Mommy Villainess

Chapter 184: Wandering Hearts

"WONG said they have found a clue as to where the body of the Red Phoenix has been locked up all this time, Supreme."

Tilly sipped her tea while listening to Solaris.

Right now, only the two of them were in the tea room. After their meeting with the others, the Fire Archmage asked her to have some tea with him.

"Wong sounds so sure that the information they got this time would really lead us to where Lord Winchell is," Solaris continued. "Supreme, instead of going to the Royal Capital, wouldn't it be more beneficial to us to save the Red Phoenix first?"

She put her teacup down on the coaster.

Of course, the Fire Archmage was right. For the past five years, they didn't stop looking for the Red Phoenix. The Keepers used a piece of her heart to look all over the world to find her brother. When she said a "piece" of her heart, she meant Sentinel.

The spirit guardian had been travelling with Wong while searching for the Red Phoenix.

"It's true that we will gain an advantage if we found my brother before I return to the empire," Tilly said carefully. "But I believe that the loss will be bigger. If I have the Red Phoenix by then, Aku Moonchester wouldn't put his guard down. We can't also forget that Nia Moonchester wants my heart to summon the sky beast. If my brother descended down with me, the nasty twins will hunt him down right away. If that happens, our plan to convince the princess to make a binding vow with me would be ruined."

The Fire Archmage slowly nodded his head in agreement. "You have a point, Supreme." But then, he threw her a dubious look. "I apologize if this sounds rude but you're not eager to return to the empire just to see the Black Serpent again are you?"

"Of course not," she denied even though the thought of meeting the Black Serpent again just made her heart skip a beat. But she reminded herself to remain focused. "And I'm not saying that we shouldn't rescue the Red Phoenix just because I'm returning to the empire. We can do both at the same time, Solaris."

"Oh," he said. "You're right, Supreme."

"I'm thinking of sending a party led by Wong to free the Red Phoenix," she said. "My presence in the empire will distract the Moonchesters. As long as I'm in the Royal Capital, their attention will be focused on me. Let's hope that Wong's team can move a little more freely if I serve as a distraction."

"Let's talk about this again once Wong returns," he said. "We'll have to discuss the information that they collected first."

She nodded in agreement. "Is this the only reason why you want to talk to me in private?"

He shook his head, then he turned more serious. "Supreme, about Lady Luna"

She sipped her tea to hide her smile.

I knew it had something to do with Luna.

"How is she?" Solaris asked awkwardly. "Did she successfully retrieve all her memories as the Moon Priestess?"

For the past five years, both her and Luna worked hard to retrieve their memories.

To be honest, she didn't really understand what was happening during the first years of her arrival at the floating island. But slowly, thanks to Solaris' hard work, she managed to retrieve pieces of her memories of her life as an-almost goddess, and as the Supreme Fire Mage.

She hadn't retrieved everything yet, but she remembered some major events in her past lives that helped her understood their clan's goal clearly.

Unfortunately, her memories as 'Duchess Tilly Nystrom' were still blurry.

The only things that helped her understood her current life was the pictures and videos that she had with her.

I also understand that my husband, Duke Kiho Nystrom, is the Black Serpent.

Solaris and her Keepers firmly believed that the Black Serpent was our nemesis. That they only allowed me to marry him because I needed to give birth to Winter the Moon Serpent, also known as the 'God Slayer.' Apparently, his son was also the one destined to kill the evil Aku Moonchester.

Whatever they say, my heart still believes in Kiho Nystrom.

Anyway, Luna went through the same experience as her.

At first, the witch was very surprised to know that she was the Moon Priestess. Apparently, she was the only one who knew where Saint Asher Forrester's Holy Scepter was. But unfortunately, until now, Luna still couldn't remember the part of her past life where she hid the Holy Scepter.

"Luna is yet to retrieve all the memories of her past life as the Moon Priestess," she said. "I think she was still a little shock from what she remembered last time. Maybe that's what prevents her from remembering the rest of her memories."

"Oh," Solaris said, still looking as awkward as ever. "I hope Lady Luna feels better soon."

"We just need to give Luna more time," Tilly assured the Fire Archmage. "We can trust her, Solaris."

***

"LORD NYSTROM will be having a dinner party with the members of House of Lords next week."

Julian let out a sigh of frustration when he heard his mother Lucina talk to Louisa the head maid. He was about to go down the grand staircase because his father was about to arrive any minute. But he stopped in his tracks when he found Lucina and Louisa in an argument while standing in front of the staircase wall.

To be precise, they were in a heated debate because of the portrait of his father and Duchess Nystrom hanging on the wall.

"I already told you to throw away all the portraits of Duchess Nystrom here in the mansion, didn't I?" Lady Lucina Morganna (now Huxley, but he still preferred his mother's old family name) said with a forced smile on her face. His mother already won the hearts of the servants of House Nystrom except for the head maid and the head butler. "The guests will feel uncomfortable if they saw the former duchess's portrait."

"Lady Tilly Nystrom is still the Duchess of Oakes, Lady Huxley," Louisa said in a calm but firm voice. "Most of all, Lady Nystrom is still is the mother of House Nystrom. And I will only obey the master of the house."

Julian knew that his mother would explode and hurt Louisa.

He was about to stop the two when all of a sudden, his father's cold and indifferent voice echoed in the mansion.

"What's going on here?"

Louisa and his mother immediately bowed and greeted his father.

Julian walked towards his father and bowed to him. "Welcome back, Father."

As usual, he only heard a soft hum from his father as an acknowledgement for his greeting.

When he raised his head, he saw his father give Louisa and his mother an annoyed look. Clearly, he heard the two's argument.

"I asked what's going on here," his father said even though he probably knew the answer. "Is no one going to answer me?"

Louisa bowed her head before she spoke. "My lord, Lady Huxley is asking me to remove all the portraits of Duchess Nystrom in the mansion."

Julian took a peek at his mother and he saw her glaring holes at the head maid's head.

Mother, please calm down.

"Put them away," the duke declared that shocked them all.

"M-My lord?" Louisa asked, obviously devastated.

"Don't make me repeat myself, Louisa," his father said coldly, then he turned his back on them. "Julian, follow me."

"Yes, Father," Julian answered right away. But before he left, he looked at his mother and saw her smirking at Louisa. He let out a deep sigh and shook his head before he followed his father. Mother, you're making the same mistakes you did in the past.

***

WHEN TILLY arrived at her bedroom, she sat in front of the mirror and stared at herself.

She was currently alone at home because Isabelle went out to look for Winter, while Luna was still on a meeting with Jameson, Roarke, and Kelsi.

They work hard.

Of course, she did, too.

Anyway, I think I need a haircut soon.

She cut her long jet-black hair when she began training to master her fire Mana again. But now, her hair was already as long as before she cut it off.

While looking at her face in the mirror, she realized that she looked more mature now than she did five years ago. But the biggest change that she noticed was the lack of sparkle in her eyes even though she could say that she was happy in the island.

She got along well with her Keepers (except Wong) and the citizens of Solarium.

Most of all, Winter, Luna, and Isabelle were with her.

But a huge chunk of her heart seemed to be missing. Sometimes, even though she was surrounded by people she loved and loved her back, she still felt sad. She kept on yearning for something

or someone.

"Kiho Nystrom," Tilly whispered to herself while touching the snowdrop pendant of her necklace. According to Luna, that necklace was a birthday gift from her husband. "I wonder if you still remember me."

***

KIHO was aware that he was on thin ice.

Recently, he could feel that Emperor Aku was getting suspicious of him because of his continuous "rebellion." It wasn't like he wanted to ruin the plan. He just really couldn't agree with him whenever he would force him to "remarry."

"Louisa," Kiho called the head maid who looked at him with disappointment in her eyes. He brought Julian to the training ground to see his improvement in swordsmanship. But after he heard that Lady Morganna (or was it Huxley?) already left the estate, he went back to the mansion. Luckily, he saw Louisa right away as soon as he entered the house. "Bring everything to my room."

Louisa looked confused by his order. "I apologize but I don't understand, my lord."

"Bring all the portraits of the duchess in my bedroom in secret. Ask David to help you," he whispered. The only people that he could trust in the mansion were Louisa and David. "Be careful."

He only told Louisa to get rid of the portraits because he knew that Lady Morganna was working with the emperor. He had no solid proof, but the fact that it was His Majesty who assigned the woman to be Julian's teacher was already suspicious to him. He didn't want her to report to the emperor that he still had feelings for the duchess.

Well, the lady wasn't wrong but he didn't want Emperor Aku to use it against him.

Also, his skin crawled each time Lady Morganna would look at him. She never failed to make him feel uncomfortable for some reason.

"As you wish, my lord," Louisa said. She was obviously pleased to know that his heart remained the same. "I'll take my leave then."

He just nodded, then he went out of the mansion when he saw a group of servants walking towards their direction.

This is tiring.

To have a little peace of mind, he went to his oasis the pond in front of the mansion. He sat on the bench and watched the colorful koi fish in the pond. After a while, when he was sure that no one was keeping an eye on him, he took the locket pendant of the necklace he wore.

He opened it, revealing the old photo of his family.

To be honest, he still didn't have the memories of his past. He was only following the instructions left by his wife in several video messages that she left for him. Those messages were secretly handed to him by Louisa and David.

Sometimes, he thought he was crazy.

He didn't even know what compelled him to believe and completely trust the woman in the videos that he watched. For some reason, he just knew that he had to follow her. So when she said that the Moonchesters were the enemies that separated them, his heart didn't question it.

"I miss you," Kiho whispered to himself while touching the face of his son in the picture with his finger. Then, he gently caressed the beautiful face of his wife on the photo. Until now, he didn't know how he survived the lonely five years of his life without his family. It was actually funny because he didn't even have his memories. And yet, he was longing for them. Especially for the duchess that seemed to own his heart completely. "Is it possible to fall in love with you even though I only remember you through the videos that you left, my lovely wife?"

***

NOTE: Hi! I'm always grateful to all the readers but this time, I'd like to specifically thank my 347 privilege readers (as of writing this).

I am super touched by your support. That's why I feel a little bad knowing that the WIN-WIN event is already ending and I wasn't able to reach at least 500 privilege readers. Thus, I won't be getting a banner feature.

I feel like I've wasted your efforts. I wanted the banner feature not just for exposure but to also make you feel proud. I wanted to show you how high Mommy Villainess can fly with your support.

I'm so sorry, everyone. :(

I will work harder to make the story better. Please continue supporting me. And you can look forward to more things that Mommy Villainess can offer. Thank you. :)

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