Lydia Voltaire only longed for one thing; to complete her training and become the ancient, powerful wizard she was born to be. But there is only one problem...well, two problems actually. First, no matter how hard her guardian Lucius Voltaire trains...
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"Today, we attend the funeral of a remarkable man and an extraordinary wizard, Lucius Albert Voltaire...." King Gabriel's voice boomed over the silent crowd, their solemn faces fixed on him as he stood on the podium behind the closed silver casket. A powerful aura of both authority and darkness surrounded his proud self.
His grey, stormy eyes that resembled the sky above us trekked over the seated masses that were barely seen to my eyes due to the umbrellas hovering over their heads, protecting them from the violent rain that poured over us.
The atmosphere that fell upon us was rather low-spirited. Well, it was a funeral, after all. I highly doubted there would be any screaming and cheering. Not unless Grandpa was a much-hated individual. And from the looks of the group before me, there didn't seem to be any kind of hidden negative feelings.
They either had their attention on the king or the closed coffin. I focused my now red-eyes-from having to cry myself to sleep for two nights-to settle upon something but those.
I tried to recognize any of the people who had attended my grandpa's burial, sitting on the ornamented black benches and dabbing their tears away. But no matter how hard I squinted my eyes, I couldn't see anything due to the heavy rain and the white umbrellas that seemed to be attached to their heads.
Regardless, I never thought Grandpa knew that many people. Granted, they weren't the biggest crowd, but they all seemed to grieve him sincerely. I never imagined he affected that many people because he gave up on magic and I assumed that would result in people rejecting him as they did in Vera. I wasn't even aware that Gerard Vastia was such a close friend to him. Grandpa never spoke of him. He never spoke of anyone.
I let the rain soak up my entire being, the droplets sliding through the collar of a plain white dress I borrowed from the fancy wardrobe the princess gave me. I didn't have one with no prints or colorful patterns on it, so I resulted in wearing this. Luckily, the fabric was thick enough that it didn't cling to my skin. However, the wide sleeves did feel heavier as water absorbed into them. But that was the least of my concerns.
I saw Luxus's fur shiver, his little body twitching as he moved to shield himself with my frame. I gathered the skirt of my dress and knelt beside him, stroking his fur with my warmed-up palm and adjusting the white ribbon around his neck.
He leaned into my touch, closing his eyes at the much-needed warmth. When I told Luxus of what happened, he locked himself in the bathroom for an hour. Hearing his little whimpers through the door broke my heart bit by bit. But there was nothing I could do except wait for him to come out. I could barely manage to comfort myself as it is.
"Lucius Voltaire fought courageously alongside Imarnia against terrible forces. His heroic acts during the war will never be forgotten, and it seemed that even death favored him as a hero," said the king, his tone unwavering.
