The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Eighty One

Nievo's sudden decision to leave disturbed me, not only because I was not expecting it but also because I was worried that he might get hurt. The Rain Phantom was still at large, and I don't know where Nievo went so I panicked a little. I don't even know how he managed to get out of here in the Ritual Grounds. Getting out of here was as hard as getting in, so he might have done something to escape from my sanctuary. But sensing danger for him I wasted no time in searching for him but to no avail. But just like Kentan or the Rain Phantom, Nievo proved to be too elusive to find. That is why I went to the Palace of Aure and asked for the help of the Royal Family and the Council as well. 

"That young man is from Carmel. He might have gone back there," said the young Queen Hayana. "I could ask someone to accompany you there, my dear deity. Or if you permit me, I would be glad to join you in searching for him personally."

"Would that be alright? Your husband might not like our idea."

"Oh, trust me my dear deity, he will have no choice once I told him about my plan" she added and even giggled like a child. It seems like the young Queen was enjoying what was happening, unlike me who was now very worried for Nievo's safety. 

"Why does he have to go? And he did not even ask for my permission. Technically, he is a servant of mine... He should have at least left a note telling me where he went or why he left in the first place. He is such a trouble-maker." I was complaining all the way to Carmel, the town which they said was the home of that fool. But the young Queen seemed to have been more amused than sympathetic towards my dilemma. "Wait, why are you smiling like that? Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, my dear deity. I am just amused at how you seemed to care for the young man already. I did not know that you had that side of yours..."

I almost set the carriage where we are right now on fire from what I heard from her. "I am just worried that Kentan will try to hurt him before we can even find him. That guy is a weakling. He can't defend himself. And we don't have the luxury for him to die."

The young Queen went silent for a moment. "I see... My dear deity, so are you saying that if Nievo does now, he will not come back as the great deity of winter, Volo?"

"That's right. He will not come back as Volo if he dies now. He still doesn't have the new ability that he is supposed to have acquired by turning himself into a human. He can't die yet, or else he will just be born as another infant."

"I see... Then it is indeed a big problem. As we don't know when he will be born soon, that might take years... or decades..."

"Precisely. We cannot control when he is going to resurface again as a human if he dies right now, so we have to keep him safe. And I don't want to wait for another couple of years anymore. Once was enough."

"That's true... Plus his absence will be in favor of the deity that is trying his best to kill him... That will not be good for us and the kingdom." 

"That's right. That is why we have to find him as soon as possible."

We went silent again before the young Queen asked me another question. But this time it was a question about herself, and not for Nievo. "My dear deity... What if I told you that I think I am also like him? That I am also a deity reborn as a human... would you believe me?"

I almost fell from my seat when I heard that. "Are you serious with that?"

Queen Hayana nodded. She also smiled weakly at me, showing that she did not like whatever was going with her right now. "Remember before when I told you that I was having bad dreams? I think that I was dreaming of my previous life before... I think I have lived as a deity who mysteriously died in that body of water..."

"What are you saying?"

But she did not answer me immediately. "At first, I had doubts... At first, I just thought about it as my imagination colonizing my dreams... But night after night I have come to realize that those were real... What convinced me that maybe this was not just a set of highly creative dreams was when I dreamed of Kentan, the deity that killed me..."

My mouth fell open. "K-Killed you?"

The young Queen nodded. "My dear deity, I think I was the deity that Kentan killed first in that ocean. He killed me by wounding me with a sword laced with gold..." She almost teared up when she said that, and I could not see a reason as to why she would lie to me, a deity, who can sense whether someone is telling me the truth or not. To some extent, I can sense if someone is just making up stories by listening to the beat of their hearts. But this young woman who is also the Queen of Aure has her heart calm at the moment. She was telling me the truth. Or at least what she thinks is the truth.

"If you were indeed the deity that Kentan killed before then do you have powers that you can show me that you are indeed a deity like me?"

"I don't have powers, my dear deity. Maybe I could no longer have powers for some reason... I don't even want to believe that these were all true but that mirror that you made for the Glass Jewel of Light... That mirror that you brought to the castle... When I looked at it, aside from seeing myself as a deity just like you, I also saw something odd. It was like a premonition. I saw what will happen in the future."

Excitement almost made me turn into my bird form. "What is it? What did you see in the mirror?"

"I will die, my dear deity," she replied almost in a whisper. "I will die young and I will return as a deity. Then for some reason, I will become your enemy... And I do not want that. I don't want to be someone who will try to hurt you. You have done a lot of things for Aure. How can I betray you like that? I do not wish for that scenario to happen... So please help me, my dear deity. Help me to stop that terrible thing from happening. Tell me what to do, and I will gladly follow you..."

I would have loved to say something and tell her exactly what to do, if only I also know what to do. This was such a shocker. How did I not notice that? How did I not think of that? She already told me before about it. She already told me that she kept on dreaming about becoming another entity. But I ignored her because I thought that it was just a part of her eccentric nature. What a big mistake that was for me.

And then there was the enchanted mirror that I made from the Glass Jewel of Light. So aside from its power to show you if you are a deity or not it can also show you the future that holds for you. And it seems like it does not only work on a deity who were reborn as humans. Colet, the Gypsy, managed to see her future too, and that to me was the most intriguing. How were they able to see their future in the mirror and not me? What do I need to know to see my future too? Because to be honest, I want to see what lies ahead for me too. It might be weird for someone who literally does not die to look forward to the future, but I kind of felt jealous of the others who were able to see their futures. 

I arrived at Carmel just like that. I was still caught up in my head thinking of things that I will try so that I will be able to see my future in the enchanted mirror. The young Queen was still talking about her possible rebirth from a deity when we arrived at a house that looked like a mini-castle. It has a tower too and has a wall surrounding it. "We are now here at their residence. His family lives here."

"It is a nice place. What is this?" I looked at the compound. It looked both elegant and derelict if there was such a thing, It was elegant because it reminded me of the Palace of the Royal Family, but derelict because it seemed to have been neglected for quite some time already. 

"His mother is a potioneer. Someone who makes potions, you know. So I guess they had earned a lot of money for potion-making."

"I see..." Queen Hayana motioned for one of the Royal Guards to knock on the tall, wooden gate, and after a couple of knocks, someone opened the door. It was a middle-aged plump woman who wore what looked like the uniform of someone who was working excessively.  "Hello. Are you Livia, Nievo's mother?"

But instead of answering the Queen/s question. the woman suddenly bolted back to their home and began yelling. At first, I could not understand what she was yelling as her voice was so shrill and noisy, but then it became clear as she moved further away from us. "Nievo! The Queen and the Deity is here! I told you not to come home anymore! Now they are going to punish us all! You are so selfish you i***t!" The Queen and I exchanged meaningful glances as the woman kept on calling Nievo who seemed to be inside their house lurking. "Come out and face them and just ask for them to punish you on your own! I don't want to die yet!"

"It is not really necessary---"

"Will you please shut up, mother, will you?" said a familiar voice that made me stop talking. "Shouting like that will not save you!"

"Then go ahead and let them take you! Do not come back if that means saving us from what you did!" Nievo's mother sounded so upset and angry that I wanted to come inside their walled compound and attack her, but I restrained myself as that would only end up in the worst way possible.

"Fine! I will never come back here!" I heard Nievo yell at his mother and I was glad that he was fighting back. How could a mother tell that to her son? That was so harsh. 

When Nievo showed up at the front gate, his eyes were already red and his face flushed, but he was not crying...yet. Upon seeing me and the Queen he immediately bowed his head and knelt to the ground. "I am so sorry if you heard that---"

"I don't need your explanation or apologies right now Nievo," I told him. "Come on, let us get out of here."

He smiled weakly and stood back up. "Where are we going, my dear deity?"

"Somewhere your mother will not hear you," I just replied, and we went as far as we could from their home. 

***

This time, when I woke up, I was sure that the Crown Prince was doing something to me. I could feel his face hovering over me and that was enough to wake me up. I opened my eyes and saw that we were in a room and I don't know where this was. We were no longer inside the rented snow carriage. I was lying on a soft bed and he was beside me. With a jolt from the realization that we were in the same bed, I sat upright. "No, no no..." I whispered to myself while I checked my body if I still had my clothes on. It looks like I still had them on, and I heard a loud, booming laugh from the person beside me. 

"I did not do anything to you," he said to me simply. "We just slept together."

"Literally slept together?" I asked just to make sure.

"Literally," he affirmed. "I will not do anything to you, Rainha. I am not like that---"

"I'm sorry too!" I told him with my face red again. "But you can't blame me! I woke up right next to you!"

"Sorry. But I could not wake you up, so I brought you here to a hostel. We are in the vicinity of Ralphus' house, anyway. But since it was already in the middle of the night when we arrived, I decided to rest first."

"I see. Thank you. Dear Lord, for a moment I thought that you were taking advantage of me---"

"Not going to happen," he added. "And don't move away from me like that. Why are you so against us having some skin contact, Rainha?"

I wanted to throw the pillows at his face because of the manner of his question. It was a good thing that I can still remember that he is the Crown Prince, so I was able to stop myself in time before I did another mistake. "It is not just right," I told him as the answer to his last question. "We shouldn't be alone in a room like this."

"But this is not the first time that we did this. Remember when we were in the Forrester's mansion? I even took a bath while you were there."

"But that was before I knew that you like me too..." I replied and it was already too late. The effect of my reply had already caused a wide smile on his handsome face. 

"Whether I like you or not, we have been this close to each other, so you don't have to be afraid of me," he said and this time he was already serious. "It hurts that you think that I might do something to you. I am not like that, Rainha..."

"I'm sorry... I just can't help but feel like that."

"I don't blame you... Anyway, let us eat. I have asked the receptionist to bring food here. They are treating us nicely because I introduced myself to them as a Royal Researcher. They even offered us access to a hot bath, so if you want to clean yourself first with a bath you can have it while we wait for daybreak."

I did take a warm bath while the Crown Prince read some books that he bought at the counter. He looked alarmed though because he thought that one of the guests here was a friend of his King father. He thinks that there might be a chance that he got recognized even though he was wearing a mask. So when dawn came, we had to go to the backdoor of the hostel as an added layer of protection. 

We just walked to Sir Ralphus' residence, and to my surprise, I saw Kaylie there waiting for us at the front gate. When she saw us, she waved and motioned for us to come and get in. That to me looked like a bad omen, but the Crown prince assured me that it was just him informing the two in advance that we were coming. 

Of course, Sir Ralphus' home was elegant and cozy. Three Columbars met us at the main door, which was nice as this was also a windy part of Aurville, meaning that this place was a lot chilly than the lower parts of the town. Only the rich people could afford to live in a high place like this as one would need a lot of Columbars and Heatcatchers to keep the place warm and in check. Kaylie was smiling from ear to ear as the Crown Prince removed his half-mask and let the couple see him undisguised. 

"Welcome to my home, Your Highness. I did not expect such a visit from you, but I am deeply honored," said Sir Ralphus. "Please do whatever you want here, Your Highness."

"Thank you, Ralphus. But we came here for just one reason. We want to know about the details of a snow carriage that must have been rented from you. Remember the incident at Rainha's house? The day her aunt went missing? A rented snow carriage was found in the nearby forest. It was already abandoned, but according to my Royal Guards who came to investigate the incident, they found out that it was rented from one of your business' branches here in Aurville. By any chance, can we know who it was who rented the snow carriage back then?"

Kaylie and Sir Ralphus looked at each other, probably surprised that the Crown Prince was hands-on with the investigation. Then Sir Ralphus nodded. "Of course, Your Highness! We keep records of every business that we have, so I can search it for you." Sir Ralphus then called one of his assistants into the main room where we were chatting and ordered him to get the logbooks in his office. But he told us that it will take a while as the volume of those who rent their snow carriages is not a joke. So searching for the correct logbook might consume time. Kaylie offered to prepare some food for the four of us and I volunteered to help her just to kill time. 

But when we went to the kitchen to prepare the food, Kaylie suddenly hugged me tight and almost yelled in some kind of ecstasy. "What is happening to you? Why are you acting like this?" I asked her in confusion.

"And why not? I am just happy for you! You are going to be the next Queen! I am so happy for you!" she even giggled when she finished saying that and my jaw just dropped to the floor.

"What?"