As soon as they reached the palace, Ethan took them to the section of rooms where the guests from the Night Clan are staying.
There are over 1800 rooms in the majestic palace. So, it has no issue in housing a large number of guests. However, to make sure there won't be an issue to the relatives of the bride and the groom namely, the Death Clan, the entire east wing was allotted for them.
They were only stopped once at the entrance of the east wing. After that, no one stopped them as Death Clan doesn't need any security from the Royal Palace.
Before going to their room, Ethan took the family to one of the Royal guest rooms, which are usually reserved for very important guests. In this case, the subordinate clan heads, the Death Clan Elders, etc…
"Greeting Matriarch," Ethan went on his one knee to greet the young woman who was busy talking with an old man that Azzy didn't know. There was also Avia, but she appeared to be sleeping.
Oakley and Affea's faces lit up as soon as they saw the daughter but before that, they need to follow the etiquette.
"Oh, it's Master Oakley." The old man let out a smile as soon as he spotted Oakley Night.
He stood up and took a deep bow, paying his respect, "Greeting Master Oakley".
"It's been a while, Elder Ives." Oakley waved his hands with a smile. He didn't bow in return for his status is higher than elder now that he was no longer expelled.
Then, the older gave a casual bow to Affea, "Greetings Princess Snieca." And then, he looked at Azzy, becoming clueless for a second before looking at the couple in confusion.
Affea let Oakley do the talking since it is his family.
Oakley informed him, "This is Azrael, our foster son."
Before the old man react to it, the young woman, the Matriarch of the Night Clan opened her mouth, "he is a special guest of the Night Clan, Ives."
She then looked at Ethan, "Azrael's safety is your responsibility."
As Ethan nodded, Pandora Night turned towards Azzy, "you must be tired from all that travel. Ethan will take you to your room. Whatever you want, Ethan will arrange it. So, no need to worry. We'll meet again soon, during dinner time."
Azzy understood that she probably want him to leave so that she can talk to them. He nodded and followed Ethan to a guest room at the end of the hall. Of course, it might be an ordinary guest room and pales in comparison with the royal guestroom whether it is the size of luxury but it was still as good as a five-star hotel room.
He remembers his one-hour stay at a five-star hotel, back when he teamed up with Prince Leo. He went to the shower and changed his clothes, then, took a seat on the bed, sitting in a lotus position.
There was no television or books in his room. Azzy got a little bit bored quickly, "what should I do? I'm at a place where I can't roam carelessly and I can't just sit around like doing nothing."
It was then something clicked in his mind and he closed his eyes, connecting his soul to his mindscape.
Instead of the cliff, his soul appeared on the floating island as he thought of the lotus, instead of the Reaper.
He looked around. "It looks beautiful." There was indeed a large difference between the barren land roamed by undead beasts and grassland with a pond.
He spotted a black lotus floating on the pond.
"Black Lotus? Shouldn't it be Red lotus in crystalline form?" He was puzzled.
It suddenly jumped from the pond and floated in the air, upon sensing Azzy.
"Puyiii"
Letting out a scream of delight, it flew towards Azzy and landed before him. As it controlled one of its leaves and stretched it towards him. "Puyi" "Puyi" "Puyi"
Despite no talk, Azzy could feel what it was saying. He caressed one of the leaves as he said, "Nice to meet you, partner."
"Puyiiii"
It squealed in excitement as Azzy was the first person that gave a positive response since it was created.
"Puyi" "Puyi"
"Do you want a name?"
The lotus leaves moved up and down.
Azzy thought for a while and asked, "how about I just call you black lotus?"
It spun left and right vigorously.
"No?" Azzy touched his chin and thought for a bit, "how about Ruby?"
"Puyiii." It agreed with the name.
"Okay, I name you Ruby."
As soon as he named him, the lotus was suddenly transformed into a tiny bipedal flower beast. Its body appeared to be a green-colored humanoid but its hair is a black lotus flower. However, this time, the flower was that of his palm size.
It took a leap and landed on his shoulder, "Puyii."
He stayed there for like 15-20 minutes, trying to figure out what its powers are. However, considering it was just born, Ruby didn't even know itself. Azzy sought the Reaper's help, to which the latter said that he needed to respect Ruby as other Arcana.
The Reaper made him understand that the black lotus was different from Vajra, which was a slave to the former.
Despite the difference in their strengths, the Reaper told him that he and the black lotus have equal status and if Azzy wanted his help in acquiring the knowledge of Ruby's skills, the latter should also become the Reaper's slave.
Vajra is obligated to become a slave considering it is a sinner but Ruby is different. So, in all, the Reaper told that he will sit on the sidelines.
The only thing he mentioned is that under his orders, Ruby lotus was infected with Protos energy and was mutated as a result.
Azzy understood what the Reaper was trying to tell and decided to figure it out on his own.
The only thing he had confirmed is that Ruby had two forms, which it can interchange without any sort of cooldown timer. One is this humanoid form with unknown abilities. Maybe, part of the soul skills is used in this form, or maybe not.
The other form is the flower transformation where it transforms into a large flower. It can fly and also can carry him during that state. As for how high it can fly, he needed to test it after returning to Aclein city.
Roughly another 30 minutes later, while Azzy and Ruby trying to figure it out together, he sensed some people entered the room.
Azzy immediately left his mindscape and opened his eyes. In an instant, his heartbeat spiked up to the peak.
Along with Pandora and Ethan, a familiar frail-looking old man was standing at the entrance with his arms crossed to the back. Indeed, it was none other than the Death Clan's Monarch, Qridus Garcia, who is also Azzy's great grandfather.
"Don't panic and be calm. Your identity hasn't been found out. Continue to keep your soul orb locked." The Reaper's voice echoed in his head, calming down his nerves.
Azzy climbed down the bed and greeted everyone with a bow, "Hello."
"This is the boy you mentioned, Pandora?" Qridus asked her coldly.
Pandora nodded politely, "Yes, Your Grace."
She then stepped forward and spoke to Azzy, "Azrael, meet the Royal Ancestor, Qridus Garcia."
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om