At the sound of the name, Hal took a deep breath and turned to face Emily much better with an expression she could not read,
"How long have you known?" He asked and it was clear he was referring to her knowledge of who his 'mother' was.
Emily did not quite understand his passive expressions and worried that he was more than a little dissatisfied. It took fighting really hard against her urges for her not to begin pleading that he not be mad.
Instead, she did her best to rearrange her look and try to shrug it off,
"From the start, I guess.
I was in this city after all, when Svetlana sought refuge at Payne Estate. Of course before that, I already knew who she was.
Back at Doxon, I had heard tales of the beautiful shut-in princess of the Duchy. The one who everyone had heard was gifted with Astral sense.
Also, as it usually can't be avoided, our looks were usually compared, and I am humble enough to say that whoever was more beautiful among us two was a matter of perspective"
When she said that, Hal could not help but smile knowing that she was going to add another assessment soon, and sure enough,
"It was me" she said.
After which she chances a glance at Hal who was attempting to hold his smile,
"I think it's you as well" he said.
Emily snorted,
"You haven't even seen her.
Anyway, even though I had taken a sabbatical from home, I still received news and I knew all about why she was here. She seemed to be doing fine on her own and if she ever got a glimpse of me in the city, she did not act familiar.
And I was okay with that.
There was not much to discuss with her anyway.
I did sympathize with her situation though and I also felt, if I had been in her shoes, all hell would break loose. Luckily, MY brothers knew better than to mess with me.
Also, Sensual Palace was having issues as well. Because of the tight-knit friendship between my father and the ill Duke, we were in support of Svetlana who the Duke always doted on.
Also, Father could not help but draw parallels.
Anyway, our staunch support caused us to go to war with the Borels, who at the time, were the ones seeking to wed Svetlana..." At this point, Emily stopped.
Hal was a little curious and turned to look at her,
"What?" He asked with a smile and stroked her cheek.
"Do you want to hear all I know of your mother's challenges?"
The only reason Emily asked was that she felt Hal might hate Svetlana for abandoning him so much that the mere sound of her would upset him.
Hal on the other hand found the tale quite fascinating and wanted to hear more so he shrugged,
"I don't mind. You can continue"
Emily looked him in the eye long and hard before she continued,
"So like I have already told you, I ignored your mother living in the city which was probably a good thing as engaging with her or telling my father I knew where she was could put her in danger.
So I don't know much of what transpired between Gregory and her but I do remember the day the Payne family guards were running around like idiots. It was on that day that I caught up to Svetlana before she crossed the border.
We hardly acknowledged each other before she took off and I watched her leave.
After that, it was a month of silence, and by silence, I mean feud between the Sensual palace and the Borels who had a connection in the palace itself.
The feud or more accurately described as a coup was mostly aimed at taking control of the Palace from the inside.
The whole event was heading to a critical point and it did not help that the Doxon brothers were aiding the Borels and as I was later informed, it was then that Svetlana returned.
I don't know all the details but she single-handedly changed the cause of the war and the Borels were slaughtered. Killed to the very last one.
Svetlana's blue eyes were said to have been narrowed with fury and her justice on the Borels as well as all those who supported them was swift. Families were wiped from the continent in their entirety.
She was said to have been wielding a floating Orb that contained three golden balls. Most likely an Artifact, but undeniably a powerful weapon."
'Well, now we know what she did with Gregory's balls." Grimoire said with a snigger.
'The golden balls or his actual balls' Hal asked with a mind-smirk.
'Does it matter? She took both types anyway' Grimoire said with a cackle.
'You gigantic deviant of a Book, you can't be any more right' Hal agreed with a sage nod.
Emily continued,
"Her brothers were the only ones spared and it was only due to the pleas of the Duke who had then recovered. Svetlana only agreed to let them go as long as her Father abdicated his post.
He did so and she was crowned Duchess.
Many disapproved, claiming her actions against the Borel's had been too harsh, entire family lines wiped off the map, but none of them were courageous enough to voice out their dissatisfaction.
After all, Might makes right"
"Never has a statement been so true" Hal agreed with a nod.
Emily took a deep breath,
"Before you become upset that I never gave any indication or tried to help you, I'd like to illustrate further that Svetlana and I were never close and we were never friends. So, even if I knew that she had a son and he was in this city, which I didn't, I would not have given a damn.
I am no humanitarian."
Hal chuckled and pulled her closer to kiss the top of her head as the older woman half-heartedly tried to struggle from his hold,
"If I were you, I wouldn't have given a damn either, also I am very happy to hear that you are not humanitarian, it will make it easier when we kill a lot of people in the future.
You HAVE killed before... right?"
Emily sighed and rolled her eyes. If he had really researched as much as he claimed, he should know by now that someone who had lived as long as she has would have had a taste of blood.
Either due to skirmishes between her sect and other powerful parties (which proved to be more frequent than it probably should have been) or in skirmishes against the Dystopian continent,
Someone as outgoing as her was bound to have had her first kill already as well as many others to follow.
Even then she answered,
"Yes"
Hal nodded and smiled as though he had seen all she had just thought in her mind,
"Good. Now I have a request..." he said as he stood from the bed and put on clothes he had retrieved from his inventory before he added,
"... I don't want you to fight in the Civil war"
Emily looked shocked,
"What?!!!"
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om