Remember when I told you about the rude person that just barged in Odessa's room? It turned out that, that person was none other than Axel More, our head Butler.
He was a very old man, but not that old, maybe he was around 70 to 75 latest, and for someone who was an old man, he was in pretty good shape.
I think this thing of Odessa being on guard always is something either she was taught and trained to be, or simply she was just plain old jumpy, because after Axel let himself in — not that I blame what Odessa did, because it's really rude to come inside someone's room uninvited.
The second Axel opened the door and was about to show his face, Odessa already had a shuriken on her, which she threw at his face. Luckily, for an old man, he was really quick with being on guard and he caught it.
"I have to admit, milady, that you have grown strong. You almost took out my eye," Axel chuckled as he put the shuriken on the counter.
"How did you do that?" I was amazed by Odessa.
"Axel, how can I help you today?" Odessa ignored and folded her arms.
I didn't want to feel left out, so I cleared my throat on purpose. "I think what my sister means is, how can we help you?"
"Prince Persues, it's good to see you doing well," Axel bowed respectfully.
"Enough with the formalities. You haven't answered my question yet. What do you need?" Odessa sounded like she was jealous.
"Forgive me, princess, but it's good that I found both of you, because I don't know if your mothers had informed you, but the elders are asking for your audience," Axel said.
Okay, I'm starting to see why I'm the person writing and telling the story. It's because my beautiful sister is not a people's person. I really don't know where she gets her seriousness, because it can't be from our father — because between you and me, that guy is stupid.
Before I could jump in and say anything, I was really hoping that maybe Odessa was going to ask the question that we both knew we needed to ask and we both needed an answer to. But nothing — she just stood there looking all adorable.
I won't lie, I was loving the tension that was in the room, but this wasn't no time to play referee, so I manned up and asked the burning question.
"Sorry for jumping the gun, but do you have any idea why the elders would seek an audience with us?" I asked.
"Princess Odessa and Prince Persues, you do know that by this family's tradition, the children of the Morningstar bloodline, once they become the age of 5, the elders must give them a blessing," Axel said so.
'The elders' blessing? Why don't I know about this, and I don't remember the Encyclopaedia telling me anything about it,' I thought to myself.
One thing was for sure, I knew that I must have been the only one that had no freaking idea what the hell was the elders' blessing, and because of that, I wasn't going to make myself look like a fool, so I shut my mouth and kept quiet.
"Yes, I remember that mother had told me about something like that once, but I didn't think it would be this soon. I thought I had time to prepare and get ready," Odessa said.
'Prepare and get ready? What the heck is this thing?' I've never been this lost before.
Okay, promise when I tell you this, none of you will laugh — though now I know and fully understand what the elders' blessing is. At first, because my mysterious sister had decided to say those words, for a moment, I was starting to think that maybe the elders' blessing ceremony was where we fight against other children — you know, like a royal rumble or fight to the death. I don't know, something like that, I guess.
I knew I couldn't beat her after saying that. I was planning to keep my mouth shut, but the way Axel looked at me, I knew I had to say something.
"Can't we just go? I'm sure the elders don't like to wait up." That was the best thing I could come up with.
"Very well," Axel moved out of the way and guided us out of Odessa's room.
First and foremost, I'm glad that had worked, because I really didn't know what the hell was this thing or what was the whole point of it. But now that I understand it, please allow me to tell you what it really is.
Don't forget that I had already said ceremony in the previous paragraphs, because it was indeed a ceremony. And I don't know if I had already explained it to you on previous pages, but the elders' blessing was indeed a family traditional ceremony — it's where the elders of the Morningstar bloodline all come together to examine whichever child was indeed the one who they can trust with being the family's hero and the one who will live on their legacy.
I know what you are saying right now, but we already know who is the chosen child. Yep, we already know, but that was the Oracle's view — now we had to see what the elders thought about that. Not that the view of the Oracle and the view of the elders was different, but hey, let's do it.
We walked out — well, let me say this so that I don't sound like a douchebag — I was gentleman enough to let Odessa leave the room before me, though I had no idea why the hell I would do that. Who was I trying to impress?
Odessa just looked at me and walked out. I followed her, then Axel followed us. Honestly, I may have been the one who had no idea about anything about this, but one thing that made me feel like I wasn't the clueless one anymore was the fact that neither of us knew where we were going.
I know that Odessa and I are not that close and it's still a long road for us to be close, but I think in that moment we kinda, maybe did link, 'cause from the looks of it we both had the same idea. Though at first, we were the ones who were leading, we kinda slowed down a bit and made sure that Axel was the one who took the lead and showed us where to go exactly.
Our walk to the elders felt like it was long, but it wasn't — but it did feel dreadful, because neither Odessa nor I said anything afterward. Both of us were quiet, and each one of us had created a distance subconsciously that we ended up going in our own paths.
Another thing that we somehow managed to avoid was looking at each other, and even if, let's say, we did, we didn't make it that obvious. Whenever each one of us wasn't looking, we would stare at each other.
Turned out that Axel was taking us to the Great Hall, where our father, the King of Eclipse Kingdom, would hold a meeting with his guards, generals, dukes, and everyone who was under him.
Axel first knocked before we could enter.
"So you know how to knock?" I had to break the ice.
All we heard was a commanding voice on the other side of the door.
"You may enter."
Axel wasn't the one who opened the door; actually, it was the guards that were guarding the door.
But he was the first one to enter. We followed after him, only for Odessa and I to see almost all of the Great Hall's seats were at full capacity.
"State your name," one of the elders commanded.
Axel kneeled down with one knee and bowed down.
"My name is Axel More. I'm the humble servant of the Morningstar family. As I come before you, I have brought Princess Odessa and Prince Persues for them to receive your blessing," Axel said.
The whole room had this very powerful and oppressing aura circling all around. It must have been the mana of all those elders who were before us. The elders were dressed really strangely; they wore those long hats that looked like they were worn by chefs, and they also wore long robes that were in different colors in the middle, depending on which row they sat on, and they were also mixed with white.
After Axel did the whole introduction, three of the elders got out of their seats and came straight to us.
"You may come forth," the one in the middle said.
Odessa and I both obeyed that command like we had no will of saying no. Our minds were afraid, but our legs moved on their own.
The three elders had this aura that really felt like it was going to kill us. It was so strong, both Odessa and I were trembling.
"Which one of you belongs to Evelyne Morningstar?" the elder on the right asked, and from what I could tell, it was a woman.
At first, Odessa hesitated. "It is I, your greatness," she finally came forward.