69 Pure Blood

"M-MY LADY, are you sure that's what you're going to wear?"

"Yes," Tilly said to Lani while admiring herself in the mirror. "I think I have a talent in dress making."

She sewed her own training clothes all day.

Right now, she wore a sleeveless crop top that was close to the sports bra that she used to wear in her second life each time she went to the gym. She turned the trousers akin to leggings to cycling shorts. Unfortunately, there wasn't an alternative for trainers shoes in the empire yet so she settled for boots. In fairness, the boots were comfortable enough to use.

"Don't worry, Lani," she assured the young maid. "Aside from you, only my husband will see me in this outfit."

After saying that, she wore the long cloak that she asked for to hide her outfit.

[I'm going to surprise Kiho.]

A few moments later, Leni entered the room.

"My lady, Sir Kiho has arrived," Leni announced politely. "Like you ordered, I asked the master to wait for you in the training room."

There were still a few hours left before dinner so she decided to start their training right away. She wanted to learn how to control her powers as soon as possible.

"Thank you," she said. "Let's head out now."

She went out of the room with Leni and Lani tailing behind her.

Damian was waiting outside the chamber and he escorted them on the way to the training room. When she got there, she asked the servants to leave. After bowing to her and saying their polite greetings, they left.

"Hon, welcome back," Tilly greeted Kiho who was already walking towards her. "How was your day?"

Kiho kissed her on the lips before he answered. He already took off his jacket. Now, he was only wearing his dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Ah, his forearms looked very sexy. "Thank you for asking. My day is fine, honey. After visiting Father, I dropped by at the Black Serpent Knights' training ground to check how Blake is doing. He's leading the squad just fine."

"That's good to hear."

"How about you, Tilly?" he asked, his arms snaking around her waist. "How was your day? Were you bored?"

"I was busy all day," she said proudly. "I made a specific outfit for today's training time."

"Really?" He looked down at the cloak she was wearing. "Is that why you're wearing a cloak inside the mansion?"

She smiled and nodded. "Are you ready to see it?"

He looked at her face before he answered. "Yes, honey."

Without breaking eye contact, she took off her cloak and let it fall down on the floor.

Kiho's jaw dropped at the sight of her revealing attire. Panic crossed his eyes as he looked around as if he was afraid someone else might see her in that glorious outfit. He only calmed down when he realized that they were alone in the training room. "Tilly, are you trying to distract me?"

"Is it working?"

"Yes," he said, then he suggestively turned to the lounging area.

The training room was as huge as a ballroom. At the further corner of the chamber was a small lounging area. It was a tea table for two persons. And a sofa.

[Oh, there's a sofa.]

"We're here to train," Tilly teased her husband. "Stop thinking about lewd stuff, you beast. I only wore this outfit because I'm expecting I'd sweat a lot from your training."

"This is just the first day of our training so we'll take it lightly for now," he said. "Captain Denver said that he put your heart to sleep. When I heard that, I finally realized why your Mana is so weak."

She pouted at that. "Is my Mana really that weak?"

"Considering your noble birth, yes, it's really weak," he said truthfully. "But it's only because it's inactive."

"How will you train me if my Mana is inactive?" she asked curiously. "Are you going to awaken my heart?"

"If we awaken your heart, the royal family will detect it so unfortunately, we can't do that," he said. "But I know how to make your Mana release enough power that you can use to protect yourself."

"Where did you learn that trick, Kiho?"

"My master taught me how," he said. Then, he placed a hand on his chest. "When I was a child, my master also put my heart to sleep. According to him, I couldn't control my Mana when I was young. And if he didn't put my heart to sleep, I would have accidentally frozen my whole body with my very own ice. He trained me little by little until I was able to control my power. And after that, my master completely awakened my heart."

She blinked in surprise. "Is putting a heart in sleep actually more common than I expected?"

He shrugged. "My master is an aloof one. He never really talked unless he needed to."

"Ah."

Now she understood why Kiho grew up as dense as he was. He probably got his clueless attitude from his supposedly distant master.

"But isn't it amazing, Kiho?" she said with a smile. "We found something in common again."

"Uh-huh," he agreed. "It's just probably normal for people who are fated together."

She giggled and lightly hit his arm. "You're so cheesy, hon."

His forehead knotted in confusion. "Cheesy? Do I look like a cheese?"

She just laughed at his naivety. "Anyway, what should we do first?"

"You'll need to concentrate first," he said. Then, he assisted her in sitting on the mat on the floor. He made her sit in a lotus position. He did the same while facing her. "Tilly, close your eyes and imagine that you are looking at your heart. Then, find a small hole where your Mana must be leaking."

"A hole?" she asked. "There's a hole in my heart?"

"According to my master, all sleeping hearts have a hole," he explained. "It's like a window that needs to be opened for air to enter the room. Even though your heart is asleep, it still needs to produce Mana. That's why you can make your body temperature warm."

"Oh, that makes sense," she said, then she closed her eyes. "Okay. I'll try to imagine my heart and find the hole in it."

She remembered that her father said her heart looked like a red diamond.

Seeing a heart-shaped red diamond was easy. But finding the supposedly hole in it was hard. She was used to working with high quality pieces of jewelry and she never had produced one with a hole in it.

[Where is it supposed to be?]

["Here, Mommy."]

Tilly gasped when she heard the familiar voice of a boy that she couldn't and wouldn't forget. ["W-Winter?"]

She looked at the part where she heard his voice. Sadly, she didn't see her son. But she found a tiny, shining hole in the center of the heart-shaped red diamond. The more she looked at it, the more the strange sparkle looked different.

Eventually, the light took the form of a little boy's white silhouette.

This time, she was sure that it was Winter. He was that tall the last time she saw her in her past life. She could tell even if it was just a shadow taking her son���s form.

["Winter…"]

The white shadow floated towards her. And then, she felt warm arms wrap around her waist. ["I'm so happy that we'd see each other again, Mommy."]

Her son said "again."

["Winter, what do you mean by that?"]

["Later, Mommy,"], Winter said, the warmth of his arms around her waist starting to feel cold. ["Say "hi" to Daddy for me."]

The shadow completely turned into an ice sculpture.

Then, it broke into beautiful tiny pieces.

["My baby…"]

"Tilly!"

Tilly gasped when she felt like her breath was suddenly knocked out of her. When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by a worried Kiho. "What happened, hon?"

"You completely went still," Kiho explained worriedly. "You weren't breathing for a few seconds."

"Oh," she said. "That explains why I suddenly feel breathless."

"What happened?"

"Our Baby Winter talked to me," she said excitedly. "I couldn't really remember what he said but he pointed the hole of my heart to me."

She had to lie because she hadn't decided yet if she should tell Kiho that this was already her second life. Her hesitation was rooted from her fear of meeting Lucina Morganna earlier than expected. She didn't want Kiho to even know about the woman's existence.

[I'm sorry, Lucina Morganna. But Kiho and Winter are mine now. If this will make me a villainess in your story, so be it.]

"Really?" Kiho asked excitedly. "I heard that mothers usually dream about their children during their pregnancy. I didn't expect that you'd dream about our son so soon."

She smiled and nodded. Then, she held his hand and placed it on her chest where her heart and Winter's were beating simultaneously. "Can you feel it, Kiho? Our baby is only five week old but his heart is already fully-developed."

Kiho's face softened up. He even looked like he was about to cry. To simply say, he looked really happy. "I can't wait to meet our baby," he said softly. Then, he pressed his ear against her chest as if he wanted to feel and hear their son's tiny heartbeats. "Winter, thank you for looking after your mommy."

Tilly got teary eyed. She gently raked her fingers through his hair. "I think Winter wanted to come out as soon as possible."

If only it was possible to give birth to Winter now…

***

"YOUR MAJESTY, isn't it time for you to fulfill the end of the bargain?" Captain Sherwood demanded. "I told you where the heart is."

Aku let out a frustrated sigh. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that Kiho had chosen to use the name of his clan– the clan that had been completely wiped off their history. In fact, not even Nia knew about the existence of the Nystroms.

That was a knowledge that was only passed down to the emperors.

"You've already seen where the Black Serpent is," Aku told Captain Sherwood. "You know that Kiho is the child who has a blood purer than the Moonchesters. So why haven't you connected the dots yet?"

The captain's forehead knotted in confusion. "What do you mean…" He stopped as if he just realized something. Then, his eyes widened in shock. "Your Majesty, don't tell me that the Black Serpent is sleeping inside Captain Kiho?"

"No," he said. "Do you know why Kiho's blood is purer than the Moonchesters?"

Captain Sherwood shook his head. "My clan only knows that people with ice power are more special than Fire Mages because of their blood, and thus their clan was wiped off long before the purge for the Fire Mages had begun. But we don't really know what makes their blood purer than the royal family's. We can't find anything else about them because they weren't in the history books."

And that was the reason why no one cared even though Kiho had ice powers.

If the story about the Nystroms were to be revived, then everyone in the empire would have to bow their heads to Kiho.

[Yes, even the Moonchesters.]

"Kiho has blood purer than the Moonchesters because he's a god," Aku revealed. "Kiho is the Black Serpent itself."

***

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