It was nearing dusk. He had too many things to take care of as the emperor and he wasn’t fond of it. He could always rely on his aide to do it but currently, he had sent his aide out for a secret operation. He hated paperwork more than anything; he’d rather go out and conquer countries for consecutive years than sit on his chair signing and examining documents.

But he knew that as an emperor, paperwork was inevitable unless he wanted to be an asshole and dump it on other people. And that would mean neglecting his duties.

Lucilius reached his residence, the Orion, and two pairs of maids and butlers standing on either side of the front door bowed their heads. He walked past them and into the palace, heading straight for his room.

When he entered, he noticed a large black creature on the sofa from the corner of his eyes. Immediately, he turned his head and approached it.

‘Mavis,’ he spoke, extending a hand.

The coiling black cobra raised its head and pressed its snout on his palm affectionately.

‘Why are you here again?’ he asked, caressing its scaly head. ‘You want to see her?’

The snake looked at him. Lucilius smiled. ‘She’s not well enough yet but maybe you can help her,’ he said then turned back to the door. ‘Let’s go.’

***

Having the emperor himself in the official magician’s manor, Ophiuchus, was not a rare sight even when accompanied with the black cobra Mavis, the magician’s pet. Mavis liked sneaking into the emperor’s palace and wouldn’t budge unless Luna retrieved it or Lucilius returned it. It wasn’t like anyone else could approach Mavis, as it would become aggressive when nearing strangers.

Lucilius arrived in front of her room. Luna usually would’ve sensed him coming and opened the door for him. He never needed to knock on anyone’s door so he barged in without hesitation.

Inside, the magician was just outside the bathroom with a towel hung around her neck. She jumped in surprise at the sudden visit and patted her chest in relief when she saw Lucilius.

‘Did you really just enter a woman’s room without knocking?’ she asked.

Lucilius took a seat on the sofa in the room without being invited. ‘Mavis went into my room again,’ he said.

As expected, the girl frowned. ‘Who??’ she asked.

‘Your pet,’ he replied.

‘Pet?’ Her brows furrowed deeper as she placed her towel on the sofa opposite of Lucilius. ‘I have a pet here? Wow, is it a cat? A dog?’ At the mention of cat and dog, her face lightened up a bit.

Lucilius tilted his head. Luna had never been fond of small and furry animals. ‘No,’ he replied, then looked at the door. ‘Mavis?’ he called.

The cobra slithered inside the room, familiar with its surroundings. At that very moment Luna saw the animal, her eyes widened and looked as if they would bulge out. She froze in her spot like she had been cursed by an Ice Queen.

‘I-It responds to fear, right?’ she whispered nervously. ‘I shouldn’t be scared, right?’

Lucilius could clearly see her shivering hands. Did she really lose her memories?

‘Come,’ said Lucilius, extending a hand to the snake.

And as the animal moved, Lucilius had never heard a scream so loud that his ears hurt.

***

Interesting

Lucilius’s hand never stopped caressing Mavis’s snout. The cobra was extremely depressed at how scared its owner was of it.

Interesting. Everything became interesting.

His thoughts ran around his head, ultimately intrigued with Luna’s behaviour.

‘Your Majesty, I’m done.’

Lucilius turned his head to the royal physician. ‘Do I need to call Elias?’ he asked.

‘No, I think she just had a shock,’ said the physician nervously. It wasn’t merely because of Lucilius’s intimidating aura, it was also because of Mavis’ hissing and impatience. The cobra looked as if it’d jump on the physician if he said the wrong thing.

‘Then you may go,’ said Lucilius.

The physician bowed deeply and left the room in a hurry.

The emperor turned to the snake. ‘Mavis.’

It seemed to understand him as it slithered out of the window and away from the room. Lucilius sighed and approached the newly appointed Healer on the bed, unconscious for being too afraid of her own pet.

***

There was one thing she could confidently say she hated: snakes. They were at the number one spot of things-that-I-don’t-want-to-even-set-my-eyes-on. Scales? Creepy eyes? Split tongue? Silent and quick? Venomous? A definite no-no! The original Luna must’ve been on some kind of high-end drugs to be having a cobra as a pet. 

Without opening her eyes, she moved her hands to massage her throbbing head. 

‘Thought you finally died,’ a voice said.

She immediately knew who it was. ‘I wish I did,’ she replied exasperatingly and opened her eyes. The emperor of Sirius, Lucilius, was sitting by her bed, arms folded.

‘Mavis,’ he spoke after a while. ‘What are you going to do with it?’

She raised her head. ‘By Mavis, you mean that creature?’ She winced, remembering the disgusting cobra.

‘Creature?’ he frowned. ‘You picked up Mavis who got lost escaping the Sealed Island two years ago and would never return it, requesting me to allow you to have a pet. Did you forget that?’

‘Well, I lost my memories, didn’t I?’

‘Mavis is your pet, and is the most affectionate with you, how could you forget that part? Or maybe, did you fall out of love and decide to abandon it?’

‘N-No!’ She blurted, half-offended at the accusation. ‘Just that, I can’t look at––AAAH!’

Something cold and scaly brushed past her hand and she jumped in surprise, knowing it was Mavis, the stupid pet the original Luna picked up.

Out of fear, she jumped out of her bed and unknowingly grabbed Lucilius by his collar and turned his body around so he’d be her shield. She gripped tight and closed her eyes, pulling him close to her, face buried in his chest.

Lucilius huffed, obviously baffled by her actions. ‘Are you really that terrified of Mavis?’ he questioned. ‘The friend that you chose by yourself? And you’re choking me.’

‘That’s not my friend!’ She cried.

‘No, really, I will murder you if you keep strangling me like this–’

Luna quickly released her hands but was still hiding behind his body. 

‘Healer, maybe if you just look into its eyes–’ he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around so she would face Mavis.

Luna wanted to die. Her breath was stuck in her throat as the cobra’s murderous slit eyes gazed into hers. Lucilius noticed that she was scared to bits and pulled her back.

‘Mavis.’ Lucilius used his other hand to pat its snout. ‘Could you wait outside?’

The snake dropped its head and slithered off. Lucilius turned to her and reached out in an attempt to knock her forehead but Luna flinched, scurrying away. ‘No, don’t touch me! You touched the snake!’ she squealed. Even though he was wearing gloves, she was still grossed out.

‘Fine,’ Lucilius sighed in defeat. ‘Mavis stays in Orion.’

Luna had no idea what the heck was Orion but she wasn’t in the condition to ask anything so she just nodded.