I immediately put up a mental shield, but my father's mind isn't pushing into mine this time. It seems he's just broadcasting his thoughts to me. I try to search for him in the crowd, but it's hopeless. His presence is like an empty void. How is he doing it? I have an opposite situation—my emotions and thoughts tend to leak out.
I watch you grow stronger, but you still have much to learn, my father says as if we're having a normal conversation. Or do you seriously think you mastered your telepathy yet? You're barely scratching the surface. Your mother's DNA might have diluted our lineage, but the transformation should have awakened all your latent abilities.
"Love? Is something wrong?" Gotrid takes my hand because I froze all of a sudden and my wings started shaking.
We will meet very soon, my son. I encourage you to enjoy Japan because it's the culture I decided to adopt, but don't get too attached to it. After all, you would be kidding yourself if you seriously thought that we're human, let alone Japanese.
"Aefener!" Gotrid panics at this point and envelops me in his wings because even the delegates notice something's amiss and are looking at me with startled expressions.
My father's voice disappears as quickly as it appeared, leaving me with no clue how to follow him. Who knows, his telepathy might be strong enough to cover kilometres. I don't think he would humiliate himself by hiding in the crowd.
"Your Majesty, are you getting dizzy with hunger? We should have given you a snack, it's been ages since lunch," Liana hurries to save the situation even though she doesn't know what's going on. She readily takes a protein bar out of her belt and forces it into my hands.
Aefener, what's wrong? she asks when our hands meet.
My father... he spoke to me just now, I explain and clutch Gotrid.
Are we in danger? she widens her eyes.
I don't think so, I shake my head. He's gone.
Eat that bar, hon, we can't afford to alarm humans, Gotrid insists and helps me unwrap it.
I force myself to eat it, but I don't feel like eating at all. It's just for the show.
"Your Majesty, will you be able to fly?" Gavreel is worried-sick. It seems our little ruse persuaded Celestials as well. Well played, Liana.
"I'm fine now, my head just spun momentarily," I try to sound firm. "My doctors claim that my mana circuit is still developing. Occasional episodes of dizziness can be expected. I will feel better in the air."
"We're departing immediately!" Liana orders despite the chaos I caused.
We take off and I insist we follow Erik's limousine. I don't think my father would try to harm my beloved—for some reason, I'm convinced he's not even remotely interested in anyone else besides me and underhanded practices are below him—but I'm still uneasy. I feel calmer only when we reach the mansion and are safely inside the shield dome.
"Ehm, I can see that something obviously happened?!" Erik is confused when I land in front of him the moment his car stops.
"My father happened," I say and hug him. I always feel safe with him.
"Your Majesty's father?!" Gavreel overhears us and panics. "How? When?"
"I got his telepathic message when we were leaving," I explain. "Gavreel, gather everyone in the throne room, we have much to discuss."
*****
Within our expanded inner circle, it was no secret who my father is—the infamous magnate and the founder of Nebula, the company that developed Draconia Online. Still, not many Celestials made a connection between my telepathy and my family heritage. Most of my subjects seem to consider my telepathy to be something their Emperor is supposed to have, even though nothing of that sort is included in our lore.
"So Your Majesty wasn't human, to begin with?" Gavreel can't believe his ears.
And he's not the only one. All the high-level Celestials who gathered in the throne room are astonished by that revelation. I have to hold myself back not roll my eyes. Did they really not think about my telepathy properly? Did they just take it for granted because I'm their miraculous Emperor? Just how unrealistic their image of me is?
"Half-human," I set the record straight. "My mother was human, my father... we have no idea what he is."
The Celestials start murmuring and jerking nervously in their seats, fluttering their wings.
"That's why we asked you to cooperate with the Japanese government and investigate Haruto Takeda, our Emperor's presumed father," Liana stands up to calm down the commotion.
"I'm afraid the investigation didn't yield any results so far," Gavreel admits. "We know only the things that are publicly known: Haruto Takeda is one of the richest people in Japan, the founder and CEO of Azuchi Group. He's spending a lot of money to keep his private life a total mystery."
"But he has a connection to Nebula, right?" Erik frowns. "The Japanese government was investigating all companies connected to the developers of Draconia Online and found a link."
"Azuchi Group has a certain stock share in Nebula, but many financial companies do," Gavreel says. "This information alone wasn't enough to call Takeda for a testimony."
"But somebody surely must have seen Takeda and Aefener's mother together? They were supposed to be colleagues in Nebula," Gotrid recalls.
"His Majesty's mother is easy to track only during her first year in Japan. She started as a VR developer and since her talent was quickly recognised, she was recruited by Nebula shortly after," Gavreel explains. "Nebula guarded the privacy of their developers as fiercely as of their products and made sure nothing got out. They had their own campus with apartments for employees where no public camera could reach."
"But still... nothing at all?" Erik doesn't believe it.
"Money can buy a lot of things, Erik," Liana sighs. "Especially privacy. Talking from my own experience here. If I didn't want to be seen or recognised, I simply wasn't. My people and high-tech technology made that possible."
"Long story short, if His Majesty didn't tell us a few pieces of information, we wouldn't be able to make any direct connection between Haruto Takeda and Nebula in the first place," Gavreel concludes.
"Your Majesty, sorry for interrupting," Luviael speaks up. "But how is it possible that your father had no idea you existed until quite recently? If he's a telepath, wouldn't he feel that your mother was pregnant?"
"He probably wouldn't," I shake my head. "I suspect he's not an empath and embryos don't have thoughts. I can feel them thanks to my empathy, he can't."
"Oh?" That information takes everyone aback.
"I suspect," I continue, "that whatever my father is, his race has pure telepathy. As for why I can perceive emotions as well... I guess my mother's human genes mixed with my father's genes in an unexpected way. As a result, my telepathy was weaker compared but my father's, but I developed empathy."
"So—and this will probably sound stupid and totally unnecessary—but does that mean you're technically not half-Japanese at all, my Emperor?" Gavreel realises only now.
"I do look half-Japanese," I shrug, uncertain myself. "I speak the language, I was born here and my father himself mentioned that he decided to adopt this particular culture, maybe because he could blend more easily. I still consider myself Japanese enough."
"Never mind that," Liana waves her hand. "What does it matter anyway? We're all Celestials now. What we have to figure out is how to protect His Majesty. Takeda's intentions stay unclear, but it can't be anything good considering our Emperor's first encounter with him ended up with a nosebleed and fainting."
"The Imperial Guard will do anything to protect His Majesty," Sareash, my new Guard Captain, stands up only to go down on her knee in front of me. "We will double the shield and reinforce the security perimeter immediately."
"Be discrete," Liana implores her. "We can't alarm humans."
"Of course, Viceroy," Sareash nods and runs off to take care of it right away.
"Your Majesty, do we still proceed with your original itinerary?" Luviael asks.
"We do," I insist. "We can't know when my father appears again and where, so there's no use changing our programme. I would appreciate a free evening today, though."
Just a few days ago, I wouldn't dare to ask for something like that. I came to Japan to work, not for a holiday. But I promised Erik that we would have a nice romantic evening and because I don't know what happens when my father finally decides to strike, I want to spend as much time as possible with my partners.
"As you wish, my Emperor," Luviael bows.
Nobody argues that I was supposed to have dinner with the court. They are a bit sad that I'm leaving prematurely, but they understand that I need to rest and devote some time to my Consorts. Discussing the matter further won't solve anything.