Byleth removing the Sword of the Creator from his waist and leaned it to one of the armrest of his throne.
Now, the real work finally begins for both of them.
Lysithea breathed a sigh of relief as she permitted herself to slump her back on her throne after hearing the last of their subjects’ petitions regarding a certain matter.
“Don’t tire yourself too much, don’t forget that you are pregnant.” Byleth said with a look of concern at his wife’s tired look.
“Kind of hard to do that when the matters being discussed are borne from my own policies.” Lysithea reasoned, glancing at the nearly empty audience chamber with the last of the petitioners leaving through the main door with only the palace guards remaining with them.
Byleth placed his left hand over Lysithea’s right hand on the armrest of her throne, rubbing the back of her hand soothingly.
“It will be lunch soon, we can take a break before moving on for the afternoon’s tasks.” Byleth assured her but being reminded of her job in the afternoon only made the queen groan.
She doesn’t know why she was out of it today, normally she can power through the demands of her role as the Queen of Fodlan with no issue ever since she and Byleth had a more relaxed day to day pattern after one fateful night. She blames pregnancy-induced fatigue which she had felt several times already when she was pregnant with Lyla and Jeralt years ago.
“Right, with paperworks and inspection of the schools being built around Derdriu.” Lysithea whined before gesturing to a guard holding a tray of refreshments and glasses to come to her.
The guard wordlessly approached the queen and poured one of the empty glasses with water that Lysithea immediately downed with one gulp, refreshing her parched throat with the cold water.
Lysithea had the guard pour water to the glass, wanting more water to recover from speaking with her subjects as Byleth observed her tired frame. Then something hit him, were they forgetting someone among all the people they listened to?
Thanking the guard as she brought the glass of water up to her lips to drink, the main doors leading in and out of the audience chamber opened, surprising everyone inside to the point that Lysithea choked on the water she was drinking, leading for Byleth to stand up from his throne and pat his wife’s back as she sputtered out water and saliva.
“I say! It is so rude of the palace guards to forget about my illustrious presence! I don't know if they forgot about me or intended to ignore me!”
Countess Constance von Nuvelle.
The one who inherited the Ordelia lands after Lysithea dissolved House Ordelia and retired her parents to a peaceful simple life elsewhere in the Leicester region.
Byleth had forgotten that she had sent a letter prior to this day, a week ago if he remembers correctly yet the contents of her letter were forgotten like everything was that day due the news of Lysithea’s third pregnancy. He was both shocked and excited with the news that he had forgotten everything else on that day.
“Hey! You can’t just barge in the audience chamber!” One of the guards hurried to her side to forcefully escort her out.
“Get your hands off me, you buffoon! His Majesty is expecting me today!” Constance argued, shrugging the hands that tugged to her arm.
“And we told you several times--”
“Let her in.” Byleth ordered as the guards coming to restrain Constance nodded and backed away from the blonde countess as Lysithea recovered from the water that attacked her throat, wiping her nose and mouth clean with a clean napkin.
Constance scoffed at the guards and fixed the ruffled sleeves of her crimson dress and walked forward before kneeling at the base of the steps that lead to the thrones.
“What… are you…” Lysithea coughed as remnants of water remained stuck in her throat. “... doing here, Constance?”
Just when Lysithea thought she could take a break, she still has to deal with Constance of all people. She doesn’t exactly dislike the woman, she did entrust her with the lordship over former Ordelia territory but Lysithea would be lying if she doesn’t think dealing with Constance is quite… annoying due to her mannerisms in and out of the sun.
Constance looked up at the monarchs sitting on the throne with a smile of pride.
“As I mentioned in my letters, I have arrived to present a magical exhibition of my latest spell!” Constance said. “It seems my fine elegant self has found yet another way for people to benefit with magic!”
This was followed by a haughty laughter from Constance, barely covering her mouth as Lysithea sighed irritably at her.
That was one of the reasons she isn’t totally fond of the countess.
But Constance despite all her bravado, wasn’t all just talk. The last time she had devised a magic spell that she claimed would benefit the people of Fodlan, turned out to be not all talk.
“Constance, first of, I want to--” Byleth’s attempted to apologize for forgetting about her.
“Thank me for that amazing magic project of mine in increasing crop yield and hastening the growth of plants to address the shortage of food during famine?” Constance interrupted the king whilst beaming with pride.
“That is--”
“There is no need to offer me thanks, Your Majesty!”
Byleth sighed as the countess was too enamored with her accomplishment and self-praise, he had practically given up offering her an explanation and simply let her speak her piece.
Lysithea had her left hand over her face, her left elbow resting on the armrest as Constance spoke about her report on the effects of her magic on the people of her territory.
“And as such, I offer to you my services again! Especially to you, my king.” Constance said which finally got both monarchs’ attention.
“Me?”
Constance nodded with a smile. “Besides my assistant-- wait, where is my assistant?” She looked around the audience chamber looking for someone specific.
“MARTHA!”
“Right here, my lady! Sorry! I fell asleep waiting outside!” A girl with disheveled red hair spoke, carrying tomes and scrolls on her arms as she scampered in the audience chamber beside Constance.
The countess sighed at her personal assistant. “Ugh, anyhow as I was saying Your Majesties… will it be alright if we speak in private in this room? For the information I bear is of great privacy.”
Byleth and Lysithea raised their eyebrows in suspicion but nonetheless acquiesced.
“Leave us.” Byleth ordered each and everyone of the guards who nodded at the order and left without a word, closing the doors behind them to stand guard outside the audience chamber.
Seeing as the four of them are the only ones inside, Lysithea gestured towards Constance.
“Now, what is this about?” The queen asked, arms folded over her chest.
All of a sudden, Constance’s usual proud smile turned one of solemnity
“First of, I would like to apologize to you, King Byleth.” Constance said with an apologetic bow and before Byleth could ask, Constance continued. “I have… heard of your unique situation regarding the assumed immortality that you possessed.”
Byleth’s green eyes widened with Lysithea looking back and forth at him and Constance.
It wasn’t a secret among the inner circle in the army that fought the Empire seven years ago that Byleth once housed the soul of the Goddess Sothis, a secret that Byleth shared to them upon his return. While a lot of them didn’t think that Rhea’s declaration of Byleth being Sothis was true, his accomplishments later on had given them credence to believe such a claim.
Besides, everyone delusional enough can claim that their soul and the Goddess’ now exists as one but they knew Byleth to be the kind of person who wouldn’t joke about such matters. Even Seteth had backed up the claim due to the confirmation he received from Rhea prior to her capture by Edelgard.
But only a select few knows of Byleth’s supposed immortality supplanted by his own fear of it. Seteth was one of those few but it was Lysithea who was intimately knowledgeable of what it entailed for her husband.
She had many times tried to comfort her husband over his fear, his fear of outliving everyone, seeing his friends and loved ones live and die while he remains alone. She couldn’t find a concrete way to help assure her husband and it hurt her to see Byleth so distraught about a future.
“You may say that it is still far away but those years are just miniscule compared to the many lifetimes I will have to live alone.”
“I found out when I overheard you and Seteth speaking to one another in one of the rooms in my manor when I hosted a party celebrating the completion of the magic academy I had proposed.”
It was a party that many of the Golden Deer had attended, while some including Claude and Hilda couldn’t arrive due to differing plausible reasons, it served as another party of reunion for those who did especially for Felix and Annette attended it with their son.
Byleth remained quiet as he was reminded of the grim future he will have to endure alone. Lysithea only looked to him with eyes filled with concern, placing her right hand over his left hand on the armrest of his throne.
This is such a delicate matter for her husband, one that he doesn’t share quite so easily.
“I think I may have found a way to help you with your dilemma.”
Byleth and Lysithea both looked back at Constance who bore a smile of genuine reassurance.
However, the Fodlan King bore a doubtful look. While he has no doubts on the creative magic that Constance has constantly shown, in what way does she think she can solve his problem?
“If you found a way to give longevity to someone--”
“The spell I have crafted is not a spell that grants longevity to one’s life, my queen.” Constance postulated. “I have found a way to return the years of a person back with such a spell.”
There was silence as both the king and queen stared at Constance, wide-eyed at her reveal.
“You mean… return a person’s age…?” Lysithea asked in disbelief, despite her own knowledge of the arcane, she does not recall that such a thing was possible in the world, maybe perhaps the power of a higher being.
“Why, yes.” Constance bowed, placing a hand over her chest. “I have tried and tested it on animals and willing people, I can guarantee that such a spell exists.”
Their shocked reactions were all what Constance expected, the concept of such magic on reverting a person’s age seemed preposterous to Constance at first but then again, she was no stranger in developing spells that are otherwise seen as strange by conventional mages, she took it as a challenge to help her former professor with a problem that is constantly plaguing him while also elevating her revived house’s status with the gratitude of the crown if this was successful.
“That way, His Majesty will never fear the future that he will outlive the people he loves for they will never age to the hour of their death.” Constance continued to explain. “If you will allow me to demonstrate such a thing, Martha has agreed to be the recipient of my spell that I proudly call the ‘Young Again’ spell.”
Byleth and Lysithea, even Martha inwardly frowned at the rather simple name of such an impossible spell but kept their opinions to themselves.
“And it is safe?” Lysithea asked the obvious main concern of using a live test subject.
Constance bowed once more. “I have never failed in successfully invoking this spell as long as my concentration is not disturbed in any way possible.”
Lysithea then turned to Martha. “And you are fine with such arrangements?”
Martha humbly bowed in agreement. “I have placed great trust in my lady’s capabilities with all that she has accomplished.”
Byleth on the other hand was still stunned at the possibility of a scenario where he wouldn’t be alone in his later life after all. If this spell was indeed effective then… a life with Lysithea, Lyla and Jeralt in perpetuity, a life where he would not endure the pain of burying them one by one would be possible. It made his unbeating heart flutter with hope.
Giving Constance a nod to proceed with her demonstration, Constance and Martha bowed in thanks before the two formed the necessary invocation seals around them, forming a magic circle of various magical formulas that Lysithea recognizes and doesn’t as Constance and Martha wrote them on a long and wide white cloth around them as to not stain the palace’s floor and red carpet.
Martha wordlessly stepped into one of the inner circles while Constance stood on another.
“I shall now begin.” Constance declared, gathering arcane energy from within her while uttering various incantations of magic.
Slowly, Lysithea saw the familiar sight of magical circles and energy gathering but on a scale she had never seen before as Constance and Martha began to be surrounded by a gold sparkly energy while the magic circle on the cloth around them shined gold, the various written seals leaving the cloth as if materializing up on thin air.
Constance’s eyes glowed gold as well as Martha’s as the magic energy of golden color gathered on Constance’s arms. The countess of House Nuvelle then brought her hands closer together, channeling the golden energy into a sphere of pure magic.
It seemed though Constance’s incantation of her new spell seemed primed to succeed and at its finishing touches…
Until the main doors leading in and out of the audience chamber opened to reveal Lyla.
“Mom! Dad! I’ve been waiting for you two for lunch, Jeralt is getting hungry--”
Byleth and Lysithea’s eyes widened in horror at the sudden appearance of their daughter, witnessing the guards outside trying in vain to stop the princess from entering the big room only to be awestrucked to see the magic power Constance was exhibiting.
The concentration that Constance worked hard to maintain was abruptly interrupted when Constance peered away to see Lyla approaching and narrowly stepping on the magic circle as she entered.
“No! Don’t go in!” Constance yelled out, startling Lyla from the sudden outburst.
“Lyla!”
“Don’t move!”
Byleth and Lysithea desperately shouted, both of them standing up from their thrones after witnessing how close Lyla was in setting foot to Constance’s magic circle.
The unneeded distraction was all that was needed for the recipe of misfortune to come into fruition. With her concentration ruined, the golden sphere of magic energy flung out from Constance’s hands, the sphere being intended for Martha instead went out of control as it wildly flew around the audience chamber as the shocked inhabitants of the room watched in shock at the bouncing sphere of magic.
Byleth was able to snap out of his shock before eyeing the Sword of the Creator that leaned on one of the armrests of his throne, grabbing it by the handle, Byleth intended to use the divine sword’s power to destroy the sphere of magic but it was too late.
The sphere of magic bounced on the ceiling above them just as Byleth was able to get his hands on his sword, narrowly missing Byleth but hitting Lysithea straight to the head, sending her flying a short distance away from the throne and falling on the base of short steps to their thrones.
Byleth and Lyla’s eyes widened in extreme horror when they saw the queen fall on the floor, both screaming for her with worry as Constance and Martha can only watch in shock at the unexpected turn of events, the golden magic circle around them dissipating into nothing.
Lysithea’s vision was hazy as she started seeing two or three of her surroundings, clearly dazed. She couldn’t hear the concerned voices of her husband and daughter as there was only a constant annoying ringing sound within her ears probably due to the result of her getting hit in the head by the sphere of magic or her hitting her head when she fell down.
Nonetheless, Lysithea could feel her strength leaving her and her conscious drifting to the state of unconsciousness as her vision began to darken, her eyes suddenly felt heavy as her eyelids dropped down and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.
A pair of pinkish red eyes opened to meet the ceiling of a room she does not recognize.
Groaning from the pain in her head, she sat up from the large bed she saw herself in, she touched the back of her head to feel a small bump on it.
Lysithea had no recollection of what had transpired and how she got such a small but painful bump on her head.
With a sigh, Lysithea resolved to look at the mirror on the vanity table near the bed she was in, feeling wobbly in her legs first as she got out of the bed, Lysithea walked towards the vanity table to properly identify where this bump was so she can have Professor Manuela treat it at the infirmary later.
Yet why doesn’t she recognize this room? This large room that seems to be far too luxurious than the ones she found in Garreg Mach. As far as she knows, only Lady Rhea had the privilege for such luxury but being a woman of the cloth and head of a religion, it wouldn’t be right for the Archbishop to have such a room.
So… where was she?
Looking towards the mirror, Lysithea von Ordelia, navigated her hands to where the bump was on her head before she noticed a ring she wore on her left ring finger. The ring was slightly loose, too big for her current ring fingers yet the silver ring looked so beautiful with such amethyst decorating it.
But the bigger question is, where did she get this? She never did like the idea of wearing such jewelry, she found it bothersome and unnecessary after all, her family can’t afford such luxury--
The door to the room opened, prompting Lysithea to turn around and glance at the rude person who dared to enter without knocking first.
Her frown met one of relief.
Pinkish red eyes to pinkish red eyes stared at each other.
“Mom! You’re awake!”
The little girl she couldn’t even recognize ran up to her and suddenly embraced her, snuggling her head on her chest as Lysithea tried to process what this girl with turquoise hair and eyes the same color as hers had just called her.
“Who are you?” The fifteen year old girl asked Lyla, who only looked up at her with a confused look.