Aravel

Chapter 54

Lunatea brought Kaze to one of the palace rooms that had been kept occupied for the dragonkins' stay. Maintaining secrecy of their actions were necessary at the moment, even though they had already openly 'participated' in the bandit fighting before.

Arriving at one of the rooms in the west hall of the palace, Lunatea used magic to deactivate whatever barriers or charms in place so she and Kaze could take refuge inside. Upon entering, Kaze was surprised to see that the rest of his friends who showed up at the graveyard were already inside.

"Kaze!" Surprisingly, Lucentia, of all people, was the first of the group to jump at him.

Hugging him tightly, Kaze nearly choked from the strength of her dragonkin's grip crushing his lungs. Despite the two soft moulds pressing against him from the front, Lucentia still put in strength that was normally unachievable by a human into her hug, expressing both relief and pain from seeing him.

"I-I'm sorry. I was worried because I was unable to get you out in time," Lucentia muttered, letting go of him. "It seems like Lunatea-nee got you instead."

"It's good to see you got out unscathed," Yuuji sighed in relief as the others crowded over Kaze as well.

"Everyone..." Kaze smiled as soon as he saw the others. "Albert, Mitsui, Chris, Irene..."

"Sera, Rena and Noel are here too," Shoko stated. "But they just left. Sera and Rena went to scout the situation while Noel has her guard duties."

After ensuring that nobody was injured, the group quietly settled down and went over the situation. Since everything happened so quickly, it was hard to comprehend the full scale of it without clarification. Those providing different perspectives were Kaze, Lunatea and Lucentia. Lunaea and Luniel weren't present at the moment despite being there when the battle took place for unknown reasons, so they could not provide their viewpoint to the others. Even without them, it was still enough for everyone to grasp what happened.

Sitting in silence, the pressure was now on the dragonkin sisters. After a rather vivid description of the scene that took place, it was obvious the group wanted an explanation, which could only be provided by people who were familiar with dragonkin culture like Lunatea and Lucentia. At the same time, they felt reluctant to do so since it could be considered impolite to pry on certain matters, as they have learnt with Lunaria before. Furthermore, this involved consulting the princesses of another nation, causing them to feel even more overwhelmed. Often times, Lunaria's family felt more like a normal family than royalties until the fact itself crossed their minds or when they acted the part.

As royalties, both Lunatea and Lucentia had expected something like this to happen sooner or later. They had developed this unconscious habit to pick up signs from others due to their background. When the entire group went silent, they could only sigh for they could not keep Lunaria's friends in the dark anytime longer. They were going to find out, sooner or later, hence why it was best to provide an earlier explanation to avoid unnecessary conflict.

"... I think we are going to need to provide a fair explanation, Lucentia," Lunatea looked at her younger sister for confirmation.

"Yes, I agree," Lucentia sighed, feeling tired that everything needed to be told to her new friends. "Everyone, please keep whatever you are about to be told secret. It's not that it is something that special, but rather we would appreciate if you didn't let it be known."

"Um, I'm pretty sure everyone here is fine with that," Shoko offered a sympathetic pat on her friend's shoulder, being the representative of the group as someone who knew the dragonkin sisters the longest. "This isn't the first time we have been told something secretive or dragonkin-related."