Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

I had to make a double take of my life when I heard those words.

-Me? ‘Your Majesty’? What the heck is he talking about?

I tried to coax him into lifting his head so he could answer my questions, but he was adamant on staying in that position until I give him a punishment. Which to be honest was a little scary.

For the last seven years, I was raised as the fourth miss of the Celestine Family. I had a noble standing but I had never gotten to the point where I had to punish someone for their ‘transgressions’ as Senior Trent put it. Sure I made some people pay a few times for breaking the rules but they always pleaded not to punish them or something.

Senior Trent asking to be punished was a first for me. Plus the title he said, ‘your majesty’? I had no idea what that one was about.

“Trent Kidlat!” I exclaimed which caught his attention and finally made him shut up. “Are you going to continue mumbling there or are you going to answer my questions?”

“But… I have to be punished for what I did! I dared-“

“Look at me in the eyes! That’s an order!” he reluctantly looked up and I locked into his steel grey eyes. “What do you know of my red fox mark? And why did you address me as ‘your majesty’?”

I saw him took a deep breath to calm himself. “Before I answer that, let me reintroduce myself. My name is Trent Kidlat, and I am a member of the West Tribe belonging to the Lyxi Clan. The nine-tailed red fox is the symbol of our clan. And those that bear our clan’s symbol in their body in the color of red are of royal blood.”

“Oh…”

“And the one with the crimson color is our ruler, which makes you our queen.”

I asked him to elaborate after he said that. We changed into a more comfortable position, which was basically leaning on a tree as I hear him speak.

Apparently the ancestors of the Lyxi Clan, a couple with the family name of Hysi, were blessed by a fox goddess. Hundreds of years ago, the couple helped an injured fox and nursed it back to health. It turned out the fox was a goddess and asked them what they wanted as a reward would be. The couple did not want to be demanding, but there was one thing they had always wanted, a child.

Upon hearing their request, the fox goddess granted them the child who would be born in the spring. The child was born with a crimson nine-tailed fox mark on his body, as if commemorating the red fox goddess that gave him to his parents. What was peculiar about the mark was that, it would only be visible if his body rises in temperature.

That child was the founder of the Lyxi Clan.

“The name of that benevolent fox was Nyxtriel. The fallen goddess Nyxtriel.”

I couldn’t help but cringe at that.

Upon hearing his words, I suddenly remembered an incident hundreds of years ago, as Nyxtriel. It was when I snuck into the human realm. I was trying to escape a blind date set up by my mother and some noble in the celestial realm and decided to hide in the mortal realm. I ended up being ambushed by a few demon stragglers. The attack caught me off-guard so I ended up with some grievous wounds. I managed to kill my attackers but I was heavily wounded. I had no other choice but to revert to a fox and try to recover.

Aligned with Senior Trent’s story, I was taken care of by a couple. Once I had recovered, I revealed to them my true form and granted them one wish in exchange. They wished for a child which I granted.

I still remembered asking the celestial in-charge of pregnancy and childbirth to give the couple a child by spring. They happily obliged and even told me the child would do great things in the future, as well as his descendants. With this, I also blessed the child to help him in the future.

I never thought Luna, whose body I was occupying, was a descendant of the child I blessed!

-Maybe that’s why I ended up in her body?

“Those who do not carry the blood of the royal family, but are still part of the Lyxi Clan have the mark tattooed on their bodies when they reach five years old!”

Senior Trent stripped his school blazer and white polo, which then revealed a mark similarly like my own, only black and mirrored. Unlike my mark which encompassed most of me upper right side, his was focused on the left.

“The tattoo is made of special pigmentation. Just like your mark, ours only appear once our body rises in temperature. The warriors have theirs in black while the regular citizens have theirs in light brown.”

“So, Luna’s – I mean, I’m your queen?” I asked.

“Yes! I never thought one with the blood of our clan’s royal family would survive!”

I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. “Senior Trent, what did you mean by survive?”

My voice was inquisitive, authoritative and cold.

“Your majesty, do you really not know?”

“Would I be asking you if I did?”

“I apologize.” he took a deep breath again. “Ten years ago, news about people belonging to our clan being massacred started to circle around. Once it reached our ears, the South Tribe had already been wiped out. A year later, our West Tribe came next. I am the only survivor.”

I sucked in a deep breath and motioned for him to continue.

“A year after that, the East Tribe came next and seven years ago, the North tribe also fell. I thought… I thought I was the only one left. And what’s worse, I’m not even qualified to revive our clan since I don’t have royal blood.”

Matching his story with my experience, it was safe to assume that Luna’s village was the North Tribe of the Lyxi Clan.

“I am so glad that one of royal blood survived.” Senior Trent continued with tears on his eyes.

“Please don’t cry.” I said, trying to comfort him. “Have you… Have you tried to find if there are any survivors of the Lyxi Clan out there?”

“I did, but it’s not easy. If there are any survivors, I’m sure they would be hiding themselves. Our marks can be hidden and once it is, we’re not any different from the rest of humanity. I actually wish they’d remain hidden. But now that I know your majesty is alive, that changes everything!”

I noticed that Senior Trent was too excited at the news.

“Stop!” I said, well ordered. “First of all, all this information is still swarming my head. Let me wrap my head around it first. And second, to be honest, I don’t even remember much of my childhood, much less about the Lyxi Clan. Why do you think I’m asking you all these?”

“What?”

“I know the village where I was rescued was wiped out and I sort of almost died myself. But other than that, the rest of my childhood is a blank.”

“Oh.”

“But if you’re someone I’m related to, I’d like it if we become friends.”

All of a sudden, he got to one knee again, the same position as last time. So it made me realize it was definitely a curtsy within the Lyxi Clan.

“I shall be under your orders, Your Majesty!”

Yep, we had some things to work on.