A Phoenix's Heart

❄Chapter 12: Days of November

Tales of a Necklace

(before Children's Day) November 5th

Estella and Fuegoleon sit quietly in the garden together. They lean back to back against each other reading books together. Estella convinced Fuegoloen to read her favorite smutty manga. He enjoys it more than she does. Estella hums quietly to herself chewing on the chain of her necklace as she reads through her favorite sex scene.

"Do you always do that?" asks Fuegoloen.

"Do what? I'm not doing anything."

"Your necklace. You're chewing on the chain," says Fuegoleon turning around to wrap his arm around her waist. He pulls her against his body and plays with her necklace removing it from her neck.

"I don't chew on it that often."

"The chain is covered in bite marks."

"It's an old chain. I've owned it since before we got engaged."

"Why would you own a necklace with my family or squad crest on it before we even got engaged? Did you never wear it? I think I would have noticed if my fiance wore a necklace and then a border guard member started wearing it a year later."

"I did wear it. I rarely take it off. Unless I need to. I used to wear it under my clothes, which is probably why you've never seen it before."

"How did you get it? Items with the symbol of the squads are strictly forbidden to be worn by those who aren't members. Making them, is an even bigger crime?"

"Mine is official! Your parents gave it to me. It identifies me as a member of the Vermillion family and someone who should be protected. I'm not sure if all the squads know this or just the Lions."

"Why wasn't I informed of this?"

"I'm not sure if you have noticed but there is a lot about our teen years that you don't know about."

"What else do I not know?'

"Well. Well, you don't fully know what happened with cinders or when we found Julius after. You don't really know what I did after I moved out of the Vermilion estate. You don't know how many jobs I've worked. You don't know how many stores I own. You don't know all the training I've gotten through for making magic items or how many magic items I've made. You don't know about the time I trained in the Heart Kingdom or what I learned. You should learn what they teach, by the way. It will help you fully use Salamander and natural magic attacks are super powerful. You don't know what my life is like before you became Captain because I used to live at the Crimson Lion King headquarters full time. I left when you became captain. You don't know all the times I've saved Leopold or one of the silver siblings. Or all the magic Realms I've traveled to. Mereoleona figured out who I was pretty damn quickly, and we went on a lot of adventures together. You haven't even met my aunt yet.

But, anyway, the reason I was given the necklace was because when I was about 15 I left the Vermilion estate and was living in the streets. Your parents came across me sleeping under a park bench and your father gave me his cloak to keep me warm because I refuse to go with him back to the state. Later that night some magic knights found me in their captain's robes, figured I was some sort of street rat and beat and robbed to take back his cape. I'm sure they were really shocked and embarrassed when he blew up with them when they explained their story of why they were returning his cape to him the next day. Your dad and mom spent what felt like weeks apologizing to me for what the magic Knights did. They gave me the necklace to try and prevent that from ever happening again. Like I said, the necklace identifies me as a member of your family and someone they should work to protect."