Monarch's Rebirth: Chapter 20

It was pouring heavily as I finished my breakfast. The windows shook from the heavy winds that blew tempestuously.

"Damn. There goes my plans." I muttered under my breath as I read away the daily report from yesterday.

"Papa… The winds are really strong… It's scary…" Amelia stuttered as she spoke. She was terrified of how violent the windows were but I couldn't just cuddle her, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Calm down, darling. It's just wind. It will calm down soon enough." I told her as I fiddled with my pen.

I had to wait for the storm to pass before I could even get on the carriage. It will be difficult to get through such horrible weather in a carriage.

I rest my hands on my desk and squeeze my eyes. "I'm so tired…" I muttered.

Amelia climbs onto the desk and snuggles with my arm. The wind calmed down but the rain was still heavy. Lightning was also an issue but it was not too bad.

"Let's go take a walk around the palace." I told Amelia as I got up from my chair.

It was nearly noon and the rain started while I had breakfast early in the morning. "Okay~!" Amelia exclaimed while walking out with me from the office room.

The palace was quite big and I hadn't seen the place myself. It was easy to get lost in such a huge palace, too easy.

Everywhere you see it's just doors and the same off white walls with trimmings on the top and bottom. The floor was made of wood with a red carpet down the middle. The hallways were pretty big and could fit many people from one end to the other.

I walked through the endless hallways of the second floor which was more like a maze than a palace. It had about twenty bedrooms and five special bedrooms. It was the pinnacle of luxury in this kingdom and I owned all of it. But it gets quite lonely in such a large palace.

There were staff working around the clock to keep the palace in perfect condition in case a guest were to come over with no prior notice. I walked into many of them carrying pillow covers and bedsheets for a wash.

From the corner of my eye I see the entrance of a room that had a different kind of door. It was quite different from the others and I was curious what lay behind it.

"That door… It's different isn't it?" I asked Amelia. "It was. Let's check it out!" She said, excited to see what's behind the door. She seems to take after me even though she isn't my daughter by blood.

I opened the door and peeked through to see what's behind it. What was behind it though was a surprise.

There were many kinds of objects that were placed and well kept in the room. It was similar to a storage room but it was not too crowded with junk.

"Woah… This place is cool…" Amelia said with her eyes twinkling from excitement.

I walked in to look around and marvel at the antique objects that came down from the generations before me. Only two generations before me but so many objects.

"Papa! Look at this!" Amelia exclaimed from behind me.

From the looks of it they were just mostly from my father and mother. I found many letters that my parents sent each other. They were kind of humorous seeing young love form over the time with two pen pals.

"Yeah? What is i- OH MY GOD!"

I turned around behind me to where Amelia called out from. What was behind me was something I could only gawk at.

It was one of the most beautiful yet frightening sets of armour I had seen. It was made of a black material that I had never seen before. It had a greatsword hung next to it which seemed to weigh as much as a person.

"Whose armour is this? It's so big and scary!"

She was not wrong in the description. The helmet had two horns coming out from its head and the shoulder pads also had spikes. It looked like the devil's armour since the material was made of a dark crystal like material. What was this material?

"Are we sure this isn't a statue? There is no way someone wore this to battle." I said while looking at the armour set that towered over me by a feets.

"It isn't. The material used here is Ebony metal. It's considered to be the rarest and strongest material known to man."

So this was Ebony metal. I've heard about Ebony wood which is considered to be the same thing but for wood. It's the strongest wood known to man and can only be found in the dark elf woodlands. Only rarely growing.

"You're quite knowledgeable for a dragon only a day old." I complimented her, impressed and scared by her knowledge.

"Teehe. I have the ability to know everything as I grow older. It's in my DNA to slowly unlock new knowledge as I grow older." She explained to me.

So a dragon doesn't learn through reading or writing but through unlocking more of the memories of her dna.

"I see."

The rain clouds slowly cleared and the bright sunshine came through the windows from the room. There were small droplets of rain still coming down but this was a lot milder than what it was in the morning.

"Looks like our trip down memory lane would be cut short. We have to leave now if we want to make it to the capital by nightfall." I told Amelia while opening the door again.

"Okay~!"

Amelia climbed back onto my shoulder and smiled. I smiled back at her and kept walking through the hallway.

I was lost.

We ran around the maze-like design of the palace and finally found the stairs to go downstairs. The stairs were another set of stairs near the left wing of the palace. It led down to a large hallway which led to the kitchen and then I'd have to go through the dining room to the foyer.

In the kitchen I surprised everyone by walking in on most of them lounging.

"S-sire! It is a surprise for you to pay a visit to the kitchen!" The head chef said out of panic

I give him a warm smile as a greeting before walking past him to the door. "I'm just passing by, you all can continue lounging since I will be away for a few days." I told them before walking out to the dining room.

I walked into the dining room where loe and behold, Felix!

"Sire, the carriage is ready." He said as he noticed me walking through the door.

"Is Alexander already waiting for me?"

"There's another person who is waiting for you."

I was skeptical of what he meant by that. Who else is going to go with me?

As soon as I walked out of the foyer and into the courtyard I saw the carriage and took a deep breath. "This will be a long journey~" I say while stretching.

I fix the collar of my shirt and fix the positioning of my cape. The weather was moist and the sun was shining brightly down at us. "Today will be a good day." I said under my breath.

"Let's go to the capital!" Amelia shouted while pumping her fists in the air.

The door opened and peeked out Alexander. He smiled and went back inside the carriage and waited for me once more.

Felix opened the door and as soon as I walked in I realised who he was talking about.

Wilkins.

"Good afternoon, my lord! I will be going to the capital with you as I was offered!" Wilkins said with a huge grin on his face.

I looked at Alexander with a dead tone and gave him a stare. "It was you, wasn't it?" I asked him.

He became nervous from the question I asked. "I'm just giving him a helping hand to the capital! It's not like his family is going to cause issues."

I take my seat next to Alexander and lean back into my seat. "It's fine. I don't mind travel companions.

I did but it's Wilkins so I will let him slide.

Amelia got down from my shoulder and made herself comfortable on my lap. She was quite the lazy dragon and did not wish to be bothered in the trip herself.

"It is an honour to travel with you, my majesty. I hope we are not much of a nuisance to you." Said Wilkins' wife.

"Oh, greetings, Mrs… I apologise I don't know your family name.

"Oh it's Wayne. We should be the one apologising for coming with no prior notice. Master Alexander allowed us to come and my husband took it without a second thought."

"It's fine. We are business partners after all." I told her while winking to Wilkins.

She sounds quite sincere. Wilkins found himself a good wife it seems.

The carriage started to move and I looked outside my window to see my palace one last time before leaving for a far away land.

Wilkins brought his entire family along so the carriaga was pretty full. They sat on the opposite end of me and Alexander. His daughter, Valerie I think was her name, was asleep and so I decided not to make small talk.

"Papa, who are these people?" Amelia asked me through telepathy.

"It's Wilkins and his family. We both are business partners so he is technically allowed to be here."

I see! They seem like nice people, especially the girl that's sleeping. She has an innocent heart."

Amelia was always observant. Her way of describing people and things was odd to me.

"How can you tell? You always say such deep and observant things about people but how are you sure?"

She laughed as I asked her the question. "I'm a dragon! It's an ability I have. I have the ability to see what colour aura they give off. Green means they are nice people and a deep red means they are bad people."

"Huh, interesting. So that's why they say dragons are the smartest. They can tell if a person is good or not just from staring at them. So what colour am I?"

"You… have no colour. I just see a grey mass when I try to see if you're nice or not."

I knew why she couldn't. It's because my soul is from another world. She couldn't see into my soul because it wouldn't exist here if it weren't for Mori.

Alexander did not speak and just looked outside just like me. People went back to normal life after yesterday and the streets were bustling with people once more. The usual stores opened up and sold their goods with people buying them as well.

"Artorius, look who that is." Alexander spoke out.

He was pointing through my window to someone that I could not make out. "Who are you pointing to!" I asked out of frustration.

"Look! She's waving!" Alexander said while climbing over me and pointing.

I looked closer and realised who it was. It was Kathlyn.

Damn it Alexander.

I waved back to her as the carriage slowly passed through the street. She got flustered and stopped waving at me and ran away.

"You scared her away!" Alexander exclaimed

I facepalm from how childish Alexander was acting. I didn't think he would be comfortable that quickly. "You're the one aggressively pointing towards her through my window. Sit down now!"

Alexander takes his seat and I go back to staring out of the window, contemplating on what I should do.

I take a peek in through the window behind the Wayne family and see there are three people sitting down. I knew Felix would be sitting with the Chauffeur but who was the third?

"Alexander, who is sitting with Felix and the Chauffeur?" I asked him quietly.

Alexander looked at me confused as if I should know. "Vincent, who else?"

Why is he coming?

I sigh and go back to staring out my window with no purpose. Just seeing the daily life of commoners unfold in front of my eyes was somehow amusing.

The carriage goes through the gate and outside of the city. It's been some time since I left the premises of my capital. Now I'd be away for quite some time, unless we finish up my business quickly and return.

"How long is this carriage ride going to be?" Amelia asked me.

"It might be a long time. We might spend a day here." I told her back.

I was not excited about going with a carriage but if I arrived with Blizzard it would be odd. It had to be by carriage as It was a show of status.

We took the nearest right turn and had to keep going straight ahead. Only making minor changes to the direction as the capital was slightly to the south. Faunus kingdom is the nearest the borders of the Polaris kingdom from the Rigel kingdom. The border is only sixty miles away from the kingdom.

"I guess I'll take a nap."

The sound of the horses' shoes trotting in a disorderly manner was somehow soothing and made me fall asleep faster. I just hope I am not woken up surrounded by bandits like my last carriage ride.

ALEXANDER'S POV

We have been travelling for about an hour and Artorius had fallen asleep quite early on. He's still recovering from his injuries in war but he still insisted on finishing these matters quickly.

The scenery outside was quite beautiful and enchanting. There were miles upon miles of open fields with mountains surrounding the entire landscape. The mountains acted as a buffer zone between the Rigel and Polaris empires. There were mills and farms scattered about and the usual forests of trees or just a singular tree in the middle of vast fields of grass.

It was completely different from my kingdom which was full of lush forests and jungles. The landscape was covered by the canopy of tall trees which provided a lot of shade.

"Mister Wilkins, if you don't mind me asking. What's the business between you and Artorius?"

I got bored of sitting and just staring at the landscape so I wanted to understand the relationship these two have.

"Lord Artorius used to come to my pub pretty much everyday for a drink. He was a heavy drinker and saw my pub as a place of solitude. One day after wrecking my pub he came back to apologise and gave me access to his personal treasury to repair the damages."

That's an interesting beginning and storyline.

"That's quite the humble beginning. What kind of business are you two starting?" I asked, curious of what kind of business Artorius would have from a pub owner.

"Well as a pub owner it's obvious. We are planning to sell whiskey and wine as our business. The business idea was lord Artorius' idea. I just have a recipe but not the fundings so he helped me out."

Artorius really likes alcohol. He would even invest in alcohol. I don't blame him, it tastes good and someone who is as heavy of a drinker as him, he would love good alcohol. "That's a great business. Good alcoholic beverages are difficult to get as a commoner."

"Which is why I will take the lead for cheap but quality alcohol!" Wilkins said proudly.

I giggled softly from his pride of selling alcohol so badly. "I wouldn't mind being one of the first taste testers for your whiskey and wine. It seems like you take a lot of pride in it."

"I do! It was my father's dream to enter the alcohol market. I would like to fulfil his dream of owning a winery and selling high quality alcohol for a dime." He said with a gentle expression on his face.

"Noble of you to fulfil your father's dreams. I will support you from here on out!"

Wilkins becomes embarrassed and awkwardly laughs. I had no further questions so I fell silent and watched the carriage go past a small forest. The road was cut through the forest and left as it was. The people in this kingdom even consider nature to such a degree!

Hours had passed since we started our journey and the sun was coming down. I felt tired of all the travelling and felt my eyes get heavier. We were pretty close to the capital since we just passed the city of Ghothra, the last city before reaching the capital.

Suddenly Artorius grunts in his sleep. He must be seeing a dream.

ARTORIUS' POV

"He should not go against your orders anymore."

"He better not. He's been beaten quite badly. He might die from the beating next time."

Painful. It's painful.

I coughed up blood as I tried to get up. My arm is badly bruised and some of my teeth fell out. A throbbing headache started and I could barely get up.

"Damn them…" I said under my breath, feeling frustrated and emotional.

I was seen as a weakling since I came from a poor background. My father used to work two jobs to support the family. He worked long hours in the office and as a night guard at a hotel. He got a big enough promotion to move from the slums-like area to a more wealthy city.

The students in my school mocked me and bullied me for my family's status. I was targeted as the punching bag and butler for the more rich and bratty kids.

They beat me for stepping up against them. They take me to a dark alleyway and brutally beat me till I'm on the ground, crying for mercy as I start bleeding and coughing up blood.

I walked my way back through the dark streets of this cursed city. It was dark and no one was out at this time. I limped into the house and nearly stumbled while taking off my shoes. I could barely stand up because they targeted my legs this time.

"I'm… home…" I quietly said to let my parents know.

They rushed out from the living room and helped me enter.

"Sung Hei! My dear, what happened today?" Said my father who was bandaging my arm.

"The rich kids… as usual…" I told him, trying to not cry from how painful the bandaging process was.

"Oh my poor child…" My mother cried out as she saw me in this situation. "We have to do something about this!"

"They were the minister's son and his friends. I don't think we can do anything." I told my mom who was furious.

My dad sighs and shakes his head. "I'm so sorry, Sung Hei. I'm sorry for our family's standing in the social hierarchy."

"It's okay, pa. It was my fault for going against their orders." I told him with a big smile, to not make him feel too bad.

Suddenly he embraced me into a hug but I felt a sharp pain shoot up from my arm. "Dad! My arm still hurts!"

"I'm sorry! I forgot."

Suddenly our house starts to glitch out. Everything goes blank for a moment but I could hear someone call out

A faint voice spoke out from somewhere. A really faint voice.

"Artorius! Artorius wake up! We made it to the capital!"

I jolt awake from my sleep and look around me. It was sunset and I was in a carriage.

It was a memory from the past. A dream.

"Artorius we made it! We made it to the capital!" Alexander exclaimed out of excitement.

When I looked outside I saw a magnificent wall that was as tall as my own kingdom's walls. The gate was as massive as the one from my own but in front was a city that had hugee roads, shops and housing complexes. The pinnacle of the human races' advancement. The capital.

"Papa! You seem stressed. Is everything alright?" Amelia asks me while hugging me.

I looked down to see her eyes full of concern. "I'm fine. It was just a nightmare."

For a moment I forgot that Wilkins and his family were also in the carriage. I smiled at them and picked up Amelia from my lap.

Suddenly Felix comes to the carriage and opens the door. "My lord, we arrived at the capital. You may need to come out as a source of verification to enter the capital.

"Alright then. Wilkins, wait here while I go and deal with this."

I walked outside and stretched my arms. The sleep I got was quite nice but it would've been nicer if I had a dream and not a nightmare full of trauma from my past life.

"It's time to finish up this mess."