Chapter 27 – The Duchess and the Guardian Phoenix

  "We burned what was left of the ship and took anything useful for ourselves. I ordered a small group of men to stay there for a few days searg for other survivors and more wreckage, but we only mao recover useless debris," Hugo said.

  "And the cursed bodies?" Margaery asked.

  "We did as you said ahem to the dogs..."

  "Good! I hate those people from the Dynasty with all my heart!" she said, g her fists.

  We looked at her and then at Sifu.

  "Sorry, Sifu, it's nothing personal..." Margaery said.

  Sifu just ughed. "Remember, we should hate those who govern; they are the ones giving orders. My people also live uhe Song Dynasty's regime," he expined.

  "And the onry?" she asked, ging the subject with a bit of embarrassment.

  "The swords and armor the boy took are in our arsenal as a memento of his first battle," Hugo expined.

  Margaery put a smile on her face. "At just five years old, our little Evenhart has already brought home his first hunting trophy. What were we doing at that age, Hugo?"

  I looked seriously at Margaery.

  What Nathan did was dangerous! It's lucky they were weak… my baby could have been hurt… or worse…

  "At that age, I was stealing sweets," said Hugo.

  "And I was beginning my training to inflict pain… good times," she said.

  I looked at the two idiots in front of me and sighed.

  "Cheer up, Katie. The boy has the talent for assassination like his aors; there's no esg nature," Margaery said, pg a hand on my shoulder.

  "I heard stories that his great-grandfather killed for the first time at six years old, so I think we have a little prodigy," Sifu said.

  I wanted him to be just an ordinary citizen, not an assassin.

  "If he's like his aor, then we're more than happy to have brought the heir back to his rightful pce, and on top of that, a desdant of mages," she said.

  "We just 't let the envoy from the Capital see that phoenix with him, or everything will be in vain. For now, let's keep the existence of that thing hidden, and if we have to reveal the magical animal... it will only be as an S-rank bird. Even though they don't know the real power of a phoenix, it will be dangerous if they aim to possess it for the little power they do know," Sifu told us.

  Hugo scratched his head. "Is that thing really that dangerous? Aren't there e magical creatures out there?" he asked.

  "There are huge S-rank creatures, but they don't grow to the size that phoenix will one day. I wasn't joking about her being able to make s in castles. I don't want to put anyone in danger if they discover the phoenix,"said Sifu.

  "Danger who? I don't feel in danger from a threat from the kingdom. If the kingdom dares to pce a soldier with bad iions on our nds..." Margaery said.

  "Endanger all of us, including the kingdom," Sifu corrected. "The life of that phoenix and the boy are linked. If the phoenix grows up... and if unfortunately, the boy dies because of the bond he has with her... who in the world will hold back the fury of a legendary bird? If the phoenix fails in her purpose to protect her master... she will destroy everything until nothing is left."

  Everyoared at him with wide eyes, even I was a bit in shock.

  “Damn, Sifu! Looks like that little bird is really dangerous,” Hugo said.

  “I warned you…” Sifu replied.

  “Should we stop giving her meat?” I asked. “I don't want my son to die, but I also don't want him to have something dangerous with him. I don't want anything bad to happen to Nathan.”

  “No!” Margaery said. “We'll keep feeding the phoenix meat. Don't worry, she told me she would protect my nephew and the people he loves.”

  Hugo and I looked at her, a bit fused.

  “I made an agreement with the phoenix… she uood I had no ill iions and accepted.”

  “What agreement?” I asked.

  She made a deal with that bird? Even though I know Cyl is intelligent, she just ignores me…

  “I told her my iions. I said all I wanted was to protect my family and asked if she wao be part of this family. The phoenix accepted what I said and agreed to help, but she won't obey anyone except Nathan.”

  Hugo was just as fused as I was.

  “So that thing really uands uage?” Hugo asked.

  “Of course it does, it's smarter than ellian himself. We're luathan saved her. If that thing had grown up hating humans and the ship had released her in our nds…” Sifu said.

  “Oh my god…” Hugo murmured.

  “This pce would have turned into a hunting ground for the fury of a legendary bird, and no one could tain the phoenix. We’re lucky the little master saved her and became her friend,” Sifu expined.

  Margaery was smiling.

  “It was destiny helping the Evenharts after everything it took from us. Now we have a guardian who will be like ellian… the difference is the guardian's will be the entire Evenhart territory, not just the mansiohe little phoenix live peacefully her way.” Margaery said, heading toward the door.

  “What do you have pnned for the phoenix?” I asked, seeing my friend leave the pce with a smile.

  She turned bad shrugged.

  “I don’t pn anything for the bird, she’s smarter than us and would know long before we did if we tried to use her. We’ll raise her following Evenhart s, and she’ll be free to stay in the protected nature of our nds, but the phoenix is now part of our family. You remember the Evenhart motto, don’t you? ‘Family united and enemies dead,’” she said, opening the door.

  Margaery turned o time before leaving us in that pce.

  “I’ll do everything to solve our problems, but if anyone ever dares to touch our family… they better hope it’s me knog on their door and not our new guardian,” she said a.