Chapter 568 - 568: Meeting

"Describe the looks of that lady!" He commanded with authority. 

"Why are you getting so agitated?" Amelia asked. "

"I told you to describe her!" 

"Fine! She had silver hair that came down to her waist; however, she was shorter than me. She only came to my shoulders in height. She had deep blue eyes and a child-like naive face. But she was pretty strong," Amelia explained. 

"D-did she wear gloves like these?" Lucifer asked, showing his hands. 

"Yeah... How did you know?" Amelia asked weirdly. 

"This... You... Her... How..." 

Lucifer couldn't understand anything. His mother wasn't a summoner, let alone someone who could summon a High Beast from the world of Summons. So how was it possible? 

But Amelia knew her. She perfectly described her. That was impossible if she didn't know about her. So could it be that his Mother was a summoner? Then why didn't anyone know about it?

"Did my Mo- I mean, did that last summon you in public? How many people were there around her when she summoned you?" 

"People? Not many. Usually, there was only one person with her whenever I was summoned. It was a guy who had light golden pupils. Oh, and he was pretty strong. It was only once when I was Summoned with more than one person present."

"So she did Summon you in public. There must have been a record of that then. Why was it hidden? When was it? When did she summon you with more people present?!" Lucifer asked. 

"A-are you alright? Why do you look so agitated?" Amelia inquired, not understanding why he was so involved. What was happening here?

"Answer me!" 

"Fine! The last time she summoned me was the day it happened! It was the day I received this poison!" Amelia explained. 

She remembered the past as well as she could before she explained. 

"We were inside a cave. There were tens of people around us; however, none of them were moving. It was as if they were all dead. Even that woman was lying on the ground weakly. She asked me to take her and her husband to safety..."

"S-safety? Please tell me you did! Tell me you saved them!" Lucifer exclaimed out loud, standing up. 

"I... I... I don't know what it was, but there was some kind of poison in the air and I... My physique attracted that excess poison. I don't know what happened after that. My memories are a bit hazy. I remember waking up back in my room after that, feeling extremely hot."

"My entire skin was green as well. Since I'm a Phoenix, I was never phased by heat, but that day, I was feeling like my body was burning. It was as if my own body was destroying me from inside."

"I called my mother and told her everything." Amelia sighed. "She checked me and told me that I was affected by some poison that made my flames unstable. And this position was only going to get worse. She brought me to this place."

"Every time my flames become unstable, I come into this freezing pond to control my body. Why else would a Phoenix that hates cold stay in this pond? It's all because it does more good than bad. It's what kept me alive all this while, but even it's getting useless."

"At first, I was able to last a week without having to come here to control my flames, but this time, I wasn't even able to last one day..."

Even though Amelia described her whole life story, Lucifer wasn't interested. He had already dropped to his knees when he heard that Amelia wasn't able to save them.

When she told him about meeting them last time, he was sure that it was when his mother and father were poisoned. He thought that Amelia would have saved them after hearing the start of her story, but by the end, he only got disappointment. 

It was the same thing that he told Amelia before. He saw the door of hopes, and when he opened it, there was only disappointment. 

"So you couldn't save them?" he asked. 

"I don't know. As I said, I don't know what happened after that. But most probably, I failed and lost consciousness right there to wake up at home. So you can say that I failed, and I'm suffering all this while..." Amelia answered. 

Even though she was slightly surprised that even after hearing his story and how she was suffering, Lucifer was more concerned about that couple. 

"You look sadder about them. Did you know them?" she finally asked, slowly. 

Lucifer lowered his head, looking at the snow under his feet. "I did know them."

"How did you know them? Did they summon you too?" Amelia asked. "If that was the case, why did they summon me in the last moments? You seem immune to the position since even after touching me, you were fine. They could've summoned you and survived. Why me?"

"Because they couldn't summon me. They... They couldn't do anything. You were their only hope, it seems, and even..."

He took a deep breath, realizing that he was going down the wrong route. He couldn't blame Amelia. There was no way a Summoned Beast wouldn't help their summoner if they could. It was just that she was too weak for the position. 

He couldn't blame her. She had no hand in it. Moreover, she was also suffering all this while getting closer to death with each passing day. 

It was because of his family that she wasn't living the healthy life she could have. Instead, it was her who should have blamed him and his family. But she seemed to have no ill will for his family. 

"Do you hate that woman?" he asked. "She was the reason you're suffering."

"She is the reason for my suffering? I don't think so. She loved me like a daughter. She would never do anything to harm me. In fact, I'm sure if she knew I was going to be affected by the poison as well, she wouldn't have even summoned me," Amelia replied. 

"She... I don't blame her, and I never can. It wasn't her fault but the circumstances that brought her and me to suffering. In fact, I blame myself. I couldn't save her..."

Lucifer observed Amelia's expressions. She genuinely looked sad. Even after all this, she didn't blame his family. That only showed how well his mother treated her. 

"You didn't answer me. They didn't summon you. Then how come you know about them?" Amelia asked, getting back to the topic. 

"How do I know them?" Lucifer muttered.. "I know them the same way a son would know his family."