Chapter 654: Be my Child

“What do you mean by pressure, Camilla?”

The Head of the Genesis Royal Alchemist Branch sounded playfully displeased.

She turned towards Camilla, as if the accusation itself had offended her, though the smile at the corner of her mouth made it hard to tell how seriously she took it.

“Well, Alister already has that Maxwell child in his Branch. It’s good to start sowing seeds early.”

The Head of the Strom Royal Alchemist Branch grinned.

He seemed to find the whole matter amusing, and he made no effort to hide it.

The three Heads had only just met Ezra, yet they were already discussing which branch should claim him.

Their interest in the young Alchemist was plain enough.

Each had a different reason for wanting him, but none of them seemed willing to wait until he was older or had finished his studies before trying to draw him towards their branch.

“Just leave him alone for now.”

Camilla did not seem convinced by either of them.

She turned her attention to Ezra, studying his face for a moment without saying anything more.

The boy had been standing quietly through their exchange, answering their questions without showing much on his face.

Then Camilla looked towards the Queen.

“Why have you been looking at him like that, Your Highness?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

Queen Althea had kept her right hand beneath her chin, looking Ezra over with a pleased smile, as if she had found something interesting and was trying to decide what to do with it.

The Queen did not answer at once.

Her gaze remained on Ezra.

The smile on her face only grew a little wider, making Camilla’s question seem even more reasonable.

By then, Camilla had removed the Cognis field that separated their group from the people around them.

The sounds of the Grand Royal Hall returned to the space: the low murmur of conversation, the movement of shoes over the floor, and the small calls of guests trying to find their dance partners.

The Golden Matching Order Band was preparing for the Last Dance Core, and people had begun to gather near the dance floor.

“Kyaaa… I’ve been holding back how cute I think you are all this while, but Ezra, you really are a cute child!”

Queen Althea moved closer to Ezra as she spoke.

Ezra saw her coming.

He could have stepped back, but doing anything that might be taken as rude to the Queen was not a good idea.

He held his posture and waited for her to reach him.

The Queen wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

Ezra’s posture stiffened for a moment.

He had not expected the Queen to get this close, much less embrace him in front of the guests.

Still, he made no attempt to pull away.

He stood where he was, his arms kept close to his sides, trying to work out how he was supposed to respond without making the situation even stranger.

It happened just as the Golden Matching Order Band was about to begin the music for the Last Dance Core.

The musicians stopped before the first notes could properly fill the hall.

One of them had already raised his instrument, while another looked towards the bandleader for a cue.

The expected music never came.

Guests who had been arranging their positions on the dance floor turned around.

Some still held their partners’ hands, while others stopped in the middle of a step.

A few people looked at the Queen, then at Ezra, as though they expected someone to explain what they were seeing.

“The Queen is hugging Ezra Ashenlocke?”

“What is happening now?”

Confused voices spread through the nearby crowd.

The sight was so unexpected that even people who had been talking only a moment earlier fell silent.

A Queen embracing a young Alchemist in the middle of a royal gathering was not something they had expected to see before the Last Dance.

And that Young Alchemist was Ezra Ashenlocke.

Yet again!

A few guests leaned towards their companions to whisper, while others kept their eyes fixed on the pair, unwilling to miss what might happen next.

The interruption had drawn attention from both sides of the dance floor, and even those who had not heard the first exclamation could tell that something unusual had happened.

Even Ezra himself was completely confused.

His expression remained as blank as ever, but he could not understand why the Queen had reacted to him this way.

He had answered her questions and greeted her with the proper respect.

Nothing in their short exchange had suggested that she would suddenly pull him into a hug.

But those who knew Queen Althea’s true personality understood that her affection was not entirely new.

She could be warm and open with people who caught her interest, even in situations where others might have chosen to remain formal.

But this was still different.

“You know…”

The Queen released Ezra and held his cheeks between her hands.

She looked at him with a soft smile, keeping him close enough that he could not simply step away without making the moment awkward.

“I watched your Unveiling Party at the Ashenlocke House, so I know about you and how you explained your life in the Sterling House.”

She spoke gently.

Her hands were still resting on his cheeks, and she seemed quite pleased that she had managed to catch his attention.

That’s expected.

Ezra said in his mind.

He could understand why the Queen would know about the Unveiling Parties held by the Duke House of Ash.

Since the gathering was a very important event for the Ashenlockes.

The ruler of Britannia would naturally receive information about it.

But she watched the party?

Huh.

He tried to connect that fact to her behaviour.

The Queen’s interest was strange, and he could not yet tell where it was leading.

She was speaking as though she knew more about him than he had expected, but she had not explained why his story mattered to her.

Knowing about the Unveiling Party was one thing; remembering the details of his life and bringing them up now was another.

He wanted to understand the reason, but asking too soon might reveal more of his own thoughts than he intended.

While the Queen continued, Camilla raised another Cognis field around their group.

It blocked the hearing of the people outside, cutting their conversation off from the guests preparing for the dance.

Neither Ezra nor the lower-ranking Alchemists around them seemed to catch the moment she acted.

“So, when I heard from Duke Valentine that you were going to take on the Judgment Order, I had to ask him why he would send a child into such a dangerous mission.”

Queen Althea’s voice became calmer.

She released Ezra’s cheeks and placed one hand on his head, gently rubbing his hair.

The movement scattered a few strands across his forehead, but she seemed too caught up in what she was saying to care.

“He told me everything the Ashenlockes found out about you and your life with the Sterlings. He told me how they wrote you off as a dead child and sent you to be a sacrifice for your twin brother.”

The Queen’s hand moved over his hair once more before she let it rest there.

Ezra listened without interrupting, his expression giving little away of what he was thinking.

“I became really curious about what the future held for you the moment I received news that you had accomplished the mission.”

The Queen said it calmly, as if the news had stayed with her ever since she first heard it.

“It was amazing to hear that a child had taken on so many people and even won, but it was also saddening to know that the people he killed were his own family.”

Her smile faded a little.

She looked into Ezra’s plain black eyes, and the lightness in her face gave way to something quieter.

“The pain you must have felt, losing everything…”

She paused.

The words hung between them for a moment.

Ezra did not look away, even though the Queen had brought up a part of his past that he rarely had reason to discuss with others, and she seemed to understand that the subject was not something he could speak with a simple remark.

Her hand remained on his head, but she no longer moved it.

For a brief moment, she did not try to fill the silence with another word.

Ezra could not tell whether she was waiting for him to speak or simply allowing the words to settle.

“But you still kept moving forward, and you even created the Phantom Rolls.”

The Queen spoke with a light smile.

At that moment…

Something clicked in Ezra’s mind.

He remembered his conversation with Princess Victoria when they had met during the first gathering of the Golden Circle Faction.

Then he recalled the Phantom Rolls presentation, the auction event, and the guest whose presence had stood out because of their position.

The VIP guest.

The pieces fitted together.

“You attended the Phantom Rolls auction event.”

Ezra spoke calmly, almost certain of his guess.

The Queen did not answer directly.

She only gave him a pleased smile, and that was enough to tell him he had reached the right conclusion.

“I won’t say I’ve been watching all your close movements.”

She finally spoke after a short pause.

Her attention returned to his hair.

She began arranging the strands she had scattered, smoothing them back into place with the care of someone fixing a child’s appearance before sending him out in public.

“But you are a special child, and yet… you’ve had a sad life. It kind of annoys me to see you going through all these troublesome situations while you’re still growing.”

Queen Althea finished fixing his hair and looked at him.

“There.”

She said it calmly, apparently satisfied with her work.

Then her expression changed.

The smile remained, but the question that followed was no longer playful.

“Ezra… child of Ash…why don’t you let me adopt you from the Ashenlocke House and make you one of my children?”

Queen

Althea asked him with a serious expression.

Ezra blinked once in surprise.

“Your Majesty?”

The Head of the Hermetic Royal Alchemist Branch spoke in disbelief.

The other Heads also seemed caught off guard by the offer.

But before any of the Royal Alchemist Branch Heads could voice their thoughts, Queen Althea raised her right hand, signaling them to remain quiet.

“The benefits you would receive would be immense. You would become a Prince of this Kingdom, and no one would even deny you the right to the throne if you wished for it. But I will respect your choice.”

Her tone remained serious as she explained what the offer meant.

She did not try to force an answer out of him, nor did she hide the scale of the opportunity she was placing before him.

Ezra looked into the Queen’s yellow eyes with his plain black ones.

Her offer had come without warning.

A moment ago, she had been speaking about his past and fixing his hair.

Now she was asking him to become her child, offering him a place in the royal family and a possible claim to the throne.

The change was so great that he needed a moment to sort the offer from the surprise of hearing it.

His face remained calm, but his thoughts had begun to move quickly.

Why is the Queen really interested in me?

Is it because of my craftsmanship?

He paused his thoughts thinking about the question.

I can’t just trust her.

More and more thoughts flooded his mind rapidly.

Calm down, Ezra.

He steadied his thoughts, pushing aside the useless ones so he could consider the matter properly.

First, gaining the title of Prince will be a huge leap towards my goal.

That much was clear to Ezra. However, there were still a few things he needed to consider.

I don’t trust the Queen.

Ezra kept his gaze on her.

It wasn’t as though she had said anything that made her seem untrustworthy.

Her offer had been straightforward, and she had even promised to respect his choice.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to trust her.

Just like how he also doesn’t trust everyone else.

Ezra already made up his mind to always be cautious about every action a person takes around him.

And this was another situation, to be very cautious.

His attention returned to the question that had started all of this.

Why is she so interested in me?

The Queen isn’t even a High-ranking Alchemist, yet she was difficult to read.

Her thoughts were as hard to understand as his own, Vera’s, and those of a few other people he had encountered.

Perhaps she had discovered something that linked her to him.

That was a possibility, though he couldn’t be certain.

But did he really care about the royal title?

No.

His answer came without hesitation.

He was already satisfied with the path he was walking.

He had his own goals, and he didn’t need to take on more trouble than necessary.

Not to mention the problems that would certainly arise the moment he accepted the Queen’s offer.

Of course, he could solve those problems if he wanted to.

It wasn’t that he lacked the ability to deal with them.

It’s just not my cup of tea.

Still, there was something worth taking from this unexpected turn of events.

Whatever the Queen’s reasons were, he had gained the attention of an unexpected figure.

That alone might prove useful in the future.

“Ahh.”

Ezra breathed out calmly.

His answer was already made up.