SENTINEL was forced to come out of Lady Nystrom's heart when she summoned him.

When he got out, he realized that he was in the duchess's room. Lady Nystrom stood in front of him. But he was easily distracted by the young lord who was sleeping on the crib.

Seeing the baby made him feel uncomfortable.

"Sentinel, why are you looking at my child like that?" Lady Nystrom confronted him in a strict voice. When he turned to her, he saw the duchess with her arms over her chest while giving him a disapproving look. "Do you have a problem with my baby?"

Sentinel shook his head. "I don't, Your Grace."

Well, it wasn't like he could tell the duchess that he was afraid of her child.

In his defense, it wasn't just him. He was pretty sure that other spirits were naturally afraid of the Moon Serpent. Heck, even gods were wary of the giant snake!

"Then, why didn't you come out when I gave birth to Winter?" Lady Nystrom asked. "If I didn't summon you, you wouldn't have come out. Am I wrong?"

"I'm just resting," he said in a defensive voice. "I was exhausted from keeping your heart protected while you were giving birth to the young lord."

That wasn't a lie though.

He really worked hard to prevent the heart from awakening then. But of course, that wasn't the entire reason why he didn't want to come out.

"Okay, I believe you," Lady Nystrom said even though she didn't look convinced by his excuse. "Will you babysit Winter for a while?"

"Why me?" he complained. When the duchess raised a brow at him, he immediately backed down. "I'd love to watch over the young lord, Your Grace."

"You better do," she said firmly. "Aside from Kiho and Miss Luna, you're the only one I can trust Winter with, Sentinel."

Okay, that made him feel proud of himself.

Being useful to the Supreme was a huge honor for him and his kind.

"I will make sure that nothing bad will happen to the young lord," he promised the duchess.

"Thank you, Sentinel," she said. "I'll just bake a cake while Winter is asleep and Kiho is out. Today is still Winter's birthday so I want to celebrate it at dinner later."

"I understand, Your Grace."

Lady Nystrom just smiled at him, then she held onto the railing of the crib and leaned down to kiss the young lord's forehead. "Mommy will just bake cake for you, my little cinnamon roll," she whispered to her son. "Uncle Sentinel will babysit you. He's a good friend of mommy and daddy so don't be afraid of him, okay?"

Oh, he felt something warm in his chest.

I'm an "uncle" now.

Suddenly, he thought of Lord Wixx.

If the Red Phoenix met his nephew, he would probably cry because of happiness. Even though the Moon Serpent was a threat to gods, Lord Wixx was whipped for his little sister.

"I'll go now," Lady Nystrom informed him. Then, she smiled and patted his shoulder. "Please take care of our Winter, Sentinel."

He bowed politely to her. "I will protect the young lord with my life, Your Grace."

The duchess just laughed softly, then she left the room quietly.

He stood beside the crib and watched the young lord who was still sleeping peacefully.

Who would have thought that this tiny little human could either save or destroy the empire?

Wait, could he even call the Moon Serpent a human?

The Black Serpent was a god. Well, the Supreme chose to be a mortal but her blood was that of a god as well. And even though 'Kiho' and 'Lady Nystrom' had mortal bodies when they conceived the Moon Serpent, their blood and their Mana couldn't hide their pure lineage.

Why did the heavens allowed someone as powerful as you to be born, young lord?

It wasn't that he was unhappy with the birth of the Moon Serpent. He came from the Supreme, and as a servant of the fire, he was wired to love everything that came from her.

But as a spirit guardian, he was worried.

The Moon Serpent can kill gods.

That meant every side of the upcoming war would want to get the Moon Serpent to fight with them.

If the Supreme and Black Serpent fought against each again, I wonder who you'd side with, young lord, Sentinel wondered to himself. Will you choose your mother or your father?

***

"MISS LUNA, where are you now?" Tilly asked while talking to Luna via the new communication device in her ear. Since she burned the old one, she got a new spirit stone to use as an earring/communication device. Of course, Kiho got a new one as well to match hers. "Have you already arrived at the plaza?"

"Yes, I'm already here, Your Grace," Luna, on the other side of the line, said. "I'm about to start my "drama" now."

"Alright," she said with a laugh while she was busy making chocolate ganache. Currently, she was alone in the kitchen. But a while ago, the whole kitchen staff was helping her. She just asked them to leave the kitchen when she called Luna. After all, the servants in the mansion didn't know about their plan. "I wish I could record your performance though."

"We can't do that, my lady," the witch said. "We can't leave any trace that the enemies could use to lead this "drama" to you."

"I understand," she said. "Miss Luna, you're alone there. Please be extra careful."

"I will," Luna said. "Thank you for your concern, Lady Nystrom."

"I'll hang up now so you could start your "performance,"" Tilly said with a smile. She trusted Luna since day one so she knew the witch wouldn't disappoint her. And they didn't have the luxury to fail right now. "Best of luck, Miss Luna."

***

"HOUSE NYSTROM is looking for more knights and guards?"

"Apparently, their mansion was attacked last night!"

"But Duke Nystrom is one of the best knights that the empire ever produced. He can protect his family on his own, can he not?"

"Of course, His Grace is capable of protecting his family," Luna said to the guests of the local pub where she was at.

It was the pub that the servants (like maids, butlers, and guards) of noble families frequent in their free time. In short, it was also a place where rumors usually start. After all, if there was one thing the servants were good at aside from serving the nobles, it was to spread gossips.

She wasn't a fool to expose her identity though.

So before she arrived at the Royal Capital, she used a disguise. Using her magic, she changed her eyes from pink to brown. She also changed her burgundy hair into light brown to match her fake eye color. To complete her disguise, she wore a normal dress that commoners use every day. She would appear suspicious if she wore a cloak.

At situations like that, blending in with the common folks would be more effective.

Also, she was using a light charm spell to get everyone's full attention. It would help her convince them to believe her story while still being able to think for their own. In that way, they wouldn't think that they were being manipulated.

Although technically, that was the case.

But she didn't know if there were people there who could detect spells and charms. That was why she opted on using a light spell only.

"But do you know that Duchess Nystrom had already given birth to the child of the prophecy last night?" Luna continued, making everyone around her gasp aloud. At that moment, all the guests in the pub were surrounding her while listening to her intently. "Yes, the child of the prophecy had already been born– and that was why House Nystrom was attacked."

Her story was rewarded by another collective gasp from her audience.

"Who would dare to attack House Nystrom?" a woman who looked like in her early twenties asked with furrowed brows.

"It was probably someone from the Noble Faction!" a man who was drinking in the bar counter shouted. The group of men (who looked like guards) in the table next to hers nodded in agreement. "The child of the prophecy is going to aid the emperor in the future. So of course, those nobles who want to destroy the monarchy aren't happy with the child's existence. They probably think if the child of the prophecy dies, the emperor's power would weaken."

She waited for a while before she spoke again.

"I also thought the same at first," she said, her audience becoming more hooked to her story. "That's why I was shocked when I heard that the assailants allegedly came from House Huxley and House Hayward."

The reaction of the audience was more explosive this time.

"That can't be!"

"House Huxley is from the Royal Faction!"

"And so is House Hayward. The lady I serve belongs to the same circle as Her Royal Highness. I'm pretty certain that the late Lady Alisa Hayward was a good friend of the princess."

"House Prescott, the family where Lady Nystrom came from, has been in the Royal Faction ever since the empire was built. Why would another family from the Royal Faction attack House Nystrom?"

"If you're going to create a rumor, at least make it believable!"

When her audience was about to believe, she smiled and spoke again.

"The prophecy didn't say that the son of House Nystrom would aid the emperor in the future," she declared, causing those who started to walk away to stop and turn to her again. Then, she continued. "The prophecy only said that the child's existence would be special to the empire. It was His Majesty who assumed that the child would take his side."

Everyone gasped again.

But this time, it was due to horror.

After all, what she said was equivalent to disrespecting the emperor. That was probably why most of the commoners could only freeze in shock.

Now, for the finale…

"Believe me or not, the prophecy that the High Priest announced was incomplete," she said with confidence. "The truth is, the prophecy said that whichever side the child would take would be the one to rule the empire in the future. Of course, for now, the child is on His Majesty's side. But what if in the future, the Noble Faction managed to sway him to abandon His Majesty and switch sides? That was what the Royal Faction fears as of this moment. And so, some of them thought that it would be better for the child of the prophecy to disappear before he gains too much power."

Duke and Duchess Nystrom were both aware that spreading a false prophecy suggesting that the young lord wasn't really on the emperor's side was very dangerous for their family. But they realized that in the end, everyone would know that House Nystrom didn't belong to the Royal Faction anymore anyway.

And so, they decided to use that opportunity to further divide the Royal and the Noble Faction.

"I know that you don't believe me right now," Luna said, the she stood up and started to walk away. "But just so you know, Duke Nystrom is already in the Royal Palace right now to report the attack of House Huxley and House Hayward to His Majesty. Once the news breaks out, you'd know that I'm telling the truth." She stopped to turn to the stunned audience. "Remember this: the child of the prophecy doesn't belong to His Majesty, or to any faction for that matter– never was and never will be."

***

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