Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Chapter 41: Queen vs.

Queen vs. 

“You are the Queen of Shadows, right?”

The rustle of pages and soft clack of keyboards faded into the periphery.

Eydis’s thoughts aligned like teeth in a gearwheel. Measured, methodical, ready to bite. If this boy knew her secret, he was either lying, confused, or quietly dangerous.

Yet nothing about him read as a threat.

This made absolutely no sense. Her true identity was not something plastered on billboards, unlike in this reality where politicians apparently live-streamed their breakfast muffins.

How could this boy, a stranger in every sense of the word, possibly know her secret?

She studied his face. Sharp, but soft-edged. Intelligent eyes. Not striking like Damien or Theo, but distinct. Memorable. Not someone she would forget.

Unless she already had. 

Unless Adam was also a fragment of her stolen memories.

But if that were the case, why hadn't he approached her sooner, if he was indeed an ally? And if he was an enemy, why hadn’t he acted when she had been powerless?

Amber eyes locked with crystal-clear blue. Eydis searched for the usual signs – malice, envy, unwilling admiration, or tainted terror. These were the reactions she was accustomed to evoking in her realm. But in Adam's gaze, there was none of that.

Only a depth of curiosity, a mirror to her own.

Perhaps human goodness was truly a foreign language to her, as baffling (and frankly, as dull) as Theo's unwavering chivalry. But, human darkness? That, she understood. And she sensed no danger here.

Which meant only one conclusion.

He didn’t know who she really was.

Then, only one possibility remained…

The gold in her eyes flickered as she finished her analysis. Background noise returned. Footsteps. Whispers. A distant groan from the rug-bound casualty behind them.

“Where did you hear that name, Adam?”

He glanced around before leaning in. “Your handle. Obsidian Legion. You used to post on the forum. Then you disappeared after the Tiffany incident.”

Eydis’s eyes narrowed. Obsidian Legion? Forum? Was this some secret cult that her teenage self had been involved in? The way Adam said it implied she had chosen this ‘handle’ herself. That raised a more troubling question: had that version of Eydis known the truth?

Known about the Queen of Shadows?

Teenage Eydis remained an unresolved variable. No one really seemed to know her. Not Natalia. Not even Astra. Only scattered remarks and an embarrassingly persistent attachment to her roommate remained as clues.

Humiliating. Or it should have been.

The truth was, Eydis no longer found the thought entirely revolting. A problem for another day.

Anyway, aside from her... questionable taste in romantic interests, this girl had been clever. Almost too clever. Near-eidetic memory. Intellect on par with the Queen herself. And yet, her grades hovered squarely in the middle of the Talented group. 

Right. At. The. Middle. Always. As if she was deliberately average.

Blending in.

Hiding.

It hadn’t saved her from Tiffany’s attack.

The question was why. Why suppress that much ability? Why fake mediocrity? Her dorm offered no answers. No diaries, no keepsakes, no clues. Only a blank phone and a locked-down laptop.

But perhaps she hadn’t written things down at all. Perhaps she had left her thoughts somewhere harder to trace. 

Behind a handle.  

Behind a forum.  

Obsidian Legion…hmm.

Eydis glanced at Adam again. He clearly hadn’t expected her to recognise him. Not even his name. That gave her an edge.

She tapped a finger against the cover of a glossy romance novel between them. Her eyes gleamed with false innocence.

"Obsidian Legion?” Her voice was light. Teasing. “Sounds like a boutique eyeliner brand. Or maybe a coven for the black-magic-inclined. The kind who prefer their coffee black and their humour even darker?"

Adam glanced at the cover. A moonlit couple clung to each other in overwrought despair.

“Coven? Black magic? You mean ‘black hat,’ right? I wouldn't exactly call us that... more like..." He paused, searching for the right words as he processed her rapid-fire question, then smiled awkwardly. "Though, when you say it like that, it does sound kind of… dramatic.”

Black hat. The term rang vague. Worth looking into.

“That’s why I haven’t been active,” she lied. “Just a phase. I’m growing out of it.”

Adam’s expression faltered. “A phase? But you were brilliant,” he whispered. “One of the best. Why would you walk away from that?”

Eydis opened her mouth to spin something suitably vague, but a deep voice cut in.

“Adam.”

Both of them turned.

Elias drew closer, emerald hair slipping down his back, his shirt parted to reveal a tribal necklace set with a sizable rhombus-cut emerald. His features were refine: high cheekbones, a narrow jaw. Not Theo’s kind of handsome, softer, but just as striking.

Eydis’s irritation flared. Of course. The peacock. The dismissive one who never bothered to meet her eyes.

She was about to put him in his place but paused when she spotted a black pin on the green blazer slung casually over his arm.

Gifted. D-Class.

Another one? She borrowed Cerberus’s perception and tasted the power rippling beneath Elias’s skin. 

Interesting.

Stronger than expected. A lot stronger.

“Elias, just give me a minute,” Adam said, but Elias cut him off with a hand on his shoulder.

Elias’s emerald eyes skipped over Eydis and dropped to the stack of books on the counter. “Come on, Adam.” He picked them up. “Training in five. Surely this can wait?”

Elbows on the desk, Eydis leaned in until she was close enough to catch the scent clinging to him: pine needles and wet moss. Nature affinity, then?

"You're absolutely right. Such trivial chatter shouldn't interfere with your Gifted Training.” She smiled.

Elias’s eyes narrowed just a fraction.

“Still, I should probably scan these volumes before you leave. Just a precaution, of course.” Eydis softened her tone just enough to fool Adam, and just enough to threaten Elias. “We wouldn’t want unauthorised information slipping through the cracks. Would we, Elias Kivi?”

He took a step back, but quickly smoothing his scowl.

Did I strike a nerve? How intriguing. Eydis catalogued this reaction for future exploitation.

Elias set the books down. “Go ahead. Do your job.” He glanced at her name tag, then back to her eyes. “Eydis.”

Adam, now clearly sensing the tension, offered his ID awkwardly. She took it and scanned it wordlessly.

“We’ll talk soon, alright?” Adam said gently. “I’ll be around.”

Elias tossed his hair over his shoulder and strode out without waiting. Adam gave her a sheepish glance, and followed behind.

The moment they were gone, Eydis sank into her chair, her fingers drifting to the keyboard.

She wasn’t going to confront Adam again  until she understood what the Obsidian Legion really was. She was cartain this “phase” wasn’t just teenage rebellion.

Her doppelganger was turning out to be far more complicated than the quiet, bookish girl she’d first assumed.

Maybe Tiffany hadn’t been the reason she was pulled here. Maybe not even Damien.

Maybe the girl who once lived in this body had a hand in all of it. But why? And how?

Eydis began to type, a smile tugging at her lips in spite of herself.

“Aren’t you fascinating, my dear self?”

Thomas Blackwood’s phone pinged at exactly 12:00 p.m. A private message. Chimera. Punctual, as always.

He set down his utensils, dabbed the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and opened the message. He tapped the attachment and began to read.

“Theo Whitlock, Water-affinity. Figures.”

He skimmed through the PDF, picking up keywords. It was highly detailed, school grades included. Chimera certainly didn’t disappoint.

Silverkeep. Alpine nobility. Known for ice magic and chivalric tradition. Water mages, fluid in ability, but rarely unpredictable. Bound to protect, not destroy.

He opened the second file, and froze.

"A mind reader?"

As if the words had summoned it, a curl of violet smoke unfurled like a translucent ribbon in the air. A deep voice drifted from the mist.

“How curious. I wasn’t aware this realm bred so many capable of breaching thought.”

Thomas gritted his teeth. “Just like that Adrian bastard.”

“Perhaps this Athena is related to him.”

“That’s not the issue. If she’s a true telepath, she could expose everything.”

The mist laughed. "Not if you expose yourself first."

“I’m sorry—what?”

“Press conference. Tomorrow.” The mist darkened. “You’ll begin the next phase.”

And then it was gone.