"Sorry, Lily...I lied, I bailed out from my daily drill," feeling guilty lying to the person who cares for his well-being the most, Xiao spilt the bean to Lily.
Lily looked surprised at first, but she remains composes and asked Xiao:
"Oh, don't feel sorry, you must have a good reason behind it, right?" Lily asked as she expresses concern.
"Yeah, it's just....painful to go on with the drill every day," Xiao's face frowned, replaying the memories he spent his day in the army.
"I see...Then it's good that you run away" Lily smile as she agrees entirely on Xiao's decision.
"Huh? I thought you would be disappointed at me," Xiao was shocked as he thought Lily would despise him for running away.
Lily looked at Xiao curiously upon Xiao's answer, and she replied:
"Why would I be disappointed at you? If it's painful, just run away, I will do the same too, no one wants to live in pain, right?"
Lily look at Xiao with her innocent expression while saying to Xiao without a single doubt. Xiao looks at her with surprise, speechless by her response.
(Well that was unexpected.)
Yet, Xiao felt relieved upon hearing someone agree with his choice of bailing out the training as if Lily understand the pain he had gone through.
"What kind of drill are you undergoing?" Lily asked.
Xiao told Lily everything about him being a private rank soldier in the army, and also how he got treated in the army. Still, he didn't tell Lily about him being chosen as the Hero of Darkness and why he joined the army in the first place.
"You are in the army?! I knew you are a good person!" Lily jumped in excitement upon finish listening to Xiao's story, her eyes gaze at Xiao with great interest.
"kind? What do you mean?" Xiao was taken back by Lily's response, he also looks away as Lily stares at him intensely to hide his embarrassment.
"You join the army because you want to protect everyone, right? That makes you a super nice guy!" Lily raise her voice in excitement and look at Xiao with awe.
"What?!" Xiao, in return, shocked by her response.
(I can't just tell her I got forced into the service, right?)
Xiao got hesitant as he was about to open his mouth to correct Lily, her sapphire eyes look at Xiao with great anticipation.
(That will only make her sad.)
"Well....yeah, hahaha!" not wanting to break the perfect image Lily had for Xiao, he acknowledges Lily guess for his intention of joining the army.
(Still, joining the army makes you a kind person? Lily is.....surprisingly naive.)
After that, Lily kept bombarding Xiao with questions about his life in the army.
Xiao speaks with a grim expression at first upon remembering all the harsh treatment he gets from his peers. Still, with Lily innocent smile and pure curiosity of wanting to know more about him, Xiao expression slowly softens up and recalling his experience in a calm tone.
Xiao and Lily sat at the garden chair, they were surrounded by the beautiful garden and a peaceful environment with only the chirping sounds of the birds can be heard.
"By the way, where are we? I know it's a bit late now, but I have no idea where am I, I just wander aimlessly until I stumble upon here." Xiao look around the place, besides him and Lily, he can't feel any other presence around him, as if no one lives here.
"What is this place? No one is around here, and it's so strange that this tower is so far away from the rest of the building." Xiao looks at the tall and big tower while commenting.
"You know who lives in this tower?" Xiao looks back at Lily, who for some reason, was showing a complicated expression upon hearing Xiao's question.
But after a while, Lily expression softens and smile, she begins to tell Xiao about this tower, and the people who take residence here.
There's no name for the tower, everyone just called it The Tower, and the only people who live here are the two princesses of the Julian Empire. No commoner or royalty knows the existence of the sisters, only a handful of people only knows about it. The only princess the public knows is Princess Diana Ewigkeit, the daughter of King William the fourth, which is the current King of Julian Empire.
Xiao gets to know Princess Diana from Owen, as Owen is a great admirer of her. Whatever Owen starts talking about Princess Diana, he will go for at least an hour to tell her good deeds. According to Owen, Princess Diana is not only beautiful but also kind. She helped the poor and didn't discriminate people from other races. Princess Diana is also in charge of foreign affairs with other countries as her goal is to make peace with all countries to make the world a better place. The public called her the greatest treasure of Julian Empire.
Princess Diana is the eldest among the sisters, the reason why the middle and youngest sister was not made known to the public is that the two of them are born with power, a power that transcends mortal being.
To others, they called it the blessing of God, but Lily said it was more like a curse than anything.
The curse forced the sisters to live in this isolated tower, as their power is too great for anything to contain it, it may even cause war if other countries happen to find out about it.
Though Xiao asked about what kind of power the sisters have, Lily said it's best not to know. Xiao didn't press on with the question as he felt Lily doesn't wish to talk about it.
"That's why it's so far away from other building, but what if people happen to stumble into here? Like how I did."
Xiao asked curiously after hearing Lily said that the Empire doesn't want anyone to find out about the princesses and the tower. Yet, an ordinary guy like him had easily stumble into here.
"Yes, that, how did you find this place in the first place?" after hearing Xiao's question, Lily too got curious and asked Xiao back.
"I can see it, the tower, I mean if it's that tall, anyone can see. I got curious after seeing it was built behind a forest, and that's how I get here." Xiao explained, but it only makes Lily more confused.
"Huh? You mean you can see the tower?" Lily tried reconfirming what Xiao had mentioned.
"Yes, I can, why did you ask?" And Xiao replied curiously.
Lily fell silence for a while before looking at Xiao and explained with a confused expression:
"Because you are not supposed to see the tower, that's what the forest is there for."