Rose, kept her grand lavender eyes upon the far-standing lad, finally, she noticed his skin and suddenly realised something unusual. "You…are dark-skinned, like me…" Late she catches a glimpse of it, that it wasn't umber tan like the young child before her but the lad shared the same chocolaty skin as Rose herself which was never the ancestry of Artelia, instead a southern country far beyond The Butterfly-Realm, but what bothers her, even more, "...and yet you have the eyes of…well… the people of here…" were the eyes he carries. "Who was your mother…?" Pity birthed in her lavender eyes as her silky lips turned to him. Of course, he didn't utter even a word to which his mother lived, rude yes he occurs yet didn't bother Rose just as if her vision could penetrate that silence. She wasn't smiling, nor did she feel inferior to him, rather it was a complex heart of hers, withering and feeling tragic for this poor soul, she came to a resolution understanding he was born of forced lust of a pig noble to a slave they owned, and just because of it; what has this young life had endured, perhaps there are no words for it, after all, she has witnessed those horrors. She felt parallel to him. "You know, my parents were from a country, far from here and beyond the Butterfly Realm. It was a beautiful place but poor and yet we lived there happily… Until my father sold all his land for a few mere coins of gold and decided to sail to a country where his wife doesn't have to spend nights out red for the sake of filling our stomachs when his lifeless wheat crops beneath the rainless sky barely bring a penny…" Athena drew a card from the middle deck after placing two white cards on the table unbothered by any spouted nonsense from Rose's majestic lips. At least to her, The Lady of Olympia, humans who failed to bring nothing but doom to their kind are a sign of failure, and it doesn't matter the cost they paid or the stories they carried, in the end, it brings no value to life itself. She then swam her hand towards the middle deck and pulled a card, but before spinning it, her mozo green emerald blissful eyes over to Rose, who had yet to find her interest back in their game. "I lived in a tiny village of Leos City far from the main district… it had so much greenery, I still had a vivid memory… of endless green grounds, covered in the radiant grass… but then, it happened in a mere night, nobles were on their tour to choose which land they desire, where lays the jewels or where they can harvest the utmost quality crops, their top-notch products… and so in mere days after their arrival, that greenery turned into massively dug mines… and countless crop fields… the radiating land I once knew was gone…my childhood was taken from me, it was the second time…" Of course, her story remains incomplete as Rose's tongue couldn't spell the words further, and perhaps she didn't notice it, but her long-nailed fingers trembled. Hatim got a faint smirk, upon knowing even someone like her would be terrified of something, moreover, to a mere past. Although, just then Athena finally spun her card. Zera sat next to Athena, listened to every single word spouted from Rose's resplendent red lips, still trying to put pieces of the Empress's story and was the very second person to see the card in Athena's palm, that took all her attention, to her surprise, it was a Yellow Card. The young lady blinked a few times affirming the view before her black gapes, perplexed, not that it wasn't a good omen but something, of course, didn't fit into her mind like a missing piece of a puzzle and arose a question. 'How…?' Her thoughts roamed wild but at that moment the figure beside her had comprehended something vital, not that she knows how Rose tricks them, but everything she does lay in her primacy, and how much she cares about things as objective, and just by gazing at those sparkles-less lavender eyes she could see, Rose has started to lose her interest and if that's the possibility she already has begun to lose her attention from Athena and veered to Hatim as she thinks such, she might already have won the game, of course, it was merely a theory, but the best opportunity to corner someone like Rose in her own game. Yet, it nearly wasn't as simple as that, is it?
Rose spun her glorious stare back at The Black Cloaked. A Yellow Card lay on the side of her opponent's hand, and her foggy head came back to the moment before. She finally realized her nerves were trembling, and then she understood.
'Ah, I am still alive…'
Never in her life has anyone played this game against her and could draw a Yellow Card. Disgrace? No, perhaps it wasn't that but maybe it was funny, a tingly feeling, a perplexed one, of course, her existence lay far above some mere commoners. She was superior as if a deity itself descended from the blissful sky, yes, she was above them. Yet, it was a shame but perhaps it was as if building the stairs to…reach the Gods… she felt funny, she felt like being used, she felt…terrified… She drifts her hand to the middle deck, drawing a card.
It was a Green Card…
Once again it was a reminder to the troupe of three, that no man can be built stairs to reach the heavens… Rose smiles charismatically.
"You think…you are the shine of the night sky, outstanding, maybe…like Sirius?" Exhaled a long tiring breath that signifies a kind of a letdown, after witnessing and listening to her, to Rose, one who has seen countless sorts of people, of course, just realizing she was no greater than others. To everyone's surprise, it was he who broke the silence. Hatim's eyes, tinkering Sunflower-like gaze at Rose, unwithered. "The one who prevails… the brightest star amongst in the midst of the night." His voice speaks to her with slight echoes. "Or probably…even a God…" Rose was surprised and kept gawking at the young lad. No man at his age has ever looked at her as such, rather most are weak and nervous in the presence of her grand beauty, merely speechless a lot of the time, yet this young lad stood unfazed as if he had seen wonders far beyond her as if he sees nothing special before his shimmering eyes. Hatim smiled wryly. "Your kind roams Paladins…easy to pinpoint." Rude of course, he was but Rose merely looked surprised, she was lost for words for some ample seconds, and though it surely took a short wink of time, she came back to her senses, she blinks simultaneously for another second, and then she recalls as a flash of the images emerged in her head, possibly two, after all, two men looked at her and yet their eyes were like stars of the sky…one of them she still know while another became a memory. "I am above… I am the absolute pinnacle…" Not that she showed even a glimpse of her anger, yet no wonder it was her reply but now it was out in the air, spelt by her charismatic tongue. It seemed odd that even after her egocentric words, her servant, the croupier remained unspoken, unwithered. To Zera, it was a mystery yet it didn't feel like a subject, what kind of person Rose is, perhaps they know better than anyone here. Hence she tried to forget the matter, but it lingers somewhere there with her along the realisation came sooner, that this can not haze Zera from what lay before them as Athena glide her hand towards the middle deck after placing two cards onto the table, and draws the card smoothly.
It was a Green Card.
Wide her blessed lavender eyes, Rose came to an utter pause, but not only she but Zera was also surprised.
'Ah…I have forgotten the formation…'
Rose just then came to realise her foolishness upon forgetting the formation of cards. However, it didn't astonish her just then, when her eyes wandered to the surprised child or mysterious Black-Cloaked, but as her graceful eyes halted to the young lad, yet standing still, unimpressed yet his expression. It occurred for a less mere second, and her lavender eyes met his vibrant Sunflower stare, mist it brought, and she felt her flesh lay in the field beneath the warm and elegant sun as the Sunflowers gave her a wink of emptiness yet emits a warmth that felt nostalgic…like…