The carriage creaked and groaned softly, faint breathing leaking out from inside.

  It was a large, sturdy vehicle that could easily seat ten people—plain, no ornamentation, painted black and pulled by a pair of matching horses.

  Mounted guards waited nearby.

  They were on an open plateau with a clear view for miles.

  A little farther away stood a grove of trees where more riders waited.

  Every so often a man’s low groan escaped the carriage, followed by a sharp smack, and the woman on horseback would chuckle quietly.

  After a while, dust rose in the distance.

  A dozen or so riders, probably.

  The woman rapped on the carriage wall. “They’ll be here soon,” she called.

  From inside came more rhythmic slapping sounds—like someone spanking a horse’s rump—along with heavy, ragged breathing.

  Then a particularly loud groan from the man, and the carriage finally stopped rocking.

  There was a flurry of movement, and a man with disheveled clothes stepped out, straightening his attire as he climbed up to the driver’s seat.

  Just then, Denaris’s group arrived from the grove.

  “They’ve arrived,” the woman announced. A calm “Understood” came from inside.

  Lunaflare stepped out wearing a long fur coat that reached her ankles.

  Denaris had assumed even his aunt would wear something over her clothes in this season, but as she walked toward them the front of the coat parted, revealing her white, toned thighs all the way up. His eyes widened and his face burned red.

  The men behind him hurriedly looked away.

  Lunaflare noticed and smirked, the corners of her mouth lifting in amusement.

  “You’re late.”

  “Yes, we stopped by the forge.”

  He somehow managed to answer.

  “Our destination is Reva. On horseback it’s three days from here. We’ll camp out for two nights.”

  Reva was a port town at the base of the Targa Peninsula.

  “Reva” meant lava. Long ago a volcanic eruption had raised the land here, and the town was built on that new ground.

  The volcano was still active, but the truly lively one was underwater, so Reva had become a hot-spring resort bustling with visitors seeking the waters.

  They were supposed to link up with their subordinates here.

  For Lunaflare, it was basically a little pleasure trip.

  From here the highway would reach the capital in two days.

  Camping two nights meant they would bypass the capital entirely.

  Better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

  “You coming too?”

  When she asked, Denaris decided to indulge himself.

  He climbed into the carriage. His aunt told him to wait a moment and disappeared deeper inside.

  The rear seats were split, with a door in the middle leading farther back; the door had a fold-out table attached.

  The back seemed to be a bed.

  She apparently kept drinks there too. Lunaflare returned with a bottle and glasses in hand.

  She had changed inside; over her usual chiton she now wore a fur stole.

  She unfolded the table with a few quick pats. There was a round depression in the center so a bottle wouldn’t tip.

  Lunaflare poured wine into a glass and offered it to him. When he shook his head, she took a sip herself.

  “I see some unfamiliar faces.”

  Denaris opened with that.

  Lunaflare smiled. “Curious?”

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  He shook his head. “Not really.”

  “They’re something like chaperones sent by my sister.”

  “Sister” obviously meant her actual older sister.

  “Do you know about my real family?”

  “I don’t know the details.”

  “I see.” Lunaflare continued.

  “It’s an old house. It’s considered a branch family now, but for far longer it was actually the main line.”

  “Why did it change?”

  “Times changed, I suppose. My real family has no surname. The house has no name.”

  The fact that it had never existed rather than being hidden was interesting.

  “Since ancient times our clan has continued as the ones who worship the moon goddess Luna. Generation after generation we select the moon priestess as clan head and protect the temple centered around her. It’s a matriarchal clan, and that hasn’t changed to this day.”

  Lunaflare went on about her family home.

  The moon temple lay almost due north of the Alias mansion, deep in the forest.

  It was built on a mountain peak and—unlike other temples—was made entirely of wood.

  When the current main house referred to the moon priestess clan, they called it the Yue family.

  No one remembered why the moon was called “Yue” anymore; the origin and meaning had been lost.

  When the world began forming houses and nations, the clan adapted by raising a male member and establishing a new house.

  That was the Alias family.

  On the surface they created the main house while quietly continuing their own traditions.

  Even now, by strict custom, every other generation the head must marry a woman from the Yue family.

  The current head, Quintus, had also taken a wife from the branch Yue line.

  There were several other moon temples across the land, but only one clan called the moon “Yue.”

  “Lunaflare is actually an assumed name.”

  Denaris’s eyes widened.

  “My real name is Yuvenaris. I was supposed to inherit the position of moon priestess. The priestess is always succeeded by the youngest daughter, but because of my personality, my older sister Yuveriana took it instead.”

  Denaris listened quietly.

  His aunt’s face looked different than usual—somehow very gentle.

  “My sister came the other day and told me to leave blood behind, so she left those two with me. They’re harmless, so don’t worry.”

  Lunaflare laughed.

  “You’re… married?”

  When Denaris asked, she laughed again.

  “Hahaha. No, no. In our clan the concept of marriage doesn’t exist. We simply leave children behind to continue the line—that’s all.”

  It sounded strange to someone raised with the idea of husbands, wives, and family units.

  Denaris figured it was simply one large family centered on the mother, bound by blood.

  And that the same blood flowed in him.

  “By the way, what is that medicine made from?”

  When he asked, his aunt’s usual expression returned.

  “Want to know?”

  Denaris nodded hard.

  “It’s made from a flower that blooms in my homeland.”

  That flower grew around the moon temple and was called evening primrose.

  It had eight pale purple petals and was an extremely hardy alpine plant that bloomed year-round.

  Lunaflare had brought some seeds when she left the village.

  A few took root in the lowlands and eventually spread around her current mansion and the garden of her capital residence.

  Such a tenacious flower might have medicinal properties, so she secretly researched it.

  First she cut the flowers and extracted components from the stems and petals. The petals gave a refreshing citrus-like fragrance with no real medicinal effect, so she distilled it into perfume oil and wore it.

  The stems produced a clean, sweet nectar, but again no medicinal use.

  One day she crushed a tiny bud that hadn’t even formed petals yet. A slightly viscous liquid stuck to her hand.

  When she rubbed it in, it blended perfectly with her skin and left only a silky feel.

  It had no scent. Hesitantly she licked it—bitter.

  Noticing it was completely different from the flowered version, she decided to collect only buds.

  She carefully peeled the skin, gathered the fleshy interior and liquid, added a little distilled water, and filtered it gently through fine silk cloth.

  When she applied the liquid to the back of her hand there was no immediate change, but the next morning the treated skin looked noticeably more supple and firm.

  Thinking it might be good for skin, she started applying it to her hands and feet.

  The next morning the difference was obvious compared to untreated areas.

  Ever since, she had applied it all over her body after every bath.

  “You were making it in the capital too, right? Didn’t anyone steal the recipe?”

  “No one noticed. Everyone only cared about the flower’s fragrance, so they came to pick them after they bloomed. That’s too late.”

  “Evening primrose is a lovely name.”

  “Yeah… it really is the scent of my homeland.”

  Lunaflare smiled as she spoke.

  ◇

  When the group reached the eastern part of the Pantios duchy, a patrol stopped them and held them up.

  They said they would ask the lord for instructions, and a messenger rode off. Quite a lot of time had passed since then.

  Felix had no way to handle the situation and looked restless the whole time, but Lunaflare was lounging on the carriage bed, enjoying wine and cheese.

  “Is this really okay?”

  With an expression that clearly said this? she raised her glass.

  “It’ll be fine. This much won’t affect me.”

  He knew arguing was pointless, so he dropped the topic.

  “They seem pretty on guard.”

  “They should be. There are troops from the capital around here.”

  The Pantios duke’s mansion wasn’t far away.

  Having an army camped nearby couldn’t be pleasant for them.

  “Aunt, how do you get information so quickly?”

  Lunaflare set down her glass, sat up, and began speaking slowly.

  “Because I have a system for gathering it.”

  “When did you build something on that scale?”

  “I was academy dean at nineteen, after all. Fifteen years is more than enough time.”

  “Since back then?”

  “Yes. Starting from when I was twenty, every year I sent out over a dozen graduates. Over fifteen years, more than 150 students scattered across the entire kingdom, collecting useful information and sending it to me. In return, I use that information to help them.”

  “You really are amazing, Aunt.”

  Denaris’s eyes sparkled as he clenched his fists.

  Seeing this, Lunaflare smiled and asked,

  “Denaris, do you know the word ‘demon race’?”

  Surprised by the sudden question, Denaris answered that he didn’t.

  “I see. No one remembers anymore, I suppose.”

  After a short pause, Lunaflare continued.

  Long, long ago, the term “demon race” referred to a clan that looked no different from humans, distinguished by black hair and blue-purple eyes, and who used magic.

  That clan worshipped the moon and its attendant snakes.

  People feared the demon race’s power and tried to drive them away by attacking them.

  But the magic was overwhelming, and many lost their lives.

  Seeing this, the leader of the demon race decided to end the pointless war. He sealed the clan’s symbol—the Moon Tower—deep underground and scattered the people across the world.

  Eventually, over long years, the demon race intermingled with humans, and humans gained the power of magic.

  The name of that clan was Yue.

  Thank you so much for reading! ??

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