Start of a New Life...Again

A year passed and everything in Arcania was peaceful. Uphelia and Arthvia were rebuilt with new royals. I became the leader of the One Nation of Arcania, but it doesn't stop me from doing whatever the f*ck I want. Like no kidding, I told them if they need me to babysit their kingdoms, they are better off without one. Was I a bit callous? Yes. Was I completely honest? ABSOLUTELY! But aside from that a Dreadful day has bestowed upon me...My birthday. I was asleep on my bed and Zain walked in with music playing.

"Wakey wakey! My beautiful wife, it's time for the birthday woman to awaken!" Zain marched in blasting music.

"Mmmm...leave me alone...allow me to sleep for another 4 hours..." I mumbled into the pillow.

"No can do, love. You don't understand how long I've been planning your party!" Zain said.

"Well those people are gonna be really disappointed because I ain't getting up." I said then groaned as Zain tugged my arm.

"Get...up..!" Zain said, pulling my arm.

"Uuugh.." I sat up and looked at Zain, blushing. "Happy..?"

"Hap.." Zofia stopped and looked at her paper. "Hap...py bir...Birthday, mama!"

I looked at Zofia and smiled. I was about to say thank you then Saya came dancing in the party with so much unnecessary energy.

"WOOOOO! WE FINNA PARTY!!" Saya said walking in the room dancing.

"Saya...there's no point in trying to explain anything anymore to you..you never change." Miyuna smiled.

I got up and turned off the music then walked to Saya and pinched her nose. Saya whined and squirmed.

"Quiet...down..." I said, already annoyed. I looked at the clock and got even more pissed. "It's 7:30 am...you all couldn't wait 3 more f*cking hours..?"

"Nu-uh! We were restless since Big Brother Zain told us it was your birthday!" Saya said and escaped my grip.

"I'm going back to sleep." I got back in bed and pulled the covers over my entire body.

"No sleep for Mama!" Zofia tugged on the covers. "We play!"

"Fine..." I sat up and looked at Zofia. "If I have to be awake, can you go wake up your older sister?"

Zofia nodded happily and skipped off. Saya followed happily and they snuck into Kotome's room.

"Hehe...prank 'er Zofia.." Saya snickered.

"'Kay!" Zofia smiled and screamed then jumped up and down. "Enemy! Enemy!"

Kotome started spazzing out then stood up on her bed and grabbed her katana then looked around. She looked down at Zofia and sighed in relief. She saw Saya and glared.

"I'm gonna kill you.." Kotome pointed.

"Hm. Hmhm. Hehehe.." Saya giggled and started laughing. "Look at your face! It's as red as a tomato!"

"Why do you think you moron!" Kotome sat down on the bed. "Why did you both wake me up? Do we actually have an intruder?"

"Nope, I told them to wake you up. These pea brains besides Miyuna and Zofia woke me up with their excessive energy." I said, walking in the room.

"So you told them to wake me up, mother?" Kotome blushed and frowned.

"The whole family might as well be awake..." I said.

"How callous." Kotome stood up. "If you three could please leave, I need to get ready since I can no longer fall asleep."

I walked out and rubbed my eyes and yawned. I walked down the hall and noticed how quiet the castle was since the war passed. The sound of swords clashing was no more, the usual shattering of glass because of clumsy maids are no more...Victoria waking me up is no more since she married Kielazar and they went to Maanga. I walked in the kitchen and saw two of my maids cooking.

"Mmmm? You're awake Tia?" I asked.

"Hm? Lady Stella. Yes I'm awake. I've been awake since 4:30 am. Since I couldn't sleep I decided to make you a birthday breakfast...but...I suck at cooking.." Tia sulked.

"And somehow she was the top of her class in culinary school..must've cheated her way through school...she walked in Soma Yukihira and left a failed cook.." Ashe, my other maid, said.

Tia was the younger of the two sisters. She had black hair with shining green eyes and had a more petite figure than her older sister who had brunette colored hair and green eyes. Her body was more mature than the two and she had more of an attitude than Tia. Tia is honest and introverted while Ashe is more animated and sly and cunning. Her and Saya get along well. Tia and Miyuna are close friends also.

"You're so mean Ashe! I can cook some dishes..." Tia said and her face became extremely red.

"Some." Ashe said.

Yeah...Ashe is also extremely honest to a fault..she can come out to be an asshole at times..like me. Tia can't muster the strength to put her foot down against Ashe either, she's scared of Ashe because Ashe is ill-tempered.

"Alright Ashe, leave Tia alone. Look we can go out to eat..my husband is blocking the way to my room like some Grade-A Bodyguard." I said.

"I can deal with him." Ashe summoned a dagger.

"The chances of you beating him are the chances of a perfectly timed miracle...There is no need to resort to violence. Make sure you all are ready by 10." I walked off.

"Wait you're taking us out with your family?" Ashe asked.

"Was I not clear enough?" I walked down the hall.

Ashe and Tia looked at each other and smiled happily then rushed off to their rooms to get ready.

"Whoa whoa there partner, thinking about going--" Zain paused as I pushed him aside. "Sassy much hm?"

"Mhm." I looked at him and walked in the bedroom and Zain followed.

"Thinking about going back to sleep?" Zain walked towards me.

"What are you gonna do if I am? Punish me? Didn't you have enough of that last night?" I teased and opened the drawer.

"Wha--" Zain blushed hard and looked at me.

I got clothes out and walked passed Zain and flipped my hair and it hit his face. Zain looked at me and chuckled. I closed the bathroom door.

"Daddy!!" Zofia yelled from the living room.

"And duty calls." Zain smiled and walked towards the living room. "I'm coming, princess!"

Everything was peaceful, I expected the Emperor to even attack at this time of Peace...but he didn't. It made me...I don't know..see the silver lining in his character. Part of me felt like Zephyr was actually manipulating the Emperor and the Supreme Ten. The Emperor did everything to destroy Lunia when Zephyr was alive and now he's dead, there have been no negative reports going on in the Empire. I thought to myself as the water hit my face and came to the conclusion that I didn't want to kill the Emperor if he doesn't do anything that'll make me want to kill him. I smiled and turned the water off then walked out the shower then walked out the bathroom and saw Kotome in the room.

"Kotome? What do you need?" I asked.

"Mother...I uh...do you have any pads..?" Kotome blushed.

"Yeah. I do." I smiled and walked back in the bathroom and took out a pack of pads from under the sink and walked back to Kotome and tossed her the package.

"T-Thanks.." Kotome hurried off back to her room.

I nodded and began to get dressed. I had on a t-shirt and shorts with a jacket. I put on my brown boots and picked up my small bag. I walked out the room and saw Kotome swing open her door and she had on a white shirt, blue pants and a small jacket.

"You look nice." I smiled.

"You too...I guess we wait for everyone else to get ready?" Kotome asked.

"Mhm. Let's go to the living room for the time being." I said.

Kotome nodded and we walked towards the living room and saw Zofia sitting on the couch, watching cartoons. She had no clue what they were saying most times but I caught her repeating some words from the TV, occasionally repeating an entire sentence. I smiled and sat beside Zofia and ruffled her hair. Zofia blushed and looked at me determined and opened her mouth to speak.

"H-Hel.." She paused and took out her paper and read straight off the paper. "Hello..Mama! How are doing?"

Even when she writes it's not perfect grammar, but she's slowly evolving in her grammar. Just a year ago she could barely form a proper sentence and her vocabulary and word pool was very small. I giggled and looked at her.

"I'm fine, sweetheart. Are you ready for some fun today?" I asked.

"Fun time!" Zofia bounced up and down, happily.

Kotome smiled and sat on the couch and we waited for everyone else to get ready. We sat on the couch watching cartoons with Zofia. I checked the time and it was 10:30 am. I stood up and saw everyone walk out. Ashe grabbed the keys and we all headed towards the limousine. We got in the vehicle and Ashe started the vehicle. We drove towards the city. The drive made me think about Haido...Everyone was talking and having a good time. Zain held my hand and I looked at him and smiled. He smiled back and I joined in the conversation. After an hour, we made it in the city and drove around to waste more time. After a bit, Ashe stopped the car and we got out and began to walk around the Arcania Plaza.

"There's this really good place that sells some delicious hotcakes!" Tia said with excitement.

"Oh really?" I asked.

"It's called Cake Mania! That's the perfect place to have our first meal of the day." Tia smiled.

"Alright then." I smiled.

We all made our way towards Cake Mania and walked in the restaurant. I looked around and looked at the worker, who was quite surprised to see us, the Royal Family of Lunia. She fixed her posture and looked at us.

"There's no need to be so uptight.." I smiled. "I don't want you treat us any different than you would treat a normal customer."

"A-As you wish. A table for eight?" She asked.

"Yes." I nodded.

She led us towards our seats and we sat down. She handed us our menus and walked off. We talked and looked through the menu. The worker came back to our table a few minutes later and took our order then took the menus. A few minutes our food came and the workers set our plates down. We began to eat.

"M-Mmph...these are amazing.." I said. "I feel like I'm in heaven.."

"That's the closest you'll get to heaven.." Saya snickered.

I kicked her shin from under the table and she yelped and covered her mouth. She blushed madly and looked around and noticed people looking at her. I kept eating my food with my eyes closed. After about 30 minutes, we finished and Zain payed the bill and set down an extra tip. We got up and left the restaurant. We traversed through Arcania Plaza and Zain bought me a lot of gifts. We even went to a Karaoke place and Saya sung a few songs. Zofia went up to sing as well. She was a bit tone deaf but I enjoyed her singing and not because I'm her mother. She was really cute up there singing. As I looked at everyone, I finally noticed Zain's hair was back to his normal blonde color with his normal blue eyes, Kotome was a lot more happy than she was a year ago, Saya and Miyuna...well they were the same but you get my point. Everyone is happier and it was enough to make me tear up.

"Mmmm? Stella what's the matter?" Zain looked at me.

"Pinch me please.." I said softly.

"With pleasure." Saya said happily and pinched my nose really hard.

"OW!" I slapped Saya. "Okay now I know I'm not dreaming this moment...this is real...and I'm so happy it is real...if this turned out to be a dream, I would have no desire to live anymore.."

"So that's why you're getting so sappy." Zain teased.

"Shut up." I laughed and sniffled, wiping my eyes.

Everyone laughed softly. We stayed at the karaoke place a bit longer and after a while we left. We got back in the limousine and drove off back home. By the time we got home it was 5 pm. We stopped at Lunia Village, Izumi's home, and I looked around. I got out the limousine and was surprised by everyone.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The village cheered.

There was fireworks and banners all set up around the village. Izumi walked up to me and smiled. She touched my arms and smiled.

"Happy birthday, Stella...I'm glad you could make it to see another day and experience this moment with us all.." She nodded.

"Izumi." I said.

"Your Highness." A woman walked up. I looked at the woman and was taken aback.

"Victoria.." I walked to her and hugged her.

"Come on...no need for all of this." Victoria smiled and hugged back.

"I missed you so much..." I said, letting her go.

"I missed you too.." Victoria smiled.

Everyone in the Nightmare Assembly was there at my party. We all sat around and had drinks and I opened my presents. The entire village was lit with lights. After two hours, I told them they could keep partying while I retreated back to the castle and sat on the balcony. I watched a candle burn. Zofia ran to the balcony and sat in my lap and looked up. I looked at her and smiled and held her close. We watched the candle burn slowly.

"Are you cold Zofia..?" I asked.

"Nu-uh..Mama very warm.." Zofia smiled.

"We did the same thing like this on your birthday..remember..?" I said.

"Remember much...I think fall asleep on mama." Zofia looked up at me.

"You did..just when the final candle burned out...out like a light.." I smiled and rubbed her hair.

Zofia smiled and touched my cheeks. I kissed her forehead and we continued to watch the candle burn. Zain watched from the door and smiled. Zofia started to drift to sleep as the candle began to reach it's final minutes. I kept looking at the candle and tears fell from my eyes as I thought about how I did the same with Tomoka when I was younger...We sat just like this..watching candles burn for hours...I closed my eyes and quietly sobbed and held Zofia closer. Zofia snuggled into my arms and closed her eyes.

"You..can cry all you want...I'm here...for you...mama.." Zofia smiled and laid her head on my chest. "I love..you much mama.."

"I-I love you too...my sweet princess..." I smiled and my voice was shaky.

The fire on the candle disappeared as the candle finished burning...My new life finally begins, but this time, as a Dark Queen...I will make the most of it and live as happily as I possibly can...I want nothing more than to live happily with my family...My birthday wish is to truly be happy and to live happily for the rest of my existence until I die.