"RAAGH!" an elegantly dressed lady pushed expensive looking vases and decor on a white table with her whole arm, allowing those decors to break into varieties of sizes.
She took awhile to steady her breath and looked at the broken pieces. Her face had an ugly expression of anger; she bit her lip until it bled, brows arched and small wrinkles appeared on her porcelain white skin.
"Your Highness, may I ask—"
SLAP, she slapped her maid. Still in an unstable temper, Lucia hasn't noticed what she has done. Moments later, she snapped back to reality and looked at her maid with a worried expression.
"I-I'm sorry, Lily." She massaged her forehead while maintaining a frown.
"No, Your Highness!" she looked at Lucia. "You shouldn't apologise to a lowlife like me," Lily lowered her head as she positioned herself in a bow gesture.
Lucia glanced at Lily and closed her eyes, "Father stripped my title as a princess, temporarily, including my other siblings. Thus you shouldn't call me "Your Highness" until I finish the duty His Majesty will give me."
Lily looked at her mistress, Lucia had heavenly features but she can't rival the beauty of goddesses who reside in heaven and other realms.
"Understood, My Lady."
— A DAY AFTER
"Now for you, Henry. Upon the request of assistance of the Pope, you will lead the search for the so-called Celestial Saint."
Henry raised his head and looked at the Emperor, his father, "Understood, Your Majesty." He placed his hand on his chest, lowered his head and closed his eyes.
In front of the large gates of Crimson Palace, Henry rode on an armored black stallion. He is accompanied by his subordinates who also rode on their own armored horses.
"Opening the gates!"
"Crown Prince, Henry Bardin von Scarlett, exiting the Crimson Palace!" he yelled before they left the palace.
Trumpets sounded and commoners made way for the Scarlett Prince. They stopped what they were doing, bowed their heads or done a curtesy.
Other princes and princesses followed afterwards. It looked like a charade where they displayed their influence and strength. After they exited the palace, their titles of prince and princess is revoked.
The active and influential imperial descendants are lucky. They have titles like Wielder of the Crimson Sword, Priestess of Scarlett and a few others that are too long.
Meanwhile, the others who desired to escape the spotlight have zero noble titles in their name. A few others have business while most have one choice, live as a commoner.
Although all of them have their own measure of luck. The young imperial children can be considered as the most luckiest bunch.
"My Lord, the manor is far from where we are. We have no choice but to sleep in a nearby inn for tonight." One of his subordinates said.
With no other possible choices, Henry is forced to rent a whole inn with three silvers for all of them. Three silvers is quite small in his eyes but now that he doesn't have his budget, he has to save his money in all possible ways.
Time passes in the blink of the eye, midnight came. Henry woke up to drink a cup of water, his usual habit, until he heard a weird cry. 'Is this inn haunted or do I need to more sleep?' he thought to himself.
As he gulped the leftover water from the cup, Henry heard the weird cry again. Beads of sweat began to form and goosebumps appeared on his skin.
Who would've known that the mighty Henry Bardin whom defeated the former and deceased Crown Prince in a sword fight, is afraid of ghosts.
"Mother, I hate you and also you old weirdos!" he whispered.
His hate towards his mother comes from her teasing which created his phobia of ghosts and any kind of supernatural things. He remembers the time where his older brothers and mother would scare him with fake skulls and pranks.
Yet as he approaches his window, the weird cry became more clear. A young woman's cry for help from the obscene laughters of men.
Henry jumped from the window and coincidentally hit one of the men with his impact. Hearing a loud groan, the men stopped approaching the girl and looked at Henry.
He looked at them, "Urgh, my eyes!"
"Huh?" They all exclaimed their confusion.
"Those ugly faces, ugh, my eyes. I need help!" Henry placed his hand behind his back and gripped the hilt of his sword.
"You bastard. How dare you say I'm ugly!" The leader of the men yelled.
Henry smirked as the humble-looking man approached him with his sword raised high. An inch before the sword adds a wound on his handsome face, he draws his sword and deals a large wound his stomach.
The humble-looking man groaned and crashed to the ground. His intestines began to escape from his belly, his small intestine got cut and his dirty excrement mixed with his blood.
"What a foul smell!" Henry complained as he covered his nose with his handkerchief.
Seeing Henry distracted, two of which attacked him with their abilities. The one who attacked first, held his dagger and ran with immeasurable speed. While the other, held two daggers and disappeared from sight.
"Sigh, when will they learn? Correct My Lord?" Henry's aide asked while slitting the throats of the ugly bastards.
"Please spare us! We were only following them!" The remaining others pleaded in unison.
Henry scanned them. Their pants are loosened and tiny little mushrooms are seen, "Your alibi doesn't match your appearance."
Fountain of blood was created as Henry's other aide slitted all of their throats in the blink of the eye, "How disgusting."
Henry handed over his dirty handkerchief to William, "Stop complaining, will you, Reyna?"
Reyna clicked her tongue and turned her head to a particular tree. Her eyes glowed a white light and she squinted them. "She's there," she pointed towards the tree.
Hearing her words, Henry approached the tree. A twig snapped, "Don't worry. I won't hurt you."
Henry stopped, he is an inch away from the tree. Silence fell and three of them had beads of sweat appear on their heads. 'Did she escape?' they all thought to themselves.
"If you think that we aren't sa—" Henry stopped talking. Their mouths were opened and eyes were blessed by the beautiful lady behind the tree.
Her skin is porcelain white that is barely covered with white cloth, golden hair that flows like a river and beautiful golden eyes, small red lips and a long nose. Her whole figure emitted a white glow.
"Who-who are you?" Her gentle voice that can be mistaken as a whisper.
Still in a daze, Henry took awhile to answer her question. An awkward silence befell again.
"U-um, if yo-you don't answer. Can I go now?" she asked.
"Wait!" Henry yelled. She flinched from his loud voice, "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to yell."
Her blank face is complimented by a bright smile, "Don't worry."
"My name is Henry, Henry Bardin von Scarlett. What's your name?"