♕︎ V ♕︎

For the element of Fire, if you are governed by Yin, you store it on your heart; if you are governed by Yang, you store it on your small intestine. For Earth, if you are governed by Yin, you will store it on your spleen; while for those governed by Yang, the right storage is the stomach. Coming to Metal, the people governed by Yin stores it on their lungs, while those governed by Yang store it on their large intestine. With the element of Water, for people governed by Yin, the right place to store their energy is on their kidney; while for the ones governed by Yang it's their bladder. Lastly, the element of Wood, which is stored in the liver if you are governed by Yin, and stored in the gallbladder if you are governed by Yang.

In our social ranks, to be a Knight you either need to be gifted with magic in a level high enough to protect the Nobles/Royals in your realm, or you need to be a master of martial arts. While having great reserves of magic isn't common, mastering martial arts it's easy in comparison. Nonetheless, to be good in them, you need to meditate to either store your energy on your 12 meridians, or to circulate your magic in your main 888 acupoints.

Sounds hard (and it is), but from what I know, it's worthy.

And I learned all of this with Aiden. He taught me everything about this, and handed me all the info on energy and magic he had in hands. As he also taught me how to circulate my magic on my acupoints, and how to work on my meridians. Which eased the process of learning martial arts to me, in my last life. I may loathe him, but he was my most useful ex-husband.

My family never bothered in helping me in any of my past lives, after they saw that I wasn't skilled at incantations. That's why I was clueless when it came to all of this in my first two lives. So, to this, and to this only, I'm thankful for Aiden. He was, after all, the least worse of the three males I've been married to so far. But my thankfulness ends there.

Traumas aside, with his help, I was able to learn that, different from all of my siblings and parents, I wasn't governed by Yang, but by Yin. As manipulating pure air magic, lightning magic, and sound magic came easy to me. Plus, I also was able to comprehend that I'm an internal magic. Well, I was only able to put all of them in action in my 4th and last life, the one I lived with Margaret, thanks to my prior training with the spy from Roman's Kingdom.

You must have noticed that 8 is an important number on the magical world, hm? 8 elements. 888 main acupoints. 8% of magic being the amount every person naturally possess in their cores. To our kind, 8 is a number that symbolizes power. 888 symbolizes not just power but success, wealth, prosperity. The elders of our kind also say that those who are born 8 am or pm, on the 8th day of a month, or on the 8th month of the year, are not only favored by the Gods, but also are in balance with their soul, mind, heart, and with the energy around us. One more reason why Royals always give eight names to their kids, their last name being the eight.

But do you want to know what I think about that? It's all bullshit. Bull-shit. I was never favored by the Gods, as you can tell. I've been born on the 8th month of Selene's pregnancy, at 8:08am, in the 8th day of the 8th month, of a year that ends in 8. Now, take a look at my miserable life.

Breaking my daze, Rigel pinched my nose softly again, and I glared at him, "She can't talk, but she looks fierce," he mocked. "I've chosen her first and last name, my love. With my surname it makes three, leaving five names for you to choose. Amaya, something, Hana Alderidge. What's going to be?" He tilted his head to his wife.

"Elinore Liz Kirsten Roxanne Ivy!" She exclaimed decided. "I've chosen them carefully. Do you like it, my love?"

"I love it! Amaya Elinore Liz Kirsten Roxanne Ivy Alderidge."

Well, I don't love it. I hate it. Them loving or no, doesn't matter. It's me who's forsaken to use this needlessly long name for eternity. Why do parents do this? Why can they… I don't know, give the child a provisory name, and when they are old enough to make decisions, let them chose their own names. Later on, if they stop liking it, it'll be a consequence of their own decisions, and it'll be totally on them.

We are not pets. You should only chose the names of your pets like that. That is, as long as it isn't a conscious animal that you have as a pet, like the sprites. But Gods be damned, this is one of the traditions I hate the most in the Fae.

Though I would be a hypocrite if I didn't say I also would like to name my child. Which, at this point, I doubt I'll ever be able to conceive. My three lives showed me that I was more akin to having countless miscarriages, I guess something might be wrong with my body.

In parts, I'm thankful for that. It would weight on my very soul if I had ever given birth to a child of Dwayne Thornbury, Kalil Montara or Aiden Astrophel. Despite having gotten pregnant many times, it was for the best that my body wasn't able to get through it.

They mistreated me, they would mistreat my babies too. I wouldn't be able to bear the guilty of putting a kid in the world just for them to suffer what I was suffering. And my life with Aiden aside, I was a child myself. Getting denied of my childhood and thrown into motherhood at force would be too much, even for these disgraceful Gods to curse me with.

It's weird to think about this when I got back to being a baby myself.

"Is she ugly?" My siblings all came inside Selene's chambers, anxious to see me, the new target of their bullying. "Is she ugly?" They asked again, together, coming closer.

"Oh," Zachary gasped. "She's not ugly."

"She looks like grandpa," my oldest brother, Sebastian, pointed, pressing his lips together in a thin line.

Allya came ever closer, glaring at me, "Her eyes are weird!"

"Why does she has eyes of a different color each?" Oliver frowned.

"Weirdly beautiful," Zachary mumbled in awe and I turned my eyes to him. "Hi, little baby, I'm your big brother, Zac!" He caressed my cheeks softly. "The most beautiful!"

He was always the one who messed with me the least. He only began to get wary of me when I was 7, and our parents still considered me, publicly, a possible heir. While the others were always mean, from the beginning, since they sensed a threat in me.

"I'm the most beautiful!" Sebastian pushed him and came closer. "Why is she so silent? Shouldn't she be crying right now, as she was just born?" He blinked, looking at our mother.

"She's apparently mute!" Rigel said weirdly delighted.

They all gasped, "Mute?"

And as expected, a smile took over my sister's thin lips, "A Queen cannot be mute. Is she cut out of the succession line for being disabled, daddy?" Why am I not surprised that she's the one to ask them that?

She was always green with jealousy of me being called more beautiful and gifted in magic than her, even though I was unable to practice any incantations, she hated it. It's expected that this would make her so overjoyed. Not only her, as all my four siblings stared from me to our parents, expectantly.

In a crucial moment that will decide if I will or will not be bullied during my childhood this time around. And I'm definitely not letting that happen in this life. I refuse to be a beating bag. My plans will work this time. I'm not letting another failure put me to misery again.

Rigel and Selene shared a gaze and a knowing smile took over their lips, "Yes. She's cut out!" Father ended the mystery, in the exact way I wanted him to. "You don't have to worry, it's only between you."

"As you said it, sweetheart," Selene said looking at Allya. "A Queen cannot be mute. Thus she won't be considered to the position of Crowned Princess." Then her eyes turned to me, and she gave me the most pitiful gaze ever, which was very annoying, but for the best. "Your little sister will grow up to help out Kingdom in another way."

Father nodded, caressing her back, "What your mother said. Amaya will grow to be the wife of a Noble or Royal of another Kingdom. Being a mute won't become a nuisance on that, if one thing, it'll be even better for us. Her future husband will be satisfied with a female who doesn't speak, as she won't be able to go against him in any way, neither will she be able to become one of those talkative gossipers Ladies out there."