Chapter XXXI

Two chapters for the price of one today! 😼

Lucianus had barely recognized his daughter when he had found her in the church where Elysium’s body was resting. She had been clothed in the Gens Constantina robes, and it showed. Opulence and excesses were common in the [Pope]’s lineage—something that he had always held a deep contempt for. When he had seen his daughter reeling by her friend’s body, however, Lucianus knew that she had not changed one bit. At least not yet.

When he had seen his daughter, Aurora, entering the house with her hair disheveled and her skin as pale as her dead friend’s, he had felt like a huge stone had been placed on his chest.

“Aurora?” He asked, looking around quickly and making sure that his wife had gone to sleep already. Their daughter almost ruined all the work he had put into shifting his wife’s perspective during their stay on the battlefield. Only an onslaught of promises had calmed Adriana, who was now probably already resting in bed—perhaps waiting for him.

“Dad…” His daughter’s eyes were searching for something.

“Yes?” Lucianus felt a tinge of anxiety color his mood.

“Dad, I…” Aurora’s mouth hung open, and Lucianus immediately recognized that something terrible had happened.

As he approached her, he crouched slightly, “What is it, darling?”

“I—I lost it, dad,” she spoke, visibly in shock.

“Lost what?” Lucianus frowned.

Was she perhaps talking about her friend?

I shouldn’t have let her study alone, he reasoned to himself.

“I—I lost everything.”

…

Lily began to explain, “I lost my skills… I tried to save Elysium. I read in the Book of the Dead that—"

“Aurora,” her father sharply interrupted her, startling her.

“Y—yes?”

“Don’t say another word.”

She didn’t fully understand what her father meant, but he simply hugged her tightly.

“Come.”

Lucianus Claudius brought her to his study, making sure to lock the door behind them and then turning to her. “Show me.”

Lily nodded reluctantly and tried to summon a simple [Light Orb], the very first skill she had mastered. However, nothing happened. Mana coalesced in her hand and immediately dispersed, not at all Attuned.

“I can’t do Light Magic anymore,” she said in a panic. “I can’t heal, dad!”

“Lower your voice,” Lucianus sighed, far too calm in response to this revelation.

“Dad, I—”

“We shouldn’t be so quick to give up, Aurora. Keep trying.”

And so, they did. For almost an hour, Lily tried all the exercises she had learned since she was a newborn. She even found using [Mana Sense] and [Mana Shaping] harder than usual, as if something was blocking the flow of Mana in her very veins. [Minor Healing] and all her Light Magic abilities were simply gone.

Gone.

“You have no visible skills blocking this?”

Lily shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. She had been on the verge of becoming not just a [Healer] but also a fighter... perhaps even an [Angel]! Everything she had worked for since the day she was born had been stripped away from her.

“The loss of the skill notification was red, right? But you did not – and, please, examine your mind very carefully – get any red skills, correct?”

Lily started sobbing, but she shook her head, her face turning completely red with shame.

“Dad, I shouldn’t have —"

“Aurora!” Lucianus thundered. “Do not speak of it. Not with me, not with anyone. It’s better that not even I know the details of what happened.”

Lily could not fully understand how her father could take this whole ordeal with such calmness, but what was even scarier were his next words.

“We must speak with the [Pope].”

…

[Pope] Ennius Constantinus had not been sleeping when a servant knocked on his door, announcing that none other than Lucianus Claudius had appeared at his steps.

He planned on letting the man wait until dawn before granting him the honor of his presence, but then, the servant added something else.

“He brought his daughter with him. He says it’s of the utmost importance that Your Holiness sees them now.”

…

“Shadows take me.”

The [Pope] removed his hands from Aurora’s wrists, looking confusedly at Lucianus, who gave him a pained nod.

“Something happened, Your Holiness.”

“Aurora,” the [Pope] addressed the little girl. “This happened… when you sneaked in during the Quiet and saw your little friend dead?”

Aurora Claudia was still sobbing and could barely squeeze a nod out of herself.

Children… Could this be an edict from our Lord? A punishment for someone who broke the Quiet?

Even the [Pope] was at a major loss in front of this situation. For a moment, he suspected that Lucianus Claudius might have incapacitated his daughter himself to break her free of the marriage—but not even he was crazy enough to cripple his own daughter like that. There existed much easier recourses, and the [Pope] knew for a fact that something had been brewing among the allies of Gens Claudia. Just not… this.

“Father?” Lumius inquired for more information from the side.

“This matter,” the [Pope] said, barely glancing at his son, “must have been addressed by our Lord Himself. Aurora Claudia’s magic is gone. I can feel the rejection of His Light in her. Not even the Holy Flame seems to be willing to pass down onto her.”

Lumius tensed up, his eyes widening. He bit down hard, gritting his teeth, trying not to be overtaken by his emotions. The [Pope] commended his son’s crude efforts in his head before turning to the girl, thinking of the next move.

“Lucianus, I gather you might have some ideas.”

“Your Holiness,” the man spoke, “my daughter is clearly ill and unsuited for the union you have planned.”

“Clearly,” the [Pope] spoke slowly, chewing on the word.

“I shall take her somewhere where they might be able to help her, with Your Holiness’s blessing of course.”

Ennius looked curiously at the father-daughter duo before nodding, “She’ll be in your care. I’ll arrange for another, more suitable candidate for my son’s marriage.”

“Thank you, Your Holiness,” Lucianus smiled slightly.

“However, shall the young Aurora regain her powers, my previous arrangement will be valid again, and they will marry, Lucianus.”

“I can only pray for His Light to shine hope on this proposition,” the patriarch of the Gens Claudia nodded.

The [Pope] felt like throwing something at the man but refrained from it.

Let’s see what your next move is, Lucianus. Was this really an accident or did you actually cripple your daughter to give your family hope? If it’s the latter, you most definitely gained my respect. I always took you for a very soft man.

The [Pope] watched as the father and the daughter left the hall where he had received them.

Ten, twenty, or even more down the line... There are endless amounts of useless people to marry into your pitiful family.

…

Lucianus waited outside the Papal Estate as Lily was made to gather her belongings. The [Pope] hadn’t even granted them the help of a servant.

“What did you do?” She heard Lumius through the open door and turned to see him advancing on her.

“I—I did nothing,” her voice trembled.

“Aurora,” Lumius raised his voice, “what did you do?!”

“Nothing! Nothing!” She shouted with a throaty voice.

“You…” The gray-haired boy walked up to her with a balled fist close to his mouth, rage marring his features. “You promised!” He slammed his fist into the table where she had put her clothes and a few other trinkets.

“You promised, and look at you now!”

Lucianus had made her change into simple clothes before going to the Papal Estate. Lumius, already losing his mind because of her losing her magic, was tipped over by the fact that she wasn’t wearing his gift.

“My father said that if you can’t use Light Magic, you can’t even use the Holy Flame!”

“I know!” Lily tried to push him away, but he grabbed her hands, getting dangerously close to her face, his white teeth bared like fangs.

“You threw everything away,” he muttered. “You did something. You most certainly ruined yourself because of that peasant!”

“I didn’t!” Lily cried. “I wanted to accept the Holy Flame!”

“You lied!” Lumius shouted even louder.

“I wanted to accept! I wanted to fight! I just—I don’t know what happened during the Quiet!”

“You lied to me!” Lumius raged, his tone abruptly shifting from anger to disbelief as he let go of her hands. “You knew you were doing something like this...”

“No, I didn’t! I—I lost everything!”

Lumius looked at her with his mouth open wide and his hands trembling. He stared down at his shaking digits before looking back at her.

Lily saw many emotions go through his eyes and then just… quiet. He saw the pieces that had fallen out and the cracks—all mended. In an instant, Lumius regained the icy countenance he had shown the first days she’d met him.

Without saying another word, he left.

…

Lily's recollection of the events after Lumius departed was a foggy haze. The endless hours of tension seemed to have drained every ounce of energy from her young frame. It was a mere moment of weakness, a fleeting instant, when her consciousness slipped away from reality, plunging her into a deep, restless slumber.

As Lily slowly drifted back to consciousness, the first sensation that overwhelmed her was a piercing dryness in her mouth. It felt as though it had been ages since she last had a sip of water. The arid sensation clawed down her throat, accentuating the throbbing dullness in her head. Yet, amidst this disorienting discomfort, the rhythmic clatter of horse hooves against cobblestone infiltrated through the haze of her drowsy thoughts, stitching her back to the present. The carriage was still in motion, the tempo of its wheels rolling over the uneven path was faster than she’d ever experienced before.

"You're finally awake," a familiar voice broke into her thoughts, soothing yet on edge and with an unmistakable note of relief.

Blinking against the harsh light of late morning that bled through the carriage drapes, Lily opened her eyes. Across from her sat her father, his face softened by a gentle smile that seemed to carry a world of assurance.

"Dad… Where are we going?" Her voice was a hoarse whisper – the words felt heavy, almost foreign, as they rolled off her tongue.

“Look outside,” he smiled.

Moving the curtain that draped over the carriage window, she peeked out. There, she found the view of a massive wall getting farther and farther away from them.

For the first time in her entire life, Lily was leaving Alalia, the capital of the Papal State.