The price of loyalty

* Lucius POV *

I woke up to excruciating pain, not even remembering the cause of it, and when I looked around I realized that I was in an oddly familiar place, but not the balcony, or even any place similar to the palace.

The throbbing in my head is becoming milder, and I could start moving around, that's when I realized that instead of starting to walk, I started to float. Things started matching up and I foresaw the worst.

"Am I dead?" I asked particularly no one.

"No you're not, but you need to be better educated." And 'no one' answered me, or rather a man. I knew that voice, I just couldn't recognize it, and I started getting scared. 'Educated'? I mean that would've scared any sane confused man when coming from another man, rather than have a woman say it though, I wouldn't mind then.

"Oh, believe me, you will mind" The voice replied, and the man showed up.

"Oh shit" I simply said. A fucking archangel showed up in front of me, the one and only that I know, Auriel, my recruiter, and since I put a rule not to try dating angels, archangels are definitely off the line, so I think he's right in the 'Minding' argument, but not the 'Educated' one.

"Sit." He ordered, okay his tone was harsh, I definitely did something bad. "I guess it's already noted that your mind is an open space for me, it's so simple to read it to the point that I rather not fight the urge to do so, it would be easier and I don't see why I should do you a favor, not when you still did a thing"

"You do realize that in Eldtrorse, I am basically a year-old baby?"

"One that isn't only able to talk, but also became able to use mana in an age where his peers are still learning to walk"

"Ignoring the fact that you just compared me, a transmigrator, to a normal baby, whereas it should be clear who you need more, I don't remember Mana being unlockable to me" I countered

"Well, now it is, and not for free either, you do realize that you actually helped a man breakthrough 14 years earlier than he should have? And if not for your luck, the man is already a loyal servant of your family, thus enforcing the 'Master-Servant' pact you had with him swearing to Veritas, the Keeper of Promises, one of the guardians of the world of Eldtrorse, thus making him basically your slave and that he would anything for you, even if you didn't ask, just because you gave him one rank, whereas that already made you able to use mana, and as you happen to be part of us angels, since due to your luck, coupled with boost of the system, you were born a pureblood angel" Alright, I fucked up, but my luck covered for me, but a pureblood angel? Well, that is way overedge.

"What are you saying? Mother betrayed Father?"

The archangel contemplated me for a second, but he eventually said.

"No, but your father has some angelic background, otherwise angels wouldn't have accepted his marriage to the princess, scratch that, that same princess wouldn't have got interested in him in the first place." He replied.

"Oh, then all I can say is that, well, this just got exciting." I said.

"You bet your ass it did" The archangel cursed in a rare moment. "Let me tell you this, among the last 4 million transmigrators, only 8 were able to become angels, and you're the 9nth, so pick up the pace, little boy." He said in an angry tone.

"Well, shouldn't I be happy?"

"You should, but your feet towards your new slave cost you your eye as a price for all the benefits you got due to forcefully using the angel's racial privileges at such a young age, I don't know how you were even able to do that."

"What do you mean how? The system gave me the option!" Now this is getting scary, the last thing I want is my golden finger being actually broken.

"Impossible, unless you're a..."

"Corporal?" I took a wild guess.

"Yes"

"Well I am"

"Damn, I actually forgot. Here" He passed his hand over my head.

"I know that's not fair, but you need to lose a rank, I'll strengthen your angel's bloodline, like that you'll have all that an angel has, but better"

"Oh, I guess thank you. But I have to ask a question, am I blind?" I asked one last question as I became colorless by the second

"Well, you'll know it when you see it, or not. Now be on your way and, you probably will have to say that you're a transmigrator, just show them your back, they will understand". He said just before I disappeared.

I woke up the next minute to the same headache that assaulted me just before my 'fruitful' dialogue with the archangel, and just as I tried to ease the pain, Mother took me in her arms out of o where, and she started silently sobbing.

"It's okay Mom, I am still alive." I said after some contemplation, it was the first time I called her that, and apparently, it was as hard for her to hear from me as it was hard for me to say it to her, it only made her cry harder.

Father followed in a while later, accompanied by Grandfather and Grandmother, when Mother finally calmed down, she sat next to Father and looked at me, then she said.

"I said, we needed to talk back at the, the birthday party, so let us talk," she said "Yes, I .." but she cut me off in the middle "Don't you dare interrupt me, young man, not even when you're hurt" She almost barked. "Yes mam" I replied, almost squeaked.

"You lost your eye, and apparently, you can start learning magic now, you not only cast a spell while bedridden, but that spell had flipped a maid off the builder through an enchanted wall" This last piece of news caused me to open my eyes, or eye, wide open."Thanks to it being Isadora, your personal maid, she only had artificial injuries and will be back to serving you in a week's time. What you must focus on, is that you do not only have one new slave, but two, one forcefully as you already know, and the other, to thank you for USING your angelic lineage without consent from me or any other grownups to help him breakthrough to the 7th rank of Umbral Warden, the first in our Kingdom. Now tell me one thing, you might be a genius, but one-year-old genius angels, even the best in the last millennia, didn't use their blessings and survive, and only 4 were able to even attempt it in that time, but something tells me you are even more then that, cause believe me all the four of them were able to talk just as smoothly as you, son" So I wasn't the first transmigrator to be sent here, anyways, I had to show them.

"Mother, I am biologically your son, but I did not lose my last life's memories, I have proof I gained, an archangel gave me this" I turned to my grandparents and said, "He said you will understand". And then I took off all my upper clothes, I don't know what they saw, but I know that what they said in reaction to seeing it caused it to vanish.

Mother took me by the arms again and slapped me, she slapped me so hard I thought she forgot I was a child in body, but she then said something that made me cry, she said "YOU ARE MY CHILD WHETHER YOU BE A TRANSMIGRATOR, A REINCARNATOR, OR EVEN AN ARCHANGEL INCARNATE, ARE MY WORDS CLEAR YOUNG MAN" she cried, and I could see Father coming from behind. "Our child, be it in life, in death, or even after that"He cooly added. "Yes Mom, and Dad" I said in tears, I might have had a mother and a father before, but as the first child, I had a lot of responsibilities, and such love was only a privilege to the later children, I loved my late parents, but these two make me feel more love then the others did.

That afternoon, I was told that I had gone into a 2 weeks coma, in which I had become known as the miracle child, the angel that caused a rank 6 Veil Enforcer to rank up, and even got his eternal loyalty for it. That same man, Gareth Duskwood, gave up all his duties as a noble in the kingdom of Lumina to his brother, another one of my father's lots of friends, and became my one and only butler.

I was also meant to attend Eldtrorse's Universal University since my butler's rank up gave our kingdom its 5th rank 7 individuals, and made us eligible to send 10 individuals each year to attend it, the minimum age to attend it being 7. But my grandparents insisted that as a pure angel, as shown in my Life Stream Interface, which they used when I was asleep, I would not only attend the university as such but would have to attend the royal angels' special training parallelly with that if I want to try my luck for the angel's throne and be considered a fully-fledged royal angel, which I accepted.

We also decided to open my gifts that same night, I got a total of 287 important gifts from different guests of my party, 48 more were either toys or some baby care things, but I had to take care of some things, so I asked my mother about the elf business, and she said that it went as intended and that that pig was named traitor and executed in front of the elven people, not for the way he acted towards me though, but because he showed the elves as vulgar beings in front of the angel King and Queen, whatever does that mean, which I actually found funny, but at least my message was delivered, otherwise their king would give this excuse to execute him publicly, he'd say that he dared to act insolent in front of me, a human born angel royal, which doesn't only make the humans the elves' equals, but makes the same hierarchy for them work here in Lumina, but he didn't.

I also had to get more acquainted with my new butler, but I didn't, I called him in, and he almost kissed my legs for forgiveness, but I gave him an order to earn my trust, which he undoubtedly has, but not that he knows it. "Go to that Astralheart slave of mine and train her to be an even better Mayor and a better and more loyal slave, I heard that Radiance is the best city after the capital and that Duskwood are the most loyal subjects to us Solaris, prove it by doing what you're told, this task is to begin in this week's end at the latest, and you have to stay by her side for at least one year" I ordered, "Yes, your majesty" He replied, but before he could leave I added. "Make sure to not let any man touch her unappropprietly, and tell her to find ways to extend her youth, it'll be needed. And one other thing, I believe your class is something akin to an assassin" I asked and he affirmed. "Good, leave some secret agents to guard me in your absence, and inform my father of it, now may you come back with good news".

And that was the last I had to take care of for now, for my coma, and the not yet announced news of me waking up, as it was agreed that this would be announced a week later, to let me have some space, as it'll cause an uproar I'll have to take part in managing, even if do so indirectly, I'll be the cause of it all after all, besides, after my secret was revealed, my parents and grandparents promised to make my training harsher in a gesture I took as a punishment and not as a reward, but not one that I hated, so m u upcoming years promised to be more fruitful.

With all that in mind, time quickly passed, and then Mother personally came to my new room to take me to the hall where all my gifts were ready to be opened, or in the case of some, unlocked.

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A.N: 2126 words, I know it's not a lot, and it not actually on time, but hey, I am doing my best here, why not give me some tips, your opinions, and please do point out at things if you think they are done wrong, it helps a lot, especially when this is my first actual novel