Ye Muo sat on the side of the bed, watching Norton. He was wearing a dark coloured shirt and shorts that were less lively than his usual outfits.
This was the formalwear Adlet had prepared for him well ahead of time.
The child was hugging a small crystal jar filled with colourful gummies– these were supplements for some minerals he was lacking. The doctors didn’t restrict his intake, as long as he ate at least two a day. Ye Muo loved the gummies from the moment he got them and often took them with him.
Norton leaned over to tidy up Ye Muo’s collar after changing into his military dress uniform. “Let’s go.”
He scooped the child up.
Dylan was waiting outside the door. He looked over. “Big Brother.”
“Did you bring a gift?”
Before Norton even moved, Ye Muo was nodding his head off in his arms.
The Empress’ birthday would have been next month. They had decided in advance to prepare gifts to give to her together.
The two of them didn’t say anything more and headed outside together.
In the end, the funeral was held in a small garden in the back mountains. The church and several towers there were surrounded with dense forest and lush vegetation. The lion pride often stopped nearby for water.
The hovercar was already waiting outside. Adlet opened the car door for them. “Mr. Hebert Felier arrived at the palace a few minutes ago. He went ahead with His Majesty Bert and the others to the back mountains.”
Dylan nodded. “Mother would be happy to see him.”
Norton made a sound of acknowledgement as he ducked into the car, looking slightly fatigued. Dylan followed close behind.
Adlet was the last to come over. He smoothly presented Ye Muo with a fresh bottle and then placed tea and snacks by Norton and Dylan.
Only Ye Muo reached for a cookie along the way.
The hovercar soon came to a stop. The door was opened.
Norton glanced down at Ye Muo. “The funeral will be beginning soon. We must remain solemn.”
Ye Muo looked up at him. He didn’t seem to understand.
Norton paused, “We can’t speak loudly or eat.”
Norton’s rare seriousness made Ye Muo understand. He tried his best to remember, “Muomuo won’t be loud or eat anything.”
Then, he set the half-full bottle he had been sucking on aside. The jar of candies, however, remained firmly in his arms.
When Norton glanced over, he quietly repeated, “No being loud, no eating.”
So Norton let him be and carried him out of the car. He joined Dylan and Adlet as they headed down the small path leading to the church.
Ye Muo subconsciously grew nervous.
There were quite a few people inside already. In addition to Bert and the others, there was a man. Everyone else was in military uniform with a muscular stature and an cool, aloof air about them. He was the sole exception.
Only he was dressed in an elegant black suit with a white rose in his chest pocket.
He stood out amongs the Grantz whose eyes and hair were as dark as night. Although he had dark hair and eyes as well, it was with a slight steel-gray tint.
When Norton brought Ye Muo inside, the man’s gaze stayed on the child for a beat before he greeted Norton with a no-frills salute.
Hardly anyone spoke.
The Empress lay in the semi-transparent crystal coffin in the center of the room on a bed of multicoloured flowers. Her calm expression and slightly rosy cheeks made her appear merely asleep.
In truth, her body was still alive. Yet death on a psychic level was no different even in this day and age.
As the host of the funeral, Adlet went through a list of standard procedures before stating, “…Please step forward in an orderly manner to bid farewell to your lover, mother or family member.”
Adlet turned to Bert.
Bert stood still for the longest time. When Adlet turned to him, he shook his head and hoarsely said, “Let the children go first.”
Ano was the first one to be pushed out. He leaned over and placed a small black box by his mother’s face. “This is your gift this year, Mom. Happy Birthday. Don’t worry, I’ve learned how to take good care of myself by now.”
He lowered his head and whispered, “Goodbye, Mom.”
Then came Adrian, Jacob, Aria…
Once Dylan set down his gift and returned to his seat, everyone turned to Norton.
Norton had no intention of setting Ye Muo down. He brought the child over as he silently set the first medal he had received upon entering the military by the Empress’ side.
Ye Muo peered over from Norton’s arms, a little curious. He seemed ignorant of death in the way that very young children could be.
Norton simply looked at his mother and quietly stated, “This is my child.”
Ano stared at Norton’s back. He had no doubt that Norton would set down his gift and leave without saying a word if Ye Muo didn’t exist.
Norton regarded his mother for a few seconds more before turning to leave. When Ye Muo noticed this, he wriggled in protest. “M-Mumuo’s gift.”
He breathed a sigh of relief when Norton came to a stop and admonished the man, “Bad Daddy. D-didn’t say Muomuo’s name. Introductions are important, polite.”
Ye Muo was very clear on how to make friends from the cartoons he watched. He sincerely introduced himself, “I’m Muomuo and this is Daddy.”
Then he raised the candy jar he had been carrying all this time with a tinge of reluctance. “This is gift.”
Ye Muo’s grip tightened when Norton tried to help him put the jar down. “It’s Muomuo’s. Muomuo will put it down.”
Norton could only lean over so Ye Muo could do as he wished.
Ye Muo mumbled seemingly to no one in particular as he hugged the jar, “Why sleeping? Don’t want gift?”
He set the candy jar down and reached over. “Wakey-wakey, ah.”
He stretched his arm with all his might and touched the Empress.
With how small he was and the firm grip Norton had on his waist, he couldn’t reach anything more than the Empress’ skirt. There was still a distance to her hand resting at her side.
Psychic power soundlessly emerged from his psychic domain in response to his unconscious mind. They enveloped the Empress and entered her barren psychic domain. Wherever they went, her faint, stagnant psychic power slowly began to shift once more.
The process went entirely unnoticed.
Norton was about to lift Ye Muo back up when the Empress’ fingertip twitched.
His pupils immediately shrank.
Bert noticed Norton’s reaction at once. He reached Norton’s side in the blink of an eye, glancing at him before following his gaze to the prone Sylvia.
Dropping down to one knee, he stared unblinkingly at the Empress as he whispered her name, “Sylvia.”
Before their eyes, the Empress’ fingertip twitched again.
Bert was already incredulously and ecstatically clasping her hand to his cheek to confirm this wasn’t just a dream. He almost cried with joy, “My dear Sylvia…”
It was a while before the Empress opened her eyes. She vaguely remembered that it was time to get up.
By the time she opened her eyes.
A crowd had gathered around her. She first tilted her head to look at Bert, who was holding her hand. Then her gaze swept over all her children before landing on Ye Muo.
The child was the only one oblivious to what just happened, but he sensed something wasn’t right. He glanced between Norton and Sylvia before settling on Norton. Uncertaintly clutching the candy jar, he asked, “Can we eat candy? Muomuo didn’t have any yet today.”
Norton finally snapped back to attention. He absentmindedly made a sound of the acknowledgement as he looked down to check on Ye Muo.
Sylvia hadn’t made sense of the current situation yet. Her muddled mind made her think she was in heaven. Why else would all her children be standing here, alive and whole?
She opened her mouth and responded in barely a whisper, “Alright.”
Ye Muo happily opened his candy jar. He made sure to place one candy in the Empress’ hand before stuffing another in his mouth.
Adlet finally reacted. “I’ll call a doctor.”
……
Everyone gathered in the parlour beside the Empress’ room.
Jacob read off a thick stack of reports, “All indicators are normal. Psychic power activity value is within normal ranges and her physical condition is stable. She does need physical therapy after spending so long in a treatment pod…”
Dylan emerged from the inner room that Bert and the Empress’ elder brother, Hebert were still in. He gently closed the door behind him before turning to his siblings. “The doctors said that everything is normal.”
There were few cases where the physical body remained intact after the psychic domain was destroyed, but waking up again afterwards was unheard of.
Adlet came in from the corridor and approached Norton. “82% of the entire crystal supply stored throughout the palace was consumed. They were still intact during yesterday’s inspection. Everything has been replenished already.”
Although there was still no conclusive evidence, Helene stated confidently, “It was Ye Muo.”
Almost everyone present had speculated and suspected as much, so the verbal confirmation was like the last puzzle piece falling into place. They even had the doctors give Ye Muo a comprehensive examination alongside the Empress already.
Ano told them before that Ye Muo’s psychic power was able to elude even Norton given enough motivation.
They all turned to the child in Norton’s arms.
Ye Muo had already kicked off the little leather shoes he had been wearing all morning. He was standing on Norton’s knees in his socks, fishing out another gummy from his jar.
Only then did Norton notice that the jar, that had been full this morning, was now almost down to half.
Ye Muo was having a hard time reaching the candies by now. He sense Norton’s gaze and sheepishly held the gummies he managed to fish out instead of stuffing them into his mouth. He glanced at Norton before looking down again, quietly murmuring, “Daddy, Daddy said Muomuo could have some…”
