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❝  𝗪𝗵𝘆...𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗺 𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿?  ❞
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"Ghg" The Royal's head was spinning. She had just woken up a few minutes ago and nearly broke something in her panic. After last night when her senses finally returned to normal (or rather they stabilized enough. Technically her senses are still very enhanced and it seems like it'll remain that way). But back to the point, she nearly broke something when she realized that she woke up in her old bedroom. "So that means I wasn't seeing things.." Sila narrowed her eyes and gripped the blanket harder. "The Solid I saw yesterday was real, and that means he brought me back-" Suddenly the door creaked, and Sila quickly went into a defensive position. Many of the things she originally had with her were nowhere to be found in her room, this included her grimoire, sword from Elyas, and Lydia's flute. To summarize, Sila couldn't do much besides conjuring up some mercury around her in the form of sharp spikes that could easily pierce someone.

The door started to open and Sila used one of the mercury spikes she conjured to aim at whoever was entering. Finally, the door opened and she sent the spike flying. However, the person at the door managed to dodge with little effort, and Sila took a good look at them.

"Nozel onii-sama?" her throat dried up. She had just attacked her brother and if he wasn't as well versed in combat as he was it wouldn't have been pretty. And behind him, her other brother and older sister followed. Once all three of them were inside Solid closed the door and Sila could do nothing but stare at them in shock.

"Silalynn" Nozel's voice unexpectedly filtered into her thoughts and she realized she had stared for too long.

"...Onii-sama.." Silalynn murmured.

"What happened to you?!- are you ok?!" Solid rushed to her side after there were tears that made their way down her face. Sila smiled to herself, sure it had only been a year but Solid was still the same. He still cared so much for her- wait, where was her last sibling?

"Where's Noelle?" Sila looked all her siblings in the eye in confusion.

"Never mind her" Solid started and Nebra continued, "Where were you for the last year?! And how come when you finally come back you're covered in injuries and..." Nebra's voice fell. First, she was confused about why they were brushing her off, sure Sila knew they probably thought Noelle was annoying when they were kids but what older sibling didn't think that! But this was strange, they were completely excluding her. Second, Sila turned toward Nozel and bit her lip, trying to figure out whether she should tell them what happened or twist the truth a little.

"I was kidnapped" Was all that came out. Her head started to throb even more after she said that. She looked at all of her siblings and despite their mostly calm expressions, she could sense so much underlying anger and hatred. "Now that I've told you answer my questions" And to that Nozel shook his head making Sila choke on air. "Onii-sama! I've already told you what happened why can't you tell me where Noelle is?! Or why anything I had isn't here anymore?!-"

"Noelle is a Magic Knight, she's currently on a mission. Therefore she couldn't be here" Solid explained. Sila visibly relaxed and let out a deep sigh, "Alright, I understand. Ellie has become busy". Sila leaned back and relaxed a little. "Where are my things and the person I was traveling with?"

"Those...items that you were carrying are in another room and your grimoire is over there, And that person has been taken into custody" Nebra said pointing at a table across the room. Judging from how she talked it was obvious that Nebra thought the things Sila had with her were weird, likely directly to Lydia's flute. "We all have to go now but if you want anything there are servants outside your room" Nozel after saying so immediately left with Nebra and Solid not far behind.

Before closing her door Solid said something to a servant and then to her, "We've tightened the security. I swear no one will kidnap you again" and then left. And then Silalynn was left alone with her thought. "Wait a second...Gale's in custody?!" She realized a bit too late and within seconds got up and immediately collapsed on the floor. "Ugh, note to self: don't stand up when your legs don't have the strength to" despite that note she still forced herself to her legs and tried to get changed into some other clothes. Opening her closet she quickly realized something, most of her clothes were either night clothes or ones she had grown out of. "Right, most of the time I just wore night clothes since my chances of leaving the castle were pretty low" Silalynn put a hand to her chin. "I guess I could use this as a chance to buy some new clothes...but I don't have anything I can go out in....hmm".

Sila walked towards her door and immediately after she opened it she was met with one of the maids. " Lady Silalynn, the Lord has told us you are to rest and shouldn't leave your room" making Sila stunned for a few moments. "..By Lord do you mean my father or Nozel?"

"We were first ordered by your father but your Lord Nozel, Lord Solid, and Lady Nebra also ordered us. Multiple times in fact" the maid replied.

Sila frowned for a second but then put on a smile. "I've rested enough so I'm going to walk around the castle for some time!-"

"Apologies my lady but you must stay inside your room"

Now Silalynn was confused and a bit annoyed. Sure it must be weird that she, whom was thought to be dead, suddenly showed up again after a year injured but that really shouldn't warrant a house arrest! Sila narrowed her eyes as her smile disappeared. "Something's off..." but within seconds she was smiling again. "Ah yes I understand! My precious siblings and father must be worried about my health, in that case can you bring me a book and some food? I haven't eaten and I'm starting to feel hungry"

"O-Of course my Lady" the maid was likely taken aback when Sila immediately accepted her house arrest but quickly set off to procure a book and a meal. Sila leaned against the closed door and thought for a moment. "This feels off..." she mumbled before walking to her balcony, opening the door, and looking over whatever was in her sight.

"I feel trapped" Sila gripped the edge of the balcony. "It's my own home! Why on earth am I being forced to stay inside my room!" Sila wishes she could scream that at the top of her lungs but if she wanted to leave her house she had to make sure no one knew that she was frustrated about being locked up. Sila looked down and only then realized that her bedroom had a view of their garden. Her eyes softened as she found she view to be tranquil. Due to how weak her body was when she was younger she wasn't able to even get out of her bed so she had never even taken in the sight of the garden. Sila then sighed in exasperation when she realized how many problems she would have to take care of because of her return.

"Issue #1: Gale is in being confined somewhere and I'll have to find them before things get complicated.

#2: I have to get full control over Gale's power, and to do that I need Gale!

#3: I need to find a way to leave this godforsaken castle and preferably find Finral before I find Yami! Or worse, Yami finds me!

#4: I have to somehow cover up Gale's existence even though multiple people have already seen them

And #5: The Magic Knights probably want answers in where I've been and the whole kidnapping situation. But I can't just say I don't remember, I'm pretty sure the Wizard King had a mage by his side who can look through my memories..." Sila mentally made a list of her nuisances that had to be solved quickly and efficiently. "Well then.." she started.

"I have to nip them all in the bud" she then heard a knock on her door. "Come in!" a maid (different from the one she talked to) entered pushing a cart with food using one hand and a book in the other. "Ah thank you! If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" the silver-haired girl asked not moving away from the balcony.

"I-Its Emilia, my lady"

"Such a nice name" Sila hummed before signaling for the maid to come to the balcony. "Tell me, what do you think about this view?" Emilia looked down at the garden, "I see it every day, it's lovely." Sila hummed and stayed silent for a moment before abruptly dismissing Emilia. "She's lucky, she was able to walk through and witness many sights in this castle" Sila mumbled before noticing something was off. "No one's in the garden" that realization gave root to how she was going to leave. The 4th Silva went back into her room and grabbed her grimoire, the sword Elyas gave her, and Lydia's flute (even she would admit that bringing it was unnecessary, but she didn't want the maids and butlers messing with it by accident when they clean), and she put them all in a bag that Sister Lily gave her before walking back out to the balcony with everything. "As I thought," Sila said as she scanned the garden. "I should have enough mana to do this, let's pray I'm right"

Silalynn took a deep breath in and out before forming a broom from mercury and mounting it. "Phew, now that that's done all I have to do is get to the Black Bulls base.....if only Yami told me where it was!" Sila grumbled and she started to ride away in some direction. "Well Finral once mentioned it was in a forest so I should probably find one first" and that led to Silalynn getting stuck in a forest with only about a third of what little mana she had left with no idea where she was going.

"Ok, maybe I should've just accepted that I was on house arrest- No! Snap out of it! The best way to get rid of all of my problems is to deal with them before they get serious! And I wouldn't be able to do that if I was trapped inside my own house!" Sila looked up at the trees surrounding her before letting out an exhausted sigh. "Wait a second..." she stopped moving to let herself hear. "Are those voices?" Sila realized that after using Gale's power her senses must've become more sensitive and decided to use that to her best ability. The closer she got to the voices the more she realized it sounded like people brawling. "Maybe I should just leave" she sweatdropped before her gut told her to move back a few steps. After stepping back she waited two minutes and was immediately met someone falling right where she would've been standing and saw a familiar face- well his face was implanted into the ground so she couldn't see it but everything else about him was the same as her memory.

"Finral?..." Silalynn felt her voice stop working as she met his eyes. "...Sila? Wait you're back, but when did you?- Never mind forget that, where were you!" Finral didn't even get any more questions or answers before another member of the Black Bulls came out of the base (Sila had no idea if it was to see if Finral was alright or playfully laugh-).

"Oh, who's this? Finally got a girlfriend?" A woman with long pink hair, pink clothing (which was barely covering her! Sila wanted to tell this woman to put on some covering clothes but held back since it wasn't her place or business).

"Not in a million years/Thats never going to happen" Sila and Finral answered in sync making the pink haired woman freeze for a minute. "Wow, I never thought there would be a girl you didn't want to flirt with" was the first thing she said. Sila sighed and decided it was best not to correct her statement.

"Hold on.." the woman walked closer to Sila and the Royal had to force herself to not instinctively back away. After staring at her for a few (uncomfortable) moments she backed away and Sila had to hold back her sigh of relief. "Vanessa?" Finral questioned the woman who Sila finally learned the name of. "You look a lot like Noelle" Vanessa said before turning to Finral. "I mean their features are completely different, she has a longer nose and narrower eyes but their hair and eye color are the exact same, minus the purple eye that is"

Vanessa turned back to her. "Who are you? Are you part of Noelle's family? If so she's away right now" Sila sensed no hostility and decided she wouldn't be able to get away from this. "Perhaps introductions are necessary" Silalynn put on a smile, "A pleasure to meet you Miss.Vanessa, I'm Sila-"

"FINRAL!" That voice made Sila freeze in place and mentally yell "shitshitshitshitshit!". Sila knew she would have to meet this man sooner or later but she didn't have time to mentally prepare yet! She thought she could just meet Finral and then have a few minutes before talking to Yami! And low and behold Yami was there behind Finral and Vanessa with his cigarette still in place (With how many cigarettes this man has used Sila wonders how much lung damage has been done). Before Yami yelled again he spotted Sila and paused.

Even after a year it frustrated Sila to no end how Yami never showed any shock or surprise. "So you're actually alive, congrats kid" Yami's words broke through her thoughts. "I uh- Captain, you know her?" Vanessa's gaze switched between Sila, Yami, and Finral trying to find some answers (especially from looking at Finral) but no one showed anything on their faces! Even Finral who could usually be read like an open book! "Last I checked I'm supposed to remember members of the squad" And Vanessa momentarily chocked on air.

"Wait a minute" Vanessa put her hands to her temples, trying to dig in her memory about anything about Sila. "Was I drunk or something when she was recruited and whenever she was at the base, because I don't remember ever seeing her!"

Sila decided it was best for her to cut in. Knowing Yami even after he explained there would still be so many questions. "You've never seen me because I've never been to the base" Sila said before pausing and then continuing. "It was supposed to be a secret about me being a Magic Knight from my family so no one but Yami and Finral, who was supposed to get me to most of the jobs to took, knew" she further explained, Vanessa slowly nodding as she processed it. "And as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, my name is Silalynn Silvia and I am Noelle's older sister" Sila stopped paying attention to Finral and Vanessa and turned to Yami.

"You have a lot of explaining to do"

"I know" Sila's eyes shifted to the Black Bulls Base. "I've never once set foot in there, perhaps it's time I did"

"Uh Sila I don't think that's the best idea" Finral cut in earning a glare from both Sila and Yami that screamed "stay out of this" and "shut up" But after dealing Sila, Finral became a master of not being scared of her glares (Yami's a different case though). "And pray tell why is going to the base of the Knight Squad I work for such a bad idea?" The Royal asked sarcastically.

Vanessa, who finished processing everything, decided to get in on the conversation. "From the eyes of people who've never come to the base, everyone's really obnoxious"

Sila quirked a brow. "It's the Black Bulls, I know that you guys are all a little rambunctious but you can't be that bad"

"Oh no we're absolutely that bad" Finral warned. And low and behold he was right. The moment Sila walked in it took all her self control not to walk out and scream into a tree.

Chaos.

The Black Bulls base was just pure chaos.

There was a small girl eating towers of food (Seriously, how was she doing that?), a older man looking at a photo with a nosebleed, another muttering things under his breath, and a few others who Sila didn't have to brain cells left to process what they were doing. Thankfully none of them acknowledged her presence (that normally would've offended her to some degree) as she followed Yami into a different room, Finral not far behind. They were all probably locked inside their own worlds.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Yami who immediately asked where on earth she was for a whole year, it was Finral. In their one year of friendship, Sila learned that Finral doesn't get angry often. In fact, it takes effort to make him angry, but when he's angry it's scary. Sila flinched but tried to keep her cool. "Finral calm down, I'm fine and here now-"

"You disappeared with no trace and I was the last person who was in contact with you. I think I have the right to be a little frustrated!"

"I-"

"Both of you shut up"

And those words were enough to make the two friends close their mouths and remind themselves how scary Yami can get when his already low patience gets even lower.

"Kid, start explaining"

Sila's eyes looked toward the door, then at Finral, and finally at Yami. "Forgive me Captain but I'm not telling any of you anything" strangely enough Yami didn't say anything else and waited for her to continue. Finral on the other hand was clearly frustrated, but he also didn't say anything. "As bad as it sounds I don't have any intention to tell you what happened. However the Wizard King on the other hand..."

"Right, the Wizard King and the other Captains will probably be suspicious of you for just randomly showing up" Finral spoke up.

"Exactly! So I have a request, get me a meeting with the Wizard King!"

As soon as those words left her mouth and room went dead silent. "Damn it Sila! Why'd you have to make it sound demanding! Yami's gonna go beserk!" Finral whisper yelled and Sila immediately snapped back, "Well what was I supposed to say! This is technically a dema-"

"Alright, come on Finral take us to the capital"

Both Finral and Sila froze at that. "He agreed way too fast to that!" They both thought. Sila then forced herself out of her own worlds, "Wait, but don't we need to go through proper scheduling and-" she then stopped after remembering this was Yami she was talking to, of course he wouldn't go through the proper procedure! Wordlessly (and very hesitantly) Finral opened the portal and Yami and Sila went went through, the spatial mage soon following after them.

Only after stepping through the portal did Sila realize there was nothing covering her face. "Shit! I was able to get away with not having a cloak when I came since I was flying but now I'm walking and!-" the royals thoughts were abruptly put to an end when Finral practically threw his Black Bulls robe at her. "You can complain about this later but for both of our sakes, just wear it" man, sometimes Sila felt bad when she heard Finral so exhausted and this time was no different. "Thanks..." she mumbled before making some makeshift hood out of it. "Maybe I should ask Yami to change the robe so that everyone has hoods" The silver haired girl put a hand to her chin as she continued thinking. "Not gonna lie, having that hood felt really comfy, it wouldn't be a bad addit-" she made a omph sound as she hit Yami's bad when he stopped walking.

"Geez kid, get your head out of the clouds. We're already here" Yami pointed in front of him at the giant door. Sila nervously nodded and before she could even take a step forward Yami slammed the door open and walked in.

"CAPTAIN I'M BEGGING YOU HAVE SOME COMMON CURTESY!" Sila didn't even realize that she yelled that out loud and honestly, even when she realized she didn't care. Yes she knew Yami could care less about this stuff, BUT YOU DON'T JUST BARGE INTO THE WIZARD KINGS OFFICE!

And then! He had the audacity to leave and drag Finral out with him! And now Sila is left staring at the Wizard King and his advisor, Marx Francois. After recovering from her shock, Sila removed the makeshift hood and bowed. "Greetings to the Wizard King and his advisor. I'm sorry for my behavior but I wasn't expecting Captain Yami to do something like that" Sila paused before continuing. "I am Silalynn Silva and I come with a request"

Both Julius and Marx were quiet for a moment before Marx spoke. "So the rumors are true, you did mysteriously appear again. I'm assuming that that's why you're here?"

Sila nodded. She glanced at Julius and for a second she swore she saw stars in his eyes. And when she looked back at Marx it seems like he did too, and he looked so done the moment he saw it. "Wizard King please don't-"

"Lady Silalynn you have Mercury magic like Sir Nozel, right?"

Sila raised an eyebrow in confusion. It didn't seem like a harmful question so why did Marx have a look that just screamed "please stop". "Yes sir, just like my older brother I wield Mercury Magic. How did you know? All my other siblings have a water attrib-"

"Sir Solid always praised you whenever he got the chance. It's only natural I heard what he's said at some point" Julius smiled. Sila faintly blushed when hearing her second older brother praised her abilities. While Solid loved her he was a bit on the cocky side and didn't sing praises of anyone, but deep down everyone in the family knew that his siblings were his pride even if he didn't say it. "Actually all of your siblings have told me compliments about you and your magic, and with each compliment I've wanted to see your magic in action even more!" And the stars were back. Julius continued to tell her about how her older siblings talked about how she was creative with her magic and more praise on how she utilized it.

"But all of their compliments made me wonder, why didn't you join a Magic Knight Squad when you took the test? You clearly had the skill and five Captains chose you, so why didn't you join at first?"

Julius's question caught her off guard but Sila tried to use the best of this. "Wizard King, I'll give you a deal. I'll tell you and you have no choice but to grant my request"

"What if it's an unfair request. For it to be a deal it has to be equal and we don't know if it is" Marx crossed his arms as he looked Sila directly in the eye. Sila hummed and closed her eyes for a second before reopening them. "It's not a unfair deal for you guys at all, if anything it's unfair on my side" Sila answered before turning her gaze back to Julius. "I'll tell you why I didn't join a squad immediately and in return Sir Francois will read my memories about where I was for the past year, however whatever he sees will only remain between us three" Sila smile warped into a smirk. "Well then, do we have a deal or not?"

Julius and Marx sent a look to each other as if communicating telepathically. A few seconds later they seemed to come to a consensus with an answer, "What's stopping me from reading your memories right now?" Of course, Sila knew Marx and Julius would bring this up. Technically they could but Sila had a small back up plan, however that plan had a lot of risk.

"Simple" Sila used some of her recovered mana to form a sharp mercury spike. "You won't get the chance to" she then brought the spike closer to her neck. She didn't want to have to do this. It was too risky of a plan, she's already doing something wrong by threatening her own life to force the Wizard King to comply with her wishes, but she had no choice at this point. This "plan" was also risky because no matter what Sila wouldn't try to kill herself. If she was unable to convince them that she would kill herself then her plan would be at a dead end.

Thankfully when Marx's and Julius's eyes widened Sila knew it worked to a degree. Marx tried to get her to move the spike away from her throat. "That isn't necessary, Lady Silalynn. I agree to your request" Julius's words made Sila internally calm down as she dispelled the mercury spike. Marx stepped forward and cast "Mémoire Absolue" to read her memories.

"It's rude to eavesdrop, but I can let it pass since you have the tiniest drop of beauty"

"Spade K-kingdom?..."

"Lady Vanica-"

More and more of Sila's memories from the past year were displayed and as Marx searched farther into her memory the more nervous she got. Sila froze when a certain memory was displayed on the screen.

It was the time she first hurt a defenseless child...and nearly killed him....

While Marx and Julius were probably surprised they didn't say anything and continued. At one point she stopped looking at the screen but when she looked back when she heard a familiar voice.

"Lydia..." Sila breathed out. Suddenly the screen started glitching and Lydia's voice and appearance were getting distorted. "What?.." she turned to Marx with wide eyes, "Why is it doing that?... Sir Francois why are my-" Sila was forced to stop mid-sentence when she felt a throbbing pain in her head. The throbbing didn't stop and it seemed that each throb was more painful than the last. Seeing Sila's reaction Marx quickly dispelled "Mémoire Absolue", and after doing so the pain in Sila's head went away but her distress became greater.

"Marx..." Julius started looking just as confused as Sila was. "I think an explanation is needed"

Marx furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. "That's never happened before"

Sila nearly jumped up, "But surely you know what!-"

"I have a guess" Marx answered in a calm tone but he seemed to a little be worried. "I think..."

"Lady Silalynn doesn't remember, that's why everything is warped"

The room fell silent. Sila stared wide-eyed at Marx as if hoping that he would say he was kidding and that it meant something else.

"That's crazy! Of course, I remember Lydia! She had!-" Silalynn paused. "Wait...were her eyes green or grey?...no it wasn't either of those...and her hair was light right?...why can't I think this through? Her voice was....Why?..whywhywhywhy!" Sila's mumbling grew louder and into clearer sentences as her despair developed.

"Lady Silalynn" Julius tried to get anything words through to Sila but it was all for naught.

"I-I spent so much time with her! She! She was so important to me so why can't I recall what she even looked like?!"

"Lady Silalynn!" Julius tried again to speak to Sila but it was still the same result as last time.

"She talked to me a everyday so I've heard her voice! So why don't I!-"

And just like that time froze for Sila. Literally.

Julius was forced to put her in one of his time bubble things. He then signaled for Marx to say something, preferably anything that would calm her down even a little. Marx's frown grew as he hesitated, thinking about what he could say.

"Lady Silalynn," A thought then occurred to him and he turned to the Wizard King. Instead of talking to both Julius and Sila, Marx went and whispered his thoughts to Julius. "Your highness, I think I've heard of cases where trauma affects a person's memories. In this case, Lady Silalynn's forgetting and that's why her memories are distorted"

Julius paused for a second, considering what Marx told him. "Yes...that's definitely possible..." both of them then looked up at Sila at the same time. "I guess I forgot that she's still a child. Of course, she wouldn't come back from a kidnapping like nothing's wrong"

"....Please undo the spell, your majesty" as soon as those words left Marx's mouth the spell was undone, and Sila came out a little bit calmed down.

"Lady Silalynn, with your permission I can contact someone, and by talking to them and occasionally coming back here for me to read your memories, you might start to remember again" Marx helped Sila get off the floor and stabilize herself since her knees were a bit shaky.

"....I'm not witless..you're telling me to get therapy..." Sila wanted to speak louder and more confidently but her voice was barely coming out and it felt like there was an invisible line that she couldn't push. The Royal bit her lip as Julius and Marx patiently awaited her answer. "If news got out what happens then?" she asked in a bitter voice. "I can already picture the headlines! "The second daughter of the Royal house Silva went crazy after her kidnapping"! I refuse to let people think a Silva has gone mad! Especially when I haven't!"

Marx and Julius sent a look at each other and seemingly communicated telepathically (even though they weren't). Julius cleared his throat, "Lady Silalynn, Marx, and I understand your concerns so I propose a solution"

Sila reluctantly nodded and listened. "Just go once, and after that, you may decide whether or not you want to continue. And Marx and I will make sure the public doesn't find out. Is that alright with you?"

Silalynn's hands balled up into fists. Logically the choice should be easy. Follow through with Marx's plan and the deal and all is fine and dandy. But there was the other hand and it was driving her nuts. The silver-haired girl gulped before mumbling out her answer just barely loud enough to hear.

"I shall comply with this.."

A/N:
1. I would like to clear something up. No, I'm not trying to say that getting therapy implies the person getting therapy is crazy, that is simply how Sila views it because of the environment she's in. And 2. Next chapter a certain water mage is gonna appear :3

Oh yeah, I should also apologize for this book dying for a while. But in all honesty, I think I should've made it clear that I'm not someone who follows a schedule. I get bursts of energy to write and then it ends quickly. So please don't ask me for updates (though I am glad to see that some people want to see more of my writing). Also, I have a life outside of Wattpad, I'm not going to go out of my way to make a schedule to write fanfiction. It's just a hobby and I'm going to do it whenever I want and how I want.

Anyways, I hope you have a great day and stay safe!