Chapter 14 - Cadre Princess

"Whoaaa~ what the hell happened here?" A young girl's voice questioned outside of a decrepit or perhaps now MORE decrepit church.

"Who are you?" An old priest leaning against the wall with his head still bleeding asked in a tired voice.

"Hahahaha! I am none other than Cthylla, one of the ten king candidates chosen by Solomon himself and the daughter of the cadre Sahariel. Though at home most people call me the Cadre Princess!" Cthylla introduced herself bombastically as she pointed to herself.

"A Fallen Angel? I'm sorry to inform you if you're here for a fight this old man hasn't any left to give you…" The old man said somberly the age lines on his face making him look weak and pathetic.

"If I was looking for a fight I certainly wouldn't be looking for a pathetic human like you!" Cthylla chastised the man as if something like this should be obvious.

The old man couldn't help but compare her to the other two king's candidates he had had the misfortune of meeting in his lifetime. He wondered if all of them were arrogant, the vampire princess very much had a haughty attitude, Cebrail had a calm and quiet confidence, and now this Cthylla was loud; boisterous, and arrogant in a very in your face manner. He couldn't help but muse that maybe one of the most important traits of a ruler is confidence rather than raw power.

"Still tell me what happened here."

"Haha… *cough* *cough* An Angel gave us wicked old souls the punishment we deserve." The old man responded a bit humorously in spite of his injuries.

"An Angel huh?" Cthylla commented blandly. "I was wondering when an Angel would show up with Solomon's Ring, I mean it seems fitting."

"She seems so weak though! Kings like us shouldn't be dealing with nameless grunts!" Cthylla seemed disappointed, after using her Royal Authority of Truth Detection on the old man's words she immediately could see for herself most of the events which had taken place. To say she wasn't impressed was an understatement.

"How could that be a king candidate! Seriously! I'll use her as a stepping stone to my eventual victory." Cthylla walked up to the old man and used a bit of healing magic on him. She had sympathy for weak little guys like him, though she'd never admit it. In her own past life, she was often bullied by the rich girls at her school, she knew what it was like to be powerless in the face of those great simply because they were born.

"A Fallen healing a member of the Church and an Angel with silver light, truly I have seen everything."

"Silver light…" Cthylla found such a thing quite curious, only second generation Fallen Angels had light power which was colored. It signified the impurity of the power in comparison to the original.

Leaving the man to recover she entered the church without paying the skewered man any mind, instantly she saw the secret passage wide open and raised an eyebrow. "Why am I not surprised that a church has a hidden basement?"

Stepping down the stone steps the Cadre Princess found herself in a spacious room with a single man still in it covered in rocks and stuck in place.

"Man, you got DESTROYED!" She jokes stepping in front of the young man.

"..."

"Hmm? You can't talk huh, one sec." Cthylla puts a hand on the rock and slowly they crumble away, falling off of the young man who soon falls to his hands and knees breathing heavily.

"Who haa… haa… are you?"

"Princess of the Cadre and one of Solomon's chosen Cthylla. And you are?"

"A Fallen Angel?" The young man tried to tighten his grip on his sword however his body was too weak from being stuck in the rocks for hours.

"When a king is gracious enough to ask you for your name… it's best not to ignore it." Cthylla says in a somewhat dangerous tone, she didn't like being disrespected, not when she was finally the one with the power.

"My names Gregory… I'm an orphan so I have no last name."

"I see, that's a pretty generic name, however still I'll invite you into my newly formed group of subjects, Name Still Pending!" Cthylla announced throwing her arms to either side of herself as if to bask in her own greatness.

"Name Still Pending?"

"Well yeah, my retainer wants to name the group 'Thousand Eyes' but like that doesn't sound very awe inspiring. So we're still thinking of a name."

"You're asking me to betray the Church?" Gregory asked incredulously.

"Don't pretend kid, I'm sure you don't actually care about the Church, you'll learn soon enough that lying to me is completely impossible~" Cthylla bragged with her chin held high with pride.

"What exactly are you offering then…"

"Hehe~ I'm offering you my ideology. A future, no, a world where no lies exist!"

–

When Reginleif woke up the first thing she noticed was an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Eh? Eh? Ehhh?" She was quite confused however slowly the memories just before she fell asleep came to her.

(I must be in Heaven.) Reginleif thought looking around curiously finding that she was in a giant comfy bed with fluffy white sheets. The room itself was rather plain with high white walls and a white carpeted floor which resembled clouds.

Upon stepping on the carpet she couldn't help but feel astonished, it didn't just look like clouds but felt incredibly fluffy as if her feet could just pass through. Honestly, it gave her a really unstable feeling as if there wasn't any solid ground.

She carefully made her way to the door opening it to be met by a man with deep black hair. "It looks like you're finally up little Valkyrie."

"Umm… hi?"

"My name is Adriel, the secretary of Lady Gabriel." He introduces himself with a small bow. "I've been instructed to take you to the young miss once you woke up."

"You mean Cebrail?"

His eyebrow visibly twitched when he heard the young Angel's name being said which confused Reginleif slightly, but he kept his professional aura. "That is correct. Please follow me."

Turning around, Adriel began to leave without another word causing Reginleif to scurry after him. Adriel normally wasn't so stiff, however, he was extremely worried.

You see when Cebrail had brought this young Valkyrie home she had explicitly introduced her as "a friend." Cebrail never called anyone her friend. She instead often complained that friends would be too much of a hassle for her to deal with. Even that child Puriel, she doesn't call her friend despite them having been playing with one another for over a month now.

If he makes a bad impression on this girl what could happen? Cebrail may remain a friendless anti-social shut in like her mother!

He couldn't possibly let that happen.

Though he was still sweating. Gabriel's expression hadn't been the best when Cebrail brought Reginleif. He was sure she didn't like the idea of her daughter's first proper friend coming from an entirely different faction however he was also sure that she probably wouldn't be too against it if Cebrail was happy.

While Adriel was calculating how to keep Reginleif around for the betterment of Cebrail's social life. The Valkyrie herself was looking around, unfortunately there wasn't much to look at. As expected of an Angel the decorations were minimalist in nature as they didn't particularly care about luxury in the same way as other factions.

What Reginleif did notice was a single picture frame that kept showing up the more they walked. Each holding a different picture of Cebrail in her life with some being family photos of only Cebrail and Gabriel. In each and every photo no matter what Cebrail had the same deadpan expression as she had the day Reginleif had met her.

"Are you curious about her looks?" Adriel asked noticing that she was staring. "She always has had that sort of expression, even when she was born she didn't cry but instead looked like that."

Adriel had always thought of it as strange. Cebrail seemed to be horrible at expressing emotions but at the same time, all of her actions are emotional in nature.

She is irrational to the highest degree just as her mother is.

"Is she unhappy?" Reginleif asked surprising Adriel slightly. Her question was genuine, but not in the same way the Angels often worried about her. It was far more personal.

"No… I don't think she's unhappy…" His hesitation only made Reginleif a bit suspicious as to why he was so unsure, but he elaborated shocking Reginleif. "Sometimes people can be unhappy without even knowing it themselves. Perhaps being granted Solomon's Wisdom from the day she was born inflicted some kind of wound on her heart."

A child shouldn't know as much as Cebrail does. Adriel was certain of it. Her innocence was there but it was buried under the wisdom of an adult.

Soon the secretary stopped in front of a large set of double doors which not only towered over Reginleif but also Adriel himself. It was a testament to exactly how large Cebrail's room was.

Adriel knocked on the door softly but got no response.

"Hmm…" He was certain that she was awake so he opened the door and stepped in to find Cebrail and Gabriel playing a game of Uno while multiple beams of silver light bounced around the room off of precariously placed mirrors. Instantly one shot through the open door missing Reginleif's head by a hair.

Though this should have gained Reginleif's attention she was far more focused on Cebrail in the room.

The dignified Seraphim Princess was wearing a cute maid outfit with fake cat ears, a matching tail, high mismatched stockings, and her hair done in a set of twin tails.

"..."

"..."

The two stared at one another silently however as if not embarrassed at all Cebrail went back to her card game.

"You need to focus more, darling~"

"You're just a cheater nya."

"How so?"

"It's cheating to hold wilds and plus fours until you have Uno nya."

"Speaking of Uno~" Gabriel placed down a yellow 4. "Unoooo~"

"Nya, jokes on you, plus four, nya." Cebrail said confidently.

"Yes indeed the joke is on you~" Gabriel placed down a plus four winning the match.

"..." Cebrail stared at her mother in such a way that you could tell if she were a normal child it would be a tantrum. "I'm done with this game nya"

Cebrail dropped her cards and made to stand however her legs suddenly felt weak and she fell back to the ground.

"Cebrail!" Gabriel rushed to catch her daughter and the moment the two of them touched she could feel the heat of Cebrail's skin. Though her daughter looked fine outwardly it seemed as though the training they were doing was taking a number on her. Gabriel picked up her precious daughter and put her into a large comfortable chair. "You sit here and rest, I'll be speaking to Adriel just outside.

"Alright."

Gabriel left passing Reginleif on the way out with just a small glance. "Make sure she doesn't do anything too strenuous."

Gabriel with that, exited the room closing it behind her only to be met with Adriel's disapproving stare.

"If you have something to say then just say it."

"You know exactly what I'm going to say…"

"..." Gabriel glared at the ground in annoyance. Of course, she knew what her secretary was going to say. "It's not time yet."

"What a terrible excuse."

"What do you want me to say Adriel?"

"She must learn to control her magic, you know as well as I do that if this keeps up she may even-"

"I know!" Gabriel shouted before remembering they were just behind Cebrail's door. "I know Adriel. How could I not know? But you know better than anyone that magic is a heretical art!"

"You think the Angels will reject her?"

"Just her using simple defensive magic in her fight with Puriel had people asking questions. If she starts running around utilizing more dangerous spells, what do you think will happen?"

"Lady Gabriel. If you can't even convince yourself of a lie then you shouldn't try saying it to your closest attendant." Adriel stated with his eyebrows furrowed reflecting his own annoyance.

"Then if you know the reason why are we having this conversation?"

"Because Lady Gabriel, you can't keep Cebrail like this forever. The birds we had watching her reported that she ran into not only Odin but a suspicious Devil with great power. She is a king's candidate. No matter where she goes, destiny will always follow." Adriel truly sounded worried for Cebrail and of course he would. He had watched the young princess grow up. "She may even end up having to fight her father eventually."

"That's the problem, Adriel. That is what I'm afraid of. That man… I doubt he would truly attempt to harm Cebrail, however his ambition…" Gabriel put a tired hand over her face. "She already resembles him so much. I feel like if she learns magic… there won't be any going back. Can't my precious little Cebrail at least wait until she's older to get mixed up in Solomon's wretched game?"

"Shouldn't you at least let her make that choice for herself?"

"..." Gabriel didn't respond to Adriel's question but instead straightened her back and put on the stern face she often did when dealing with people other than her daughter. "Call me if she needs anything."