Yep. Those syndicate groups had made a foolish assumption.
But as kids who’d once looked at the sa circumstances and drawn similar conclusions, Elior couldn’t entirely deny how the mistake was made. Thankfully, they hadn’t gone to Planet Kyros intending to commit a cri, or that would’ve been sothing else entirely.
Now, if he hadn’t known about Luca’s original circumstances, he might’ve been startled by the Prince Consort’s visible shock at hearing information he should’ve been privy to.
But because he did know, Elior simply offered him a subtle nod before continuing.
"During one of those space storms, interstellar communication practically becos impossible, and jumps beco extrely unsafe. Local systems keep working, but the areas that get hit can have their defense chanisms disrupted. That creates a small window. A narrow possibility of infiltration for anyone reckless enough to brave the storm."
And that was exactly what allowed for such an attack to happen.
"Nothing good should’ve co out of that situation," Elior admitted quietly. "But it was the first ti we made contact with soone from House Kyros."
He inhaled.
"That was Governess Agnes."
"Huh? Governess Agnes...?" Luca blinked, genuinely confused.
For soone with the last na Kyros, he couldn’t help feeling like he was hearing stories about his own ho for the very first ti.
While he had been made aware of that space storm issue which led to Butler Gary being unable to keep tabs on them when they left for the academy testing, he didn’t think they were that bad.
Actually, with how jovial everyone around him had been, it was so easy to forget that they had gone through so many challenges or that even today, such vulnerabilities plagued their ho planet!
And now there was a na he didn’t recognize.
Luca couldn’t recall anyone nad Governess Agnes. He’d thought he knew every mber of the manor’s staff, but he couldn’t place the na at all.
But apparently, that was understandable.
Just as Luca began worrying that he’d forgotten to include soone, he learned that Governess Agnes had passed away a few years ago.
But for the two young elves, she’d been pivotal.
"During the attack," Elior continued, "they attempted to seize the orphaned children for trafficking. Rahil and I were the oldest present, so we evacuated the younger ones while the adults attempted to delay the criminals."
A grim mory flickered behind his eyes.
"They likely assud they could take children with no parents and face minimal resistance. And honestly, for a brief mont, even we thought the sa."
Who wouldn’t?
They were children themselves, fleeing again, this ti dragging even younger ones along.
The absurdity of it still felt cruel.
Elior couldn’t help but think that so unseen force truly wanted them erased.
Because how else did soone keep running into death like that?
And yet, as if fate had decided to throw them a bone, their luck shifted—barely—after Elior nearly died trying to keep everyone alive.
But he couldn’t even claim heroism.
At the ti, he’d simply told Rahil to hide the younger children while he blocked the obvious pathway by pretending to be foliage.
Yes.
Foliage.
They couldn’t fight. What were two battered teens supposed to do against plasma guns?
But his ability didn’t hold as long as he would’ve wanted.
It beca impossible to maintain the transformation any longer, and he shifted back into his original form, collapsing onto the ground.
In that state, he probably wouldn’t have stood a chance against a beast cub.
Thankfully, Rahil ca back for him, guided by that familiar, dreadful instinct that Elior had likely done sothing reckless again.
He wasn’t wrong.
But just as they tried to retreat and disappear, they were t face-to-face with the sa plasma guns they’d been avoiding.
Being beaten for a minute felt like an eternity.
And yet what hurt worse was the mockery.
The criminals laughed, telling Rahil to run. Telling him to leave his injured friend behind. Promising they’d let him go if he did.
Lies.
Of course they were lies.
They definitely wouldn’t have let anyone go. They just wanted soone to lead them back to the other children.
But maybe Rahil and Elior were friends because they were both too dumb for their own good. Instead of running and taking a chance by initiating a surprise attack, they chose to face the muzzles together.
The elven teens were fairly certain they were about to die, so they closed their eyes and braced for the inevitable.
The beams fired.
The whoosh of plasma cutting through the air was a sound that lodged itself into mory forever.
They waited for the pain.
It never ca.
Instead, they heard groans. Shouts. Screeches that didn’t belong to them.
"???"
"Embarrassingly enough, I fainted after that," Elior admitted. "I was already drained. So Rahil’s the one who actually witnessed what happened next."
Rahil cleared his throat but didn’t deny it.
"In general," Elior continued, "we, along with the other children, were rescued by people from House Kyros. But instead of soldiers, the one who ca for us was an old lady who introduced herself as Agnes."
"Ehhh???" several voices blurted out at once.
Elior honestly expected that reaction.
He’d had the exact sa one when Rahil told him what happened.
Apparently, the old lady had handled the kidnappers herself.
Shot them all.
Personally.
Naturally, after hearing that, they couldn’t possibly treat her like so harmless elderly woman.
"But outside of that," Elior went on, "she behaved like a kind grandmother who just happened to keep her weapons very close."
Like very, very close.
That description sohow felt even more terrifying but it was really sothing else whenever he factored in how short and gentle she normally was.
"She insisted on taking us in so she could treat and monitor our injuries," he added. "Rahil tried to tell her we were fine. We weren’t. But she insisted anyway."
She hadn’t needed to do that. And if they were being honest, they were afraid that soone would find out about Elior’s condition that didn’t match those healthy results.
She wasn’t obligated to take responsibility for two stray teens who weren’t even from the sa planet. Worse, she didn’t need to be responsible for questionable strangers who had been pretending to be human all along.
"And only later did we learn she’d actually served as Governess to the children of House Kyros," Elior said. "She’d even been the Governess for Duke Leander’s father when he was young."
"!!!"
The room reacted accordingly.
"We couldn’t believe our luck," Elior admitted. "To be connected to soone like Governess Agnes that quickly wasn’t sothing we expected at all."
It felt like fate had finally decided to stop trying to kill them.
But as it turned out, living in her detached ho within the outer periter of House Kyros was all they were going to get for nearly a year.
Yes.
An entire year. Again.
Despite residing under the roof of a loyal vassal, prying information about House Kyros proved nearly impossible.
The woman’s lips were sealed tighter than any vault.
They saw photographs. Heard small anecdotes from displayed holographic snippets and observed hints of history through frad mories and old keepsakes.
But concrete and up-to-date information?
Nothing.
At least, not until they unknowingly passed what could only be described as an uncanny test.
Because as the eager masses on Star Net would eventually learn—
House Kyros doesn’t just accept anyone.
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